Ron,
How do?
I wouldn't call using a gps "over the top" but for most fishermen it becomes more of a distraction than a tool used to increase our fish count.
Don't get me wrong I too own a cheapy hand held and I even use it at least a couple times a season.
They have there place, for instance a couple years ago Oct. I stopped off at Mille Lacs lake in MN for the 1st time, this body of water is a great little lake, lol. I think it's 18 miles across and 10's of thousands of acres so rifle sites can be nearly impossible at times. I picked out a couple of reefs to check out off a map and launched the boat on a beautiful cloudy 35* day but it wasn't long before the wind and the fog rolled in and by the time I arrived back at the ramp (8:30am) I could no longer see the truck in the lot. I left that lake and vowed to spend a whole $100 on one of those things!
This lake is huge and we must always be careful when we get where we can no longer see shore. Mille Lacs is a lake with not a lot of depth 40' max but it has huge reefs many of them are surrounded by 28'-32' and have flat tops of 22'-26'. No 2 are exactly the same and can be difficult to locate. In this situation a gps is a handy little tool to get you back in the desirered area.
I believe using a gps in most situations is a detriment to our fishing. Developing a picture in our minds of what’s below the water needs to be exercised without a crutch.
Here’s another time where I found a good use for it, the last couple of years I've gone to Canada with a couple of different guys and in both cases this was a new lake for them. I've been there enough to get around it without a map but when the newbie is in "his" boat and he see's huge rocks sticking out of the water it's a little scary. We have one area that is 8 miles away and another that is 5 or 6 but in both these cases we are winding in-between islands and passing through many rapid depth changes so to relax the boat owner we just saved the route.
Used in the right manor it's a nice tool, do we need one, NO! If we let ourselves become depended or distracted then I believe it only prolongs the time it takes to become a good mapper. Buck's study material is the only short cut.
Jerry