coralee

Good way to "start" the season Mike. Fish in the box.

Kinda slow still but managed 8 for 9 today. Sat down on some early in 70-75 before light but couldn't get em to go and then found a few around 100. Also 135 and 195 but the best I would say was around 130-140. Nothing stood out with a white Lyman plug, uv blue dolphin (2) white paddle/fly, and a couple on meat taking fish. A green flasher fly took one and another spoon- blue flounder?? Mostly 35-65 down except for a nice Steelie 90 down. Had a great day with JD and Chandler on board. (Thanks guys) Real nice out there today. Just a touch bumpy and breezy out deep.

Thanks Jim, I have a place to start. I'll run a temp line and see what happens.

I wired the lights into the existing line for lights thats original to the boat (1976) and with the AP being added a few years ago I believe it is separately wired. I'll have to do a little checking to see for sure. I could take and wire the lights temporarily directly to the battery and see what happens. I also know that most of the grounds on the boat ground to the engine block and not to the batteries is this correct? I did redo them to make sure they are clean with a good contact. When under power both batteries measure 13V. I do remember that when I hooked up the ground to the block it sparked.

I have narrowed down the problem with the flickering lights to when the Auto Pilot is on. It doesn't' matter if its engaged or not. When its powered up the LED lights flicker almost like strobes and when its off they work fine. Any ideas as to whether its wiring or in the AP itself? Thanks for any help.

I had to take it slow as well trying to keep my head out and watch and not being able to keep an eye on the chart I ended up going around that green barrel on the wrong side and almost turned the corner to sharp. That was harder to drive in then just plain dark. Good job on the fish and thanks for the updates throughout the day.

Top currents can be different than lower ones which can make things interesting.

Nice boat Jon. Lets go! Take Wed off. You can join me if yours isn't ready.

I was using cheap snap swivels and had a monster that ended up straightening out the swivel but after gong to better quality I haven't had that again. Some times when a fish is heading into the long lines I'll take a risk and bear down quite hard to get him turned figuring that a possible break off aint' any worse than a giant tangle. If you hook a King and it jumps like crazy at first or goes airborne a couple times it is likely foul hooked.

Forgot to thank Chandler for coming along and being a great help.

Waited for the storm to pass and went out about 3pm. Went 6 for about 11 watching the sky and fog but no rain moved in. Lake was flat and cold. Started at the pier heads and marked fish but couldn't get it going till we hit 60-70' Nothing over 10 lbs. Slider with a small U of M spoon was hot but with fishing so high in the water column I had the bottom spoon out 60' and it was hard to keep them on till they hit the end. 20-40 down mostly. Blue was the color of choice by far with 1 on a monkey puke. Bait jumping in the channel.

Our best water this week was 70-100 but caught fish outside of that also. Last night they seemed scattered with a few everywhere. But we did start marking bait in the 90' range so I'd start about 55' and head west. Mixed veggie is still hot and the purple muffin spoon is still hot. Last night lighter greens went well. Best depth for us has been 3 color and stuff 35-45 down. Also rigger bite was the best last night we've had all year yet.

Went out with Dr Hook and Rog and thanks to Benlubbs post we started looking shallow. Marked fish in 50' and set lines and it was none stop action out to 110. Best day for us and after coming in in 1st place last trip out in the 3+1 Tourney its the best 2 straight trips ever for us. Lots of mid size Kings and steelhead in the top 40' and a few nicer ones down low. We went 18 for 21 with 3 throwbacks (1 was our biggest King and was not intentional by the "rookie") Mixed veggie on the 3 color was on fire, one of the muffin spoons (blue?) was good, monkey puke again was good and 1 on the blue/green spin doctor with a almost white fly with a blue tint. Full core went twice and 150 copper I think 3 times. Thanks to Doc and Rog for coming along (and Tung and Gnarf for the 3+1 help). Great way to break in the new old boat.

That 200 copper and rigger 40 sure look familiar :-)

Very nice-good job

Thanks Ben-Hopefully they're still there for a couple days. I may just take off work a bit early tomorrow and head out if your interested.

Frank-Thanks for that info that I would never have even dreamed of. I'll check it out. I was wondering-when I was running it was at its worst but when I went slow through the channel the lights seemed to work fine (at least for the moment. Is this a clue as to if its the regulator? or would they flicker all the time then?

Well I was at my favorite store saving big money and they had a small 12v battery on sale for $16 after rebate so I got it hooked it up and it works like a dream. I think the advice of a bad connection seems right so now I'll be cleaning connections. Thanks for the advice guys.

I think I lost my winch handle last week at the Holland DNR launch. If anyone finds it please let me know. Thanks 616-8three6-4three27

All connections seem fine and I've checked and reconnected several times. The LED is completely separate wiring and not even in the same fuse block. I wondered if the alternator would cause either issue when charging the battery that is being used. Guess I can try switching the battery selector next time out to see what happens with the LED's but the Lowrance issue happens when its running or not. Its weird that it would not start up for quite a while yesterday out fishing and then I just tried it after a few hours and it worked and stayed on.???? Even when it won't start up I measure 12V at the connection. I suppose it could be a Lowrance issue with the start up but it always worked every time on other boats and its only 1 year old.

My Lowrance sometimes won't start up when I turn it on after moving it to my new (old) boat. It fires up every time when I hook it to my other boat. Also I installed led lights and tried them yesterday on the water and they were flickering while trolling. When I hit the channel on the way in I tried them again and they worked. The wiring to the graph is solid and I already replaced the ground all the way to the fuse block and I measure 12v power at the plug. Any ideas? also does the extra yellow wire (for powering up other things when the graph is turned on) need to be hooked to power? It seems to not make a difference as sometimes it works and sometimes not either way. Thanks for any help.

Thanks for the info.

Maiden voyage for the "new" Slickcraft with JD and it ran great and catches fish. Went 3 for 5 Wed afternoon on a calm sea that was 2' plus and raining when we pulled lines. There was a temp break just south of the sliders that we fished in and out of. Unfortunately the graph would not work so I'm guessing that we fished 50 to 80' of water. (Hat tip to Dr Hook) All 5 hits were on different spoons from purple to orange so no special color. All from 30-45 down. all different poles. Thanks for coming along JD it was nice meeting and fishing with you.

Run a temporary line to the spreader lites right from the battery and then check to see if the riggers still interrupt them. I agree with Ben that it sounds like you're light on power. The 20' plus you have a length from the battery to the fuse box and it might be not quite enough. Plus you may be using other current to other things from the fuse box. I'd at least bump up the available current to the fuse box with heavier wire and shorten the runs to the riggers if possible. Not an electrician so just my thoughts