sherman51

those are some nice looking holders. hope you have many years of fun using them. sherman

i havent seen or used there rod holders. but it sounds like a good holder. my advice on rod holders is this. if your just wanting a rod holder then about any good solid holder will work. if your getting new holders for running divers then a ratcheting holder is a must have if at all possable. berts or big jons or the cannons i chose will work. i started out by buying 4 of the cannon double axis off ebay and they are great holders. but they had one thing i didnt like. when you rotate them you can only adjust from one hole to the next hole. so you cant fine tune the left to right. so the next ones i got was the single axis holders. they have an oval base so you can rotate them as little or as much as you want up to 70 degrees rotation. you just loosen them and turn the holder as little as 1/16 of an inch or as much as 70 degrees you can adjust them up and down with one hand, you just squeeze the lever on the holder and make your adjustment. you never have to lean out over the side of your boat again. you can put your rod in the holder and then adjust it with one hand. then if you get a hit or just want to bring a rod in, all you do is grab your rod and lift this will ratchet the holder to the upright position, then just lift the rod up out of the holder. in my opinion for what its worth the single axis is the only way to go. these are quaility heavy duty rod holders that should last you for many many years. and they do use the track system. just buy the lengths that fits your boat and lets you spread out your holders. then if you want to go play in the water just take the holders off and leave the tracks on. it only take a few minutes to take off all your holders or put them back on. the first single axis i bought from amazon.com was prived at 69.00 each, the last ones i bought was either 54.00 or 55.00 each. they are priced at 66.05 right now and free shipping. i,ve been using mine for 2 seasons now and cant even tell they have been used. i recommend these to anyone who can spare the money for holders. some people say buy cheap holders and use the money for other things. but if you use divers this money is well spent. these holders are a pleasure to use. and to me thats just as important as anything you can buy. i always hated it when i hooked a big fish and im leaning out over the side of the boat trying to pull the rod out of the holder. and now i just ratchet the holder to the upright position and lift the rod straught up out of the holder. sorry for such a long post but you deserve to hear about these holders before spending your money on a rod holder that may not work near as good as the single axis cannon rod holders. sherman

congrats to your dad. its always nice to get 2 deer. but it had to be awesome to see that buck coming in on the last day. still making memeries. sherman

let me know, i might just buy it. sherman

from my understanding and from changing many old cars from 2 to 4 barrels you gain about 15 to 20 hp, depending on the type intake and carb you change to. but you also use alot more gas with the 4 barrel. so for now i just plan to use the 2 barrel carb and see how the boat performs. im not a speed freak, so if the boat planes off good and i think it will then i,ll stay with the 2 bbl carb. i plan to start out with a 17 pitch high five 5 blade prop. that will take care of my hole shot. and i have found that most days you dont want to run full throttle on erie anyway. so i,ll just take it a day at a time. but i,ll probably keep an eye out for a good intake and 4 bbl for a vortec engine. sherman

im done this year but really looking forward to next year. congrats on some nice eyes. sherman

thank you. it does have the bolts in the center of the pans. so that is good news. atleast i know now what type engine i need to get parts for. sherman

thanks for the tip. i had the mechanic at our local marina tell me the same thing. he said he runs into this problem all the time. it make me feel alittle better hearing it from someone who has had this problem. it will be the first thing i check come this spring. sherman

in my book thats a nice deer anywhere. congrats on your hunt. sherman

thanks so much guys for the information and suggestions. it must be a vortec engine it has the valve cover bolts through the center of the valve pans. and 2 oil changes isnt going to kill me. does anyone suggest i put some oil in the cylenders and turn the motor over a few times then let it set for awhile before starting it?? or maby take the plugs out and fog the engine and then let it set for awhile?? i,ll be honest im not much of a mechanic, i just do the best i can. and with my health i have most stuff done at the marina. but this spring im going to make my 2 sons help me do the stuff i think we can do. any more info or suggestions are welcome. sherman

