Try this on for size

[WTnPuddleJumper]

The next time you plan to go fish a certain lake or river, and if you have some free time and a computer a few days before going, try this on for size.  Instead of waiting until you get on the water to start waypointing ideal fishing spots such as humps, islands, ledges, etc.  start targeting them at home.  I like to use google earth to get nice satellite photos of the river.  This will show you everything above the water such as boat docks, islands etc.  You can also use the history feature which shows the river photographed at different times of the year (sometimes) which will show the pool at different levels.  Then once you find a interesting spot, open a new tab and go to the navionics site and click at the top for the chart viewer.  There you can familiarize yourself with the contours of the bottom with depth charts.   Once you have the both of them you can go back and forth to learn the lay of the water.  Take notes and you can even make copies off of the navionics site.  Once you find enough info you can then go to your chart in your boat and waypoint all of the interesting spots you found.  Then when its time to hit the lake all you have to do is drive to the waypoint and fish!!!!  Hope this helps,  It does for me!

 https://www.navionics.com/usa/

[MassYak85]

Their webapp is really a great tool for scouting out new places. It's not perfect, there's some nice holes at some of my local spots that don't show up, and the most egregious I've seen is coming across a shallow sand/rock island 4 feet underwater in an area it says is 30 feet deep, but it's nice to have an idea of how a place generally lays out. 

[Brayberry]

It works well for bigger bodies of water but locally where I'm from, anything under 2000 acres or so has 0 detail, and even the shape of the lakes are way way off

[XpressJeff]

Well, since they are offering $30 off right now I ordered a chip for my Helix 7 CHIRP DI GPS G2.

 

I have been wanting to buy one anyway so thanks for getting me to look.

[Mjmj]

12 hours ago, XpressJeff said:

Well, since they are offering $30 off right now I ordered a chip for my Helix 7 CHIRP DI GPS G2.

 

I have been wanting to buy one anyway so thanks for getting me to look.

Who is offering the $30 off. I been wanting to buy one

[Bucky205]

I like the Navionics app on my phone.  It is less than $10 and has 1' contour lines on most US lakes.  The app works without cell or internet service as long as you have downloaded the lake your going to fish.  Tke app will also act as a chartplotter to put the boat on top of the spot your targeting.

[Jeff H]

Back in the day I knew guys who obtained scuba certs and pilots license just for the purpose of tournament "scouting". Imagine spending time on, under and above the water and still not winning?. Now all we gotta do is hit google earth. Time and money saved!?