SeaCatMich

12 and 20# test Ande Tournament is my preferred choice but has been difficult to find at reasonable prices recently. Tried the Blood Run downrigger 20# last year and it worked well but didn't get out enough to really thoroughly.

Depending on what you are looking for, Northwoods Outlet in Pinconning is another place that is fun to go dig for stuff... and it is a lot closer to you.

I don't know yet. Still debating whether to try again. The 2013 entries were significantly below expectations and even with severly reduced payouts, resulted in $4000+ of unrecovered expenses. The late start on getting the word out was a major contributor but not sure if getting the number of entries needed is realistic. My being in the hospital for 3 weeks in late summer/fall didn't help either. Opinions would be appreciated.

Hydraulic opens up a lot of options. I have a Raymarine SmartPilot system and it is great. Works well for trolling and the runs in/out from port. I have it interfaced via NMEA to my GPS and can have it steer to a waypoint or even a series of waypoints. The newer models also have built in patters such as S turns, zig-zag, or circles around a waypoint... I have heard good things about the Garmin GHP-20 system too. Sounds like it does a great job with how we use them for big lake trolling. Simrad still makes a good unit too but have not heard much since they discontinued their lower end units a few years back. I installed all of the electronicscomponents myself but had Wolf's in Benton Harbor do the hydraulic pump and interface it to the steering. If you can do it yourself great, if not then I'd talk with whoever you would have do the install and to other people they have installed for. Make sure that the system they propose will do what you want. With hydraulic steering systems one of the main things in choosing the right system is to determine how big your steering RAM is. The RAM has to be matched to the pump size. If it is too small it won't pump enough hydraulic fluid to be able to keep up with steering changes. Each manufacture will have different pumps to match the RAM size.

Oh noooooo... they're gone Maybe there is an equivalent with Valentines Day hearts that we could break! Broken hearts... get it :D

Do you have hydraulic steering?

No, I made the mistake of doing that on my setup and it was bad. When you connect two batteries in parallel they become one big battery and should only have one charger lead connected. You could disconnect one of the lines between the batteries to isolate them when charging and have a charger line going to each battery. When the charger is not running having the leads connected will not make any difference -- just don't forget to uncouple the batteries before turning it on.

Having the batteries connected will not affect your electronics. The electronics are going to draw the amps they need to run -- having two batteries in parallel just makes one big 12v battery with twice the amp hour capacity. With the same load, double batteries will provide twice the running time. As for the charger, only hook it to one of the batteries in the pair. It will charge both of the batteries but will take twice as long. You will also want the batteries in the paring to be identical for best results. Both should be of the same size and of the same type (starting, combo, deep cycle). If they are of different capacities the larger one will only charge to the capacity of the smaller battery. Since starting batteries and deep cycle discharge differently you don't want to mix them in a parallel setup. I have a similar setup on my boat but I have two batteries in parallel for my electronics and a separate battery for each of my two 90 hp outboards. I charge the two batteries each night and they last the whole next day running all of my electronics (three Raymarine 7" displays, 1 GPS, 1 VHV, FishHawk X4, & Autopilot) for 8-12 hours. I run my electric downriggers off of the engine batteries as their draw is too high in my opinion to run off the house/electronics batteries.

I did some more research. The iPhone 5 GPS does not need cell or WiFi to work. If the cell or WiFi is available the phone gets a quicker fix It by using the network data to triangulate approximate location and know what satellites to look for. Without cell/WiFi it can take a while to get a satellite fix. As for showing your position on the maps, the standard maps the iPhone uses are not actually on the phone but need the cell or WiFi to get the actual map data dynamically loaded over the network. You can download maps to the phone though so that it does not need the network to show your position. Here is alink to a good discussion of GPS on the Apple Support Forums: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4288839?start=0&tstart=0 Here is a link to a list of GPS/mapping tools/apps that can be downloaded for the iPhone: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/download/Software-Mapping-And-GPS,0702-7125.html

Must be a very old iPhone or a setting is configured wrong. All iPhones newer than the 3G have A-GPS technology built in which will use cell phone towers and WiFi instead of or to supplement GPS satellites but it is a real GPS that does not require the other signals.

Sorry can't help with the chip for the Garmin, but your iPhone's GPS should not be dependent on a cell phone signal. Should work anyway.

