sea surface temp

[rich]

Ok so not being very experienced offshore and not having anyone real handy to teach me. I have never got the hang of reading sst charts. I know the general on what you are looking for. Hard temperature breaks eddies and fingers. I have circled what I think would be the better places to start on this map. Would someone give me some pointers on reading a map and if these are the correct starting places on a map that looks like this. I know you can't fish all these areas that I have circled they just looked like the best places to me. But I could be completely off.

[Crazy Eyes]

Rich, I think you have plenty of people handy on this board to help and I'm sure many will chime in and I will learn with you. Knowing where you would leave from that top circle just below diamond shoals with that hard break directly on that fathom curve would be where I would start but I don't know squat compared to the guys on this board.

[rich]

being where I leave from that is where I would go as well. But I just drew circles on the places up and down the coast that I thought would be places to start. But like I said in my opening post I have no clue what I am talking about just making guesses here.

[Klunatic]

Rich,

You have the right idea. Look for the hard temp breaks first then try to find structure under those breaks. If you are in 600 Fathoms you probably wont' find much in water that deep. Look for temp breaks on the 100-150 fathom line. Read the boards to see where people have been catching and compare those reports to that days charts to get a better idea on how to read the charts. Fishing the cold side of the breaks usually the most productive. If you dont have a water temp sensor on your boat, get one!

Lastly, this appears to be a Rutgers.edu chart. You will have a much easier time locating the temp breaks from sites like www.sstcharts.com . If you have a Java enabled browser you can get the exact coordinates and temp by moving your cursor over the chart. Keep in mind that 1 degree of longitude or latitude on a chart is equal to 60 nautical miles. Some of your circles cover an area of 900 square nautical miles (30mile x30miles) thats a lot of trolling. .

Tight Lines.

Klunatic

[rich]

Klunatic thanks for the advice and way to step up as a new member. Yeah it is a rutgers chart and I do have several sites i go to that give better numbers but I wanted to get a quick view of several charts so I could find one that had a decent shot of the western boundary of the Gulf Stream here off north carolina. I have never fished in 600 fathoms I am scared of water that much over my head . I generally like to stay within 100 fathoms but will venture out a little bit farther if the bite inshore is slow. I know those circles are rather large but I am no vinnie meyers. My artistic ability is nonexistent. But that is definitely what I am looking for. Thanks Klunatic. Hope to get some good reports from you in the future.

[rich]

Rich, I think you have plenty of people handy on this board to help and I'm sure many will chime in and I will learn with you. Knowing where you would leave from that top circle just below diamond shoals with that hard break directly on that fathom curve would be where I would start but I don't know squat compared to the guys on this board.

I thought so as well that is why I posted it but I guess not.

[FASTWATER]

Temperature breaks are great but if you really want to up your anty start using the chloraphyl charts to over lay with your sst charts to really find that clear clean water that fish love it is a mainstay for left coasters the combo where that clean blue water hits a desired temperature break is always money!!!PEACE

[Drifter]

The chart shows where the temp breaks were...

How does everyone estimate where the breaks will be?

I assume that everyone looks at the charts over a period of several days.

In case cloud cover prevents seeing a progression of currents over time, is there a general rule-of-thumb concerning speed of the gulfstream flow to make your own predictions of where the breaks might be (using the estimated speed of flow, along with the elapsed time between the latest shot and your planned arrival to the area)?