1mainiac

OK went to store and picked up a few of the 2in ones and put me together a small plastic kit will head to lake tommorrow afternoon and give em a try. They have some neat colors only got a few for now but may have to get several more if they work as good as planned. I sorted oneof my tackle boxes and found a bunch of differant soft plastics I have either bought or been given over the years so now I am gonna give a bunch of em a try this fall. Maybe can start saving money on live bait which is getting to be a pain to find espeacially getting minnows. Can't say how many times over the last few years I drove over to the bait shop to find they were out of minnows or did not have the ones I wanted everytime some one mentions getting a few decent perch all the bait dissapears. Tight Lines Jim

My thought exactly I am using the 3in SCM13-SMLT and killing Crappie and big gills with them on a beetle spin setup. I am gonna pick up a package of the 2in and give em a try this weekend on a inland lake where I have gotten a few perch while crappie fishing maybe I can coax a few into biting them they hit the wax worms on bobbers but the 3in baits might be too big so I will try some 2in ones. Dang now I gotta go to the bait shop. Tight Lines Jim

I use the smaller ones for crappie and bluegill have also ran them on small beetle spins they work great. Have been wanting to try em on perch have had some mauler gills on the beetle spin setups.

Ken here is a link to them http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/store/Shark_Cannonball_Downrigger_Weights.htm

I was told years ago the core is a inheirent part of the rebuilt part as such it is taxed not really sure why the tax can't be refunded but it has to do with the core value not decreaseing. But this is all in MI tax code other states have even wierder codes like paying tax on the value of your trade in or paying tax on all of your property every year no matter how long you own it imagine getting your home appraised every year and including the value of all your stuff as well. My county appraiser in TX decided my 1973 Chrysler tri hull with a dead motor was worth 4500 bucks so I put it in the front yard and gave it away. While our state is definitly screwed up there are worse places to live not many when it comes to stupid gov but a few. Jim

I have ran a ton of differant releases and have had some success with all of them I am currently running modified Blacks releases above the probe and have had my best luck with this setup. But even though I have had issues with the setup and made a lot of changes the results have been great. Over all this was not a great year but I can't imagine what it would have been like without the probe.Tight Lines Jim

will pick mine up this weekend and then a good scrubbing and off to join Mikes boat in storage. but not gonna be in the heated section gonna save the extra money since is allready winterized. Great rates

I will chk again when I get boat back this weekend but the installer said it would not fit. I never rechecked as why would they not sell it to me if it would fit the money was sitting there all they had to do was install it and take home the cash. I do know it is real tight behind the dash but never actually measured it myself. I only need one more peice to have the HYD steering parts then need to install it.

yep looked at it but would need to cut a hole thru the bulkhead and box it in so would have a box sticking thru the wall above the toilet. It mounts to the back of the current steering box so it adds more than 10in as you have to have room to work on it and to install it. Beleive me if it would fit I would be telling you if I liked it or not as had money sitting at boat dealership all summer waiting for the autopilot install I paid for. The guy who looked at my boat to install a Simrad ap14R said he needed 14in of clearance to install it I had about 7in to work with. Thanks Jim

What steering system do you have? That is the biggest deciding factor if you have Hyd steering you get lots of choices. If not your choices go way down I am converting my boat to Hyd steering this winter so I can put a autopilot on. I bought a autopilot with my boat this spring but Raymarine never delivered it so after waiting 6 months I told them to (well you can imagine) and got my money back. As such I will never spend a penny on any of their crap so I am looking at other systems I like the Simrad AP14H the price is fair and has good reviews. I also have been looking at the SITEX unit chk this site out they have decent prices. http://www.wmjmarine.com/auto-pilots.html Tight Lines Jim

