sherman51

+1 for using the floro leader. it just seems to work better for me than the floro fishing line. but it could have just been the brand i was using. i was using vanish line for my leaders, and after having way to many brakes i switched to seaguar leader, and havent had a problem since. and i think it might just be in my mind, but it seemed like i got more hits. but with all the money i have invested i just dont think a few extra bucks for piece of mind is to much to pay. just another opinion. sherman

if were talking about the same place, its called michigan motorz. i had a bad engine about 5 yrs ago. i bought a brand new 5.7 vortec 320 hp. it was called his silver package it came with everything from a duel line holley to the oil pan, even had distributor wires and plugs. and electric fuel pump. had to use my alternator and starter and power steering pump. but the best i remember it had everything elce. i talked to him and took the boat in. i think at that time he let me have it for 2900.00 then 800.00 to change it out for me. i took it in one morning and took it home that afternoon, ready to launch. but he has everything from rebuilt long blocks to complete engines. and he has deacent prices. just check out his website michiganmotorz.com then find out what you want, then call him, he may give you alittle better price than whats listed on his site. and he,s been around for a long time, so he covers his warrenties. now if i remember correctly in too deep had to replace his engine last year. and somebody on here hooked him up with a great price on a marine engine where they got there fleet engines. you might contact him and see if im right, and how everything worked out for him. just a thought. sherman

i just bought a set from michigan motorz off of ebay. but i have also just used the bosh wires on a couple of boats i have owned. so i think its just personal prefrence sherman

like he says, as long as it looks good and has no kinks in it , it should be fine. sherman

i did something like this with my lite bite slide divers, and it works great for me. what i did was went to 50 feet of water at my most used speed. then let out line on each setting until i was bumping bottom. then i just devided the 50 ft depth by how many 10 ft of line out. that gave me how many ft down for each 10 ft of line out. then you can just go by that. the only one i can remember off the top of my head was the # 4 setting, with 65 lb braid at 2 mph i was diving 2.7 ft for every 10 out. so if i wanted to run 50 ft deep i just let out 185 ft. thats 18.5 x 2.7, thats 49.9 fet deep. and i have the no wrote down on how many fet down per 10 ft out on a 1 setting and a 2 setting and a 3 setting. it only took me about 1/2 hour and a calcalator to get my feet down per 10 ft out. this is the only way i know to really get close. then the most important thing is to just get back the the same place your catching fish. i guess the reason the #4 sticks out, is its the main one i use. i just put the #4 out to the depth i want then just run the 3 setting 20 ft shorter than the 2 setting 20 ft shorter than the 3 setting and than the 1 setting 20 ft shorter than than the 2 setting. this way i have all 4 divers in the strike zone and can put the outside rods out over the shorter inside rods. if i move my rods to go deeper or shallower i will adjust the whole side. oh yea i guess your wondering where this guy fishes with 65 lb braid at 2 mph. well the braid is just what i started using with the divers, then i can use any size leader i want, the 2 mph is my normal high speed for walleye in the central basin. if i run alittle slower its not going to change that much. its finding the fish and getting back to that spot that really counts. sherman

i think all you need is the pointless kit for your distributor. and i just got on ebay and bought a new alternator when mine went bad. i got a mando 65 amp for around 100.00 about 4 years ago and havent had any problems. you can get them from about 50.00 up to over 400.00 for a high amp alternator. but i run 4 elec riggers and all the other things on a boat and the 65 amp keeps both my batteries charged. just make sure how many wires goes to your old one. then buy the same thing. some only have 1 wire and some have 3 wires. but i could have sworn there was only 2 wires on mine, but that was 4 yrs ago,LOL. i have trouble remembering yesterday,LOL. all you have to do is go to ebay and type in mercruiser alternator and you,ll get many choices in brands and amps and prices. the main reason i went with mando is because that was the brand that was on it. and it was a 55 amp and had lasted for over 20 yrs. but i did want to upgrade to the 65 amp with all the stuff on my boat. radio, marine radio, lights, 4 riggers and sometimes i even use a 12v cooler to keep my worms freash and cool when walleye fishing the central basin on erie. good luck. sherman

thanks for the tip on the short piece of heavy line going through the trigger arm. i never thought about doing that. sherman

