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Thanks for the report Supertramp. Hoping it turns around some. Wondering if we're starting to see the results of fewer fish plants? Really wanted my son in law and daughter to reel one in on our trip. Keep at it. Paul C.

Went to St. Joe this morning, a little latter. Got on the water about 9 AM. My wife, daughter and son in law wanted to go for their first trip of the year. Lake was pretty nice, fog was not great. Had plans to go out to a temp break I saw on the water temp map this morning, a little south and out, it looked like around 110 feet of water or so. The heavy fog changed my mind so we fished in the 80's and 90's, all directions. Marked a few fish, had one even come up and look at my flasher/fly on the port down rigger. No takers. Ran spoons, flasher/flies, and even threw out a J-Plug on a 150 copper. Also tried my favorite red thin fin on a five color hoping for a steelhead. No releases. Water temp was down to 45 degrees at 50 feet. High 60's on the surface. Next time. Paul C.

Hi Jack, I'm a little bit farther west then you but we have done Sterling State Park into Breast Bay and Lake Erie as a day trip and also stayed over night. I've stayed once at: Hampton Inn Monroe 1565 N Dixie Hwy Monroe, MI 48162 It's pretty close to the entrance to Sterling State Park. We stayed in the off season, I think toward the end of October and it was still horribly expensive so you may want to shop around. However, I still had my boat in the morning so I was happy. If you have your "P" designator on your license plate its a free launch at Sterling State Park and pretty nice, although be sure and adhere to the buoys going out. It even has a fish cleaning station. Also, not sure if you've been watching the www.michigan-sportsman forums or not but the east side guys are much better at posting reports then us west siders. (thanks east siders!) At any rate the reports may give you a starting point. A friend from Lansing was just over two weeks ago and did OK. I have fished out of Luna Pier once, but didn't stay over night, just a long day trip but it seems there are a lot of hotels around. Also, not sure if you'd consider Ohio waters or not but we have been going to the Port Clinton area. Lots of hotels over that way, although with Cedar Point in full swing may be expensive. Something also that may be fun for you and your wife to get your bearing on Lake Erie is a charter with: http://www.julswalleyefishingadventures.com This lady sounds like a wonderful captain and does a lot of family, husband/wife type trips, both perch and walleye. She will often have fresh baked goods on board also. At any rate she gives really frequent reports and will help you determine a strategy for your catching. Finally, I realize with you going over next week, probably no time for a lot of that stuff, but if you and your wife would like a really friendly, family fishing weekend, Lance Valentine, from: www.walleye101.com has something he calls a Trophy Hunt. Very reasonable, I think, and some good education. Usually toward the end of October. Anyway, a few options and hope you have a great time. Paul C. Mattawan, MI

Good Morning Hockey 390.....I've never used Cannons so can't speak to them at all, other then I've heard they are great. I put two new Big Jon Captains Pack riggers on my boat in 2008 and they have been great. The side of my garage must have moved as I was pulling he boat out one day and I took off part of the cover that houses the up/down switch and breaker and other electronic stuff. I took it apart and looked, decided I'd done enough damage so I took the motor assembly off and sent the whole thing to Big Jon with a note. (Company is in Interlochen, MI) They contacted me, let me know what needed done, fixed it and sent the assembly back, all with in the week, more or less. It was great dealing with a Michigan company. Plus, they actually called and left a message a few days after I received the package to make sure I was happy. Hard to beat that. Good luck on your choice. Paul C.

Finally got hold of Rick and he said the trailer is a Nextrail. They've had it for 6 or 7 years and its been great for them. However, did a web search for the company and some of the reviews are not great. The bigger problem, it appears the company has moved to Florida per this web site: http://www.nextrailofamerica.com/features.htm I'm afraid I wasn't much help. Good luck on the hunt! Paul C.

Just sent him a text message. See if I can track him down for you. Paul C.

A friend had one built for a 25 foot Trojan down in Indiana somewhere. It's a nice aluminum 3 axle trailer and it seems like he said it was reasonable. I can try and get the info for you if you'd consider new. Paul C.

Good point on the speed. Guess it really doesn't matter much except at the ball. I'm assuming the Fish Hawk transducer is for both the X-4 and X-4D, hence the wheel. Paul C.

I just put the same one on my boat this year and am trying to learn how to use it. Just for fun, we were at Lake Erie, out of Port Clinton week before last for a couple days, at times around the islands, the surface speed and speed at 25 feet were as much as .5 MPH different. Kind of a big deal when only going 1 to 1.5 on the surface. I'm thinking those poor body baits were not even moving. If Lake M ever gets so I can get out, I'm looking forward to using it. I do wish it had speed at the transom in back instead of using GPS speed though. I'd be curious if it is more stable using the Fishhawk speed vs the GPS speed. Hope it helps us both. Paul C.

Chummer, you won't believe how nice it is not to need to fish on the weekends, between grass mowing, chores and such. I have been very fortunate in that I have found a couple fishing buddy friends, who are also good friends, who help with gas and also have their own boats and we share equipment. Stay healthy and enjoy every day. Paul C. PS....Walleye and morels for lunch on Monday, Crappie for lunch on Wednesday. Life is good!

