sherman51

just a suggestion. there is a guy on ebay that makes and sells double boards out of cedar. they are priced reasonable and they work great. right now im using a set made out of redwood then painted, that i bought at a bait shop in geneva ohio. i,ve used them in 4 ft waves or larger and they still worked great. i had used all kinds of the plastic and foam boards and i wasnt happy with any of them. the otter boards by big jon i never used. but the custom wood boards are the only way to go as far as im concerned. but they have to be made out of a good board cedar, redwood, teak or something like that. i fish out of geneva and i seen more charter boats using custom boards than all the other boards put together. if you want to make your own. if you cant find what you want to make them out of. try redwood. i,ve had mine for about 15 yrs. they are just as good today as the day i bought them. they are pretty big and they are double boards. but they do fold up.

hey since the price of floro has came down so much the last few years i use 20# floro on my riggers for walleye. and i use 20# floro for my leaders with my braid on my divers for walleye. you just dont need the lite line for trolling for eyes. i would guess the light line has its place when finess fishing for eyes. but i do just fine using the 20# floro lines. just another opinion. have a great season. ....sherman....

hey have you ever noticed how big water fishing boats look like upsidedown spiders.LOL. GREAT LOOKING BOAT.

Hey if it dont stop raining soon. Im not going to need a boat to go fishing. I can just throw a worm out the back door and stand my rod up against the wall and shut the door. Then when a fish hits my rod will fall and i can just reel it in.lol. ....sherman....

hey everybody i just checked the weather forcast. for the next 10 days its forcasting rain for 9 of those. just wanted to know who would like to go fishing. i am just so tired of all this rain. would somebody please send me some sunshine. PLEASE!! ....SHERMAN....

hey everybody i,ve had a couple of people interested in my worm coolers. so just in case your interested. i found the best worm cooler made a few years ago. there easy to find and they dont cost that much. the little 12v coolers you get for your car. just make sure not to get one with the little fan on the inside. or get one with the fan in the lid. but they will keep your worms freash and cool. i kept about 20 dozen in a 7 liter cooler for the whole month of aug last year. i realy dont know just how many or how long you can keep them. but you just plug them into your cigarettee lighter or power supply. or you can get a cooler adaptor and plug them into a house outlet. which is what i done. so i leave my main cooler plugged up at the campground, and put about 6 dz in another cooler to take out in the boat. and just plug it up. keeps your worms cool and freash all day. i also have a couple of 18 qt size with the fan in the lid. for larger amounts of worms. this year i plan on starting out with 500 worms. i just found and bought a 32 qt size that has metal grates in it and no fan. YES!! but i now have about 10 or 12 of these. i bought most of them on ebay for 15 to30.00 and 10 to 20.00 for shipping. then i would get a good buy like less than 20.00 with free shipping. i got one for .99 and free shipping. i still havent had one go bad but i wanted a couple of spares. they have a fuse in the plug, and i had one blow and thought the cooler went bad. then after i got more coolers i found the fuse and fixed it. then wanted some alittle bigger. its just like keeping them in a bait cooler or refridgerator. so i dont know just how many you can keep in the smaller cooler. but im sure you could keep a bunch of them for a week or two. untill i started using these coolers it was a pain to try and keep large amounts of worms while up at erie. we would take double zip lock bags and keep them filled with ice. now we dont have to do that anymore. if you decide to try this please let me know how it works for you. these realy work. you can go to ebay and type in 12v cooler, electric cooler, car cooler, 12 volt cooler and so on. you can also get them at amazon.com. but i did better on ebay. good luck and keep your worm cool.LOL. ....sherman....

gave up drinking gave up smoking and i dont mess around. if i give up fishing i might as well be dead. i wont live longer but it sure will feel like i am.LOL. i dont even know how much gas im going to use. my old 21 ft cobia has a 2007 5.7 vortec with a big double line holley 4 barrel 320 hp. it used alittle over 20 gallon a day. this boat is a 28 ft upgraded at some point with twin 4.3 mpi 6 cyl. 220 hp. i,ll run both engines going out and back in. but i plan on just using one for trolling. that should help. you think?? i just heard on the news that they looked for gas to be 6.00 a gallon this summer. at that price i dont know just how much fishing i,ll get to do. but somehow i,m going to do some fishing. i think our pres needs to do what clinton did when he was in there and prices went so high. he started an investegation, and the prices fell. ....sherman....

