its an addiction

Well, I think I'll try the albright knot out first. Thanks for all your opinion guys. Just wanted to make sure I did things right the first time.

Hey all, I just ordered an Okuma 55 and 300' of Howie's super copper 45lb. This will be my first copper rig and would like some advice on the knots everyone likes. What I would like to know is what knots are best for fitting though the Okuma 55L. From my research Okuma had a narrow levelwind guide, but has recently changed to a wider levelwind guide. I ordered it online so I'm not sure if it will come with the newer wider guide. So, which knots do you all use that have copper on okuma 55's? Albright, Haywire, Howie's, inline swivel, etc. I plan to back this reel with 300yds 50lb power pro, with 15ft section mono before the copper for the planer board attachment. Probably 30ft or so of 20lb fluoro leader. Lastly, what do i need to do if it comes with the narrow guide? Thanks guys.

Nice work. I do enjoy catching some bulls on a fly rod also.

Yah. I don't think he was trying to single anyone out. He said his concerns were regarding small boat fisherman running on plane. I suppose maybe all he saw that day was small boats doing it, I dont know. It can be frustrating at times being a small boat fisherman on lake michigan. Constantly getting looks like you don't know what you are doing, and getting pushed around by bigger boats all the time. I didn't intend to cause any hard feelings. Just wanted to clarify that it's not okay for any boat to be running hard in that type of visibility.

So, it was only the small boats that were being irresponsible? I was out there and had some big boats flying by me. I could hear the motor roaring, see a wake, but no boat. I don't believe it was just the small boats out there.

Well, I couldn't find anyone crazy enough to get up at 4:30am to make the trip to St. Joe Saturday morning, so I went solo. I ended up going 7-8 with two shakers released. The rest were 5-7 pounders, mostly coho. It was a new challenge trying to steer a boat, reel in a fish, and net a fish all at the same time. I ended up losing the first one at the net. The rest I fought and played them out longer than usual to get them tired out before I brought them to the net. All the fish were caught in 80to85 feet of water on a North troll. Two on a full core with a silver streak spoon, purple, not sure of the name. Two on a crush mountain dew spin dr. and siggs rigs apple glow fly. and another on the spoon. The fog was like nothing I've ever experienced before. Boats were flying out there. I could hear motors roaring, see a wake, but no boat. I kept my air horn handy.

I use about 50' of 20lb cabela's fluorocarbon.

Thanks for the report Todd. I'm planning on heading out there tomorrow.

I had a fishing tripped cancelled last year due to a blown headgasket on my highlander. Its an unforunate occurence, but atleast GM is standing by their product. I also heard GM will be repaying their debt to the government this year, much ahead of the original 5 year plan. They say they have also gained market share in the U.S. Good luck with the repair and I hope they take care of it so it doesn't ruin any future fishin outings.

Congrats Mike. Now go get some Feesh!

That's exactly what I was doing. Dreaming. This bug just won't go away. I hope to get the boat out Saturday. The forecast looks perfect right now. Hopefully it won't change.

Hey guys. Saturday was a good day. I got the boat out of storage and my father and I installed my new rod holders. The whole process probably took an hour's time. It was tough getting underneath the side wall by the console with all the wires and a couple other things, but we got er done. We did have to make a slit in the foam, and we're able to slide it down so we could get up to put in the backing plate. Thanks again for all your helpful suggestions. I can't wait to try them out.

Thanks guys. Sounds like it's almost unanimous to run the fast and more action holes.

Ok guys. Just bought a few new spin doctors and I noticed on the package their are holes for more or less action on the back. There are also two holes in the front for slow and fast speed. It looks like it comes rigged in the fast speed but the less action. I've always used it right out of the package. The question is..., how many of you rig it so its on the more action side. Just curious here because I've never noticed the option before for more action.

Nice job duane. Thanks for the thorough report. I am getting my boat ready this weekend and hope to make it out next weekend weather permitting.

Hey guys, I just placed my order on Friday and already received my rod holders. That's quick! I plan on installing them this Saturday. I'm finally going to be able to get my boat out of storage and get it ready to fish. I have one question I would like some advice on. I plan to install the 6" track right where the black cabela's rod holder is. That is going to be removed. As you can see my rod storage let's me have easy access to the underside of my side wall. Same as the other side. The only thing that is keeping me from tightening the bolts on the underside is a block of foam running all the way down the underside. Do you think it would be okay to cut a small section out in order to tighten the bolts, and then just reattach the removed section to the existing pieces when finished? Thanks guys.

Welcome Jason.

Well guys, I just pulled the trigger on the Bert's system. I like the versatility of being able to adjust horizontally and vertically. Seems to be more flexibility. As far as them wearing out, I am probably only able to get out on lake michigan a dozen times a year, so hopefully they will last me a long time. Thanks for all your help in my decision making.

