A thousand points of fight .... GPS waypoints

[Pilar]

Skein and I have an idea for making GPS points available for the community to share.

It would be a password protected database that you can contribute to or learn from. The password will change frequently to prevent unauthorized use and all participants must agree to hold the others harmless if the points are wrong or unproductive. This will alleviate the requests for common waypoints and allow people to plan trips far from thier homes. Once commissioned we can get the boss (user #2) to put a link to it on the salty dogs board.

Some rules for membership ... I am open to suggestions and I am soliciting them. In general my aim is to allow the contributing members to share their combined knowledge and with no small convenience. The thing that must be avoided is the plundering of the treasure chest by those who would only take and not contribute to the well being and education of the many. Having said that I think we should take care of the new guys. After all Momma is going to be very much more amenable to requests for boat bucks and kitchen passes when Pappa returns with S.E.G., bloody boat and coolers containing fresh fish like Halibut.

Knowing how to fish is one thing, knowing where to fish is the only thing.

1) Any active treasure chest user must contribute waypoints. Even for another state or part of this state. There will be no keeping score. You give up some of your spots and you can access all the other spots. With the spirit I see in so many Salty Dogs this should be no problem.

2) Casual users or lurkers will not participate.

3) People who exist only as an internet entity will not participate. One of the main reasons for the Tuna meetings is to match faces with names.

4) The passwords will not be shared with any unauthorized users. They will change frequently and the active users will be notified by email.

5) New fishers may be offerred a 'line of credit' from the waypoint bank. This helps the new guys out and they can be successful right out of the gate. But they will be expected to share what they learn.

I doubt if this will be much trouble to use. Most of the guys fishing now are handing out spreadsheets, scribbled candy wrappers or even broadcasting waypoints on VHF to other ifishers. I would like to keep it in the family, because that is what you guys are to me ... family.

Our family treasure chest .... the thousand points of fight.

Think of it as a bank account ... put money in ... take money out.

[Miss B Haven]

:grin: Can I play? :grin: Sounds good John- I'm working on some new ones to share too! Gotta test drive 'em first though!

Now - about that waypoint for the 400lb bluefin and the other one for Mr. Bill....

[WP]

John,
This is a great idea. I would be very pleased to share the little I have and certainly would like to draw on the experience and knowledge of my Salty Dog brothers.
WP

[kenai]

Sounds great, trouble is I got most of my OR waypoints from the Salty Dogs already. (Thanks for that by the way). Maybe this will force me to go do some chart reading and exploring.

[Mr. Fisherman]

I'm in. Keep me posted...

[RatherBFishn]

Great idea for us who don't have ANY waypoints. Being sort of a newbie to Ocean fishing, I would really appreciate some waypoints to ge me started in the right direction. With some luck I might be able to contribute in the future.

[Deepslayer]

At present I am usually a passenger on another Salty Dog's boat. Thank you WP for a great Friday & Saturday! Last year when I went with sturgn most of the time, we used great way points supplied by Pilar for halibut and albacore. I the future "when" I get a boat? I would appreciate all the help I can get.
,Ed

[tailchaser]

I'm not against giving some waypoints away for peoples use on this board as long as it's controlled somewhat.

Pete - I haven't used the MMC card yet on my Eagle but plan to very soon. I'm trying to find out if my program (Nobletec) will load correctly. The manufacturer recommends a different one. I love the software though. I have every map from Southern Cal up to Alaska and detailed info on every port in the region. I can even hook it up to my gps on board with a laptop and run it showing my position if I can't use the MMC but hopefully I won't have to do that.

tc

[Jennie@ifish]

So, what happens when you go here?
http://www.ifish.net/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=forum;f=31

Will it let you in?

I have a password set. If it does let you in, try to post, and tell me what happens. I've never set up a private board.

I'm not going to give out the password yet, cuz I don't know how Pilar will like this set up. The data base may be a better idea.

Jen

[Miss B Haven]

Didn't like me Jennie - incorrect password! :depressed:

Must be working :smile:

[ 05-12-2003, 04:27 PM: Message edited by: Miss B Haven ]

[Pilar]

Thank you Jennie, now give up all those secret holes on the Kilches ..... Please? :grin:

I'll trade you for the ones I have for the Rockpile, 17 miles offshore.

