eastcoasttransplant

It's a damn shame we have to think about this all the time. I leave my boat in a storage facility and they pull my boat out the night before. So I fish Saturday, have to take all my stuff off and put it back on on Sunday just so my stuff doesn't disappear. It stinks!

No worries guys, I am a professional like those you see on the Hoarders show. I will gladly come to your house and show you what you "need" to get rid of. Heck I'll even cart it away for free. What a deal!!!!!!

No clear advantage to running e-chips. It's the flasher action that makes the difference.

Funny i just brought this up at a show this weekend. Most guys I talke to run anywhere from 20-50 ft. Here are the reasonings behing their decisions..... The guys who run the longer leads will be using them frequently and cutting them back constantly. Longer just makes this easier. The guys who run shorter leads truly believe that the short leader puts more action to the spoon due to the way the leadcore moves around in the water. Too long of a leader and you lose the extra action. For me, I usually run 20-25ft of 15lb flourcarbon leader material but I'm ONLY using clean spoons off my leadcores. I've had no breakage with the lighter flourocarbon and believe the short leader makes my spoon move around much more in the water column. I haven't had to cut back much, but I let me leaders get to 15ft before i consider retying the whole thing.

Thanks Josh. I was out the SU Swap today. Maybe I'll check it out tomorrow. Thank you.

Hey Jim I have the HDS 5M chart plotter and I'm in the same boat. Trying to figure out how to import and export data back and forth between the plotter and the computer. I should have the NavPlanner 2 program this coming week and then I'll start trying to figure everything out.

Not really sure yet Russ. I just received the Lake Michigan chip today and have not received the NavPlanner 2 program yet. I know my older Premium chart showed wrecks and contour lines but offered not 3D imaging and no real clear indication of reefs other than a circular contour line like on your NOAA charts. The Platinum charts are supposed to show greater detail and provide 3D images of the bottom as well. I should get the PC program sometime next week and then will have to tinker with it and see what it offers. As for the Mesa.....I think I might be giving up someone's secret spot. One captain told me about it but I couldn't find any reference to it anywhere. I beleive it's somewhere between NP and Kenosha but I'll have to ask him the next time I run into him. I also believe it's in the 100 ft line.

The chip I had last year was an older Navionics Hotmaps Premium East Region chip. It covered IL but not WI. So......when I travelled from North Point to Kenosha I lost the extra benefits of the chip. I picked up a Hotmaps Platnium North Region chip which covers WI inland lakes and also picked up a Marine Platinum Plus chart which solely covers Lake Michigan. The chips show contours, depths, shipwrecks, reefs, dropoffs, etc. and these new chips even have 3 dimentional views to really get a picture of the bottom. Now, couple that with the NavPlanner 2, and I should be able to "scout" productive looking bottom before hitting the water, load those spots onto my chips and then head to them while on the water. It will also allow me to take data from the chip, such as waypoints where I hooked fish, and load that onto the computer for review throughout the season. All this sounds great in concept but I'll have to see how wll it works once the season begins. I realized last year I was SO happy to hook fish that I nver recorded the waypoints on my chartplotter. I had the trail but not the actual spot where the hits took place. I want to be better this year in keeping records and i hoping this technology will help a bit. we'll see.

Thank you Capt. Russ. I'm new to Lake Michigan fishing, usually fishng Winthrop Harbor to Kenosha, and think that once I get my charting program I may be able to better identify structures that will hold kings during different times of the year. I hear of offshore structures like the Mesa (no idea where it's located) and some other reefs but feel the time at home looking over the charts may help somewhat. Thanks again for taking the time to answer.

During the off season, how much time do you devote to reviewing charts or catch data from the past year? I just picked up a Navionics Lake Michigan Chart and am now awaiting to recieve their NavPlanner2 program, which will allow me to review chart data on my home computer, thus taking info from the computer and loading it to the chip or from the chip to the computer. Just curious on how a professional captain handles charting and catch data in preparation for a new season. Thanks guys.

I think I'm going to go with Navionics NavPlanner2 program. I think it's going to do what I want, work with my chartplotter chips and give me more things to go crazy with. LOL. Thanks guys.

No Problem JimCR. I just found out that my boat is buried behind some machinery within the storage facility and can realistically be moved at the end of the month or very early April. Once it's out, I'll be up that way. Talk to you soon.

Just a reminder that the Salmon Unlimited of IL Swap is this Saturday. Hope to see some of you there.