i just bought a 25 ft boat that has had the engine changed. i need some help and advice. the owner changed the motor about 5 yrs ago. he put about 20 hrs on the motor then died. so the boat has set for 5 yrs. first off does anyone know how to tell if its a std 350 or a vortec motor?? it does have the serpintine belt on it, it has a 2 barrel carb. here are some of the things i plan to do. i am going to borrow a oil pump tool and prime the oil. i am going to hook a electric fuel pump to it and pump out as much old gas as i can get out, then add fresh gas and carb cleaner. i plan to look at the plugs and decide if i want to change them. i plan to replace the wires and rotar and cap. i plan to start and run the engine on the old oil then change the oil and filter. i was going to change the outdrive waterpump impeller. then i decided to change the upper housing as i will have it off anyway. does anyone have any more suggestions or advice?? this is an older boat an 86 sea ray. it looks alittle rough, but it was cheap. if the motor is good then i should have a really good boat for erie. it is 25' x 8'6" and it trailers good. i do already have a 86 28' x 10' sea ray amberjack that i got mostly for my little brother and my next best friend and me to use on erie. but they both died this last spring. and one engine lost fire and wont run. and i just lost interest in it. and plan to sell it this spring when i get the engine running. it has a brand new tandem axle trailer and tows good. but it is 335 miles each way for me to tow. and without my crew i just dont want to be towing that far. it has had the engines changed. it has twin 4.3 mpi engines. when it died it was like you shut the key off. i just wiggled all the wires and it started back up and run good. then we went fishing and run the motor all day, then it died again. i just had it winterized and parked it. i havent even tried to get it running. but im sure its just something simple. a loose wire or maby the coil. i have already bought a new coil for it. and i bought 2 brand new 4 blade props for it before my brother and friend died. so next spring look for this boat to be for sale. now i just need your advice on my new 25 ft sea ray. sherman

just go with seaguar, you will not regret it. i did use 8 lb vanish for trolling our local lake. we were catching mostly white bass and a few small eyes and a few crappie, blue gills, and perch. it worked ok for that. but when i tried the 15 lb test on the central basin of erie it just plane sucked. i had more brakes than i had ever had with anything elce. i switched to seaguar 20 lb test and have been very happy. sherman

i,ve used them for a couple of yrs now. they do great work at a great price. i had bought some reels off ebay and took them out trolling with my lite bite slide divers. they were giving me some real problems. i sent them in and the problem he found was the new braid i put on them was slipping on the spools. he put pins in them and upgraded the drags. they all work like new now. and if i put new line on my reels now i start with 200 ft of 17 lb mono then add my braid. i even do this with the ones with the pins so i get the same amount of line on each reel. tuna tom can fix just about anything. sherman

i recommend seaguar floro leader line for leaders. its alittle on the pricey side but i think it works. i use 20 lb test for my leaders up on erie with my lite bite slide divers. and i seem to get as many hits on it as i did with the 15 lb vanish. but i just didnt like the vanish and had way to many brake offs with the vanish. the only brakes with the seaguar was just when the drag got set to tight. sherman

sounds good to me. i would love to get the magazine again, as long as it has some good lake erie articals. as i havent fished for salmon in awhile. i do still have so much to learm about fishing lake erie. sherman

you can run your 2 riggers out the side of the boat. this opens up the whole back of the boat. why mount the rigger in the middle when you can move it over to the side the kickers not on?? then you dont have to swivel it to the side to bring it in or to land a fish. i have run 4 riggers many times over the last 35 yrs. i mount 2 of them just alittle forward and run them out the side. then mount the 2 back riggers on the corners and run them straught out the back. i have never had a problem running them this way. maby im just lucky. if i was going to use a kicker motor i would just remove that 1 corner rigger and keep the other corner rigger in play. or you could mout the back rigger in about a foot and still mount your outside rigger in the corner, and still have a big hole in the middle of the back of the boat for landing fish. just my opinion. sherman

