GLF

Yes, you need a fish finder. Just because there is a pack of boats, does not mean they are catching fish! I fished several times this year inside and outside of the pack and did very well, while the radio chatter from the pack indicated the fishing was not good. I would probably set up the fish finder before I went for a speed-n-temp probe. A good fish finder can be adjusted to show the thermocline. There are lots of successful fisherman who do not have a speed-n-temp probe who do very well. I added a speed-n-temp probe to my boat this year. A speed-n-temp will take a lot of the guess work out of fishing. You can ask on the radio what the down temp is, and usually someone will answer. I am also running the Big Jons Pro Tournaments with 15lb balls. Spend the extra $50 and pick them up. On a last note....a fish finder also gives everyone something to look at when the fishing is slow.

I have 8 rods spooled up with 15lb. These are on 8' medium light action rods. I start the day off with the other rods with 20lb test. When the sun gets up, I usually switch over to the lighter lined rods on my riggers. To me....it seems like most of the fish caught out of Lake Michigan are in the 12-14lb range. The 15lb test in the open water is plenty strong enough for these fish. You can not horse a fish around at the back of the boat with the lighter set up!

The excessive wear was caused by the front release releasing, and the board sliding down the lead core. The friction of the core on the pin wears a groove in the pin. I have since replaced the front releases and replaced the pins with stainless steel pins. I am running my full cores on Okuma 45's. There is not enough room on a spool for a full core and a mono backing. Some say to put a piece of mono in between the core and the braid. Well......I do not always clip on the board after the core is out. Sometimes I will run an extra 100' + of backing out to get the max depth out of the core.

I have been using 30lb Fireline for backing on my full cores, for the last two seasons and have not had a breakage.

Only if you shoot it during goose season. There may be a different banner for Christmas.

Thanksgiving is over, its back to the original banner.

I was wondering if anyone would notice.

Nice video Rich!

Nice job Bryn and Rich!

Hows the fishing been for the eyes?

I saw your post that you were heading up in the morning....but I could not get off work. Too many people have Wednesday off already. Good luck Nick!

Dirty Dog and I are heading up to Muskegon after work Wednesday night. We will be at the coast guard station by 5:30pm. Anyone else going to be up there? Oh yeah.....Whats the limit on whitefish?

Thanks for the offer on the pump. I need to do some further checking to see what kind of water pressure I could achieve if I tapped into my fresh water system.

Our old neighbors were from Chicago. They drank Old Style also.

I do not have a live well. My head is operated by a tank on the back of the toilet and is independant from the fresh water system. Thanks for the idea about tying into the fresh water system. I think I would rather do that than have a line going out the drain plug hole. I think my tank holds 15 gallons. I will have to check and see.

Nice job Tom!

My wife works 7am-7pm every Fri, Sat, and Sun. On the weekend its just me and boys, unless I have to work. I had to work this weekend. Sunday morning I took my sons to Richland to a friend of the families to watch them. The boys and I got home around 4:50pm. I drove past the house to check the corn field on the other side of the road to see if it had been picked yet. This corn field is kitty corner across the street from our house. I look at the corn field and see that it is picked, and I spot a bunch of does in it heading towards my property. So...I turn the car around in the road and rush home. As I am pulling up the driveway, I see deer running across the field beside the house. We get insde, and I grab my hunters orange vest, my shotgun, tell the boys to play with the playstation, and that I need to step outside for a few minutes. I head outside and head to the back corner of the property where I saw the deer cross, hoping a buck may have been chasing them. I stand around for 5 minutes and decide I need to get back inside with boys. I walk 40 yards and hear a snort behind me. I turn around and there is a doe 20 yards behind me, running away with a nice buck chasing her. I watched the buck chase her across the 20 acres next to me to the corner of the field. Bang.....bang.....I watched the buck run a short distance and go down. My neighbor and his son were sitting in the corner deer hunting. This was his first deer he every got. It had a 20" outside spread. I went and grabbed my sons and brought them with me to the neighbors house. We took some nice pictures for him before we got down to buisness. Since he had never got a deer before, I was a nice neighbor and gutted it out for him. If only I would have waited 2 more minutes..... :angry2:

Nice job Ed!

I am tired of hanging over the side, or back of the boat with a bucket to get some water to wash down the deck. I am going to add a wash down system to the boat over the winter. Rather than drilling another hole in the back of the boat, I am wondering if I can remove the drain plug and use the drain hole as the water pick up hole. Anyone ever tried this?

Nice job Roger!

Arrgghhh....and we take no prisoners....Arrrgggghhhh

OUCH!!!!!!! That is one scary looking picture! Glad to hear it did not get your eye.

Great job Clair!

I did not see anything Opening morning. I saw 5(2 does and 3 yearlings) opening night, that came out of a corn field. I did not hunt on Sunday, and am not sure when I will get a chance to get back out.