mrhookup

great job Matt!

Good job on the new boat! We've had a bunch of tough trips this year after getting our new boat as well, every boat takes some time to get dialed in I think. Getting used to different electronics, steering, speed sensitivity, spread, etc.....

Great job, similar fishing for us out of Grand haven Saturday morning as well with the exact same program

Go to the 7:00min mark in this seminar and there's a good explanation of how Best Chance in Saugatuck runs their sliders as a fixed rig with OR19 releases to improve their hook ups. They also show a good trick for untangling the line if the slider gets wrapped up while fighting a fish on the bottom bait. We typically run our sliders fixed as well so that we know the exact depth we're targeting with the bait, although I've just been half hitching a rubber band on the line where I want to put it up to this point. I plan on switching over to using the OR19's though so I don't have to break a rubber band off every time I take the slider off. https://vimeo.com/21682857

For my low slide divers I run the mag rings with the 7oz weight on a 2-3 setting which is equivalent to a 1-1.5 on a dipsy (slide divers settings go from 0 to 6). For the high divers I add the mag ring but run the smaller weight that they come with on a 6 setting (equivalent to a 3 on a dipsy). This has kept them spread out for us without any tangles so far.

Jason I love the slide divers and have a ton of confidence in them, they account for more fish than any other rig on the boat. Long leaders on divers produce way more fish for us and with the slide divers there's no need to hand line the fish in at the back of the boat. I started using them last year on wire to replace our regular divers on our 16ft boat. We just didn't have the room for long leads off divers and the regular divers weren't being very productive for us. I added a 50ft section of 30lb mono to the end of the wire for the diver to run on and a 4-5ft fluorocarbon leader to the bait after that. When we got the bigger boat this year and started running 4 divers I used the slide divers as our high divers and got regular walker deeper divers for the lows with 9ft leaders off of them figuring this would give us some variety in presentation. Well, in 8 trips the low divers only took one hit while the slide divers have still been our best rods, so I switched the lows over to slide divers with 30ft leads to our flashers last week; they've fired at least once each trip since. I think the longer leads give the flashers a slower roll creating a bit better presentation at higher trolling speeds allowing you to cover more ground. We typically troll in the 2.5-3.0 range at the ball.

Was able to sneak out with a couple fishing buddies for an evening trip to end the weekend yesterday after being out of town Wed-Sat. for work and a wedding. After breaking the big lake curse for my good friend Matt last weekend, I was hoping to start turning him into a good luck charm with this trip . Headed out a bit south of port and set up in 85FOW trolling NNW at 6:30pm. Had a drive by in 100 FOW on a UV Spindoctor and UV meat rig on a low slide diver out 190ft. around 7:30pm and then it went dry for a couple hours. At dusk we hit a double on glow plugs, 200CU with a Dbl Glow Ace Hi and a high slide diver out 150ft with a Green Lightning Ace Hi., put two nice kings in the box. Spun around and hit another on a Big Weenie Spotted Dick meat rig on a low diver out 180ft. and put one more mature king in the box. Called it a night shortly there after at 10pm. Matt's 1st lake Michigan king was a dandy... The result of the double... The last fish of the night on the meat rig...

