1mainiac

Most tournaments specify a max length of 6ft which is what I made most of mine to meet.

I probably pay too much for the good swivels but they don't fail so maybe worth it. As to your question I used to just tie loops on my flies and some of my leaders however when I began losing them I had to assume that the loops were getting cut but since I never got one back I can't be sure what the exact failure was. All I know for sure was everything in front of the loop was still there. On my Steelhead gear I use loop to loop connectors all the time with now failures but when I use loops behind my flashers or other gear the failure rate is too high. Good Luck

Thanks Jason this a full roller rod so not as concerned about the fraying issue. But good point I think I will just go ahead with my orginal plan and replace the line just will save the copper if it is all in good shape.

Oh and more on the subject I bought my boat at Halls in early March and purchased a New autopilot with a schedualed delivery date of April 20th. Well chk the calander cause I am still waiting on the autopilot Raytheon has changed the delivery date 7 or 8 times now. According to Mariner Center the only other autopilot that will work on this boat would require changing the boat to a SeaStar steering system which they want 2500 bucks to do. My point is this I told them up front I would only purchase a boat that met 3 conditions those being trailerable, have a bathroom for my wife and to have a autopilot so I can fish shorthanded. So far their only offer has been for me to continue to wait or to accept a refund for the autopilot. My point is that if I had known that the autopilot would not be released the boat would still be in their showroom I would have bought a differant boat there are plenty of good used boats out there. So if I don't get this resolved by the end of the month you may see my 26ft boat out there with "HALL'S SUCKS" in 2ft tall lettering on each side.

HUNTINFOOL43 Don't know which motor you have in the Islander but if it is a 3.0 and you are interested I have pretty much everything from the flywheel back off a 85 3.0 400 mechanical drive. The lower has a crack that needs welding but is all from a low hours boat also have a new in box set of ball gears. The stuff all needs a good home make you or any other member a darn good deal.

I purchased a used wire diver rod a few weeks ago and stuck it in the garage thinking I would replace the wire which looked pretty old. Was getting the gear together for tommorrow and thought I wold replace the wire and give it a try. Well it has copper on it the guy I bought it from said he used it to run dipseys. So I am curious has anyone used copper wire on a dipsey rig and if so how much would it affect the dive curve. What I am thinking is useing it for a outside diver set on 2.5 so I could get both wide and deep. Any thoughts?

Update the Cobalt is gone and waiting on cash for the 402 Merc upper.

THis is a challenge to my fellow members I origonally posted this on another thread but will move it here so I can keep track of who is in. So there is no misunderstanding I am coping my original post again here. This is for the big fish pot in the Dreamweaver Charity Tournament at Muskegon this month. And the best thing is the money goes to a good cause. Since this is a charity event I would like to make a charitable challange to other entrants. And this requires others to join in and agree to the same challange since the more that join the bigger the challange. I should have thought of this sooner but here goes this towards the Big Fish prize money. If I win the Big Fish I will donate a percentage of the cash up to 50% to the charity. The percentage will be based on the number of other boats who agree to do the same if they win the Big Fish money. So if I am the only one doing this it will be a 3% donation if we have 5 in the challange than it will be 10% donation 10 boats in makes it a 20% 15 boats makes it 30% 20 boats makes it 40% and 26 or more makes it a 50% donation. No crawfishing if you get on this list you have to make the donation if you win. Any Takers? 1MAINIAC first challange boat Count Team Caznik in this one, but you are in charge of this because I do not want more work.... Caznik Joel sanders +crew are in also! Ok that makes 3 boats 43 to go and we can just split the big fish with the charity right away. I don't think any of us are here to win money or prizes though they do help. So lets go fish and have a great time and help the kids at the same time. Tight Lines

And the best thing is the money goes to a good cause. Since this is a charity event I would like to make a charitable challange to other entrants. And this requires others to join in and agree to the same challange since the more that join the bigger the challange. I should have thought of this sooner but here goes this towards the Big Fish prize money. If I win the Big Fish I will donate a percentage of the cash up to 50% to the charity. The percentage will be based on the number of other boats who agree to do the same if they win the Big Fish money. So if I am the only one doing this it will be a 3% donation if we have 5 in the challange than it will be 10% donation 10 boats in makes it a 20% 15 boats makes it 30% 20 boats makes it 40% and 26 or more makes it a 50% donation. No crawfishing if you get on this list you have to make the donation if you win. Any Takers? 1MAINIAC first challange boat

