Americana Outdoors E-Magazine - May 2022

your car’s system cannot. Once you set your initial speed, you can increase or decrease the speed setting with the rocker button on the binnacle lever. Once you’ve done that, the boat will run the track by itself at the speed you set and when it reaches the last waypoint, it will automatically shift into FishPoint and hold that position.

Control will handle the boat while you fish. If there are spots you fish on a regular basis or might return to another day, you can save it as a trail and return to it without having to program it again. Spend a little time thinking about this one and you will likely come up with even more ways to incorporate it into your fishing. Helm Master EX offers so many benefits for anglers that it is literally rewriting the playbook for how to use a boat as a fishing tool. We’ll be back with more tips and tricks for using Helm Master EX to get the most out of your time on the water in future installments. The events described detail the personal experiences of writer and angler Gary Caputi. All situations and system applications are different. For Helm Master EX peak performance, it is the responsibility of the captain to position the boat for the greatest chance of success given the conditions.

If you are casting, you’ll want to move slowly along the length of the jetty, allowing for appropriate bait or lure presentations. If the speed you desire is actually slower than the outboard running at idle speed, the systemwill enter Pattern Shift mode and the computer will bump the outboard in and out of gear to maintain that speed. It does this quietly, thanks to Yamaha’s exclusive shift dampening system (SDS) props and precision machined lower unit gearing. Speed Control is an incredibly useful feature that plays into many more types of fishing. Even if there is a running tide, wind or strong currents, the boat will maintain the speed you set by automatically adjusting the RPM of the outboard(s). Now let’s translate the Mayport jetty scenario to some other similar situations. Imagine fishing along the shoreline of a bay or tidal river that might extend for a long distance. Or maybe you see fish holding along the edge of a channel drop off. By plotting a trail with as many waypoints as is necessary to keep the boat following the shoreline or underwater contours, TrackPoint and Speed