Al B core Posted December 27, 2020 Report Share Posted December 27, 2020 ...long shot,,, But anyone down Flamingo in mid-January gonna run to Whitewater? First timer looking for 'tracks' on my machine... I know there is FMT but $700 seems ridiculous for a postage stamp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted December 28, 2020 Report Share Posted December 28, 2020 20 hours ago, Al B core said: I know there is FMT but $700 seems ridiculous for a postage stamp Until you blow out your lower unit..... If you are serious about fishing shallow in the 10k's....invest in a Lowrance and a FMT. Piece of mind....if not, you are playing with the luck of the tides if you don't have years of experience in the areas. BTW, you don't need anyone to run Whitewater Bay....it's completely laid out with markers to the Shark River. dc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Dave Posted December 28, 2020 Report Share Posted December 28, 2020 20 hours ago, Al B core said: ...long shot,,, But anyone down Flamingo in mid-January gonna run to Whitewater? First timer looking for 'tracks' on my machine... I know there is FMT but $700 seems ridiculous for a postage stamp Use Google Earth to make some tracks and waypoints of spots you want to explore, and then transfer to your GPS. Like Dino said, Whitewater Bay is pretty easy. It's a straight, easy shot from the ramp, through Buttonwood Canal, across Coot Bay to Tarpon Creek, and then into Whitewater Bay. Just read the water if you deviate from the markers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaSerpent123 Posted December 28, 2020 Report Share Posted December 28, 2020 22 hours ago, Al B core said: ...long shot,,, But anyone down Flamingo in mid-January gonna run to Whitewater? First timer looking for 'tracks' on my machine... I know there is FMT but $700 seems ridiculous for a postage stamp It's the best 700.00 you will ever spend. I was nervous going to Flamingo about 2 weeks ago but had the FMT. It took the guess work out of the run. You will not be disspointed if you get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jh141 Posted December 28, 2020 Report Share Posted December 28, 2020 On 12/27/2020 at 12:39 PM, Al B core said: ...long shot,,, But anyone down Flamingo in mid-January gonna run to Whitewater? First timer looking for 'tracks' on my machine... I know there is FMT but $700 seems ridiculous for a postage stamp Must not have been there in a while Dino, A lot of markers are gone. The marker at Midway Key is broke off two feet above the water line. They tied a green floating buoy to it to make it visible. Big Dave is spot on. Al B Core If you have a map of the Wilderness Waterway there are enough markers left you keep you comfortable. Whitewater Bay and Oyster are NOT going to be a problem for you. There are some spots between islands that can get you so do not run between two islands that are close together. There are also some points that are hidden because the island is shrinking so do not run to close to points. If you are going up into creeks keep in mind that the channel is very often not straight in. I am often there on Saturdays and would be glad to show you some spots to avoid on my Lowrance. If you are going all the way to the coast there are a couple spots to avoid. There is a dead island ( We call it Oops Island ) that is covered most of any tide and is about 100 yards from the shore exiting one opening south of Shark River. It can be seen as a dark spot on Google Earth. If you hit that it will ruin your day. Out Front is soft mud and the water color is easier to read. Out back is tannic and you have to read the surface action, water color will not help you. We fished WWB on Saturday and it was tough fishing. We did manage three reds, a 15 pound tarpon and more snooklets than we could count. Lady fish were very active also. The water temp was hovering around 67 degrees and the north wind was brutal, but we still caught fish. That's way I love WWB. I do have the FMT "postage stamp" but never or very rarely use the lines or tracks in South ENP. Been fishing there all my life. I bought it for the satellite images and the Upper 10K Islands. As Dino can tell you North ENP will kill a prop and lower unit in a hurry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted December 28, 2020 Report Share Posted December 28, 2020 1 hour ago, jh141 said: Must not have been there in a while Dino, A lot of markers are gone. The marker at Midway Key is broke off two feet above the water line. They tied a green floating buoy to it to make it visible. I rarely run WWB - I normally run the JOE to the Shark and Ponce..... 