Yes, thats the one I was thinking of. Its almost half the price of the HD ones. And the link is the adapter traxstech has made to adapt the big jons to their track system. It was just another option. But I will only go that route if the low profile big jon's are adequate for dipsy use. I have never used them before. http://www.traxstech.com/store/accessories.htm Bert's gives me a little more versatility. Say, if I'm running two downrigger and two dipseys and two planer lines, I could always remove the third rod holder, or slide the second one more towards the outside to give room to the two rods on the triple rod holder. I think I will very seldom use the 3 rods on the holder, but I want them just in case I am fishing early spring and need 6 planer lines, or two dipseys and 4 planer lines.

Well, where to start at. Thank you all for taking the time to give such an informative reply. Well, one thing that seems to be agreed upon is that I definitely should be able to mount a rod holder on my sidewall. I would think the bigger the backing plate the better, but we'll see. Secondly, whatever it is I put on the boat I want it to be removable. That is why the 6" track appealed to me. So, when I'm done, I could just slide it out of the base track on the side wall and thats it. This isn't a salmon only fishing boat. Plus, I have to make sure I can get my cover on since it's stored outside during the season. Daybreak, The Quad Holders do look nice. One thing I see is that the base is 5" by 5" so it would not fit in a track system, and would not be easily removed for my other types of fishing when they are not needed. They do seem to have a simple design, which would probably make them a fail proof design. Paulywood, I like your suggestion. But this is only a 16' boat and I only feel comfortable taking one person with me in it on Lake Michigan. So, how much flexibility do I really need when I'm only going to be running a max of 6 rods. I don't need much. But, Thank you for your suggestion. Killerbe, From what I can tell about that mounting system, it sounds like I have to already have an existing track from the boat manufacturer. There is no track like that on my boat, so that idea will not work. I will do some research on the tree system, but I am leaning towards the triples. One other idea is that Traxstech makes a 3" pedestal that slides into the track with a 4"x4" surface to mount the Big Jon rod holders. I shied away from them because the Heavy Duty Holders are so expensive. Which, from my undersanding you need them to pull dipseys. Does any one use the low profile Big Jons to pull dipseys? Thanks again for you all taking the time to reply with such informative posts.

So, fellas. My current rod holder situation is far from ideal, and I would like some input on what you like/dislike about different rod holders that you have experience with. As you can see, I have the cheap cabela's rod holders in back holding my leadcore/planer board line. Just ahead, right outside of the picture, is where I have one clamp on tite-lok rod holder that I use for dipseys. So, I know the outside line should be furthest up in the rod holder, but the cabela's can not hold a dipsey, so when a fish is on the dipsey, we have to take out the planer rod, move the dipsey rod under, then put back the planer rod and reel in the fish. So, as you can see I have no room to mount tracks on my gunwale. It's only about 2" wide with the tracks running 3 1/4" I believe. Here is what I am thinking. All Bert's. A 6" track, with a 4" riser to the 17" track, with 3 of the metal ratcheting rod holders on top of the 17" track. No lexan holders. I want to make sure I have plenty of clearance over the gunwale, and I think a 4" riser should be fine. One other thing that concerns me is the strength of my side wall where I want to install the rod holders. It is not very thick. What type of backing is common? I see traxstech offers backing plates on their website. Would this be sufficient? It seems to me you would want to use a larger backing plate than the track size, and traxstech seems to offer a backing plate identical in size to the track. I want to get maybe a 12" long backing plate by 4" wide to help spread out the stress on the side wall. So, Do you all think i am on the right track? I choose bert's because I could get their three rod pedestal for $500 vs. over $700 for the traxstech. Is there anything I'm missing or not thinking about. It's just a large investment and I want to make sure I do it right the first time, so I want to ask all of your opinions. Thanks guys!

Thanks for the comments on the boat fellas. It was the first major purchase I made when I got my job after college. I was still towing it with my truck I got when I was 16, a 95' Blazer. Just to show you fellas I had my priorities straight.

Thanks for all the kind welcomes fellas. Sure does seem to be a great group of guys on this forum.

Hey guys, I've been a long time lurker with a few posts for about a year now and figured it was time to introduce myself. This site has been invaluable to me. It has helped me become a better fisherman this last year. So, thank you. Anyway, I'm 25 years old and live in White Pigeon, MI. I mainly fish New Buffalo and St. Joe. I only have a 16' boat, but I go every weekend that the weather cooperates. My addiction started one august evening in 2008 trolling near the harbor of Manistee with my father. All we had were two Okuma Magda combos with dipseys, and 2 spinning reels with dipseys and a handful of spoons. The first hit we got my father took the rod, and I watched him tighten the drag with a screaming reel and knew what would happen. 5 seconds later, snap! Iwas next up. The 7' spinning rod with 30lb braid went off. I could not believe the power of these fish. It took a few minutes, ended up with a sore arm and a 10lb king. Ever since that night, experiencing the power of these fish, I knew bluegill fishing would never be the same again. So, I've slowly invested too much money into salmon fishing, but I am truly enjoying it. I can't wait to get out for some spring coho. Here is a picture of my boat. 2004 Smokercraft Stinger 161 with a 40HP Mercury.

I'm also in the process of collecting some gear for next year. I've found Wal-Mart has Convector's online that you can get free shipping to your local Wal-Mart. $65.00 for the 45 and only $59.99 for the 30. Beats all the other prices I've found by $15.