1mainiac

Third that freefalling divers is a no no and no good can come of it. A friend of mine points out that he does it all the time no issues and I remind him I clean and lube my reels every year and he throws them away when they stop working. I suppose I COULD SET THE BRAKES BUT IS JUST EASIER TO NOT LET THEM FREEFALL. Also I would point out many times I have had them fire well setting them as they are working all the way down. As you get more setups in the water you have to think about where they are all at to keep them away from each other. Just because you like pickles and Ice cream does not mean they should be in the same bowl.

Met Tim and his drift boat at Croton this morn in the rain and my father in law and me spent the day sliding down stream in the rain. The day started slow lots of hatchery fish to small to mention did not seem to matter what we threw or where we thru it lots of tiny fish. In the process of trying to avoid the little fish we missed a few nice fish and lost a few in the brush along the banks. Shortly before lunch dad got a 19in Brown so no skunk then he lost 2 nice Steelhead back to back and I lost a big Brown. We stoped and ate lunch and reconfigured the boat to do some plugging much better idea. The water was coming up all afternoon cause they opened some gates on the dam so it was getting dirty and lots of trash floating downstream but the action picked up after lunch and between cleaning leaves and branches off the gear and tossing small fish back we were busy. My first keeper was a 21 in Brown then a 24 in Walleye followed by several more steelhead doing areobatics and spitting hooks. Then finally Dad get one to stick to the hooks and lands a 26 in Steelhead for a river Trifecta Walleye Browns and Steelhead all in the same box. All in all a great day and fresh filets in the freezer.

Look up the Tourny results for the first 3 Trail events last year was nearly all Lake Trout. They are always in close in during winter and spring feeding and easy to catch is why they are closed. Friday they become legal again till Sept 30th nice job Mike wish I had been with you but had a nice day on the river in the rain.

!972 is a electric shift are you talking obout the drive going up and down that is the tilt motor and quad gear that does that. I don't know which motor and drive you have but the trim is the front motor mounts that raise and lower the front of the motor. The tilt must be full down all the time or you will ruin the Ball gears. Trim was a option on them many did not have adjustable trim. The four and six cyl engines had a single front motor mount that was either manually adjustable or had a motor driven screw to raise and lower the front of the motor. The V8's mostly had hyd motor mounts and a pump to raise them up and down. I don't have any trim peices left but I thjink I still have a complete tilt motor. There should be 2 large selenoids on the side of the engine block that power the tilt motor most of the tilt motors had a 2 wire plug and got their ground thru the case. With the case grounded powering one wire raised the unit and powering the other wire lowered it. I have a few newer peices so I am not sure which of the parts I have would help you. You may be amazed at what the peices you have that work are worth perhaps enough to convert it to a modern drive.

I don't have a autopilot yet so fishing by myself is pretty much out in my boat. All I really expect is to be on time and ready to go fishing help with gas would be great. Cause when the tank is empty the boat will stay on the trailer. I had a friend offer to fill my boat last year so we stoped at the gas docks after a long day of fishing. Well it took 33 gal at 4.89 a gal his eyes rolled back when the girl handed him the bill. So I suggested we just split it and he promptly agreed. I handed the girl my credit card and he gave me a wad of cash that I counted later 70 bucks so that was cool. Honestly I don't think very many of our friends have a clue how much this costs. But most of us go without other things to be able to fish like this I drive a 10 year old truck cause it pulls the boat and is paid for we don't own a big screen HD TV. My other hobbies get put on hold during fishing season I am willing to trade a great sunset fishing with my wife or friends and family over dinner and a movie any day. So what if I don't see the movie till it is a rerun or one of my friends loans me their DVD.

Last year I ate pretty much all the expenses for every trip my wife was adding up how much I spent and asked how much my friends kicked in when I told her she pointed out they could fish on another boat. So I began a crew search and have a few guys to fish with I don't know if I will end up with a regular crew or just fish with everyone a few times. But I will be fishing with a few guys off this site this year and will see if things work out. Being out of work now for 6 months has just about ruined my fishing budget so I am working on getting the boat ready to go and I hope to do a shake down next Sat or Sun and get ready for Mikes and Paulies tournies to get started for the season.

