gspsteel

I boutght a 96 Angler dual console this year. The design is pefect, cut like a walk around but with a ton of space and room. plus the wife enjoys laying out on the bow. It has handled some pretty crazy seas this year also.

Ended up not finding any minnows, but did find some success using crawlers lining up where the two boat launches intersect and drifting with the canoe. Ended up catching 6 splake and missed quite a few more. Kept 2 around 14 inches for an appetizer they were phenomenal!

My wife wants to go camping this weekend looks like we are headed to clear lake state park. We have tried fishing it three times with limited success. I will have my canoe and plan on jigging spoons to hopefully catch some splake?20-40 fow... Am I on the right track?

thanks for the info Gentleman!

after taking apart the downrigger and keeping an eye on it in use I found my weight retriever was actually grabbing the line causing the spool to lose tension and free spool. I have fixed this with a new retriever. Now when I drop the ball down it seems to really go down faster than my other rigger, almost to fast ? Any Ideas.. Thanks! Troy

Thinking about taking a half day trip and wondering what my best options may be to hook into some lakers / Browns / kings / steel, or just drown my lines. just love being on the water. I have noticed a few fly fisherman being successfull on browns and lakers around octoberish on the east side. I used to nail a few kings myself on the fly in the surf near the drain but it has been 6 years. Thinking I might pull a few trolling some spoons / body baits? any suggestions or launch points would be greatly appreciated....now that I have fulfilled my dream of having a great fishing boat, bow hunting just doesn't compare, and I need to fuel the addiction!

Was able to venture out of Ludington with a buddy that is addicted as I.... We tried to make a go of it friday and made the right call to get off the water around 7:30 PM friday nite, after some beers and some good food, Decided to sleep and make a full day run from 10 AM until sundown on Saturday, Fished both north and south out of ludington trying everything. Ended up going having a rigger on a grn glow ladder back J around 6:45 trolled south for another hour and decided to head back to the spot. From 8PM until 9:45 we were on fish. Ended up I believe 4/10 overall all hits on J's or Capt. choice glow / perch ladder backs, with one taker on a meat rig. Dipseys were hit 150 and 235 back set on three. Just a great nite to finally get my deck bloody with its first king! Lots of teamwork was needed especially battling the waves!

Took my old manager who is living the retired life out fishing in ludington. As I am still learning and he is hard headed we had an eventful trip. Ended with just one coho and a 13 LB laker both taken on a moo moo meat rig. 60 ft down over 120fow straight out of the projects. he didn't want to fish in the dark or fog so that was a major hurdle. Although I am sure he appreciated the time on the water we missed prime time. Still a good learning experience for myself.

I had a downrigger that is out of comission. I was setting a line and it looked like it free spooled for a second and tangled. Once i got the tangled resolved whenever I would try and raise the rigger it seem like it was really under pressure and would eventually pop the fuse button on the rigger. Any suggestions on how to correct this? I could raise and lower about 20 ft at a time after resetting the button. I believe it is a newer model based off of the Big Jon's.

I am currently running 40 lb braid. planning to add two wires in the offseason.

When running lead what is your most successful setup? a straight spoon / plug or a flasher / fly combo? Does anyone have success running spoons and flashers on dipseys? For convienience can I use coastlock swivels to connect my braid to the dipsy then swivel to connect 6ft leader to the dipsy and another swivel to connect the attractor to the fly? Will this change an integral part of the presentation? Thanks Troy

Hit the big water for the first time saturday morning out of manistee, used to 3 -4 footers on the bay and was very hesitant to make a go of it. Ended up pushing our way out and the boat performed great. Unfortunately our program didn't connect us with any salmon. Ended up going 1-4 in manistee with a laker coming on a bloody nose fished from 85 -150 fow. Regrouped and fished Ludington in front of the projects in 85-120 fow, Had 3 misses on divers at 225 on 3 and 180 on 3. Lots of fish above 40 in the p'jects fished until about 10:45 pm out of ludington. Had a great time and am ready to regroup and get after it again.

nice job gentleman

Thanks Nick, Does Pentwater have decent facilities? I meant Pentwater original but must have been thinking up north further.

Gonna make the venture across state with a friend of mine who has a place in Ludington, but with the Offshore classic looking like we may try to head out of Onekama. I have been searching for launching information but have found limited info? Any suggestions on the best place to launch? Or would I be better driving up to manistee? Thanks Troy

it was good practice as my wife and I are expecting our first in Jan!

Hit the bay with a co-worker and his boys. started North of the black hole and lost a nice one at the back of the boat right off the bat. Hit two over the next 3 hours and decided to head back south and trolled around the sailboat markers south of linwood picked up 2 northerns one was 32 inches and a couple more eyes. The kids had a good time. All on cranks. 130 - 160 ft back.

Thanks guys! I will look into the rope lighting also. Here is a quick pic from the updated boat.

Ended up buying a new 115 outboard so fishing was delayed until about June 1st, Broke the motor in taking the wife out a few times and even caught a few eyes. Its nice to have faith in the motor! I have the rigging just about completed, Reinforceing my DR mounts this sunday and I will try and post some pics next week. Looking at the Coastal spreader light I am wondering how I would mount that, considering I don't have Launchers or anything over my open bow console?

Anyone have any suggestions for deck lighting? I have a 20 ft open bow Angler and would like to come up with a type of removeable battery powered light. Any ideas? I was thinking using a couple black/fluorescent lights, and then maybe mount a couple LED flood/work light sticks above my console? Thanks Troy

I finally got my my boat completely rigged and thought I would use my downriggers to run a few extra lines. Can I use a 10/12 lb ball or do I need to drop down to 4 LBs? Just want to get used to the setup. Thanks!

sounds like a blast!

I have been having some concerns with my current outboard and am not really feeling confident with it 2 different diagnosis from 2 different marine mechanics and one interesting ride in. Does anyone have any experience with the Mercury Carbed motors? I was looking a leftover 07 carbed model seemed like a good deal for around 7500 installed? Appreciate the input. Troy

Thanks guys, I threw the muffs on it and I am thinking it may have overheated coming in as it looks like water is leaking from the where the cover meets the shaft and their isn't a strong stream being ejected from the exit hole. The fun never ends... T

Finally made it out on the water for the first time with my new boat. Started in 12 ft of water and trolled Northwest straight out of the mouth of the Sag to 17 fow. Ended up picking up 5 fish and one that ran about 26, all on cranks 40-50 ft back. Boat handled the waves quite well. Only downfall was the outboard acted up on the ride in. Time to research and solve that problem. T