I use Albert Clippers for fixed sliders works great when fish hits slider often get doubles as it yanks main line up in front of the fish you are fighting. Nothing compares to the feeling of being in a fight and feeling that second fish hit. However when the main line gets hit stoping behind the boat to yank the slider sucks so unless I am sending them down deep I use free sliders more than any other setup. I considered the rubber band thing a few times but not sure I want to be trying to break a rubber band while fighting a fish at the back of boat and real sure I don't want any sharp objects near my line while doing it either. With the Alberta Clippers I have reeled in fish without removeing them but no matter how you run sliders there is a chance you will lose a fish because of them and a chance you will catch more fish because of them. Oh and 2 years ago I ran fixed sliders on my dipsey's with no success but did get them to run without tangling but I figured 16 lures on 8 rods ought to improve the odds. Don't remember who said it but the best way to catch more fish is to fish more often. See you guys at Port Sheldon. Tight Lines

Well my crew situation is in the air right now was considering it but still have more maybe's than yes's. Will know better in a few days you can pencil me in but there is still a chance I won't make it. Tigth Lines

Live2fishdjs one of my guys just moved his dad to hospice today so i may be a man short if so you would be welcome to fish with me. As it stands now it is me and my wife and 2 maybe's. If i get a sure answer i will pm you directly. Tight lines

I have run 3 dipseys per side with no problems and have also had some of the worst mess's you have ever seen. 3 years ago I only had 2 riggers and hated core in the late run so had to depend on my dipseys took some time but figured it out. Love my dipseys now still mess one up now and then. But I now know why and how to avoid it. NEVER let them out fast make them pull hard all the way out. Allways set the outside line first and I never use 3 to easy for them to flip over on you. When I ran 3 per side outside was a mono rod set on 2.5 standard ring next one out was also a mono rod set on 2 w/ magnum ring inside rod was a Power Pro with a magnum diver set on 1.5. Really should have had Power Pro on the outside lines but used those rods for other things so just suffered thru. I need to get me another wire setup but short on bucks so just gonna make do hard to choose between more gear or boat gas. TIGHT LINES

Tried running out deeper this evening set lines at 178FOW and headed SW out to 300 with only one knock off. Ran north at 300 for a while then headed back in rigger went off at about 180 FOW and wife boated a nice little King 4lbs 11oz on a Blue Veggie 124 down. Reset the line and continued in had another rigger go off in 170FOW 90 down with NBK lost it right away. Sun was starting to set so pulled all the riggers and loaded up the Moonshine spoons put a Glow Frog meat rig on a full core behind a board and pulled one Dypsey and put a glow meat rig on it. Watched a beautiful sunset and trolled in Dypsey went off at 130FOW grabed the rod and got into a great fight with a 8lb 11oz King on a Rapture Fly Dreamweaver board combo. Trolled in to 100FOW and pulled lines as rear lights decided not to work and could not see the rods very good anymore. All in all a decent night and ended 2 for 4. TIGHT LINES

Looks like some of the west coast setups my friends use in WA I have tried a couple and never caught a fish. But then I have hundereds of lures that people said were great that have never caught a fish for me. My son is in AK and he sent me down some of the Wobble Glo setups he kills fish with up there and have yet to catch a fish on them either. As much as I like to try new things at the price of gas I am sticking to the basics but maybe will try some differant stuff this weekend on a couple of poles. I am gonna run out to around 150 tommorrow night and play for a couple of hours then troll in after sunset. Maybe time to try the Wobble Glo's behind the dypseys again. TIGHT LINES

I have a few pieces left over from a old boat project all 1985 Stringer mount stuff. I have several 15x17 props a starter a 3.0 flywheel and housing a good intermeadiate section. Have a good upper unit from a 3.0 21x18 gear ratio a couple of shift converters a good shift cable and nice looking exhaust housing a 400 lower that needs welding has crack near water inlet. I have a new inbox OMC 800 water pump and new in box OMC set of ball gears complete. I also have a 402 Mercury complete upper with junk lower will have good lower if Camp and Cruise ever replaces the one they messed up. Also a 1985 Cobalt 21 BR free to good home trailer not included However Trailer is also for sale is a tandem axle galv trailer needs tires. Let me know if you are interested. Tight Lines

