Line Dancin

You might consider holland instead of port sheldon. The fish cleaning station in holland is worth fishing there. I fish there mainly now, and port sheldon is 15 minutes closer. as for waht dirty dog said very true and accurate

i was to. i will never go to the one in gr again. It is mostly ski boats.

the first weekend works fine the second I'll be at Outdoorama all weekend working for MUCC.

Not sure i only did the party boats out when in the islands and that is different. i know on the dive boats there the average was 10 to 15 percent. And they are doing gear setup and takedown for you. But not sure on the private charter fishing boats. If you get a chance look up the dive ops there. I can't remember who we used now it was almost 20 years ago now. but they do snorkling on some of the shallower reefs. It is very worth the money if the water is clear when you are there. They have funny currents if i remember right that can stir things up a bit. When you go out they take you out with divers and drop the divers on a deeper reef then take you in shallow. Heres a little reading on diving/snorkeling: http://www.destination360.com/caribbean/dominican-republic/punta-cana/punta-cana-snorkeling http://www.puntacana-travelguide.com/snorkeling-tips.html http://www.puntacana-information-guide.com/Punta-Cana-snorkeling.html You can contact your resort before you go and get info and do research on which op to use before you get there. Also look at www.scubaboard.com and you can look at divers reviews from different places on the island.

I just thought of something you should know if you are looking at used riggers. If you look on ebay beware of what is out there. There are guys claiming to be selling used tournament series riggers when they are just the standard riggers. My friend got scammed by two different sellers in two different areas of the country. What they do is disassemble them, paint them flat black with that plastic paint, put on a tournament series sticker, to look like tournament series when they are actually the old grey standard riggers. The way we caught it was if you look into the webbing behind the spool they miss painting that as it is hard to paint. he had quite a fight to get his money returned and the riggers back to the sellers. luckily he used Am Ex and they got involved to help him out. They set them at a good deal for a reason.

A little insight on walker motors. They used to have two differerent motors a standard and a tournament motor. I have walker tournament series on my boat. I don't really like all the plastic but these things will pull 15 lb balls fast, 200 ft per minute. i had two of the standard motors on my side riggers (would not lift a 14 lb ball and really slow with a 12) and bought the bigger motors for those and installed them this last summer. The ones that the other guys are saying are slow and only rated at 12 lb are the standard motors. Cannons i agree i dont like the high profile. Big Jons i like the brute series able to pull the 15 to 25 lb balls. Again i like the lower profile of my walkers. Vectors i wish i had the money for those things they are flat out AWESOME. Maybe on the next boat. Franks Great Outdoors usually has a heck of a deal on the walker tournament series downriggers with dual rod holder and a swivel base at the fishing shows. I bought my two from them a few years ago. here is the link to franks if interested. http://www.franksgreatoutdoors.com/fishing/trolling-gear/downriggers-accessories/tournament-combo-pak.html Also my two that i upgraded to the tournament series are from my dads boat. He bought them in 1981 and i have not broke the plastic on them (knock on wood) yet. I would in a heartbeat buy the ones that traxtec is going to come out with if they are as good as the vectors were. But the walkers do a good job if your worried about money.

Completely Agree with Ed. Ludington is the best port.

Got mine looks very well made.

I do agree with this method. Let the captain know what you are doing so he will explain what he is doing. That way you can duplicate everything and produce fish. Most captains are more than willing to tell you what they are doing in this situation.

Pretty much any time in august in the manistee, ludington area is awesome fishing.

I had asked them at cabelas last time down there as i am socsidering some of the smaller ones for walleyes. I was told that they are made by Okuma for cabelas. They are the magda series. and the gold is a SD series reel, which is between the magda and the convector. It was discontinued last year. but they are still making it for cabelas only. I have four of the sd series and i am not overly impressed for the money they are basically a magda with an aluminum spool instead of a graphite spool. The convector is a faster retrieve and a better built reel all around with anti reverse. The magda is a good reel for salmon fishing. Just make sure you maintain it properly.

have a safe and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone

I picked up a couple reels but the real spending will start in about three weeks in detroit. I hope franks has the selection like the last couple years as i need a few new walleye reels and a bunch of new walleye rods.

thanks Nick and Ron. Ron do you fish around kzoo gull lake for smelt? if so would you mind if i tagged along some time?

OK thread hijack. where and how do you catch smelt through the ice. i would love to learn that and so would my dad.

ok sorry bragging wasn't the right word to use. I know you make a great product. i have been using the for a few years now. and i cant wait to get my hands on some of the new glow stuff.

Yea about three more months till my boat comes out of winter storage. Don't know if i will get out ice fishing or not, but i have started working on gear for spring. Merry christmas to you also.

right the basic way would be 300 copper closet to the boat lowest rod holder or furthest back 150 copper next out further foward or up the tree 75 copper mext furthest out next up the tree or foward and so on.

as to the question i like a fly with a little more body to it. I like the siggs rigs and big weenie flies. the one pictured would not be used on my boat.

Jim if he doesn't quit telling everyone about the new stuff everyones gonna know anyways. He was braggin the other day to me about the new beads and heads. also some other top secret stuff. which he probably told you. I wont say anything either as i am sworn to secrecy right now also.

Your doing it right. Sounds kind of silly to do what they are doing and possibly increasing the chance of tangles.

I saw this recipe on gla over a year ago and tried it out this last week. It was the best smoked fish dip to this date that i have tried. 1.5 cups crumbled smoked fish .5 cup milk .25 cup minced onion .5 tsp lemon juice 1 12 oz containter whipped cream cheese 1 tbsp worcetshire sauce 1 tbsp minced fresh chives 1 stalk celery minced salt and pepper to taste .5 cup fine grated sharp cheddar cheese Mix smoked fish and milk together and let sit for half an hour mix a couple times. After it has sat mix everything together and put in the fridge. They say it is done in 2 - 3 hours but it typically tastes better the next day.

To take the line off i use a wire spool bolt and a drill. Go to you local electric supply and ask for an emptry spool. They are harder plastic and hold up to repeated use and there free. Spin the lead core/copper off replace mid section of mono or backer and use a drill chucked up with a nut driver to fit the hadle nut to wind it back on. If the handle nut is one that wont fit in a nut driver get a regular nut from the hardware. no hand winding involved. I usually take the handle off to make it easier to wind back up. I use a berkley line winder jig to hold the reel and spool.

welcome aboard. ludington used to be like a second home to me over the years.

i use 50lb Power pro as backing on all my coppers and lead core. i also use a piece aboyt 20 ft of 40 lb test mono between my backer and my coper for attaching boards. The mono shows wear as super braids don't. This way you can cut out the bad section form board ussage and not take a chance of the braid breaking and loosing your gear. After a while if you keep clipping the board to the same sectio it wears out the line.