Just Hook'n

That Captain was a true hard core fisherman. He will surely be missed.

I did the following, but it is not completely hidden. If you have a ceiling of an aft cabin it is a great way to keep them out of the way. Quite honestly, they often sit not broken down over the sink and into the main cabin though. But if we are having people on the boat they get stored neatly away. Love your idea about enginer compartment. I took out an extra gas tank this fall and that would be a great place for the riggers and trees. Thanks for the idea.

I would kill for 11 feet across and a third rigger. I like to keep my middle clean, but that is because I am only 9' across. I have been on many boats (bigger ones) and the middle rigger plain catches fish. I would run it as close to straight up and down as possible. in other words, if you have screws and no swim platform run a short arm straight down. if you have IOs and a swim platform you may have to run a 3 or 4' boom. Run a heavy weight as this will decrease blowback and I am already sure you know this should be your deepest rigger (10-20 below others). I've been really surprised that this one (on big boats) never seems to get in the way of netting fish. Now, if you bring a fish on green all bets are off. But if I had the room like you do I would definately run a middle rigger. Look at all the good charter captain boats in a marina some time. Almost everyone is running a three rigger system on similar sized boats.

I have the 840 with the new probe as well. My old probe took on water when I did not notice the seal had slipped out when changing batteries. The new unit only went through 8 AA's all year last year. i put a lot of hours on that thing and it works great.

Nice work. Wow you guys (and gals) sure know how to have fun on the ice.

Chip, I may have something for you. One of the guys I work with - his parents have a condo (time share) in Cabo. I have him asking his folks (who never use it) about the time you are looking for.

If any of you want the contact for the charter we used, let me know. I was a 29' open (whaler style) boat and was only $350 for 4 people. The bait was expensive. Up to $200 per dozen for the darn bair fish. Shocking.

Ok, I could not take it anymore and had to share this (because he has not yet). A buddy and I went down to Florida for a "trip" and got to get out on the water. I caught a dolphin fish, which I think you guys saw the pictures of already, and I missed a darn Sail. He managed to land this one (next to the boat anyway). What a fish of a lifetime. I believe his user name on this site is Rough Diamond. Congratulate him when you get a chance.

VERY impressive. The fish too. Must be awesome having a wife that goes out with you and enjoys fishing. I trick my wife into it every once in a while and she loves it when she catches. Just gets bored really fast when we are not catching.

NICE. That is nearly a wall hanger there. Plus the story, I would be really tempted.

I wonder if I can somehow make that my ringtone on my phone. Probably break my neck with whiplash if I could get it to work .

That was great fish porn. Thanks for sharing.

That looks SWEEEET. When is spring?

I'd wear that coat if I could catch fish like that. Where can I get one?

Amazing story and fish. Congrats.

You will see MANY discussions threads on this topic on this site if you do a search. Some great advice here. If you are just starting I would put my money on lead core and to the 3, 5, 7, 10 color setups. That will boat you some fish. If you get more experience under your belt, add a copper line or two. The smallest you want to go on a reel is probably a 700 tekota or a 55 series Okuma. You can find some 452combos out there, but you will regret it ( I did ). The best advice I can give you is get on someone's boat that knows how to run multiple setups and learn learn learn. Saves you a lot of tangles when you just wing it on your own boat.

I'm with Jim. Actually I only run one set of divers. You guys that run multiple divers on each side are AWESOME. I run one diver on 1-1.5 and then copper and then core. As stated, every once in a while you will get a fish that comes straight up throught the copper, but most of the time if they drag back before they come up you are ok.

Awesome puppy. If you have gotten the video going around of the yellow lab picking a 15 pounder from the river then you have got some training to do.

With all that weight you must have a room full of fish mounts.

Welcome aboard from down south. I wish I could get up to the north country more but it rarely happens. Get ready to laugh at our southern reports saying we fish 150fow. I know that is right of the beach for you.

Nice format. I might try this one in place of mine next see and see which I like.

Nice rules and thanks for sharing. Good reminders for sure as we get our senses dulled in the winter. I like the "use any color - as long as it's green". HAHAHA.

Sweet ride Terry. I still think a 30ft searay would have been nice, but I would not wan to gas one. VERY NICE SHAPE. Impressive.

Got this one in Port Sheldon with Jay and Scott last year. Awesome trip. About 11.5-12lbs. Still waiting to get it back from taxadermist.

BIG surprise here. The guy has Chicago's interests in mind only.