I’m looking for a good mapping card to use in my Lowrance units that show contours and depth on the James River, Chick river areas. Any suggestions.
I’m looking for a good mapping card to use in my Lowrance units that show contours and depth on the James River, Chick river areas. Any suggestions.
I use Navionics East for the the Chick / James. It has pretty good detail with contours etc.
2021 Vexus 2080, Merc ProXs 200
2019 Vexus 1980, Evinrude G2 150 H.O. - moved onto a new owner
There isn’t one imo
I use navionics map east also.
Use the east chip then buy the update software rights so that you can expand/ enhance the mapping and load the SD card with that data.
Originally Posted by riverrat29
What kind of detail does it add? The standard chip has some pretty good detail on the main rivers(contours etc) IMO.
2021 Vexus 2080, Merc ProXs 200
2019 Vexus 1980, Evinrude G2 150 H.O. - moved onto a new owner
My Navionics+ card gives pretty good detail on the coastal rivers. I use it here on the Potomac and the Chickahominy as well as Florida waters. I've never compared it to an east card.
Somebody take a pic of the Chickahominy with navionics plus and show me the detail. Potomac is great but the Chick is terrible. I don’t mind cause I know the river well. But it shows green land in many places where you can run for miles past it lol
The Navionics+ in my HDS units has worked fine for many years running the entire length of the Chick. I don't need any verification for that.
I can run the river in the dark with no lights but that don’t mean shit to the detail of navionics +. Like I said, post a pic and be helpful and not a googled one.The Navionics+ in my HDS units has worked fine for many years running the entire length of the Chick. I don't need any verification for that.
"Like said"
No need.....
Yea you must be a channel runner lol. Try going into Blackstump/eagles bottom/ buzzards bay or even Morris creek. To the OP, sorry your post got high jacked but all seriousness chips show you the main channel. After that it’s weak on safe ways to get in and out of areas and creeks. Potomac has WAY better detail. For those of us that actually fish the Chick and live here, we know better than to trust navionics."Like said"
No need.....
Last edited by 5pigs; 09-18-2019 at 07:23 PM.
Living close by and frequenting the waterway definitely adds details to navigation that your not going to find on any map card. It's the same for any body of water. If the map card provides enough navigational information to allow one to traverse the body of water safely, then it's all good.
If you guys want better contour mapping, do it yourself. That is what the Navionics Sonar Charts program is for.
Everytime on the water record sonar logs where you travel and then upload them to the Navionics Sonar Charts server. Over time you will have some good contour mapping. Just only do the logs around the high tide times.
I don't fish the Chick anymore, but I have been there and done some of the sonar logging to have added to the Sonar Charts data.
I do a lot of that stuff other places and have my equipment installed so the data is accurate:
GPS antenna above the sonar transducer and transducer depth below the surface offset so the depth is actual depth, not the distance between the transducer and bottom. You want depth and location at the same place when doing contour mapping.
Last edited by Wayne P.; 09-19-2019 at 11:45 AM.
Wayne Purdum
Charlottesville, Va.
Helix 12 CHIRP MEGA+ SI G3N/G4N, Helix 15 CHIRP MEGA SI+ GPS G4N
SOLIX 12 SI/G3, Helix 8 CHIRP MEGA SI+ G4N, Ultrex 80/LINK, MEGA360,
MEGA LIVE, LIVE TL
I have navionics platinum chip and it is definitely lacking some detail on the chick. It has no contours at all above the dam either.
05’ Skeeter TZX200, Yamaha 200hp HPDI
00’ Skeeter SX186, Yamaha 150hp VMax.
PRO-FORMANCE FISHING TEAM.
I believe Thomas Harris was trying to do a mapping day on the lake above the dam. Don’t know if it ever happened? Reason nobody updates info to the river is they don’t want out of towners in big events getting into creeks without current details. Such as when the Bass Open comes every year. James and Chick are the hardest places in Virginia to navigate safely out the channels.
Last edited by 5pigs; 09-20-2019 at 11:58 AM.
Thomas set a day to do the Chick river and I was the only one that showed up.
Wayne Purdum
Charlottesville, Va.
Helix 12 CHIRP MEGA+ SI G3N/G4N, Helix 15 CHIRP MEGA SI+ GPS G4N
SOLIX 12 SI/G3, Helix 8 CHIRP MEGA SI+ G4N, Ultrex 80/LINK, MEGA360,
MEGA LIVE, LIVE TL
5pigs, you are correct as it pertains to poor mapping for the Chick.
The Navionics map (Nautical Charts) is no different on the Potomac than on the Chick and James, very few contour lines and mostly spot soundings.
Nautical Charts at Aquia Creek has one contour line and that just shows the channel at the mouth of the creek at about 6'.
If you turn on the Sonar Charts map layer, that is where you see more detailed contour lines on all three rivers. Someone/several would have to had provided that data via sonar logs for it to be there. It is NOT Navionics data.
Every current map product that Navionics has contains the exact same data if updated the same day for both Nautical Charts and Sonar Charts.
Wayne Purdum
Charlottesville, Va.
Helix 12 CHIRP MEGA+ SI G3N/G4N, Helix 15 CHIRP MEGA SI+ GPS G4N
SOLIX 12 SI/G3, Helix 8 CHIRP MEGA SI+ G4N, Ultrex 80/LINK, MEGA360,
MEGA LIVE, LIVE TL
As Wayne mentioned here before. Shallow water river systems are always going to be tough to get sufficient mapping. However, as he said as well, if you record your own sonar logs and upload them to Navionics, you can enhance your own maps.
Most importantly, anytime you are fishing tidal fisheries, you should turn on SonarChart to get the most out of your card. Ive experienced many situations where SonarChart made a massive difference.
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