hey everybody i was just wandering how many of you have tried the lite bite slide diver, and your thoughts on them?? i started using them 2 years ago, because we were draging so many small fish around on lake erie that just wasnt big enough to trip the divers. with the invasion of the white perch and all the other small fish already there, you were always thinking about having something to small to trip the divers. well with the lite bite slide diver its just about done away with this worry. i just set the lite bite arm as loose as it will go. then set the rod arm tight enough that i hardley ever get a falce release. something elce i would like to know is if any of you just use the diver like a standard diver. i just didnt like all the hassle of using the slide part of the diver. and i like to use the diver as an attractor anyway. so i tried them by just tieing my main line to the diver then tieing a small split ring to the end of my leader and stringing it through the back and putting it in the lite bite arm and then tieing on my lure. if i want to use a rubber snubber i just use a short piece of line to go through the lite bite arm then tie a swivel on then the rubber snubber then tie on my 6 to 9 ft leader. this has worked great for me. many times we would never see the rod jerk. it would just trip, and when we reel it in there is a small white perch or yellow perch or white bass. i would never have knew anything was on if not for the light bite arm triping the diver. so please let me know what your thoughts are. sherman

sure am glad i could help you out. i just got the weights boxed up and will get them shipped out tomorrow. i should be able to ship them priorty mail for less than 20.00. so even for used weights the price was right. the new cabelas 8 lb balls with the fins are 34.99 each and the cabelas 10 lb pancake weights are 46.99. i could be wrong but i think you,ll end up using the pancake weights. and dont forget to check out the chamberlain releases at downriggerrelease.com, and if you decide to try them check out the prices at midwesthuntersoutlet.com sherman

they are a beautiful fish, i sure hope it works out for all the guys that fish those waters. sherman

looks like your ready to go fishing, and maby you can teach us a thing or 2. welcome to the forum, its a great place to talk with other addicted fisherman,LOL. sherman

i just got away from the manuals 2 yrs ago. and boy am i glad i did. i liked the 10 lb pancake weights with my manuals. you dont get near as much blowback from them as you do the 8 lb round balls. but the 10 lb,s are alittle more to crank in. i now use the 13 lb pancake weights with the electrics i bought. i soppose you could go with the heavier weights on the manuals, but they would be a job cranking them in. i think i would stay with 10 lb . i used manuals for about 30 yrs. just couldnt invest in the electric ones. then 2 years ago i was on ebay and bought 1 display big jon sportsmans for 180.00 on auction. then i contacted the seller direct and bought another one for 250.00. then last year i got a bigger boat and wanted 4 riggers. so i got 2 big jon pro tournaments with auto stop for 525.00 on ebay. then i needed longer booms for the back of my boat, to get out over my swim platform. so i sold my 2 sportsmans for 300.00 and went to lordoftheriggers.com and got 2 more of the pro tournaments. the first set i got didnt have rod holders or swivel bases. i used the ones i had with my sportsmans. the second set i bought with swivel bases 1 clamp on rod holder and a slide mount, then got another set of slide mounts for the 1st set i bought. i think the 2nd set with the assy,s costed me like 759.00 for everything. so i have alittle over 1000.00 in 4 big jon pro tournaments with swivel bases slide mounts and double rod holders on 2 and single holders on 2. but after using many manuals for 30 yrs i think i deserve to have the electric ones. i think if i was going to put new cable on those manuals i would try the braided line they use for rigger cable. if and when my cable needs replaced thats what im going to do. if you have 150 ft of good cable and plan on fishing less than 100 ft, you should be good with what you have. if you plan to fish deeper in the summer i would just put 300 ft on them to start with. and if you ever get the chance, spend the extra for a set of electrics. if your still not sure what weights you want i might be able to help you out. i have an old set of 10 lb pancake weights, there alittle rough but can still be used. you can always strip the coating off and just paint them. then i have a set of cabelas 8 lb balls with the little fins thats still in pretty good shape. i will ship all 4 weights to you for 60.00. then you can try both size weights and keep all of them or resell the ones you dont like. i dont think your going to beat the chance to try both weights for 60.00. i could melt them down and sell the lead for around 50.00. i believe i can ship then usps priorty mail for around 20.00. so im letting you have the weights for 10.00 each. just let me know. i would prefer to get paid by money order. i dont know you but i will trust you for the money. if you want them just sent me your address in a pm, and i will get them shipped out to you. oh yea on 1 of the pancake weights the coating started coming off and i hot glued it back on. so if you decide to strip them you will need to heat up the glue to get it off. but you really dont need to strip them, they work just great the way they are. i just thought i should tell you about it. then you wont get them ans say he,s glued this one, he shafted me. i want you to know what your getting. the cabelas balls would cost you as much as im asking for all 4 weights. sherman

this just brings tears to my eyes, as we had planned to spend the month of feb in ft pierce. and its usely pretty hot for the black drum and a few red fish. but more pressing family matters canceled our trip this year. maby next year. sherman

