Just Hook'n

This was kind of discussed recently on this thread. http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23264&highlight=lowrance

Dave, you will LOVE them when you get a big king on them and feel the fish blink. Use the drag to set them. DO NOT OPEN SPOOL wire on a diver. Just loosen the drag to let them out and make sure it goes out slowly. This is important because if you just let them fall they may drop too quickly and get into your riggers, or twist up the flasher or any number of things. once you get it out where you want it, tighted the drag, but JUST above the line creeping out. If fact, many guys will let them creep on purpose until they hit a fish. they will start at 150ish and let it creep to 180 or whenever a fish hits. THEN, put it back out to the distance the fish hit. Also very important is snubbers. You must have good snubbers because there is NO give to wire and the fish will rip it's jaw off if you torque on it too much. This is another reason you want to leave the drag loose and keep it that way. Just baby the fish in. You may have to tighten it a little, but don't give it too much. I use classic dipsey divers and just replace the rings with mag rings when the fish go deeper. there are MANY schools of thought on which divers work the best. They are similar, so I leave it to you to device. I run mine at 1.5 setting to get them away from the boat. If we are running two sets (two divers per side) I'll run one at 1.5 and one at 3. Leader length is probably the most open debate. People will go 4', 6', 12'+. Sometimes you need a long leader to catch anything, sometimes you can get away with short. It's just what the fish want and you'll figure that out with time. Hope this helps.

Very nice job Erik. WOW, those fish are down there.

FLAT FLAT FLAT out there. I heard they were catching steelhead up top in 300fow and decided to give it a go. Dropped in 250 thinking we'd troll out to 300. 4 hours later we were in 270 and getting nowhere fast.

VERY nice day. Beats working every time.

Ooooooh baby. That is looking good.

You should look at both the off shore and in close wave forecast, wind direction, etc, etc. The inshore is 5NM, the offshore is out past that. 250ft is MUCH farther out of PS and Holland. It flattens out a great deal. I think I was 18 miles off shore and still only at 270.

Senez, there is way less blow back in a 15lb ball than a 10, especially when you are fishing 100ft down and farther. 65ft and shallower, I wouldn't worry about it. 10 should be fine. As for color, I like the green coating on my pancakes. We run a lot of green lures, so I'm partial to green.

Pretty sweet man. Great for the sport.

Man, there are a lof of opinions on this. I love my pancake weights out the sides. Keeps the lines away from the boat and I don't have to worry about them no matter the current. I do need a 13-15lb ball for the middle (don't want to run a pancake down the chute). I love the little dimple on the front. I'd sell them in pairs if with some colorful packaging if I were you. There's your million dollar idea.

I LOVE it. We always wonder what size wire to pull for this or that. The big question I have is why the electronics companies all run tiny tiny wires into their units - 16, 18 or smaller. We always want to pull 10 from the batteries, but they you are hooking up to 18 from 10. Doesn't seem to make sense. So, can someone please explain the advantage to me of running big wire back from the battery if the device you are hooking up only has tiny wires on it?

Number 3 on most of my rigs. Number 4 on dipseys/wire.

Ken, we might be able to fish the May 5 event, but May 11 is my son's birthday and we are having the party on Sat May 12, so that weekend is OUT. If you need assistance on the May 5 event, I'd be happy to help.

I hope he meant ft. Convector 30D for all my dipsey rods.

I've not been there in a few years, but if you have 3 feet you are doing pretty damn good. There is a VERY narrow what I will call channel from the launch to the south end where the houses are. You MUST stay on thsi course or you will be using oars/nets/swimming/etc to free your boat. My best suggestion is to figure out where exactly it is and use your GPS to mark it and make sure you stay on that exact path every time. When/if they dredge PS, they only go to the consumers area - for coal delivery.

VERY nice trip.

Nice job. Man those browns look awesome.

Sweet job getting the kids on some fish. Way to go.

Nice job Brian. I don't often mess with spoons on dipseys either, but I see a lot of reports with guys catching fish that way. Not sure why it works, but if it works . . . .

Nice job guys. WOW, that a lot of guys from this site getting together to hammer fish. Cool that we can all have this place to chat, meet and slay salmon.

Nice job Scottie. Glad you are on my team.

Very nice job Don and gang. 2nd place for the first tourney of the year. AWESOME.

Nice job fellas. Say hi to Dennis for me.

Nice weekend Phil, Adam and crew.

VERY nice work Jim. That top JP looks like my favorite area 51 spoon. I may need to get a few (or 6) from you.