Author: Lenny Rudow

Today’s night vision options will make your adventures in the dark safer than ever before — and at a lot less cost than you may imagine. Any time you’re running a boat at night there’s an elevated element of danger. And while uber-expensive thermal cameras were once strictly the purview of the blank-check battlewagon crowd, these days there are a lot more night vision options that are surprisingly low in cost. In fact, just about anyone who can swing a boat payment and a set of Internationals can afford to start peering through the darkness as though it were daylight. …

Sea surface temperature charts can help you drive directly to the hot bite — but only if you understand what they’re telling you.  Sea surface temperature charts and chlorophyll charts a la Fishdope are one of the best fish-finding, fuel-saving tools available to a modern offshore angler. Of course, Fishdope incorporates numerous other sources of intel to help find the fish (ranging from spotter planes to the Hot bite Report Map), but the wiggles, squiggles, and colors on those charts deliver reams of information. The question is, when you look at them do you understand exactly what they’re telling you? …

Some anglers prefer peering into the depths with a wide fishfinder beam while others like narrow beams. Which is really best? It took you months to settle on the best fishfinder for your needs, and now you have to figure out what transducer would work best with it? Unless you have a PhD in trigonometry and spent the past five years studying piezoelectric crystals and ultrasonic waves, making the decision could be a lot tougher than some people would have you believe. Fortunately, we can boil down a ton of the tech and base the decision on a handful of…

Can you expand your view of the underwater world without breaking the bank? What’s the best advice never spoken when it comes to catching yellowfin tuna? Troll directly over the school of fish. Sure, that would help, but this advice is utterly useless since you rarely know just where that school is until you get bit. At least, that’s the deal if you’re fishing with status-quo tech. Case in point: we’re trolling aboard the Talkin’ Trash, a 58’ custom Carolina, when the captain suddenly makes a 90-degree turn to starboard. He gooses the throttles for a few moments, pulls them…

Just how safe is your boat when it’s sitting at the dock? Remote monitoring systems add peace of mind and a sense of security. You want to know where your boat is at any given time? How many times the bilge pumps have kicked on in the past 24 hours? What your battery charge levels are? With a remote monitoring system and a few swipes on the screen of your phone you’ll know all this and much, much more. Recently there have been some new entries in the field as well as some upgrades from existing options — here are…

Autopilots are a joy to have, but picking the right one for your system is not always a simple task. An autopilot won’t exactly turn your fishing machine into an autonomous self-driving boat, but having one sure is nice. There’s no more fighting the wheel while cruising, trollers can press a button then dart into the cockpit to lend a hand when the action is hot and heavy (just as long as you maintain a proper watch, of course), and believe it or not some units can actually help you catch more fish. Features like figure-eight and cloverleaf patterns can…

Fishfinder technology continues to improve, providing a boost to both inshore and offshore anglers. There’s no doubt that for many anglers, side-scan revolutionized the way they use their fishfinders. Then along came Panoptix LiveScope, soon to be followed by other real-time imaging sonar systems. Again, the tech was so good for certain applications that it changed the way people fish. But like many things in the technological realm, these systems are constantly evolving, changing, and progressing. The three-year-old system at your helm is likely already out of date, and constant upgrading and overhauling is necessary if you want to enjoy…

When it comes to installing new marine electronics we all want to save a buck. But, is doing a DIY installation always the smart move? Some electronics installations are a piece of cake, while some others seem like they should be easy but turn out to be a major ordeal. And in most cases you won’t know which any given task is until you either grin from ear to ear, or you wipe away a tear. So, how can you predict which are easy DIY jobs versus when it’s time to buy a hired gun? Step number one is recognizing…

Do you know what your fishfinder is trying to tell you about bottom composition? If you’ve been fishing long enough to end up here on the pages of BD Outdoors and you’ve spent some time perusing our Marine Electronics section, we’re guessing you already have a decent level of competence when it comes to reading a fishfinder. Yet there are a few aspects of using fishfinders which are misunderstood by many anglers. One of them is reading bottom composition. Getting over the right bottom type can make the difference between hooking ‘em two at a time, or going without a…

You don’t need an app to catch more fish, but these five picks will help boost your catch rate. The last thing you want to do while fishing is probably doodle around on the cell phone, but as we examined a while back in The Best Five Cell Phone Apps for Boaters, some apps can prove quite handy out on the water. And when you’re trying to bend rods, believe it or not, these five picks of the best fishing apps will help you accomplish your mission. The ANGLR App Back when two-strokes were in vogue and fishfinders were black-and-white,…

Is it time to power up with lithium? Outboard engine manufacturers are constantly introducing newer and bigger internal combustion power-plants like the Suzuki DF350, the Yamaha F425, and the Mercury 600 Verado, which push past the existing limits one after the next. Meanwhile, automotive manufacturers are moving in the diametric opposite direction, producing more and more all-electric packages with motors that are intertwined with digital controls, touchscreen interfaces, and powered by whopping-big batteries. There’s no question which seems more technologically advanced, and the marine industry tends to lag at least five years behind automotive, but it begs the question: why…

Cameras are considered a must on many serious Sportfishers, and have migrated their way onto modern fishing boats of all sizes. Video cameras can be a great addition to your electronics suite. Once upon a time, piping video to your chartplotter was a big deal. Today, it’s easy to connect multiple cameras to most professional-level MFDs and many mid-level units, some support recording as well as viewing the video, and in some other cases you don’t even have to string a wire — the camera can stream via WiFi right to the helm. Cool stuff, right? But it begs the…