hey tim i see this is an older thread thats been revived. but you got the best start anyone can get. you already went out on a charter a few times. i,ll always tell anyone thats just starting or changing type of fishing if they can swing it to make a couple of trips on a charter. it seems like alot of money. but usely you can go on as a walk on or get a few friends and go. you,ll learn more in that first trip than you can anywhere in that short amount of time. every charter capt. i,ve fished with was more than happy to help me out. its money well spent. and even tho you forget some of the stuff. once you start doing it yourself it will come back to you. i used a charter to teach me alittle about trolling for salmon in lm back in 77. then when we moved from the western basin to the central basin of erie. we went on a charter a couple of times. the best money i ever spent. its a whole different world over there. i didnt have a clue about useing divers. that capt. had us setting lines in no time. explained how to run all the divers and not just stay tangled all the time. he didnt even run riggers. i,ve always loved riggers so i,ve added them to my tools to catch eyes. i did get me 2 electric,s last year and 2 new ones this year. and im going to try the chamberlain releases this year. so hopefully they will help with not dragging all those small trash fish around. keep giving them heck. have a great season. ....sherman....

i like walkers they are real smooth and the auto ball retrievel is just awesome. and the new ones with the new motore are really fast. and all the new ones come with auto stop. i,ve seen them on charter boats i,ve used. but i settled for big jons because of the cost. i got 2 sportsmans last year and run 13 lb pancake weights. one of them kicked the breaker a few times but other than that they worked great. i got them new for 450.00 for both on ebay. this year i got 2 upgraded ones the pro tournaments with the bigger faster motor and auto stop new for 510.00 on ebay. you cant touch a pair of walkers with all the bells and whistels for that price. i also bought the auto stops for my sportsmans. havent used them yet but think im going to like the auto stop feature. and the thing i like best besides the price i paid is the flex in the booms. i just dont think its as hard on all your gear. i think im going to be happy with the pro tournaments. and i am very thankful for what i have. these are my first electric riggers that i,ve owned. good luck to all and have a great season. ....sherman....

i did the cleaning for 30+ years. It,s about time i got som help.lol. I sure can use it. We went to electric knives about 20 yrs ago. That was a big help. For now just enjoy. ....sherman....

hey that sounds great with your kid. i had quit fishing the big water untill 2 years ago when my oldest son came to me and asked me and my wife to go on vacation up to lake erie. i told him we would go, then i tried everything to get out of going, even told him he could take my boat. but he just wouldnt hear of it. my wife wont go out on big water. but she loves to camp. so it worked out. and i just loved fishing with my son and his family. then last year my other son went with us. he even cleaned all the fish for us. so i decided when i got my back pay and both my sons wanting to go to geneva oh eye fishing that i was getting a bigger better boat. then i had bought the 2 electric riggers last year. i was on ebay watching an auction on a set of big jon pro tournament riggers with auto stop but no rod holders. they were like 480.00 so i made a bid of 550.00 just before it ended. so i got them for 510.00. then i got a set of double rod holders for 135.00. so im set. my wife goes with me and camps, my sons and there family goes with me and does most of the work im just not able to do much. then my brothers went with me last year and said they wanted to make a trip this year. i am truely blessed. i want to go fishing so bad. ....sherman....

im not familar with the torpedors. but i know you can get the weight kits and the rings. and use the 4 oz weight and the big ring. you can get deep pretty fast. and still have the advantage of setting the leads as long or as short as the fish want. and the light bites also have the trip arm for smaller fish. and at slidedivers.com in the left hand corner you can choose what you want to look at. and they have package deals that come with the extra weights and the rings and extra hardware and a diving chart, but the chart is just for the standard diver. but the best way to get your depth is to get in like 50 ft of water and your normal speed and let them out untill they bump bottom. then just devide your feet out by your depth. that will tell you how many feet deep you get for 10 ft out. i would guess you would need to do it on each setting out on the diver. i know the depth on my diver on 4 setting is 240 ft out runs 65 ft deep with the standard weight with the small ring with 65 lb braid. i just set the outside diver on a 4 setting and then run my 3 setting 20 ft shorter then my 2 setting 20 ft shorter than that one then my 1 setting 20 ft shorter then 0 setting 20 ft shorter. this works great for me. and i never change my speed more than .5 mph so my divers are going to be close. even with downriggers your off some on the counters because of blowback,right?? just something to think about. i just want to go fishing. if you decide to use the lite bite divers and there is anything i can help you with. just ask. i,ll help anybody catch more fish. unless they are just that 10% and i know it.LOL. have a great season. ....sherman....

