Knowledge of water contours and depths are critical keys to angling success on any body of water. Now you can access this info instantly, in your smartphone, courtesy of the ScoutLook Fishing app.
Consistent fishing success isn’t about luck. The key is knowledge. The more you have, the more success you’ll taste. Team ScoutLook knows one of the most-critical factors to any successful outing is pinpointing fish-holding structure and dependable fish movement patterns, just one reason the ScoutLook Fishing app currently includes a FREE trial of detailed water contours.
Access to the water contour data is quick and easy; while in the app, simply click on the “Map Layer” icon at the bottom right of your smartphone screen, and you’ll have three options: Radar view, Cloud cover, or Water Contour (labeled as “Water Depth” for Android users and “Water Contour” for iOS users). Clicking on this layer while viewing your chosen body of water—lakes and major rivers—instantly shows detailed, high-visibility contour lines and the clearly marked depths they represent.
The current ScoutLook Fishing water contour database features more than 9,000 lakes and major rivers nationwide, and the list is constantly growing. Fish-finding power doesn’t get any more convenient.
The current ScoutLook Fishing water contour database features more than 9,000 lakes and major rivers nationwide, and the list is constantly growing. Included in that total are the 250 most-fished lakes in the country, and of course, thousands of many lesser-known waters.
Who will find water contour data valuable? If you fish, you’re included. So are serious, pro-level or other tournament anglers who pay large, yearly memberships for some similar services, connected to their on-board depth finders or GPS units. But there is a huge difference with the ScoutLook Fishing app water contour data—it’s accessed from your smartphone that you take with you everywhere. And that’s just plain convenient, no matter how much high-tech equipment you stock on your boat.
Avid tournament fisherman and regular ScoutLook Fishing contributor Glenn Walker recommends planning your next angling adventure with help from the highly detailed and accurate ScoutLook Fishing app water contour data.
“To me, the advantages of the ScoutLook Fishing app contour data to a serious or tournament-level angler, centers on when you’re off the water,” said Glenn Walker, a tournament bass angler and regular ScoutLook Fishing contributor. “The guy who has the on-board GPS and sonar, they love to talk shop and compare notes. At the end of the day, instead of being required to walk out to your boat and ‘power-on’ your graphs, the ScoutLook Fishing app is a nice easy way to pull up the lake you were fishing that day, and plan the next day’s attack.
“Using the ScoutLook contour data, you can instantly show someone—maybe at a restaurant, or back at the hotel or campground—not only where you were fishing, but detailed characteristics of certain locations,” Walker continued. “Then your buddies can see exactly where the ‘hot’ structure is—or the exact physical make-up of a certain hotspot or pattern—that they can then attempt to replicate in other areas of the lake. To me, having this data at your fingertips, in your smartphone, is priceless if you’re vacationing with a group of anglers, or you’re back at the hotel, planning strategy for the next day of the tournament.”
The proof is in the results. ScoutLook Executive Editor Mark Melotik and fishing buddy Lane Uherka (shown here) used the time-saving ScoutLook Fishing app water contour data recently to literally walk to what turned out to be a mid-lake panfish honeyhole, during late-ice conditions on a local Minneapolis lake.
Not a tournament angler? The ScoutLook Fishing app water contour data is also ideal for vacationing anglers who rent boats at lodges, or state or county parks. Avid ice fishermen also will find the contour data invaluable. In early March, ScoutLook Executive Editor Mark Melotik used the app and contour data to make the most of “late-ice” conditions on a local Minnesota lake. Melotik’s fishing partner was carrying a sonar unit to check depth, but accurate readings with that unit required drilling a hole to dunk the unit’s transducer. It was much easier to simply walk out to the lake’s deepest hole, with help from the ScoutLook Fishing app. Even better, Melotik found the data incredibly accurate, helping the duo zero-in on subtle depth breaks; literally dozens of depth readings over the course of the day never varied more than a foot from those flashing on the sonar unit, even in the deepest areas fished. The eventual reward? Locating a huge school (and eventual double limit) of good-sized bluegills and perch.
Using the water contour data in conjunction with the ScoutLook DriftPoint Wind Map feature allows you to position your boat precisely to drift over promising structure, such as this isolated submerged hump.
In a boat on open water, using the ScoutLook Fishing app water contour layer can help you “zero-in” on fish in countless ways. One of the most-useful scenarios is to use the contours in conjunction with the ScoutLook DriftPoint Wind Map feature. Start by finding promising structure with the contour layer (such as the distinct hump shown above), then see how current or forecasted winds will create fish-catching opportunities. In this case, the light west-southwest wind would allow you to position your boat precisely to drift over the top of the submerged hump, which is where you will likely find the most-active, aggressively feeding fish.
Will you be fishing a lake where you won’t have cell service? Before you go, using the app and water contour feature to save promising spots, while simultaneously activating the “Available Offline” feature, will allow you to find those hotspots later, while on the water, even where no cell service exists.
Another serious advantage of the ScoutLook Fishing app contour data, is that this information (even for the most-remote waters) is not cellular-service dependent. So if you’re going to be fishing a lake where you know there is no cell service, all that’s required is a little preparation. Before your trip, use the app and contour lines to locate and “save” several good-looking spots. As you do, make sure to enable the “Available offline” feature at the screen bottom. This will ensure your ability to navigate to those exact spots while on the water, despite a lack of cell service.
Waterway contour data is some of the most-valuable information an angler can possess, and ScoutLook brings it to you in the palm of your hand, in the smartphone you carry with you constantly. If you’re not taking advantage of the ScoutLook Fishing app Water Contour feature, it’s time you gave it a try.
