Treblemaker

That's the first step Frank, admitting you have a problem. I bet the walleyes feel safer now.

Thanks for the report Jim. Great job on the fish.

Hammer down Frank! Great job again.

Great job guys, it's great to fish with those who taught us and return the favor. Looks like you had a good day.

Copper is too soft for a diver line. Also it is too thick, mono would be a better choice with it's strength diameter ratio. Spool up with 1000' 30# 7 strand wire for your wire diver rig and you'll be all set. Wire is the hottest rig on the boat last couple weeks.

Thanks for the trip Terry and great fishing with you too Mike. Terry was a great host and did what was needed to get us the fish we had. It was slow out there, but we kept at it and caught some real nice kings. Good to hear the drags peeling again too. Thanks again guys!

Looks like about 2 footers. http://spyglasshill.com/Webcam/Default.htm

FYI the Muskegon Salmon Shootout is going on this weekend Fri-Sun, perhaps that is why the reports are lean. Fishsniffer look me up this fall/winter to chase eyes on Muskegon Lake. I sold my boat, but always looking to get out and chase walleye. I just realized this thread was a couple weeks old.

Great job guys putting your friends safety first and getting him to help. Glad he is ok too.

Ken, there are a couple differences between high and low divers. With the deeper diver set to 1.5 you can safely run a high diver say with a regular diver and ring on 3 without any interference between them in a perfect world. If you are targeting deep you can set them on 1 and 2 respectively. The Mag divers work well for this. A high diver is just that and is intended to run higher in the water column and expand your spread. There is nothing bad about a high diver running high to pull fish into your spread, I like a slide diver for this application too. Running just a low wire diver 200+ back you can get into a deep copper pretty easily especially with a big fish on the wire, which is why a lower setting is preferred for running real deep. If you ran it back on 3 out 200 plus you end up way out to the side which can create havoc with a copper and core program so it is a balancing act. You generally should set the diver angle to run between the riggers and core in a vertical sense. Then there is your rigger leads. A long lead or SWR can easily get into a diver as well in current and in turns. Even a slider can hook on to a released diver so it is important to get a good visual in what you are doing down there to avoid tangles. Also it matters what you are pulling. A large flasher and fly will pull harder than a spoon, so that will pull the diver back and require a steeper angle or more line to achieve the same depth. Then speed and debris will add pull to your spread. While slowing down the pull is lessened and it will dive deeper. Care must also be taken letting these rigs out. If you let out 200# quickly it's bound to get into something. Get it started, place the rod into position and let it out slowly to depth under a semi loose drag. That way it will ride the angle into position and less likely grab another line and tangle on the way out. Let's try again on Saturday.

Got to set them right, and send them out slow so they run out and down, not falling straight back. Also what you are running matters some, and the fleas sure do make a mess of the braided divers. I think you would have been fine running the braided high diver without the fleas being around on Sat.

Good thread, we love fish porn.

Thanks guys, I only hope that it helps fill the roster for the event and the donations continue to support these guys. They are the real hero's along with everyone who participates. Let's get entered and paid up to help the organizers out! Let's thanks the sponsors too, without their support this thing probably wouldn't happen. You don't hear enough about companies with people like this going above and beyond to help the kids and a worthy cause supporting our outdoors.

Perch! Now that's what I'm talking about! Thanks for the report Terry.

Congrats Gramps!

No plug in? No fish cooler? No fishing poles.

Two in favor.

Thanks guys, a good fishing long weekend was just what I needed. Mike, the fog was thick early, but the lightning right at the start 6:45 was what scared me. We motored slowly south from the pier heads and within 10 minutes the storm passed and the fog all blew onshore. Anyone else see that cool dragon shaped cloud in front of Port Sheldon on Sat am? That was cool looking, but the captain would not stop to let me take a pic. LOL

