Sport Fishing

You’ll Be Amazed at All You Can Do With Your PC and a MAX or NT+ Compatible Chart Plotter

Many conscientious boaters prepare for the summer boating season by giving their vessel a thorough “once over.” As they should, they carefully check their boat’s batteries, wiring and connections, monitor critical fluid levels, examine through-hull fittings and replace dirty fuel filters, to name just a few. The reasoning behind this is sound; nobody wants to start the first day of the long-awaited boating season with problems — or worse yet, a breakdown.

Boaters can achieve this same peace of mind with their marine electronics as well, provided they have a GPS/chart plotter that’s compatible with C-MAP electronic charts. Using Jeppesen Marine’s C-MAP PC Planner software and a home computer, boaters can make sure that their electronics are “tuned up” and ready to optimize boating enjoyment this summer.

Developed as a computer voyage planning tool for sailors, power cruisers and saltwater anglers, PC-Planner opens the door to accomplishing much more. Of course, it’s great way to spend time planning the navigational aspects of future vacations cruising tropical shores or trolling fish-rich waters. You can load and view your C-MAP charts on your PC and create and edit marks and routes, just as you would on your chart plotter. You can view embedded aerial photos of inlets and harbors you plan to visit, check out marina facilities and layouts and even check tide and current predictions for safer and more efficient cruising. But this just scratches the surface.

Here are some other “nuts and bolts” ways PC-Planner can help streamline your fishing and cruising time beginning with the season’s very first trip:

Fishermen, Does This Sound Familiar? You see a fish sign on the sounder, so you hit mark on the chart plotter. A little while later, you see some more signs and hit mark again. This goes on, day after day, trip after trip. Before you know it, your chart plotter display looks like one giant black spot when you zoom out. Using PC Planner during the off season makes it easy to eliminate the clutter of old and un-needed user marks, while editing and saving those that are important.

Go To BassRip, Not WPT0034. It’s always better to save a user mark with a name that explains what it is and what it means. Most boaters, however, never get time to go back and edit these generic marks with names that actually make sense and will help them later. With PC Planner, you can make use of your downtime by going through your best fishing spots, naming them and organizing them. This is also applies for anchorages, great dive spots - anywhere you want to identify for the future.

Log Important Data. Most chart plotters can be interfaced with your echo sounder’s depth output and temperature sensor, so every mark you save can also include water depth and temperature, as well as the time of day. This is great way to create a log of each fishing hot spot, along with important depth/temp information to help you establish a pattern for the bite. Saving this data for future reference and study using PC Planner can help make next fishing season more productive.

Clean Your Screen. PC-Planner is the ideal way to clean up screen clutter of all kinds. At your computer, in your home or office, you can also clear out old track marks and routes, further de-cluttering your chart plotter display and opening up needed memory. When the next boating season comes, you’ll enjoy the benefits, which also include an organized waypoint list that makes it easy to find what you want. Once you make the changes you want, you can use the optional memory card to easily transfer data between your computer and compatible chart plotter.

You’ll do it When it’s Easy. Even though you can perform most of these “tune up” functions on your chart plotter, they’re often neglected. Why? Because it’s time consuming and let’s face it, when you’re on your boat you usually have better things to do. PC-Planner makes it easy. Rather than “navigating” through keypads and on-screen alphanumeric menus to name and edit waypoints, you can use your computer’s keyboard. It’s as easy as typing a letter.

Print Out a User Point/Route Log. Once you’ve finished editing your way points, another great feature of PC Planner is that you can print out hard copies of these user points for safe keeping. Or if you want, you can “loan” them to a really good fishing buddy!

Print Out a “Chartlet.” On the subject of printing, another great utility of PC Planner is being able to print out a chart screen with your user points and routes overlaid on top of the chart. This is a great way to keep your own hard copy of your activities from past seasons’ trips or your favorite fishing spots. If you have a little experience with basic graphics programs, you can even paste favorite photos (like big fish) alongside these same user points on the hard copy.

Back Up Plan. With your computer, PC-Planner and a memory card, you can perform another very important—and often neglected—tune up service for your marine electronics. After editing and naming important waypoints — favorite fishing areas, dive spots, anchorages, etc. — you can quickly and easily back them up and store them safely. This is a also a great way to create and update a permanent digital log of your best fishing and diving spots. Backing up your user points and routes is also useful prior to updating your chart plotter’s software. Most manufacturers provide updates on a routine basis, not only to fix “bugs” but also to add new features. Contact your chart plotter manufacturer for further information. If there is a software update, you can use PC Planner to accomplish this task during the off-season.

Have Fun. Instead of being a chore, tuning-up your electronics and planning future trips with PC Planner is fun. And everybody knows that prior planning makes for a smoother trip on the water, whether fishing, cruising or sailing. Organizing your fishing spots, using your C-MAP charts to check out potential new ones, mapping out your big summer cruising vacation— all this is a great way to get ready for the year’s biggest boating adventures.

At only $149 (or $179 with memory card), PC-Planner makes a great gift and an important accessory for any avid boater. Call Jeppesen Marine’s Cape Cod, Massachusetts office at 800.424.2627 or visit www.jeppesen.com/lightmarine to learn more about PC requirements and chart plotter compatibility.