Gezellig

We had one visit us for over an hour on Saturday out of whitehall. The kids were actually petting it!!! We called him lucky because at one point he moved to one of our low diver rods and no sooner did he do that and the rod went off. He then hung out on the front rail until we pulled gear and left. Do they migrate from Wisconsin or something? I thought it was really cool and he was obviously tired. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

I am heading out of whitehall in the AM, was going to run out to 300’ and then drop. Hoping for some jumpers. Will be the last trip for the year. Will be on 68 as well. Boat name Gezellig. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Yes, the fish that we pulled gear for and stopped the boat was the steelhead. It was time to head in anyway so we put all the gear away and when trying to turn the boat back towards port is when I discovered that I had no steering. The hose had blown out of my autopilot pump. I am assuming this is because while fighting the fish in neutral I forgot to turn the autopilot off and it was deadheading the steering until the weakest link gave out. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Thanks Salmon Slammin!!! I am pretty pumped right now. Guess it WAS worth the blown steering line and floating out there helpless for 2 hours. I am going to have to measure that wood on the hanger next time I am a out just to get a better idea. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

I took a picture of the 5 fish we kept. It looks like the one on left is actually a coho now that i am looking at it. The Fish in question is right next to it. I guess because of the size I just assumed it was a king. What do you think now? If this IS a steel, i am not real happy that I didn’t any measurements because that thing is huge for a steelhead. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

6 for 6 this morning Headed North past the pack and set lines in 130’. finally after about an hour landed a decent steelhead on green flounder pounder dragging behind a 5 color. Caught a very nice laker on a blue splatter back plug connected to a 7 color. (kinda weird?) caught a small shaker king on a green fly pulled behind a green spinny. high diver out 180 caught a midsize king on a moon shine green jeans pulled behind a high diver back 170 we caught two mature kings on a happy meal connected to a 300 copper. The second king was jumping out of the water like a steely. I pulled him in to about 100 feet and he decided to rip off 900 feet jumping the entire way before we were in a stale mate. He burried his shoulders in and would not budge. finally after 45 minutes we decided to clear all lines so we could fight it at a standstill !!! I forgot to turn the autopilot off while standing still and it blew a hydraulic line off the steering pump. I spent the next two hours rigging things up to make it back to launch. What a nightmare. Spare lines being put in boat before going out All fish caught in 180 FOW. went to 200 then back to 150. ended up just trolling 180 line and stayed there until the little steering mishap. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Thanks The Greek. I have 2 of the 29 series batteries in it (just cant see the other in the picture because it is on other side of the engine compartment) so hopefully all will be good. If it shuts off though, I will now know where to start troubleshooting.

As promised, here is the update. I was supposed to get this done more than a month ago but..... Spring is a busy time of the year. LOL I purchased a Seastar cylinder that mounted directly into my power steering assist cylinder in place of the steering cable. Could not have been easier, i bet you that it took all of 15 minutes. I then replaced the old rack and pinion helm with a hydraulic helm and ran the hoses back to they raymarine EV-100 pump and steer cylinder. The entire EV-100 system was quick and easy to install. I did a quick calibration while in my driveway and the instructions said it was good to go. We took the boat to an inland lake today and not only did I love the hydraulic steering but when I turned the autopilot on everything worked flawlessy. It was crazy how it taught itself how my boat handles. I cant wait to use it on the big water. I have attached a picture of the steer cylinder and the autopilot pump in case anyone wants to see it. I searched all over before making my final decision and could not find any. In my opinion this is the way to go. I had the same amount of money into the cylinder, helm, and hoses as an octopus system would have cost.

Thanks for all the advice fellas. I have priced everything out and I can install hydraulic steering for less money than installing an octopus system. The folks at seastar got back to me today with part numbers so I was able to verify that. I will let you guys know how the install goes in another 2 months when boat gets out of storage. Sure wish it wasn't. So far away yet. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

It looks like I would still have to have either convert to hydraulic steering or get the octopus electro-mechanical system to attach to my power assist steer cylinder correct? Did you have to install that?

Ok I think that I have made my mind up unless someone points a problem out to me. According raymarine I would have to install an octopus system onto my existing power assist cylinder to go along with an EV-200 system. I do not have enough room behind my helm for the type S octopus helm. It looks like I can convert my boat to over to hydraulic steering using a seastar helm and seastar cylinder mated up to my existing power assist cylinder. This would save me about $300 on steering parts alone. I will be able to use the less expensive EV-100 system to control these. Looks like with the raymarine rebate I can do all of this for around $1800. Now I just have to make sure that it is worth it. Hahahah Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Thanks for taking the time with such a detailed reply scoffer !!! I did not see that rebate last weekend. I really do like the raymarine set up. Sound very simple and easy to use. I like that it can be used as a stand alone system also. All I want to do is point the boat in one direction and be able to not have to have my hand on the wheel at all times. Or turn around to watch the action behind me only to find that the boat had swung around 90 degrees because I had turned my body around 180 degrees. LOL.... not that that ever happens [emoji3] Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Thanks mrhookup. I just saw that one and it says steer actuators are available but I don't see where unless they are talking about the octopus system I keep reading about. I think I may contact them for clarification. Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

Autopilot Advice Hello guys, I am looking for a little advice to see if there is something that I have not found in hours of searching. I didn't see anything on here either which I thought was odd but maybe I wasn't using the right search words or something. I am interested in installing an autopilot this year as I am getting tired of chasing my boat all over and I always feel bad when yelling at my buddies or worse my daughters to keep the boat straight while I am setting or checking gear. Here is my problem. I have an older 24' Searay cuddy with an Alpha one I/O. I love the reviews and idea behind the Raymarine Evolution autopilot, but I have cable controlled power steering assist. Everything that I have read is that to go with this system, I will need to convert to hydraulic steering, dink around with the Octopus steering system and go with the more expensive EV-200 system. I have read that hydraulic steering is not all it is cracked up to be on an I/O and the Octopus system tends to make for harder steering when autopilot is not being uses. As much as I want Autopilot, This seems like a lot of work and even more money. Not sure I want to spend that on a 30 year old boat. (I am not buying another boat, I like not making payments while it is in storage or sitting next to my garage) The only system that I can come up with is the Lowrance Outboard Autopilot system. I would need to purchase a HDS finder/chartplotter to go along with it and I am not real exited about that as I am not a big fan of my Elite7. (not simple enough, and have had issues with software). Does anybody know any other options out there or had any experience with the Lowrance system? I have looked for Raymarines Sport Pilot system online for sometime now and have not been able to find a used one anywhere. I am used to the way my boat handles and can keep it fairly straight without really thinking about it anymore but that is only when I am at the helm not one of my buddies, not to mention that going out with just me and one other person is interesting to say the least when a fish is on or we have a double like we did several times last year. LOL Thanks for any advice that you can give me.

Please educate me on this. I have a low range hds7 with built in GPS and have the navionics chip for it. What would be the advantage to having a dedicated chart plotter like this? Always looking for something to help me improve my fishing I don't want to add a gadget just because it would be cool to have a laptop on board. I am assuming that I would have to buy a radar to go along with this in order for that function to work? Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App

That is Awesome !!!! Sent from my iPhone using Great Lakes Fisherman Mobile App