GLF

MUSKEGON -- The search continues for a missing boater in Lake Michigan, more than four miles off the Muskegon coast. The Coast Guard received a distress call around 10:30 a.m. Sunday. "'Help me. I'm putting on a life jacket. My boat is sinking out from under me," U.S. Coast Guard Chief Mike Beatty says recounting the distress call. Bad weather forced the search to be delayed for several hours. The same bad weather may have overcome the 25-foot boat, forcing at least one person into the water. The Coast Guard has very little information on the boat or its occupants. The distress call cut off after that one statement. Storm Team 8 received reports of wind gusts reaching 60 miles per hour. "It was dead calm, and the wind just picked right up and then it started raining. It was bad, real nasty... I wouldn't have wanted to be on the lake," said lakeshore resident Chris Hopkins. Hopkins lives along the lakeshore. He has boat similar in size to the one that was lost on Sunday and knows the dangers the bad weather can bring. "It's rocky. It's bad. It's rough. We were just out the other weekend when there was three or four footers, and you're up and down and up and down, and that's in a 28 footer... so that's three feet longer," added Hopkins. Late Sunday afternoon, the Coast Guard found debris believed to be from the missing boat. The number of people on board remains a mystery, and rescuers say finding someone bobbing in the water is the next challenge. "If you're looking for a person, all you're going to see is from here up, if they have a life jacket on. So it's like looking for a soccer ball in Lake Michigan. It can be difficult," said Chief Mike Beatty. Chief Beatty says a person can survive up to 30 hours in the water at this time of year if they're wearing a life jacket.

Well....thats a set back. I opened up the package that I got from the UPS man the other day to do some "pre" testing. Apparantly what I purchased did not come with a bulb I will order a bulb tomorrow.

I do not know how they catch fish. They dont have any hooks on them Nice looking spoons Bill!

Welcome to the site fishslayer1963. Did you buy chance find a card on your vehicle at the boat ramp? If you need anything, just let out a yell.

OK....I have not seen these spoons yet and I am going to bite. Must be good. Hows about a peek at these spoons you mention all the time?

Thanks Tom! I think the contour lines will vary in depth depending on how far you are zoomed in. I still need to play with it some more to get a better understanding.

My photoshop skills are not up to par. This is why I have not came out with the part 2 yet. It is actually a site and not software. http://map.ngdc.noaa.gov/website/mgg/greatlakesbathy/viewer.htm If you can not get that link to work, try this one. http://map.ngdc.noaa.gov/website/mgg Once you get that loaded, click on "greatlakesbathy". I will give everyone a brief run down. I am going to use Lake Michigan for my run down. On the right side of the screen, put a check in the square box next to Lake Michigan Bathymety. Uncheck the squares next to Lake Erie Coast Line, Lake Huron Coastline, and Lake Ontario Coast line. You should now only have 3 squares checked. Click on the "Refresh Map Now" button at the bottom right. This should put depth contour lines in Lake Michigan. Click on the magnifying glass with the "+" in it. This is the zoom in feature. Click where you wish to zoom in on the lake. For this demo I am going to click on Grand Haven. For those that do not know where Grand Haven is, its the longest river on the right side of the lake about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom. I click once and it now shows 0 to 90mi. on the scale at the bottom. Do you see the underwater point between Grand Haven and Holland. I am looking at the point on the 4th contour line out. I am not sure of the exact depth of this, because the contour lines do not have depths. Click on that point. Your scale should now show 0 to 46mi. Click on the point again. Your scale should be at 0 to 23 miles. Notice you have more depth contour lines now. Port Sheldon is the tiny spot below Grand haven and Holland is below that. The point is actually between Port Sheldon and Holland. I am looking at the point that is on the 3rd depth contour out from the dark depth contour line. From here its just a matter of zooming in to the scale you wish to use. The smaller the scale, the more accurate the cordinates will be. Looking at the bottom of my display, I have a blue bar that goes accross it. In the blue bar on the left side, it says "Zoom In" in the middle "About Database" and right "Help" Below this bar I have a white bar. In this white bar it starts with an internet explorer icon then "Map" and a bunch of numbers. These numbers are the cordinates of where you pointer is. I have my pointer on the tip of the point, and this is what is shown in the white bar. e Map:-86.56 , 42.82 -- Image:511 , 331 -- ScaleFactor:0.002159309021113244 These are the GPS cordinates of this point. -86.56.511 , 42.82.331 Enter these into your GPS unit and it should get you pretty close to where you are wanting to get to. As they always say. DO NOT USE THIS AS A NAVIGATION AIDE. I am not sure why they say that other than to cover there butt incase there is an error and someone has an accident. Click on the ruler on the left side of the screen with a "?" above it. Its 4 buttons below the magnifying glass. Now left click on Port Sheldon and release the button. Now you can move the pointer anywhere on the screen and it will give you the distance to that your pointer from Port Sheldon. I have the pointer on the tip of the point and I am showing 19 Miles. This is shown in the white box on the top left of the image. If you wish to have a different starting point, you have to click on the eraser image(Clear Selection), then click on the ruler again. To do Lake Huron, Erie, or Ontario, just repeat the steps from the top except select the lake you wish to view. Any questions? If you are having problems, send me a PM and I will tell you how to get ahold of me. Mike

Welcome to the site, and thanks for taking the time and doing a brief introduction. We have a couple of members that live in Hastings. I have friends that live in Fruitport. we look foreward to seeing you around. If you need anything, dont be afraid to ask.

