1mainiac

Other than running up and down the river jets are miserable to fish out of. The first time you have to dock it on a windy day you will hate it.

Cool Nick my issue is with the X5 and the area rep for Raymarine. The X5 was announced nearly 4 years ago and has been released and recalled several times. What sucks for me is I bought a boat based on a product Raymarine could not deliver yes I know there are a few of them that made it out to the market and guys that have them are happy with them. I really need to convert my boat to Hyd steering or get a different boat that has hyd steering.

When I bought my current boat I looked at it and others for well over a year because I wanted a AP and none of the boats I liked had it. I went back and took a second or third look at the boat and was told the new X5 Sportpilot was now shipping and they would install it on the boat if I bought it so I packaged in the AP and GPS fishfinder with the purchase. And could not wait to get my new to me boat on the water and fish. That was in Feb of 08 I was scheduled to get the boat April 10th. In March I was told there was a issue with the AP and delivery would be delayed till early April I told them to call me when the boat was ready and spent the next 40 days or so back and forth with Raymarine and talked to several people there who apparently could care less if I ever got my AP. Finally agreed to take delivery minus the AP in late April. I gave up in Late August and got the money back for the AP. There will never be any Raymarine equipment on any of my boats till they pay me to use it. If Garmin ends up buying them I might reconsider.

it's all part of a evil plot to drive you crazy. They hear you telling your buddies how hot the leadcore action was yesterday and hang a do not disturb sign on your lures LOL.

auto pilot won't catch fish however it is at the top of my list as it will save friendships and marriages. It will also let you fish shorthanded allow you to repeat trolls accurately the hours you don't spend untangling your gear alone will be worth it. It will let you fish rather than try and keep the boat on track. The day I can afford one it will be on my boat. Electric riggers are nice but manuals will help work off the beer you drink while fishing. LOL I have had my SNT probe for going on 6 seasons and use it less and less every year and very seldom is it down for long any more. As for a Kicker I have considered using my 40hp but would have to build a bracket and add the controls and honestly since I troll fairly fast have never had a issue using the main which has a much bigger charging system to keep the rest of the boat working. I have yet to see a kicker that has a charging system big enough to keep up with all the electronics on my boat esp the lights and riggers.

The only way to prevent blowback is to sit still, if you are trolling you will have blowback. Smaller frontal profiles will reduce blowback as such the Pancake weights have the least blowback but are prone to problems in cross currents. Honestly I would bet 90% of the people who have problems are in Aluminum boats as I used to have a lot of issues in mine as well. Blowback is not a huge issue having a light boat that changes course in wind and waves is the issue. I know lots of guys say they can tell where their balls are at because they can see them on the fishfinder but the truth is the sonar only tells you the distance from the sounder to the object not really it's true depth. If you are sitting still and you let your rigger down 90 ft it will show at 90 ft on the sonar as you put the boat in gear you will see it begin to blow back however the reported depth will remain the same because the distance from the ball to the boat has not changed. Perhaps this is different with the new 3d and side scan sonar units but with standard sonar it is a fact. Also depending on cone angle objects can appear deeper than they actually are. This is why you should run in dual freq mode when fishing so you can compare the marks and see the difference between cone angles since when you get into deeper water you can see the same object at different depths and objects that appear on your wide angle screen and don't on your narrow angle screen are likely above the reported depth.

We are looking forward to next years tourney series and will be making a some changes to the rules so if anyone has any suggestions they would like us to consider let Don or me know. First and most important we want this to be a fun event that is simple to understand so there won't be any complicated rules that we probably can't enforce anyhow. Things we are looking at changing Lower the fish scored from 10 to 6 no change in how many you can catch just how many you can weigh to tighten up the competition and so a single bad day won't put you miles behind in points. Modify the points per fish from 10 per fish to a sliding scale similar to the WMFL and other events similar to us. We will also be looking for sponsors and prizes for best fish in each category. We are going to change our check in and weigh in procedure to eliminate any issues there and still allow those who slip their boats time to do so. We set up a rules committee and will have more help and better organization for next year. We are considering adding a few more events I would like to do 2 in May, 1 in June, 1 in July, 2 in Aug and 1 in September which would add 2 events overall and then leaves us with the idea of letting each boat score their best 5 events for the points championship. This also gives us more room to adjust if we get blown off the lake for a event. So comments and suggestions are welcome nothing I have outlined is final yet but we will be meeting again some time this month and I am sure we will finalize some if not all of the changes at the meeting.

15# round for me I have a 20# pancake but never use it

The only advantage you get with a roller rod is less drag on the line and longer life due to not wearing the guides out. A Twillie tip on any rod you own will get you started with wire once you get used to it you can buy a better rod which is what I am doing next spring I just don't know if I will buy Convectors or Talora rods just yet will be up to my budget at the time. I am also going to shorter rods probably 8ft or 8.5ft.

very nice way to close out the year makes me wish I had not put the boat away but with a I/O I was on borrowed time already had to give it up with bad weather every weekend.

