Twill23

I'd suggest the 4200. 5200 states it should be used only for applications in which whatever it is bonding, will NEVER be removed. 4200 is EXTREMELY tough stuff too. You'll never have an issue with the 4200 in your application. I'd also suggest plugging, and re-glassing the holes before you put something over top of them. Just to be safe. Holes below the waterline are of course the most dangerous for the longevity of your boat.

Distict 4 LAw Enforcement Division. 231-775-9727 Call them. Ask for a charter boat packet. Work on getting you captain's license application and all the other crap involved done before you worry about that. Get vessel coast guard documented. (TWIC, Drugtest/Physical, Character References, Sea Service Times, Application Fees) The paperwork and all the extra fees, and required "crap" turns out to be much worse than the actual class and exam.

Congrats! Paper work ends up being a bigger pain than the class. Lol

^ That. I didn't go in to a lot of detail. Could prolly talk about this for hours. lol As far as lengthening, Call it over kill, but having extra flies is really the key. As a personal preference we run Big Weenie stuff. The majority of the flies will come right out of the package long enough to tie right on to a paddle. Simply trim it before attaching it to any other rotator. Another helpful tip, Tying a loop knot onto the snap swivel of the rotator will allow for quick changing of flies, rather than stealing the snap swivel from your favorite one.

Your fly leads should match your presentation For example. Long fly leads are targeting less aggressive fish... slower speeds. Short fly leads are targeting more aggressive fish.. faster speeds. Paddles are the same way. long fly leads..long leads behind the ball, nuetral fish. Short fly leads, short behind the ball, Agressive fish. Your speed will also match this. as a general rule of thumb.. or on average. 2.5mph- 3x the length of whatever atractor you're using.

Great fishing continues out of Holland. Sunday am we finished with 14 fish. 8 kings, 4 trout, and two steel. Consistent action all day is what made the trip fun. Low divers at 130 with Kavorkian 10in spinny and Big weenie Thruster Buster meat rig as well as a Spotted Dick combo took several fish. Best rods on the boat were our high divers at 160-180 with a green dot/white blade closer with a Big weenie proctologist fly. The chute took several fish with an 8in fish scale paddle and a Big weenie Arctic Blast. 300-350 Morgan's Tackle co. coppers were very good with Kevin's Girlfriend 8' spinnie and Big weenie Proctologist flies. Sunday PM we finished with 8 very healthy kings. This trip was run by the girls. They did everything! They fought the fish, Net the fish, and set all the lines! They even had some time to enjoy a couple cocktails. All i had to do was keep the boat in 130fow. Same baits on the same setups. What a great weekend of fishing! Holland 9/28 am Holland 9/28 pm Holland 9/28pm Holland 9/28pm Doubled up Holland 9/28 PM

What a fantastic weekend of fishing! Frankfort lake trout fishing is absolutely on fire north, near the reef. It was some of the most incredible lake trout fishing that i have ever experienced. We were lucky enough to finish 5th in the weekends Battle at the Betsie weighing in 66lbs for 5 lake trout. 42lbs was good enough for 6th in 333. Morgan's wire divers were absolutely rocking with white dodgers and white spin n glos. Big Weenie Meat rigs also pounded fish. If you get a chance, I urge you to give Frankfort's lake trout fishery a shot ... it's world class. What a crazy storm!!!!!

Fishing in Frankfort right now is stellar! I had the opportunity to take the Sara K for a little fun fishing lastnight. We left the pier heads around 7pm ran straight out to the bank and worked north in 140-160fow. We took our 15 fish by 9:15pm. Big Weenie Brand meat rigs were the ticket. Both low divers and the chute was firing non stop. Morgans Tackle Company 75 and 250 coppers also took fish with a DW Mixed Veggie. Slide divers are still consistently taking fish at 90-100 back. Stinger Green Tux is still a top producer on that rod. Fishing is awesome right now! Get out there!!!

Saturday AM water was 42-43 degrees, and by sunday afternoon it had risen up to 49. Ice cold water, but they were there. Even put a really nice brown in the box on Sunday AM.

I had the pleasure of traveling north, and helping out Greg Sheremeta aboard the Sara K. Fishing is fair out of Frankfort with catches ranging from 8-15 fish, while taking 10-20 bites. We fished south, near the herring hole all weekend. Slide divers back 70 and 90 with stinger steely stomper and green tuxedo were by far the best two rods on the boat. Morgan's Tackle copper in 75, and 150 foot segments also took fish with an array of Silver streak spoons. Big Weenie meat rigs took several fish on low divers 120-150 feet back, and on the chute around 70 down. There are plenty of fish in the Frankfort area, even with the continuous ice cold water.

Thanks guys, Everything is sold.

I have two used 7ft Talora wire rods paired with Tekota 600lcs. Both reels are spooled with wire. $350 I also have 2 8'6 luhr Jensen wire rods. $75 ea. Located in Holland. Send PM, will reply promptly.

O man. If you plan an doing any amount of fishing go with the Cannons. Fast, reliable, and awesome service. If you prefer constantly working on your downriggers, and a loud screeching noise as it goes up and down, go with the big jons!