congrats on a great hunt, and great memeries with your dad. my first double wasnt so easy. i was hunting way back in the wood down in this swampy botton. i was up my tree just after 1st light. i heard something coming and got my gun ready. i couldnt see very far for the heavy brush in that direction. so i just waited. this nice little 8 pointer walks out about 15 yrds from me and looks up at me. i just drop the gun down on his chest and pull the trigger. he drops right in his tracks. i field dress the deer he has 5 points on one side and 3 on the other. so i start dragging him in. i get about half way in and i am wore out. its getting late for lunch so im hoping somebody will come looking for me. im sitting on the deer and look out to the fire trail that goes around the woods. i went the closest route dragging the deer. but there was my 250 pd 6'3" nephew and my son. i start hollering at them. they come over and started draging my buck in. they went up to the fire trail and headed for the parking lot. about 125 yrds from the parking lot i look to my right down in the woods and there was 2 does looking at me. i shoot left handed and had the gun laying on my right arm, so all i had to do was shoulder the gun and raise the barrel alittle. they was about 40 yrds. when i raised the gun i seen the one deers tail go up and here she went, i sighted in on the other deer i seen her tail go up and i pulled the trigger and the deer ran off. and my nephew not knowing i was going to shoot and he was in fromt dragging the deer. well when i shot he just did a nose dive to the ground. it was really funny but i felt sorry that i couldnt warn him i was going to shoot. i walked over and found blood. i sent my son to get my little brother, he was an awesome tracker. he could find a drop of blood the size of a needles eye. so i waited on him. but we didnt have any trouble tracking her. my son and nephew draged the buck on to the van in the parking lot then came back to help us. we went slow and kept an eye out for the deer. when we found her she was 5 yrds from the road. so we didnt really have to drag her out. we was hunting on a wildlife area, so you had to check your deer in. they would weigh them and take one side of there lower jaw on the inside so they would have the teeth to study. the buck field dressed weighed 161 lbs the doe i shot was a monster. she field dressed at 166 pds. i didnt write this to try and show off. just thought you would like to read my story. im just telling a story im sure you can relate to. this hunt you just had will be fresh in your mind as long as you live. and you have your father to share it with. enjoy your memeries of your hunt. i lost my dad when i was 4 so i have no memeries of him or with him at all. you are a very lucky man. sherman

didnt really take it that way. i was just saying there are good things about charters for guys like me who owns our boat. you can learn alot from a guy thats out there all the time. and i,ve been fishing the big water since 77 and the charter we went out on back in july the capt told me a couple of times i had my rod to high,LOL. but i still enjoyed fishing with him and did learn a few new things. the best thing i learned was where to start fishing on day 2 when we were in my boat,LOL. sherman

charters do have there place even for us weekend fishermen. my first trolling trip on lake michigan was on a charter. and i didnt like the way he did things. he set the hook on every fish and got the 1st run then handed the rod off. but we did learn enough to get us started. and then started fishing it on my own. then i moved to the western basin of erie, but that was back in the good old days before the zebra mussles cleaned up the lake. and all you really needed was a boat and a few gold and silver nuggets and you could go out and get limits. but even then we followed some friends up from indiana and they told us where and how to fish, and that got us started. then we tried different things and then started trolling as the water cleared up. we knew enough to change as the fishing changed. we still did alittle drifting but always did better trolling. then when i moved to the central basin i didnt have a clue. so i took out another charter, and he put us in school, he had us running the boat by noon. i had never even seen a dipsy diver except in the stores. by the end of the day i could run 3 divers on each side. then when i took my boat up the 1st trip we went out with him again on our 1st day. that was about 12 yrs ago, so this last july we went up for 2 weeks and i chartered another guy out for the 1st day. im sure glad i did, we learned alot from him. it never hurts to take a charter out just to go to school. so i do highly recommend a good charter for new guys to the big water fishing. but then after you go to school there is nothing like being out there with my boat and my crew. we all work together and we all take pride in our catch. and yes sometimes one person will grab the rod and hand it off. but we try to have the person that is up next in the back of the boat so they can get the rod when a fish hits. and the way we do it i might get the rod and hand it to you, but next time you might get the rod and hand it to me, so it evens out. whoever can get the rod first gets it and makes sure there is no slack in the line. its not like the 1st charter where the capt got the rod every time and got the best run from the fish then hands it off. i love taking my own boat out, and when we get fish it really has its rewards. but i learned more on those charters than i could have learned in years on my own. it just makes me a better fisherman for when i take my crew out. so i would recommend a charter every once in awhile for any weekend fisherman. but i would never be happy going out on charters all the time. i still have alot to learn about fishing the central basin of erie. but now i can take my boat and usely catch enough fish that everybody has a good time. but i still plan to take out a charter every once in awhile just to get alittle more schooling. and i have tried new things on my own. some of them are better and some are not. two of the best things i,ve done was go to the lite bite slide diver and the chamberlain release for my riggers. the lite bite slide diver has been a real blessing on small trash fish. i have the trigger set as lite as it will go. so even a white perch will usely trip the diver. and the same with the chamberlain release, i set it loose for the bite and tight for the rod, it works great. good luck to you all. sherman