We have all of Luhr Jensens pdf files here in our Manufacturers Tech Reports area. I have permission from Luhr Jensen to put them up! Here is the link for the Dipsey Diver Depth Chart.

I think they found there way over to my house. I had 6 of them under the feeder last night

We have all of their tech reports in the manufactures tech center. I received permission from them before I posted them.

I have removed the voting buttons from the bottom of the site. Every time one of their servers goes down, it affects GLF's page loading speed. This was causing the home page not to fully load, preventing members and potential members form getting to the site. To be truthful, I think the pages load faster without the buttons, than it does with the buttons and their servers working properly.

For those that are coming to the outing on the 12 August, I am starting a list of dishes that members are bringing. If you are coming to the outing, please state that you are coming and what dish you will be bringing. We will be dining at the pavilion. We will be having a big fish contest. The costs is $10. Fish can not be weighed in until 5PM. This gives a chance for members to prefish for the Sunday tournament. I will bring hamburgers and buns.

I called to verify this was a legit post. It is legit, this is why I did not remove it.

Was this hooked up to a car battery or a tractor battery? Do you know what the amp draw on the coffee maker is? How long was the coffee pot on for? Sorry for all the questions. On another note, I received something from the UPS guy today

I have this same one. Are you using it with both bulbs on or just the black light? I am planning on testing it both ways.

Does the one you have have a florescent bulb beside it, and are you charging with both the lights on or just the black light? I will not be limiting all of my tests to DC lights. I will be testing some 120V lights. 120V lights What good is an 120V light in a boat? Have you ever heard of a DC/AC inverter??? It turns DC power into AC power. Every light I test will be able to be used in a boat with DC power or a DC/AC inverter. I will limit this to a certain amp draw, which is yet to be determined. Think of some of the aquarium bulbs that are out there! I have a "light" on order that I am squirming in my seat over. I will wait until I get it and verify that I can get it to work with an inverter before I mention it. If this light works I will have to wear shades. This should be a very interesting test.

I have a small black light that I picked up from Gander Mountain. I am not sure if this is the one you are using or not. Do you have the brand and part number of the black light you have? I have a 1 mill candle spot light, and I will see if I can find a 2 mill spot light. Distance is as close to the spoon you can get. Sounds good.

I am in the process of gathering info for an up and coming feature article. I will be testing how long the various methods of charging glow in the dark baits last. This is not a who's glow bait last longer study. I have a lure manufacturer who has already given me their blessings for using their lure. I am waiting on a few things to arrive in the mail before I begin my testing. I will be testing one method I have NOT heard of being used in the fishing industry yet. Everything I test will be a method that is or can be used on a boat. What I need to know is what everyone uses for charging their glow baits. I am looking for specifics. What do you use to charge it? How long you charge it? How far away from the bait when you charge it? If you would like to see a method tested, please respond also. After all of the testing, I will be putting the data together in tables and posting it as a feature article. Did I miss anything???