I don't see any reason it shouldn't. They just bolt to the cavitation plate on the outdrive. That said, I wouldn't do the trolling plate. Used them for years back through the 70's and 80's. They do work but also cause issues and eventually you will mess it up by either leaving it down when you try to get on cruise or have it trip by mistake. While down, the plates also impede maneuverability of the boat. There are better alternatives. I would get a set of trolling bags to match your boat. In addition to slowing the boat they will also make the boat more stable in rougher seas by dampening the side to side roll of the boat. Bob at Big Papa Sportfishing makes great bags as do the guys at Amish Outfitters. Another option is to use a pair of rubber buckets on lines tied off to the mid cleats. This is what I use on my boat to give me a better RMP range when trolling. More or less "mini" trolling bags. Very fast to deploy or bring in. The buckets are available at farm stores and have a sturdy steel handle that has held up for 10+ years for me. At about $12 each it is a pretty economical option. They nest inside each other for storage and can be used as buckets to rinse down the deck when needed. I also have a set of Big Papa's bags that I use for getting the boat real slow or in a very fast following sea. I also use them as drift bags on Erie to slow down the drift -- but they are really the trolling bags. Another side benefit of the bags is that they can be used as a sea anchor to keep the bow of your boat into the waves if you loose power. Important to prevent getting swamped in heavy seas. http://www.bigpapasportfishing.com/trolling_bags.htm http://amishoutfitters.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1

I'm impressed that you have a Walmart that actually carries salmon trolling equipment. Lansing has 3 Walmarts and I don't think they have a viable bass or walleye reel in stock at any of them, let alone that you have a choice of models.

I too have gone to mostly the Silver Horde plugs and mainly the Ace High model. I actually started using the Silver Horde brand products back in the mid 70's with a special order to the manufacturer in Washington. They were the size 4 & 5s and had better color combinations than other brands. I have liked them better than the Luhr Jensen product ever since -- both the bead chain hook and fixed hook models. I have some of the upside down painted ones too from Angler's Avenue in Wisconsin -- I liked the concept of the reverse paint jobs but can't say that they did better than the standard top painted patterns as far as hits or size of fish. One of the reasons I like the Ace Highs is their speed tolerance over other styles. Like Jim/1Maniac I have been considering taking a whole lot of my J-Plugs to this year's swap meet. The only ones I like the J=Plug better for are the #5 florescent green and green laderbacks. I also have quite a few of the Grizzly and Lucky Louie plugs which unfortunately are no longer made -- sure wish they were because they work very well on BIG fish.

The virtual Christmas lights at the top of the GLF forum pages are GREAT!! I have my Windows Start bar at the top of my screen and when I first moved the cursor up to change windows/apps, I heard the shattered bulb sound. Took me at least two days to figure out what was going on. :grin: Not quite as good as the Elf Bowling game, but still fun. About every other visit I now go break them all at least one time... and they come back on the next screen! FUN! FUN! FUN! PS: Yes I'm entertained easily

It would be very hard for me to go back to the days prior to my boat having an autopilot. No experience with the Garmin model (but have heard it is very good). I have fished with quite a few guys (mainly walleye pro) with aluminum boats in your size range that also have kickers for trolling. Many of them have the TR-1 (now owned/produced by Garmin as the Gladiator) and for trolling it does a great job. More features than "regular" autopilots and can also do throttle control -- somethjing I wish my Raymarine AP could do. What the "regular" autopilots will offer is steering when you are under power and the kicker APs won't do that. The TR-1 also does not need hydraulic steering and almost all of the APs made for big engines do.

Sorry to report that since fish are cold blooded your heat seeking lure is probably going to find a lot of ducks, seagulls, boat exhausts and power plant discharges before finding a fish. :)

Wolf Lake Motel near Baldwin rents them (http://www.wolflakemotel.com/interest.htm#Snowmobile Rentals). Just need some snow! It is a lot further away but the Indian River area has lots of rentals and lots of nice trails... plus usually lots more snow.

Works for me too. One note though... be sure to logoff of GLF on the Tapatalk smart phone app. Just backing out of the app does not close it like closing a web browser page on a computer does. If you don't, the site believes you are active and have seen all of the new posts. When you get back to the PC browser view, the "New Posts" link will say there have not been any new posts. Technically there haven't been any new posts because if you have not logged out of the Tapatalk app, you have been logged into the forum the entire time.