Made it out for a couple of short evening trips this weekend. Late starts both nights not getting lines down until 8pm and fishing until 10pm. Took dad out on Friday night and fished from 100-140FOW with 120FOW being the best. Finished 1-3 with a smaller king despite several tangles/broken tackle issues. Really only had our full 6 rod spread in the water for about an hour and there seemed to be a decent bite for most. First fish hit a UV Spindoctor with Last Brunch home tied fly on a dipsy out 140ft. Second was a 5lb king on a 300ft copper with mag moonshine happee meal, this fish got wrapped in the line and came in sideways the whole way causing us to have to slow the boat to a crawl to be able to pull him in which killed our spread during primetime for 30min. Last, was a nice king on a mag moonshine happee meal as a fixed slider 10ft above the ball on a rigger down 75ft., this one broke off at the back of the boat. Saturday night took a couple river fishing buddies out for another short evening trip. One of them in particular (Matt) is bad luck for me on the big pond as I'm 0-0 onn 4 trips with him on board, so suffice it to say I only needed to get one fish on the line to have a successful trip. Managed to go 1-2 on steelhead which made his day and broke the curse . First fish was a pig of a steelhead on a blue bubble paddle and blue bubble fly down 80ft. on the rigger in 140fOW. Matt was so jacked that we actually hooked a fish that he was reeling the thing in like a bluegill, mind you he's a very accomplished river fisherman so I could tell the adrenaline had taken over. Lost this one on a jump at the back of the boat partially due to an over eager angler. We spun back around to go through the same area again and had a high slide diver out 150ft go with a green lightning ace high plug. Matt grabbed the rod again and we pulled in a 4-5lb steelhead in the dark. Called it a night after that with the curse lifted and the black and white kitty overboard. Matt's practice shot, lost a double digit steelhead here... First fish to hand on the big pond

good job Mike, glad you were able to make it back out on the water again

In Michigan they are one line, which is why many stack with free or fixed sliders over here allowing two more rods to be run elsewhere. I believe that in Wisconsin it counts as a second line, so stacking with a second rod as opposed to two lures on one rod doesn't hurt you for total rod count because it counts either way.

Took the opportunity to fish in some bumpy seas for the first time in the new boat and it handled it like a dream compared to the old 16 footer . Took three buddies out with the plan to get some fishing in before enjoying the rest of the day on the water for Coast Guard festival. Solid 2-4ft waves made for a flow truck out to 95ft where we set lines on a WNW troll. Popped a nice coho on a rigger down 45ft with a mag flounder pounder in 140 FOW and my buddy Mike got the chance to land his first ever salmon and fish on Lake Michigan. Shortly there after we got a sick crew member and had to pull lines and head in. Only fished for about an hour, but at least we managed to avoid the skunk and chumming and still make it to McDonald's for breakfast. Sounded pretty slow for most on the radio when we quit with 0-2 fish being the norm.

Good job out there in some bumpy conditions

Chad, you are correct. We use mooching reels on our downrigger and planer board rods and love the 1:1 fight you get with them. Having grown up more of a fly fisherman than anything else, I missed that aspect with the traditional level wind reels when I dove back into the big lake thing a couple summers ago. I'm just not a big fan of not gaining line when you turn the handle on a level wind if there's too much pressure for that particular drag setting, I feel much more in control with the direct drive functionality of the mooching reels. Now we do still stick with the traditional level winds with counters for dipsy rods because we run wire line and like the counters for letting the dipsies creep out and still know how far out they were when they get hit. I will say I've yet to have a passenger say they enjoyed the fight on the dipsy reels more than our moochers. The specific reels we are using are the Diawa M1 Mooching reels, they are an entry level reel at $60-70 a piece depending where you find them; Shimano makes a very comparable model as well for $10-20 more. They are "alright" quality and get the job done for us; at least we are yet to lose a fish due to a reel failure. On our downrigger rods, we load them up with 20lb mono, Trilene Big Game is what we use but everyone has their favorites. For the reels on our planer rods, we started last year with a base of 25-30lb hi-vis mono topped with 250' of 30lb Power Pro Depth Hunter and finished with 50' of 20lb fluorocarbon. The Depth Hunter line is color coded so you know exactly how much line you've let out without needing a counter on the reel. At the time, to get depth on our boards we just used torpedo weights, no lead core or copper line at all. The depth charts that come with the topedos were created using 30lb braided line, and with the metered Depth Hunter Power Pro, we could dial in exactly where our baits were running. This worked very well for us last year, but we had a small boat at the time and never ran more than two planer boards to a side so the steep dive angle the torpedos have wasn't an issue for resetting boards. Since moving up to the bigger boat in June and somewhat due to the tougher fishing this year, I've started to mess around with super copper line and it's worked very well so far. This allows us to run 3-4 boards per side without any issues getting tangles while resetting them. We'll still add torpedos to get some extra depth, but we don't need to let them out as far, just enough to get an extra 15-30' of depth, so there's no issues. Since the reels don't have level winds on them, I don't fill them up completely so that if a beginner reels all the copper in on one side it doesn't go over the edge of the spool. You'd be surprised how much this is NOT a problem though, the tension from the fish tends to force the line to the lowest part of the spool when reeling them in so it almost goes on level on it's own. Just make sure anyone reeling in these setups without a fish on the end keeps tension on the line so that it goes on tight and even.

