Kingfish Connection: What are some of the services that Hilton’s Real-time Navigator offers? Why is it important to use a satellite imaging service like Hilton’s?
Tom Hilton: Realtime-Navigator.com is a subscription internet site that provides unlimited access to the dynamic data to allow anglers to determine the tendencies and to look for overlapping favorable conditions. The imageries provided include sea temperatures, water color, altimetry, salinity, and we are just coming out with our new currents imagery. The conditions offshore change daily, and unless you can have an idea of what is going on, you will be fishing blind-folded – with the rising cost of fuel, it has become paramount to maximize your efficiencies when fishing offshore. We also provide lots of waypoints indicating structures such as rigs, wrecks, rocks, reefs, ledges, etc. – you can determine the structure’s position relative to the dynamic imageries. Lastly, since you have unlimited access to the imagery, you can view the tendencies of each imagery in the days preceding your fishing trip – before you leave the dock, you will have a much better understanding of what’s going on out there.
Which tool is most used by kingfish teams to locate fish?
Altimetry, sea temps, water color, and salinity - their relation to each other, and their relation to structure.
If I am a kingfish team and I look at all of the different tools, how should I prioritize them? Is salinity the key, altimetry, or water temperature?
Remember that there are A LOT of variables involved indetermining why fish are located in a certain area – I wouldn’t place too much emphasis on just one imagery. Each day, each imagery has favorable and unfavorable areas – if you can find 2 , 3, or 4 overlapping favorable imageries positioned on structure, then that will greatly increase your odds of success.
Why is salinity important?
There is some debate regarding the importance of salinity since it can be fresh on top (which is what we read) and salty 3 feet below the surface. It is good to know if it ultra-fresh however, as if your Plan A spot is positioned in muddy brown water with water hyacinths floating by, I would be definitely looking at Plan B.
What is an altimetry reading?
Altimetry is the mean sea surface elevation measured by a satellite radar instrument that is able to shoot through clouds so is never affected by clouds like the other imageries are. It indicates areas containing upwelling/downwelling currents. You want to be positioned in upwelling conditions as this is where the nutrients are brought from the bottom to the surface. The resulting interaction of plankton with sunlight (photosynthesis) creates the start of the food chain. The downwelling areas push the nutrients downward, causing areas devoid of life. These areas are constantly moving and changing in intensity – the pelagics such as kingfish, dorado, wahoo, tuna, and marlin avoid the nutrient-poor areas, and follow the food chain in the nutrient-rich areas. The “Loop Image” button at the top of the image is useful as it grabs the last 7 images and puts them in motion so that you can see which way they are drifting, and whether they are gaining or dissipating in intensity.
What other suggestions can you give to new teams using your product?
We are creating an open-ended database for fishermen to use as a learning tool. Not only are we providing “realtime” data to help determine where to go tomorrow, we encourage our subscribers to look back in time to see why they were (or weren’t) successful. For example, let’s say you fish the same tournament each year – you probably have an idea of where the fish were caught last year, right? The altimetry, sea temp, water color, and salinity archives give you the ability to search the fishing days from last year (at least as far back as when we started collecting data for that imagery). Look at the conditions relative to each other (and to structure) on those days and compare them with today’s imagery looking for comparable tendencies. Teams that do their homework are often the ones that you see regularly on the leaderboards.
How often are the satellite images updated? Where do these images come from?
The sea temp images are updated +_6 times daily and are generated from NOAA polar orbiting satellites. We provide an interactive tool to our subscribers that allows them to tweak the sst imagery based on the temp range they are interested in – VERY powerful feature that allows you to pop out subtle temp breaks (weedlines). We offer 2 chlorophyll (water color) imageries – level 2 and level 3 imageries generated by NASA. Since this data usually only gets one shot per day, there is often areas devoid of data. We offer “1 day”, “3 day” and “7 day” imageries to help provide more complete coverage. The altimetry is generated by Jason Topex satellites, takes a day to process, and you get one shot per day. The salinity is generated by the U.S. Navy and you get one shot per day. The service that we provide allows our subscribers to quickly and easily cross-reference the imageries in a geo-referenced format relative to a set number of waypoints. One useful feature is that you can have Realtime-Navigator open twice on the same screen – this allows you to view different imageries side-by-side…using the Nav Tool, you can compare the positions of the imageries relative to one another.
When the weather is cloudy, is there anyway to view the satellite imagery?
Unfortunately, the only imagery NOT affected by clouds is the altimetry, but at least it’s something to hang your hat on in days of extended cloudiness. The archiving/animation features for the sea temps, water color, and salinity can come into play here as you can look at the tendencies from the past few days and extrapolate what’s happening now.
How do I read altimetry? Where is the best place to fish when reading altimetry?
Altimetry imagery is really a contour map of the mean surface level of the ocean. The contour lines indicate 5 CM increments that show depressions and bulges in the surface. The “0” contour line indicate mean sea level, then negative contour lines (depressions) indicate upwelling nutrient-rich cyclones, and the positive contour lines (bulges) indicate downwelling warm core eddies or the Loop Current in the Gulf. Optimally, you want to fish in the light blue and dark blue (negative isobars) areas, but you will still catch fish in the green areas depending on what the other imageries are saying. In the upper Gulf regions, the imagery is very tight, so if your spot is situated in yellow I would be looking at Plan B. On the east coast however, the imagery is derived from anomalies, so the readings are not as tight – this means you can still catch fish in the yellow and sometimes even light orange areas. In any case, if your spot is situated in dark orange or red, I would definitely be looking at Plan B.
What is your team currently doing to improve your service? What will the future of Hilton’s look like?
We are constantly working on the site to make it better – if you compare what we offered 4-1/2 years ago to what we offer now, you would see quite a difference in imageries and regions offered. We just added a new Level 2 chlorophyll imagery a couple of months ago which has much higher resolution than our original Level 3 chlorophyll imagery for example. We still offer both imageries, as sometimes one imagery will pick up more data than the other, and serves as a backup as well. We have a new currents imagery coming out in early August that is very good. Stay tuned!
How did you first get involved in this business?
I got my degree from Texas A&M in architecture in 1979 and worked in an architectural office for 5 years before starting my own furniture design/manufacturing company in 1985. In the mid 1990’s I bought a graphics program to help design our furniture, and learned how to use the program by making my own custom fishing chart each year. In 2000, I left the furniture business behind and began making paper charts and atlases, which we still produce today. About 5 years ago, I conceived the idea of providing an internet service that has become Realtime-Navigator.com which has exceeded my wildest expectations. My partner David and I have really enjoyed meeting the many fishermen who use our service and look forward to providing a quality product for years to come!