I have had tracks on my boats for the last 15 years. Started with Tite-Loc but upgraded to Pursuit/Traxstech and Bert's on my previous boat. Have Traxstech now. Have run Big Jon Captain Packs, Vector, Big Jon Brutes, and now Traxstech riggers on Pursuit/Traxstech and Cannon pedestals with no issues caused by the balls which have been up to 16# Torpedo weights and mostly 12#ers. A 4' arm on a downrigger plus that weight will put a lot of torque on the base which gets transferred to the track and then the boat. You don't want the deck under the track flexing or the mounting bolts ripping loose when the downrigger is deployed with a heavy weight down 100'. The biggest thing to remember with tracks is to mount them securely to the boat. This means thru bolting and using fender washers and/or backing plates on the under side. The plates are especially recommended if the boat's mounting surface is not very thick. The one issue I did have was with the Cannon pedestals was when turning the outdown rigger to the side. The latch holding the swivel would not hold and the rigger would swivel to the rear of the boat. This happened quite a few times the one season I had the Cannon swivel bases. I had Vector riggers with 5' booms mounted to them at the time which are very heavy riggers and the long boom creates more torque on the swivel base than shorter lengths. I really liked the Cannon design but it was not as sturdy as the Traxstech which have not had the problem in 10 years of use with the same Vector riggers (before and after I tried the Cannons). I don't like the Bert's latch lever design so I have never tried them. As for different brands of tracks... all three (Bert's, Traxstech, and Cannon) are the same dimensions and all of the different components are interchangeable. The Tite-Loc tracks will also take the same components, but in my opinion the track isn't as strong as the other three brands. I have Cannon dual axis rod holders, Traxstech rigger bases, and Big Jon rod trees mounted on my Traxstech tracks. I prefer the Traxstech track because of the finish. it doesn't show the marks left by the set screws that hold the components in place on the tracks nearly as much as the other two. I also prefer Traxstech's all aluminum end caps over the lexan/plastic of the Bert's and Cannon products (and they are interchangeable between the various brands too).

Great old thread brough back from the dead! Nothing gets me going like a rod getting hit when trolling. Over the years I have learned to not run over people but nothing frustrates me more than when the rod goes off and no one goes for it. In second place is when I'm yelling "Fish On" and the person nearest doesn't react. Last summer one of my best friends and a couple others were out with me and the port stern rigger rod popped. I was already fighting a fish on a diver and I'm yelling "Fish On" and pointing. I think he went for every rod on the boat except the one that had the hit. Really funny and he really got ribbed about it for the next month. Tom is notorious for having directional issues but this was classic and every time I say "your other right" he knows exactly what I'm talking about. In my high school years I got the nickname of Rhino from my Dad due to my name but also because of how fast I went from being seated to a hit. One time we took my algebra and history teachers out with us off Manistee. They were both dozing in the jump seats in front of the stern riggers. When a rod went off I'd go right over the top of them. After about the third time one of them suggested that I really didn't need to get there quite that fast -- I disagreed . My college room mate was also a fishing nut and when we both got on the boat it was a real contest to see which one would get to the rod first. We were both in pretty good shape at the time but he out weighed me by a good 30#. I held my own getting to the rod first 3 out of every 4. I was just quicker. Fishing the shelf off the Bath House in Ludington one year I saw a rod pop on a boat going north as we were going south. I'm yelling fish-on and pointing at their boat/rod. I'm sure they thought I was nuts... but they weren't reacting and I HAD to help! If I ever stop getting excited on a hit, it will be time to sell the gear and take up gardening. Heck, I think I even yell when I'm out solo. I completely understand Mike Iaconelli's reaction to landing a bass. http://youtu.be/HluB1vPgH4U

The Big Jon pulleys that they use on the top of their planer board masts are $27 each. Fish307.com lists them (http://www.fish307.com/BigJonReplacementParts-KT3049-5SpokeTipPulleyw/SwivelRetainer.aspx). Basically these are what I used off the old riggers I had... and about the same cost. I might have a couple of them out in the spare parts box. If you think these would work, let me know and I'll go look. Would sell for a whole lot less than Fish307 (ie: cheap!)

If your boat has a spot to mount some pulley wheels higher than the rail to route the board line through before it heads out to the boards, it might help. That lets you mount the reels in a spot. that is easier to deploy/retrieve the boards from but still gain the height to keep the tow line out of the water. Like Frank says, the higher the line is on the boat the better. When I had my planners rigged on my walkaround cuddy with the pulleys it let me move the line about 3' higher than without the pulleys. While I could have mounted a mast on the bow, getting around the cabin was still difficult and not really safe -- creep/crawl around was probably a better description. I used pulleys from some old Big Jon riggers I got at a yard sale. The pulley mounting location also moved the attachment spot on the boat about 7' further forward on the boat which helps with getting the boards to also run further forward i the water relative to the boat. I used a gaff hook to pull the line down to attach the releases.

The problem with trying to control the carp through netting is that they are very difficult to net and from what I have read, it is especially with trawl nets. Trap nets or gill nets might work better but in my opinion we don't need more of nets the lakes. I still don't understand why the rivers where they are so high in population are not just poisoned and then desirable species reintroduced. If 95% of the fish in those rivers are the carp, there isn't much other fish life to protect. Apparently the carp are having trouble in many waters in their native range in Asia. Assuming the cause of the demise in Asia is not pollution (which could easily be) then why can't those same conditions be used here to eliminate/control them?