The real key is to remember how to live withen your means and still have some savings. Even though I spent way too much money fishing last year I was still able to continue to save money. And the result of saving money every year has allowed me to be out of work now for 6 months and still survive when my unemployment check will barely cover my mortgage. We have cut back and spent wisely but still live just fine however the number of months I can continue to do this is very few so I was glad to get called back to work next week even if it may only be a short while back on payroll it will give me time to try and build back a fishing budget. I have only bought Ford vehicles for decades and was glad to see them pass on the bailout money. Every one of us needs to pay attention as to where we spend and what we buy. Make every dollar count think about what matters to you personally and act accordingly. I seldom shop at Walmart Meijers is closer and MI based so I figure a few more of my dollars will stay here. I study up on domestic content and take into consideration local business's they hire my family friends and neighbors so they get my business first. The only things I purchase online are things I cannot get locally next to nothing. I never shop at the Mall's I will not enter a Target store at gunpoint and there are a lot more on that list but Target has been a personal one for me. While our government needs us to spend like mad it is only because doing that will increase their revenue not ours. Untill the current administration STIMULUS meant giving us more to spend which would cause economic growth. Now it means letting them spend more and hoping some of it gets spent in a way that might be helpfull to us. But rest assured weather or not any of us ever see the STIMULUS money all of us will see the bill to pay it back. With the Cap and Trade plan everyone will see higher costs on everything no exceptions everyone will pay. The idea it will only effect the rich is so dumb I can't beleive anyone will still fall for it. Does anyone really beleive that your boss will just suck it up and pay more or will he be forced to make more payroll cuts and trim his budget. Or can he just increase the profit by raising prices perhaps the utility companies can but everyone else is competeing with China which means they can't raise prices so cuts will have to be made. The cost of doing business here while competeing against China and other countries is what drove most of our industry away to begin with now we will run off what little is left.

Lets not forget the old saying that Nero Fiddled while Rome burned. Our country has been thru this and worse many times the differance is how we choose to deal with it. Following the Market crash in 29 they elected a socailist progressive Rooseveldt who sought a massive government as the answer and lots of public works projects which if not for Hitler and WWII would have all failed. You can't spend your way out of a spending problem. There was a small recession after WWII but Korea and the cold war smoothed it out quickly. When Kennedy was elected we also were having a tough time but he was a conservitive Democrate and lowered taxes this got the economy moving as people spent the extra money and since back then nearly everything we bought was American industry grew as well and the tax base increased giving the government more money which they spent as fast as they could get it on Johnson's Great Soceity plans of a new world but they spent too much and made millions more dependant on a government check to survive so we went right back into a recession in the mid 70's with the poor screaming for help Carter began his everyone gets a home plan and rasied taxes to do it and cut our Military to shreads in the process. His world policy and changes got us the IRAN issue I won't go into that everyone old enough to remember saw how field dressing the Military helped in that endeavor. Reagan gets elected he looks back and sees that what Kennedy did worked minus the Johnson Great Soceity and lowers taxs rebuilds the military and starts to reduce government. The economy booms and money flows. This time however we don't buy American product so while the economy grows our industry shrinks. Since we won't buy any American made product more and more companies move offshore to compete and we go from a productive nation to a bunch of paper chasers and dreamers. Clinton takes over and wants a big government and control of everything He sees a day when everything and everyone will be part of the government they can't get the health care passed so they play with Carters housing ideas since they won't lower taxes they lower interest rates and begin to allow anyone to purchase a home. We print more money and we borrow from everyone they are junkies they no longer even care where the money they spend is from as long as they get to spend it. Bush II gets elected he has a plan to reduce Government but we get attacked and he switchs gears to defense mode and pays little attention to our domestic issues and as long as Congress and the Senate let him fight his war he lets them spend what they want so much for reduceing the deficit. With a constantly increasing government budget we have to create new ways to make the economy grow even if it is fake growth they can still tax it and spend it. We borrow billions and billions and send out checks to every one to boost the economy and nearly all of this money is spent on foreign product How nice for China they loan us money which we use to buy stuff from them and we still owe them the money. Obama promises to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term but did not mention his plan to quadruple it in his first 100 days. So even if he cuts it back by the end of this term it will still more than double. Lets look at it this way you got carried away and spent too much all your credit is maxed out. Do you sit down make some hard choices and find a way to balance your budget and ride out the problem? Or do you go out and get credit cards for all your kids and go to the casino and max them out trying to get lucky and win back enough come out ahead? Obama Chose plan B and spent all of our kids and grandkids money in 100 days. And because it was done so fast they will blame it all on Bush. Sorry I blame Bush for a lot mostly for being asleep at the switch on domestic policy but he gave us a safe place to sleep. All of us wasted money none of us saved for a rainy day ( it is raining now). While I would have no problem going and hanging most of our elected officals for acts of treason and distroying America what to we do with the millions who vote them in year after year. To hell with the election process it is so screwed up you can't trust it nor can you trust anyone elected cause they all have great speechs and intentions to start with. Untill we learn to live withen our means and save for the future we will have none. Vote with your wallet buy American if you can't afford it save for it if you really don't need it don't buy it. No matter what the next few years are going to suck what happens after that is up to us. Defend the constitution throw everyone one out of office get rid of their pensions and benifits make serveing your country a duty not a royal job.

