fishy1

Mark, I was just pointing out a fact of how greed and money turn normally sane people into idiots just to fill there egos,sorry you took it personally but stating a fact from my knowledge of just one of several tournaments that cheating was reported I'm not telling anyone how to run a tournament just stating my observation on no matter what type of rules you have people will still try to gain a edge even with observers onboard.

First let me state I don't fish tournaments as I feel they are just pecker measuring contests, with that said even when using a fixed limit such as 12 fish you still have people who cheat. A good example is a well known boat out of saugatuck the was observed agressivly trying to net small fish that seeming to keep getting knocked off while fishing the Ludington pro division resulting in them losing thier first place finish. One thing I have learned in my 52 yrs on earth is if you put money and egos together people will do really stupid stuff to prove thier the man.

I run z boards as they are tunablefor where you want the board to run and you can also have them release to change a lure or when you have a fish on and they dont dive like the church boards do which are a pain in the a** to reel in.

great stuff

I would make the one of the 300 coppers a 200 and you can add different sized torpedo divers to give the numerous depth ranges without having to purchase more rods . I have 24 rods on my boat and refuse to run anything longer than 300 ft and there is no need to . I can run my 150,180, 210,shorter coppers with torpeodos and achieve the same depths as 400, 450 500 coppers without havivg more than 300 ft of line out and my friends and I find it less tourture than cranking in the long coppers , and catch just as many fish as when I used the longer coppers , just my take.

obama should make us some fuel for our boats out of the algae

Maybe if they learned how to run a business they wouldn't need my tax dollars , there is no need for the senseless pollution and dumping of 500-700 tons of mecury laden ash in OUR lake , last I checked it belonged to all of the residents of the great lakes not just a wealthy buisness owner. I find it amazing how people want to defend the mighty Badger under the guise of all the jobs that would be losthow is it that a company was able to have a ferry built that is more enviromently friendly and be successful in Muskegon but the owner of the badger isn't smart enough to do likewise.

Badger Bob is all for the conversion as long as someone else will pay for it thats the business model.

They must not be politically connected like badger bob its always nice to have friends in your pocket at the congressional level just takes major campaign contributions.

Thank God some that someone wants to put a end to this reckless practice.

Depends greatly on your speed I personally troll between 2- 2.5 at the ball and use alot of spin doctors,paddles and have found you get 7 to 9 ft of depth for every 10 yds of 45# copper you have out that accordint to my old gtm I've attached to it.

Why allow this senseless pollution to continue if my boat spills oil accidentally in the water I can be charged with polluting the great lakes with a possible $25,000.00 fine yet the badger can dump between 500-700 tons of ash in the water a year and thats ok , who are the idiots we have in the goverment that continue to allow this to go on.

I'll throw in my two cents most of the charter captains I know which has been many in my 30+ years of fishing in Ludington don't fun fish for salmon as once you do something that was fun as a job it ceases to be fun. So if you are just looking for a job as a captain I would say go for it if want to do something you will enjoy for a long time don't charter, as prior post have stated with the economy the way it I also believe that people have less disposable income and to most fishing is not the highest priority.

I have read the science and fly ash contains mercury and if you read the fish advisories you will see mercury listed as a hazardous compound.I have had a boat slipped in Ludington for over the last 30 years and have seen the damage the fly ash does to my personel property as well as all of the surrounding homes. If you believe that for one mans personel wealth retention to be placed ahead of the good all the people in the great lakes why not let him store the harmless ash at your home. I'm not a liberal in any sense but how ignorant as responsable human beings do we have to be to keep destroying our enviroment , and its not as if they don't have a alternative to dispose of the ash it's why bother if someome will continue to allow you to dump your crap on someone else.

I can't believe that the epa would allow this practice to continue if they do then why not declare all of the coal fired power plants " Historic " and allow them to continue to pollute the hell out of our enviroment.

I tie leaders with flourocarbo about 5 -6ft long and the just connect them to my snap swivel this still allows you to use whatever lead length up to 50 ft which is the my reason for using slide diver as they were intend for and when running meat rigs or spin doctors and flies I dont put the floro leader on as this allows a easier net job and no handling like you have to when you run walker or lurh jensen divers.

As Matt said I do the same I blood knot 30-50 ft of mono on for the diver to clamp down on, Ive tried flourocarbon but it slips thru the tubing . I also tried turning the tubing a turn and it still slides so I just use the mono for a leader works great.

I agree with bigweenie all of the flies I purchase I end up changing the leaders over to fluorocarbon so why not just purchase them with the right leaders and hooks from the start.I plan on picking up some of bw rigs at birch run great looking flies.and meat rigs.

The baitrix baits I run I use in meat rigs in place of whole or strip herring, you can also use them in just a meathead behind a dodger or flasher. They have several colors to select from and if you buy the tunable ones you can set you roll to what you want ,aslso as I stated its advantage over real herring is you can catch far more fish without having to replace them ,I have several of the baits that i am still using from the 2010 season and the fish don't seem to know the difference between the baitrix and real herring.

Go to michigan sportsman web page they sell smelly jelly it works great, I've used it along with fake herring from baitrix and have great success using them on meat rigs I refuse to use real meat on my boat because of the mess and smell. I catch just as many fish or more as friends of mine who are using meat and with the batrix baits you can catch tons of fish on them without having to replace them hope this helps.

I have a 1994 31 open that I purchased in 1998 and always wondered what the fuss was about with owning a Tiara. It is probaly one of the most overbuilt boats made and I found out the rough water handling ability on many occasions. My advice if you are looking to purchase one is buy it with the largest power plant that was offered in the time frame you are seeking and I'm not sure what year they went to the raised cockpit floor but that is only a small consideration, also one of a few boats that hold tremendous resale value. I personally wouldn't own another boat besides a Tiara.

I live in Michigan not Minnesota but if I were a resident I would petion the legislature to raise the additional revenue by increasing fees on the ocean bound freighters and shipping companies that have introduced all of these exotics.

The fly ash contains mercury and we all know about the fish advisories about mecury contamination in our fish, this is a issue that should concern all fisherman in lake michigan because we all know how the current in the lake has spead this around. As far as the damage the fly ash causes it destroys the canvas on your boat as well as discolors your gel coat,I have used about every cleaner know and once it discolors something you will never be able to restore it . It's also nice when you go out fishing and grab a rod and when you look you see you hand are black from the ash, I wish more oressure was applied to them to convert it over and quit polluting the lake. I keep hearing how it is a 'Historic Vessel' well with that reasoning what about all of the 'historic' coal fired power plants that the EPA made clean up thier emissions.

Mr. Barker must not of ever slipped a boat in either of the marinas in ludington. I have had a boat in both marinas and get to see the effects of the fly ash the Badger releases on a daily basis. I don't wish to see the badger discontinue service but it seems this issue has been going on for ages and every time a deadline nears the owners who are well connected politically manage to donate sums of money to these congressional represenatives and magically the Badger gets another exempetion. If the owners of the Badger were true businessmen why can't they find a solution or even purchase new vessels such as what was done in Muskegon ? Instead they continue to pollute the lake and surronding communities were the dock, what right do they have to destroy everyones personal property. It is the same as your neighbors large dog being allowed to use your yard everyday for its own bathroom without recourse.

I slip my boat in ludington and it was hard to keep a showtime spin doctor in the water