Screen Scene: Smart Fishing with Smartphone Connectivity

Largely, I go fishing to escape. To decompress and disconnect from the demands of a busy personal and professional lifestyle. I’m grateful to be busy—it beats the alternative. But the last thing I want to do is stare at my phone while in my boat on a beautiful fish-filled lake.

We’ve spent two years producing this column to discuss all the cool technology that gets rigged inside your boat and how to apply it. In this particular article I write about valuable technology that exists outside of your boat—things to consider before you ever hook up and head to the launch. It’s irrefutable that smartphones have changed our ability to garner useful information for almost anything, and quickly—and they’re wonderful for garnering fishing information, as well.

Below are some cool apps you certainly need to download and begin working into your scouting and pre-fishing routine—you’ll be better prepared when you make that first cast.

Download Now

For the sake of this article, I discuss applications that directly relate to Humminbird, Lowrance, and Garmin electronics, but also several apps that offer additional unique information that can help you locate fish. Each of these apps are designed to seamlessly integrate into your boat’s network and operating system. To harness the full power of each brand, you need the associated app to take full advantage of the system—plus the mapping is amazing at each level. It makes for some fine off-the-water scouting.

Available at both Google Play and Apple App Store:

Garmin ActiveCaptain: Whether you run Garmin units or not, the Garmin Navionics Boating App ($49.99 annual subscription) is a must-have that provides countless lake contour maps with the ability to add and manage waypoints and more. Substantial amounts of preliminary scouting can be accomplished with this app before ever leaving home.

Garmin’s free ActiveCaptain app creates a powerful connection between your compatible smart device and Garmin graphs, charts, maps, and the boating community. Use it to activate your Garmin Navionics+ or Garmin Navionics Vision+ subscription, plus download updates and premium content. Also enjoy peace of mind in the form of text alerts and updates with the combination of the OnDeck system and the ActiveCaptain app.

Lowrance App: With all the latest detailed charts from C-MAP, the Lowrance App provides anglers with accurate charting and layers on a mobile device, allowing you to easily manage your favorite waypoints, discover new fishing spots, and plan the next trip in advance. Simply sync your data with your Lowrance devices and spend more time fishing, saving any top spots for future trips. The app allows users to create, store, edit, and share waypoints anytime, anywhere. Anglers can download charts for offline use and add them to the app and view data even when you are without mobile coverage or WiFi.

Humminbird One-Boat Network: This app offers a range of features that come standard, including VX Basemap, product support, software updates, and gear remotes for select devices such as trolling motors and shallow-water anchors. With a subscription, users can access thousands of lake maps with the already-famous VX mapping features, including a number of depth-contour shading options for easy viewing. The app also offers product manuals, and provides notifications when accessories are ready for updates. You’ll also find FAQs, tutorials, and much more. This app has it all and serves the angler both on and off the water.

“Integrating the One-Boat Network app with Minn Kota trolling motors and Raptor or Talon shallow-water anchors provides anglers seamless control over boat positioning and movement,” explained Braeden Harris, Humminbird Brand Manager. “This connectivity allows access to features such as Spot-Lock without manual intervention, and enables users to deploy or retract anchors directly from the app. This level of integration ensures that anglers can make precise adjustments swiftly, enhancing their ability to locate and stay on fish.

“Probably my favorite component to the One-Boat Network App is Chart View,” he said. “It’s a powerful tool for trip planning and on-the-water navigation. It provides access to detailed VX Basemaps, allowing users to customize their view, set waypoints, and chart courses effectively. Anglers can manage and transfer waypoints effortlessly, ensuring they can plan their fishing strategy before heading out.” 

Water Conditions

I spent a few years in Birmingham, Alabama, and fished most of the Coosa River impoundments and of course I spent a great deal of time on Guntersville, which is one of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) impoundments on the Tennessee River. Both of those systems offer flood-control and hydroelectric power generation that certainly affects water levels and current daily. Ultimately, these water-level changes affect how and where the fish position to feed.

