Paul Pogo - Reel Therapy

Thank you for the info regarding Indiana-based fishing info. Maybe in the next year or two, I'll go to electric downriggers.Excluding the purchase price of the boat, I've already got over $10k into the upgrades, equipment purchases, etc. So they'll have to wait, for now! Did not want to turn them down as they were free from one of the friends who owned the boat we fished from back in the day. Not installing a Planer mast. The roof of the helm sits 8-10 foot above the water, so I opted to do quick-release roof mounts, pulleys on shock cords, and planer board snubbers. Saw this set-up crush it on a Lake Erie Walleye Charter last year. Was so f...ing impressed with the simplicity of this concept, I just knew I had to have it for my boat! Now that I'm about $1500 into this project, it's going to be time soon for the rubber to meet the road! We'll see how they work for Salmon. What weight ball do you use on your downriggers? I have 2 - six pounders and 1 - four pounder. Was planning on running both 6's. Paul

Dave, Again, thank you for the good advice and info. I will check out those YouTube vids! I was planning on posting whether it's a good day or not so good day. Notice no mention of bad day; let's face it, if you are out on your boat, it ISN'T a bad day! Back in the day, I used to keep a pocket notebook to log specific fishing info, even though I did not own the boat. Since I have a nice, unused journal, it will be my Captain's Log and the plan is to use it for fishing, as well as general boating. I'm pushing 65 and forgetting is easier than remembering, so I've learned to write it down! Paul

Thank you for the response. I'm going to find out first-hand, since I ordered a wrist-spool of fluoro-leader and another spool of just fluorocarbon fishline last night. While on this subject though, how long is your typical leader in your set-up? It's been a minute, or 15, since I was the one making lure & line set-up choices. So many things have changed, especially with line (braid, lead braid, copper braid, fluoro, mono, etc). Out of 16 rods/reels spooled, 3 have mono, 4 lead-core braid, 4 with copper braid, and 5 with just braid. What has been your experience with the various lines?

Are Fluor0carbon Leaders the same material you get on a spool of Fluorocarbon? On sites that sell these products, the descriptions for both are the basically identical. I can buy a 200 or 300 yd spool for a lot less than a spool of 30-50 yd leader spool and make my own! What are your thoughts and experience?

Hello everyone, I'm the new guy and my name is Paul. Although I am new to boat owning, I am not new to boating in general, nor fishing. I bought a 21' Steiger Craft Miami DV in late October 2023 from an avid Chesapeake Bay fisherman in Maryland. This boat's not been in Lake Michigan yet, let alone any freshwater! She came with a Honda 225 hp OB motor, a Garmin GPS/FF/Chartplotter, a marine radio, and a permanently mounted, 5-tube rocket launcher on the roof. I'm upgrading her for Lake Michigan/Lake Erie Sport fishing by adding 2 manual downriggers and 2 electric planer board motors for running extra-large planer boards, capable of spreading out 3-4 lines per side. Also, adding a Garmin Radar Array which integrates with my Garmin GPS/FF/Chartplotter. Once she returns from the OB Mechanic, installations will begin, along with bottom prep/painting. High hopes are to be in the water early March 2024. Since this vessel was never named, Reel Therapy was chosen! She's a fishing boat! Primarily! Except when the wife wants to go to the beach in the summer. Read on an you'll understand! So why did I buy a boat? I bought her because the expense of Charter's limited my fishing and was tired of trying to coerce friends with boats to go out. And fishing from shore on the Big Lake just doesn't hold my interest. I had been looking into buying (a.k.a., searching boat selling sites), and dropping subtle hints for 6-9 months. Whenever that subject was brought up, it was immediately shutdown. Clearing the wife-hurdle was NOT going to be an easy task! After coming to the realization, it was about perception, I knew the hill had been taken! You see, her minds picture of a boat was something in the Bass Boat variety, like a Tracker; you know, sits fairly shallow in the water, overpowered OB engine on the transom for getting out to those hotspots super-fast! When she saw the boat photos in which I had interest, the GREEN light was given! The icing though, was her encouragement to invest a little more if it yielded something better, which is how a Steiger Craft ended up in Indiana. Steiger Craft only make 100 boats per year, each handcrafted hull is completely fiberglass and includes a lifetime warranty. They are an East Coast fishing vessel with dealerships in Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. Emails between myself and Steiger Craft left me with the impression "Reel Therapy" will be the only Steiger Craft on Lake Michigan. As much as I am impressed with the boat, I am more impressed with my wife. Obviously, she really loves me, sees the same future of fun times ahead with fishing and boating, and is my perfect 1st Mate! So that's my boating story for now, with much more to be written. Speaking of stories to be written, does anyone on here contribute. I don't see much in terms of recent posts! As I navigate around, the Forum posts are old (a year or more), and new posts are just selling equipment. I joined in hopes of finding/sharing tips on what lures and colors are working, and other techniques fisherman are having success with for filling the cooler. It is disappointing; however, sometimes, it just takes someone gets things started. Once I get the bugs worked out and am more familiar with the operation of my vessel, expect Paul Pogo - Reel Therapy to post-up!