So I picked up a chart plotter last year and purchased a few different Navionics chips for fishing WI and Lake Michigan. The chips add some nice detail but I wonder in addition to the chips, who here utilizes any chart plotting software while at home on their computer? I'm sure there are plenty out there but Navionics has a program called NavPlanner2 that comes preloaded with charts but also gives you the option to link your chips to the program and map out structures ahead of time, before hitting the water. I know we have some real sharpies around here, charter captains included, and thus, I'm curious if they find these programs helpful, if there are other options, etc.? Inormally fish the Winthrop Harbor, IL and Kenosha areas but think a program like this could save some time while on the water, particularly in new locations. Thank guys.

First SuperTramp....very, very sorry for your loss. If there is anything I can personally do to brighten your day a bit, please do not hesitate to ask. Now it would seem easy for a guy like me with a 17ft aluminum but here is my delimma..... I keep the boat in storage (inside during the winter) and unload EVERyTHING from the boat before it's put away. I have a few modifications I need to make, seemingly easy, but for me always takes a day or two to get done. Then it's get all the gear back on the boat, charge the batteries and check that everything is up to snuff. My issue is I have to have the storage facility take it from the inside to the outside and once I do that if we get another storm I'll be worrying about the boat, cover, etc. Therefore, I'd love to be out early this month but it will probably be later, towards the end of the month.

Dan is awesome and one of the best people I have met during my short time here in the Midwest. Not only is he a great fisherman but a super nice guy. My wife and I enjoyed the seminar.

I agree that a Cuda is too big for a SWR but I was thinking the poster before me was just running a 10 core lead and wanted to get near 100ft deep.

I am in the process of coloring and tying up 150 Wobble Glo rigs for my father-in-law who fishes for lakers back in New Jersey. Also made him 30 or so custom cowbells as well. His fish normally run just a few pounds but he and his buddy are looking for that elusive teen size fish or greater Back in NJ, it was wire line rigs, lead balls, cowbells and peanuts(Wobble Glos). The bottom of the reservoir that holds lakers is littered with trees, old foundations, tons of fishng line and gear, so using riggers is out of the question. Those lakers hug bottom and wire is the most efficient way to get them to hit. It was nice to see Worden's Lures finally put their Wobble Glos up on their website for online sales. Now I just need to get a few for myself and give those early season lakers a try. I got a 12lber last year on a flasher and fly, which is my biggest laker to date, but I'm sure there are some reel monstors out there.

Torpedo goes on the backing of your leadcore. All the different sizes will work to gain added depth but the angle of decent will change. Check with Matt at Torpedo Divers and he will get back to you quickly with his suggestion for diver for your situation. I'm thinking he'll probably suggest the Cuda, which is the second biggest torpedo.

Yes, the wife and I will be there as well.

I bought Torpedo Divers for this year and here is where I see their application other than stealth rigging....... I run a 17ft boat that can get tossed around pretty good in any kind of chop. Last year we were taking fish on our standard dipsys and deeper divers, some small fish, some large, but in rough water our dipsys would trip just after setting them in position. We figured the releases were too loose for the choppy water so we tightened them up to just were they would not make a false release, which was still pretty tight. What happened next was we would hit a small fish that would not trip the release and have to fight the small fish and the dipsy all the way to the boat in choppy conditions. Basically.....it stunk! My thought is that by deploying a Torpedo Diver in choppy conditions i could still get the depth needed but not have to worry about false releases or shaker fish. This is where I think the application will work for my boat.

Regardin glow colors for Walker Deeper Divers..... Walker offers a glow bottom attachment that allows the diver to glow but better yet is simply get some glow tape, like those used on flashers, and cut them to size to fit over your divers. I've done this and the addition of glow tape works pretty well.

Yes guys the Walkers are easy to use and a pretty good product. I just wanted to let anyone know that the older models had some issues and can be easily fixed before incurring tackle loss or loss of a trophy fish. Best wishes all.

This thread is funny because on another site it was said that the earlier Walker Divers has issues with the welded ring on the back breaking apart. Apparently, Walker corrected the problem with a stronger "S" type connection but if you have the earlier models you may want to replace the welded ring with a heavy split type ring. I had a few of the older Walker Divers and broke the welded ring rather easily. I replaced the weleded ring with a large split ring and have had no issues or worries since. As for colors, I like the metallic green and blue and always a few glow patterns for deeper fishing.

So lately I've been debating on whether to make the trek down to the southern end of the lake to partake in the early season coho fishery or whether to head up to Milwaukee and attempt to fish the harbor for brown trout. I was just wondering if anyone here fishng the harbor in spring for browns and if so, if you had any advice for doing so. Thanks all.