The TVA Lake Info app provides lake levels, water-generation schedules, and forecasts for the nine primary lakes along the Tennessee River, and a number of other nearby systems. Being able to plan by looking at water-generation schedules helped me plan where to launch my boat. For example, when a lake is maintaining full pool, or regular water levels, TVA usually doesn’t pull much water during the weekends and that often made the fishing more difficult, but during the week the schedule often indicated a higher level of water generation and that pulled water through the entire system. With more current, more fish concentrated near current breaks and seemed to be more active and willing to bite.

The same applied to the Coosa River lakes, including Logan Martin and Lay lakes to name a couple. By planning ahead through the use of the Shorelines app, you can maximize your efforts before you ever launch the boat at any of the impoundments along the Coosa River. There are many other examples of this along our nation’s largest river systems with associated apps to help your pregame efforts.

Weather Apps & More

Various weather apps don’t always agree. I run four or five different ones at the same time to cross reference forecasts and determine an average likelihood that certain conditions may occur. I like AccuWeather, The Weather Channel, Weather Underground, WeatherBug, WTForecast (you can thank me for this one later), Barometer, Sunrise Times, and My Moon Phase. Each of these apps provides valuable information for trip planning and on-the-water analysis of conditions.

There are also various apps connected to buoys associated with the Great Lakes to provide wind speed and direction, which could lead to advisories. Consider Windy, SailFlow, iWindsurf, and NOAA for up-to-date wind conditions. This is critical information when planning a trip on big water—you want to know wind conditions when you get there, but also when you intend to return to shore.

Of course, you can always reference In-Fisherman’s famous Best Fishing Times solunar calendar at in-fisherman.com.

Advanced Fishing Apps

There are numbers of fishing apps designed to help you log data, keep tabs on conditions, incorporate mapping, and manage waypoints all in one. A few I suggest considering are the Omnia Fishing, Deep Dive, and onX Fish apps. Each aggregate various data sources including weather and mapping from other applications and bring each to one location for a unique and real-time experience that helps you make good decisions while on or off the water. Each are free downloads but offer expanded access and tools through monthly or annual subscriptions.

Omnia: Not only is Omnia a renowned Midwestern-based fishing tackle retailer, and more than just a free fishing app, it’s a community of passionate anglers united by a love for angling. Whether bass fishing or targeting other species, Omnia provides fishing map layers, lake info, tackle, and local fishing report data.

The optional Omnia PRO membership ($49 annually) unlocks more fishing maps that take you beyond the free fishing app features. View the current surface temps and clarity reading across each lake, Navionics depth contours, C-MAP data on submerged vegetation and bottom composition, and more. Perfect for finding bass fishing spots or habitat for other species. PRO members also get credit back on tackle purchases and free shipping every day.

Deep Dive: Deep Dive gives you no-nonsense, cutting-edge tools to help you catch more fish. Dive right in with our easy-to-use Bait Tool or dive deeper with our industry-leading Water Clarity Map. It’s all here. In your pocket. Your inputs are paired with weather conditions for whatever day and time you’ve selected. These are fed into the Deep Dive top-baits engine to give you the top baits for your lake.

Form an overall strategy without driving to the lake first. Deep Dive leverages daily satellite imagery to update as frequently as possible to provide up-to-date water clarity images, limited only by potential cloud cover. This built-in feature is available on over 120 top lakes, with that number increasing. ($79.99 per year)

onX Fish: The onX app has long been a valuable mapping resource for hunters and landowners alike. Now onX Fish provides anglers with comprehensive fishing tools, including contour mapping for increasing your confidence on the water. For many years, the best and smartest anglers have utilized fishery data to put them in the right place at the right time. OnX Fish provides customizable filters to highlight fish species and sizes, all while offering multiple “plan bs” at anglers’ fingertips. Creating a pattern is the key to successful fishing, and that’s the goal with onX Fish.

Plus, this app works on Apple Car Play, which is super handy when driving to your spot on the ice—always practice extreme caution when driving on the ice. ($34.99-$99.99 annually)

Nothing beats time on the water. Nobody would argue that technology has become a dominant part of our lives, to both positive and negative ends. However, if there’s a way to increase your productivity and safety before leaving the house, the apps discussed herein improve your overall experience. I say technology has offered quite a few solid options for fishing homework to be accomplished from your favorite chair at home, and then to effectively execute your plan when you drop you trolling motor into the water.

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