Yooperdad

Thanks for all the comments guys. UP winters can be long! Making flies and working on the gear certainly helps the time go buy. Ironman, I see you have flymaker listed as part of your profile. What brand do you make? Gee, I'm hoping to retire by next spring and if I was closer I would be interested in a part time job Nailer, sent you a PM about the spring Detour tournament, June 6th.

Thanks for the responses guys. I'll try it again this year, and stay with the 1 1/2 on the wire dipsies and maybe 3 1/2 on the SD's.

Took a new approach to making flies for this season. Tied them on 1/4 OD stiff tubing, added eyes, then put a small piece of 1/4 ID tube over them to lock the eye in place. That 1/4 ID tube made the eyes kind of jump out! Look good to me, just hope the fish like them too! Went with the larger tubing so I can change the fly and use the same leader and hook set up. This approach seems much easier for storage. I use a treble with a single above it, and generally green or blue beads. The large glow beads from Purple Taco are outstanding, as they hold the glow for a long time.

Last year I tried Slide Divers for the first time, while running wire dipsies deep set on 1 1/2. I had success, but also some tangles. Anyone else running both at the same time? If yes, what's the secret to getting them in to the water and set, and not running into each other?

http://www.buyfishingstuff.com/okumatrollingreels.html Great prices here too.

Kevin, if you want to set them up yourself, and it's not hard, there are some great prices on reels here. http://www.buyfishingstuff.com/okumatrollingreels.html

Thanks Sean.

I'm looking for a recommendation regarding Mapsource Blue Charts. I have a now discontinued Garmin 182C Chart Plotter and a handheld Garmin GPSmap 76CSx. I was looking for detailed map availability and it appears that the Blue Charts are the compatible charts for these units. My 182C is great but only has spot soundings, which are OK but not very useful for locating structure. However, I couldn't find any decent screen displays for the product and don't want to make the investment without more information. I was able to get enough detail for Lake Michigan from a free website that shows the bottom contours and gives GPS coordinates on screen here: http://gis.glin.net/map_explorer.php?lake=michigan But would like to get the bathymetry coverage for Lake Superior. Any recommendations? Mike

Welcome from "da UP" Chris. Seems that most of us grew up fishing with Dad. Mine made his last salmon outing with me to Detour when he was 80 and had a blast! Lots of good helpful folks on this site. You will feel welcome right from the get go. Mike

Thanks for the links Boomerang. Just tied a few. Used a little larger tube so I can slip them over the knot and change flies using the same tournament tie. Saw that somewhere as a much easier way to store your flies. Mike

I tie my own flies and generally make them in colors and combos that look good and have worked for me. Does anyone know of a website with good photos of fly patterns? It would be nice to get a closer look at some of the ones that I see mentioned most frequently. Like I saw "No See Um" mentioned here for example. I see "Little Blue Boy" and "Blue Bubble" a lot too. Thanks for any suggestions. Mike

My workhorse reels for many years have been Shimano GT 100's on Shimano TDR rods for mono set ups. Totally trouble free. Diawa Accudepth and Accudepth Plus for wire, Okuma Classics for core, and I do have 2 of those Cabelas Wonders that I have set with PPro and slide divers. No issues so far. Mike

Saw a similar Sportcraft at the Rec Show in Marquette yesterday. New boat being sold at "Invoice" of $47,700 A clean, well cared for used boat can be very attractive, for sure! Good luck! Mike

I could one of the rods SilverOne. I'll send you a PM. Mike

hourlate, I got a Garmin 340C(now discontinued) as a gift a year ago. Used it last season and loved it. The 400C appears to be the current Garmin model. At the time, I would have preferred the Ray 600DX from all the reports and recommendations that I read on it. But couldn't find it under about $700. So I put the 340C on my Christmas list, which was half the price. If I needed a fish finder today, I would not hesitate to buy the Ray product. Especially at the current price.

Sean, thanks for the post. I didn't need a new fishfinder but I looked anyway since I looked at them a year ago and ending up with a Garmin. The 600x was too expensive for me at the time. This price is amazing. However, I did need a new marine radio and tonight I bought the Ray 54 that is also on that "specials" page. $89 is a great price. Found them elsewhere for $160 to over $200. Thanks again for the tip. Mike

I'll have to check the map for Grump's Hump. I think I looked at it before but haven't been there. From the NWS summary page: ...THE MARQUETTE MI CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 28 2009... CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1961 TO 2009 ........................................................... TEMPERATURE (F) YESTERDAY MAXIMUM 17 MINIMUM -8 AVERAGE 5 SNOWFALL (IN) YESTERDAY 0.2 MONTH TO DATE 58.9 SINCE DEC 1 170.9 SINCE JUL 1 216.7 SNOW DEPTH 32

Welcome Sean. Drove through Munising on my way home to Marquette yesterday. Bummer! This winter can end anytime now. This is a great board with a lot of friendly folks. I'm sure you will enjoy it. Maybe I'll see you at Fairport this year. I'm anxious to get back on the water for sure. Hey, it's been many years since I fished the Big Reef. You ever go out there? Mike

Just found it. Actually I was searching for Christmas instead of X-Mas. Duh! Yes, the picture is in the marina at Fairport. Great fishing community there. Mike

I found a Holly Christmas on the Stinger site. Same thing?

Silver Streak "Greasy Chicken Wing" by far.

Our favorite is to thin down mayo with dry vermouth to make it runny and easily spreadable with your basting brush, mix in a good dose of garlic powder and paprika. Baste on both sides while grilling.....no foil. Yum! I always skin and debone my fish at the cleaning station too. Mike P.S. Works great on pork chops too!

The foreign sources of oil are all fed up with the US and our pleas when we sit on an estimated 50, yes 50 years worth of oil and gas in our own country and offshore. They would be nuts to pay any attention to us when we are not willing to do anything to help ourself. Nuts!

Priority1 and I are going to trade some gear, so looks like I will be in the SD game this year too. Great comments and great advice as usual. Thanks everyone. Combat fishing??? Mike

Frank, I checked and I do have some extra dipsies. I'll send you a PM. Mike