bluedevil

Those look pretty sweet Dan, be sure to let us know how they work... On a side note, do you tie your line to the split ring that comes with the Do-Jiggers or remove them? Also, what about that plastic attractor on the hook split ring, use it or loose it?

Its good to see that the fishing is picking back up. Good job Dan.. Did you go south like you were talking about before?

Thanks for the update Dan, and please let us know about your finding's. And dont worry, I will hang onto those GPS numbers for now, but if they dont pan out I will be posting them on every website in MI so you can have some company while fishing.... (just joking of course.)

Oops, guess I should have clarified that in my first post. I always go by my probe speed. Actually I use a combination of 3 things--#1 is my probe, #2 is blow back on the riggers and bend in the dipsy's, and #3 is GPS speed. All three of those things are constantly in the back of my mind when trolling and I take a mental note of all that when a fish hits so I can duplicate or adjust if need be. I am a speed freak when trolling:lol:. It has to be just right and if its not catching fish I am constantly playing with the speed. Nick, When we going to Higgins... Sent ya a pm awhile back about it. I might try and get up there wed or thur.

We were using dead rods with Genz Worm's but I see our mistake now. When fish showed up on the Lowrance we would continue jigging but toned it down to just a "wiggle". Thanks for the tip Dan and I will be trying it next time out.

I mainly run Silver Streak lures in both mag and regular sizes. I run the mag's any were from 2.3-3.0mph (which would be about 2.0-2.6 knots) and the standard's at the lower end of those speeds. I have not ran many Northern King spoons so I cant really compare the two, just always preferred the Silver Streaks.

Thanks Mike, I will give it a try...

I used some dielectric silicone that I got from work and put it on the seal and threads. I am thinking it is coming in from where the wires go into the back of the housing. I used some underwater puddy and it hardened up real good but I am thinking that it did not seal/bond well around the cable.

Fished the bay yesterday and either the fish were just not bitting or I need to learn more on how to catch them out there. We left from Erickson Rd and set up in 21fow. We fished from 11AM till dark and never had a bump. Marked a few fish on my Lowrance but they would just come in to take a look and leave.. We tried just about every lure we had and could not get them to bite. I also got to try out my homemade underwater camera out there and it worked great.............For about 5min. Discovered I have a leak somewhere in the camera housing. Not sure what happened cause I tested it on a local lake down to 40' for about 30min and there was no leak then. Hope to have the problem solved before the next trip.

Never heard of that one. I like it.... Come mid day when the fishing slows down you will probably end up with alot of "CLEAN" spoons.

I have a buddy that has duel rod holders made out of PVC for his cannon downriggers that have lasted him many years. As for the cold weather factor would using a harder PVC, like schedule 40 or something, be better or worse? On a side note and speaking of Cannon riggers and plastic, my very first riggers were brand new Cannon manuel Uni-trolls and I had nothing but problems with the plastic parts on them. Duel boom mount rod holders broke once, boom tip broke twice, even had the plastic housing break once right were the boom connects to the housing and dang near lost 2 poles, split right in half. Most of these issues was in early spring when temps were cold. Sold those and went with Big John's.

Just out of curiosity, how does the planner boards react with adding dive bombs? Meaning do they still track relatively the same and plane away from the boat or do they "lag" behind more since you are adding more wait and drag.

I think I was about 10 years old (mid 80's) my first time out and hated it cause I get sea sick. I tried it a half dozen other times over the next 15 years and the experience got better but would still get sea sick. In 01' I bought a new boat to mainly fish inland lakes but was talked into rigging it up for salmon fishing and was skeptical due to the sea sickness but with all the concentration of the things going on in your own boat kept my mind off the motion and then finally hooking, fighting, and landing a fish on my own boat I was hooked for life. Never been sick again and have been on other boats with no problems. So not including the sea sick years I have about 7 years fishing Lake Michigan and the occasional Rogers City trip on Huron.

Very unfortunate indeed. It is a scarry feeling knowing how many things a bad economy can effect. Its also scarry to know how much we have become to rely on the all american.... PIECE OF PAPER.

