Fish Like a GIRL

Readers may have seen the piece I wrote last week about opening weekend of the gun deer season. I had a discussion with Balie Strasburg of Strasburg’s North Country Taxidermy about how the weekend went. She was telling me how some hunters, especially younger hunters, were leveraging apps to find public land and  do some research, giving them better odds of bagging a buck during the hunting season.

It is impossible to turn back technology, and sometimes I wish we could. It was a different world in fishing when the best way to remember what we now call a “waypoint” was to triangulate the spot using three points on the shoreline around the lake.

Of course, back then we figured the depth by putting an anchor down or through some similar means. When we were out in the woods, we carried paper maps and a compass. I still carry a standalone compass (meaning not simply the one on my cellphone) just in case, but it is rare I pull it out. 

I do sometimes just to make sure I remember how to get back home using one. But for the most part I rely on apps on my phone. 

Oh, the apps that are out there!

Before talking with Balie the other day, I was given a pair of Packers tickets by OnX Hunt. They were looking to give tickets to a couple of outdoor reporters and a client of mine asked if I would want to go. Of course I jumped at the chance. Lambeau Field is an incredible experience, so I was excited to go.

Let me first say that there are a ton of great apps out there for outdoor adventures, and I will talk about a few of them, but I am most familiar with OnX Hunt.

 The one thing I will say that I like about OnX is that they have an app for just about anything and everything outdoors, so the interface is similar whether I am looking for public land on which to hunt, a trout stream or a place to go off-roading.

Before I get too far into these apps, let me head back to technology in the outdoors in general starting with forward facing sonar.

Most who fish have heard of it, and they have likely have a strong opinion about it. Some have embraced it and love it. Others think it gives people who “can afford it” an unfair advantage. The debate has gotten so heated that tournament circuits at all levels have had to take a look at what they want to do in the way of allowing these units in their tournaments.

Forward facing sonar (FFS), for those who are not familiar, can be a total game changer when fishing offshore humps, ledges and the like. Many liken it to a video game because anglers can see a fish, drop a bait down to it, and watch the fish take the bait.

Does this make it easier? Usually, once you find the fish. Is it an unfair advantage? Of that I am not completely convinced. People still need to put in the work to find the fish, know where they are most likely to move (especially in the case of smallmouth), and understand the forage in the lake to present the correct baits, in the correct way, at the correct time. Still, though, some larger tournament circuits have banned the use of FFS, others have limited it in one way or another. In my circuit, I will likely limit FFS to one unit and one transducer. That seems to keep everyone happy.

That said, do hunting and fishing apps flatten the learning curve? In some ways, I believe they do. However, the hunter still needs to understand the movements of his or her quarry. We still need to understand forage, predators, and all of the other things we need to know to be successful. Do apps give us an advantage? Yes. As long as we put in the work, the leg up that an app can give a hunter or angler will bear fruit. 

Most of the really good apps out there require a yearly membership, but if  a person uses the app, it may be worth it. That said, all of the information in an app can likely be found in other places. But “places” is the key. The app keeps all of the information a hunter, angler, hiker or off-roader needs all in one place. 

For instance, a trout fishing app that I have lists 50,000 classified trout streams as well as more than 350,000 access points to those streams. Granted, most of those are places I will never see (but what a bucket list idea!), so a good deal of that information may be lost on me other than searching around distant lands and daydreaming on those cold winter nights that look to be here to stay for the season.

I purchased a subscription to the trout map for myself for Christmas — at least that was my rationale. The maps show public land parcels, private land boundaries and real-time stream conditions. I am excited to get out and use it this spring when I pull the fly rods back out and remind myself how inept I likely am after not using them for several years. 

This winter I am going to be doing come carnivore tracking around the Mead Wildlife Area, so I have been looking at the maps around there, and I will circle back to hunting at this point. 

The hunting app I have shows areas that are good for woodcock or grouse. It shows me the county boundaries and what deer management zone I am in. I can see private land boundaries and land owner names. 

There are so many layers to turn on and off that it can take a bit to know what a person wants on and what they will toggle off at a given time, depending on where a person is and what they are interested in at that location.

With all of that overlays onto a satellite map, it does help a person narrow down the area in which they want to hunt. For certain, it helps a person stay off of private land, if they are hunting public lands nearby. That said, to some of us older hunters and anglers, these apps may seem like a person no longer has to “do the work,” that we once did to find these areas. And while that may be true, an app cannot do everything for a hunter, just as technology cannot do everything for an angler. It will make it easier to know where to start. Once in the woods or on the water, it is up to the sportsman to figure out all of the little clues and landscape features that make all the difference in the movement of their intended quarry. 

I would venture to guess that most people reading this column have at least one hunter, angler, hiker, mountain biker, citizen scientist or some sort of outdoor enthusiast on their Christmas list. There is going to be an app on the app store or Google play that will likely be a gift that those outdoor enthusiasts will continue to use for years to come. I did not realize this until I actually counted, but I have 33 apps that are related to something “outdoors.” Several of them are directly related to a citizen science project such as Salt Watch or the carnivore tracking program or rare plant monitoring. Others provide hunting, fishing and trail maps. Granted, a bunch of those apps have paid subscription versions, mostly related to hunting, fishing and trails — although I do need to make a plug for the Map It! Vilas County trails app. It is totally free, and a great way to find trails within Vilas County. Just as with anything else, a person can spend as much as they want on their hobbies and outdoor pursuits. But I can say that I am a proponent of apps that can help us enjoy our outdoor pursuits even more. A lot of the legwork and heavy lifting as been done in the creation of these apps. We all have busy lives, and using these apps allows us to be successful while skipping a step or two. We still need to put in the actual work, however — whether that is finding fish, deer, or any other animal. And those that put in the work will be successful more often than those who do not. I would be interested to hear readers’ favorite outdoor apps, too. Surely I do not have them all, and maybe I do not even have the best of the best. Drop me a line and tell me what you use, and what you like about your favorite apps.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].