CITM

Dave, Don't spend a house payment on it, find a crew of at least 3 and split the costs. I wouldn't do this if we weren't sharing costs.

Some tournaments have an "Under 24'" division, which is less expensive and intended to grow the sport. Of course payouts are lower too. Personally I don't think there should be a boat size limit on that. I don't have any specific knowledge of this but I'm sure it has to do with providing a reasonable amount for payouts. Most tournaments don't get much (if any) sponsor money, so prize money comes from entry fees. Most of the major tournaments pay out the top 1/4 or 1/3 on the AM side, so between that and the bigger prizes for 1st-3rd (or so), the entry fee has to be higher. Personally, I'd much rather have the entry fees where they are and have decent payouts to make it worth our time and to help cover the other expenses if we do place well. Our first tournament was in '08 and we've averaged 3 tournaments per year since (all Tournament Trail events). I upgraded boats last year but prior to that, my boat was 26' and I trailered it to up to 120 miles or so to the furthest tournaments. The cost for entry fees, truck gas, boat gas, slip, and tackle runs between $500-$1,200 depending on the tournament (doesn't include rooms or food). A major portion of that goes to boat gas, which usually covers 2 days prefishing and the tournament. Sure if I ran a smaller boat it'd use less gas, but I'm guessing that those numbers are close to average. So, lowering entry fees wouldn't make a huge difference for overall costs. However, lowering payouts would likely make a big difference in the number of participants. No way we're fishing a tournament if we can't cover our expenses even if we win. Sure it gets costly, but you could fish for free or even make some money, and if you don't, you and your crew get to fish for 3-4 days for a pretty reasonable amount.

I've purchased a couple of things from them. no issues.

I bought a new boat last spring and updated the electronics. This worked great when I took it off, I just wanted to update the sonar and ended up upgrading everything and integrating into one unit due to lack of dash space. I don't know how old it is but the boat it came off is an '89. Guessing even if it's original it doesn't have more than a few hundred hours on it. It's in good condition and it works well. Furuno 1761 with 40" open array. 3 KW, CRT display. http://www.furunousa.com/products/pr...cts+%3A+Radars $650 plus shipping (guessing around $100 to great lakes region). Or we can arrange pick up in west Michigan Gordy six one six - nine one five - one one nine four grsible at gmail dot com

I've been running Coastals for a few years. No issues except for the mounts. I've broken a couple of the brackets by whacking the light with net handles but they're easy to replace. I also had someone hook their coat sleeve on the light getting in the boat, that time it broke the light where it attaches to the mount, I tried super glue and epoxy (didn't try JB Weld as noted above) with no luck. I sent Chris (the owner) an email, told him what happened and asked if I could buy a replacement light. He sent me a new one free of charge. Top notch service, super bright, and made in USA. No brainer. Just mount them where they're not likely to get bumped if you can. I got a new boat this spring and mounted a new set on the bottom side of the rocket launcher, no issues so far.

You might also look at Brazilian Redwood, Ipe, or similar hard, oily tropical wood. Easy to do yourself and will last a LONG time. Looks nice too if you choose to keep it finished (Penofin Marine) but it's not necessary.

20 lb Seaguar Invisx floro. P-line is good too.

Same here. Just wrap the leader loosely so it doesn't kink. Another way to do it is cut a small swim noodle in 2" long or so pieces, cut one side to make a C, put that over your flasher and wrap the leader around it and stick the hook in it. Lets you just throw flasher/fly combos in a container with minimal tangles when you pull one out.

I fished Friday-yesterday from 6:00am until 2:00 or so. Had family in from out of state, the weather was nice so we fished long days. Every day we had a few bites around 7:00 then not much until noon or so. I'm guessing this was related to the full moon. Friday we were 11 for 16. It didn't seem to matter where we were, we caught fish from 80-100 and from 135-200. Most bites were on boards, from 3 color lead to 300' copper with an 8" white live wire spin doctor and fly. We ran some spoons but it was mostly a plug bite, primarily pearl black dot ace high. 10" white slick spinny with a moo moo meat rig was good on a high diver 125' back too. Saturday 4 for 6 (I think). Got 2 nice ones right away then dead for a long time. Worked mostly from 80-165'. We trolled in at the end of the day and got a king on a 225 copper with a yellow chrome 8" spinny and meat rig in 50' and two sheepshead in 30'. There were some pretty wicked currents Saturday, might have had something to do with the slow day. Yesterday, started in 70' and trolled sw, hit one in 85' and all heck broke loose in 95' and we went 3 for 6 at 7:30 in about 30 minutes. Low diver 80' back white slick spinny with hypnotist went twice, 4 color with green ladder back, and high diver with 10" white slick spinny with moo moo 100' back, and raspberry carbon on a rigger 40' down. I saw what FBD is talking about, I had a charter boat fishing right next to me, same direction and speed, and they didn't get a bite when we couldn't keep lines in the water.... weird. Then it went dead, never took another hit until noon, on a north troll in 105', 10 color with pearl black dot ace high, raspberry carbon on rigger 40' down, and low diver 100' back with 10" green chrome NBK spinny (twice in 5 min). All big fish, went 2 for 4 in about an hour. Ended 6 for 11 I think with 3 over 20#. See the pattern? 3 color-300' copper with an 8" spinny all run 15' to 60' down (or so). 40' down on riggers. High diver 100' back to low divers 100' back run from 30-50' down. I only took 1 fish over the 3 days out of that zone, and it was a laker on a paddle down deep. Send me a PM with your phone #, I slip my boat in GH and am happy to help.

