jimcr

looks a lot like my first , here is my first. We fished in the gaps jigging, and thats what got me started fishing Lake Michigan. And thats my brave wife in the back taking photos. A friend of hers was on the breakwall taking pictures that evening.

where is the calculator at??

nice , but I still wouldn't take a boat that small out there.

Windy here today with hail up to nickle in size . just covered the ground. Wouldn't want to get caught in that while on the water. Should have grabbed the camera.

Finally out for the first trip of the year, 0/0. Bad way to start but its still early. Stayed around the harbor . Saw 1 fish boated in 4 hours. Found out the new kicker needs to see a technician . Just didn't want to run right. Main motor purred like a kitten full of warm milk. HDS5 worked flawlessly . So now were ready to catch fish, hope the weather cooperates soon. Tight Lines Jim

Looks really nice phil , could have used that top today , was cold and windy here for our first trip . How much did the top set you back?

I think we all started with something small , and some of us did down size . If you catch fish out of it, it qualified.

Looks really nice Josh, Would you like to paint a plane now that you had some practice. Oh the memories.

Windshield extentions? I 'll have to see those. Do you have the rounded rail or the new flat one?

I like what you did with your map.

That the model I was looking at before I chose the targa, Basicaly the same boat. I did the install on the kicker. full controls from the drivers seat. Really good deal, at an auction on a new 08. With any luck it should be on the water on saturday. At least for a few hours.

Nice rigg Kyle

Looks much longer in the driveway. Nice Ride

If you have Auto inflating life jackets check the charge to ensure its good. Make sure you radio is getting a good signal from your gps . Make sure your MMSI number is installed on you radio. Check your flares they expire and you can get sited for expired ones. Have your boat inspected by the coast guard. I didn't have a firstaid kit last year , needed one after the inspection . cut deep by fishing line that night. Its not required but you should have one.

Here's another from the Wisconsin side, 17 ft Tracker Targa, Nice and deep. 115 hp Optimax 15hp kicker Setup to run 12-15 rods. And a shot at the back rigging up. Added a 15hp kicker and 4 more rods for this year, 2 copper 2 wire.

Hey Adam , I would be glad to help you out where I can , I have been fishing out there only one season . I dont' find that people won't help you , They just are not going to put you on the fish. You will get a general area of where to go and fish. I saved all my way-points from last year and put them in my new Lowrance , and I can see why certain areas held fish. You are right keep a log it will help and it may not be this year, just get as much information as you can on the log. Have you joined any of the clubs locally? GLSF will be having there meeting on the 12th I believe . If you are interested let me know . I will get the info to you. Its going to be Vendor night. I think there will be a ten or more vendors there. Most of the time I didn't follow the pack and head North to the towers. I started out in 75-85 feet tried to stay either south or east of the towers when I could. You may find it better deeper or just outside of the area rather than at the towers. You don't have to go deep , but that is where the fish were later in the year. From what I have been told is that the fish were scattered and deep . It had a lot to due with the strong west winds bringing tons of cold water in.

Looks about the same here , N east winds off the lake.

Well the ice is all gone , the piers are in . Now we just need it to warm up enough to keep the ice off the beard. Not above 30 until next week. and might hit 40 by thursday. It was warmer a week ago! 65 .

At our meeting earlier this month , they had thought it might be open by the third week in April. but it did depend on the weather and when they started the dredging. Its been a long road to get this done, and it still needs a permanent solution , and from what I understand , a break wall is 4000.00 a foot.

Russ when do you thing the coho will be in this area?

if its heavy metal , I would keep my money. you would be better off with one of Dan Keatings videos. I have the heavy metal video and I didn't find it very good. I got more information from the guys here.

8s will get you there but the lower you go the more they will blow back . I have used 8lb balls and will use them when I am shallow. Just not when I'm going to be running below 40ft.

Thats fine as long as shes not fishing with you. My wife love to fish, loves to eat it even more so she doesnt' complain how much it costs. We both have Hobbes its just mine can put food on the table or the table it self.

I think you may want heaver downriggger balls . you will get a lot of blow back from the 8lb balls.

I just put in an HDS5 , kept my old x96 to use for depth finding as I mainly wanted a chart/plotter. You can run them all kinds of ways , but for me I will run mine as a chart only and use my other locator for depth. Mine also came with the insight maps preinstalled.