this spring im going to have a great deal on a boat. it is winterized right now and i want to leave it that way. but heres the story. i bought a 1986 28 ft sea ray amberjack. it has a bimina top with complete inclosure. it has been upgraded with twin 4.3 mpi 6 cylenders, with the inclosed water system. im not sure when these were installed. i put it in the shop and said i want it water ready. it got 2 new alternators 2 new belts 1 new raw water pump, 1 new starter. i took it to lake erie and it did good untill i lost fire to the right engine. it just died. took it back to the camp ground and checked it out. it wasnt getting any fire. i started playing around with all the plugs on the motor. then just out of the blue hit the starter and it fired right up. we took the boat back out fishing and it ran good. then we went out and fished all day and everything went good. we started back in and went about 2 miles and it died just like i turned the key off. we didnt even pull the motor covers. took it home and parked it, was planning on checking it out and getting it running. but i had other things going on. so i took it in and had it winterized and the lower unit oil changed. i was going to get it running this summer. then the 10th of may my little brother died. he was my driver and my best friend. then about a week later my next best friend died. these were the guys i fish with. so i just lost interest in the boat. i had already bought a new coil and a new distributor for it. and had bought 2 brand new 4 blade props for it. i still havent touched it. a coon got in the bathroom and tore some rubber down. but it didnt get in the cabin. my son told me it had got in the engine compartment and tore the vent hoses but didnt look like anything elce was hurt. i talked to a mercruiser tech and told him how the motor had done. he said it sounded like the main wiring harness plug had come loose. he said it happens all the time, and it was an easy fix. so this next spring i am going to get out there and get this motor running. the back on the drivers seat is broken and it needs replaced. the boat could use just alittle tlc, but its going to make somebody an awesome big water boat. its setting on a brand new trailer that costed the dealer 4000.00. i believe the engine is an easy fix, and i plan to get it fixed in the spring as soon as i know it wont freeze after i get it running. I,VE JUST LOST ALL INTEREST IN THIS BOAT ALONG WITH THE CREW I PLANED TO FISH WITH. I JUST WANT TO RECOUP SOME OF MY MONEY. I WILL PROBABLY SELL THE BOAT AND TRAILER FOR 4500.00. i did offer it to one guy for the value of the trailer without batteries the way it is for 3500.00 and if the right engine turned out to be something major all he had to do was bring it back and i would refund his money for 10 days. then it was as is. but this would be plenty of time to check it out and get it running. it could just be as simple as cleaning a wire or just making sure the wires were pluged up. if its the coil it comes with a brand new coil. it comes with a brand new complete distributor. it could be something as simple as the shift safety switch bad. but it is electrical. if you think you might be interested in it this spring you can pm me. if your really interested in it you can pm me your email address and i will send some pictures. sherman

if it was me i would just mount it over on the other side from the kicker. i have never been a big fan of the chute rigger. but i like landing my fish in the back of the boat. like was said if you really want to run something down the middle run a diver straught down the middle. then you can work under it to land your fish. when i was running 4 riggers i ran 2 out the side and 2 off the corners pointing straught back, then just left the middle open for fighting and landing fish. we have enough nightmares with tangled lines and lost fish at the boat without adding more problems. this is just my opinion. so please dont get upset if its different than yours. sherman

