Kpntnn Reep h FishinP Getting the most out of your GPS


M- JL" .MJLA.ML.AL41!)


Report
 Well How dee doo... ugh
.. not so good on the scal-
lops. I fear just isn't a good
year so far? maybe it
will improve. Some folks
did manage a few gallons,
but the average was a gal-
lon or less. The water is
clear real clear, yet the scal-
lops are scarce?
 Oh well, on to fishing!
 I had four great days of
fishing for Starke Hudson's.
kinfolks, in-laws, friends
and crews who were down
for the fourth. Here are our
results:
 Saturday, I took Lee and
his son, Jordan Crowe, and
Lee's sister Tracy White, all
of Bogart, Ga. and we
brought in 16 trout with
three over 20 inches long.
We also had a Spanish and
a Blue. We fished with live
pinfish under Cajuns in 3.5
- 5.5 feet of water.
 Sunday, I had April
Crowe and Josh Clifton.
with Clayton Wilson of
White Plains'and Acworth
Ga. respectively, and about
two hours into the trip
April jumped .. No, let's
rephrase that.'.. a tarpon (a


July 7
BIG ONE! 180+ pounds!)
jumped her bait then
scorched by the boat and
tail-walked about 30-40 feet
then went back down. I
rushed to the front of the
boat and said, "April, that
fish is on your line girl,
raise your rod! Quick! Raise
the rod!"
 Well, All seven-plus feet
of that Tarpon came out of
the water and was six feet
clear! It was over as soon as
it started! Two casts later
April lost a trout about 4-5
pounds, So a cast later, she
boated one five pounds and
27 inches long! As my Dad-
dy would say..."Rather be
lucky...than good?" We
ended up with eight trout,
two Spanish, a Blue and a
black sea bass. Oh, did I for-
get to mention Josh hooked
up on a 80+ pound six-foot
long bull shark and fought
it for over 45 minutes 'til
the line broke? (twisted in
two due to "overzealous-
ness"). We landed all we
did on live pinfish under
Cajuns in 3-6 feet of water.
 Monday, I took Nancy
and Steve Bishop with


Gene White, all of Bogart
Ga. and they managed five
trout and nine Spanish
mackerel to five pounds.
We caught the trout on live
pinfish under Cajuns and
used little pogies, two actu-
ally (dead) on the hook un-
der the Cajun to catch-our
Spanish.
 Tuesday, the Fourth, I
had Lee and Jordan Crowe
with granddad, Herman
Crowe and they caught 19
trout with four over 20-
inches long, which weighed
in at 37.5 pounds total.
That included a five, and a
4.25 lb. and two over three,
pounds. We caught our fish
on live pinfish under 2.5-
inch oval Cajuns. Three of
the keepers, Jordan caught
on pinfish strips (shiner
tails) under a Cajun. This
fine catch came from 4.5 -
5.5 feet of water.
 Larry Hendrick of Tifton,
Ga. reported catching 30
keeper-trout (kept five) on
Berkley Gulp from 7-8 feet
of water on Saturday July
first!
 Offshore: no report?
 That's it!


US Coast Guard activates Rescue 21


 The US Coast Guard has
begun using a new com-
mand, control and com-
munications system
known as Rescue 21, for
search and rescue, marine
environmental protection
and homeland security
missions along the Alaba-
ma, Mississippi and Flori-
da coastlines.
 Advanced direction-
finding capability, a 'riti-
cal component of 'Resci e
21, allows Coast Guard
watchstanders to more ac-
curately locate the source
of a distress call. That ca-
pability also allows the
Coast Guard to locate the
source of hoax calls. Res-
cue 21 also includes a net-
work of towers to help re-
duce coverage gaps in
coastal areas and ensure
more calls get through to
the Coast Guard.
 "The system provides a
 revolutionary leap in en-
hanced command, control,
and communications capa-
bilities," said Capt. Dan
Abel,.. Rescue 21 Project
Manager. "Given our long
and proud history of
standing the watch, such
leading edge technology
will radically improve the
efficiency of search and
rescue operations and of-
fers interoperability with
other federal, state and lo-
cal law enforcement agen-
cies, and with first respon-
ders across all rescue or
homeland security mis-
sions in the coastal area,"
he said.
 Proving its mettle. fol-
 lowing hurricanes Katrina.
 and Rita, is the Disaster
 Recovery System (DRS), a
 critical component of Res-
 cue 21. A fully au-
 tonomous, rapidly deploy-
 able emergency communi-
 cations package, it pro-,
 vides voice and data con-
 nectivity if a man-made or
 natural disaster destroys
 the existing communica-
 tions infrastructure. The
 DRS connects to the Coast
Guard Data Network
(CGDN+) via satellite
communications. For six
months, it reliably provid-
ed one-way communica-
tions with mariners, in the
southeastern portion of the