I have a set of 10ft Blue Diamond roller rods I will have at the swap meet along with a bunch of extra stuff I don't use.

I run 600ft with backing have never been taken to the backing. The only thing I dislike about the Gander Rods I looked at was the swivel tip, the reason is I have seen them go all the way around wrap the rod tip and break it off. First thing to do with your wire line rods is put on a pound or more of weight let them all the way out while trolling and reel them back in this gets a more even wrap in the line on the reel and helps prevent having it dig in.

I am in the pinch pad camp I have blacks glued shut on my cable above the ball and run Off Shore pinch pads. I can switch from light to medium or heavy to match what I am running getting load on rod is no problem and shakers are easy to see. On my last trip we were pulling lines saw my port rigger bounce thinking we were in to shallow I asked how deep we were and checked the rigger depth as soon as Steve told me how deep we were I set down the rod I was reeling in and grabbed the rigger rod with a nice smaller Steelhead on it. When I ran the Blacks I dragged a lot of small fish never happens with the pinch pads unless something gets tangled. One thing I tell everyone don't worry about how to catch fish with my gear figure out how to do it with yours. Every thing has it's place.

if your cooking tomorrow should already be in the brine . I mix Brown Sugar and Kosher salt 2 cups of salt to 1/2 cup brown sugar add a shot of orange juice pack the fish in it in the fridge for 24 hours then pull them out and dry them before cooking cook around 200 deg and check with temp probe to see when done.

3 riggers one on each corner and put the Proos in the center. Get better rod holders or build them for diver rods and trees or a rocket launcher for the core and such.

I have pulled my Off Shore boards 7 mph with no issues how fast you trolling? I hated my mast and big boards for off shore fishing at different depths cause you have to pull everything to reset a shallow line on the outside. also they pull worse fast than inlines from my experience. However if you have big enough boards you can pull anything behind them. I want to put Jay out in his Kayak as a board in the spring for browns he can cast the shoreline and we can troll a nice setup.

I doubt we'll hear any cudo's from the White House or the Democratic Congress/Senate on this. But it should be a proud moment for us Americans!! While the White House may not believe in American exceptionalism, I do. And I'm thinking there's a whole bunch of people in Chile that would agree. Regarding the mine rescue, did you know: The guy that designed the rescue module was a NASA Engineer? The Drill was made by Schramm Inc. from Pennsylvania . The Drill Bits were made by Center Rock, Inc. located in Berlin , Pennsylvania . The lead driller Jeff Hart and his team are from Denver , Colorado . They are on loan from the US Military in Afghanistan where they are drilling water wells for our Forward Operating Bases. He spent the next 33 days on his feet, operating the drill that finally provided a way out Saturday for 33 trapped miners. "You have to feel through your feet what the drill is doing; it's a vibration you get so that you know what's happening," explained Hart. Hart was called in from Afghanistan, "simply because he's the best" at drilling larger holes with the T130's wide-diameter drill bits, Stefanic said. Standing before the levers, pressure meters and gauges on the T130's control panel, Hart and the rest of the team faced many challenges in drilling the shaft. At one point, the drill struck a metal support beam in the poorly mapped mine, shattering its hammers. Fresh equipment had to be flown in from the United States and progress was delayed for days as powerful magnets were lowered to pull out the pieces. The mine's veins of gold and copper ran through quartzite with a high level of abrasive silica, rock so tough that it took all their expertise to keep the drill's hammers from curving off in unwanted directions. "It was horrible," said Center Rock President Brandon Fisher, exhausted after hardly sleeping during the effort. Fisher, Stefanic and Hart called it the most difficult hole they had ever drilled, because of the lives at stake. If you're drilling for oil and you lose the hole, it's different. This time there's people down below," Stefanic said. "We ruined some bits, worked through the problems as a team, and broke through," Hart said. "I'm very happy now." Miners' relatives crowded around Hart on Saturday, hugging and posing for pictures with him as he walked down from the rescue operation into the tent camp where families had anxiously followed his work. "He's become the hero of the day," said Dayana Olivares, whose friend Carlos Bugueno is one of the miners stuck below. In a different day and age, Jeff Hart would be the most famous American in our country right now. He would be honored at the White House. Schoolchildren would learn of his skill and heroism. But because Jeff Hart works in an industry currently being demonized by many people, more people in Chile will celebrate this symbol of American greatness than in America itself. - Michelle Malkin

looks like a hen and a buck males have longer lower jaw lines usually well past the eyes.

