pulpfishin

Hey now, ya all let's not let one person's rant ruin a great website! Enough talk about all this let's get to the fishing talk!!!!

When we first started this adventure in salmon catching I ran a regular sized spoon about 2' behind a spin doctor. When I told others that we were catching fish on it they looked at me funny! Hell, we had no idea what how to run flashers. We were flying by the seat of our pants and it worked, sometimes! I do believe that thinking outside the box gets you fish sometimes when others are struggling with the same ol', same ol'.

Weird thing, but this year we have hit our biggest kings when the sun is high in the sky. We hit a few back in June when everyone said South Haven was dead at 5:00 pm. I think it has a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time and having your best big king spread out!

I believe you are all on to something here, but the reason this all started was not to recognize whether or not the rules were understandable, it was to try to make them so there were no loopholes. The tournaments I fished in had volunteer observers that were put on the top 5 boats in the pro and amateur division. I know that earlier this year the TT was trying to educate observers and was advertising for interested parties. I don't know how this all panned out. We did not fish any of the TT events this year because of money and time.

I know that the money is not there yet, but what about running video cameras on every pro boat, or at the very least paid observers on every boat. Would it be worth the extra 20 to 50 bucks, maybe more, for every pro team to make sure the rules were enforced?

With the end of the Tournament Trail coming up I was wondering how many of you fished or are planning on fishing any of them this year. Saugatuck is this coming weekend!!

"doh!"

I believe this is not at all about Dave and Bill but more about how the rules are, or better yet are not being enforced on the biggest Great Lakes tournament trail. I do believe that Fred and the tournament trail directors may be forced to make an example of the most decorated team ever on Lake Michigan to prove the point that unfair practices while on the water will not be tolerated. In my opinion it is too bad it had to come to this, but to better enforce the rules and to ensure an even playing field it may have to be done. I do believe that some serious rule changes need to be considered. I personally think that catching 15 and weighing 10 in some tournaments is way overboard. I also think that the rules need to be exactly the same in every port. Maybe separate rules for amateurs and pros, but they need to be the same. I have sat through the captain's meetings before on tournament trail events and they are more confusing than informative. Please don't turn this into a Best Chance Too thing, but I would like to hear some comments on how to make the rules more foolproof, maybe like the Bassmasters or FLW or something. Feel free to move this and let's talk about how to make these tournaments, which are fantastic fun, more fair!

Spoonfed is correct. Holland sent their check back. From others in the tourney and around the docks I heard that the Holland Big Red Classic is a invitational tournament and I guess they decided not to invite Dave and Bill. Take that as you will, it is just what I heard.

If it were mine I'd go with 2 full cores. That way after you tangle the first one in your dipsy you can cut it down to 5 or 7 colors! It's bound to happen so you might as well start big! Really though full cores are not that bad to reel in, I am going to have to say I would rather reel a full core in any day over 450 feet of copper! That copper is HEAVY, but it catches fish! We have caught a lot of fish on full cores and a lot of fish on 5 and 7 colors. When we first started running boards we started with 2 full cores, one on each side.

I just took a look at the Holland Big Red Classic results from Saturday August 7th, 2010. Seems that numbers won the tournament. Giv-N-The Bird won the pros with 10 fish weighing 82.25 lbs and Pier Addiction won the amateur side with 10 fish weighing 97.35 lbs. We did not enter the tournament, but watched as all the boats trolled right by us while we were fishing out of Saugatuck. We were on big fish, that now looking back would have won big salmon, big fish, and the 3 we had would have taken the 333. Dan who fishes with us calibrated the scale in the boat tonight and found out it is measuring 3 pounds light!!!! Wow!!! Anyways I guess my question is when fishing a tournament and you get on big fish, not big numbers, do you stay on them? Or do you peel off and go for your limit hoping that a nice fish will come? The results are here http://www.bigredclassic.com/staticscore10.php

As far as I know, or am concerned you are able to run sliders and it only counts as one rod. The law states 3 rods, not 3 lures.

church revelator is what I meant.

