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Play Dough

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Everything posted by Play Dough

  1. Play Dough
    Well, it's not like we travel those distances on a regular basis. We generally take one cruising vacation each year and it does cost a few dollars to move the boat. On the other hand, we have two weeks of waterfront accommodations at our favorite ports for less than a condo would rent for. For example, we recently spent a weekend on Mackinac Island (3 nights). Friends spent about $250/night at a B&B. Our cost was $42/night for a slip there plus the 7 mile cruise from Mackinaw City. We enjoy the boating life. It's more than running out of a port, dragging lines for a few hours and then returning to the same spot, day in and day out. I get bored with that. This was our "slip" a couple weeks ago. Hard to improve on the surroundings...and yes there were fish there too.
  2. Play Dough
    I crossed twice in my 30' Sundancer while I was slipped at Ludington. Once to Port Washington and once to Sturgeon Bay. As I recall, the crossing to Sturgeon Bay was a 90 mile run. That's about 3 1/2 hours for me. That trip we crossed solo so had someone notified of departure time and ETA to Sturgeon Bay and called in after crossing. I've made the Ludington to Mackinac run in one day and that's a 185 mile, 7 hour cruise so the lake crossing is small potatoes. Just did a marathon run from Blind River, Ontario to Mackinaw City last week due to a family emergency. Long distance cruising is no big deal given good conditions and proper preparation. ALWAYS file a float plan with someone.
  3. Play Dough
    My bags came from Big Papa Sports...made in Michigan and I'm guessing comparable to the Amish Outfitters bags. http://www.bigpapasportfishing.com/trolling_bags.htm I called them and they were very helpful with sizing for my boat. For an immediate solution, perhaps you might trim the drive up a bit to redirect the thrust. That might take a little speed off but you'd lose some control in exchange for that.
  4. Play Dough
    Just relaying my experience with them. I was a satisfied customer for several years and never had a claim. Then was notified that they would no longer be able to provide coverage through the insurer Fremont Insurance Co. As I understood it, Fremont ceased doing business with Worldwide and Worldwide was not able to provide replacement coverage for me (I don't remember why). A day later, I had a policy renewal from Fremont Insurance through a Ludington Insurance agency, so it wasn't Fremont that was my problem, it was Worldwide. That's what happened. When I first obtained coverage through Worldwide, I had the same "these guys are boaters" kind of feeling. Not sure exactly what happened to create the cancellation of coverage, but it was nothing I did.
  5. Play Dough
    I had a Fremont Insurance policy through Worldwide for several years. All of a sudden, my coverage was dropped. Upon investigation, it was Fremont that dropped Worldwide due to some questionable claims and Worldwide left me high and dry. I moved my business to a local independent agent who offered me the same coverage through Fremont. So buyer beware. My association with Worldwide was excellent for several years, then it all went sour.
  6. Play Dough
    Must be something in the female genes. The ladies on your boat have about the same level of involvement as my wife does on ours. She's in the berth late into the trip, although I'll admit a drag is like an alarm to her and she gets up to net a fish anytime she hears a screaming drag. Nice pics. Manistee is a very nice port.
  7. Play Dough
    I use the Moor Sub-troll part for termination. Not sure what you guys do to ruin a coated cable. I've run a coated cable since about 1999, I think. I changed the cable once, just because I thought it might be a good thing to do, not because of any damage to the cable or coating. Must be the type of rigger or how it's deployed and/or re-spooled. 15 years and never had an issue.
  8. Play Dough
    The 30% claim is suspect according to my test if the claim is it sinks more vs faster. I ran a Fish Hawk TD on the micro core and a regular core. There was little, if any difference in depth achieved between the two products. The micro core is thinner, easier to handle and takes up less reel space. It has some advantages in that light, otherwise no big deal.
  9. Play Dough
    Michigan actually has one of the lower fuel tax rates in the area. The issue is that sales tax is applied to the purchase and that money goes to the general fund. The proposal eliminates the sales tax and does indeed specify that the fuel tax is used for roads and transportation. The 1% sales tax hike request is being proposed to replace the lost revenue from the fuel sales tax elimination. As vehicles become more efficient, the state receives less revenue that is needed to maintain an aging highway system. There's probably no perfect answer, but the status quo is certainly not going to be successful.
  10. Play Dough
    I haven't seen a single ad that promotes either of the proposals, so based on the advertising blitz, I'd expect the proposals to fail.
  11. Play Dough
    Sounds like you've never been on a cruise ship. Admitting the general public aboard would be a logistical nightmare and a huge security risk. Systems aboard the ship keep track of which passengers are aboard at any given moment. Passenger access is very tightly controlled. If the cruise business continues to ply the Great Lakes, it would be to the benefit of the local communities to offer shore excursion opportunities for those passengers. Fishing, canoeing, beach breaks, winery tours, etc. are all possibilities for West Michigan ports.