I will break my silence and state a simple fact I made a judgement call and let Tyler go to his slip I should not have done that. However I can't undo it I have been in several tournaments where tournament control has allowed variations to the check in proceder in this years Shoot out on day 2 we were having motor issues and asked for a change which was granted that is called being human. Tyler was in port along with other boats you can't blame him or call him names because I made a bad judgement call had I told him to come to the check in none of this would be a issue. I will respond to PM's but am no longer posting on the site.

Here are the final results from this years series. BOAT NAME 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH 5TH TOTAL POINTS POINTS POINTS POINTS POINTS POINTS REEL OBSESSED 168.25 148.1 159.7 97.85 122.45 696.35 FISHSNIFFER 146.2 145.7 160.9 62.6 94.35 609.75 WIND DRIFT 165.85 166.3 113.3 65.1 30.95 541.5 CHARLIES ANGEL 61.8 152.5 176 147.35 537.65 1 MAINIAC 90.6 152.8 71.15 70 70.6 455.15 DOUBLE J 99.4 52.7 150.7 41.2 0 344 7MARY3 96.45 30.1 101.1 80.55 0 308.2 INREELTROUBLE 18.35 22.45 88.1 42.9 101.65 273.45 KEEPIN-R-WET 198.7 198.7 WAY COOL 47.85 73.45 121.3 HIGH SEAS 49.9 37 0 28.05 0 114.95 AHABS REVENGE 60.05 60.05 THE ARVLE "O" 0 53.75 0 53.75 DREAMER 50.7 0 0 50.7 PULP FISHING 24.1 24.1 DIRTY WHITE BOY 16.3 16.3 Congrats to Reel Obsessed for bring in 5 nice boxes and winning the Port Championship. Thanks again to our sponsors for all the cool stuff they let us give away this year and to all of you guys for fishing with us. Now we get to start planning for next year.

Well bumpy was a under statement we started in 2 to4 ft waves with the hopes it would calm it did not calm it got worse. With reports for tomorrow being worse we decided to try and make it till 9 am to make a complete event. By 9 it seemed the worst was past us and we went ahead and finished the event. I most likely would have won if we called it at 9 since I did not get another fish other than a Sheephead after 9 LOL. anyhow it did settle down later in the morn and it was a choppy 1 to 3 when I ran in. Weigh in and final event results BOAT NAME BIG TOTAL TOTAL TOTAL FISH FISH WEIGHT POINTS CHARLIES ANGEL 6 10 47.35 147.35 REEL OBSESSED 11 7 52.45 122.45 INREELTROUBLE 10.6 6 41.65 101.65 FISHSNIFFER 16.25 5 44.35 94.35 1 MAINIAC 12.85 4 30.6 70.6 WIND DRIFT 7.55 2 10.95 30.95 7MARY3 0 0 0 0 WAY COOL 0 0 0 0 AHABS REVENGE 0 0 0 0 DOUBLE J 0 0 0 0 HIGH SEAS 0 0 0 0 PULP FISHING 0 0 0 Congrats to everyone who fished this year we have a few bugs to work out but I am already looking forward to next year. Don and I would like to again thank all of our sponsors and those who fished with us this year I think everyone had a good time.

Everything looks like a go in the morning the warm water is back and it will be a bit lumpy early but unless things change it will be fish able. Looking forward to seeing everyone at weigh in. Prize packs are all set a few things did not show up but we still have some nice stuff to give away.

Hey Mark you should have called I would have went with you if you were short handed. need to get my plug back anyhow LOL ( honestly not in a hurry to get it back since it is working for you). Happy Anniversary tomorrow I will try and catch a big one in your honor.

I agree with Pulpfishing I would love to have the Charter specials for rigger rods they are probably the best reels ever made for riggers. TLD 2000 is a bad A$$ reel I have also ran Okuma reels for years no issues they are hard to beat for price to value. Most of the Penn's have to slow of ratio Shimano's are too pricey and if you want to spend more Okuma makes better reels than the Convector. If money is not a problem head over to some of the Saltwater sites where they pay 500 to 700 for a budget reel. I would love a set of Okuma Titus 50W's for big copper setups but the nearly 400 bucks list makes me back up. There are a lot of 2 speed reels that would be cool to have as well if I could afford it all my reels would be lever drag less chance of someone messing up the drag since max drag is preset they can't go past the max drag you set. SO if someone gets a screamer going you can let them push it to max drag with confidence knowing they can't turn it too far and break your gear.

Mine has also been like that for a couple of years now if I am planning on running the probe deep I remove the snap swivel and bolt the probe on directly to the Klincher this will add roughly 40 to 60ft of depth I have had my probe down to 275 and it still works not sure what actual depth was due to blow back probably not much over 200 since it had a 12lb ball on it. Just a note to remind everyone once you hit 39.6 deg F it will be the same temp all the way to the bottom as that temp is where water is it's heaviest. So if your probe temp continues to go below 39.6 it needs to be calibrated.