have you checked into the lite bite slide divers?? you can run the lead as long as you want. then when its tripped it slides down your line to the swivel. there great, you can check them out at slidediver.com. there all i use for divers because of the lite bite feature. but they should be great for you. check them out. ....sherman....

hey dont feel left out. i dont have any wire, copper, or lead core. i guess im just not that serous about fishing. i fish strictly for fun. dont laugh to hard those 15 lb braid with small divers get alot of steelhead and some nice eyes. 8 braid divers 6 15 lb braid small diver for boards or outrigger 4 17 lb floro downrigger 6 spares for divers or downriggers total 24 thats it guys now you can laugh.LOL. ha ha ha

i read as much as i could find on dr releases. i had tried alot of different ones over the years including some home made ones. and was useing rubberbands. the blacks sounded pretty good for larger fish. but everything i read about the chamberlain was good. i never read anything bad from anybody that had actualy used them. i only fish lake erie and we get a bunch of small fish. with the 2 adjustments on the chamberlain,s they really sounded good for anyone who has a problem with small fish. so i bought them, and played with them in the pole barn. i adjusted them where i could crank the rod tip down to the water line and still just tug on the lure and it would trip. they are alot like the blacks except they have the extra adjustment. i could see where they might be a problem fishing real deep with big flashers. but with all the positive,s i,ve heard about them there worth the investment. the last time i checked you could get them for 12.99 at midwesthuntersoutlet.com. or you can watch a video of the release and see the great looking stacker he,s sopposed to have ready in may, and contact the inventor and get 6 for 17.00 each at downriggerrelease.com. thats where i got mine. the guys name is keith and i just liked him. so thats why i paid alittle more. good luck and have a great season to all of you. ....sherman....

muncie is a great place to live, but its a long way to anywhere. i fish the central basin now. its 335 miles to where i fish in geneva ohio. so we try to stay for a few days when we go. im going to check this one place on my first trip about storing my old motorhome and my boat. at who knows what for gas and about 8 mpg i need to do something. thats for sure. we plan on trying a couple of trips in july, then my oldest son takes the first 2 weeks of aug vacation. so we,ll be there the whole 2 weeks. if i get my boat all rigged and everything by june we may make a trip to the western basin. ofcourse i,ll call up to geneva and ask on here and if there getting fish good at geneva we,ll go there. i just like the kind of fishing we do over there in the deep water. downriggers and lite bite slide divers. we usely fish 72 to 74 ft of water 55 to 65 ft down. we also get some nice steelhead. they are really fun. and i love to watch the others catch them. i just watch on the steelhead. have a great season. ....sherman....

i have learned there is nothing like sharing something you really love with the people you really love. ....shermam....

i,ll just be glad when he gets the stackers ready in may. ....sherman....

