1mainiac

just the white one for now then have to think on if I want yellow or not with my boat color I wanted some pop and contrast the gold would look great against the Blue not sure how yellow the yellow is. Was thinkinking of having a friend airbrush on the rest of the colors to look like the website logo with a gold decal.

Usually I fish after work during the week so I'm always in shortly after dark. And most nights the box is well loaded so no need to stay much longer had 5 on at one time one evening and ended 7 for 10 in 45 min of non stop action. Generally about a hour after sundown it dies till around 1:30 then will pick away at them till around 3 when it starts picking back up for the morning bite. I have never had much luck between a hour after sundown and close to 2 am unless it is a clear full moon evening then all bets are off find the bait ball and stay close to it they will feed all night.

What colors can you get the white one is for the back window of the truck

Nothing wrong with the cheap radios the radio in my boat is a West Marine and was cheap and works fine. My point is DSC has come a long way in the last few years and if buying a new radio now would make sure I got as many features as I could. There are still analog TV's for sale but why buy one even if it is a good deal. For the years of use I got out of my West Marine radio which has basic DSC I could throw it overboard and not feel cheated I won't do that but it has more than earned it's keep on 3 boats.

Mike get me one in white and 2 in gold please

Hey I have a set of home made riggers built well over 20 years ago would they count I have not used em in over a decade?

I kinda tend to agree with Dan on this one as a former Coast Guard member towing a boat without the proper gear is not the way to go. If you stop to render aid or assistance you cannot leave while they are still in distress. I would not hesitate to do all I can to help another boater out but stuff happens and the minute you take a boat in tow it becomes part of your vessel and your liability for anything that can happen. If you read all the fine print on most marine Insurance policies you will find once you tow another boat neither is covered by your insurance so you are really sticking your butt in the wind. I got towed by the Sherifs boat last year in Manistee and while I was very happy to get the tow was supprised at the way they landed my boat at the dock. Thankfully nothing went wrong but there are proper ways to tow and control a disabled vessel and to dock one and since my boat was much larger than theirs I expected to switch to a hip tow when we reached the dock but instead they dropped a man off and he hand lined me in against the current. The guy was darn strong to pull in a heavy boat against the river current I doubt I could have done it.

I am a ham radio operator and my next radio will be a Icom 504 I have checked the features and it is the best bang for the buck out there. Connected to a plotter with NEMA inputs and outputs it will do some very cool things you need to get a MMSI number which is free to use DSC the MMSI number is like a phone number it is yours and yours alone programed into your radio and shared with friends it opens a whole new world. Lets say you here someone you know and wonder where they are at enter his MMSI number and hit position request if he has his radio set for position request he will either get a beep letting him know you are asking for his position which he can accept or deny or his radio will automaticly respond and if your radio is fully wired to a plotter it will pop up on your plotter as well as be displayed on your radio screen. Want to have him meet you on a differant channel enter his number and the channel you want to talk on and hit send he will get a beep that you are calling and when he accepts the call both of your radios switch to the talk freq. Want more privacy add the voice scrambler chip. Want to do this as a group register for a group number and give it to your friends then any time any of them does a group call everyone with the group number that is in radio range gets the same call which would be very nice during contests. The neat part is no one else ever hears any of your calls or requests. Now here is one other thing Rescue 21 is not operational here yet but in a emergency every boat with a Class D DSC radio or better within radio range will get your distress call location and time of call if you ever push the red button. Some of us who have your number programed in our radios will know who you are and even have you positioned on our plotter screen. So could actually be plotting a course to come help while pulling lines yank the poles and hit the gas and be on the way to help. There is no radio made anymore that does not include DSC and for all functions to work you need to be able to send and receive on the NEMA channel and a memory bank of numbers makes calling friends no harder than useing speed dial on your cell phone. So while you probably won't use all the features right away you are talking about a radio you will have for several years. So don't skimp too much you will have a DSC radio anyhow unless you buy one at a yard sale the reason I choose the Icom 504 is most bang for the buck has a built in loud hailer can run a remote mic can add a voice scrambler chip and has a large memory bank to store friends MMSI numbers. Well that and I have owned Icom radios for many years of trouble free radio use so I trust them.

Nick scared them off with his new boat and winning the first one.

Okuma also makes a wireline special rod with one closed roller like the Convector and Taylora rods use and a twillie tip. Lots of guys are bragging about the JR wire rods on other sites as well for a budget rod that works. I know guys use the Inner Flow rods and have mixed responses about them it seems they are a rod people either love or hate depending on who you ask. I have a set of Starfire roller rods I would make you a good deal on they never gave me any trouble but after hearing so many complain about them I bought a set of Okuma's which I like so far. I have ran wire on regular rods in the past and it works but you will ruin the eyelets and you get more drag than you want at times which can cause you to pull the hooks out of fish.

Nice chatting with you out there Sun Mike great job we picked up a couple more where you were Sat night. We need to get together one of these days and see if we can improve your radio reception. I heard Big Treble calling you and also heard a radio check from a guy who said he was in ludington and have talked to guys in Port Sheldon and Holland while fishing Muskegon.

