High resolution very detailed fishing maps.

[mapman]

Hi, my name is Tim Cawood. I am a certified Hydrographer, which means i survey the bottoms of lake rivers and oceans. Me and my firm are considering producing extreemely detailed fishing maps for the top lakes around the country. These maps would show ALL structures that are 3'x3' in size orlarger (stumps, bolders, even a refrigerator) in 5' feet of water or deeper, as well as 1 foot contours. The maps would be produced in hardcopy (waterproof) version and in digital version, campatable with most higher end gps/fishfinder units. We anticipate that the cost of the maps would be in the $100.00-$150.00 per lake. Do you thiink there is a market for such maps. We would need to sell 200 maps over a 2 year peeriod to make it worth while. Any and all opinions are welcome.

[johnnie crain outdoors]

Tim, there are several high quality lake maps available that cover basically what you are trying to do. While I admire your effort, I'm afraid very few anglers/boaters would pay that much for a map. Average lake maps cost around $10 to $20 Max. I feel your money and efforts would be wasted. Sorry, it's just my opinion. Johnnie Crain site moderator.
Anyone else??

[natasfonik]

Good idea but, Bass Pro Shops sells
a topographical map of most of the lakes
in my area and even a few maps that are
out of my state. Still a map that showed
all the stucture in a lake would be great
to have but the price is a little high.
If you decide to go forward and make a website I would be interested in what lakes
you are going to do

[RNE]

While high-detail maps would be a bonus, the price of would have to be more in line with the more popular Maps now available. (The ‘HotSpot” maps are a good example, average cost, per large lake, 25 bucks. Eufaula requires two, both sides of each.)

I’m sure there is a market for high-detail topo maps such as you propose. It would be small, the average weekend warrior, the biggest market segment, simply will not spend the money. Pros will, and some of the more serious Simi’s.

If you’re talking about 300 maps for each lake, that may be possible. But only for the more popular, larger, high-tournament traffic lakes.

Richard.

[carl]

I would be willing to pay that kind of money for maps in my area. Whether or not your idea is a viable one? I don't think so, but I'm not a business man. Hot Spot maps for this area are old, and not much help. I call them "cartoon maps". Carl

[johnnie crain outdoors]

Carl, you are right, many of today's maps are outdated. There have been so many renovations to lakes and our rivers have changed drastically. I am constantly changing data on my maps as conditions change. On a writer's income, there's no way I can pay that much for any map, even it had each fish drawn out and named. :-)Johnnie

[mapman]

Thanx to all who commented. Your opinions are truely valued as potential users of our product.

I understand that the price of our proposed maps are a major issue that we would have to overcome. These high resolution maps will not be for the average recreational angler. Our target market would be the pro fisherman and guides, or someone that fishes the same lake over and over. These maps will have 1 foot countours and will cover every foot of the lake bottom (in 5' ft water or greater). The maps will show isolated structure that NO ONE even knew existed. I've used some of the maps available today and they showed 10' contours and were very general and inaccurate. They are fine for putting you in the general area of a creek bed or a shear drop off, but they show absolutely no structures.

Anyway we hope to have a web site up witin 6 months with some samples of our product and I will let this group know when it is available. Again, thanx for your comments and I look forward to additional conversation with the guys and gals out there on the water.

cheers Tim

[johnnie crain outdoors]

Tim, once again, thanks for posting. Keep us informed of your progress. There's always a market for new and innovative products. Johnnie