One thing I did not mention was that I catch way more fish with the probe. I have had it 3 years I more than doubled my catch rate the first year with it. I fished the first 2 years with the same battery it made it partway into this season and was still working when I pulled it but I was getting a low battery message, I never took it out from the day I put it in till I changed it did not keep count but would bet well over 150 fish per battery. Heck the probe is in 55FOW south of Duck lake and I bet the battery is still working. I wish I had done a better job of chking the cable when I changed the battery cause it broke and I lost the probe about a week later. Even though I have had some issues with my probe setup on the I would not give it up it is single handed the best fishing investment I have made. Cause I no longer fish unproductive water blindly like many boats out there can't say how many times I have setup in a large group of boats and ran the probe only to not see good temp so I pull and fish elsewhere often catching fish while listening to them complaining that they are seeing fish but can't get em to bite. If I had to choose between the fishfinder or the probe the probe will win every time cause fishing the right temp and speed beats seeing marks every time. Tight Lines Jim

I have a Depth Raider and mostly like it it does everything advertised and batteries last a long time. Cons with it will also apply to the Cannon as they are pretty much the same and use coated cable. Blow back is my biggest complaint and it get worse the deeper you run at 3mph and 100 dn they look like dipsey's. No way to get them down even 20lb balls blow back. With 15lb pancake weights at 100ft dn it had more blowback than my other rigger with a 10lb weight 125 dn. Next year I will not have the coated cable as if I need to know the temp that deep I will just guess. I also take em off as soon as I know what the temp is down there at least till I can get a way to get them to track and have less blow back. As for the coated cable plan on changing it often as it binds and pinches off the coating on the reels. I am now on my 4th and last coated cable from here on in if it is to deep to work on standard cable so be it. So that is the down side upside is it works real good and you don't lose it on turns and the battery lasts a long time. I have a couple of friends with the Fish Hawk units and they work pretty good but they use a 9v battery nearly every trip out and if you don't store it right the battery will be dead before you even use it. Also some fish finders don't like them as interfer with each other and when fishing deep you can lose them on turns if they get too far from the boat the same applies to blowback you can play with the angle of the sensor unit to help with blowback. But basicly it is like a fish finder it only sees fish under it if the probe gets out of the receive cone the screen goes blank. So a strong current can push it out of the signal cone.

yes they are in the Salmon family all migritory Trout are in the Salmon family this includes some browns rainbows steelhead atlantic chinook coho sockeye pinks ect however the rule says only 3 of one species not of a class fo fish.

Great job Terry and crew and people say I troll to fast. I only went up to 3.2 on Sat Down riggers look like diseys at that speed kinda blows the slow down in colder water theory. Tight Lines Jim

ELLIOT I don't know how deep you want to run your Depth Raider but mine will work good to over 100ft with regular cable. I switched back to coated cable this year but the blow back is so bad I doubt that 200ft of cable will get me much below 100ft dn. I am going to take the coating off the first 50 ft or so and I take the probe off if I need to run that rigger deep. I have tried several differant balls with very little success short of going to 25lb balls or putting motors on them to push em forward I am out of ideas. So now the probe spends more time in the box. Tight Lines Jim

Ok my last weekend was not my best we went out Fri night and did harbor patrol as we had the lake pretty much to ourselves and we marked a lot of big fish when we started into the channel . So about a 100 yds into the channel we swung around went back in and setup we made several passes thru the channel also fished outside north and south out to 50ft. Well we got a huge Sheephead called it quits at dark so I would be ready to go out this morn. Got up this morn and my brother could not make it so was just my nephew and me and cold as heck so we waited for the sun to come up and clear the frost off the boat windsheild. We headed out around 9 am ran south to the net and set up headed north in 40ft nothing at 10:30 we pulled lines and ran SW to 120ft and started a NW troll to around 150 then we started a east west pattern and worked between 120 and 180 nadda around 12:30 we started back in. Marked a few decent fish in 40 to 50 ft out front so worked them for a couple hours in and out north and south no takers. Cold water is in but I think the fish ran up allready heard a couple guys out in 270 getting a few fish but did not waste the gas running out. After a full day on the water with only 2 knock offs we trolled back up the channel about 3:30 and called it a day. Surface temps ranged from 60 deg in front in the mud to 46 in 55ft in clean water. So the last week brought us some real cold water but did not hear one report of a mature fish taken in last 2 days. Well that concludes my season on the big lake had a decent year hope you all did as well. Perhaps we'll meet on the river Steelhead fishing. Tight Lines Jim

Did harbor patrol tonight fo 3 hours lost one, wife caught a huge sheephead well over 20lbs. Will be back out in morn.