Got lines set at about 5:45 this morning straight out of the pier in 65 fow. The first king came at 6:30 in 75 fow on a 5 color core with a green church regulator and green fly. Next fish came in 80-85 fow on a wire dipsy back 200 on 1 with a green spinny and pickled sunshine fly, a nice 16 pounder. Last fish came on the rigger set down 70 over 80 fow with a with spinny and white fly, a real nice 18 pounder. Went 3 for 3 on the day while avoiding the Holland tournament traffic and fishing a small area where we were marking lots of fish. Ran into 42 degree water in 80 fow 60 feet down. A touch bumby going south today, but the north troll was smooth. Probably could have gotten better numbers a little deeper, but we'll take the quality over quantity. Pictures I will post to the gallery unless someone would like to add them, can't remember how. It's been a while!

weren't we talking about small boats here? Not every small boat has gps and chartplotters and it is definitely not required by the Coasties to own one. I am in complete agreement with the fact that people run way to fast at night. But as I recall smaller boats have the right of way unless you are in a shipping channel. At any rate when the fog hits it is always scary! Be careful out there!!!

Nice! That one extra fish will probably ruin our fishery forever. Great that was the one we'll need to fill our limit this weekend! Just kidding, nice work!

another way to gauge speed if you don't want to spend the money on a GPS unit is to keep an eye on the rigger cables. When you think you have the speed dialed in check the distance that the cables are from the boat. When you hit a fish make sure that from then on, going the same direction, that your cables are that same distance from the boat. This is how we started before all the fancy electronics we have on the boat now, and it works until your trolling direction changes! Then it is time to start over. A compass is critical to keep trolling direction the same when employing this technique. In time you will have all you need on the boat, but for now get out there and pound that water 'til you figure it all out. In the end you will become a better fisherman and learn how to read water!

Nice! I love fantasy fishing! I just can't seem to shake these riggers I got. Looks like I'll have to find a spot for them if nobody wants to make an offer!

Nice rig, Dave. Looks like you have some Cannon swivel bases on there, and guess what? I have the perfect set of new Cannon manuals I would be willing to part ways with that will fit those swivel bases. They have been used 1 time since they were taken out of the box. Now they just hang out in my garage collecting dust. Willing to make one sweet deal on them!! Shoot me a PM and I will exchange info with you if you are interested.

Hey Dan, here's my 2 cents. 1) A lot of guys use 11 inch paddles, I personally like the 8" spinny's. Depends what you are targeting and what the fish are telling you. 2)I usually leave the swivel where it is, but I have switched it before, again depends on what the fish are telling you. Lately it seems like less movement is catching bigger fish. 3) 24" and 31-34" is a good starting point, sometimes the big guys like a lot less whip action on the fly so 36" is not uncommon on the 8" spinny's. 4) I really wouldn't see a problem running the 4 foot booms on the Big Jons. Big Jon is an awesome company and I'm sure if something broke because of the way it was built it would be replaced for free. We run older captain's packs and have never had an issue that was not caused by our own stupidity! 5) Most guys use braid for their "high" divers, and wire for their "low" divers. The "high" diver is usually put on the 3 setting and the "low" diver is put on the 1 or 1.5 setting. This way the braid ("high") diver does not go as deep and planes farther out to the side. If your plans do not include wire then just run you dipsies on your braid, pretty much any setting you'd like. I would suggest 1.5. Lead core is run off of inline planer boards, mostly. Some run it on "big" boards or outriggers. Inline boards are definitely the most common way to deploy lead. All of the colors are let out and the board is attached to the backer. Full cores (10 colors), 7 color, and 5 color shine in the summer. Some run double cores or fifteen colors, most though go to copper for those depths now.

We ran 3 of them on a 3 foot leader behind a big tin can with a meat rig behind that. Killer! Used 50 pound flouro and crimps behind each spin 'n' glow. A little bit touch to reel in but if you want to stir stuff up on the bottom it is a pretty awesome rig. Actually a lot easier to reel in then cowbells. I guess you could run a fly behind it all or even a spoon. If that is not in the cards for you try spin 'n' glow, one bead and a treble.

$5 fishing license? Is that one available in Michigan?

Has anyone ever had one of those days when rods on only one side of the boat will fire, then when you make the turn to troll the opposite direction the rods on the other side start to fire? This has happened numerous times to us and I am starting to think that it has to be current pushing the spread on one side closer, or under the boat, and pushing the spread on the other away from the boat. Heard from one charter captain that he has proven that he catches more fish from the side with the motor he is trolling with that day. Do you all believe there is anything to all this, or is it just sh*thouse luck?