Whether you’re checking out new boats or looking to upgrade the electronics on your existing boat, you’ll want to know about the latest in chartplotter developments. To today’s anglers it’s no surprise that modern marine electronics can help you catch more fish, but considering the blinding pace of electronic evolution, the word “modern” has taken on new meaning. These days a five-year-old chartplotter is utterly archaic. The good news is that a truly modern unit can often be upgraded with software alone, so if you put a dazzling new chartplotter in the dash right now, you’ll be able to harness…

If your boat’s electronics suite shows any of these critical weaknesses, it’s time to invest in an upgrade. Unless you’re working with a full suite of the latest gear, there’s a good chance a marine electronics upgrade will help you catch more fish. But like everything in life there’s a catch: new electronics are expensive. Oh, and on top of that let’s not forget about the fishing time you’ll lose while the boat’s out of action, being outfitted. So, investing in an electronics upgrade does come with some costs. How will you know when it’s necessary to take the leap?…

Boat radar just keeps getting better and better as time goes on. As the calendar ticked through the 20-teens there was a marine radar revolution going on. The advent of short-range solid-state units was soon topped by the ability to combine solid-state and long-range open arrays in one package, taking sensitivity at all ranges through the roof. Could radar continue getting even better, as the 20-teens turned into the 20-20s? You bet. Here are the biggest and best radar on the market in 2022. First Watch allows you to display the radar on an iPad or iPhone. The NXT line…

Which fishfinder frequency works best in what conditions, for what purposes, and why?  When it comes to finding the best fishfinder for you, you may or may not have considered the frequency or frequencies one unit or another utilizes to ping through the depths. True, this is a function of the transducer as much as it is of the fishfinder itself, but most fishfinders are made to work with a specific set of transducers and the bulk of them come prepackaged with one. So, often frequency isn’t even a factor people consider — even though frequency has a huge impact…

Seeing sideways can help you catch more fish, and these five tips will help make it happen.  Side-scanning sonar can provide spectacular views of the watery world. Photo courtesy of Garmin.  See those little dots right there? Cast 45-degrees off to starboard and get ready for the strike. But you’ll only know how to spot those fish if you know how to best use that side-scanner. Like any type of marine electronics it takes time, experience, and know-how to best utilize the tech. So, where do you start? There’s no substitute for time on the water — but these five…

The Chesapeake Bay is uber famous for its fishing capabilities. It’s sitting in a transitional zone between the Southern and Northern eastern seaboard states. Due to its location, it enjoys a lot of overlapping fisheries. Due to the vast array of species, Lenny Rudow focuses on the large bull redfish fishery for this Bay Slay piece.

Lenny Rudow, BD Contributor & striped bass fishing fanatic shows us how he Gulps! “The 5″ Jerk Shad! I love these things when the stripers get finicky. When they only give you a fraction of a second to set the hook, they like to spit out the fake lures but this Gulp!, they hold on tight!” Using his favorite light line setup with a 1/2″ jighead, Lenny works the Jerk Shad with a steady retrieve and quick rod jerks to trigger a reaction bite from even the most reluctant stripers! We’ve Gotta Know – How Do You Gulp!? Enter to…

Everyone knows that choosing the best leader and rigging it properly is an important component to success, especially in clear-water environments. But when you’re talking about yellowfin tuna in offshore territory, using the right leader becomes utterly critical — particularly when the fish are taking static or slow-moving offerings and they have plenty of time to slap their big eyeballs on your bait. This one factor can make the difference between hero and zero on any given day of fishing. Of all the tuna species, yellowfin have the highest concentration of bright-light photoreceptors (cones) in their eyes, with 406 per…

Boat buying tips for used fishing boats that will help you sort the wheat from the chaff. How to buy a used fishing boat is a topic that gets raised often among anglers, and it’s no wonder: making a major financial purchase on a used boat is full of risks and rewards, and can turn out to be one of the best moves – or one of the worst – you’ve ever made. The upside is obvious: used boats cost a whole lot less than new models. And the downside is just as obvious: they also have wear and tear,…

You want to head for the hotspots armed with the latest and greatest boating tech? Of course you do. We anglers take out mission seriously and we’ll utilize every advantage at our disposal to get out there faster and safer, then catch more, bigger fish — and a dose of modern tech provided by cool new products like these can help you do it. Ace in the Hole – The Bivy Stick What Is It? A satellite communications device that bumps text messages to and from your cell phone, with worldwide communications capabilities. Cool New Tech: Similar products have been…

Fishing in saltwater is a blast, but the harsh elements can destroy your outboard if you don’t flush afterward. Most of us take good care of our marine equipment. We wash and wax our boats and outboards, change the oil and oil filter regularly, and replace the fuel filters, but what about your outboard’s cooling system. Unfortunately, it is often overlooked in a maintenance regimen. During the course of normal use, the water pump can ingest mud, sand, and silt, which then flows through the engine. Marine growth can also occur behind the inlet screens interrupting the flow of water…

If you’re ready to go on the inshore attack, the 2020 Triton 260 LTS Pro will get you pumped and primed and Lenny Rudow offers a look at the boat and its options.