BenLubbs

Just curious, how many people would need to be out for Sunday to consider moving it to another weekend?

I won't be able to make it Sunday either.

Yea, I launch right there so you might see heading out every now and again.

Yea, I've been running one f/f setup every trip but have yet to take a hit on one. Spoons have been the key from top to bottom.

Nice boat, you slip in Holland correct? I think I've seen/heard you out there.

Nice job with the limit.

You would think I would have learned that in 5 years of fishing On a side note, how do you guys deal with flies on the boat? When I went out in the morning we didn't have a problem, but when we went out at night, they just swarmed the boat. It really was pretty miserable trying to set up poles and deal with tangles while being bitten all over. At one point, when my friend went down into the cabin, the walls and ceiling were literally black there were so many flies in there. My biggest issue now is going to get everything back in running order for the WMFL event this Saturday. I have a busy week with graduations and things and I need to go through all of the tangled poles and figure out what it usable and what needs to be cut/replaced

Nice job Terry, it was a great morning out there.

Went out again tonight with a few buddies. Got on the water at 5:45, Set lines in 100 ft when we started marking fish near where we fished this morning. First fish came in 150 FOW on a blue and sliver spoon that looks like an MJ (a Monica maybe ) on the rigger 100ft down. Close to the boat and it started going crazy, charging the boat and stuff. We were very close to losing it due to a rookie on the net but managed to get it in the boat, a 13lb 10oz behemoth (the biggest fish I have ever caught on one of my boats). Went a while with out a bit then got a double in 170 FOW on the 5 and 7 colors with the same spoons as this morning. Both of the fish were 4 lb steelhead. Made a turn to go back thru the way-point, noticed that the outside leadcore was dragging weird started to wind it in only to find that it had tied with the rigger on the opposite side of the boat and got the other lead core and diver on the same side. Ended up spending an hour getting the mess taken care of. Once we got done, it was starting to get a bit chilly (none of us dressed warm with it being so hot earlier) and the flies were driving us crazy. While pulling lines we found a tiny king on the 10 color with a blue dolphin on it. That one was release with a lot of life left in it. Took off for the piers at 9:15. Not as good of a trip as this morning but still enjoyable. Summary: 4/4 2 kings deeper, 2 steel higher in 150-170 FOW southwest of the piers with SOG of 2.9 MPH Pics

Nice to meet you Phil, good job out there this morning.

Went out of Holland this morning with my Dad, two of my younger brothers, one of my sisters, and Javier from work (here from our plant in Mexico). Got on the water about 6:00am. Set lines in 60 FOW (inside most of the other boats out there) south west of the peirs. Kept a line course headed south west. First hit came on a green flounder 45 down on a rigger over 80 ft. Gave the pole to Javier and he reeled in his first ever fish, a 6ish lb King. Next, we got a hit on the 5 color with a Dbl. Orange Crush. I gave the pole to my brother but he was having trouble with the board diving so I took it back. While I was working on that one, we got another hit on the rigger with the Green Flounder. My brother grabbed that pole and started reeling. All of a sudden a nice king jumped out of the propwash 10ft behind the boat. by the time my brother caught up with the fish, it was already gone, but I bet that thing jumped 7 or 8 times after it was of still trying to get away I finally got the fish on the lead core to the boat to find a 4 lb steelie hooked in the tail (it felt big at least ) As I was going to put it in the cooler it gave a flop, right out of my hands, off the lid of the cooler, back into the lake. He was floating in the prop wash for a bit before taking off to the bottom of the lake. After that, we had pretty consistent action until about 9:30 when things shut off. Ended up going 7/9 with the last 6 coming in a line going east to west from 110 FOW to 140 FOW south of the peirs. Box had 1 steelie (2 if you count the one that got out ) 1 laker, and 5 kings. Pictures:

Here are some pictures of the final setup of the boat. Downrigger Mounts and Lights Rod Trees Side View

That's the plan:thumb:

Ken, I finally decided on a boat name, Ben'din Rods

Sounds like I'm going to be out fishing basically all day tomorrow. In the morning I'm going with some of the family and a guy from work (from our Mexico plant, he's never been fishing or on a boat before). In the, I'm taking a few of my buddies out. Hopefully the fishing is as good as it has been for the last couple days. If you are out there give Ben 'din Rods a holler.

Right now they are forecasting 83 and partly sunny for Saturday, though that could probably be taken worth a grain of salt because of the recent forecasting track record.

Just curious Tony, what kind of foam is it (ie is it sheet foam or is it filler foam). I know that when we put swivel seats in our 16 ft aluminum boat, the benches were filled with foam sheets underneath.

That is a mess of fish there, good job.

Tony, Having backing is always better because you spread the force out over a larger area, reducing the stress in the fiberglass. Howevever, with 3/4" of glass I think you would alright. If you do end up trying to put something to back it, you can get like 10" round covers that you cut a hole and mount a ring that they twist in and out of (sorry I can't explain it better), those might work. On my boat the fiberglass on the tops of the gunwales is only 1/4" so I had to put backing, but they are also open the entire length of the boat.

You reminded me of something, I meant to run sliders yesterday but forgot Gonna have to do that next trip.

Thanks Ken, for some reason last night when we got to the launch it didn't want to idle and kept dying but once I let it run at a higher RPM for a bit then it was fine. Definitely a lot funner fishing out of this boat than the old 16 ft'er. Yea, I would have liked the picture a lot more if the fish wasn't so beat up. I don't know how the hook got so tangled in the net and it only got worse with the fish flopping all over the place (he was realll spunky) Oh, and you can tell it's been way too long since I caught a fish because while cutting the very first fillet I tried to cut my finger tip off Luckly it didn't get very far. Gonna have to get back into the swing of things I guess.

We were running moonshines on 5 of the 6 poles but apparently the Green Flounder Pounder was the one doing it for them.

Decided last minute to make a trip out tonight. Brought one of my sisters, one of my brothers, and my best friend out. Left the launch at like 7:45 PM. Ran strait out to 90 FOW and set up. Went with two wire mag dipseys, 10 color, 5 color, and downriggers. Marked some fish in ~110 FOW then nothing. My Dad called a little later and I was talking to him on the phone, looked at the fish finder to tell him what depth we were in, saw a mark going right through the line of the DR ball, turned to look at the rod, saw it pop, then hung up and proceeded to reel the fish in. First fish coming on board the new boat was a 7 lb. king that came on a Moonshine Green Flounder Pounder on a DR parked at 60 ft. in 132 FOW. In the process of netting the fish, the hook got really tangled in the net so I was messing with that for a while. Once I got everything set again, made a turn south at the 150 mark with no fish on the graph. Turned back toward the spot where we had picked up the fish. got to 128 FOW and the same rod went again. Gave my friend the pole and started to get the net ready. While he's working on that one, my brother sees the wire dipsey set at 175 (setting 1) with a Green Flounder Pounder start moving. My sister takes the pole and starts working the fish. We get my friend's fish to the boat and it's a 5 lb king. My sister gets the fish her fish two the boat and lands her first Big Lake fish, a 7 lb. King Continued trolling till 80 FOW then decided it was getting pretty dark and nasty out so we headed in at 9:45. Ended up 3/3 in less than two hours, defiantly the best trip I've ever had. Talked to someone else on the radio who went 10/12 in the same depth of water. SOG was 3.0-3.2 All of the fish had empty stomachs Now some pics

Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing. The tails and fins on those fish almost look inproportionate compared to a king

All of the rod holders and the newer Rivieras with the bases are sold. I would defiantly consider trades for any salmon gear, especially copper setups.