Just The Fax On The Best Fishing Spots Anglers Speed Communications With Electronic Report Services

Anglers are always looking for an edge. Depth finders. Oxygen meters. Water-temperature gauges. Global Positioning Systems to pinpoint hotspots. Sonar fish finders that show depth and actual fish.

Is there no end to the world of electronics in fishing? Not for the serious angler.

The fax machine has entered the arena.

In 1991, services such as Montana Fish Fax based in Missoula (800) 654-1136, have offered weekly updates on river conditions and insect hatches of interest to fly fishers from spring through fall.

But saltwater anglers are taking technology to another extreme by combining the fast communications possible by fax and combining it with the searching capability of satellites.

The Private Boater Fishing Fax Update, based in Tustin, Calif., and produced by the folks of South Coast Sportfishing magazine, is a service designed to help those who fish find temperature breaks in the ocean.

“It’s just another tool that saltwater fishermen can use to help him locate fish,” said Chuck Garrison, the magazine’s editor. “So often you hear that the secret to success is learning to catch fish. But really, it’s learning how to locate fish because most of the time when you find fish, you’ll find a way to get them to bite.”

Water temperatures and bait are the two biggest influences on where fish will congregate. A fax sent to customers every Thursday night includes a satellite image of ocean water temperatures from Santa Barbara, Calif., to inside Mexico.

The fax also provides reports on marine weather, availability of bait, how fishing was that day, the best bets on where to fish, and the effects of moon, tide and water movement.

Most private boaters use temperature gauges already, but some blindly search for the temperature breaks. This service helps guide anglers to those areas.

The Private Boater Fishing Fax Update is the second such service in Southern California. Ocean Imaging in Solano Beach has been providing it to commercial fishermen since 1984.

Ocean Imaging began offering it to the sportfishing fleet in 1988, and the next year made it available to private boaters.

“What we do is essentially provide road maps to the ocean,” said Jan Svejkovsky, president of Ocean Imaging. “Instead of running around looking for the house, we tell you where the house is. It saves a lot of time and money in fuel.”

Costs for these services range from $150 to $268 a season.

“The only thing it won’t do is catch the fish for you,” Garrison said.

Undoubtedly, somewhere somebody is trying to invent something that will.

, DataTimes