sherman51

i,ve been using my 65 lb braid now for about 10 or 12 yrs. i still cant brake it with my hands so its still good. but i have had to refill a couple of reels after some tangles and couldnt get the same line. so i plan to respool all my reels this year with the same brand line. sherman

i got to use my big jon pro tournaments this past year. they were awesome and very fast. and i do like the flex in the booms, just takes alot of stress off the boat. i did have one problem but i think i found the answer. i didnt like trying to tilt the booms up with the 13 lb weights i use. so i tried the cannon weight retrievers and they just didnt work on the big jon auto stops. so i switched to the scotties and they worked alittle better but not much. so now i found the traxtech retrievers and i believe they are going to work great with the auto stops. they have a large open roller that will let the beads go through the retriever without hanging up. im really looking forward to trying them on the water, but i think this problem is fixed. if so these are some awesome riggers thats very fast and has auto stops. good luck to you all. sherman

sounds like you,ve had some of my boat luck. i,ve had a really bad time of it the last couple of years. i just had 2 head gaskets put on my boat. had it up on erie and was having a ball. the last day we got to fish the water line from the outdrive got to leaking so bad it over heated. decided to fix it right new bellows kit with gimbel bearing u-joints shift cable the whole works. then they pulled the outdrive and found the drive coupling was shot. got that fixed also. took it out for the 1st test run. it ran about 1 1/2 hours then we parked in a cove for awhile. when we came back out it was running like a 3 legged dog. took it back to the marina. i guess getting it hot had weakend the head gaskets because i had 2 blown head gaskets. the mechanic said he checked the heads and they are good. so i said do the gaskets. then when i went to pick up the boat we got to talking. found out he checked the heads for cracks by just looking at the heads. he hadnt magnafluxed them. he set them on a table to check for warped heads. the weather was to bad to water test it so i put it to bed for the winter. this spring i will get to water test it. it could have cracked or warped heads. it would really surprise me if nothing is wrong with the engine. just keeping my fingers crossed. melcome to the site. there are some great guys on here. sherman

in the early spring we usely traveled to new buffalo. we had our best fishin running crankbaits on flatlines and off the boards. wigglewarts, flatwarts. thinfins, and just rebel stick baits always did the trick for us. this is coho fishing at its best. we would try to have lines in the water as we came out the harbor mouth and usely fish the 15 to about 40 ft. when in water over 20 ft i like to run a couple of riggers down about 15 to 17 ft with large broken back crank baits. these riggers would take alot of kings for us. we would even fish alittle deeper with the cranks on the riggers at times. but most of the time we ran them less than 20 ft down. as soon as you get ice out is a good time to be fishing new buffalo in shallow water all the way to the power plant in michigan city. and just about any good crank bait will take some fish. from what i understand alot of baits work good but early in the year we always did good just running cranks. sherman

hey dave i use to get the magazine many yrs ago. but stopped doing much reading. now i do all my fishing on the central basin of lake erie. and even tho i do know enough to fish there and catch a few fish, i still have so much to learn about fishing on erie. do you know if they plan to do many articals on fishing on erie?? i would love to have a good magazine that could help me with my fishing on erie. but i dont want to subscribe and then just read about salmon fishing. not that there is anything wrong with salmon fishing,LOL. but just that i dont salmon fish any more. im sure there is alot of new things i could learn about salmon fishing, as i wasnt a great fisherman to start with. but we did enjoy the salmon fishing back in the day and really enjoyed reading the magazine. i havent even fished the western basin in probably 15 yrs or more. so im sure i could learn alot about new ways to catch fish there. and im always learning new stuff about the central basin. but if the magazine is going to have part of it devoted to fishing erie i will be subscribing to the new magazine. and i always love to read about new and old faithful equitment for fishing. just like last july when we went up to the central basin. finding out where others were getting fish and how deep or how far back they were fishing really made a difference in the fish we caught. we had one of our best trips untill my old boat broke down on us. so the gla magazine could really be a life saver for guys like me who doesnt get up there alot. sherman