The wind has been blowing out of north all week which push's the top layer south leaving nothing but cold water. The rain has the rivers up this is it everything will be out front either to run up or to feast on the carnage and stage for the next few runs when the Steelhead start up to winter over. God I love it these are days I live for the woods are full of hunters and the water is mine. I will be trolling in 3 hours. Tight Lines Jim

SCFM is also rated by PSI ie a D/A will use use about 11cfm at 90psi while most 1/2 impacts use about 6 to 8 cfm at 90psi a spray gun will use around 12cfm but at 45psi. The average homeowner can get along just fine with a oilfree compressor I have a 6hp oil free I bought at Sears 7 years ago and it still works great it has a 30 gal tank I have painted with it but you have to stop now and then to let it catch up. Also keep in mind that usually people buy a compressor that will handle most of their needs and then get the cheap air line which makes it not work well they are then sure the compressor is the problem. Take it from a lifetime of wrenching I could list all of my certifcations but that would take a while. But odds are I am the only person you will ever meet that has all the certs I have earned over the years. Air volume is more important than pressure for most applications very few tools are rated above 90 psi so remember you have to get the air thru the tool so buy good fittings and hoses and get a large tank so you don't have the compressor running non stop. Jim

Last Sat we fished 150 to 190 out of Muskegon went 5 for 7 fished from 90 up to 25ft most fish were between 90 and 40 dn. But honestly I would start in 60ft and troll out cause all the fish will be in closer. Myself I am planning on fishing this eve and will be setting up in 40 ft and running north and south out front. I still need some eggs for winter Steelhead fishing so I need a couple of river runners. Jim

Well I would love a big screen fishfinder but hardly have any use for a big screen GPS. But then I have 2 units on my boat I have a Garman handheld wired to my radio and a Lawrance fishfinder GPS unit as well with a nav chip in it. But by the time you buy the 150 dollar laptop the 280 dollr software and the 70 dollar antenna you have 500 bucks into a GPS that dies with the first wave that hits you by suprise. That was the point that stopped me as the same money will buy you a water proof unit with maritime maps built in while it won't have a big screen it will tell you where you are and where to go just as accurately.

Well I am not against any of them my point is cost per KW we have rivers here so we can build hydro electric plants or even stack second units on our current dams. I looked into a wind generator for my house a few years ago cost was close to 30g. Was told the turbine was good for roughly 10 years and cost 12g alone so figured cost of ownership over 30 years close to 66g I think 2200 a year is too high for electricicty. On the other hand I know a few people who live off the grid it can be done it really comes done to what are we willing to live without. Solar is a interesting avenue but also costly a 100 watt panel needs a controller and a good battery bank and a invertor to convert it to A/C. So if you break it down it comes out about like this 100 watt panel roughly 600 bucks solar charge controller 250 bucks 4 golf cart deep cycle batteries 150 ea 2kw invertor about 1500. So figure 8 to 10 panels a few charge controllers 16 to 20 batteries 4 or 5 invertors. Now as long as you watch how much power you use and the sun shines every day and you don't mind spending your spare time taking care of batteries you will be ok. Now for them cloudy days they are a couple small wind options 2 or 3 of them at 1500 ea will cover you for darkness and cloudy days. Oh yea this won't run your well or furnace but you will have lights TV and the Microwave and you can allmost live like normal. Tight Lines Jim

Did they mention the cost of deployment or the fact they will on their 2nd or 3rd replacement before the cost will be recovered. I looked into them for my house will take roughly 35 years to break even. Just like the guys tradeing in their trucks to get econo cars don't consider the car will be worn out long before they break even on fuel savings. Chicken little theory. Jim

I would suggest staying out till 10pm or 9:30 so you could get the sundown bite my expereince is that has allways been my best bite. Last year in Jul and Aug we slayed em from 8:30 to 10 every time out. Even though I have to get up early still prefer to get the best bite out there. Also would be nice to run it from west end of lake and save the long run across the lake. I work till 5 in GR so most days don't get the boat launched till 6:30 or 7 so a 9pm cutoff don't leave a lot of time to fish. Tight Lines Jim

I just realized I put in 2 pics of the same fish here is the second fly fish.