I had an Airmar B60 with an HDS 7 that worked well. Your sonar is marking an object's distance from the transducer, not its depth, so regardless of how fast you are going you shouldn't see much difference in the depth of your balls because they remain approximately the same distance from the transducer. The wider the cone you have, the more you'll mark but the accuracy of depth goes down. So, especially with a wider cone, you could mark a fish that looks like it's right at your ball but it's really not, it could be significantly different. I currently run an Airmar SS264, 25 degree 50khz with a 1000 watt DSM. It'll mark the balls at about 2.3-2.5 down speed but they disappear faster than that. It'll mark the rigger cables too, not necessarily a good thing.

I bought a new boat this spring and updated the electronics. This worked great when I took it off, I just wanted everything integrated into one unit. I have no idea how old it is, just that it's in good condition and it works. Furuno 1761 with 40" open array. 3 KW, CRT display. http://www.furunousa.com/products/productdetail.aspx?product=1761&category=Products+%3A+Previous+Products+%3A+Radars $750 plus shipping, which would be substantial on this as it's big and heavy, but I'll ship it if necessary. I can arrange pick up in west Michigan. Gordy six one six - nine one five - one one nine four grsible at gmail dot com

Make sure the top of the the hook is near the tail end of the meat, treble should hang past the meat.

You don't have to swap out the backing, just splice in a 10' piece of 40# mono between the braid and the copper to hook your board to.

I disagree with the idea of fishing limits and I don't usually run more than 15-20 miles. If someone has the means, good for them. Regardless of how fast the boat is, they are spending valuable time running. It looks like the numbers of boats in the BRC was up this year, I wouldn't complain about anyone entering! Several of the people running the high dollar boats are also sponsoring tournaments through the companies that helped them to buy these boats, or companies that they are affiliated with. Flat Out, Living the Dream, Break Time, Best Chance and Hour Time to name a few. This sport needs the connections (outside of the fishing industry) that these guys bring in order to grow.

It's pretty sad that someone would get bashed, especially on this forum, for making a long run in a tournament that didn't pan out for them. It's their money, time, wear and tear on the boat and their bodies, etc. to do that. Or is it against the "code" to fish out of a nice boat in the BRC?

I wouldn't put more than 225' of 45 lb on a 45, and preferably 150', a 55 is much better suited for longer lenghts than that. I think 300' of 32# would fit.

Correct, as stated above it's good for any boat you are on.

Riggers are sold. Still have the pedestals.

Sold! Thanks Bill

I'd guess air bubbles over the transducer, probably due to waves.

Cannon Intellitroll (newer model). Works great, I just bought a new boat and decided to go with a Fish Hawk instead. Records speed, temp, and depth at the ball. I recently converted the pick-up from the original coil spring to a tube similar to the Torpedo unit. Used 2 seasons with no issues. $250 plus shipping. Gordy 616 - nine 1 five - one 1 9 4 grsible at gmail dot com

Bert's swivel bases are sold. Still have the riggers and pedestals.

Maybe it's more of a flickr issue. If I grab the code from the pic it gives me too much info. If I use just the bold portion (below), it works. <a href=" " title="IMGP4299 by grsible, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7332/9150921735_7115390e68_b.jpg" width="1024" height="680" alt="IMGP4299"></a>

Can someone please post instructions on how to post pictures that are hosted on another site? I've tried it but can't figure it out. Here's an example of the HTML code from flickr, which part of it do we use? <a href=" " title="IMGP4299 by grsible, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7332/9150921735_7115390e68_b.jpg" width="1024" height="680" alt="IMGP4299"></a>