Sadly we live in a no responsibility era there are millions to blame for our current situation. But the group most responsible is in Washington They have gotten very little right in a hundred years and could not manage a T ball team. The New Deal was a disaster and had nothing to do with getting us out of the depression you can thank Hitler and Japan for that when Hitler began invading Europe we began selling wepons overseas with gave us a boost and when Japan hit HI we all stood shoulder to shoulder and solved the problem. We bought war bonds and worked 24 hr a day to win the war. The government raised temperary taxes to help the war effort and no one cared the problem was after the war they kept on spending the money so they never ended the temporary taxes. Every time they have a surplus budget they spend it on social programs rather then give it back. The more you spend on social programs the more people become eligible for those programs so you need more money. No one in their right mind would vote for this crap so you need a war or crisis to motivate people to allow you to do stupid things. After Vietnam we had a minor recession which is a natural adjustment coming out of a war economy so we need a crisis poof the Oil embargo in 73 Gas shortages make people mad and they want the government to fix it up go the taxes and then we have plenty of gas what to do with the extra money well Jimmy Carter thinks everyone should have a home. More FHA loans Lower standards for the loans and lower interest rates sounds good but Reagan wins the election and lowers taxes Now everyone has more money and homes are easier to buy instant economy and boom time for nearly 12 years. I won't go into our failed foreign policy during many of these last 60 years cause it is a seperate issue but also part of the problem. Sadly during the Reagan years we spent foolishly and were cheap so we bought mostly foreign product and much of our industry began moving offshore to make a profit. Most business's knew back in the 70's they could never afford the UNION retirement plans esp when their own employee's were buying foreign product. But the UNION was protected by the government because they all vote Democrate as a block period they all pretty much walk in on election day and pull the big D handle. So you get a choice sign a paper you can't afford and go belly up later or go belly up now. Most company execs decided to go with later and take everything they could now and leave the mess to the next generation which would be us by the way. So for the last 20 years we have had little or now domestic product and have been shuffleing the money around knowing sooner or later some one was going to get stuck with the bill. Government needs a big economy to tax us from so they lower interest rates and play money games and we all fell for it we over spent like drunks on shore leave. Even welfare bums could get a fancy house and credit cards and spending was the key to a strong economy. So what is our crisis oh hell we can have dozens of them going at once now we are deversified. Just keep opening the flood gates on money and let people spend it will all work out right. So ok but not every one is getting a nice house in the suburbs so this Chigago Lawyer Named OBAMA and a group called Acorn start sueing banks for not making enough sub prime loans and they win great now anyone with a pulse can get a 200k home loan. Housing costs go thru the roof people are buying and selling homes for record profits and the fake economy is doing gangbusters. Except for the one thing one of these days someone has to actualy pay the bills rather than flip and pass the buck. So what does this cost well every working family in America just picked up a 25,000 dollar mortgage they will have to repay in the form of higher taxes but hey it is interest only and no payments for 3 years in one of them nice easy credit card type deals. So you will have plenty of time to chew it over. And for all them shiney faced kids learning the new government sponsered education which is the most expensive poor education anyone on earth can receive they each picked up about a 35,000 dollar credit card bill but thankfully it is also interest only till they reach working age so I am sure our kids and grand kids won't mind picking up the tab. Now all we gotta do is pass on the estimate 40 trillion dollar entitlement cost over the next 20 years that is not even in a budget on to some one like our great grand kids hey they won't mind. That is roughly where we currently stand if the jerks in Washington stop spending now wanna see what our medical costs will be to have a poor health care system? Lets not forget what Joe Biden said everyone is going to have some skin in this game well here is your skin total for those of us who work for a living. Since OBAMA took office he has spent 288 dollars a day of your money. Since it has been a long time since I made that much a day I want to thank some of you for being willing to chip in the extra for me. Oh yea and he spends 7 days a week so you might need to think about putting in a little OT.