1 hour ago, jh141 said: I do have the FMT "postage stamp" but never or very rarely use the lines or tracks in South ENP. Been fishing there all my life. I bought it for the satellite images and the Upper 10K Islands. As Dino can tell you North ENP will kill a prop and lower unit in a hurry. U nose dats rite The images are really useful...i spend hours on my couch at night with my google earth on the MAC and Simrad with my FMT plotting my next adventure.....lots of fun. dc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MA/1607 Posted December 28, 2020 Report Share Posted December 28, 2020 My .02 cents. FMT south florida region is 450.00, bought mine less than a year ago. Maybe they've raised prices since then. Totally changed my outlook on everglades and I literally gained 20 years experience for a small price tag in my book. I do an occasional trip to the keys and it works great there as well. Honestly I feel the product is worth northwards of 1,000 if you consider the accuracy and detail thats gone into making it. Being old and retired I've never put the word fishing and saving money in the same sentence. When I go fishing I spend money when I "saved" money I put into Roth, 401k, brokerage accounts. 2 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mangroovin Posted December 29, 2020 Report Share Posted December 29, 2020 When I used to go to Flamingo as a youngin they didn't have GPS yet. Learned real quick how to use a paper map/18 Redfisher combo......lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted December 29, 2020 Report Share Posted December 29, 2020 8 hours ago, MA/1607 said: When I go fishing I spend money when I "saved" money I put into Roth, 401k, brokerage accounts. Great line 5 hours ago, Mangroovin said: When I used to go to Flamingo as a youngin they didn't have GPS yet. Learned real quick how to use a paper map/18 Redfisher combo......lol. Been there, done that 17 years ago when I began with my 2003 Redfisher - out of Chokoloskee no less....I had an old Garmin 7" screen that was basically useless in the 10k's......Spent hours reading the TOPSPOT maps and others I could get my hands upon.....ran aground, learned "OK", can't pass through there (LOL), go a different way many a time..... FMT is not the panacea for all things shallow, as 90% of the time, I'm not even on the "red-line" when I'm fishing (you actually get into more trouble when you are exploring "off the line-LOL", but, it does allow you a bit of piece of mind that you can go out and back - well, on most days unless you have a negative tide and a NE wind out of Chokoloskee dc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Dave Posted December 29, 2020 Report Share Posted December 29, 2020 Love running the "Black Lines"! 😉 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted December 30, 2020 Report Share Posted December 30, 2020 15 hours ago, Big Dave said: Love running the "Black Lines"! 😉 Yeah....I've run a few "black lines", but, not on the negative low my Holy Ghost drafts a bit more than your skinny HB dc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al B core Posted January 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 Holy Cr*p,,,, U guys are great!! I'm a 20 year NE (northeast) flyguy and have Never fished Florida. I do have a Pathfinder But bringing the 1720 AC (Actioncraft, sorry if that taboo here?), Anyways, it sounding like a buddy or FMT is a Must for anything North?? But WWB from Flamingo ramp should be oKay ??(of-course my lower is brand new 😉 and I'm sure the tides w by minus. Also: I just picked WWB for starters as would like the flexibility to go where there is actually some fish?? Appreciate the help so far And will follow this post more closely now. Hoping.to be there next Friday-ish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 6 hours ago, Al B core said: But bringing the 1720 AC (Actioncraft, sorry if that taboo here?), That will work well in WWB buy a Topspot Map and make your away across WWB down to the Shark and fish the Shark, Ponce, and the shoreline head south...lots of places to explore slowly dc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finbully Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 On 12/27/2020 at 12:39 PM, Al B core said: ...long shot,,, But anyone down Flamingo in mid-January gonna run to Whitewater? First timer looking for 'tracks' on my machine... I know there is FMT but $700 seems ridiculous for a postage stamp Great first post, good luck with that attitude. FMT is very likely the best navigation aid since chart plotters were created for FL shallow water fishing. They are not $700 either. Both chips covering the whole state are $650, one chip is $450. Cheap insurance, and try getting a quick fix on a trashed lower unit during these times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wanaflatsfish Posted January 2, 2021 Report Share Posted January 2, 2021 17 hours ago, Al B core said: Holy Cr*p,,,, U guys are great!! I'm a 20 year NE (northeast) flyguy and have Never fished Florida. I do have a Pathfinder But bringing the 1720 AC (Actioncraft, sorry if that taboo here?), Anyways, it sounding like a buddy or FMT is a Must for anything North?? But WWB from Flamingo ramp should be oKay ??(of-course my lower is brand new 😉 and I'm sure the tides w by minus. Also: I just picked WWB for starters as would like the flexibility to go where there is actually some fish?? Appreciate the help so far And will follow this post more closely now. Hoping.to be there next Friday-ish BTW Don't forget you need to register and take a boaters course for the ENP...there is a sticky here in this forum for Flamingo dc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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