killerbe20

thanks guys! the new boat is great! it is truly a fishing machine. granted i've only had it for 3 weeks, i can see why tiara owners love their boats so much. still lots of "florida-ness" to go through but shes getting there.

fishing has been great out of Racine the last few weeks. Thursday fished the afternoon and ended with 14 and missed another 10ish. Fished north and south and stayed in 100-110 fow. Nice mixed bag. everything was working. hottest baits were a Shure Hit Blue Tubilee Marauder and a mag blue puke glow dreamweaver. Various spindoctors and flashers took the rest. http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=4301945&id=245813662700 Friday morning caught a two man limit in less then three hours and should have been done in one pass. Missed a lot of fish. No big kings today, but lots of action. Fished from 60 out to 100 fow. Hottest bait was a white with green dot spindoctor with a green and pearl fly. http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=4305614&id=245813662700

the motor is a early 2000's vintage

i have a 25 hp Nissan 4 stroke outboard motor for sale. Complete with all helm controls (minus steering). Tach reads approx 250ish hours, actual hours are less then 100. ignition key was in a horrible spot and bumped into the "on" position on numerous occasions generating hours but not actually running. before taking the motor off the boat it would not stay running. i believe carbs need to be cleaned out, probably from lack of use. Motor was mounted on my old Baha when i bought it but did not have adequate steering, thus the lack of use. Making the steering "right" was my winter project. i have since sold the boat and the new owner did not want the motor. I have no use for the motor at this time so i am offering it up for sale. asking $1200, feel free to call or email me with any questions. josh keeran [email protected] 920-737-3350

when i bought my first boat, i had it in the slip for about 2 weeks prior to barrier coating and painting the bottom. Big mistake. The entire bottom had to be acid washed to remove the staining and crap that built up in just a short amount of time. as far as doing it your self or not, depends on how comfortable you are with the job. the instructions are pretty easy to follow for the first time. im sure there are plenty of people around that would be more then willing to help or offer guidance as well. basically its just roughing the hull up with an orbital sander, wiping down and then following the instructions for applying your particular barrier coating and/or paint.

from experience, i still believe you CAN put an inline boards directly on leadcore. I understand concern about this practice but i have NEVER had any damage or lost equipment/fish from doing this. The bow between the boat and board is the only issue i have ever had. Not saying this is the way it should be run, but i don't think it should be completely ruled out either.

unlike most people, i only have full core set ups. my thinking is, why have 10 different rods when you can do the same with just four. i just attach my board where ever i need to on the leadcore to give me the desired amount of colors. I have always done it this way and have never run into an issue with the board/release damaging my leadcore. the only issue i have with this is when running a short leadcore, there is a huge bow in the leadcore line from the board to the boat. it makes running a short leadcore far away from the boat difficult.

most of the fall spawning fish are on the fast track to dying. i'm sure that has much to do with their meat quality compared to the open water salmon gorging them selves with food all day. if it was not fall salmon you are speaking of, salmon can get mushy if they are not iced really good through out the day. some guys bleed out their salmon or even gut and gill them as soon as they are caught. taking out the guts, gills and removing the blood line of the fish and putting them on ice works the best at keeping the fish fresh. this is how many commercial fishing operations keep their fish fresh at all times.

wow, that water looks fantastic! wish i wasn't working today!

Read this in the local Racine paper, hometown of Johnson Outdoors. Possibly more bad news for Lowrance? http://www.journaltimes.com/business/local/article_a5689520-5f4c-11df-86ed-001cc4c03286.html

thanks! at least some consistent weather would be nice

jimcr, based off of Capt Russ's report as well as a few others from the prior weekend, we stayed in the 15-30 foot depth. Bascially from the Racine harbor mouth south to the Racine waste water treatment plant. A couple hits outside the harbor mouth where we marked a bunch of bait. Trolled south to the waste water discharge and picked up our fish right in and around the discharge. could have been lots of dead water between the two spots or a combination of milky water and no way of reading speed consistently. there were a hand full of other boats out as well. seemed like everyone was in search mode. they were all gone by the time we got back to the boat launch. either fishing was slow for everyone, or they all got their limits and we were doing something wrong.

i ended up finding a great deal on a hardly used 2000 29 Tiara. She needs some TLC but only has 300 hours. I don't believe the previous owner did much with the boat since he purchased it back in 2004. Needs some good buffing and waxing along with general lack of maintenance repairs. Hopefully no major salt water issues. My last boat came from salt water as well so i kind of know what to expect.

shes down in stuart, florida. didn't want a salt water boat, but the deal was too good to pass up

thanks! hoping to close by the end of the week, then as soon as the truck can get her up to wisconsin!

still don't have the new boat here in wisconsin but after hearing good reports, decided to go out with some friends from the firehouse. (its great to only have to work every third day!) seems like a classic case of "you should have been here yesterday!" fishing was slow. The water was really milky in close. marked bait near the harbor mouth but that was about it. never traveled out to the clean water. ended the day 3 for 6, all cohos. Brads thin fish and Alderton flashers with small flys. Most action running through the "bubblier" south of the city. the gps was not working so speed consistency was difficult.

i have some of the catalinas from last year and am happy with the reels. they redesigned them for this season and the price jumped very drastically. they added a tension spool control mechanism. it is a secondary one-way drag system designed so you can let out line at a controlled rate without having the reel in a full free spool. http://www.okumafishing.com/media_3.php

www.technicalmarine.com local guy working out of his house but great to deal with. He helped me trouble shoot and repair my AP14 last summer. Prices seem pretty fair.

i am assuming that is caledonia, mi and not caledonia, wi.

I would really like to say I will be welcoming a new boat for 2010, but I still haven't found one yet!

the biggest advantage to having a SNT unit is being able to match speed. if you have a direction that is working for catching fish note the speed. when you switch direction in the current/wind you can then match your down speed with what was working before. everyone has different speeds that work for them from 1.5 up past 3. the key is to find what works for you and then you can keep it consistent. you will be surprised at the difference in your GPS speed on some days to keep your down speed consistent. temp breaks are always important whether on the surface or down. USUALLY temp breaks hold fish. later in the summer when the water warms up you can use your down temp to find good water or figure out you need to move.

My wife was really funny at the Grand Rapids show. She was almost more excited at all the great deals then I was. Believe it or not, i'm actually the one who kept our spending limited! Side note: Going to the GR show was just a bonus during our boat shopping adventure. I definitely plan on making it an annual event!

if you do not have a gps, it is a must in my book. the fishhawk would be what i consider a "luxury" item. many people, including myself, learned and fished many many years without any such a unit. although there are days i believe the SNT unit has saved the day, i can and have easily fish without it. (did anyone bring the spare batteries?....)

i didn't have time to completely look through the page, but i would love to see the videos he is referring to.

Thanks everyone! I am not sure where we will stay yet, but DEFINITELY glad I asked. Seems like a general opinion to stay away from Benton Harbor, although it would probably feel like home coming from Racine. Any thoughts on Holland or South Haven? Doesn't seem to be much farther to drive if the stay/location would be worth it.