HitMan

I have used the Digi-Troll IV the most and that unit is hard to beat and the price tag shows it, as you probably know. I think the Mag 15 is a good unit with good speed and the auto stop at the surface. I don't know the price of the Mag 15 at this time, but the speed is definately there for the price. Personally, I would have to recommend Cannon downriggers over any of the others. But, from the sounds of it, the Big Jon Pro Tournament Downrigger is going to be hard to beat for the price. It has every feature that any tournament or above average fisherman needs. I don't believe Vector has an auto shut off, just a unique clutch system. Again, I liked the auto shut offs on the Big Jons and Cannons better. I also believe Vector has a slower retrieval rate than the previously mentioned riggers as well, but I am not sure. Overall, based on my personal experiences, I would have to recommend Cannon and Big Jon as the two best downrigger companies. Each company also has excellent customer service.

Hey Chris, All 3 downrigger companies you mentioned are excellent choices. I have used all 3 companies and each has their own unique characteristics. I guess it depends on what you are looking for and what model from each company and the price range. I may be able to provide you with my detailed experiences with each company if I know a price range or more details of what you are exactly looking for.

I thought the whole deal was amazing!!!! I waited in line from 10PM last night until 4AM this morning to see the casket. I was frozen when I finally entered the museum. I thought the Ford Family and city of Grand Rapids did an excellent job. I was very impressed and it was definately once in a lifetime opportunity.

Happy New Year to everyone and their families!!!!!!!

Every year it seems like the Great Lakes get less and less ice cover, resulting in more and more evaporation throughout the winter and lower water levels. Therefore, I definately have to say there will be no severe ice cover on the Great Lakes this winter and I think the inland and even the bigger inland lakes' ice cover is going to be thinner than normal.

I prefer the Penn 875LC and the Shimano Tekota 600LC. One is no longer made and the other is way more than your $100 budget. Therefore, I would recommend the Okuma Convector 30D or 45D Levelwind Reels. These are the best reels for the price.

That's correct on the direction of travel is extremely important, at least in my opinion. You will notice that you may get a lot more bites in one direction than another. That's why I believe direction of travel is the most important factor when fishing on Lake Michigan. If necessary, we will troll in one direction for an entire charter or tournament or whatever for 6 straight hours and never turn around. We may troll for 10-15 miles and then run back to port when we are finished, if we think that is the best troll and way to catch fish. We may also troll through a productive area for a few miles, pull lines, and run back to where we started and troll through the same productive area again; rather than trolling in a bad direction that is unproductive and not producing fish and consequently wasting time. You may have noticed that many of the best tournament fishermen do not like moving off of course or changing direction, if they don't have to, mainly because they find a specific direction that is producing fish and getting off course may mess up their entire spread, etc. Overall, in my opinion, I think the direction of travel is by far the most important factor in consistently being able to produce consistent numbers of fish day in and day out.

I will probably be one of the few Captains and even Anglers against a Sub Troll, Depth Raider, Fish Hawk, etc. Personally, I only find them useful for finding down temperatures, when needed, once in awhile. We use a Fish Hawk and I think it has been in the water 10 times in the last 5 years??? Otherwise, a nice fish finder does the same job, plus much more. Fish where you mark them; they are there for a reason, no matter what the temperature may be. Personally, I would save the money and invest in an extremely good fish finder; as this is my number one tool. We measure down speed by watching our Dipsy Diver rods, Downrigger Cables, and Planer Boards. It is very easy to determine what direction the current is coming out of by watching these 3 techniques and your SOG on your GPS and RPMs on your engine. Once the current direction is figured out, you can judge your speed by watching your cables, boards, and divers. Line the cables up with the stern of the boat and downrigger arm and you should be going either directly up-current or down-current. Then judge the speed of the current by the pull on the diver rods and this will tell you what direction the current is coming from. Usually, when a good direction is figured out, all planer boards will line up and run perfectly in a line. This is another indicator that you are traveling in a good direction. Most of the time, the best direction of travel is into the current and than 180 degrees opposite of that direction. I think direction of travel is way more important than speed. There is a lot of details into figuring out the perfect direction and speed. It takes a lot of practice and specific observations. If interested, when I have more time, I can elaborate more on details with a specific post or article about determining the direction of travel and speed without using a down unit, or feel free to ask any other questions.