this is an old post but it was nice of you to tell us about your problems. i have had another yr since i first posted this. this yr i took my old boat to erie. things started out alittle bad. the boat would die every time i went into reverse. but it went into forward ok. so we went fishing, and did real good for a few days. then my son had to come home and work a few days. so i put the boat in the shop and said fix it. he said he would check it out in a couple of days. my son got back and i still hadnt heard from them on the boat. so we go check on the boat. he said he would get to it that day. he calls a few hrs later and says the boat is ready to go. we pick up the boat and he tells us he adjusted the shift cable. he said the water line from the outdrive to the boat is leaking. after our vacation we need to get that fixed. the next day we go fishing. we have a so so day and head in. about half way in i look down and were running hot. about that time the motor starts to rattle. i slow down and shut it off. we anchor down and let it cool. then we start back up and head on in. if i try to run faster than a fast idle the motor starts to overheat. so we idle on in. we get home and im thinking if the water hose is that bad then the bellows is probably getting bad also. and the boat had started dieing again every time i put it in neutral or reverse. so i figure i might as well get a new shift cable. so i just decided to do it right. i put it in the shop and tell then i want a new water line and bellows kit and shift cable and gimbel bearing and u joints. they call me up in a few days and said they pulled the outdrive and found the drive coupling was worn out. they want me to come look at it. all that was left of the teeth on the drive coupling was little nubs. it would have went out at any time. so i said change it. they call me up about 2 weeks later and it is ready to go. i took it down to brookville lake for a test run. we go out tubing and run for about 1 1/2 hours. we pull up in a cove and do some playing in the water. we get back in the boat and take off. i hit the gas and it doesnt take off and is making some strange noise. i think they have screwed something up. i take it back to the shop. after a couple of days i go back out there. the mechanic says i have not one but two blown head gaskets. he says he has checked the heads and they are ok. so i tell him to put new gaskets on it. when i finelly get the boat back it is already cold weather. then i get to talking to the mechanic and find out the way he checked the heads was by just looking at them. he hadnt magnaflexed them for cracks or surfaced the heads incase they were warped. so i bring the boat home and put it in the pole barn. as it was to cold to take the boat out on the water i am stuck with the boat out in the pole barn not knowing if it is fixed or not. so i have to worry all winter if its fixed or not. it will have to be warm weather before i can put the boat on the water and see if the heads leak. so now i have put about 4500.00 in the boat and dont even know if i can use it. sherman

you think the power handles are great on the 47lc,s. i have all sealine sg17lca and accudepth plus adp17lc reels. they all had the paddle handles on them. i replaced all of them with the power handles, it was like night from day. it was a real job reeling in a nice 6 to 10 lb eye up on the central basin. but now its really easy to crank them in. i recommend the power handles for all the smaller line counter reels. i got all the power handles from tuna toms. its been a couple of years ago now. but i only paid around 9 or 10 bucks each, and worth every cent. sherman

so far from the very few replys you,ve got we dont think its going to cause you enough blow back to worry about. you should be able to put a stacker say 10 ft above your weight without having a problem. but if you place your release inline just above your weight you wont really have any problems bringing your weight up above the surface. but thats totaly up to you. whichever way you decide to go you might want to check out the chamberlain release. it goes inline just above the ball, so the ball can spin or turn as many times as it wants to and not have any effect on your release or your line. and they have an awesome stacker that you could use. it just clips on your cable anywhere you want it. and in my opinion it is the best release out there. it has 2 adjustments, 1 for rod tension and 1 for lure tension. you can check them out at downriggerrelease.com and click on the video. sherman

i just bought one of the new 24x27 nets for walleye fishing. just wanting to know if any of you have tried the ego nets?? so far i think im going to love this net, but only time on the water will really tell. the extendable handle works like a dream in my bedroom,LOL. and i believe the larger size net will work great for erie eyes. you can check these out at egos2slider.com i believe. then give me your opinions. you cant get the larger net from there website yet. but if you want to try one you can contact them. sherman

i use my release just above the ball then put my stacker about 5' to 10' above that. i never really paid any attension to the blow back being that much worse when using the stacker. im not saying the extra blow back wasnt there im just saying i didnt notice it. but i wasnt fishing that deep, only about 50' to 60' down. im sure the deeper you go the more your going to notice the blow back using a stacker above your usual release. i have never just used a stacker up the cable without my regular release. but then when i get a hit on one of the releases i never notice any big change in the blow back with only one line left going to the release. but then maby i should just pay more attension to whats going on,LOL. i use the 13 lb pancake weights. sherman

