Article by Capt. Steve Katz
Ping Jockey
Watching NASCAR and many other races can be monotonous until a crash occurs. Many spectators watch a race for hours in the hopes to see a few seconds of a death-defying crash. You watch the race carefully for hours, scheduling restroom breaks and food breaks in conjunction with commercials, or if watching live- a dash to the concessions and the moment you look away from the action you miss the big crash.
This same scenario takes place every day while sportfishing; long days at the helm or in the cockpit and a lot of open ocean can easily create a monotonous scenario for even the best crew. The captain has a tedious job at the helm: monitor the other boats in the area and navigate safely, monitor the engines, pumps, and other critical systems, communicate on the radio, text, phone etc., monitor the fishing spread at the stern, operate the teaser reels, scan the water for signs of fish and of course watch the marine electronics- chartplotters depth sounder, weather, water temperature and scanning sonar.
While most skilled tournament captains honed these skills into a second nature, the recent addition of the live sonar has overloaded many captains' helm tasks. Watching a live sonar screen (like the popular Furuno and Koden sonars) demands attentiveness, just like a NASCAR race, look away for a minute and you might miss the fish swimming through the sonar beam. A traditional sounder pings the water directly under the boat and records that image on a historical graph on the screen. A modern sonar has no history, the picture you see is a live view of what is around the water beneath your boat. A fast-swimming fish can swim into and out of the sonar beam rather quickly, where only an attentive sonar operator would notice and act.
Even the direction of the swimming fish can change the screen image, a fish swimming perpendicular to the boat's travel will show a much larger “ping” on the sonar than a fish swimming parallel to the boat. Tournament sportfish’s crew will monitor and track most any “pings” on the sonar to investigate if they are the targeted species and then give chase if needed.
So how can a competent captain add to their repertoire the monitoring of a live sonar system while at the same time performing all the other duties? Get help! The best help is to have a designated person operate and monitor the sonar through the fishing day. This allows the captain to maintain his existing duties while working with the sonar operator to hunt the targeted fish. Interesting enough, this crew position was designated an occupational rating by our US Navy years ago, the Sonar technician (or ST). In the Navy, the Sonar technicians’ job is to “use the most advanced sonar equipment to quietly track contacts that may be lying beneath the waves. Deploy sonar sounds from surface ships and submarines and gather intel from the depths. Sea surveillance is essential to navigation—you’ll be able to track everything from enemy ships to marine life, while directing your ship accordingly” While the Navy’s version doesn’t include targeting and catching tournament winning fish, the job duties of a sportfish sonar technician are certainly similar. In many of the armed forces, nicknames evolved for many duties, and the sonar technician is often referred to by fellow Navy sailors as a “Ping Jockey” and now that term is popping up in the sportfish world.
Today’s Sportfish Ping Jockeys are an integral part of the regular crew or a specialist joining the crew during tournaments and special events. What makes a good Ping Jockey? First, a thorough understanding of the equipment, learning all the features, functions, controls, and adjustments – often this is on-the-job training, but manuals, videos and manufacturer training can complement the on-the-job learning. Once the equipment is mastered, even more skill is required to determine what the screen image represents: is it a whale, bait ball, ray, Thermocline, boat wake or tournament winning pelagic?
Once this skill is learned, generally by experience and hours behind the screen, the next skill is communication. A Ping Jockey must be able to communicate to the captain where the targeted fish are in relation to the boat: range, heading, and depth are all important information that need to be immediately conveyed to the captain to maintain sonar contact with the fish. The most important skill a sportfish Ping Jockey must have is stamina! Long hours at the helm, staring at the screen throughout the fishing day – a Ping Jockey can’t get seasick, take naps, spend the afternoon in the galley or head; they need to watch the screen with the utmost attentiveness throughout the day.
Who makes a good Ping Jockey? It could be an electronics person who is skilled at that type of hardware, an experienced angler who has a technical inkling, and even a “gamer” in our youthful generation. One tournament fishing boat has a young person who is a skilled gamer and loves fishing - has taken to the Ping Jockey crew position with as much enthusiasm as with the video games – very similar skills though with real world outcomes of success and failure.
Whether hunting enemy submarines or big blue marlin, the job of a Ping Jockey is important on any boat.
Until next time...
Stay Grounded
