Yooperdad

LBB = Aqua Crinkle! Wonderful and thanks for the info. Yes John, The Blue Glo Eye Ghost and the Aqua Eye Ghost have that as a major component. Made a lot of twinkie rigs with it this winter too with Yoda's coaching:) Mike

Pioneer, I just checked Siggs and Purple Taco and neither have a mylar called Little Boy Blue or Iris. Guess that's why I asked the question as there is a LBB fly, but I don't know which specific mylar is used to make it. There are a ton of blues. I hate to be a PITA but how about another name:) Thanks, Mike

KJ, you asked above about glow Trout Beads and I didn't see that anyone responded. I bought some this winter and they don't come close to the extended glow beads from Purple Taco. They have a good selection of colors and are cheaper, but the glow doesn't begin to compare. I glowed them both, side by side, and kept checking. No comparison. Mike

Pioneer, what is 2" of LBB? Thanks, Mike

You guys be careful down there. Just got this email at the office yesterday. Mike Subject: Eye Opening Story To: [email protected] CC: [email protected] Melissa Voorheis (Wife of Craig Voorheis ,Midmichigan Council Rep. to the MSA Board of Directors) Went into the Bay Near Whites Beach On Sat the 13th at night . Apparently a area around 1/8th mile wide and ¼ mile long opened up that afternoon . She spent nearly an hour in the water and almost died due to Hypothermia .The Attachment is an account of what happened . I have sent a copy of this to Jim Dicky already . You may send this to the board members if you wish . They tried to find the sled Tuesday but could not locate it . They finally retrieved the sled on Friday the 19th , I hope to be getting pictures soon on this . Hello everyone, I wanted to let everyone know that I was involved in a snowmobile accident Saturday evening. I was riding on the Saginaw Bay with 4 other people and it was dark out. We came across open water but were unable to see it till it was too late. The other 4 people I was with made it across but I was unable to. My sled and I went down in a large area of open water, approximately 1/8 to 1/4 mile wide and approximately a mile offshore, were later told that it had just opened up that day. Because of the weak ice around the open water and how large of an area it was, no one could get anywhere near me. The only communication I had with them is us yelling at each other so that they would know I was still ok. 911 were called and they were able to triangulate our location through GPS on cell phones. Coast Guard was dispatched through Bay City on an air boat but because on the rough ice and snow conditions, they were only able to travel at a slow speed. The only air support is in Detroit and was estimated at a 45 min travel time. Local fire and rescue arrived very quickly but did not have the equipment needed for a rescue. I was lucky that a man living on shore, Jerry, used his and his son’s sleds and small aluminum boat to aid in my rescue. When I first entered the water, I immediately began planning what I was going to do to survive. I wanted to get anything heavy off so it would not pull me under water. I took off my helmet and gloves and was working on getting my boots off when I realized that my helmet was floating. I emptied the water out of it and then put the neck opening into the water, trapping the air inside it. This only was enough to keep me mostly floating. I continued to try to get my boots off and when one came off it popped to the surface. I emptied the water out of the boot and trapped air inside of it and used this as a second floatation device. Later I did the same thing with my other boot. By this time everyone else had made it to solid ice and knew I was in trouble. We yelled back and forth for the comfort of knowing I was still ok. I wanted to swim to ice but it was far enough away that I could not see it so I started just kicking in the direction of the voices. After some time I finally located a large body of broken ice chunks. When I got to them I was pulled in between some of the pieces. They ranged in size from a couple feet wide to several feet wide. I was getting banged up and needed to get out of them for fear of being crushed. I was able to get to the outside but could not pull myself up on any. They were smooth as glass and I had nothing to grip on to. I kept moving along and finally found one that was snowy and rough. I knew I couldn’t pull myself onto it as I was too weak at this point. I had lost all use of my hands and had very little use of my arms and legs. I continued to stay next to that piece of ice. I was forced to make the decision to abandon my boot and helmet, I had already lost one boot, because I could no longer hold on to them and without them I would go under. My fingers would not bend and were relatively straight so I used them as chisels to create holes in the ice so I could slide them in and anchor myself to the ice. Every once in a while my right hand would slide out of the hole and I would use my chin to grab the ice until I could get my fingers back into the hole. By this time I had lost my vision due to my body shutting down, I could only see light but no shapes. I asked Craig and my friends to show me a light so I’d know where they were. Craig used his cell phone so I could see where they were. Eventually I lost consciousness. I came to when a man was yelling that he had a rope around me. Two firefighters had crossed from ice chunk to ice chunk to get close to me. They had thrown a rope around me and put a ladder next to me. They needed me to climb on the ladder because they couldn’t get to me. They kept telling me I had to get on the ladder but it was so painful I couldn’t move, I told them I couldn’t. I finally used every last once of willpower I had left and made it on to the ladder. It was so painful I was screaming. From that point on I was mostly unconscious. I remember very little and only a piece here and there. I have been told that they used the ladder to slide me across the broken ice. The aluminum boat was pushed over to them and they put me inside and pulled it to where the snowmobiles were sitting. Craig, the firefighters, and my friends took their coats off and covered me with them and they towed me to the ambulance. I was driven by ambulance to Bay Medical where a team was waiting for me. My core body temp was down to 85 and I have been told that 86 is when complete body shut down usually occurs. I had a wonderful team of people who worked on me to get my vitals back up, then was transferred to ICU for the night. There was much concern that I would go into cardiac arrest from the severe hypothermia. Luckily that did not happen. My hand are cut and bruised and I broke off most of my nails very low do to digging in the ice. They are extremely sensitive and somewhat painful but it does not look like I have any frostbite. My arms, chest, and back are bruised from the ice chunks but other than that, physically, I am in good condition. I’m sorry to send this out in an email but I’m a little emotional right now and am having a hard time telling the story to people. I didn’t want anyone to find out through word of mouth and thought this was the best option. I love you all. Melissa Bill Manson Executive Director Michigan Snowmobile Association 616-301-2743