I have to vote for Shimano TDR rods in the past and now Shimano Talora rods. I think they are the best rod for the price and the lifetime over the counter warranty is hard to beat. Even though they are a little pricier than other brands, in the long run, I think it is worth the wear and tear on your rods. We use the 8' Medium Light for our Downrigger Rods, the 10'6" Medium for our Dipsy Rods, the 9' Medium for our Lead Core and Copper, and the 10' Roller Guide Rods for our Wire Dipsy Rods.

I am curious about what brand of rod is your favorite or what brand you have the most of and why you pick that specific big lake rod company. Also, what model are they and what action and length for Downriggers, Dipsys, Wire, Lead Core, Copper, etc.

Stingray Color: Mixed Veggies Magnum Color: Natural Born Killer Slasher: Metallic Green Glow Fly: Natural Born Killer

For April and May, you mainly only need Spoons and then August you need more Flasher/Fly combinations and Plugs. We fish out of Grand Haven and tournaments from South Haven to Muskegon. In terms of Spoons: Mixed Veggies, Natural Born Killer, Blue Dolphin, Green Dolphin, Double Orange Crush, and Carmel Dolphin In terms of Flies: Hypnotist, Wild Fern, Blue Bubble, Oceana, Snow Ghost, and Green Krinkle In terms of Flashers: These are 8 inch flashers; White/Double Crushed Glow, Green/Double Crushed Glow, White/Blue Bubble (Blue Holo/Crushed Glow), and White/Green/Crushed Glow In terms of Plugs: Pearl/Black Dot Tomic, Chrome/Red Head, Fickle Pickle, Green Glo, Green Glo/Black Ladderback, and Mongoose Anyways, the list could go on and on and on. If you have any specific questions feel free to PM me or message me on here. Good Luck and I hope your stockings are overflowing with lures.

I guess it all depends on what your favorite or most heard about spoon company is on what spoons to get. For example, Stinger, Dreamweaver, Northern King, Silver Streak, etc. You then want to get the most popular and productive spoons from that specific company or even a mix of other company's best spoons. The same goes for the flashers. For example, the Spin Doctor vs. FishCatcher flasher or even the Revelator flasher. Again, the same goes for flies. For example, Rapture Fly, Action Fly, or Horse Fly. These choices are all based on regions and popularity in that specific region. For example, I am referring mainly to the South Haven to Whitehall area. A lot of companies do have their best and most productive catchers and sellers for certain areas. Personally, I have to recommend Stingers, Rapture Flies, and the Spin Doctor as our best catching tools, because we have the most confidence and faith in these products. Another guy will have three different products listed because he has the most confidence in them. It is the best to talk to fellow anglers and see what their best and favorite lures are. It takes years and years to accumulate products from various companies.

Has anyone used Fool-A-Fish? What were your results, thoughts, and experiences with it? We have never used it, but heard a lot of talk about it this last year.

Hey John, Sorry for the confusion about the Pro Tournament Rigger and the Speed Rigger. Yeah, I talked to you at a tournament. This fall, I had another person mention they were thinking about getting the Pro Tournament Rigger or Captain's Pak in March. I will definitely remember that the Speed Riggers are not being released anymore and that the Pro Tournament Riggers are good and ready to go. Those do sound like a better deal for the additional features and speed increase. Again, I apologize and am sorry for the confusion. Thanks for the kind wishes and we will see you in South Haven. Captain Jon