Thanks for the report. Lots of stuff floating on Tuesday also. Glad yours props ended up OK. A friend with a 25 foot Trojan hit something two years ago just as he was clearing the piers and ended up with some major drive train damage. Can't wait for a little smoother lake before the coho continue north. My wife has this great recipe and we had two meals from Tuesdays catch. Sure are good fish. Paul C.

Weather was supposed to be so crumby today, when the sun came out late this morning and the wind died, I decided to check NWS and see what the forecast was for St. Joe. Said one foot or less. (They were wrong by the way). Ended up with one King, one Laker and two coho. Best bait was a red Thin Fin, two landed three hits. King came on a purple spoon, (Dreamweaver?) on the down rigger and the Laker was on a hot and tot with some reds in it. It was great to get out, wish the weather would cooperate a little more. Hard for me to set lines on my knees. Fished from 1:30 to 4:30 PM or so. Paul C.

I've been using the Chamberlains for the last three years. They have been great. I used the Big Jon rubber band release ones before that, and they were OK, although I prefer not to use the rubber bands. Tried the Chamberlain stacker release. It seemed to work OK, however one of my fishing partners had an awe shucks and it ended up in the Lake somewhere. Don't think I'll replace it. Paul C.

Sent him an email. Thanks! Paul C.

Hi Chris; I retired from the Paw Paw Post, December 31, 2010, one of my fishing partners retired a few years before and another friend a little before that. How can I get some? Might be just what the St. Joe Kings need! Thanks! Paul C.

You may want to send a message to a guy named "ENCORE" from the Michigan-Sportsman forum: www.michigan-sportsman.com He had lots of problems with one I believe and it was finally replaced. I'm sure he could provide you some insight. Here is his thread from 2012: http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428330&highlight=mercury May have to register on the site but as I recall some good info on the thread, didn't read through it again though. Best of luck. Paul C.

I had two of them, apparently we were doing something wrong, now have one. Seem to work OK and as stated earlier, take some getting used to. I also use their releases and really like them. Tackle Haven in Benton Harbor had them, a bit of a road trip for you. I ordered from the company both times I purchased them. http://www.downriggerrelease.com/ Paul C.

My fishing partner wrote such a good report I copy/pasted below from a different site. It was a great day and the first limit of the year in St. Joe. We've had a tough salmon year. Jim's report: 7 am - 2:30 pm. Thanks to a previous report we headed to 180 -200 water. After we set our first rigger found out our speed & temp. was out of order. Set our lures from 45 - 65 down. Our first fish was at 9 am after speeding up. Ground speed was 3.0 - 3.2 on a SE & NW troll. Caught and lost fish all day. Stopped counting lost fish at 11. Our three man limit came from a little of everything. Full copper, full core, wire dipsies, riggers. The best bites came on our smallest spoons. Nothing on flies. Nothing on riggers until we stacked add lines and then they fired consistenly the rest of the day. Colors were your normal fish catchers. Green & gold, green & yellow, green & blue. Our 15 fish consisted of Kings, Coho, Steelies, Skamania. After wrapping the wire and lead together we managed to have both riggers go off and a wire dipsy landing two of the three fish with the mess still in the water down the trough! What a great day. We started by heading directly 270 degrees out of the harbor and then headed south. Good luck to you all. Paul C. Mattawan, MI

I couldn't get my Church or Offshore board to pull my 300 copper so I bought the TX-44's from Church. They work great. On sale right now too at a place called Brets Place on the Bay. www.brettsplaceonthebay.com I think they are 29.99. Tackle Haven across form the DNR boat launch in Benton Harbor has them for 34.00 or something like that. Kind of expensive but they do work. Paul C.

St. Joe has been tough for us this year. Thanks for the report. Paul C. PS............my boat has two skunks this year.

We went out last Wednesday, at St. Joe, have not been for a few weeks so thought we'd start where we were doing good a year ago. Set up in 80 feet with a west troll and went out to as far as 128. 0 for 3, with the three being pull backs on the boards and no fish felt. So, replay today, started at daylight and were thinking of heading back out to the 80s and noted all of the charter guys stopping in the 60's. Duuuuu. Ended up with two kings, biggest 16. something pounds, and seven really nice coho with the biggest being a little over 6 pounds. All were in the 60's. All came on spoons, mostly anything with green or oranges in them. Tried flies and stick baits and even drug a j-plug around for awhile, with nothing touched. St. Joe has been tough for us this year. Good Luck! Paul C.

I have Big Jon's, trouble free so far, probably 5 years old now. Can't speak to the other brands. I did listen to a Mike Avery interview with the person who started Big Jon, can't remember his name, and he sounded like a really smart engineering type who built a really sound company. Happy with mine. Paul C.

Beautiful boat. Sounds like your rigging pretty deluxe too! Good job.

Not sure what that is. Unless it is something downloaded with a software update on the sonar/gps unit, I'm sure I don't. Paul C.

Is that something that could be done in Eau Claire with Maretron cable? Thank you for your response. Paul C.