Review from Bass Masters Magazine - March 2002
Pros' Press Conference
By Craig Lamb - The B.A.S.S. pros and other fishing experts answer your questions about bass fishing . . .
Question: What is the pros' favorite software application . . .
Glenn Curtis, Rockville, Md.
Answer: Craig Lamb, BASSMASTER Senior Writer:
"Fishing Expert" is a software program that has been on the market since 1990. It has a fishing log application allowing users to database their catches and much more. Extras include a forecast analysis feature, making it possible to create various scenarios based on seasons and weather with the predicted outcome displayed.
The latest version is based on recent fishery research about fish behavior, and involves a literature search of current writings. The database contains hundreds of possibilities linked to the system. You can "test drive" this product using its web version at www.st-tech.com.
Fishing by Computer
by Bill Clede
If you're a science fiction fan like me, just imagine. It's a lake you don't know very well. You're not sure of the techniques that will work best under the conditions you find there. Along with your tackle box and rods, you also put a brief case into the boat.
You open the briefcase to expose a portable computer. Calling up the map program, you study a chart of the lake. You zoom in on the more likely spots to reveal greater detail of the growth and structure underwater. It shows you the weed beds, a sunken wreck and a deep trough.
Then you bring up the Fish Expert program and enter the type of fish you're after, the time of day, time of year, type of water, water clarity and depth, wind and weather, the season, the spawning stage, weed conditions, water temperature, type of bottom, and whether the barometer is rising or falling. The computer then tells you the technique and type of bait most likely to succeed.
When you've boated your limit, you open up the computer again. You bring up Fish Expert program again and enter the day's information into your log. It's a database that you can review later to recheck what worked and what didn't under different conditions.
But this isn't science fiction.
Well almost, I don't know of anyone offering charts of lakes, but computer mapping of streets, right down to house numbers, is being used by surveyors and emergency service agencies today. The only reason it hasn't been done with fishing waters is that no one's identified the market for such a product yet -- and it's expensive.
Chester Ceille of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has identified a market for the fishing program. He started with a program he calls the Deer Expert System (reported in Outdoor Life, December 1989); and what he learned perfecting it, he applied to fishing.
A computer expert system is not quite artificial intelligence, but almost. For every possible variable you enter, there are many different answers. As you more closely define the conditions, the program homes in on fewer possible answers. When you've told it all it needs to know, the program displays the best advice for catching fish.
For example, say you're after largemouth bass. The program covers largemouth bass, trout, walleye, and boat control, so far. I defined a sunny summer day on a river of moderate depth. The program suggested I still fish or cast into shallows and weed beds, look for structure, use topographic maps to find sharp break in bottom contour. If I defined the same circumstances but at night, it suggest cast or still fish with spinnerbaits or other vibration/sound lures, try the points when the bottom breaks sharply, then reminded me that fish are more active at night. If I made the season autumn, it said to cast or still fish backwater holes.
Yes, I said boat control. When I answered "no" to get past the fish species, it asked if I was wondering about boat control. I said "yes." Then the program asked about conditions. I set up the same situation as above on a sunny bright day with light winds. "Anchor upwind or up current from where the fish are," it said. "Drift back to the fish with the sun at your back." Seems that fish don't look into the sun so they're less likely to see your boat.
The Fish Expert's main menu gives you five choices: general overview, determine method (enter conditions), library, fishing logs, and exit. The general overview tells you about the program.
The library is filled with information on line, lures, methods, gear, and tips from professional fishermen.
Fishing logs is a collection of files where you can inventory your rods, reels, lures, clothing, boat, motor, and electronics. Another section prompts you to enter descriptions of the lakes you fish so you can refer to this information later. There's a Names file, an address/phone book of places and services you want to remember. And a Notes section with tips on trip planning already there. There's plenty of room for you to add whatever else you want to make note of.
The Packing file is a checklist of all those little things likely to be forgotten when you pack for a trip. A Quality file is a productivity chart so you can figure if the particular waters produced a high ratio of big fish. And there's a section where you can add all your favorite recipes.
You'll like the Record section. Here you enter your catch record, date, waters, weather, species, size/weight, bait, time, method, and location. As this file builds, there's a search function so you can quickly find information on past activity at a particular body of water. Safety includes tips and what to do when you're boating, wading, encounter lightning, tips on survival and contents for a survival kit. The last section, Sources, is a bibliography.
