idletime

Hi, this is Philip from RipCharts, we are a THT Sponsor and advertiser.

It seems about once a week, someone posts a question or two about satellite imagery and how to interpret the different datasets offered in the marketplace. As is accustom on public forums, quite a bit of misinformation is handed out, and thus the confusion and the questions continue.

Therefore, we have scheduled two webinars for early next week for those who have an interest in learning more about the various datasets. The season is upon us, this is a great opportunity to pick our brain on what we are looking for, advising our clients and sharing what strategies that are used to be successful.

Partial list of topics covered:

Cloud cover - how to handle it and read through it
Overlapping conditions - how to explore various datasets and ensure conditions are lined up in your favor
Timely, correctly processed data - Why it is important, and why there is a difference between free and paid services.
Pelagics - a discussion which various environmental conditions are important in locating these species.
Altimetry - For whatever reason, this seems to be the "in" thing this year. Is this dataset important? Absolutely, but only if correctly processed for fishermen. We will be discussing what altimetry really means, how it is processed, what its limitations are and what to look for to ensure a target rich environments.
Chlorophyll images - Discussion on what they represent, what to look for, and how to read them properly.
Sea Temps - SSTs are very popular, and rightly so. There are multiple ways to process this dataset. We will discuss the benefits and a drawbacks of various processing strategies, and discuss what to look for to better understand this dataset.
Currents/Velocity - What the dataset represents, its limitations, how to fish various currents over structure/the ledge.
Topography - a discussion of bottom structure, what it means, why it is important and what conditions are necessary to utilize various bottom structure to your advantage.
True Color Imagery - What is takes to correctly process this dataset, what to look for, how it can save a trip when other sensors are obscured with cloud cover and sun glare.
Technology road map - what data is next on the horizon, what we can look forward to in years to come.

I am sure we will cover other topics, as we always do. Hopefully, you can take an hour+ out of one of your evenings next week, grab a cold one, sit in front of your computer and join us. I promise, you will walk away with a better understanding of the datasets, which in turn will help you make appropriate decisions on how to best place your vessel in fish rich environments.

There is no charge to participate. It is for RipCharts and non-RipCharts customers alike. It is a casual environment intended to share our knowledge of the datasets and hopefully eliminate some of the confusion surrounding the technology.

Requirements to participate - a computer, high speed internet and either a phone or a set of speakers on your computer to listen to the presentation. I will be sharing my screen and showing/discussing exactly what to look for on the various datasets. My partner, Chris, will be handling the chat window and answering individual questions as they arise during the presentation.

The webinars are Monday July 25th at 8pm eastern, and Tuesday July 26th at 8pm eastern.

You can sign up for them here.

Simply fill out the form and click submit. In addition, make sure to let us know if there are any specific questions you would like us to cover.

Login instructions will be emailed the day of the event. Space is limited, so it will be a first registered, first served event.

Let me know if you have any questions or run into any issues with the sign up process.

Thanks,
Philip

Beefer

I'm in

VanW

Please tell us what to do/expect when our water temp doesn't vary much or at all. What else could I look for to help me find fish?

idletime

That is a common problem this time of year. As water temps equalize, it becomes difficult to rely just on sea temps to make a decision as temps are no longer restricting pelagic movements. We experience a similar problem in the gulf as we deal with warmer water with some frequency. Therefore, we have learned to leverage other data sources to make our decisions and place us in target rich environments. We will definitely cover how to make a decision when the sea temps are washed out.

Thanks for the sign ups guys, Monday's session is almost full

Philip

Red Tuna

Sounds great Philip, looking forward to it...

idletime

Thanks for the sign ups guys. Tonight's webinar is full. However, we still have some space for tomorrow's.

http://www.ripcharts.com/WebConference.aspx

lilhoo

The webinar was a hit. Learned a lot about altymetry that I do believe will benefit my game tremendously. Thanks, Phillip.

swankster

Philip & Chris,

Webinar was really informative. I took a full page of notes. Thanks for explaining everything in such detail, yet 'dumbing' it down enough so even I could understand!

Cheers

fishtale

Guys, excellent presentation, very informative, looks like you have a first class product.

tailin strange

I agree with what everyone else above me said. Learned a lot and signed up.

onemilehigh

Any chance of getting a link to a recorded version of the webinar? I'd love to watch what was presented but know some guys that can't make either of the 2 times.

southatlantic

X2
Also, any plans to cover the Brazilina coastline with your products?

Pro251wa

I'd say there are at least three reasons for this: The altimetry imagery doesn't depend on satellites and cloud cover so we can have a look every day; the concept is simple to understand; and, the maps are easy to read.

