1mainiac

Still plenty of time to vote and or offer suggestions.

Still plenty of time to vote and or offer suggestions.

Still plenty of time to vote and or offer suggestions.

I agree with Ryan you could not pay me to put one of them on my boat. Bags are cheap and provide many options buckets are even cheaper and can do the same thing without giving up engine thrust which helps you maintain boat control.

The only upside to the sliding J plug harness is if you rig it so it can slide up away from the hooks. Most people use a snap swivel to attach them so they can't really slide up. I only use Silver Horde plugs and have a bunch of J Plugs to get rid of since they have not been wet in years.

I started fishing Lake Michigan in the late 60's with my uncle in a 14ft Starcraft with mostly home made gear. We used to carry 3 tanks of fuel one to get out one to fish and one to get back in most days we only used two but had to use the third a few times. You have to pick your days but people run 20 to 30 miles out on the Gulf in 20ft boats all the time. My BIL still fishes lake Michigan in a 14ft FBD uses his 14 a lot as well. Size of boat does not always make you safer knowing your abilities and boat and watching the weather is what makes you safe. Other than a few SAR runs in the Coast Guard the worst weather I have ever fished in was in my uncles 14ft. I am not going to tell you to make a long run in your boat because we do it you have to decide what you and your boat can do. I will say if I wanted a trophy Laker I would head to Superior and fish Stannard rock. Add in the fact the lakers in Lake Superior are much better fish than we have down here.

These are what I went to after lightning took out one of my LED spreaders a year ago. They are cheap and 2 of them in flood pattern make it daytime in the boat any time I hit the switch. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-27W-12V-24V-LED-Work-Light-FLOOD-Lamp-Tractor-Truck-SUV-UTV-ATV-Offroad-/350940371131?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item51b5ad18bb&vxp=mtr I paid nearly 5 times as much for the old ones and only one still works side by side you cannot tell the old ones are on when these are on and the old ones were pretty bad a$$. I am getting another set for my truck for driving lights.

Since we have votes for a new points system would those who voted that way like to make a suggestion as to what your idea is?

There is both good and bad in any points system for me the reason we changed was to match the WMFL so we could do heads up challenges that has not happened. We get some pretty nice browns up here so giving 20 points to a 15 lb brown hurts. We have not seen a lot of big lakers so cutting the points on them serves little purpose as well. If I had to make a new points system i would consider 10 for Salmon and Lake trout and 15 for Steelhead and Browns that however is just me and I have not discussed this with Don. Which is why I use I instead of we. Based on current thoughts I would say it is likely we will make a change and probably will go back to 10 per fish again nothing has been decided just something to talk about during winter.

Personally I would go the I Pilot route on a small boat and get dual purpose out of it. I don't know that anything is going to solve all the issues of a small light boat since every condition other than calm and flat is going to be tough to maintain control.

Might as well do one more poll so here it is. Neither Don or I are happy with the Port Championship so we are looking for suggestions. We have not had a chance to sit down and go over all of our options but to me I only see a few choices. There are of course several options in those few choices but we can discuss them as we go. You will note as in the poll about boundaries I am not voting I do have a opinion but don't want to color yours with mine just yet. Last year we made a change to make the port championship a stand alone entry for the prize money. With my boat being down for the season we had 4 boats enter and only 3 actually fish. So from my personal perspective it was just a contest to see who got the most of my entry fee LOL. That is not the issue believe me I was OK with the money but not OK with no one entering. So we need to find a way to have more people fishing in it. So these are not the only options but a rough outline.

Something else from my list of suggestions that has been mentioned so it is in a poll for you guys to consider. Is the issue of fishing boundaries some tournaments have them some don't the question is if we are a Muskegon fishing tourney or a fully open tourney. As such I am going to offer some suggestions for everyone to consider. This again is something suggested to me and as such I am using this in the first person singular because even though Don and I have discussed this we have not agreed to it there fore it is just a suggestion for your consideration.

We would like some input on our Points system. The options are simple 1. Change nothing 2. Return to old points 10 per fish plus weight 3. Try something different

Got my TT email and Jul 12th is Muskegon so that date won't work. Both Jun dates and Aug dates are ok if we want or do we want to try the 5th of July?

