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I never knew how people could get "lost" while riding their sleds but yesterday on 2/22 my friend and I did it on strawberry. It was a complete white out you could see about 25-50 yards. We made it to Haws Point but we couldn't cross the bay to get to the marina. We would head across and then by the time we should hit the marina we would find the restrooms on haws again. I pulled out the GPS but didn't have the Marina marked. We went noth-west from there and after "crossing" our own tracks again we shut the sleds down and waited for the storm to lift. What a frustrating ride. No slush thankfully. Fishing was good. I landed 20 my friend 16 with 3-23" cutts 2-22" cutts and 2 rainbows one that went 22 1/2" and a 15 incher. All the bigger fish came off glow jigs in shallow. The ice and snow is very thick I would strongly recommend a power auger.
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Sounds like it was a quite interesting trip. Glad to see that you made it out of there ok. Sure does suck when you think you know where you are going and then realize that you just made a big circle. The GPS can be a life saver but if you don't have the right waypoints saved they are not worth a thing. I'll bet you have it now though!
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I highly recommend getting a GPS that has maps on it. That way you are not totally dependent on waypoints.
Utahbill
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I highly recommend carrying a Silva Compass and a lake map. Never fails, that way your not depending on an electronic device. North is always North, a compass always works right on the water.
Most GPS also can act as a compass or at least tell you the bearing you are traveling if you are moving. By using the map to get the heading from Haws Point restrooms to the Marina ramp, you simply stay on that heading.
I have been on big lakes in the fog and had to do this. We had to compass navigate across Lake Champlian once, 15 miles as the crow flies, at 30 mph we knew that we would have a 30 minute ride, blind as to where we were. Just used the compass to stay on our heading and came out about 100 yds from our target.
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2][#002850]The important thing is that you got into some nice fish. I like reading that.
As for where the marina is, I always have the marina(s) marked on my GPS. So many times in the dark or fog, I've had to dig it out and use it to get back.
About a month or so ago, some guys on the Berry in a big snow storm got stuck in the slush and had to be rescued. They said that because they didn't have the marina marked on the map, they didn't know which way to walk out and decided to stay put in their tent with a little food while rescue teams came and got them. Luckily, they had some cell phone service. When one of the guys was telling the story to my brother, he warnded my brother to be sure to mark the marina before heading out.
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Yes. It is easy to get turned around when you are experiencing white out weather conditions. It is not necessary to mention GPS again. Then again...before you get up in the morning...wake up.
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