We all know there's nothing vendors can do about the weather, however waiting days on end for some consistent information from the SST's and Chlorophyll charts when the cloud cover is ruining the shots isn't good for anyone when the winds are nice and you're itching to fish. Add to that the problem with phantom cooler areas appearing on maps giving false temp break readings when clouds are present and it's really no wonder that the crisp, clear and reliably present albeit 24-hours-old altimetry data is a hit.

Altimetry won't be the only tool in the shed, but when you want a tool you know it's there.

idletime

Thank you for all the compliments. We always enjoy it. Every presentation is a little different. Apologies it took a few minutes to get my voice last night

Re recording - we have tried it before and were not happy with the results. we will try it again and see what happens, no promises though.

Also, invites for tonight's webinar have been sent. Ping us on our Contact Us form on the RipCharts website if you have any troubles, or if you did not receive the login details.

There is no question altimetry is an important tool... if processed correctly for what we, as fishermen, use it for. Without giving away intellectual property...there are multiple methods of processing altimetry. My advice is to ensure that your provider's altimetry images match, or very closely match our data. Unfortunately, most providers just copy + paste public imagery(usually grainy, low quality data), which is processed differently than what we do at RipCharts.

To see how accurate your venders altimetry dataset is and how closely it matches other datasets, like currents, sea temps, chlorophyll, true color ect, simply overlay the altimetry lines on other data and see how it matches major water features. A good altimetry dataset will closely match large water features with some frequency(not always as there are other factors that I will discuss this evening, but definitely most of the time).

For instance, here is a recent altimetry image. We use contour lines and color to represent upwellings/downwellings. I selected this view because your information says that you are from Naples and wanted to show data relevant for your area.




And here are those same altimetry lines overlaid upon a recent chlorophyll image, showing how closely they associate with the loop current and other features offshore. We not only provide you with an altimetry image, but with the the same altimetry lines to overlay on other imagery to get a sense of overlapping conditions and whether the dataset is accurate.



Regardless, I just wanted people to know that all altimetry is not the same, make sure you have correctly processed data... as accuracy really does matter when clouds become problematic.

Philip

Miss Trial

i'm in like flynn.

Pro251wa

RipCharts altimetry maps are what sold me on RipCharts when I signed up several weeks ago. And I liked the ability to overlay altimetry and bathy and currents.

Philip... by using the chlorophyll 3 day composite map above, are you saying that using a 3 day composite image of chlorophyll for the most recent three day period is an accurate depiction of the location of chlorophyll and is therefore fishable?

Similarly, what is your opinion about the SST 3 day composite map for the most recent three day period? Is it fishable?

idletime

Ok, we recorded the webinar. It has about 5 minutes of dead time in the beginning, but if you would like to see it, send me a PM and I will forward you a link. I am going to attempt to do a cleaner version that will hopefully be available soon on our tutorial page.

Glad to have you as a customer, thank you for the business

Our composites are created by compiling all available imagery for the last day or three days up to the point of the creation of the composite. If at all possible, utilize a recent granule, as they will be more recent than composites. However, composites have their purpose, they can create more complete image when clouds are problematic and/or when the satellites do partial scans of your area for that day and the composites will stitch the images together. And since there were no complete granules off naples yesterday, I grabbed a 3 day for usage and illustration.

To answer your question whether a 3-day is fishable... it depends. However, if you have nothing else to work from, then you use what you can. A three day can definitely be fishable. But water does move, so be mindful. That is why we limit ourselves to a 3day composite, anything beyond that is really pushing the limits and not necessary other than creating a pretty picture.

Feel free to call me at your convenience and I will walk you through what I look for and how to handle various situations and hopefully give you a deeper understanding of the datasets.

Philip
877-526-3442

Pro251wa

Excellent answers Philip. Thank you very much. And I appreciate the telephone offer, that's very generous.

Back to your answers....not only did you validate my thought processes regarding the questions, but in my opinion you heightened further your credibility by including the caveats you included in your reply. Had you said something like, "Oh yeah, fish'em up and tight lines" regarding the 3 day composite images it wouldn't have been as good for the very reason you stated in your reply, "water moves".

Thanks again Philip. I have a nice trip coming up so if that lower mid-gulf upwelling could slowly follow the loop and slide right thru the lower Keys and Dry Tortugas during the second week of August it would be nice.

alacrity

was this webinar recorded? is there a way to view it now? thanks

bradmd

I PM'd you Philip....I'd like the link to the webinar recorded. thx