sherman51

the only fish I've seen stack is crappie but they didn't look like that line of marks. they were stacked but was more offset and not in a straight line. sherman

I have an 86 sea ray amberjack 28 fter that has one motor that's not getting fire. its setting on a brand new 2010 trailer that I,ll let them have for 2500.00 but they have to take the boat. it has twin 4.3 mpi engines and the parts should fit your boat and they,ll have your boat setting on a 4000.00 trailer for 2500.00. thought this trailer might help you sell your boat. im like you I just want it gone. so for 7500.00 they can have a nice 87 amberjack with a nice new trailer and have an 86 amberjack for parts or to fix up and sell or for a spare. the trailer has an electric atv winch on it but can be changed back to the manual winch. it also has an electric trailer jack but can be changed back to manual. sure hope you don't mind me telling everybody about the trailer. sherman

I have to say I have used them all and now im using 13 lb pancake weights but I have never tried bending them and I only run 2 riggers. but I have never had a problem even when I run 10 lb pancake weights. I just thought if I don't get that much blow back with 10 lb what will the 13 lb weights do. at 60 or 70 ft I don't even notice the blow back with the 13 lb pancake weights. I,ll never go back to any other weight. sherman

just got my old boat home. took it up to calumet marine and had a new spx-5r auto pilot with the p70r controller and rudder reference installed on my boat. and I just had to let you guys know what a great job they did for me. got to be some of the greatest people on earth. just my opinion. sherman

I had my divers out 240 ft in 65 ft of water and was bumping bottom. so I devided 65 by 24 and got 2.7 ft depth for each 10 ft of line out. so I had already tried it in 50 ft of water and it took 185 ft out to hit bottom in 50 ft of water which still comes out to 2.7 ft depth for each 10 ft of line out. if you want to get deeper faster go to the lite bite slide diver and get the 4 oz weight that you can get for the lite bite slide diver. but I fish for walleye on erie and 65 ft is as deep as I want to fish and on a 4 setting I get the same depths as a dipsy set on 3. and I do get deeper than 50 ft. I just have to let out more line. now I have never fished out more than 240 ft. so I cant say what happens after that. sherman

back when I use to make a lot of trips and had people go with me on the trip I took the cost of the trip and boat gas and split the cost with them. I never expected them to pay any of the boat or insurance or any upkeep on the boat. I bought it and use it any time I want. they only get to use it for the few hours were fishing. why should they pay for me to own a boat. now if someone meets me at the water and fills an open seat I cant expect them to pay more than just there share of the boat gas and for bait. but if they want to pitch in a little extra I wont complain. sherman

I really don't understand your rpm,s going down with a lower pitch prop. but if the max rpm,s are 5500 and your running 5000 I would do nothing I would stick with the old prop unless your having problems getting on plane. if your having problems getting on plane try a cupped 15 p prop or switch to a 17 4 blade. max rpm,s are not as important as performance. sherman

I have the big jon pro tournaments and cant really complain. they are good riggers and at a good price. but if I had it to do over I would buy the walker with the auto ball retriever on them. I,ve had problems finding a ball retriever that works with the auto stops on the big jons. im going to try the tru trax retrievers this year. maby this will take care of my problem. sherman

yep, its that bend in the rod that keeps us all coming back for more,LOL. sherman

it seems there is just no end to that big black hole we throw our money in called a boat. I started out last year when we went to erie. it would die when you put it in reverse. I put it in the shop. he got it fixed and called us. he told us the water line from the outdrive to the transom was leaking we should get it fixed after our vacation was over. the very next trip out the boat overheated. let it cool down then drove it slow and got back in ok. put it in the shop I thought if the water line was that bad the bellows probably needed replacing. so I told them to do it right, to replace the bellows the water line the gimbel bearing and the shift cable and u joints. they pulled the outdrive and called me and said the drive coupling was shot. so I replaced the drive coupling and the drive yoke. got the boat back and went to Brookville to check it out. ran for about 1 1/2 hrs and pulled up in a cove to play in the water. took off and the boat wouldn't run right. so I took it back to the shop and they checked it out it had 2 blown head gaskets. the mechanic said he checked the heads and they were good. so I said go ahead and put new gaskets on it. after he got it fixed I found out the way he checked the heads was just by looking at them and checking them on a table to make sure they wasn't warped. the heads wasn't magnaflexed for cracks or checked to make sure there not warped. it was so late in the year and the weather was cold so I didn't get to check it out. and still haven't had it running so I don't know if its fixed or not. I put right at 2000.00 in it the 1st time then around 1500.00 for the head gaskets and they had to rebuild the carb. some of the coating inside the carb came loose and had the jets stopped up. now my brother just gave me the money for a spx-5r auto pilot and im about afraid to put the auto pilot on the boat. its an old 86 cobia 21 fter and if the motors bad its just not worth putting all this money in. but on the other hand I,ve already invested 3500.00 in it. sherman

