1mainiac

6PM works for me I would rather sleep in on the weekends and avoid the crowd.

I have had perch hit a mag spoon while trolling so there must be something about what looks like a big easy meal. The second issue is the same as running flasher fly combos and that is after the alewives spawn they move back out deep and we have smaller ones around which is when I go to smaller spoons, if the fish are hitting my flies I run standard or mini spoons. Also when my mag spoons are getting pounded I usually pull my flies and run something else like a big plug.

3.0 or better at the ball for salmon never put the probe down fishing for Steelhead hardly use it for salmon anymore. Blowback is not the concern people think it is with 15lb balls yes it looks like your cable is going a long way back and the balls do climb a bit when going fast but really the difference between going 2.0 and 3.5 might lift the ball a foot if that. clearly when you speed up the ball will swing back and up however once your speed settles it is right back where it was. My GT 40 cannot tell the difference between 100 down at 2.0 and 100 down at 3.5 it still says that ball is at 90 ft down because it reads in 5 ft increments.

Sound Off Signal 500 lumen flood lights are what I use bright as daylight and low amp draw.

I run Pro Troll paddles and BW paddles I have some Spin Doctors but seldom run them. What I have used as a rule of thumb is what I am fishing for such as Coho and Steelhead run smaller stuff.

Terry the only issue with that is it makes it tough to find a location to run the event. Pretty much means it can only be done at larger Marina's. What I would prefer to see is unified rules every event use the same rule book and have a sanctioning body to oversee the fishing portion all Pro Boats get a observer from the sanctioning body not swap team members. Top 10 Am boats get a observer on day 2, observer must remain with the cooler until weigh in open radio both classes. Observers log every fish with a time stamp on a notepador a smart phone, picture optional but prefered. My other idea would be to mount GPS camera's on all boats then they could turn in the memory card with the cooler no edits allowed no one see's the footage till next day so no cheating.

Lots of guys have accuesed me of speeding up when a fish is on and sometimes I actually have LOL. usually I don't change speed or direction when fighting a fish because I want to keep the pressure on the fish. We have had fish where all bets are off and we pull gear and get them in but it is seldom and usually involves a tangle.

My idea is it is a big chunk of water the faster I go the more fish have a chance to find my lures. Salmon can hit your lure at speeds up to 30mph which is why some of the hits are so explosive. Salmon also don't like to waste energy so when they go after food they want it in them as fast as possible. Going slow gives them time to look it over and decide going faster means they must choose and hit it now or they have to waste energy folllowing it. Yes I know some guys do real good going slow and pounding the bottom and often are rewarded with some big fish. One of the guys I fish with is old school about it and he was banging bottom on a recent trip on my boat what he does not know is we were doing 4mph and yes he got a very nice king around 15lbs doing it. I did slow down to 3 while he was fighting it. The 20lb King that took big fish in our last tourney was taken at 3.6mph. The 26lb king I got 2 years ago was at around 3 so going fast does not mean small fish to me it means more fish per hour get to see my lures.

SO I was right to stay home this weekend and not fish the Muskegon tourney. I nearly went to the captains meeting on fri and signed up but then said to heck with it and stayed home. On another note if we had 50 boats in the MSCST at 30 bucks ea would pay 400 for 1st 300 for 2nd 200 for 3rd and 100 for 4th with 250 for big fish and 250 in the port championship fund. We fish 3 man DNR rules and you weigh your best 6. just a one day fun event you guys should all try.

The odd thing to me is my uncle is a comercial fisherman in AK since the 60's and has caught literally millions of Salmon even in semi retirement on his small boat he considers 40 fish to be a slow day and he never trolls below 4 kts. Even when sport fishing with rod and reel they either go fast or sit and jig. Me I grew up fishing lake Michigan and was trained early on with the 1.8 and straight crowd. However the last 5 years I have been going fast and when it don't work I usually go faster for me Salmon speed is around 3mph and Steelhead speed is from 3.5 till the lures won't stay in the water.