[Stoyjun Princess]

I think this is a great idea. We will be happy to share are waypoints. We had are GPS ripped off last winter with all are good waypoints for the Rockpile and off shore salmon and bottem fishing. We will get them again, but that's the fun part. So count me in. :grin:

[fishwhenican]

Sounds like a very good idea, I would be willing to participate with what little I know. Many Salty Dogs have helped me, and I have expanded that with some info that may be helpful to those Dawgs and others

[CrazyFish]

Jennie,

The site is asking for a password that I don't have.

Pilar,
Great idea, count me in. I've got some good #'s to share and am always looking for more good spots. :grin:

[Marty]

Great Idea, count me in.........I have kept track of every tuna slaughter for the last 6 years, plus bluefin sitings on two different occasions. Its interesting to plot all those number on the chart and you kinda see a pattern to the madness. Open water spots are a little different than a 'honey hole', but the closed aspect of the board would protect them to some degree. I think we need a meeting of the minds at the local pub to help lubricate the memory of some of those hidden spots.

Marty

[Jennie@ifish]

The fact that you don't have a password is the point.
So far no one has given it out. We are just testing a password protected board for you guys.

You know, you could charge for this, and raise money for your gillnetting cause, or another cause... or just keep it free, and among you friends.

So much a month, or something. Problems arise, however, if you just get someone who copies the stuff and leaves.

I guess that's a problem with ANY password protected area, though. I can change this password anytime you like, so, you could change it once a month, or once a week, or... But how will you distribute the passwords?
My suggestion is to keep an active e mail list, bccd with the current password, to everyone you want in.

But, how do you choose who gets in? I know that everyone and their brother will want in! :smile: (sisters, too!)

Anyway, just some problems for you folks to think about.

You are welcome to use it, if it would help you in your endeavor.

Jen

[Gregotis98]

Family, I'm touched brother Pilar.

[skein]

Let me see what I can put together before you worry too much about passwords. I have a plan in my head, but it will take a day or two to pull it all together.

My feeling is there is much, much more than just numbers to deal with. That's what I'm trying to plan for and lay out before we start building the database or figuring how we want to search or present the information.

Just take a deep breath and let me have a go at it.

Oops, dinner bell. Fresh halibut, you know. :grin:

Skein

[Fishplay]

Glad to see this is coming together. I like the idea very much. It's easy to determine who gets access. All participating Bretheran. As John said; we know who most of us are through the meetings that started as Tunaholics and have now really become ,in general, Salty Dog meetings.

If someone isn't making an effort to participate then I would say they were a potential gleener.

If I can help in any way with this... let me know.

[crabbait]

Yo Dogs, some of the folks on the main forum have gotten wind of the new forum and are not sure what to make of it. How about stepping over there and sharing the news.

I am trying to hold the fort but really could use an assist. [img]graemlins/icon_argue.gif[/img]

[Hanapa'a Time]

I too would like to see this happen. For some of us that have NO waypoints yet. :whazzup: Comming from the days of Loran TD's, this is like having to start over again now that I have my own boat. :shocked: I for one am NOT interested in tuna, have been several times, but prefer bottom fish, hali's and salmon. I don't always need specific places and am not afraid to explore and share(with the appropriate people, of course :grin: ).

[Slow Roll]

Like I said before, I don't have a boat (yet)but would be more than willing to donate my time and beers to help with the collection, coordination and cataloging. Well, that and put some fishing karma in the bank for future use. :grin:

Paul B.

[Fisherguy]

Would be glad to share some way point for some new ones. Keep me informed about how this is going to work.

[Taylor's viewpoint]

I want to be in this group. I lost all my waypoints last year when my X16 crashed. I will contribute the ones I learned this year and any others I have on paper. I learned a good lesson when the GPS crashed; get them on paper after a successful trip.
TV

[Pete]

A somewhat related issue ... does anyone use MMC or SDC cards to transfer data between GPS and computer? On the computer, what software do people find most useful?

[Fishslayer]

Sounds like a good plan. Count me in.

[blubeast]

Sounds Good. My only concern would be the need to have some sorta email broadcast each time the admins changed the passwords plus the maintenance of the master list of those who'd receive the list or are authorized to access. Might turn into a chore.

Another suggestion would be the ability to post followup comments as to how productive the area was & what was caught.

