Success in fishing is more and more about finding a niche. Whether it's publishing, tackle or accessories, the first company into a niche has a tremendous advantage over late-comers.
Legend Tommy Martin saw just such a niche in electronic mapping. Like everyone else, he lives by his Navionics chip, but there are some things the Navionics chip doesn't show. So 4 months ago he partnered with Bobby Feazel and created a new company called GPS Lake Maps. The idea's simple: Take available, original, pre-fill USGS lake data that Navionics doesn't display – like roadbeds, ditches, drains and bridges – and offer a chip that'll overlay that data onto the Navionics data.
The key, Martin said, is GPS Lake Maps chips don't compete with Navionics chips. They simply add critical fishing data to an already great product.
GPS Lake Maps continues to build up its lake-map inventory and right now offers chips for 25 lakes – mostly in Texas and Missouri. Some of the hot chips are those for Rayburn, Toledo Bend, Fork, Table Rock, Beaver and Bull Shoals.
"Navionics only does contours, so we're not infringing on anything they've done," Martin noted. "We do strictly channels – river channels, drains, depressions and any other data we can find on old USGS maps. I've got people testing for accuracy on the lakes we've done so far and the data's proving to be extremely accurate. We show pond dams, ponds, roadbeds, bridges. We've got 57 bridges on Toledo Bend that nobody else has. It all helps fishermen find hotspots much quicker. You just download the chip into your GPS and it overlays the Navionics contour map. It's a great complement to what Navionics has already done."
Martin and Feazel recently signed an agreement with Bass Pro Shops to carry the chips in select stores and all the chips are available for online purchase (click here). Each lake costs $39.99, but Rayburn and Toledo Bend are sold together for $74.95.