youre probably right about the boards, but i just dont like useing them that much. i dont really know why. i have a great set of custom boards that works great. i dont like wire or copper for eyes. but i have always liked useing riggers. just something about that FISH ON!. i do run one long line on each side. i use a 16 ft surf rod i use as a outrigger, then i use 15 lb ripcord and the small dipsy, put it back 3 to 400 ft. i catch some nice fish on it, alot of steelhead. when i get set up like i want i can run 6 lite bites and 4 riggers and 2 longlines. thats 12 rods. and i,ll try running 4 divers on each side when i need the extra lines. that will take care of 7 people without putting the boards out. with this boat and my kids and grandkids i could end up with 8 to 10 people but not very often. most of the time i,ll have 6 or less. my old boat i would only take 6 max. then i would run the boards with the 15 lb braid and small divers, 2 on each side 2 riggers and 6 divers. do you fish erie?? or even better what is your port?? i do have a 335 mile drive to mine. but to me its worth it. gods been very good to me on all the trips i,ve made, manistee is 460. i fished manistee lake for years. i did the jig fishing the snagging untill it stopped trolling. started snagging in 76 my first year home fron the marine corps. 77 started trolling with borrowed riggers. then went homemade. so for yrs i fished new buffalo at ice out in mar. or apr. the may to south haven, then aug and sept manistee. i could go on all night i hadnt even started walleye. then we fished both for awhile. i promise if you ask another question. i will not i will not do this monster mail on you. if i knew how to put dome on paper how to catch a fish. i would be rich.great fishing to you all. ....sherman....i just almost canceled this post. its just to much

geneva state park marina in geneva ohio. when i fished the western basin i used a little place called coolie canal i think was the name. i usely dont start fishing geneva untill july. so i may end up fishing the western basin in june. i,ve never tried fishing 4 divers before. but i do have a cannon track with 3 holders tho. i know the boards are a great way to catch fish. but i just dont like to run them unless i just need to put more lines in the water. but i may give the 4 divers a try with this bigger boat. i do like useing the lite bite slide divers very much. untill last year i hadnt ever used electric riggers. caught some nice fish. so i really look forward to useing 4. we had some problems with small fish. i bought all new chamberlain releases. i hope they help with the small fish. have a great season. ....sherman....

thank you. this is the first time i,ve been on a forum. and im just alittle of a computor illiterate. just bare with me im really enjoying all your help. im not sure i got it right but i gave it a shot. i couldnt have done it without your help. later on when i get my boat back from the marina im going to ask for some help posting pictures. have a great season. ....sherman....

its at the marina right now getting new belts and just getting everything checked out. i plan on getting some pictures on here as soon as i get her back home. thanks and have a great season. ....sherman....

i have alittle rigging problem. i just bought a 28 ft boat last fall. and i have to rig it. i have 2 sportsman big jon riggers 2 ft booms. i have 2 big jon pro tournament with 3 or 4 ft booms. heres my problems. if i use the long arm out the side, im afraid the 4 ft will get into my diver lines if i use the short ones off the back i worry about the outdrives and swim platform. it will go past it but barely. but the platform would keep the cable from my outdrives. if i go with the longer booms off the back they will clear ok. but then my short booms wouldnt be very far out to the side. i do have a 10 ft beam and could move the riggers in a couple of ft from each side. but that would limit the back of the boat for putting out divers and landing fish. this is my first big boat with twin outdrives and 4 riggers. i caught alot of nice eyes off the 2 riggers i had last year. and look forward to useing 4 this year. my thinking is to go ahead and try the 4 fters out the side then go to 3 ft if i need to. put the short booms out the back. do i really have to worry about the cable getting in the outdrives?? should i just remove the swim platform alltogether?? i,ve kinda thought about trying to put my fish box on it. any and all suggestions or ideas very welcome. im sure that some of you have dealt with this problem or knows somebody who has. thanks in advance. ....sherman....

hey alexa there is a thread on here. lets see your rig. thought you might want to check it out. a few good pictures, maby you can get some ideas from them. have a great season. ....sherman....

i would just like to thank each of you for your stories. and as i set here with tears welling up in my eyes as i realize that other people have some very personal reasons for looking forward to a new season. thank you for sharing them with this old fisherman. all the years i fished the big water my wife never went with me. she wont get out on the big water. i always just took friends. 2 years ago when i started fishing again with my son and his family. well my wife does like to just camp. so she started going with me. this has added a whole new world to my fishing trips. i do love spending time with her. i really missed her back in the old days. she is my best friend. this dec will be 40 yrs. i do plan on making a couple of trips without her, but she,ll still be in my thoughts. and some of these days when you post extra seat. it may just be me that pm,s you to take that seat. i say alittle prawer that all your new seasons turn out the very best for you. come on guys lets hear your story. there has to be some reason your looking forward to this season. if its nothing but the worst case of cabin fever you,ve ever had.(i do have that to) ....sherman....