Smart Drift™, a game-changing new function that eliminates the guesswork when drift fishing, is a key highlight of LightHouse 4.7, the latest update to Raymarine’s acclaimed LightHouse operating system for Axiom MFDs.

Smart Drift is an incredibly easy-to-use but highly sophisticated system that allows recreational fishers to drift fish like seasoned pros. With Smart Drift, fishers simply identify a target, mark it on their fishfinder screen and select the Calculate to Drift function. They will then be prompted to put their boat’s engines in neutral and let it move on its own for about 100 metres. This enables Smart Drift to automatically calculate the ideal starting point for the drift and highlight it on the screen with a “ghost ship”. Skippers then simply drive their boat to the ghost ship position put their engines in neutral and begin their drift back over the target.

“This is amazing technology,” says Mark Milburn, managing director of Raymarine’s New Zealand distributor Lusty & Blundell. “Normally, trying to accurately gauge the wind, tide and current so you always drift over a target is almost impossible, even for very experienced fishers. “Smart Drift takes away all that guesswork and replaces it with hard science. “Drift, catch, repeat with Smart Drift – it really is that easy.” Smart Drift also allows anglers to choose their drift duration: how long they need for the boat to drift before it reaches the target area; how long they need to bait hooks, get lines in the water, drop lures to the proper depth. And, thanks to advanced Raymarine sonar technology such as CHIRP DownVision and CHIRP SideVision, fishers can identify and mark their drift targets all around their boat rather than just from directly below.

Another LightHouse 4.7 upgrade now allows Zoom mode to automatically track the bottom when it is in view and ensures the Zoom magnification window is easier to view and move about the water column and fishers can also now enter a Goto destination waypoint directly from their fishfinder screen. Raymarine’s latest upgrade to their acclaimed LightHouse operating system, LightHouse 4.7, is now available and free to download using the Axiom’s software update feature or from http://www.raymarine.eu/multifunction-displays/lighthouse3/.