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COMPUTERIZE YOUR KING MACKEREL FISHING
by Terry Lacoss

I never thought the day would come when I could simply sit at my desk, work a key pad and finally look at a screen that tells me where, how and when to catch fish. Or simply receive a fax that tells me where offshore fishermen will have the best opportunity in catching tournament winning kingfish. Well the day has arrived!

For several fishing seasons now, competitive king mackerel fishermen have been using water temperature companies, like "Roffs" for locating big schools of kingfish and water temperature breaks too. Today, fishermen can also use their home computers to find water temperature breaks and more.

"I have used "Roffs' on a day to day basis when tournament fishing," says Jacksonville Florida's, Dave Workman. "in fact on several occasions, I have called "Roff's" while on the water and they have given me updated water temperature information. Naturally water temperature conditions are constantly changing, Jeff Dry and I prefer to stay ahead of any thermoclines and are looking for temperature breaks from .5 - 1 degree."

Dave Workman and Jeff Dry formed up the "C&H" Lures fishing team several SKA seasons ago and have won two Southern Kingfish Association "Angler of the Year" awards.

"We formulate ocean water temperatures by using, floating buoys, fixed buoys, ships and satellites," says Mitch Roffer. "Naturally we are looking for both warm ocean water temperatures and temperature breaks to predict where our customers will enjoy their best fishing action. However we also use current flow, current direction and sea heights to also predict where good numbers of both bait-fish and kingfish will be holding as well."

"During recent years, we have actually found that "Current Direction" is a major factor in predicting where kingfish schools will more than likely be holding. The ideal situation would be to find a temperature break in an area of the ocean where there is a hard bottom or numerous ledges. This is when the current direction is so important. If the current direction is holding the temperature break over, or close to the bottom structure, king mackerel fishermen will find ideal conditions for catching fish. Randy Keys and the 'Keys Contender" fishing team has recently used our services and is one of the hottest teams on the SKA trail right now. Randy used our current directions and ocean temperature information to both win the inaugural Yamaha Pro Kingfish Event at Key West and the "Miami Rod and Reel", kingfish event."

Without saying, offshore currents and tidal flows move big schools of bait-fish both close to shore and further offshore, creating ideal conditions for king mackerel fishing. When a temperature break is located and teamed up with both bottom structures and currents, king mackerel fishermen will find ideal fishing.

Roffs can fax, or e-mail color water temperature charts to their customers. For further information on "Roffs" water temperature services, call Roffs, 1-800-677-7633, or www.Roffs.com on the internet. By using "Roff's" water temperature services, competitive fishing teams can almost predict where, when and how they will have their best opportunity in catching giant king mackerel. More importantly, teams can now save valuable fishing time by running straight to the fish, rather than wasting time by old fishing techniques of trial and error.

Southern Kingfish Association tournament teams are also using their computers to find where temperature breaks occur in close to the beaches, inlet mouths and offshore waters. Digital Publishing, Inc, a software and information service, located in Wilmington, North Carolina offers a wide variety of fishing knowledge for your computer. "We give the fisherman many of the tools he needs to spend his time in areas of the ocean where his fishing team will have the greatest chance in catching fish," says captain Chip Berry, of Digital Publishing. 'One of our main Fishing aids, is water temperature, which is up dated twice each day and is computed by satellite technology. We also offer weather and sea conditions, which are up graded each hour. Other information includes computer generated tidal and solunar data, port to port fishing reports of recent catches and digital bathymetric maps of the ocean floor and structure." C2C Marine Data covers the coastline from Maine to Texas where fishermen can pull up a wide variety of information while using their software. By installing the software, I was soon able to receive a wide variety of information by clicking the mouse on my home fishing waters, Amelia Island, Florida. By using "Sea Tamp", I was able to receive a variety of information. Water temperature resolution could be read as low as .5 degrees, I could select my own colors for water temperature bands to aid me in finding premier water temperature breaks, areas of the ocean are pin pointed within 1.1 km and more importantly, when the mouse moves on the chart, instant water temperature readings, fatlion, and TD's are all calculated!

Other benefits include pinpointing area bottom structures with TUS and Lat/ Lon, current weather conditions, tide information and being able to file. information in a log, which has been created for fishermen by C2CMarine Data Center. C2C Marine Data Center also has "Hot Links" for major fishing tackle companies and marine related products.

"One of our key benefits to subscribers, is our "Sea Structure" maps," says captain Chip Berry. "Once you have downloaded our "Sea Structure" software into your computer, a wide variety of icons will appear on your map and all indicate different bottom structures. For example, black dots indicate live bottom and Z's indicate ledges."

"Fishermen can also use our split screen feature, to show both "Sea Tamp" and "Sea Structure" at the same time. I really like this feature which allows you to move the mouse on both charts at the same time, showing "Sea Temp" and "Sea Structures" also at the same time. By clicking "Options", you can use a roving information panel which shows water depth, water temperature, latt/Ion, or TD's."

Captain Chip Barry also plans to ad many more features to C2C Marine Data Center during the near future, which will aid fishermen in finding tournament winning kingfish. "it is really rewarding when fishing to actually catch big fish while using our software," says Captain Berry. "During the 1998 SKA Top One Hundred kingfish tournament, captain Buddy Hucks landed the Alabama state record wahoo, while fishing aboard the tournament boat, "Mean C." The big "Hoo" weighed right at 120 pounds! Captain Hucks used our "Sea-Temp" and "Sea-Structure" software to find the record breaking wahoo."

For more information on C2C Marine Data Center, they can be located on line at http:/Afvww.c2cnet.net, or by calling 888/321-4222.

"Loran & GPS Vaults" also offer computer technology for locating offshore structures at 813/920-2591, on line www.netlizard.com/vault.html