Brownsville Tony Loc: Brownsville - Laguna Madre

Actually, it wasn't that bad, but close! FlyGuy and I went fishing out of Port Isabel, Texas yesterday. Nice day, few fish, patchy fog. My Garmin fish finder isn't working because a mouse (?) ate a wire. We were in the process of moving to new spot which happened to be on the way back to the marina and the fog suddenly engulfed us. We were in the shipping channel but the markers are a half to three quarters of a mile apart. We got flat lost! I hung around a marker buoy and eventually a shrimper came by and we followed him in. Now my tracker 4, even if it had been working, doesn't actually track. I could have made a track by entering waypoints every few minutes and followed that back but what I think I'll do is to spend my incentive check on a new Garmin tracker 5 that has a feature on it called Contour Map Drawing. Anybody got any experience with it or an opinion one way or another? Understand, we have hundreds of miles of bay here that is only about 3' deep. A difference of a few inches is what we call "structure". Unless you go off shore depth/fish finders aren't a big deal. If you want to know how deep the water is you stick your rod tip down.

PapaJ Loc: South of Greenville, TX. Near Lake Tawakoni

YIKES! That sounds pretty scary to me. I'm glad y'all are ok!

flyguy Loc: Lake Onalaska, Sunfish Capitol of the World!

Actually, I wasn't worried Tony, until we made the seventh trip around that marker buoy, #22. It was a good thing that the shrimper was coming in and not going out. The Laguna Madre is a strange body of water. It never gets too rough because it is so shallow. The only place it is deep is in the Intercoastal Canal, but that isn't marked very well. The canal on the Miss. River is mark better than the Intercoastal Canal. Oh, it was a fun trip, lots of memories and that is what life is all about.

Able Man Loc: North Coast (Cleveland, Ohio)

I have no experience with the Garmin Trackers, but; ¿Might a new compass be a good investment?

Whitey Loc: Southeast ohio

Yes even a simple handheld one kept in a compartment on the boat just for emergencies 👍 ship-to-shore radio

bobber22 Loc: Ocala, Florida

Take some compass bearings on the day markers and number them. In the fog, once you have found one, you can plot a course to the next one and so on until you either get your bearings or arrive at home. Used to go out in San Fransisco dense fog with only a radio direction finder ( RDF ), a chart and a good compass. Once you get the hang of it you will have a lot more confidence in getting around in the fog.

Gripnriprod Loc: Concepcion Costa Rica

Red, right returning helps.

Able Man Loc: North Coast (Cleveland, Ohio)

I'd noticed years ago, when in the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the rule becomes: "Red Right Return REBEL" (Red is always on the western edge of the channel.)

bobber22 Loc: Ocala, Florida

If your in a fog and come across a red day marker, which way do you go to find the next buoy to get home. There is no correct answer without a compass. Yes red right returning a a faithful friend, but knowing the direction to the next one you can't see is conjecture.

No one special

Many cell phones have Google Maps and a compass app. Didn't you have a phone with you?

bobber22 Loc: Ocala, Florida

Back in the day there were no cell phones--talking early 80's. Dead Reckoning and an RDF were all you needed even though your fuel consumption might suffer doing the necessary zigzag using the RDF homing in on 2 separate frequencies . Ever use one ? Its really fun and I sometimes used to do it even after they came out with Loran A which was predesessor to Loran C--now I'm not sure if there is still Loran to work with given GPS. Guess I'm really giving up my age here, but started fishing commercial on the west coast in the 70's

Brownsville Tony Loc: Brownsville - Laguna Madre

We were in the Brownsville Ship Channel and we could see the sun but the fog was so dense that when we would get into water too shallow to navigate (about a foot) the shoreline was just a blur. I knew what direction we were headed and we were never more than a couple miles from safety, it was just that we were inside a cloud. There was no danger that we could have ended up outside the breakwater and into the gulf. I don't want to imply that we were ever in peril.

woodguru Loc: El Dorado Ca

The mapping feature that shows you where you've been is a game changer, if you can see where you've been you can follow it back. My wife found an app on her phone that connects to satellite that tracks where you go. Berryessa is so big and the arms look so much the same that it's scary to get too far worrying about finding your way back.

Whitey Loc: Southeast ohio

What's the name of the app if you don't mind me asking.

woodguru Loc: El Dorado Ca

Navionics is on my wife's and Polaris Navigation is the one I put on my phone