salmonquest

I've only been there once. but didn't do very well. It's such a large body of water I think it takes awhile to figure the hot spots. Nice work on the eyes...I wonder if you could run some riggers behind that breaker??

I went through in the middel of the night one time. I think it was a pocket of bad ice over good ice. I was able to pull myself right up. It was so cold I had a shell of ice from my waist down to my toes. Definately something I'll always remmber.

I use rubber bands on my downriggers and have thought about rigging something like this for planer boards. I think the pictures below (lord I hope I did it right:o) explain it. Basically you are cutting the loop and putting only one strand of rubber band into the pinch pad. More stretch, more sensitive. I've done this on stackers and it really helps see the shakers.

I'm hoping to fish late night this year. Usually we are in about dark thirty. But I Looove the mornings. Most of you know I fish the straights of Mack...So you are out in the bay before the ferry boats start running. THe sun is usually behind the island so you have thea early morning light a little longer and it's so quiet...that is until you hear zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ....z.z..z.zz.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..... Love to hear those drags. Of course then that sun pops over the island and it's shutdown time

Thank goodness This is a great board but a few more yoopers can definately help it improve Nice to have some fellow fishermans from god's country on board.

'I know for a fact that the bait that we pull out of our fish in Northern Lake Huron (Detour, St.Ignace) are small 99% of the time" I can verify that I am often surprised how small some seem. It doesn't seem like the calorie input matches the out put to catch them. I do think that some of the new hollow body swimbaits seem to match up in size and color scheme. I'm going to try to find a way to run them this summer.

I like reading these new posts on old topics because it helps refresh my memory. I have only a few things to add. I have personally had no success with my leadcore although admittedly only run it about 10% of the time. I still believe in it though. A good piece of advice I recieved was never put the leadcore itself in a pinchpad or it will kink the wire and break the lead which will stick through the dacron. Also segmented cores seem to give you some more versatility. Please correct me guys if I don't have this correct but if you took a full core and broke it into one section of 8 colors and a second with 2 colors and 20 feet of mono linking them you good use the 2 sections as a swr and let it all out for a full core.

I would love to have one but I think the pricepoint would be the downfall for a luxury item. I do think you could really get some good intel on your spread and the reactions fish have.

I like the bottom pic. It looks just like the smelt we get out of the bellies.

Bolt I have two captain packs and they are great. I love the rubber band busters and I find that I get solid hook ups and few shakers. I recommend getting the band wet the first time you send the line down I think it helps keep the line from sliding through. Make sure you sinch it tight to the line. If I am setting deep I use two bands to keep from popping too early (I know that's a problem for some guys ) I like to use the tip up boom. I bring the line up until the weight is just in the water and then tip the boom up when I'm ready to rig. One tip is to have your line rigged and the rubber band on I hook the rubber band to the handle on my reel and put it in the rod holder. Then I just slip it off put it on the band buster and bombs away. (I use my drag to keep tension on the line while it is being lowered.) I was going to try something new this year. I found a 2-3 foot piece of steel with a hook on the end. I may use that to snag the line instead of the tip up but I fish from a small boat so I'm close to the water anyway. Good luck.

braid dipsies with siggs rigs flasher/fly combos

I use this method for spooling braid you may want to give it a try next time you spool some wire. I take a vise and lock in a long shank screwdiver. Then I take a spring clamp (any clamp will do) and fasten it to the shaft tight against the spool to provide some resistance. THanks for the tip about the wire.

thanks I'll look into tungsten rods. I have two cv30's and I can convert one over. How much and what type of backing?

I'm thinking of adding a wire dipsy to my spread. I'm looking for advice on rod and reels. I was thinking of using my Okuma maga 45's. What types of rods do you like to use? Also what types of backing and connections do you use? Thanks again hope everyone is having a great new year.

Where is area D?

I've only used fireline so I can't really compare others but I haven't had any problems with it. I particullarly like the crystal.

I put a cannon on this year. There were many times when I was VERY tempted to throw that thing as far as I could overboard. Some of this may be my own incompetence but I had problems with getting the probe to run correctly and track straight, the connection coming off, having the cannon ball spin and getting the probe wrapped around it and working out a release that doesn't interfere. The cannon connection is awful to say the lease but I think with a few modifications I will like it much more. If you get one I can email you the mods. I also like to run the big jon band buster which goes between the terminal end and the cannonball this seems to interfere with the wire to the probe since it also goes between. Next year I will try to rig the band buster above the terminal end. This year I just used a stacker clip above it and put the rubber band in that. All this being said when the set up did work it was great and I firmly believe it help me put more fish in the boat this year...so i wouldn't want to go out without it.

This was my best year. I heard a lot of guys in the straits were struggling but I found that I just had to read the water and fish in non-traditional areas. I also think the strong east winds up there clouded the water a little bit and my rigger bite was as hot as anything. Also had my top three biggest fish.

simple, fun I'd say easy but is it ever? and if the line breaks your out what abuck fifty. Looks like a great day.

Siggs Green Hypnotist with the green holo combo.

Dan I've always admired your boat in the avatar screen. It looks like it was made for Great Lakes Trolling. Our boat has been very good to us. Frank thanks for moving that I uploaded them and then noticed I didn't change categories.

Yeah I have the three prongs to wind around. Maybe I need to strip off more cable I only have about 4 inches off. Thanks.

I've shot a little but that's the problem. I haven't shot enough to be confident yet. I may try a set up and see if I can't bag him with a camera though.

Glad you were able to catch something. I heard a lot of regulars really struggling out there. I hear the fog Sat. Morning was thick that's unfortunate. If you make it back some time maybe we can get out together. How were things elsewhere?

So far she's treated us right even though I posted the pics under the wrong heading.