It's a goofy set up, don't get to see your sent, but they do go through. I'll toss him a text for ya!

Tony Childs is top notch. Eyefull here on the forums. Hopefully he'll see this, if not toss his a PM.

Ande Backcountry is also an awesome product for rigger lines.

The net issues on the east side is absolutely horrible. I would willing to make a donation as well as be interested in the tournament. If it means swaying the odds in our favor when it comes to commercial netting, every penny will count. It's an absolutely horrific situation if it isn't dealt with correctly.

Hey Randy, There has to be a balance between the two, and it really depends on how crazy your structure is. The most important thing you need to find out first, is where the range of active fish are holding. Are they in 110-130? 70-110 north of some landmark? Are they holding only in a specific water temperature? Figured out where they are first, will help you immensely in targeting those fish. IE getting your troll direction figured out. You have to remember, water depth normally is not the reason fish are holding in one specific area. It normally has nothing to do with it. Water temperature, Bait, and current are MUCH more important.

Dave, I like the point you brought up here, and i agree with it in some ways. I REALLY prefer there to be more of a separation in Pro division vs Amateur divisions.(Rules as well as payouts). I truly believe that a payout scale that DOES NOT payout 20 places would really help the amateur side. I feel as if it's a children's softball game. EVERYONE GETS A TROPHY! WOO. Not. Come on, its grown men competing. I feel as i don't deserve a dime if i finish 20th out of 60 boats. This is where the big red really ticks me off. Having the same rule set for both divisions, just different entry and different payout scales. Although, the rule thing is a completely different subject. My point is, rather than trying to split up the money with all the competitors at the end, make it possible to actually cover expenses, by paying more money to less places. Then again, i don't support a single tournament that doesn't use observers.

I've been on this boat! It catches fish! Great setup! Goodluck Jon!

June is a very tough time to fish in our area. It sits directly in the middle of several transitional periods. My first suggestion to you would be to NOT have a predetermined spread for every day of fishing. Running presentation that are not catching fish is a common issue. Dont be scared to load up. If your spoon bite is great, dont try to make them bite meat or a fly. Or vice versa. As the year progresses so should your weapons of choice. Putting the setups in the water that are going to target active fish is much more important than trying to follow the magic bait trends. June is an ever changing month, kings becoming neutral, and steelhead and coho beginning to show up. Make some phone calls to find out what rods are producing fish. Get some info from Muskegon down to Saugy. Aaron at Lakeshore always knows whats going on out there. An awesome box of 10 big kings is not always doable. Consider opening your spread up to target some different species. June is a fantastic time to pound for trout and or specifically target steelhead.

On paper that is an awesome theory! Economical and effective! But unfortunately it's not practical. It'll cause some SERIOUS headaches. Here's why. Board hopping Board Hopping Board Hopping. If you've ever run a monofilament backer in any type of wind you know EXACTLY what im talking about. This is when line from one rod going to your planerboard will cross and go underneath the planerboard next to it. This is caused from extreme bow in the line. Yes, running one on each side will fix this, but totally defeats the purpose of copper. Spacing does not help because it creates more bow. This is why those mono backing material and heavy monofilament just are not practical. Secondly, having extraweight on the front of a planer board will cause the board to dive when fish over about 15lbs hit the bait, and make any type of run. My suggestion is for the economical fisherman is to buy the most productive copper setups for the year. Somewhere between the 225 and 300 mark. These lengths of copper are solid choices for the majority of the year. For the weekend warrior that is a rod you can use pretty much every trip!

Don't be discouraged by the amount of fish in comparison to last year. You have to remember that last year produced much higher than average numbers of fish caught per fishing trip. After being apart of the crash of Lake Huron,both before and after, i am happy to say Lake Michigan is in a much different situation than Lake Huron was. The awareness level is much higher in Lake Michigan, than it was in Lake Huron. Biologist and fisherman are working together to get this stuff right! Collecting as much data from fisherman is crucial to keeping things running smoothly, and they're doing a much better job of it now than they had previously. Over concern of personal success vs lake wide health is a real issue. There is a very large learning curve when it comes to successfully targeting king salmon in Lake Michigan. Not everyone, even in the best of years, can put a full box of fish in the boat on every trip. There are countless factors to keeping our fishery as stable as possible, and unfortunately not every port can have every boat going out and catching 20fish per trip. The lake will just not be able to sustain such a fishery. Lake Michigan is built on a cycle. There are going to be our bad years(2008) our great years(2012) and our exciting years(2013..or as i like to call it "the year of the big fish"). It's a very delicate balance that isn't easily maintained. Hundreds upon hundreds of variables play a huge roll in it. Don't get too concerned about a "downer year." Everything that can be done, is being done to try and help keep a sustainable fishery in Lake Michigan.

That was two different pieces stuck together. We have a lot of footage to stick together, and really want to end up with just an action packed film. A lot of it is like the second portion of the video with several fish hooked up and laying on the deck. We are also putting together a "gag reel" Break offs, botched nets, fighting for a rod that goes off. The funny things that happen... in hindsight of course.