thats one of the reasons i like the pancake weights so well. you can bend the fins just alittle and open up your spread. dont worry as much about tangles. and those fins are not easy to bend, you dont have to worry about them just getting bent on there own. but you do want to make sure to put the ones bent to run to the right on the right side and the same on the left, or they will run under your boat,LOL. and i have yet to hear anybody thats used the chamberlain release to say anything bad about them. i do alot of walleye fishing on the central basin of erie. we get ALOT of small fish, white bass, yellow and white perch. now instead of bringing the riggers in all the time to check for small fish, they usely trip. i even used the rubberbands for releases and these fish were so small you couldnt see them shake the rods. but with the chamberlains they just trip and your not draging small fish around untill you bring them in and check them. we will still check them after about an hour or 2 if nothing trips them just to be on the safe side. but most of the time the small fish will trip them. and we have the rods losded up tight enough that we still get good hooksets. i would never use anything elce since i have tried them. does anyone thats used the chamberlains have anything bad to say about them?? would really like to know if you have had any problems with them. i,ve been wondering how they work with big dodgers and stuff like that?? ....thanks sherman....

hey dude i just got my stackers yesterday. i have been thinking about just using the stacker about 1 ft above my weight and use them that way for my main release. as you can put them anywhere you want on your rigger cable. can you think of any reason this wouldnt work??

if you,ll start watching big jon downriggers on ebay, they start selling pretty good right about now. i got 2 brand new big jon pro tournaments last year about this time for 525.00 for the pair. or you can contact tony at [email protected] for his best prices. and sonetimes he will have a good set of used big jons at a great price. but big jon makes a solid rigger at a good price. and i used manuals forever and went to electric 2 years ago. and i kicked my butt for not switching alot sooner. you,ll be much happier with electrics. but get some that works to start with. dont start with some thats already worn out. you can get good used ones and still not spend that much. but good luck whatever you do. sherman

everybody has there own choices. i love my pancake weights. i use the 13 lb weights myself. they work great in shallow water and get very little blowback when i go deeper. another great release is the chamberlain, it is based on the blacks release but it has 2 adjustments. 1 for rod tension and 1 for lure tension. you can set the rod tension tight enough to really crank your rod down, then adjust the lure tension light enough that the shakers will trip the release. they also make a great stacker. you can check them both out at downriggerrelease.com then just watch the video,s. they are alittle pricey but worth every penny when your getting small fish. you can contact keith and get alittle better price. or you can get them for around 15.00 each at midwesthuntersoutlet.com, hope this helps. sherman

i was about to say something like that. if i could do work like that, i know what i would be doing on these cold winter days. great work. sherman

sound like more bad news for the great lakes and there fishermen. sherman

great thread guys, there is nothing like watching a new person catch a wild fish. you truly are someone to aspire to. i dont do any pier fishing, but do alot of walleye fishing on the central basin of erie. i have the pleasure of taking my sons and one daughter n law and 2 blood grandsons and one young boy we have chosen to be our grandson. when he was a baby we took him and his mom in for awhile. they had no place to go. she was my youngest sons ex girlfriends sister, and we just couldnt turn them away. he had alot of respertory problems, and we just got so attached to him, we call him ours. but anyway they are all fairly new to big water fishing. and there great about waiting there turn on the walleye. but anytime we hook into a nice steely somebody new gets the rod. i never reel in a steelhead anymore. i would much rather see my youngest son or daughter n law or one of the grandkids fight those fish. i have caught hundreds of salmon fishing over the years on the big water and fishing manistee lake for many years. and have caught many steelhead. so now i have my fun just watching the faces of those young people catching those wild high flying fish. and by the way that young grandson of ours and his mother now lives with his dad. but thats all another story. sherman

is that before or after the fishing and huntin season is over??,LOL. sherman

let me be the first to welcome you aboard. and you are right this is a great site. if you have any problems or questions just ask. and feel free to chime in on others questions or comments. sherman

we tried 8# one year in the spring, it was great on the coho, but when we got a king on, even a spring king. it was a real kicker, we had to clear the riggers and it took forever to get them in the boat. the next trip we were back to 17#. it just took up to much fishing time getting a king in the boat. good luck with the light line. sherman

its never changed for me, when that rod moves im on my way, and i,ve been doing it since 1977,LOL. i do give others a chance if there closer to the rod than i am. i start yelling which rod as im on my way. if they dont grt it before i get there then i,ll get the rod and hand it off to whoevers turn it happens to be. i have been known to run over a few people getting to the rod. they were just moving alittle to slow,LOL. sherman