All captains should share the same goals: Catch fish and get the boat and crew safely from port to port. And although the electronics available to us today are without question the finest tools we've ever had, I've noticed lately that some manufacturers try to automate so many features that we actually lose the ability to get the information we really need.

Likewise, I've seen some electronics packages that offer so many customizations that you don't know how to even begin to set it up. It's a shame to see an owner spend a fortune on an incredible electronics package and then turn it over to a guy who has never been trained in how to optimize its features or functions.

To get a handle on the most widely used features in a typical electronics package, I called and met with six captains whom I respect immensely for their professionalism, intellect, seamanship and fishing prowess. I asked each one the same five questions:

1. What two pieces of electronics do you rely on most for your fishing?

2. How do you set up these electronics for a typical day's fishing?

3. What do you expect from these machines when you turn them on?

4. What would you like to see on these machines that they don't already have?

5. How do you use these two pieces together?

My test subjects were: Capt. Bark Garnsey, skipper of the 42-foot Gamefisherman Chunda for venerable light-tackle angler Stewart Campbell; Capt. Brad Simonds, a Princeton grad and one of the most intellectual, cerebral, analytical skippers I know; Capt. Bobby Brown, a well-known blue marlin expert on the 58-foot Merritt Cutnail; Capt. O. B. O'Bryan, a hardworking skipper fishing the world's hot spots on the 58-foot Merritt Sea-D; Capt. Kenny Sexton of Manteo, North Carolina, who started his career fishing out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Center, arguably the best charter fleet on the East Coast; and Capt. Peter B. Wright, one of the best big-marlin captains in the history of the sport.

These guys responded as I thought they would. Each conceded that getting the most out of their electronics package was crucial to their success on the water. They constantly monitor their instruments throughout the day and aren't quick to accept "generic" or automatic settings. They prefer to customize their equipment's settings to give them the exact information they require.

The group picked the depth sounder and GPS as the two most important pieces of electronics for fishing. Not one of them ever uses the automatic settings for gain, depth or clutter on their depth sounders. Garnsey and Simonds constantly change their machines' settings all day to fine-tune, and they say they want to be able to pick out targets accurately to 300 fathoms minimum.

During my first trip to the Great Barrier Reef, I spent a lot of time in the tower with Wright, and I thought for sure he'd wear the buttons off his JRC color echo sounder. He seemed to change the settings every five minutes, trying to see bait or locate contours and even individual black marlin beneath the boat.

These captains want the control to make adjustments as the conditions, depth and target species change; all agreed that the auto functions on most depth sounders rarely provide the amount of information that the machine can process. For instance,

Sexton splits his screen to show the entire water column on one side and the top 20 fathoms on the other. This allows him to adjust his gain and clutter so he can mark bait and individual fish closer to the surface, yet still be able to work a contour or bottom structure.

On the GPS, they all use the chart-plotter function with position coordinates somewhere on the screen. They use the vessel-tracking function to see their recent history, to mark bites, bait and bottom structure, and to get back to the hot spot.

All of these captains expect reliability, accuracy and ease of use — anything less is counterproductive. Clear, sunlight-viewable screens need to be easy to read with polarized sunglasses from several feet away. It shouldn't take three pushes of a button to accomplish basic functions. They all want simple, one-touch input and find it easier and quicker to input names or events with alphanumeric keys.

In regards to what they'd like to see on their machines that they don't have already, Garnsey wants an audible fish alarm, and Wright needs a transducer that gives him the ability to change the settings individually in, say, 38, 50 and 200 kHz, while viewing all three pictures simultaneously. This would allow him to see 0 to 50 fathoms in 38 kHz for a stronger, more detailed view of what he's marking; 20 to 300 feet in 50 kHz for a wider look under the boat; and 200 kHz to mark bait and see contours and bottom structure. Brown, O'Bryan and Sexton say they don't use all the functions they have now and just want the basics — depth, temp, position and tracking.

For their wish lists, Brown, O'Bryan, Wright and Simonds all like the idea of bathymetric and 3-D bottom modeling to get a better picture of the bottom and contours they're fishing. If you're fishing an area for a good number of days and continually cover the ground over and over, you can accurately map the bottom and start seeing structure that will help you catch fish.

They all use the two machines in unison. When they mark bait or fish, they note the spot with a waypoint or a mark and then return to the spot and continue to work the area until they raise a fish.

Ultimately, owners need to be sure their captains know how to use the equipment they buy. A good training program pays for itself with increased catches and a more confident, attentive captain. Don't buy everything the dealer wants to sell you just because it's the hot new thing; buy what you need, and be sure it's easy for you and your crew to use.

Sure, it would be nice to access bathymetric charting, 3-D-modeling software and side-scanning sonar, but these features require more training and an understanding of how to use the information in the first place. Manufacturers need to listen to what fishermen want and not get caught up in "special" features that we really don't use. Just leave the bells and whistles for the fog, and give us the basics. And oh yeah, make it work easily — all the time.