There are a lot of you who do not know me personally or what my back ground is. For personal reasons, I have chosen not disclose what my full back ground is. There has been a lot of "talk" outside the site about me and my responses on threads. Someone had the audacity to ask me what a "ride beggar"(exact quote) is doing answering questions related to salmon fishing. This was on a 2-way conversation and my wife was sitting beside me. Due to personal differences, I have not spoken with my father in over 6 years. I block out this part of my fishing experience because it all involves him. Apparently I need to disclose my full back ground to entertain a "certain group". My father started me salmon fishing in 1975. I was 8 years old. We had a 15' boat(named Lazy Days) and our first year was a huge learning curve. We managed to catch a few salmon our first year out. On a trip out of Ludington, we were just South of the point when we took a wave over the back of the boat. That was the last time we took that boat out. See my thread about the worst day on the pond in another thread. The following spring my father purchased a new 18' boat. The name of this boat was the Whopper Stopper. It was not long after that that the lure company Whopper Stopper was created. No connection between the two. We fished on Lake Michigan a lot over the next 3 years and had a great deal of success. In 1979, my parents got divorced and the boat was sold. In the winter of 1982 my father remarried and purchased a 31' Trojan. He named the boat Glory Daze and fished out of Saugatuck. It was a long wait the following spring, waiting for the ice to melt and put the boat in. In 1985 my father took a Captain's course. In 1986 he quit his job, moved the boat up to Manistee and began chartering full time. We did not use leadcore nor inline planer boards then. The boat was equipped with out riggers. In the Dec 1985, I joined the USN. When I returned home on leave during the summers, I would run charters with my father. In 1988 my father was divorced again. In the divorce, the boat was sold. This was the end of my salmon fishing for a while. I received an honorable discharge from the USN in Dec 1989. In 1994, I purchased a bass boat and started bass fishing. Every spring following, before the ice melted off the lakes, I was trolling my bass boat for salmon in St. Joe. It was a 15' Astro(black with a blue metal flake stripe) incase any of you may have saw me out there. I did not have rod holders so I would sit in the center(if I was by myself) on top of two rod handles. One rod on each side of the boat. If I was with a friend, we each hung onto one rod over the side and put one straight out the back. I actually made a down rigger board to put on the back of it, but never put it on it. In 1998, I purchased my second bass boat. This was a 19' Basscat(white with a maroon metal flake stripe) incase any of you may have saw me out there. Every spring before the lakes thawed, you would see me down to St. Joe fishing for salmon. My best trip was a trip out of South Haven one spring. I boated my limit in 20 minutes by myself. All of my trips salmon fishing out of my bass boats were with bass fishing gearing using 12-14lb test line. I was only catching jacks, but they were a lot of fun on light line. I started fishing bass tournaments in 1993. My partner and I fished Tri-State Bass. This was a 5 tournament series and the top 25 teams got to fish in the classic for a new boat. We did not qualify in the 25 that year. Into the books I dove. In 1994 my partner and I qualified for the classic. We qualified for the next 5 classics in a row. In 1998 we had our best year and finished 2nd in points. We had placed in the top 10 in each of the 4 previous tournaments. We were the #1 team in points heading into the last tournament, with a 16 point lead. That year we had taken 2 days off work before every tournament to prefish. We took an extra day off work to prefish for the last tourney. After a dismal day of prefishing, we put the boat on the trailer and were headed home. I looked in the mirror and saw smoke coming out of the boat. I stopped the truck, we grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the fire. The steering cable had rubbed against the positive terminal of the battery and caused the fire. I spent all day Thursday at my sponsors marina replacing the steering cable and bad battery. Luckily there was no other damage. While I was repairing the boat, my partner took his boat up to prefish for us. After speaking with him Thursday night, we decided not to prefish on Friday. Tournament day Saturday, we had a good feeling and heading for my partners waters. Things did not turn out the way we had hoped, and ended up blanking that day. In 1999 I switched partners and qualified for the classic again. I believe everyone who posts a fishing report deserves at least a "Thanks". In the beginning, I was answering all posts with a "Thanks for the report"! This was brought to my attention and I changed the way I was replying. I helped fishingmachine make his first report on the board. It has been viewed 63 times, and there is not one reply. If you read this bob(fishingmachine), I appreciate you taking the time and posting a report. I bet he will be posting another reply soon. This is a discussion forums. This is a place for members to share their ideas and thoughts. It should not matter if someone has a boat or not. If you feel that something that is said is not correct, then share your imput. Its a shame when someone calls someone a "ride beggar", or say's someone is "only making posts to get a ride". If you think everyone who does not own a boat is a "ride beggar", you need to move on to another site.

Thanks for checking for me Darrin. Catfishoge got it working now. Anyone else having issues with it?

Anyone know who won the tourney on the Pro and Am sides?

County takes samples to pinpoint contamination source NEW BALTIMORE -- On a sunny summer afternoon, it's hard to think of the Walter and Mary Burke Park on Lake St. Clair as a trouble spot. But this beach traditionally is among the worst in Macomb County for bacterial contamination. Since 2000, New Baltimore's small beach has been shut down 172 days due to high E. coli readings. What's behind the annual spikes is a mystery to local and county health officials. But they are teaming up this summer for some CSI-like detective work to find out where the contamination is coming from. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060721/METRO03/607210356/1014

The manmade harbor at McQuade Road on Duluth’s North Shore is nearing completion and may soon have extra federal money to build restrooms and other amenities Just off Scenic Highway 61 at McQuade Road, two rocky arms gently stretch into Lake Superior and embrace the twinkling waters. For longtime supporters of the controversial breakwalls, boat landing, docks, fishing piers and parking lot, that's a good sign. It means the McQuade Safe Harbor project -- which has been in the works for more than 20 years -- is nearly complete. Department of Natural Resources and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials said work should be complete by late September. Although that would meet the contractor's deadline, it's later than earlier estimates that boats could be in the water by August. http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/15089743.htm

HUME TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The dirty goo oozing out of the Pinnebog River into Saginaw Bay is mostly dead plant material, state officials say, but some shoreline residents have darker suspicions about the source of the slime. A few of them are trying to raise $5,000 for DNA testing of the stuff. Their goal is to determine whether it is being nourished by animal wastes from large dairy farms or by leakage from residents' faulty septic tanks. "We know the beaches are cruddy, that goes without question," said state Rep. Tom Meyer, R-Bad Axe. "What we would like to determine once and for all is, where is it coming from?" http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/base/news-36/115341956746880.xml&storylist=mibusiness