How to create and use a C-MAP Genesis Edge bottom-hardness map layer to catch more and bigger fish

Many anglers “beat the bank” because they have more confidence targeting visible cover. But the fish in those areas get pounded, making them harder to catch. With a C-MAP Genesis Edge bottom-hardness map, however, you can fish the bottom as confidently as you do the bank, targeting offshore structure like hard-to-soft-bottom transitions and the fish-holding sweet spots on humps, reefs, and shoals, etc. This article will teach you how.

Although it’s a great fish-finding tool, StructureScan alone can’t really show you the size and shape of hard-bottom areas like gravel patches, clay slicks and shellbeds. But C-MAP’s Genesis Edge bottom-hardness layer makes such areas stick out like “Fish Here!” signs on your map. It overlays onto your contour lines a color-coded representation* of the size, shape and location of areas of different bottom hardness: dark orange areas show the hardest bottom; a lighter orange indicates the next-hardest bottom; tan is the next-hardest bottom; and pale yellow shows the softest-bottom areas.

Previously, bottom-hardness layers were available only for waterbodies you map yourself. But with a Genesis Edge subscription, you can now get them for hundreds of select waterbodies available for download from Social Map.

How to create and use a Genesis Edge vegetation map to catch more and bigger fish

Big gamefish ambush little baitfish in both submerged vegetation and along deep weed lines, neither of which are visible to the naked eye in most weather and water conditions. But with a Genesis Edge map, you can easily find and fish both deep weed lines and isolated submerged grass. This article will teach you how.

With a Genesis Edge account (formerly Insight Genesis premium), you can create a custom grass map that will overlay on your blue-scaled contour map easy-to-see green patches that show the size and shape of the areas of submerged grass/vegetation you mapped.*

How to download and use a custom C-MAP Genesis map in your sonar/GPS unit

The key feature of C-MAP Genesis service is the ability to make your own contour charts of any waterbody on which you fish, cruise or sail, and use it on the sonar/GPS unit on your boat.* For anglers, especially, the benefits are revolutionary — not only can you create custom fishing maps with 1-foot contours of waterbodies for which there’s no other map in existence, but you can also improve contour detail on previously mapped waters, and discover and dissect spot-on-the-spot areas overlooked by other anglers.

But before you start catching more and bigger fish with custom C-MAP Genesis maps, you’ve got to get those maps onto the compatible* sonar/GPS unit on your boat. This article will cover the step-by-step process to download to an SD card and load into your sonar/GPS unit the custom maps you’ve made with sonar data you’ve recorded yourself. If you’re not ready yet to record sonar data and create your own custom maps — and would rather download free Social Map charts community-sourced by other anglers in the C-MAP Genesis community, read this article.