[sam843]

My vote is for ranges
On Inshore pieces that I have intimate knowlege of I can set up on the piece alot faster than using electronics and just as accurate as the other 2 and I have constant input on how the boat is behaving on the hook without putting my pole down

 

[619627]

Sam, the shore range is the most accurate of all location finding devices we have at our disposal. The one problem with ranges though, is of course fog, and the other, is when we go a number of miles off the beach. Shore ranges are deadly especially to those who use them all the time. As you know, in Sheepshead Bay we had some of the top striped bass fishermen on the east coast, and they were so good that they would uses ranges at night when trolling, to get back on 'bottom' that was holding the fish. Using ranges happens to be a dying art among many of the party boat captains, and with the advances in easy to use electronics, ranges are one of the last thing a party boat captain would use to get onto a small spot.

Loran, GPS-WAAS & DIFFERENTIAL, are of course needed once we get offshore. All have their positive points, and all have negatives. I still love loran, since it is extremely easy to figure out locations, by looking at a set of numbers, and of course to quickly compute distances in my head. But differential is as good as it gets in wreckfishing, since it gives you accuracy upto 3 feet, which means, you can get ontop of the littlest pencil type stickups on the bottom.

EC NEWELL MAN*

 

[sam843]

EC

Yea
I was looking drop a nuke after 9/11
Not only for the lives lost- I lost
a couple of NYPD fellow officers
that I worked with may they all rest in peace and may those responsible
die a slow painfull death-but when the towers went down it messed up alot of my ranges and on a clear day
coming back from the canyon you put your bow on the towers and take it easy for a while.

And I agree-too many of the new boat owners a relying on electronics which now a days are a snap to use they don't bother to learn basic
by the seat of the pants Navagation
and if they get caught offshore with a roll on and the electronics go there in deep.

(This post edited by sam843 on 02/06/2003)

 

[TheBandit]

Ranges are the best. Just have a few extras.Years ago they took down the big Gas Tank in Brooklyn. The Twin Towers are gone. Now the Parachute jump is down also.

 

[paulh]

remember those big old concrete apartment skeletons on the rockaway peninsula that were never completed ? the day they came down the capt I worked for almost blew a gasket.

no more ranges for me, waas and dgps make ranges unnecessary to me. i like my machines to give me course and distance to my waypoint. a side benefit of this is that my crew never sees the actual numbers, only waypoint name,course, dist !!

my garmin gives me the distance in feet (once your within .01NM, no mental math necessary). by looking at my gps and compass i know which way i'm off and by how many feet. it's a beautiful thing.

anchoring the boat on/near those numbers is the only challenge left.

 

[togmaster]

Ranges can change!!!!

I love and us ranges at will but the problem is they keep changing so it is best now to use a range to find it then GPS it into your machine can't beat repeatability for GPS with Dif of waas