MEANMACHINE

Line Dancin echoes my view on the subject. I would prefer to shop at the little guy, but cannot afford to overspend just to do so.

I just bought four Convector CV 30D's from Northwoods for $57.99 each. The 45's were $59.99. I sent an email to Franks to see if they would match prices and they offered them to me at $63.99 each.

Thank you very much for the offer Mike. I would really enjoy learning a few things out on the water. Hopefully the weather trend continues and I will be able to take you up on your offer. Bradley

Hopefully you can see what I am working with here. The boat is a 2009 Bayliner 185 which is not made for fishing but it will have to do for now. I will definitely not be heading too far offshore unless the conditions are excellent.

http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=5710&c=4]

Here is the first pic. As you can hopefully see I am limited on what I can do. I am going to mount two 6" Bert's Tracks on the back platform. I bought two 12" risers and will attach a 2" x 8" board to them. The sides of the boat cannot be used because they are only 1 1/2" wide and my wife won't let me. I have looked into Eagles Feet and other possibilities but to no avail. http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/gallery/showimage.php?i=5708&c=member&imageuser=3938]

Thanks everyone. I'll try reading through more posts and a few books. I started the year off buying used Cannon electrics and dumped way too much money into them before selling them for a loss. I ended up buying manual Big Jons which I am fine with. Now it's time for rods and reels. My boat has a 7'6" inch beam and the gunwales are really too narrow to mount anything on so I think my best bet is to run the riggers off a trolling board out to the side or on a 45 degree angle. That way I can mount two additional rod holders outside the riggers to run dipsey's. I am also thinking of using the pedestal in the bow to mount an additional board to run a couple boards. That will give me six rods.

I have the Navionics App for my IPhone. I have used it for ice fishing inland lakes and trolling Lake Erie. I have read elsewhere that the latest updates to the App have not been good, but I have had no issues with them. The biggest issue I have noticed is that this particular one drains your phones battery rapidly.

Thanks Nailer. I live in Oxford so no real home port. I think my best plan of action would be to try and gear/rig to be most versatile. I will post a picture or two of my boat soon so I can be more specific with my rigging questions.

I am new to the site and trolling for salmon. I have posted some questions and have gotten help but I have so many more and do not want to overload the forum with my questions. I trolled back in the late 80's early 90's with my dad and we did fairly well but things have changed dramatically. We never ran more than four rods and always on downriggers and we only used 20# mono. I am rigging my small non fishing boat from scratch but want to do it the right way and keep it affordable. That may be an oxymoron but I am going to try anyways. If anyone can recommend a book on salmon trolling and rigging I would really appreciate it. Thanks, Bradley

I can stare at pics of fishing rods bending over all day long. By the way, do you use the cannon rod holders for dipsey's or just running boards?

If you have an iPod or iPad you can download the Navionics app. I have it on my phone and use it for a GPS and lake maps. I think I bought it for somewhere around $10. Well worth it.

I think my best bet is to try and sell them for what I have into them or at least close to it. They worked when I bought them but I wanted to replace some of the parts that looked weathered. In hindsight I should have just bought the longer booms and used them for a few years. I had the itch to buy downriggers but should have figured out what I really wanted first.

I am throwing in the towel. The downriggers work but not sure if I want electrics anymore. I dumped over $325 into them by buying 2 new telescoping booms, 2 new switches, 2 new breakers, 4 new boots, 2 new power cables, 6 new rod holders. If you were to have your choice between new Big Jon Silver Packs or Cannon Unitroll 10's which would you choose? Why? Thanks.

I noticed Lord of the Riggers had 12" used Gimbal Mounts his website.

It's crazy expensive to start from scratch but it will be worth it. I remember fishing with my dad out of Oscoda in the 80's. We didn't catch a bunch of fish but those are the best memories that I have.

I hope this isn't a silly question. Do you use the 3M product to just coat the screws/bolts or the item you are mounting? I am putting two 6" Bert's tracks on the back of my boat to install pedestals in for a trolling bar. Thanks.

I would like to read the follow up story that spells out a plan to address the issue. After reading the article I am left with the feeling that biologists, NOAA, and the DNR are taking an "is what it is attitude."

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for the HDS-5? I've been looking at them for a year but can't seem pull the trigger.

I just received custom pedestals for a trolling bar from Bone Collector Rod Holders. The company is in North Carolina. Awesome product and prices.

Thanks, Jason. Franks is on the way to my parents house up north. I will take a look the next time I head up. Did you use super braid for your dipsey rods? If so, what pound test?

Thanks everyone for helping out. I think I was making it out to be a bigger problem than it is. I found the cannon motor power cords for $19 each.