On my boat I have a single 17" display coupled to a NavNet 3D Black Box system. It also has the DFF1 Network Fish Finder, FA30 AIS system as well as BBWX1 Sirius Satellite Weather Receiver. With this complete package, I have all the available information right on my dash. My boat is a 33TS Contender open fisherman and all the units fit nicely inside the console.

When I travel to a new location, I like to pre fish the area as much as possible, but I also "pre fish" while I am at home. It's simple to turn on the machine inside my barn and begin to do my homework. I use MaxSea TimeZero on my PC to do my planning and then download my planned routes and waypoints to my NavNet 3D system on the boat. My system comes loaded with a broad area of both Raster and Vector charts AND a fantastic new "Fishing" chart. This has been one of the biggest asset's to me when fishing in a new location. It also brings a lot more info to the areas that we already fish! Many times, we fished a specific spot for Kings only to find out there is an almost identical spot close by, you really do learn something new daily!

We do a lot of fishing in the Northern Gulf of Mexico, especially out of Venice, LA. and Mobile, AL. In this area we are usually looking for pelagic's, especially Dolphin Wahoo, and Tunas. A lot of our fishing is done around the oil and gas rigs that dot the area. Here's where my NavNet 3D and AIS system really helps out. Once we do our homework checking things like wind, water temp, current's, etc., we checkk to make sure that it all coincides with info from our Sirius Weather Receiver. Then formulate a plan as to which rigs we will fish. Usually we have a Plan A and a Plan A-. That's right, only two plans of attack here, with all the information we can gather we now only need the fish to cooperate, and we feel that patience can play a better roll than running to a new spot! Many times I have been reeling them up to make a move only to have the drag scream with a whopper fish on the other end of the line!

It’s also important to remember that once you get to an area, don't be shy about sniffing it out completely before setting up your spread. I like to approach an are slowly while keeping a close eye on my DFF1 Fish Finder, as well as my track line. With NavNet 3D, I now have the ability to have my track depict the water temp! Water temp is paramount in almost all pelagic fishing. Once I get close to the area, I look at the heading arrow that comes off the ships icon, this tells me my REAL heading. It pretty much takes the guess work out of the old Set and Drift theory! Now we know the best way to approach the area. If it's an area we will drift over, I usually have an idea of what the drift will be, based on this information. But usually within the first few minutes of the drift, you will know if you are positioned right. And don't forget to watch that track line!

Earlier this year we were fishing an SKA event in West Palm Beach, Florida, my home waters. In this area I prefer to make long drifts with flatlines and down rods on the windward side of the boat, while we deploy fishing kites downwind to suspend our baits. Our drifts found us covering the areas we were targeting, however we only caught Kingfish in a certain zone, not depth, this "zone" was all water temp related! And it all was prevalent on our past track lines! We went on to win the tournament with a 62.82 pound Kingfish, the biggest of the season at the time, and the biggest by a Junior angler, my Son Eddie Mitchell.

My NavNet 3D system has helped me catch more fish and win more tournaments. The more time and experience I get with it, the more useful features I find. If I had to recommend a system to someone for their new boat, it would be NavNet 3D without a doubt!