Nice opener Matt

I guess I should have strayed further north nice job

Ok I tried something different today with Jay (ICEMAN08) and his wife we met at the launch at 8 am and ran out to 125 ft to setup. Apparently right on past where the fish were. We set lines and headed west running a full spread looking to see what would work better for a late morning program. ( starting where the fish are would have helped a lot). We trolled for over 5 hours mostly out deep went 3 for 6 all of the fish we caught were between 90 and 150 it was a barren desert out past 150 but we trolled it anyhow. Were were north to the nets and south to the nets all day and were 3 for 5 by noon which was my cutoff point but we continued to fish anyhow since we were already there and had lures in the water we lost a very nice king when it saw the boat and decided it did not want to get a closer look at it. All in all was a decent day Jay got plenty of practice with my Starboard rigger LOL we got to change a lot of lures and reset the spread several times we found some things we liked and some we did not care for. 2 Steelhead one one a Blue Eclipse Nitro spoon and one on a Yellow tail both around 40 dn. Lost a nice King on a Siggs Gold Mirage behind a white hoochie board on a diver set 150 back on 2 caught a smaller king on the same setup. I caught a small shaker and tossed it back and not to be outdone Jay managed to catch a even smaller shaker also tossed back. Final analysis we can fish the wrong place at the wrong time and still end up with fish so not that bad.

Took a long time friend and his wife out this evening and even though his wife got seasick she hung in there and let us fish. Very slow start met up with GLF in about 120 FOW he turned south and I stayed North he found fish and I found shakers just as I was considering turning and following him we hit a nice pod but we ended up taking home 2 out of 7 lost one nice king on a Siggs fly wife blames me for adjusting her drag but she left the rod tip down. Big fish was a 4 lb king threw back 4 small shakers. We pulled lines right at sunset to get Johns sick wife off the water. Even though she did not complain she was green and all we were catching were shakers so was time to drive in.

Mine are old but not really beat up as I keep updating them everything but the booms and bases and pulleys have been replaced over the years. They have however caught a lot of fish over the years and thanks to the great support at Big John they have always been dependable.

Taking a old friend and his wife out tonight for a cruise and some fishing. Will be my first night fish of the season so hopefully I can find a few. Will be launching around 6 PM planning on setting lines in 120ft and will let the water tell me where to go from there. I have never had John's wife on a boat before so hopefully she will be ok I know she can take a lot of crap she married John so just hope she can handle a few hours in a boat. Looks like it should lay down pretty good this evening so hoping for a nice night of fishing will be in after dark with a report if all goes well.

nice job Jay

Oil is cheaper than a motor drain it make sure you purge itall out and start over.

we put a 450 on a CV 55 and most of a 600 on a Tekota 800

The new nickle plated stuff is really nice I got to spool up a couple of reels with it last week and really like it need to get some for my setups however I would suggest braid for backer cause it fills a reel fast.

I run my braid diver on 2.5 setting or some times 2 when I run core it is well away from the boat I have had the diver come up into my copper once that sucked. I am never in a hurry to bring a fish up when I have a lot of gear out I want them well behind the boat before I start pulling them up I have also been known to widen my boards a bit when a fish hits the divers at least the one on that side may often be to late to move it but worth a chance and to keep it from dropping I just loosen the drags on the core or copper and let them walk away. Simple fact is if you run a lot of lines you risk a lot of tangles.

Sorry to here this I would have loved to try it sometime but honestly to far to tow the boat for me to fish a place I know nothing about. Add in the fact I have not caught a dozen Walleye in the last 20 years combined and that is why I did not consider signing up. Perhaps if I chased Walleye again like I did years ago it would be differant but the last 7 or 8 Walleye I caught were by accident cause when I fish for em I can't ever find em. Sorry others did not sign up one of these days I need to get over there and get reaqainted with the Walleye.

The refuge is off limits to Lake Trout fishing but is listed as open water for other species on the map I looked at. All it says is no Lake Trout is one heck of a long run would be close to 40 gal of gas run time alone in my boat to get there and back I fished it a couple of times back in the early 80's when I had more time and money to fish but in a tourney you would need a darn fast boat just to get there and back let alone do any fishing there. We had a 25 ft Carver back then and would leave the dock at 2 am and depending on weather would set lines between 4:30 and 5 am. Made for a long day of fishingCause we would often troll most of the way back. I can remember trolling for close to 12 hours one time and still had a decent run to get back to Grand Haven.

Yep is why I slept in and looked at the web cam shortly after sunup saw those white frothy things on top of the waves and knew it was more than 1ft. Maybe they just measure the foam on top of the waves. Funny the south data buoy said .3 ft wave height I think they need to recalibrate that one. On the bright side been watching a Deadliest Catch marathon sorted some gear on the boat and relined a couple of reels so ready to fish again with all the rods now. Even put in some time on my Bow flex so ready for a few big ones. Been reminding everyone I want a Autopilot for my birthday but not looking good so far most likely another card and socks as usual. At least you guys got to go enjoy a nice calm day on the water LOL