I think I'll change mine to 20'. That 10' just seems too short. Are you running anything in particular on the copper for bait? Spoons mostly, or a little of everything? I caught a lot of fish on lead last year at Fairport, mostly on spoons.

Cpt Phil, where did this info come from? Just general knowledge gained talking with others who have run copper? I ask because I have never run copper before and have set up 2 rods for this season. I loaded one with only 10' of leader per advice from a friend, and the other I haven't set up yet. Thanks,

Great work ITOFlies! Have you caught fish on the Wonderbread? I was thinking of trying something like that and now you have provided and example. Thanks. My favorite spoons are the Blue and Green Dolphins and I made a fly version of them this winter. I'm anxious to see how they work:o

Guys, I have always used 30 to 50' behind lead core and that works well for me. I just set up 2 copper rods for this season. A friend suggested that I not use any more than 10 feet of leader, which supposedly takes advantage of the copper attraction. Seems awful short to me. Has anyone else found the short leader on copper to be more effective?

Great looking flies Kyle. If you haven't yet found a source for great glow beads, you can get them at http://purpletacoflysupply.com/ They are ultra glow and last a long, long time. A little on the large size but they work. His banded mylar selection is great too, and priced right. I use 1/4 OD hard tubing from the hardware store, and then 1/4 ID clear tubing on top of that. Here are a few that I make. It's a great way to pass the winter and staying focused on big water time. Oh, our hardware has automotive vacuum tube that is hard and only 1/8 OD that works great too.

John, Jason Peterson made a screaming drags ring tone for his cell phone, if you can believe that! He has it bad too:grin:

Here are some others to really make your cabin fever get worse!

Had a pilot friend at Fairport last August for a few days. He circled over and took a few pics as he left. I have several more that show the area better, but this one is the best of Dick's marina.

Just discovered about a month ago that Convector Line Counters are available from Walmart, Site to Store, at a great price. I bought a 45D for another 10 color set up. The 30D Line Counter is available for $60. These are better prices than I found anywhere else. Mike

Guys, I ask the same question on "that other site" and received the following post in response. "I am on year 5 with my 50# stren braid. Hasn't broke yet. I run my braid divers every trip too. I finally flipped it around on the spool this year..looks like new again."

Any experience with Stren Super Braid? I have always used P Pro but have the chance to pick up a large spool of the Stren Braid in 50# at a very good price. I would use it for backer only with lead and copper. Thanks, Mike

Many use it successfully on P Pro. It didn't work well for me so I added a 50 foot mono leader and ran the SD on the mono. Tied a swivel about 5 feet ahead of the lure to keep the SD from banging the fish.

Keating suggested 9 feet. I use 9' for spoons and 6' for flasher flies.

Evenings were much better. Friday evening brought 5. We were the only boat that started at the gap and went NE from there.

8 kings and 4 steelies for 18, fishing Thursday evening, Friday, Sat AM, and Sunday AM. Not so good. Half the fish caught on 10 color lead with Blue Dolphin. The rest a mixture of Flounder Pounder, green flasher and green fly, and a small Yeck spoon that looked like a Blue Dolphin with an orange nose. Found the most bait and fish in 110 to 120. Caught fish 90 down on riggers and up to 40. Overall we did OK, but certainly nothing to brag about. The weather and the family outing made for a great trip anyway!

Your response was right on Cpt Kieth. A 1# ball 150 back ran the board about 3/4 submerged and slightly to the side of the boat. No takers so didn't get to experience having the board dive with the extra weight:( 10 color produced the best by far, but the fishing at Fairport is not even close to peak yet.

Going to get out to Fairport this weekend, so will give it a try on the in lines. I see williebee and others run them from planer boards and outriggers, as well as down the chute, but have seen no mention of using in line boards. I suspect there is a message there, but will try and learn for myself. Thanks for the responses as usual.

Anyone running a thumper rod with wire off a Church Board? Thanks,

I just bought a new Raytheon this winter. Installed it and it doesn't seem to be working yet. Tuned to the weather station and nothing??? New antenna last fall too. Guess I'll mess with it again today and see if I have a bad contact or something.

Wow! I have an old Whaler 22 Revenge that I really enjoy, but can't imagine what a sweet machine you have there. Good luck with her. Mike