Yooperdad

Michigan DNR Sponsored BOW - Be an Outdoor Woman The DNR posted their announcement today for the 2011 Salmon Fishing BOW event, to be held at Fairport, MI, August 12-13-14. Details can be seen here: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dn...g_355430_7.pdf Please pass this on to anyone you know who may be interested. This will be the 4th Salmon BOW and they have all been great successes.

Flyboy, I have braid backer under my wire and it works fine. Use the reel fill spreadsheet on the site here to get what you need, and it will work fine for you.

John, I know you have posted terrific results in other years for the early Detour fishery. This sure is an unusual year. Things will pick up soon for you over there

Carbon 14 and Flounder Pounder have the most tooth marks and paint missing for me.

I thought I had too many rods, but man, I don't hold a candle compared to some of you guys:D 2-300 copper 45# 2-10 color 2- 5 color 2- 2 color(SWR) 2- wire dipsies 2- braid dipsies 4- 20# rigger rods 2- 12# rigger spoon rods 1- spinning rod 19 total - good thing my wife won't see this post

Awesome catch, post, and pictures. Man, if ever asked about an advantage to living below the bridge, you just very capably documented it:D Good job!

I have 4 Church's, and picked up a pair of Big Daddy's last year. After changing that front release, they quickly became my favorites. I'm sure you will like them.

I chuckled when I read the response from Supertramp. ( chuckle now but not at the time!) Last year was the first year I ran copper and I ended with 3 balls of it that got tangled with dipsies, from trying to run it too close to the boat. His suggestion is a good one, but don't run it any closer either! Glad I didn't give up on it though, as the results running 300' copper are awesome.

I grew up in SW PA and have been a lifelong Steeler fan. Went to Green Bay for the weekend to watch the game with my son and daughter that live there, and some of their friends, so we had a fun time in a "mixed" crowd. Out to a local bar Friday night in Steeler garb and enjoyed some good natured ribbing too:thumb: It was a great game except for the turnovers, which were caused by a great Packer defense. Have to give the Pack credit for playing a great game, and for having such a great fan base. Being a Yooper, at least my "2nd" favorite team won! P.S. Yes, I kind of snuck out of town today in my Steeler jacket:lol:

Which is better Mike?

Good stuff. Thanks. I bought several of the VK articulated flashers last spring and thought they were going to be the ticket. Didn't work that way:no: Spin Doctors were hot for me and since I make the Eyeflies, that's what I run of course. #3, 5, 8, 18, and 21 were best for me overall. But a few days the #19 Juvil Eye , which is extreme UV, run 40" behind a large paddle and the deepest set in the spread was the ticket. But over all, the Spin Doctors worked best. Now I have to pick up a few Protrolls for this year

My box is full of Spin Doctors, VK's, Flodgers, Dodgers, and Dreamweavers but no Protrolls. 1 Maniac, I see they have Prochip and Hotchip Protrolls. Your recommendation? Thanks, Mike

Great idea on changing the clip from back to front. Never thought of that, obviously:lol: Do you clip it on a piece of mono tied in between the copper and the backer?

I bought 2 last winter and was ready to throw them away after the first attempt to use them. That plastic plug front release they come with is useless in my opinion. I replaced the front release with OR 18's and they work like a charm. And as the others have commented, they pull a whole lot different than any of the other boards. 300' of 45# copper is not an issue for them, with a good release added. However, adding the cost of an OR 18 to the cost of the board makes them very expensive. I'll stay with the Church's I have instead of getting more Z Boards.

