Meuse_Using Chebacco Lake Bathymetry

Using Chebacco Lake Bathymetry to Locate
Bass Fishing Hot Spots
Joshua Meuse
GGR 902 Computer Cartography
Facts about Angling in the U.S.
• 44.3MILLION
ANGLERS
• $41.5BILLION
RETAIL SALES
• $116BILLION IN
OVERALL
ECONOMIC
OUTPUT
• $7.3BILLION IN
STATE
Pro Bass Angler Kevin Van Dam
2006 earnings over 2.7 million.
Facts About Bass
• Spend most of the time, hanging around
rocks, drops, weeds and debris waiting to
ambush prey.
• Breed in spring when water temps hit 5055 degrees.
• The most popular freshwater game fish in
America.
• World record 25 lbs.
Find Structure and cast Away!
The Use of Bathymetry for
Anglers
• Old fisherman’s saying “80 percent of the
fish are in 10 percent of the water”
• Locate structure and catch bass!
• 15 minutes of studying a Bathymetry map
can eliminate hours of casting without a
bite!
Why Chebacco Lake?
‰ Currently no bathymetry available online.
‰ One of the most popular Bass lakes in MA.
‰ Chebacco lake is 212 Acres.
‰ Hosts New England Bass Tournaments.
Design of Project
• Create Bathymetry base map using GPS
enabled single band sonar.
• Collect Depth, bottom features including
drops, rocks, channels, weeds and flats.
• Explore traditional/experimental
Bathymetry presentation.
• Map hotspot waypoints using data
collected.
What is Traditional Bathymetry?
Single Band Sonar
Sonar Sensing Platform
•
LOWRANCE Marine Single Band Sonar, GPS LCX-37C
•
GPS Enabled with WAAS - (Wide Area Augmentation System)
ƒ FAA to increase GPS accuracy down to a range of 2-7 meters
Data Collection
• Collected WAAS GPS points, 1-3
meter accuracy(Degrees/Minutes)
• Collected Depth/feature with each point
• Collected 3000 points
View of 1000 points
Steps for Creating Bathymetry
• Converted Degrees/Minutes to Decimal
degrees.
• Converted two days of points into one
CSV file containing all points.
• Cleaned up stray points
• Imported into Arc
• Used Feature to Raster
• Interpolation via IDW
Non-Traditional Bathymetry
Creating “Hot Spots”
• Use point data to locate potential fish
areas based on proximity to features,
depth, drops.
• Mapped points that had highest criteria.
• Provide Decimal Degree waypoints to
locate areas.
Final Map
Conclusions
• Creating accurate base maps is extremely
labor intensive.
• A mix between traditional bathymetry and
visual enhancements are a good
compromise.
• This map can locate the fish, but it is up to
the angler to hook them!
References
•
Fish-finding Sonar & Mapping GPS Operation Instructions.
Copyright © 2006 Lowrance Electronics, Inc.
http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Marine/LCX-37C.asp
•
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; United States
Department of Commerce, NOAA Coastal Services Center:
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/
•
Field And Stream Magazine , Time4 Media, Inc. Copyright © 2007.
http://www.fieldandstream.com/fieldstream/
•
On the Water Magazine, Falmouth, MA, 2005.
ttp://www.onthewater.com/.