Nothing wrong with it I doubt you could even taste any differance in the dark. Most Atlantic Salmon have white meat and most Pacific Salmon have red meat. They say it has to do with the Krill that west coast Salmon eat but no one actualy knows for sure that I have ever heard from. There are resturants that pay extra to get white meat salmon because it is special for them. On the other hand there are people who eat lots of things I won't so it takes all kinds.

Lot more Skamania in the system plus Steelhead come from multiple gene pools. Also there is a thought process that much of the meat color is due to diet and other factors. I have caught Kings with white meat many times over the years.

I don't think speed matters much most days all of the big fish on my boat this year have been at around 3.0 or better. I watch my divers and if they are pulling where I want I just leave it there. I have always trolled fast and we get our share of big fish. The biggest thing I find going faster is we get way more Steelhead than when I used to stick to 2.0 when I slow down I get lakers and Kings when I speed up I get Kings and Steelhead I don't like Lakers so it is a no brainer for me.

Thanks Mark it is only my 4th trip on my boat this year and we are at 54 fish so far on it, So it is not a bad average trip wise wish it had been ready early but had to wait till I could afford to get it out.

Fished the same area we have been fishing all year except for one trip. Not a lot of big fish tonight mostly Steelhead. fished from 6 to 10 PM 14 for 17 11 Steelhead 3 Kings best Steel around 9 lbs best king a little over 10 was a very nice night on the water but I think we were too deep for the bigger kings. 200 copper and 100 and 125 all took the most fish one on a wire diver and a couple on riggers. Donated a 15lb ball and gear to the fish Gods broke off a 200 copper but got it and the board back will try and detangle it later.

clearly the one the has the most points when it is over. Weigh 5 is making it more like a Bass tournament I don't want to fish in a Bass tournament if I did I would own a differant boat and fishing gear. Catch 10 weigh 5 is allowing better teams to cull 5 fish and worse teams to cull none. Personally I would rather see a 2 or 3 man limit and weigh em all then you can see who catches fish rathar then who culls the best. The entire idea of giving points and bonus points per fish depending on event has made it no longer about the best overall box. Kinda like NASCAR making everyone drive nearly identical cars has made the race more about pit stops and timing than actual racing. In the end it comes down to points not racing.

When Don and I started the MSCST we had similar but slightly different ideas so our first year was kinda rough. We sat down and made some changes and decided to concentrate on keeping it fun. My original goal was to be a summer long boot camp to let guys fish big event rules when we started. We also had some miscomunacation between us which we had to sort out. So our second year came with a number of changes keyed on keeping it fun and leveling the playing field. As such we kept the 3 man DNR team rules for fishing and went to a 6 fish weigh in with a sliding points scale for fish. This had led to guys learnig to find the right fish to win and it is tough to just get 6 kings and win because Steelhead and Browns are more points per fish. Most years you have fish completely differant water for each fish, this year well you can get nearly anything in the same pass like the 15lb Brown caught on a 3 color in deep water last week. The big differance is we are a 30 dollar entry event and we run all summer long with a prize for season points total so in the end you still get to see who the better fishermen are because you have to do well at all the events to win the points championship.

My setup is a bead then a 3in piece of surgical tubing then the swivel the tubing covers the knot and makes a shock absorber when you reel the bead up to the tip roller. Everyone is told to reel it all the way to the bead every time or they don't get to play with my wire rods anymore. I am sorry but I bought the boat I bought the gear so I don't care how you do it on your boat with your stuff I know how my gear works best. Does this mean I am not open to new ideas no but it does mean some of them may have already been tried by me. On the bright side we almost never break off any fish and have only had one break off this year so far and it was on a rigger rod.

Eric that is something I have argued for many times I like the idea of a Pro, Semi Pro and AM class kinda like the small boat division only limit it guys who want to fun fish. Maybe guys with deeper pockets can call entering a contest that will cost you close to a grand a fun fish event and yes we do have fun even when we lose but if your gonna dumb it down I will stick with the league tourneys we can fish all of them for less than one big event. Plus it is hard to convince a team to spend half of their summer fishing budget on one weekend that is not in AK.