Mississippi River and Gulf
Coast region. Currently,
four systems are staged in
Huntsville, Ala. for quick
deployment.
 The National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Admin-
istration has predicted
eight to 10 hurricanes in
the Atlantic for 2006; at
least half of which are ex-
pected to be the strength of
,Category Three storms.
Currently, four of ihe ae-
ployable systems are
staged in Huntsville, Ala.,
for Gulf Coast response ef-
forts.
 "The Rescue 21 system
has been accepted at an es-
pecially critical time of
year in the Gulf States,"
said Abel. "It provides vi-
tal technology to increase
the capabilities of our
Coast Guard crews at a vi-
tal time when summer
search and rescue pace in-
creases and tropical storms
or hurricanes put mariners
and coastal residents at
risk.".
 A $730 million acquisi-
tion project and the second
largest within the Coast
Guard, Rescue 21 will re-,
place the Coast Guard's


aging National Distress
and Response, System,
built during the 1970s.
Once fully implemented,
Rescue 21 will cover 95,000
miles of US coastline and
inland Waterways.
 By the Numbers
 First' life is saved using
Rescue 21\system: Novem-
ber 2005
 First Rescue, 21 system
commissioned '! Atlantic
City,'f.J, becie-ember 2005
 Two Initial Operating
Capacity regions ; Atlantic
City, N.J., and Eastern
Shore, (Maryland,
Delaware and Virginia) ac-
cepted'Rescue 21 in 2005
 First Low Rate Initial
Production (LRIP) region
accepted Rescue 21 in Al-
abama, Louisiana and Mis-
.sissippi, May 19, 2006
 Sector St. Petersburg, the
second of four LRIP re-
gions, accepted the system
June 29
.Nationwide rollout to
about 40 additional re-
gions is slated for comple-
tion by 2011.
 For more information
log on to:
http:/ /www.uscg.mil / res
cue21 /home/ index.htm


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SBy Hank Parker
 Throughout the history,
sailors have used plenty of
things to help them find
their way around the wa-
ter. Whether they navigat-
ed by, the stars or land-
marks (if they were within
sight of land) or other
primitive instruments,
they used these tools of-
ten to a great degree of
success to ensure safer,
quicker travel.
 These days, with the ex-
 ception of some of the
country's bigger lakes,
most
Freshwater anglers
aren't out of sight of land.
Usually we find our way
around the lake by recog-
nizing coves, marinas,
boat docks, houses, etc.
But when it's dark, foggy
or the lake is too big or too
strange to find your way
around, what then? Like
the sailors of the past, we
must become proficient
with the navigational tools
that are at our disposal.
And in addition to being
able to find your way back
to the boat launch in the
dark, it can also help your
fishing..
 Technological advances
 of the past decade have
brought abotit many af-
fordable forms of GPS
(global positioning sys-
tem) to our boats. My
Ranger bass boat came
with one from the factory,
and if yours didn't, you
can pick them up at almost


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 SSyndicated Content

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PAGE 5B


0 SUWANNEE DEMOCRAP/LIVE OAK


FRIDAY. JULY 21. 2006lf


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any sporting goods store.
The GPS is guided by a se-
ries of satellites that circle
the earth, each with a dis-
tinctive signal. The. signal
is sent by the satellites to a
receiver (the unit mounted
on your boat). The receiver
will then be able to tell you
your location on earth
with up to 15 feet of accu-
racy.
 The obvious reason for
such a tool is peace of
mind. Whether your GPS
unit comes preloaded with
maps of various lakes or if
you have tb purchase the
maps separately, once you
launch your boat, your
GPS system will allow you
to store your current loca-
tion as a waypoint (most
models allow you to name
the waypoints with names
like "launch" or "home").
By following your trail
back to this waypoint (re-
member in the dark to
keep an eye on your depth
finder so that you do not
run aground or into obsta-
cles in shallowwater), you
can successfully navigate
your way back to the
launch in darkness or in-
clement weather. Also,
some detailed lake maps
will show you such things.
as marinas and restau-
rants.
 In addition to providing
 navigation help,,GPS sys-
 tems can also be powerful
 fishing aids. Detailed
 maps on some boat-
 mounted GPS units also


show water depth and bot-
tom contours. This infor-
mation is critical when
searching for bottom
structure that holds fish.
Also, you can set a way-
point on your GPS
 to mark any spot that
you might want to return
to fish at a later time. Thil
is perfect for marking
channels or other areas 6i
even marking things like
shipwrecks, which cain
hold lots of fish but can
also hang up a lot of your
tackle. Often,. if I catch.,a
fish in a certain area, I will
mark the exact position of
my Ranger boat so I cani
return to the spot whei
the conditions are similar(.
Most tournament anglers
manage their competition,
days on the water in much,
the same way.
 There's no limit to the
things you can do with a
GPS on your boat.
Whether it's navigation,
fish/structure finding or
accurately measuring your
speed, a GPS is more than
a luxury these days. If
your bass boat didn't
come with one from the
factory, make getting one
a priority and learn all you
can about it. Once you
learn all it is capable Of,
you find it as invaluable as
I do.'
 A two-time champion of
the Bassmaster Classic,
Ranger Pro Hank Parker is
the host of "Hank Parker's
Outdoor Magazine.",.


000


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