Hey Mike, As of August, when I last talked to the Big Jon Rep, the Pro Tournament Riggers were still having problems with their motors. He said the motor issue should have been finalized and figured out by the end of the summer. He said they were working on it, and at that time he was recommending people purchase the Captain's Pak Riggers. I know 3 different people who purchased new Captain's Pak Riggers last year and everyone said they worked great. I haven't heard anything bad about Captain's Pak Riggers in years. Also, the Speed Riggers had the same problem with their motors when they first came out. Boats were going through riggers every other week. But, the last I heard the Speed Riggers were better than in years past. Captain Jon

1. Mixed Veggies Stingray 2. NBK Stingray 3. Blue Veggies Stingray 4. Carmel Dolphin Stingray 5. Green Bubble Stingray

1. Luhr Jensen White/Pearl Fishscale 11 inch Coyote with an Oceana Rapture Fly 2. White/Double Crushed Glow 8 inch Spin Doctor with a Hypnotist LG Rapture Fly 3. White/Blue Holo/Crushed Glow 8 inch Revelator with a Blue Bubble Rapture Fly 4. Luhr Jensen White/Pearl Fishscale 11 inch Coyote with a Frosted Fern Rapture Fly 5. Dark Green/Double Crushed Glow 8 inch Spin Doctor with a Wild Fern Rapture Fly

We figured that the 225' of 30 pound Copper was so productive that we would make up 175' of 45 pound Copper to hopefully equal the 225' of 30 pound Copper, since the 45 pound Copper goes deeper than the 30 pound Copper. I would guess these two run the same depth, which is a little over a Full Core, maybe 11-13 Colors. If your main objective is to get deeper than a Full Core with only two Copper Rods, I would definitely say anything from 225' to 375' of 30 Pound Copper would be excellent for you, with 300' of Copper being the most popular and easiest to get. I would say 300' of Copper is roughly equal to 15 Colors of Lead Core. I don't know as many specifics about the 45 pound Copper, other than it is thicker and you can achieve more depth with less Copper out. We have had much better success with the 30 pound Copper than the 45 pound Copper for some reason. It sounds like your initial idea of 300' of 30 pound and 300' of 45 pound Copper would be a good scenerio for only two rods. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Our two most productive Copper Lengths, by a huge margin, were 225' of 30 pound Copper and 175' of 45 pound Copper. Others that were decent were 300' of 30 pound Copper (the most commonly used length in both 30 pound and 45 pound Copper) and 375' of 30 pound Copper. Personally, I prefer the 30 pound Copper over the 45 pound Copper. It has seemed to work better, doesn't backlash as easy, and definitely spools off the reel more cooperately. Anyways, the 225' of 30 pound Copper was probably our best rod, day in and day out, all year long.

I will clarify this post and post my own answers. I meant what specific color, name, brand, etc. of a Spoon, Fly, Flasher, and Plug, or whatever else ie. cut bait, etc., was your best. For example, Spoon: Mix Veggies Stingray Fly: Oceana Rapture Fly Flasher: Luhr Jensen White/Pearl Fishscale 11 inch Coyote Plug: Pearl/Black Dot Tomic

What was everyone's favorite or best producing: Spoon? Fly? Flasher? Plug? Anything else?

We are planning to add a lot more Copper Rigs. We had extremely good success with the few Copper rods we had last year. They were consistent producers; often outproducing all of the Lead Core rods combined. We have been using Copper for the previous 4 years with so-so success. But, last year it seemed to be a lot more effective than the prior 3 years. It definitely is not user friendly, but was extremely effective.

We have the Raymarine ST8002 on the 31' Tiara, Hit Man. We just got it installed last summer, when it was released. This is the largest autopilot available from Raymarine, as we opted to get the larger one for an extra couple hundred dollars. I have used many different autopilots and I have to say this is the best one yet. It worked perfectly everyday all summer long. It held perfect in 4-6' waves and sometimes bigger. Overall, I would never reccommend another autopilot other than Raymarine.

Chip Klein of Hit Man Taxidermy does mainly Great Lakes fish all winter long. He takes a lot of time and puts a lot of effort into each fish. His fish look good as he spends a lot of time painting. Overall, I have not heard many negative comments from customers.