[jcarufo]

Most of our numbers are from up North, but I would love to be part of the project. Hopefully we'll find the time and the opportunity to hit the tuna later this Summer with you all. Where do I send my list? Thanks everyone for all the effort. What a great idea!
Jean

[fish assassin]

Hey Pilar,

Would this also be a place where we share locations by *areas*?? Ya know, like
"I caught x# Salmon at 62 fathoms due West of Depoe Bay this past weekend"?? Or
would you rather keep this as just a numbers page? Either way, I'd like to help as I
can!! :grin:

-assAssin-

[Lovestafish]

I'd like to play too. I'm more than willing to share what places I know about. I can't honestly see myself as a 'salty dog' but I'd like to see myself at least as a puppy that's gotten wet a couple times.....

[Albacore Tuna Captain]

Okay Pilar, I like this idea and am willing to share gps #'s. However I want to point out one thing why I think this is a great idea even for a charter boat captain. I have hundreds of gps spots where I have been very successful, that's why I have the numbers. But these spots don't always produce. It is the "recent" location of fish that makes a gps number valuable. When you have several boats looking and locating, it makes the effort so much easier for all. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img] That's why I have never had a problem sharing my info. But I will not share the numbers given to me by other charter boat captains out of professional consideration. However, I believe that once this effort gets off the ground, other captains will see the benefit in it that I do. [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img] I'm out there almost every day so I have that advantage but all my buddies out there helping locate the fish makes up for an every day effort. So let's get this off the ground! If this is going to work like a bank, I have tons o' numbers to exchange for!

[Birdnest]

Being a Salty Pup I really can do no more than make a mess on the floor every now and then. But now I have my own boat and will begin to explore the San Juans once she is fully equiped and I am up to the task.

Question is, you'll are from that state that won't let you pump your own gas, do Puget Sound numbers even interest you'll? Do I need to drive to Portland to play? Are there enough WA folks particpating to make this worth while? Are numbers from a Salty Pup worth while?

Birdnest

[Miss B Haven]

Birdnest- I think you'll find interest from us Oregonians. They let us out of the State on good behavior every nice in a while. :grin: I love it up there (and more importantly so does the wife). I'd be up there more but now that I have a non-trailer boat well... lets just say that I fish all summer for what it costs me to run up there! :shocked:

PS- we can't pump our own gas cause it's just to dangerous, but it's OK to commit suicide here! :whazzup:

[Pilar]

Birdsnest, yes, yes, yes. I would love to go to the San Juans someday. What stops me is a lack of knowledge of the area. The distance is another factor. I would be much more likely to drag a boat up there if I had some kind of plan and some waypoints to go to.

I'm sure it could work that way for you too.

And pups see things through new eyes. You may find stuff the rest of us have blasted by and missed on the way to the same old spots. Don't think for a minute that you can't find awesome fishing holes, even on day one as a beginner.

[sturgn]

This is a great idea guys, I have lots of spots recorded, and as soon as I replace the red headed hook'r I will be using them! Let me know if I can help in any way!

[Skipper]

I have spots to contribute where we limited on Chinook last Summer.

Cheerio'
Skipper

[WP]

It would be a great sharing for locations, techniques, and other fishing info...for all the PNW...including Canada. The greatest benefit for me is for areas I can't fish often or have never been to, such as vacationing on Vancouver Island, or Puget Sound. Why limit it to Oregon or the Or-Wa coast? The more the better and with a database structure, sorting for specific information and numbers should be relatively easy. A time function would enable us to edit old numbers. A comments section could also be used to identify when an area or location is non-productive anymore! A lot of work but I think worth all the time and effort needed. I will gladly help in any way I am able to. Let me know what I can contribute Jon.
WP

[Hook-up]

What a great idea. It would be nice if somehow we could have different catogories (if it is not to complicated). Some by species, some by location (the bay you access them from) and some by date for recent catch data (like when we are chasing tuna).

[Fishmstr]

Sign me up. I've got a few rockfish spots, some rumored shallow water halibut spots, and other spots in Cali and Baja. Should be a great resource. Thanks for setting it up.

[Pilar]

We are still working and thinking on this. The work was temporarily tabled due to insanity.

I am just crazy about FB and the pursuit of same. We'll get back on it as soon as I recover from the last weekend.

Thank you all for the offers of help and numbers. One of the features will be a way to add numbers or edit the numbers you have given. Until then just email what you have to Skein or myself. In Excel spreadsheet form if possible. On a matchbook or butcher paper if not.

[Clarity]

I'd love to participate once it's operational. My GPS has always been open to anyone anyway.