Yep she is a older boat but you don't have to marry it or mortage the house to fish in it. Put in new floors and carpet 2 years ago dbl planked 1/2 plywood built in a staorge box in center of floor for rods ect. ShoreLander trailer with nice tires. 1972 Merc 80hp with newer lower unit has Stainless shafts new water pump new Chargeing system Stator and rectifier had 170 or better in all cyl runs very good will troll all day no issues I am aware of. Includes a older Lowrance Loran fishfinder unit that also works and a Lowrance flasher unit. Has a DeckHand 40 remote anchor on the front with a 25lb anchor all new last year and a remote controlled 400,000cp spotlight on the bow so you can see to get home. Also includes a Willye 6ft planer mast and 2 Rivera long arm manual riggers with 4ft arms and counters with rod holders on them. Has cover with a few tears but still covers the boat. Gas tank is nearly full and battery was replaced last season. Will probably need a little TLC and fishing gear and you should be good to go. Will sell as is or part out the fishing gear and power anchor. Let me know if you are interested. Tight Lines

Dan that is another reason I sugested a band pass design first the speaker is fully enclosed so very little chance of weather getting to it. Second the design is very tolerant of changes to shape it is tuned by sealed volume of the speaker chamber against the volume of the port chamber and the size of the port. These cabinets are made in a lot of configurations and are very easy to build. Some of the Bass tube speakers are bandpass design I built a set years ago with single 15in speakers that were about the size of a bushel crate speaker was mounted diagnally on a board running corner to corner we put tops on them and used em for end tables I don't think any of my friends ever knew they were speakers. Getting the right amount of air volume on each side of the speaker and using the right size port will do wonders. Good Luck Jim

Hey Dan spent a little time on infinity website really like that speaker I would suggest a bandpass enclosure as it will really tighten it up and protect the speaker as well. Personally I would use a 35hz cutoff on the low end before the amp no sense wasting power down below that point. The upper will roll off sharply around 125hz so take your choice of limiting it there or maybe useing 150hz as a upper crossover point. Myself I would go with the 150hz crossover point and EQ out the rolloff taking more load off my low mid speakers. On the other hand if you are looking to get hard tight bottom and the other speakers can handle it drop it down to 120hz. Get the biggest amp you can I seriouslly doubt you will be able to stay in the boat at levels approaching speaker damage power wise which if my math in my head is right would be around 1200w at 127db or about like having a 747 engine running full out next to you. Rock on Tight Lines

Well I am not a expert on car stereo gear so I don't know all the specs for various brands. But here is one important spec to look at for bass see what the free air response range is this will tell you what a non inclosed speaker is capable of. A large portion of speaker design is in the cabinet proper cabinet design will increase the overall volume of a speaker however is does this by narrowing the freq range. For instance I have a set of EVM 12S speakers if I put them in a Fender Twin amp the are full range and will produce around 106db put them in a sealed cabinet like a Marshall and you will lose some of the upper freqs but they will get up to between 109 and 112db but put them in the tuned sub boxs that they are in and they have a useable freq range of about 80 to 1000hz and will crank out 121 to 124db install the step plates on the ports and they will run from 40 to 1000hz nearly flat eq wise at around 121db. That is pretty good for front load speakers with about a 60ft throw range. So try and remember that the installation and cabinet design is more important than any other aspect as cabinet design will effect freq range and timing more than any other thing you do to the system. Bass freqs are omnidirectional and do not even need to be multichannel so one good sub is all you should need in a small area. There are lots of crossover networks that provide a sum output for the subwoofer. Also keep in mind that the correct EQ setting changes as volume and accoustics change can't tell you how many times I have setup a perfect mix in a empty bar only to have it turn to mud when the room filled and humidity changed so remember a boat is not a sound lab so most of those lab specs will have very little to do with how it actually sounds only how much the componets cost. A thousand dollar set of speakers in a crappy location probably won't sound any better than a 20 dollar set of speakers in the same place. One other note that may help as you build a multi speaker system is that in a car and most likely on your boat you will be placeing the speakers in differant locations since I doubt you will be building a concert stack in your boat. You may find that changeing the phaseing on some of the speakers will improve the audio lets say you add a set of tweeters up on the dash and a nice sub under one of the seats odds are that you mid speakers will be closer to you than the others so reverse the wireing on them and see if it improves the sound. Tight Lines

