Bottoms up.
As every serious fisherman knows, success seldom starts at the top — which is why an Arvada-based company is making its mark with an innovative system of lake-bottom mapping.
The method is much more detailed with a higher degree of accuracy than earlier map procedures.
“It also can be done much more quickly at less cost,” said Tom Deem, a Colorado State University biology grad who directs many of the surveys.
Absolute Natural Resources, LLC was begun a dozen or so years ago by owner Tony Byrne. More recently, the firm has associated with Cabela’s Trophy Properties as lake mapping partners.
The outdoor giant has commissioned ANR as its exclusive agent for Colorado, Nebraska and western Kansas. Most of the enterprise currently involves lakes and ponds on private property, where owners want to maximize their productivity, along with the usual compulsion to find out where the fish are most likely to hang out.
A novel technique tied to an advanced Global Positioning System also allows the firm to map much larger public lakes. The next logical step in the firm’s growth will require a distribution network not yet established.
“I think it’s very viable that we’ll map local public lakes,” Deem said. “It won’t happen next year, but perhaps in a couple years.”
A few days ago, Deem and Wes Friesen, a CSU graduate who recently joined the firm, demonstrated the process at Chatfield Reservoir.
“It would take five days, maybe six to map this lake,” Deem said of a method that first entails three loops along the lake shore, then a series of transects across the lake, with a GPS reading every second to complete the bottom detail.
“In the old days, it would take many, many times that long.”
This added efficiency is tied to a special GPS unit that costs $7,000 and is something of a company secret.
“Tony tells me that if I drop it overboard, I might as well jump in behind it,” Deem joked.
After recording a lake’s secrets, ANR transmits the data directly to Cabela’s Trophy Properties, which produces the actual map in a slick color format.
“It’s all recorded on the GPS. We can send it to them via computer, just like an e-mail,” Deem explained.
The finished product is a contour map of the lake accurate within a foot and with much more detail than traditional products. These maps also feature three-dimension shadings for those who don’t want to read contours.
“I don’t think anyone can beat our accuracy,” Deem said.
This package also includes a swim-through DVD of the lake, like a virtual tour of a house only underwater. It also might include a sediment map, should the owner need to do some dredging.
It costs $2,730 to map a 60-acre lake, which Deem suggests eventually will pay for itself in management efficiency.
But the primary attraction, the one that rivets the attention of anglers, is that series of squiggly blue lines suggesting where fish are likely to live. This concept of structure has revolutionized the way fishermen approach such species as walleye, bass and lake trout.
The combined impact of contour maps, such as the those produced by ANR, and electronic fish finders has radically altered angling tactics while boosting catch rates.
And the search almost always begins at the bottom.
Charlie Meyers: 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com