In my opinion you have become a seasoned fisherman when you're body gets to old and just wont let you get out there anymore. I have been fishing with my own boat on the big water for 7 years and by no means consider myself a seasoned veteran, experienced maybe but always learning and willing to help. I think it is a continues learning process no matter how long you have been fishing. Whether we realize it or not I think we learn something new on ever trip. Best advice I can give to someone starting out salmon fishing is to ask questions on these forums (no matter how silly the question may seem) and attend some of the league tourney's. I have learned alot this way and most of us are willing to go out of our way to help and we are ok with it. We were all there ourselves at one point and someone has helped us so we are just paying it forward.

Robert, How big of a boat do you have? Manistee has a very nice ramp and should accommodate your boat. I have friends that have 28' and 30' boats and they launch there. There are many types of planer boards out there. If your looking to save a little $$ I would look into Yellow Bird in-line planer boards. They work well but don't like ruff water. I prefer Off Shore in-line boards. They still have there limit in ruff water but track well. One more thing I forgot to mention is speed. On most days the slower the better. I try and keep around 1.5-2MPH. At those cool temps fish are not likely to chase fast moving bait's.

Thanks for the reports Dan. So just how are the ice conditions(crack's)? I am hoping to make it over that way either wed or thur.

Any word on how many nets are going to be in the Manistee area this year? And what about any info for the rest of the Lake?

Well this will vary as to what port you will be fishing out of but I mainly fish Manistee and as soon as the ice is out, start fishing. The Northern ports in early spring the target is going to be Browns and Steelhead. The way southern ports it can be a mixed bag of just about anything (kings, coho, browns, and steelhead). As the water warms the fish will move north. King's usually dont get to Mansitee untill late April early May. I cant comment on water depth in the southern ports (never fished them) but near Manistee/Ludington the mouth of the Pier can produce fish but I find running the shallows along the shoreline better. I will troll on average 5-10' of water. The key is to get your planer boards in tight. I have caught many fish with my planerboard less than 5' from shore. If the water is calm and clear I like to have a guy watching off the bow looking for hole's or trough's and I will run my boards over top of them. Not having a fish finder is fine when fishing this shallow but I HIGHLY recommend something to monitor surface temp. The warmer the water you can find the better. Just a 1/2 to 1 degree increase can make a difference. If there is heavy boat traffic in the area the fish will spook out of there. If you find an area that you are catching fish in and other boats start showing up and you find the fish "shut down", try moving out a little deeper. You may have to adjust you presentation also, like deeper running crank baits, I have also had luck with running spoons with just 1 color of lead.

Frank, Just how accurate are the contours to do this? I cant say how many times I have almost run up onto sand bars when fighting fish. Buy the time the depth finder alarm goes of and the boat reaches my "pucker factor" range, the bow of the boat is nearing paint loss.. This would especially come in handy with rookies driving the boat.....See that 10' contour line on the GPS? Follow it but stay outside of it..

WHOA way to much information there Frank.....:rotflmao: That is a really good idea though. Instead of selling spoons that dont get much use and loosing $$, just upgrade them..

11,13,14,21,23,26, and 30 have been good spoons for me.. #23 has been a really good spoon in the past. One of these days I need to do the same thing. I have SO many spoons on board that I hardly ever run..

Boy I had to read that 3 times before I understood it.. I would say yes you could do that but I think you would have to add a twirly(sp?) tip to that rod as the lead core can break at the rod tip if it is not protected. Here is one of the lead core king's that kicked my but...

Aqua view does make a rigger kit...http://www.aquavu.com/Aqua%7B48%7DVu-Cam-Rigger-Kit/1/ Biggest problem I think is going to be the camera's cable with blow back and realing it back up.

Just wondering if there is a market out there for an underwater camera for "your downrigger". I know Walker has them but you have to use there riggers but I personally dont like em and I know many of the other members here have there favorite downriggers. My question is... 1...Would you purchase one that worked on your riggers? 2...What would be a resonable price range for you? 3...What feature's would be most important to you? 4...What feature's would you like to see avoided?