We use acetone or acrosol to prep and clean before applying decals on fiberglass. As for the airbrush work some of that will depend on what kind of paint he is using. When I had the mural painted on my old car I clear coated it and all went well however the same guy painted my bike tank and used differant paint and the clear coat ruined it so make sure it is all compatable paint. Tight Lines

Pretty good article Dan however in the end he stated neither under powering nor overpowering will distroy the speaker which is correct. The reason I will allways insist on over powering is simple first I am smart enough and have very good ears that I have seldom blown speakers. For any of you who were at the Blues concert at Rockford this evening I was the bearded guy in jeans and a blue t shirt going back and forth between the stage and mixer during the first set. Gordy the owner of the sound company and long time friend asked me to come and find his EQ problem in the monitor system. Second and most important to the subject is to get good clean audio you need to set your gain structure correctly. This is done by keeping the volume knob turned down and minimizing EQ boost and letting the final amplifier do the work for most people a large final amp means very little boost from the volume knob will cause large voulume increases so unless you enjoy hearing your cones hammer you will avoid twisting the knob very far and your system will maintain adequate headroom to play the music espeacially with the dynamic range now found on CD's. The oppisite is true when using a smaller amp since you are now required to turn the volume up further to acheave the same volume level you increse second and third order harmonics and the smaller amp lacks the headroom to now manage the dynamic changes in music so the amp begins clipping and distortion is increased. Perhaps if you have a small enough amp you won't hurt the speakers similar to guitar amps where you have a 100w amp running a speaker bank capable of handling 600 watts. But that is a design to create and handle large amounts of clipping and distortion not exactly what I dream of listening to all day on every song. So just like not everyone can handle driving a blown big block not everyone can run big amps as for me give all the power you got I'll let off the gas if need be. So stay on the sidewalk and just play your IPOD cause when I wanna rock I like to feel the bass compress my chest. Thats all I got to say cause if the wife would let me I'd have it so loud the people on the pier in Grand Haven would be dancing to my tunes from Muskegon. Hmm if I put the wedges on the bow the amp rack in the cabin and a 10kw gen in the back wonder if Metalica at 131db would effect the fishing. Nope that would just be stupid but now I gotta dig out some of my old stereo gear and upgrade the boat tunes. Damn I should have ignored this subject now I am trying to figure out if I can mount a couple of my 15in subs on my boat. Ok I am just gonna stick to fishing which is why I came here to begin with. Tight Lines

Just a thought is it a plastic gas can mine sat in garage for quite a while sealed with gas in it and swelled up now it holds nearly 6 gallons. Thought I was getting ripped off last year so measured the contents and had to remark the can cause it had grown I now check all my cans but espeacially the one I mix 2 stroke gas in.

Thanks just want to start getting a few more fish per trip running out of ideas and gas money. been averaging 2 in the box per trip at 60 to 80 bucks for gas still cheaper to eat Salmon at Red Lobster. Tight Lines

Had family up for a few days so took them out for evening boat ride. Boat ride was great sunset was beautiful. Fishing was poor brother in law lost first fish at back of boat it hit on a blue veggie 110 down off the rigger. We were in 210 FOW straight out and a little south. Trolled west to 250 FOW nothing else. Ran in to 200 and headed for the pier picked up a 4 lb king in about 160 FOW on a dypsey 200 back on 2, wonder bread flasher with Hypnotist fly. Pulled lines at 90ft and ran in at least weather was nice was 1 to 3 going out and flat coming in. Still not finding the fish and can't just burn up gas looking so just gonna keep to short rides pick a pattern and run it if it works great if not try again another day. Not killing them but no skunks yet in Muskegon Tight Lines