Personally I will be going back to big boards for my long copper setups. I will stick with small boards for my short core and copper and the boards will be setup with OR 16 on the back and a release on the front. I am still a fan of the Z boards and Yellow Bird style boards because I can tune them to run as I want them to. My setup is clearly not for everyone but it works well for me.

Funny on mine it gives the phone info and says from tapatalk

It works

First off this is only a suggestion topic Don has also mentioned going back to 10 points a fish period and I also agree with that since the reason we changed points to begin with was to have a way to do a multi-port championship with the WMFL This has not worked out so we will likely return to our old point system. This is not a announcement of changes but a discussion of ideas to improve the tourney. Any or all of the dates listed can be changed it was just a starting point for discussion based off our past dates. We have not set a date for our meeting for next years tourney yet but perhaps we will have it sorted out by the end of Jan. I don't make the rules I make suggestions or in some case such as the boundary idea I pass them on I am not in favor of having a boundary as far as i am concerned as long as you leave Muskegon in your boat and return in your boat on time I am fine with things. If you want to burn the gas go for it if you want to have a jet pick up you and your boat and fly you to wherever I really don't care. Well that might be extreme LOL. The point of this is it is winter and we need something to talk about and a way to hear what you guys think and want. I want to see 20 to 40 boats in every tourney with guys having fun.

Well Turkey day is behind us I already have Silver Horde returning as a sponsor. So it is time to get plans together for next season. I have a tentative schedule for everyone to consider and we have to plan a board meeting to go over everything. I personally don't think we need any rule changes but I am always open to suggestions. I would like to see more boats in the port championship race this year so we may need to modify that. I am also wondering if we need to set boundaries to keep it more of a local event and tighten the competition. I am thinking Holland as a south boundary and Pentwater as a north boundary. Here is what I penciled in for a schedule for next season. May 3rd Blood Run Open May 24th Silver Streak Open June 14th Big Papa Open June 28th Fish Hawk Open July 12th Pro Troll Open July26th Big Weenie Contest Aug 9th Silver Horde Open Aug 23rd Church Tackle Open You may notice I stuck a extra date in there for June it was just a thought and would give everyone another weekend to fish LOL. It also gives us nore room for any make up dates if we have bad weather but I have been pretty lucky at picking good fishing days so far. Not always able to get the fish to show up but at least we have had good weather. Most of us fish every weekend anyhow so might as well have a contest so we can show off our fish or laugh at each other for our failures LOL. As always we are welcome to new ideas please feel free to make suggestions.

Keeps the boat balanced other wise they fish in circles LOL.

I talked with a CO there 2 years ago and he told me that because of the break in the wall for the Coast Guard boats they considered the entire stub pier section part of Lake Michigan. The other side however would require you to be past the beach. And that may only be one C O's viewpoint.

That is Revmike from MS website and they are fishing in Muskegon in front of the old Coast Guard station.

We went 4 for 6 in Muskegon today kept 2 steelhead and a small king we found dead when pulling lines explains why the rod stopped firing LOL. Best water was 120 ft straight out. Beach combed for 3 hours to start the day zero fish. Headed west got a hit in 110 Steelhead lost at back of boat. Went west til we hit the nets then southwest to get around them to about 160 no takers and fish thinned out so turned around and trolled back in to call it a day changing baits found a shaker and released it no skunk LOL. 5 color with a black spoon fired in 125 netted a 4 lb Steelhead. 125 copper fired in 110 no idea it pulled like a truck then split. made a loop back thru and rigger 30 down fired with a glow tail netted a 6lb Steelhead agreed to make one more pass and gave up pulled lines to find a small dead king on the port rigger 3 in the box and headed home. Still better than working LOL.

I went from 4 down to 2 several years ago I don't miss them at all. However it really depends on how you fish. I will not combat fish so the extra riggers were nearly always in the way. If my boat was setup different I would run 3 but I have no place for a center rigger so I leave it open. If I want another deep rod I put a torpedo diver on my braid rod and send it down the shoot can get it down 90ft pretty easy. It is also easy to move to net a fish. By mid August i am chasing steel out deep so long lines are my bread and butter.

one of my fav things to do is drift the scum line with my fly rod not always productive but is a blast.