The reason I mentioned the drivers side trailer tire coming loose is very few people actually torque the lug nuts correctly and the trailer brakes actually cause the lug nuts to loosen. Which is why on over the road trucks you find left hand threads on the drivers side and right hand threads on the pass side wheels. When you hit the brakes the braking pressure can cause the left side wheels to rotate against the hub and lossen the lug nuts.

They should have been allowed to fail along with all the rest this is pure BS spending trillions of our kids money and it won't work. But the kids will still get the bills for it this will eventually cause inflation like you have never seen. sooner or later we have to realize you can't fix overspending by spending more. Ask the Japanese how it worked for them and they have always had a better tradition of saving then we ever did. As it stands right now our debt load is approaching GDP which means every dollar produced in the USA is owed to someone else. At current rates in 12 years our debt will equal the GDP of the entire earth. And still they spend and print more money. Now we get to take over Chrysler's overwhelming retirement health benifits plan prepare to shovel money as it will have no real value. Every one should write themselves a check for a million dollars and then go spend it that is what the government did a few weeks ago only it was trillions of dollars. Nearly every member of government should be hung for treason for those who voted for change here it is we are about to become a 3rd world nation led by crooks who even if voted out get bennies for life. The core of government Repub and Dem is bad Reagen was the last of the decent ones Ted Kennedy has been a drunken bum Senator nearly all of my life. When you take out government workers and welfare receipants and all the rest you will see that less than half of the country pays all the bills this is why the Pilgrams nearly starved if not for the indians taking pity on them they would have. And why they agreed that working as a group for the common good allowed way to many to be lazy and just suck off the system. Socialisim is a total failure every where on the planet and yet our government drives us straight toward it or a version of it with a new name. The US constitution layed the frame work for the greatest country on the planet anyone want to guess where Roosevelts New Deal and all the liberal crap that has followed it will lead us? It is time for us to grow a pair and regain our country before it is too late it is sad to think we may need a second revolution to fix this but apparently it may be the only answer we cannot survive 4 years of this crap.

I will take a guess it was a driver side tire right? Robert did you get a better brake controller so the brakes are working better? 100 ftlbs of torque on the nuts every 50 miles for the first 250 miles after a tire change and then check before each trip.

My boat sits in my yard under full canvas so they would have to get in it to see what is there we have lots of dogs in the neighborhood and everyone out here pays attention to what is going on around us since we are close to town. I have built in rod storage for 6 rods in the gunnels and installed a couple of firring strips above my fuel tanks that when I lift the hatch I can store about 12 rods broke down and the rest go in the cabin. I have plenty of storage on the boat so if need be I can make pretty much everything disappear. When I got my Boat US policy this year they said my riggers and rod holders counted as mounted boat equipment and the my other fishing gear would be covered under the 5000 dollar fishing policy I took a extra 1000 rider for personal eqip cameras and stuff.

Well if I know whos dog it is they will get a serious discussion the first time and will wonder where fido went the second time. I have no problems killing dogs running deer or game without a handler close by. And treat it no differant than a Coyote or other vermin. But then if I had shot the dog the first time there would not be a second time needed. I remember having my neighbor come over and tell me my dog was chasing deer I asked him why he did not shoot it and he said he knew it was my dog. My answer was if it happens again let me know if he needs me to come bury it. He called me a couple weeks later to let me know I did not need to buy dog chow anymore. Life goes on letting dogs run is wrong once they start you usually can't stop them it is part of their instinct untrained hunting dogs are the worst. I also remember having a dog chasing calves around in our neighbors field and I knew whos dog it was so I called them a few min later their dad showed up watched the dog for a few min went to his truck grabed a rifle and shot his own dog. I grew up in the country we all knew the rules on pets and livestock were real simple keep em in in your pen or yard or they might not make it home for dinner. If you see any dog I own chasing deer or causing damage let me know or solve the problem I will likely be bummed but will understand. When I was about 11 or 12 I had a very dangerous dog that was well trained and never left the property someone shot him while he was chained up next to his dog house. That was wrong them idiots in TX killing a former soldier's pet was wrong but shooting a dog chasing wild game is just fine. If the dog and his owner did not learn when it was wounded the first time well the problem is solved now.