One of my favorite sources of information has always been to strike up a conversation with some salty looking character at the launching ramp. It will continue to be. That's how you learn what to put into your Fish Expert program, besides your own observations and experience. If you're at all active, I'd guess you will build up quite a base of helpful data in one season.
Then, when you go back next year, you have all that data at your fingertips. You'll have forgotten what the old man said, but the computer won't. You may remember the size of the lunker, but what were the weather conditions that day?
Copyright Bill Clede. All rights reserved.
Reprinted by Strat-Tech, Inc. with permission of the author.
Review from the Milwaukee Sentinel
FIRM SAYS COMPUTER PROGRAM HANDY AT MAKING FISH BYTE by Jeff Bentoff
When you prepare to go fishing this spring, Chester C. Ceille wants you to add a computer to your collection of lures, lines, and life preservers.
Ceille isn't necessarily suggesting you throw your computer into your tackle box - just that you consult it before you leave home. He says new computer programs he has developed will show you the best method to use for fishing - or hunting - based on several variables you plug in. And the programs will make you a more successful hunter or fisherman, he said.
Ceille's Milwaukee-based company, Strat-Tech Inc., is displaying and selling the programs at the 50th Milwaukee Sentinel Sports Show at MECCA, which began its 10-day run Friday.
A show official said 6,073 people attended the opener. Last year, 5,605 people attended the opening night.
Ceille, 40, of Greenfield, is a longtime fisherman and an avid deer hunter.
For the last two years, he's been developing his new IBM-compatible programs, called "The Deer Expert" and "The Fish Expert."
The hunting program went on sale in December and received a boost from a feature that month in Outdoor Life magazine. The fishing program has been on the market a few weeks.
The fishing program suggests one of about 250 fishing patterns based on several variables. The hunting program recommends about 85 possible patterns.
The patterns were based on research that included a review of nearly 2,000 articles, he said.
The Fish Expert asks the user several questions, which can include the type of fish sought, time of day, season, type of water source, weather, wind conditions, spawning conditions, weed situation, water depth, clarity, and temperature.
A reporter trying the program Friday told the computer he was seeking walleye on a spring morning, on a lake, on a pre-spawning run.
Voila!
"The best method is cast, troll or still fish - they head for spawning areas in shallow mid-lake bars and reefs," read the words on the screen.
In answering several questions on the screens, a reporter said he wanted to hunt for large bucks on opening day when deer are in high rut and in a flat and wooded area.
It responded: "The best method is tree stand - get biggest bucks at peak of rut - the only time large bucks act foolishly in open. Position stand downwind of active large scrapes."
Ceille said the fishing program was great for beginners.
If you're a beginning fisherman obviously you get an education as to which variables are important and a successful plan for these variables," he said.
The program also is useful for veterans, he said.
It takes into account more considerations than you normally would think of if you didn't have a computer, and it uses successful fishing patterns," he said. "All the patterns you see here take fish, given the right considerations."
Computer logs for each sport which enable participants to record numerous details of their endeavors, will help both beginners and advanced practitioners, he said.
"Professional fisherman use logs like this because they see patterns," he said. "I fish Lake Wisconsin only in the morning because that's when I catch fish."
An important feature of the programs for any level of experience is the detailed safety information included, Ceille said.
Ceille said that many infrequent hunters or fishermen did not adequately review safety rules each year, and that the programs made such reviews simple.
"I feel it can significantly save lives. If people review it, they'll have fun, feel much more comfortable and they'll have a safety awareness because there's a large safety component to this whole activity.
Ceille says using a computer does not take the sport out of sports. A computer is just another tool, he said.
Most skeptics think they can juggle all the variables in their heads as well as a computer can, but "I don't think they can," he said.
"It's obviously a tool for business and it's a tool for outdoor activities. It allows you to have more fun out there when you go out, it allows you to have more safety out there when you go out. "I feel they definitely should have a larger place in the outdoor arena.
It's a very handy tool. They make you more successful."
However, Ceille said: "This will put you in a position to shoot a deer
you still must carry out the plan."
Reprinted from front page of Milwaukee Sentinel