Great report Captain John. Your results were considerably different than mine. I ran them essentially the same way you did, with and without flasher, riggers, lead core, SWR, and dipsies, and caught very little. However, and this is a big HOWEVER, I had read somewhere that anchovy paste was a good filler, and that's what I used.....nasty smelling stuff I might add. Good thing I didn't throw the Brad's away, but I was tempted. I'll have to try again this year with the stuffing you suggest. Thanks for the report. Mike

Have a friend from the copper Country who planned to fish Stannard one day, through the ice. They went out there with a bowling ball on board which they planned to drop to check the ice to see if he could land his Cessna 150. Instead, this is what he found, and decided he better wait for another day:no:

Championship, do you use those strip lights in lieu of spreader or halogens? If yes, where do you mount them to provide the required light? I currently have 2 sets of driving lights on my boat, 1 set mounted under the downrigger board and 1 set on either side of the cockpit that light up the whole back end of the boat. However, they use a lot of juice and are awful bright. I've been considering changing over to something better ???? Maybe now is the time.

In my household, it became kind of family tradition over the years to tell another family member "you aren't as dumb as you look" when you wanted to recognize them in a very complimentary way for something they did or said. 1 Maniac, I don't care what the rest say, but in my opinion, "you aren't as dumb as you look"

Adam, welcome and good to see you on GLF. Those are some awesome photos you uploaded. Never fished the Manistique River, but have fished the lake there, Isle Royal, and the Big Reef. We are so fortunate, eh!

I too have 4 Walkers on my boat and have had no issues with them. Although I just checked with Ged for an approximate price to upgrade the motors and he said $120 Guess my setup is going to start looking weird now though, as the kids got together and bought me a Scotty 2106 for Christmas. Looks very nice and from the reading I've done, it's rated as very fast. I think I know what to expect for Christmas next year already:)

May as well chime in here too:) I used to run Pro-trolls, but the last few years ran almost Spin Doctors exclusively. White, white, and more white! Ran chrome, green, and chartreuse too, but no doubt white was by far the most effective, followed by my Eyeflies of course, usually 20" back. Shortened them to 16" when things seemed really slow and that produced some too. Years back when we ran Pro-trolls and squid, we occasionally shortened them to 14" and that seemed to work....sometimes! By far my Hypnotist was the best producer for me this summer, followed by Green Glo Eye and the Adrenaline Eye ( Thanks Adrenaline!). Dipsies were the ticket, both wire deep and P-Pro higher up when it wasn't too windy to run 4 of them. One slightly foggy but calm day we got a 3 person limit and I think 10 came off the dipsies that day, a bit out of temp too. A buddy in Grand Haven told me mid-summer that large paddles with a fly 40" back was producing well for them, so I tried it. Mid day and deep off a rigger, it indeed produced, usually with my Juvil Eye, an extreme UV mylar, and chartreuse extended glow beads. One thing for sure, SD's, Pro-trolls, VK's, and dodgers followed by various lengths to your flies all take fish. How do they say that, "any given day"? Mike

I do the same as Paulywood with the pop bottles. In addition, I use one of those snap on line counters to measure the line that comes off, mark the bottle and store some of them for future use for odd jobs or whatever. If it's throw away, it just keeps piling on the same bottle. Used that line capacity calculator (spreadsheet) that came available a while back and put Super Braid or P Pro as a backer under all my mono and wire too. Left room for 150 yards of mono, regardless of the reel capacity, so that's what I change out every year. That little line counter worked well to measure the backer going on the spool too. Like everyone else, I use a short segment of 30# mono between the backer and the core, or copper.

PMJASPER, you will get a lot of responses to your question, I'm sure, so I'll offer something a little different. I didn't like the wire and ball down the chute as it seems to be in the way of everything and causing tangles. And for me, dipsies catch a lot of fish, so I wasn't willing to give them up in favor of wire with ball weights. So, off to the side I went with Church Walleye boards, pulling wire and a 1# ball. The boards were just barely able to stay above water on a calm day. I gave up on the 1# balls pretty quickly. Copper works very well to get to some of the same depths, and does well off boards too, especially Z-Boards after replacing the front release. Just something else to think about.

A big welcome to GLF from da UP eh! I know you will enjoy and get a lot from the site KJ. Good luck with the boat.