Quality batteries will last a long time I have seen well maintained batteries last 10 years. The funny thing with a lot of batteries is you only get one warning shot. Once you know the chargeing system is ok check all the wiring and the batteries. Load testing is seldom done right and correct testing varies from battery to battery. In a starting application a fully charged battery should maintain a 50% draw for a min of 15 sec with very little drop off. ( keep in mind you will see a drop when the load is applied however after a couple of sec it should stabilize and maintain a solid draw) Most people test a battery with one of them toaster testers that vary from 75 to 125 amps however most batteries can pass that test and still not start your boat. On most older equipment with starting and charging problems the cables end up being the biggest problem as they break down under the insulation and you never see the actual problem.

I will make it at least one day if not both but since only across town will likely just hang out and either sleep on the boat or drive home Sat night.

just got in from a day of drifting on the Muskegon river we put in below Croton and got out in Newaygo. Saw very few fish on gravel lost several boated 5 fish all out of season 1 nice walleye 3 rainbows on the small side and a nice brown around 5 or 6 lbs hen. Action was fairly solid at the dam but slow everywhere below only saw a few Steelhead boated in the stretch we fished and could not coax any of the ones we found to play nice. A little chilly and damp but a darn nice day on the water none the less.

Ken I spent my day cleaning the boat and pondering how to fix my screw up. I was cutting out the panl to install my new stereo with my dremel tool and the bit came loose and made a mess on one end. So while I pondered on how I am gonna cover that up I spent the day with a scrub brush cleaning the boat. I want to get it buffed out but need a overcast day as I don't want to do it in bright sunshine. At least I have better tunes but now I need new speakers cause the new stereo crushs the old speakers. Might even have to get a subwoofer God does this insanity ever end first I need too much fishing equipment now I need more stereo equipment eventually I will need a bigger boat cause all this stuff won't fit.

Nice job Don

Nice job Mike glad you got into a few.

I guess my thought is with the way the new engines run is a kicker really a needed item anymore. As much as I like the safety idea and to reduce the hours on the main engine I wonder how many hours you have to troll to break even with the added cost. I guess if I was going to troll for several hours a day all season long it might make better sense to me. I put 215 hours on my boat last year roughly 170 hours trolling. At this rate it will be at least 10 years before I need to worry much about the main engine I really doubt I will still have this boat in 10 years as it will be pushing 30 years old by then. By the time I figure in the mounts and extra contols lines and wiring for my boat to add a kicker my cost is around 3grand or more on the low end. So based on expected use and time on my engine verses fuel savings I can't see doing better than breaking even in 10 years if I saved a gallon a hour now if gas goes back up to around 5 bucks a gallon that would shorten the pay back time but I would let the bank figure out what to do with the boat by then or trade it for something much smaller. Cause if not for using my auto pilot fund to buy gas last year the boat would have been sitting on the trailer most of the summer.

Hey let me know when you are coming down I live about 10 min from the store.

They work great Mike but run hard on the brakes They like about 1.5 to 1.8 max I used to use them all they time and have tried a bunch of the new improved ones over the years. They all like it nice and slow they also don't care for snap swivels I have tied them up with Flouro leaders about a ft or two long to a bead chain. They are deadly on Browns in the spring once you get em to run just off the bottom.

Sounds like fun Mike I will probably be working on mine to get it in the water next week. Supposed to get it out Thur afternoon got a few things to install anda float trip down the Muskegon on Sun. Tear em up will expect a full report

Them things run around my yard like chickens some days had a big tom eating out of the wifes bird feeder on the deck Sunday. Talk about one freaked out bird when I went out the door and was less than 5 ft from him he nearly beat himself to death trying to get off our little porch in a hurry I could have bagged him with a broom handle.