Will do Mike and I remember you posting this spring about Ken passing, very said as I still have his VHS tapes on big lake and river fishing and we got the idea for using the mooching reels from him.

It had been in the cooler for several hours at that point so I'm sure that had something to do with it

are the batteries old? they may be struggling to hold a charge for an extended period of time meaning they are no good, could be why the previous owner had them on the charger when he ran the engine for you, sound like it'll start when jumped but after fishing at a specific location with the motor off they die...may be something to consider.

The second pic with it vertical is a bit misleading I think as I see what you're saying, it does have that pronounce lateral line. It's the same fish as the first pic with it horizontal, had a black mouth, and was a female full of eggs a bit too big for immature coho eggs, definitely a king I believe.

Thanks and great job after a tough first light bite. UV Green Dolphin in the Stingray size on high slide divers has been our best setup on sunny days this year by far.

Kicker is a 1999 9.9hp Yamaha 4 stroke with the alternator in it so it charges the electronics when trolling, haven't had any issues with the batteries staying charged even when night fishing with the spreader lights, etc on. Works like a charm and saves me a ton of gas and keeps the hours off the main.

Scott, here's what she looks like with the gear taken off for a day of beaching

Was able to make it out of Grand Haven a couple times this weekend without having to fish the bumpy seas on Saturday morning. 7/24pm Had a late crew and we got stuck in rush hour traffic on our way out to GH so got a bit latter start. Crew consisted of my roommates, a good fishing buddy, and his close friend for his first time on the big lake. Had lines down around 7pm or so and fish until 11:30pm. Finished 4/5 with 3 lake trout, a 10-12lb king, and a nice trash bag (thought that one was a lake trout for a while). The lake trout came in 115-125 FOW and the king hit on the way into the pier heads in 82 FOW at 11pm. Here's what worked: 200cu - Chartruese custom DW Captain's Choice plug - laker High Slide Diver out 130ft - BW Spotted Dick meat rig - laker 75cu with 2oz dive bomb - some spoon - 5ft long plastic bag Low Diver out 100ft - Green Splatter Back Ace High - lost king 100cu with 2oz Dive Bomb - MS Happee Meal Mag - king We had just been joking about how Lakers often fight like a plastic bag then we ironically had a planer board drag back.... Beautiful night on the water... 7/26am Just my dad and I headed out on Sunday morning and were greeted with a flat lake and another great lake Michigan sunrise... Felt weird running only a 6 rod spread after having graduated up to 12 rods lately with the bigger boat, but we were still able to have a good morning. Had lines down at 6am in 85 FOW on a NW troll and headed out to 140 FOW. Stayed in the 120-150 range the rest of the morning pulling lines at 11am. Finished 4/5 with a 15lb king, 2lb king, shaker king, and about a 6lb steelhead. There were some nice slicks out in the 140-150 range, north and south trolls were best. Here's what worked: 200cu - MS Happee Meal mag - king High Slide Diver out 150ft - Pearly/blue Spinnie and Blue bubble fly - lost king 100cu - Stinger Shanster - 2lb king Downrigger at 50ft - Stinger Stingray UV Green Dolphin - shaker king Downrigger at 70ft - Mtn. Dew Spinnie with UV fly - steelhead

It has warmed up down here as well from the S and SW winds this week.