This past Friday, I decided to take a “me day” away from the rigors of the work world.  I set out on Lake Winnebago looking for a mix of walleyes and perch to fill my live well.

As luck (or skill) would have it, my first honey hole was filled with white bass.   They were fun to catch, but were not my target.  So, I set up on a few popular walleye spots – only to get skunked.  I made my way to my favorite perch spot.  After about 15 minutes, I started catching some impressive Lake Winnebago perch, most about 10-11 inches.

As I looked to the horizon an approaching boat was headed just south of my location.  It was not boat t a commonly seen on Lake Winnebago, and I assumed it may be a Coast Guard or Law Enforcement boat.  It was approximately 25-30 feet long, and something more suited for Lake Michigan.

As the boat approached, across the side was plastered “Garmin”.  Garmin is a mapping company which develops many of the chips commonly used for locators and GPS.  Garmin had been rumored to be re-surveying the lake to update their chip series.   The high tech boat passed just to the south of my location, and then reached the shoreline and turned around to make another pass even closer.

My thoughts raced as I knew the next pass would be almost on my honey hole.  Do I want the world to see my secret spot?  Or do I want to see what is under the water at this location, so I could duplicate the structure on other parts of the lake to find additional sweet spots?   Heck, the perch are biting, so I decided I was not leaving.  The sounding boat came fairly close to my location, and I am sure my jig is now part of the lake structure.

Rumors are that Garmin will release an updated chip of Lake Winnebago sometime next year.  In the mean time the high tech boat will be on the water during weekdays, covering every nook and honey hole on the lake.  I look forward to an updated map with all of the technology available to date.  It is hard to believe just 10 years ago we were using paper maps.  Now we look at color enhanced 3-d images, and we can expect more in the near future.