i have always had very good luck with green line. a actually prefer it over the clear line. i think the green line blends in with the water better than the clear line does. except for floro leaders. so i would use it, i think you might just be surprised. sherman

you really have to admit these guys are really good about sharing there knowledge. but i have never used copper or lead core or wire on my dipsy. but another way to get your divers deeper is to go with the lite bite slide diver, then get the assy pack that has the large ring and the 4 oz weight. ust the large ring and switch out the stock weight with the 4 oz weight and that will get you alot deeper alot faster than the stock weight and small ring. and i have no problem fishing 50 to 60 ft with the stock weight and small ring. and thats on a 4 setting out to the side. on a 1 or 2 setting with the 4 oz weight and the large ring i would say you can get very deep. they do have a dive chart with them but i think it is for the stock weight and no ring. the best way i have found to get my dive curve is just set up the diver the way you plan to use it, then go out to 50' of water and slowly let it out until you start bumping bottom. then devide your depth by how many 10' sections of line you let out to reach bottom. say it takes 130' of line out to get 50 ft down, then just devide 50x13, that would give you 3.8' for every 10' of line you let out. if it took 135' to get down 50' then just devide 50x13.5. that would be 3.7 ft for every 10' of line out. so say you get down 50' with 130' of line out which gives you 3.8'. and say you want to run 90' down. then just devide 90x3.8 that would give you 23.6 times 10' or roughly 236' of line out would be 90 ft down. but im sure with the big ring and 4 oz weight it would be alittle steeper than what i just did. the no# i just gave you would be close on a 2 setting with 50 lb braid and the stock weight and small ring. but i really just pulled these no# out of my head. you would need to go out on the lake to 50' of water to get the right no#. the only no# i can be sure of right now without my chart is on the 4 setting with 65 lb braid at 2 mph. then at 50 ft down it took 185' out which gave me 18.5 times 10' which gave me a 2.7 dive curve. so if i wanted to run 60 ft down i would just devide 60x2.7 which would be 22.2 times 10', that would put me close to 59.94 ft down. i really hope me trying to teach you a good way to get your dive curve for divers hasnt just confused you. if it has and you want to discuss it some more just pm me, and we can get together on the phone or something. another nice thing about the lite bite slide diver you can set your leads as far behind the diver as you want. or you can just use it like a standard diver. its up to you. and you have the 2 tensions you can set on these divers. if theres any way i can help you feel free to pm me. i fish the central basin of lake erie, i run 3 divers per side and 1 outrigger and 1 downrigger per side. i do have a double planerboard mast but havent gotten it installed on my boat yet. i plan to do that this spring. sherman

to me there is nothing that compairs to hunting in the snow. you can see everything that moves. you can watch a bird fly through the woods at 100 yrds. its my favorite thing to do. if a deer moves within sight you will see it move. sherman

if you already have the rods and reels i would use them unless i just had money to spend. then i would replace the reels first. depending on your budjet, the tekotas are about as good as you could ask for but they are pricey. my next choice would be the daiwa sealine sg lca reels they run about 100.00 each but are well worth the money. and you can keep an eye on ebay and really get some good buys on these reels, from about 55.00 to 70.00 each for new reels or some really nice used reels. i bought all my sg17lca reels on ebay and i got them for those prices. but you would probably be better off with the sg27lca. or you can pick up the okuma convectors for about 65.00 to 70.00 new and they are a good reel for the price. as for weights the 10,s are pretty good weights if you already have them. but i wouldnt go out and buy 10 lb unless i just planned to fish shallow. i would go with atleast 12 lb or even 14 lb if your riggers can handle them. i personaly like the 13 lb pancake weights. you get very little blowback from them. but some guys say they have problems with the pancake weights. i think maby the fins get bent on them and cause them to run to one side causing problems. myself i like to bend the fins alittle to make my out downs run out alittle to the side. just make sure which side you use them on. as for downrigger line i think mono is just fine for riggers or boards. but if you decide to run any divers then you really do need to run braid. 30 to 50 lb will work good for divers. and i dont think it hurts anything to use a good floro leader even with mono line. i use nothing but seaguar leader for my leaders. when you get ready to try divers i recommend the lite bite slide diver. i dont even use the slide part of the divers but i love the lite bite arm. i just tie my braid to the diver then use about an 8 ft floro leader and tie to a split ring and lace the leader through the back of the diver going through the lite bite arm. i set the rod tension alittle tight so i dont get alot of false releases. then i set the lite bite arm as loose as it will go. that way if a 8" or 10" shaker gets on it will trip the diver. you dont spend the whole morning draging a shaker around. you can check them out at slidediver.com i also recommend the chamberlain rigger releases. they have 2 adjustments on them. 1 for the rod tension and 1 for the lure tension. they look and work alot like the blacks releases, but they have the extra adjustment for the lure tension. you can set the rod tension tight so you can really crank your rod down. then adjust the lure tension loose enough that a shaker will trip the release. they even make these in a stacker model that works really good. you can check these out at downriggerrelease.com and click on the video. the best of luck to you on your new fishing adventure. i hope something some of us has said will help you out. sherman

