Maine contour maps

[Ohiocatfish]

Reading up on all of the sweet bells and whistles for fishing electronics. Including contour mapping of lakes, rivers, and ponds. However it seems Maine is mostly skipped over when it comes to pre-plotted maps. Does anyone know of any downloadable content packages (contour elite northeast edition is lacking a few lakes) or do you need to buy the $1800 hummingbird and plot local waters yourself? I feel like that info is worth a couple hundred bucks but not almost 2K....maybe the prices will be down around the time I retire.

[kevinmaine3]

Between Isailor and navonics on your phone you should get most lakes and ponds.. I use them for salt water. But have found shoals on lakes too.

[GasBlaster]

Navionics boating USA . missing some lakes ,But it works on your phone with your phones GPS . hard to beat for $10 .

[TwoLightsKid]

Fishidy also has some decent maps for lakes that navionics doesn't cover.  Not as detailed as navionics but still a lot better than the old ifw maps.

[HOTDAM]

Navionics boating USA . missing some lakes ,But it works on your phone with your phones GPS . hard to beat for $10 .

Navioncs is frustrating here in York county....does a nice job on Wilson and Horn even tiny Knights Pond!. Nothing at all on Mousam and Square.
Great East only has the NH side.. 

[icecruiser]

I have my lowrance elite 5 with chartplotter that allows you to make your own charts using Insight genesis from Lowrance.

You can have it formatted to put back on you plotter via sd card. 

Works great but you have to put the time in obtaining the data.  It is great if you fish one place alot.

John

[Ohiocatfish]

Thanks for the feedback. I've been using the ol IF&W maps mostly and also just what I've anecdotally figured out while dropshotting from the canoe. I'll have to give some of these a try...I love the idea of charting my own maps, but why reinvent the wheel.

[icecruiser]

I reinvented the wheel as you say because it gave me detailed maps that noone else has.  I can use my lowrance while ice fishing to set on structure I know that is not on any other map.  I have details on the maps that are amazing.   I have the ability to set up the map how I want and would find most useful.  I find it most helpful for ice fishing as I use it to set traps and find my jigging spots. 

I can also include bottom composition and weeds. 

When I first started making the maps I was amazed by what I found.  As you say it is not for everyone but if you have any interest in amazing detail of the waters you fish this is worth considering.

John

[lynng]

If you have an iPhone I like the app "Aqua Maps Maine" for $3.99. It has many more Maine lakes than other map apps I have looked at. It works off line so it saves battery and data charges. There is a web site that you can preview the lakes that are available before you commit to buy. I also use a standalone GPS receiver, Bad Elf, that improves accuracy and saves battery. I've been very happy with this set up for ice fishing.

[GasBlaster]

If you have an iPhone I like the app "Aqua Maps Maine" for $3.99. It has many more Maine lakes than other map apps I have looked at. It works off line so it saves battery and data charges. There is a web site that you can preview the lakes that are available before you commit to buy. I also use a standalone GPS receiver, Bad Elf, that improves accuracy and saves battery. I've been very happy with this set up for ice fishing.

.

That is a good one. Thanks for sharing !!

[walpy]

Aqua Maps looks good, just bought it! Good call!

[tilted]

Another cheap option you may want to consider is the sonar phone from vex... It's an app you download to your phone or tablet.... They were looking for beta testers in the spring and we're giving the units away.... Here's how it works ... Your phone is the screen.... It comes with a transducer and a small box that uses a wifi signal to communicate with your device... No cellular service is necessary or internet connection.... It's a great feature as it uses no data... It works hand in hand with the navionics app so you need both...if a lake doesn't have a contour map it uses the data from the depth finder to create one...this is great for mapping small ponds or sections of big ones... The more area you cover the bigger the map... This data is downloaded to navionics and stored for other users of the sonar phone... It also allows you to access the data (depths/contours) from other users this having a more detailed and bigger map ... It pieces the data together from various users to create a map of a lake that previously hadn't been mapped by navionics.... I got mine for free but I think they're only a couple hundred bucks... Punch sonar phone navionics beta tester into the Google machine you may be able to score one.... It was navionics who were giving them away not vex

[Sawyerjosh]

there is a .kmz file for google earth that is good too. 

[Seamonkey84]

Please tell me how you like the Aqua maps app, I've been wanting to try it. By offline maps, does that mean just a copy of the map without gps?  But it does have gps right?
 I've been using screen shots of aqua maps lake viewer on the web site as just maps to see where to start. I saw the reviews online and hesitated getting it, saying it wasn't very accurate. the review on the navionics current version doesn't look promising. one said there's now a yearly fee for the app, which covers maybe half the lakes I fish most often.

[slimeypete]

Fishidy also has some decent maps for lakes that navionics doesn't cover.  Not as detailed as navionics but still a lot better than the old ifw maps.

I just checked out Fishidy and what an awesome little site, contour maps are FREE! the extra little tid bits cost a small amount but for what i was looking for which was a general breakdowns of depths for a huge lake like cobbossee and pachaug in ct it was perfect. thanks for the suggestion, cant wait to plot out a few spots to try on my trip to cobbo next weekend. Tight lines

[Tilt]

I have used the Aquaview App on a couple of lakes and have found its accuracy to be pretty inconsistent.  Just my $.02.

[Weekdayflier]

Just actually downloaded that app last weekend, so far it looks like it has some great info and most lakes are on there. Haven't tried it in a spot without service yet though to test if I can still get the maps

[walpy]

Just actually downloaded that app last weekend, so far it looks like it has some great info and most lakes are on there. Haven't tried it in a spot without service yet though to test if I can still get the maps

I believe, don't quote me, that phone should work with the downloaded maps and no cellular signal. A-GPS is the primary, but it should fall back on the GPS chip once that fails.

[SilverSides]

Aqua Maps Maine is available for android as well $2.90

Here is a link to the site that shows available waters.
http://www.globalaquamaps.com/MEviewer.html