i started out with home made rod holders. i had a friend that worked in a tool and die shop. he made some nice solid holders. then i found the cabelas quick draw rod holders. they were great for the fishing we did. but we did all flatline fishing or downrigger fishing. then when we moved to the central basin of erie i wished they made a better holder for the dipsies that you could set and ratchet up like the cabelas quick draw. they worked great for me for everything elce. i removed the back plugs where the holders ratcheded up and put bolts all the way through. this stopped the rods from sticking all the way through. but when we moved to the central basin they really worried me. they still worked ok but they are made from some type of plastic. and they would twist around on us with the dipsy divers. i was always afraid they might brake. but they never did, but i didnt use them to long before i changed holders. when i first started looking at the new ratcheting holders i was looking at berts and cannons. i didnt find the big jon ratcheting holder at that time i dont think they were on the market yet. i couldnt really make up my mind which ones i wanted. they both sounded pretty good. they had to give me piece of mind over the plastic ones i was using. then i found the big jons and thought about contacting tony at lord of the riggers. but the big jons were priced over 100.00 each and berts was about 68.00 each and cannons were around 71.00 each at that time. then i seen 4 of the cannon duel axis on ebay auction. i wanted to try them and i got them for i think 60.00 each, so i bought them. i did love the double axis but they have a square base. so the only side adjustment is with the pin thats used to adjust them. you have no little adjustments you can do. you use one hole and if you need to turn them around alittle you have to go all the way to the next hole. so i checked into the single axis before i bought any more holders and tracks. they have an oval base and give you like a 70 degree of travel and you can stop anywhere and just tighten them down. if you want to go another 1/8" then just loosen them up turn them 1/8" and tighten them back down. at this time amazon had them priced at 59.00 each. so i bought 4 more. that way i can run up to 4 divers on each side, but i usely just stick with 3. then i have 2 of the cheap outriggers i use. i was using a titelock rod holder for my outrigger and one of the old quick draws for my fishing rod. then one day i checked the price of the cannon holders and they were down to 54.00 each. so i bought 4 more of them. so i have 6 holders on each side of my boat. so i can run 3 or 4 divers( and by the way i run the lite bite slide divers now) then i can run my outriggers, and it looks much better with all the same holders. another reason i wanted those extra divers. years ago i bought a duel planer board mast and used it alittle on the western basin for running flatlines. but i havent really had a need for it here on the central basin. but they have come out with inline weights which i seen in action this year on a charter. and they now have the trip 40,s and trip 50,s. so i,ve been doing alot of thinking, this would just give me more options. then tony at lord of the riggers had an electric planer reel that had been a demo, then i asked what kind of price he would give me on the demo and then on a new one. well i wont tell what he priced them to me but it was one i couldnt turn down. so i now have 2 same as new electric planer reels. i already have a real nice set of custom boards. so with the cannon holders and all the adjustments i can run my 3 lite bite slide divers and 3 inline weights or trip divers off my boards. i can fish 6 people and never have to use my downriggers. i do all my fishing on lake erie now. i havent salmon fished for a few years. but the cannon holders will work either place. if you live close to a bass pro shop or a cabelas you should go and see if they carry them instore and check them out. i have already wrote a book here but i had to put this in. i just checked the price of berts rod holders at amazon.com. one holder is 71.99 times 6 is 431.94. or you can buy a 6 pack for 455.99 making them 75.99 each. go figure. good luck with your new rod holders and catch alot of fish. sherman

the cannons single axis ratcheting rod holders have it hands down. i put them on my boat and love them. they are heavy duty and can be adjusted to fine tune how you want them. they are one hand operation and ratchet to the upright position just by grabbing your rod and lifting up then just lift the rod out of the holder. the first 4 i bought i got the double axis off ebay and then i got the single axis from amazon.com. and the single axis you just loosen up and turn them where you want them then tighten them back down. the double axis you have to pull a pin and go to the next hole, nothing in between. RIGHT NOW THEY HAVE THE SINGLE AXIS AT AMAZON.COM FOR 66.00 EACH WITH FREE SHIPPING. ofcourse you still have to buy the tracks. but you can choose the lengths that suits your needs. let us know what you decide. sherman

i think you,ve pretty much decided where you want to spend the money. i think it sounds like a great time to get your wire divers set up. its already something you plan to do, so why not go for it?? its just like me on my braid fishing line. i knew i was going to get new line. i just hadnt decided for sure where i was going to get it or for sure what brand i wanted. i tried the sufix 832 in 20 lb for bass fishing in a farm pond in tenn, and it worked great. so i was looking at the sufix and the new power pro super slick. then i found the sufix on sale at cabelas and i already had a 53.00 credit, and they was offering free shipping. so that all together made up my mind for me. so i really think you should spend the money on your wire diver set ups. you cant go wrong getting something you know your going to get before next season anyway. just my opinion. sherman

you can always add a set of trolling bags or get a trolling plate. if you go with a trolling plate be sure and check out the easy troller. you can find them on line for 99.00. you would just need one for the motor you plan to troll with. right now i use the easy troller on my mercruiser. but i found a set of nice bags this last summer. so i am going to give them a try. i used bags once and the best i remember i just didnt like having to put them out and bring them back in. so i,ve been hooked on the easy troller. but im willing to try the bags again. i didnt really give them a fair chance the last time. i,ve heard how the bags give you better boat control and speed control in rough water. so i just want to compare them with the trolling plate. i know it works good, but you do speed up quite abit when a big wave hits you in the rear. but you may not need either one. i have a 28 ft boat with twin 4.3 v 6,s and i can troll for walleyes with it on one engine without a plate or bags. but its been broke down this year. sherman