The best way to use GPS marks is to enter them directly into your sounder or, if you don’t have a sounder, a mobile app like Navionics ( known as Garmin boating ). Videos in the FishingMad members portal walk you through how to do this step by step.
Sometimes, members will contact us by saying, “I entered the GPS coordinates, and they are showing strange locations, like on land or even in another country.” This is generally because members are trying to add GPS coordinates to online tools like Google Maps, which uses LAT/LON, which is different from nautical mapping. Your sounder uses a different format from Google Maps, so the results will be inaccurate. Some tools can convert DMS to DMM, but they are generally incorrect.
As you can see by the example below, if we take the GPS coordinates from the middle of Port Phillip Bay and place them into Google Maps, they show up in the wrong location on land near Point Lillas.
As mentioned above, the best way to use GPS coordinates is to enter them directly into your sounder ( this works with all brands like Lowrance, Garmin, Humminbird, Simrad, Furuno, etc.)
How to add GPS coordinates to your sounder
- Select Waypoints
- Add Waypoint
- Manually enter coordinates, which will be in the following format. ( S038.07.773 | E144.50.618 ) This is an example mark from the middle of Port Phillip Bay
- Save the mark and give it a unique name that you will remember.
Below shows an example of us manually adding a GPS coordinate onto a Lowrance sounder from Altona
How to add GPS coordinates to your mobile App like Navionics ( Garmin Boating )
- Open the mobile App
- Click the magnifying glass icon in the top left-hand corner
- Select Lat/Lon from the top right-hand corner
- Use the number sliders to manually enter coordinates, which will be in the following format. ( S038.07.773 | E144.50.618 ) This is an example mark from the middle of Port Phillip Bay
- Select “show on Map”
- Select Marker
- Save the mark and give it a unique name that you will remember
Below shows an example of us manually adding a GPS coordinate onto a Navionics Mobile App from Altona
I hope this helps. All the GPS Marks are from our many years on the water, which should help put you onto productive grounds seasonally.
Thanks and Best Regards
Al | FishingMad