i just put a 3000# atv winch on my bunk trailer with a 28 ft sea ray and it didnt have any problem loading my boat. the winch i got has the double brake the mechanical and dynamic. but i still dont trust the brake on any winch, so i use a safety strap on them. i think the atv winches work just as good as the marine winches if not better. i have been using atv winches for the last 15 yrs with no problems. you dont need a winch big enough to lift the weight of your boat, just big enough to pull the weight on the trailer. my 28 ft sea ray probably weighs around 7 or 8 thousand, and the 3000 lb winch pulled it right up to the bow stop. sherman

merry christmas to you one and all, and all your families. and may this next year be your best ever. sherman

i have some of the convector 20,s and they are great reels for the price. they do get the job done. i dont like them as well as daiwas sealine sg series reels but they are a close second. i just fish for walleye and use the sg17lca reels for everything. but i wanted some reels for large planer boards so i bought some of the convectors. i had heard good things about the convectors and liked the price on them. sherman

im on another forum and were talking about how large the army of hunters are in this country. then someone come up with the salvation army. and had the idea of what good we could do if every hunter would just go out and drop 1 buck in the pot. i have already put my donation in the bucket but i am willing to put 1 more buck in the pot. so im going to do that today. now how about all the hunters and fishermen just going out over the next couple of days and drop 1 buck in the pot?? and just know how much we as the worlds largest army has helped bring cheer to the needy of this country. and if you belong to other forums dont be ashmed to bring this up on your other forums. merry merry christmas. sherman

i love that trail. my son lost a nice big doe 2 weeks ago because we couldnt stay on the trail. we searched for several hours but just could not find her. if we would have had snow im sure we would have got the deer. he hit alittle high and alittle far back because of a slowfire with his muzzleloader. sherman

get well soon. and if you,ve got that many big deer on your property it doesnt hurt to let one walk. it will just be bigger and better next year. merry merry christmas to all and a very fishy new year,LOL. sherman

this is our last weekend for our ml season here in indiana. there forcasting some pretty heavy snow for northeastern indiana. i just wanted to get your take on hunting the snow. its always my favorite time to hunt. you can see anything that moves in the woods when you have snow on the ground. i always say you can see a bird fly through the woods at 100 yrds. do you like hunting the snow?? do you just like being out in the woods when hunting in the snow?? sherman

i use the 13 lb pancake weights. very little blow back. dont know how they would work for you. but they would help the blow back. sherman

the cannon single axis are 65.93 at amazon.com with free shipping right now. keep an eye on them if your thinking about buying them. last winter they got all the way down to 55.00. sherman

kids can really surprise you as to where they can get. we went in the kitchen on day, and our youngest son who hadnt even started walking yet had climbed up on the counter top and was in the upper cabnets in the kitchen. just goes to show you what they can do if they set there minds to it. sure glad everything turned out ok. our children are our most precious things in our lives. sherman

really any of the brands above are great units. i have an older lowrance lcx-38c hd. it has been a great unit for many years now. i wouldnt throw any of the units above out of my boat to put the other one in. unless my old unit went bad, then i would be hard pressed to decide which brand to choose. lowrance hummingbird and garmin all make units that would be a good choice. anymore it is a major investment to get the bigger units. i would recommend if you can at all, make a trip to cabelas or a bass pro shop and check out all three brands. nothing like seeing them in person to confuse you even more,LOL. sherman