As for me I would rather lose trying to catch a full box than win by getting 5 nice fish. More than once it has come down to the guys who can get all their fish. With a weigh 5 format it only comes down to finding the right group of fish since to me they tend to travel in small pods of 5 or so fish. and nearly every time we get a double both fish are close to the same size. However since I won't be there the rules really don't matter all that much to me. Really if I never fish another major tourney again I won't care.

That is why I got the Casio Commando it is water proof nice job on the fish though.

The only Fly I will buy and run out of the package is Big Weenie I build most of my own and buy supplies from Purple Taco and Big Weenie. Big Weenie is the sponsor for our next event which will be held in Muskegon now due to a change. I have tried nearly all of the brands mentioned and while they are all decent flies my issue has been getting cheap VMC hooks and Mono leaders with them. So the first thing I have to do is replace the hook and leader meaning I paid 5 bucks for some tinsel and beads that I can build for under a buch all day long. You can however order the Maniac Glow from Big Weenie and it flat out catches fish. Gary's joke with me is that this years event fly will be the Buttsniffer we will see what he sends me LOL. I also tie nearly all of my leaders on Gamma Flouro leader with Owner 4/0 Octipus hooks they stay sharp they don't break and fish can't spit them out.

Here are the current standings as I have them please correct any mistakes with Don or Me. MSCST current standings boat Blood Run Silver Streak Big Papa Big Weenie Pro Troll Total Fish Mael 99.85 144.7 127.05 371.6 Inreeltrouble 117.95 124.25 105.45 347.65 N II Deep 114.7 132.8 96.55 344.05 Fishsniffer 64.6 140 137.85 342.45 1 Mainiac 106.55 52.15 140.95 299.65 Double J 91.6 66.5 113.85 271.95 Drift 44.5 74.85 143.65 263 Hook Em Deep 102.6 141.95 244.55 High Seas 94.75 142.8 237.55 Fine Line 80.8 127 207.8 7 Mary 3 87.2 108.95 196.15 King Fish 63.4 132.1 195.5 Charles Angel 0 146.15 146.15 Ramble On 145.4 145.4 Just Cous 78.5 78.5 Five O 45.1 45.1

The start was great a nice breeze and roughly 1ft waves most of us headed north to fish and we setup in the mid 15's headed north in 80fow by 8am we were 8 for 9 including my 20lb king which took big fish. By 9:30 we were 10 for 13 and missing a planer board and a couple of lures that left with a huge fish well one of them with the fish and the other was on a slider. About 9 am the wind cranked up and the waves started building to a very sloppy 2 to 4 ft we took our last fish at 11:30 and pulled lines to go back for my planner board because we were sure we saw it while fighting the last fish. No luck on finding the board. High Seas took a 15lb Brown which was the best looking fish at weigh in and got them into 4th place. Charles Angel crew got the biggest box 86.15 and took 1st place very nice job guys. Ramble On also had a nice Brown and took second place very nice guys. Drift had a 19lb king and a nice 78.65lb box for 3rd nicely done guys. Here is the full results. Boat Name BIG FISH Salmon LAKER Steelhead Brown Total Weight Total Points Charles Angel 18.05 60 86.15 146.15 Ramble On 14.55 40 15 20 70.4 145.4 Drift 18.8 50 15 78.65 143.65 High Seas 14.8 20 45 20 57.8 142.8 Hook Em Deep 14.3 50 15 76.95 141.95 1 MAINIAC 19.95 40 30 70.95 140.95 Fishsniffer 14.7 40 30 67.85 137.85 King Fish 13.6 30 45 57.1 132.1 Fish Mael 11.8 20 60 47.05 127.05 Fine Line 12.1 20 60 47 127 Double J 6.15 10 75 28.85 113.85 7Mary3 14.9 30 30 48.95 108.95 Inreeltrouble 17.4 40 15 50.45 105.45 N II Deep 12 30 30 36.55 96.55 Just Cous 0 Five O 0

Scott Big Weenie Poofster behind a 11in Pro Troll UV board did most of the damage in fact it took 3 fish as fast as we could get it set and the last one hit it on the way down was still holding the rod I was thinking what the heck is wrong am I tangled up then the fish ran with it. Other than that nearly everything we had down at the time took a fish.