Fished with TGAfish on his boat, Matt, and Karl Wed night 7-10 pm and we got 9 fish I think, mostly small kings and a few lakers. 165 fow was best we ended up a little south of the stacks. Riggers 40-60 down were best mag blue/green dolphin. Copper with Stingray NBK, mag green Jamaican sunrise, 3 color yellowtail mag took fish. Got half before the sun went down and action picked up the last half hour after the sun went down. Thanks Tom for a fun trip. Thursday am I fished with Fishinfox and the two of us boated 12 fish a little north of the stacks in 180-230 fow, we kept 6 kings and 3 lake trout. One of the kings went 18.5 lbs on the scale. Carmel dolphin on 150-225 copper, NBK on 300' copper, blue veggie on the riggers 40-60 down was good. Got a lake trout program working near the bottom too as we marked bait and fish scattered around down there. Friday I fished with Brian on his new 26' Seaswirl with my wife and some ladies in the GHOC ladies tourney. The heavy rain, winds, and lightning kept us close to port in GH 180-230 fow. We boxed a 13 lb king, a laker, and a couple small kings, and a few steelhead before the girls turned green on NBK on the 300 copper and a green prism flasher green fly 150 back on the wire diver. We finished up in the mud in 40 fow and boxed our 5th fish for our box to weigh in the relatively calm water, and broke one off. green prism flasher green fly 55 back on the wire diver took one, bumble bee on the 1 color 30 down took the other hit. We finished 8th out of 22 boats out of the money. Saturday we fished the GHOC tourney in front of Port Sheldon in 180-230 fow again and got our 12 fish by noon with half of them on our lake trout program and threw back 3 undersized lake trout. Carmel dolphin on the 150-225 copper, NBK on the 300 copper, MTN dew flasher fly and green prism flasher/green fly 160-200 back on the wire diver. Blue veggie 45-60 down helped us finish up our box. Had 3 bigger kings on, but they all got off including a big laker that got off at the net. A slow day for most left us in around 7th place after day one. Sunday was a much better day as we got our 12 fish and threw back 2 undersized lakers by 10:30 am on the same program as Sat. No big fish Sun on or lost, a few coho, steelhead, and kings. We ended up finishing 11th place in the money, and got bumped by a few guys that got 2-3 nicer kings on Sunday. Congrats to everyone who did well, and thanks Tom and crew for some great days fishing. Now is the time to get out there, there are some bigger fish moving in around 140-170 fow right now. Nice seeing everyone this weekend, already looking forward to next year.

One consideration I learned is that the treble gaps should always be wider than the widest part of the spoon. This way if the fish bites the metal spoon itself the hooks will bite in instead of pulling through that fishes mouth. If you hold the treble against the widest part of the spoon it is easy to see if it is wider or not. Another thing I learned is that there is a right way and a wrong way to put a hook on a spoon. Once the new hook is ready to go on to the split ring make sure the dual hook end goes toward the cup of the spoon. If the single point goes towards the cup, the spoon will not swim as designed, and it will dampen the action of the spoon. Or so I have been told...

We had a slow bite Thur and landed 3 dinks. We fished north 90-150 fow and rigger 240 back with white 10" paddle pickled sunshine took 2, and copper blue dolphin took the other. Friday we went farther north and took some nice rips, boated a couple kings, coho, and a couple lakers. 3-5 colors did best stingray NBK and orange crush mag did well. Diver 160 back had a breakoff and another good rip with a tin can green mirage fly. Copper 150 took a nice with rip blue dolphin too. Sat I cant believe we didn't fish. Sun was 6-10' waves in the 20' LUND. We motored north to our waypoints but the kings were gone. We got a small coho, 22" laker, and a 6 lb steelhead with a similar program as Friday. We never heard the call to cancel the tournament, waves must have been over the antenna. We got a call pulled lines and motored in 14 minutes late and ended up in the way negative points instead of 14th place. Not much we could do about that. Congrats to the winners and the guys who got it done Sunday under brutal conditions. Nice meeting you guys at the ramp SG and congrats on the big king too.

I just signed on to the team as a press correspondent and am really excited to be a part of this tournament. All proceeds will go to Benefit For Kids, a non-profit organization that was founded in 1998 with its' primary mission to grant the outdoor wishes of children with life threatening and life limiting illnesses. Here is a link to their website. http://www.b4k.org/ These folks work hard to give these kids a chance to do things in the outdoors that they may never have had the chance to otherwise. Things outdoor related that many of us do regularly like fishing and hunting, and often take for granted. Also this tournament and it's organizers are working hard to make this a fun event to ensure that everyone has a good time and everyone catches fish. The sponsors are continuing to pour in to support this tournament and the raffle prizes are awesome! If you appreciate what these companies are doing to support this tournament and cause, please let them know about it! Tim Stein

When we are fishing tournaments in 4-8' waves we use rubber bands to hold the board on, but other than that we have had no issues. A speed bead above the lure would be good insurance. If the release is set right and you keep getting releases then I would replace the release. We use 30-50# superlines with no issues. Also with the older boards with the open cell foam insert I would replace the foam insert as well. On the keel setting issue most of ours are set to -0- or mid scale. If we are running 12+ cores or copper we will adjust the keel forward to keep the boards running even. If a board is running too far back, adjust the keel forward and the board will move ahead in the spread. Move it back and the board will drop back too. It is much easier to read the boards when you have multiple boards per side and they are in a nice line.

Beautiful mount Free Spirit, that fish looks alive! St Joe a couple weeks ago Manistee 2001 Holland 2002 Portage, IN 2004 Port Sheldon 2006

Ken an overhand loop knot or Homer Rhodes knot works well for wire termination. Use a snap swivel with a solid or welded ring so the wire does not get caught in the split ring. Also put a spring or surgical tubing and bead above the swivel to keep the line tight and reduce curls and the dreaded kink. If you get a kink cut it and retie immediately.