i run 6 divers for walleye and have mine set up with shorter rods on the inside. i use a 9 ft then an 8.6 and a 7 ft in the back. this just works better for me. sherman

i forgot to post but i run my leaders behind a lite bite slide diver. i use straught mono on my riggers. sherman

i only fish walleye and steelhead on lake erie. i use seaguar 20 lb floro about 7' to 8' long. sherman

i would contack big jon about this problem. you may have a defective stop switch. i have the pro tournaments and havent had this problem. sherman

i run the slide divers and run 6 most of the time and have run 8 a very few times. and yes im fishing for walleyes but we do get a nice steelhead sometimes. and no i wouldnt want to run 6 or 8 divers for salmon fishing. i was just saying rods shorter than 10' will work for divers.

i have also been thinking about going to an auto pilot. dont want to jack the thread but does anyone know anything about the raymarine spx-5r helm mount fixed pilot?? i have a 21 ft 1986 cobia, it has power steering. you can pm me if you have any info so we dont hijack this thread to much. thanks for any help. sherman

i personaly dont think you need 10' rods for dipsy,s. but its more of a personal thing. i use 2 7'6" rods in the back and then 2 8'6" rods in the middle and 9' rods in the front. then if i do happen to run 8 divers i use 10' rods in front. alot of people like using the same length rods because they say they can tell better if there draging a small fish around. but i dont seem to have as many tangles using different length rods. if i was going to use the same size rods i would just get something in a 7' to 8'6" but thats just my opinion. sherman

LOL just made my day. sherman

i see all this hoopla about a uv coating. can someone please explane to me just what this uv coating does?? and please give me your opinions on it. sherman

the boat should rot down around those pedestals before they brake on you. nice looking job to. sherman

i think the glow sticks in the life jackets is a great idea. for sure if you do any night boating. which i have went out many mornings before light and came back in after dark. i did not know flare guns were not legal in mich waters. i have one of the old orion kits that came with the gun and handheld flares. i replace the shells and the flares when needed and keep the last ones for spares. i also have some very old metal hand launched flares i keep in my kit. they dont have an expire date on them that i can find and they work really well. i think the gun is something you want when you see another boat off in the distance and then use the hand held ones for when they get closer. i will keep both onboard my boat untill i get a ticket for having them. my safety and the safety of my crew is more important than the few $$ it takes to replace them. you can replace the shells and the flares for around 60.00 or 70.00. i spend almost that much on night crawlers for a 2 week trip to erie each year. i think i pay right at 50.00 for 500 crawlers on line at canadiannightcrawlers.com. sherman

i guess im just the hillbilly repairman. i just filled all my extra holes with 100% silicone rubber. it seals good and hasnt come loose yet. i dont know anything about using epoxies on a boat. and by the way im not making fun of hillbillies, i are one. i grew up in the hills of tenn and have always been proud to call myself a hillbilly,LOL. as a matter of fact i am in tenn right now visiting family. sherman

all i can say is good luck to you, have fun, and never give up. sherman

many years ago when i was a kid there was what was called jack fish. i havent seen any of them for years now. but some local guys would take the old time bottle and can opener and tie on some hooks and a strip of some red yarn or cloth. these were the best baits you could find for thes fish. im sure if you cut the handle down and added hooks and maby alittle paint they would catch some fish. i read in an artical where these guys was bass fishing. one guy took his watch and tied hooks to it. on his 3rd fish his line broke. he lost his watch but he proved his point. sherman

i,ve got to say there have been improvements in colors and in the paints they use to paint these new lures. but i am 100% sure lures are designed to catch fisherman more than fish. if they work it is just a bonus. say you have caught fish on a given day on something purple. you go into a bait store and you see some lures in about 5 different shades of purple. you already have confidence in the color purple. now you cant buy just one. what if you get one and its a hot lure. your going to want atleast one more of that lure to put down to the biting fish. so which one of the 5 new colors do you try. you just buy 2 of each color and problem solved,LOL. i fish lake erie for eyes and have caught alot of fish on spoons. but to be honest i just have more faith in worm harnesses. so when i rig up to go fishing i usely use all harnesses. but there is a couple of spoons that has really produced for me. so sometimes i will try a couple of these spoons. i have colors of harnesses and spoons that has never been in the water. but if i see a harness that is something in a purple or purple and black or something in a shiney green i will add it to my collection. or something in a hot pink or pink with little sparkles added. but when i start fishing i will start with the old colors that has caught fish in the past. if im marking fish and not catching anything then is when i start using the new colors. if they catch fish then they go on my favorites list. the thing i do believe is most of these new colors that catch fisherman will catch fish at a given time if they just get a fair chance. as for uv coatings i havent got not one lure with a uv coating and still manage to catch fish. but being the fisherman that i am i am going to have to try some uv lures this year. i will use the uv baits on one side of my boat and my old faithful ones on the other side. but they have me hooked if they never catch a fish,LOL. sherman