  12. Play Dough
    North Channel, Georgian Bay, Inland Waterway, Drummond, Calm, uncrowded weekday outings...yeah, 2015 is going to be hard to stomach.
  13. Play Dough
    Once mid-September arrives, I find a nice weekend for an oil change, clean up and to pack up and put stuff away so everything goes into storage dry. Lining up those days with a weekend becomes more and more iffy as the days pass. The nice days after that are used to catch up on all the chores around the house that I've neglected for the previous four months. Next year will be a different story. Retirement will allow me to stretch the season and enjoy those calm, crisp fall days that always seem to fall Monday through Friday.
  14. Play Dough
    If you follow the depth contours, let's use the 100' break, it is near shore at Big Pt. Sable, runs SW to due west of the harbor to maybe about 5 miles offshore, then back SE to a couple miles off the Project. That, in effect, is a river delta. The horn is a term that I never heard used in the 15 years I spent there.
  15. Play Dough
    And that's a problem. Boating is a big part of the fishing activity and a much more critical part when it comes to your personal well-being. There are far too many fishermen that have questionable knowledge, skill and most of all, solid judgment when it comes to boating. I've met that captain and would say his knowledge and skill is likely adequate. Obviously, his judgment that evening wasn't for whatever reason and he would give anything for a "do-over". That doesn't matter. The point is people's lives are at stake, not only on that boat but on every other boat in the area at that time. So, we can all chat about fishing and pretend stuff like this isn't a hazard for every one of us on the water. The next person to use poor judgment may run over your boat at 25 mph as opposed to hitting a wall. A Baja cruiser on Lake St. Clair did just that a few weeks ago. One dead, several injured. Given these types of incidents, there should be a little more dialog on the subject of seamanship. It really does go hand in hand with our primary activity of trolling.
  16. Play Dough
    That terrain out there is something we don't get in the Midwest. There's few places here where you can have a 30 mile vista. You're not missing anything here. Looks like Lake Michigan will be wet and bumpy for a couple days. Cruiser "Ambience" is getting rinsed.
  17. Play Dough
    When I cruise, I don't fish much. If I do fish, it's usually from the dinghy. I travel with weighted line and diver rods and do have rod holders on quick release mounts in case I do have an occasion to drag a line from the cruiser. I've never done that in 15 years of vacation cruising. My boat is much more than just a fishing platform to me. There's no reason to drag all that gear around. BTW, it's a thrill to fight a salmon or steelhead from a 10' inflatable boat and quite a sense of accomplishment to do that without the benefit of thousands of dollars worth of gear and technology. Dinghy trolling east shore Mackinac Island on 8/9/14 The result...
  18. Play Dough
    Sure did. They arrived in an orange boat, wore blue uniforms and carried side arms.
  19. Play Dough
    Contrary to the above agreements, the numbers mentioned are the "minutes" of the lat/log location. Your example indicates the "seconds" portion of the number. So using your example, the number represents 41° 49' 00" through 41° 54' 59". Actually, after looking at a chart, The 41° numbers will represent north latitude and the west longitude will be in the 86° range. From the chart, it looks like New Buffalo pier is about N41° 48' 00" and W086° 45' 00".
  20. Play Dough
    Largest king (32#) that I recall was early 2000's off Pt. Sable along the drop off on a spoon. I remember some large fish from Lk. Huron back in the 70's but don't remember weights. There was a year in the mid 2000's that the coho were large. Capt. Chucks had to suspend their master angler lure give away because many coho were master angler weight. 15 to 20 lbs was common. I caught three lakers between 20 - 25 lbs. in the early 2000's at a location 13 miles due west of Pt. Sable that I used to go to mid morning on calm days when the bite crapped out onshore. It was over about 400' of water and I always pulled chrome spoons in the top 50'. A screwball Silver Streak was one of the productive lures I remember. Largest brown was 16# off Pt. Austin in the early 1990s.
  21. Play Dough
    It sounds like there's more to address than trolling speed. Your engine shouldn't be stalling at idle, assuming the idle speed is set correctly. It may be true that the boat moves too fast at idle requiring a plate, bags or whatever, but the engine should not stall.
  22. Play Dough
    I remember 1.7 mph being the target speed on the fish hawk trolling with my father out of Oscoda on Lake Huron years ago for lake trout. He used dodger/squid, wobble glows, and hot and tots near bottom. I have all the hot and tots he used to run. All the metal bills on them are all scrubbed up from digging in the sand bottom.
  23. Play Dough
    Like fishy1 said, you're paying for the opportunity to catch fish. In your example, the charter didn't succeed in presenting that opportunity so they don't charge for the "boat ride". Not that it matters. BTW, from what I know, they usually don't guarantee fish, they guarantee fish on.
  24. Play Dough
    NO. PM not received.
  25. Play Dough
    Well, the original post was a question about trading a timeshare or "something else of value" for salmon. It was pretty clear.
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