Paulywood

If you want a close up view there are 3 of them within a mile of my house. And 185 more in Gratiot county (and counting). Personally I am ambivalent toward them. I think that farmers should be able to use their land how they want to make money, wind turbines or not. But I don't think we should have to have a certain percentage, let the market dictate how much renewable energy we need. And I agree Don, they are pretty cool to see up close. My son loves them, they're like a giant fan for him.

Plus, there is a lot less volume in marine electronics than TV's.

Me too. Too many guys who fish a lot more than I do (including Captain Don) have told me they have tested it and it makes a difference. Who am I to argue?

Ryan, anyone who can weld aluminum should be able to do it. There is a shop just west of St. Johns on M-21 that does a lot of aluminum and there is a machine shop in Westphalia that I have had do some welding for me before. Depending on how much is broken off they can just weld in some aluminum to fill in what is broken.

Welcome John. I used to fish the Lyons dam for steelies quite a bit when I lived and worked in St. Johns. By the time the kings get up there they are pretty dark and nasty. The coho can still be fresh and feisty if you are lucky enough to hit them as they go through. If you do fish Lyons there should still be a deep run on the west side of the river downstream of the bridge. It always held some kind of fish (walleye, pike or salmonid). There is a gravel bar across the river from it and a few runs and tailings downstream. The water between the dam and bridge is deeper but this year could be wadeable. I fished Webber Dam more as its much bigger and there is more fishable area. You can work the river up there on either side (west has a deeper run) and then downstream of the island there is a gravel bar and run. If you go far enough downstream where Goose Creek enters there is a hole on the east side where it comes in with a gravel bed behind it. Not to mention the area up by the dam and spillway but it tends to get a little more crowded up there. Good luck.

I run the 19 strand Torpedo wire on 7' Shimano Talora rods and with the Tekota 600 lc reels as low divers and 30# Power Pro on 9' Shimano TDr rods with Tekota's and have to say that I fish my wire rods more than my braid rods. I know that the fleas might not seem like a big deal, but sometimes they are almost unbearable. You have to pull rods constantly to clean them off or they can bind up the eyelets and cause you to lose fish. I also tried the Twilli Tips and Torpedo Tips and like the Torpedo's much better. There is a lot less resistance. I also tried a cheap Eagle Claw roller rod and almost threw it overboard on the first trip. If you are going to run wire go with the tungsten guides, a new tip, or a good roller rod. I have tried all of them except the tungsten rods and IMO you don't want to screw around with cheap roller rods.

I'm with Ryan. Gotta make my gas money count so we usually spend 6 hours or more.

You could also check with Captain Ron out of Saugatuck. He posts weekly reports on the site. I think it's CoHooker Charters.

Thanks for the report, darn weather sure is making it tough right now.

Sorry you had a tough year Sherman. Makes me realize how lucky I have been this year. I always figure things will even out, so to me it seems that next year should be your year. Good luck.

Also I see the new FishHawk coming out in the spring will have probe depth like the old Cannon units did.

Welcome aboard Paul.

I use 100# Power Pro and a single treble tied just behind the back of the plug like others have stated. I just tied up a few for the #3 and #4 sizes.

Welcome to GLF, glad you found us.

I added one of those really small Spro swivels into the top loop of the spinner wire and tie directly to that. Seemed to work really well.

Welcome George, glad to have you aboard.

Welcome, let us know if you need anything.

Welcome aboard! I know our Wisconsin members will be glad to have some more west siders on the site.

Welcome!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard!

I build my own spinners. Before I got into the big boat I spent a lot of time on the rivers. I ordered my stuff from Fisherman's Shack. It has been a few years but they had better prices and selection. I've had real good luck with a silver plated blade (not nickel, although they have their place) with red tubing and a red dot sticker on the back of the blade. I didn't have any special tools, just a pair of needle nose pliers. The wife and I (I guess girlfriend back then, it has been longer than I thought) made up a couple of hundred one winter and I'm still using them. I did find that in order to maintain contact with them bottom without snagging I was using the smaller sizes. Most of the equipment on the website is for Pacific Northwest rivers. There is also a book by Jeb Bush that I found very helpful. I can take some pictures and post my favorites but it will be a few days. BTW, they don't just work in rivers. My uncle borrowed my gear last year when they went camping in the UP in the fall and he caught coho on them surf fishing in front of one of the rivers. http://www.fishermanshack.net/cart.php?m=top_sellers&homepage=Y

So I'd be better off launching out of Linwood than Bay City, huh? Looks like I won't be able to go this week, I have to take Parker in for his 18 month checkup on friday. Maybe next week. Thanks for all the help guys.

That's pretty much the same as the one I have now, probably the 8#. Maybe my issue is not enough line. I know I couldn't get the boat to hold in 20' of water up in Cedarville when we tried to fish herring a couple of years ago. Although it was very windy and the bottom was all muck. I also have tried it on Higgins Lake in 60' of water jiggin for lakers with no luck. I guess I'll try 200' of line and take a trip over to Mark's house and check out one of the bigger anchors. Thanks guys.

Long story short, I need a new anchor rode and thought that it would be a good time to upgrade the anchor. I have a small aluminum anchor that came with the boat and will slow me down, but doesn't hold the boat well. Anybody have an anchor they recommend for a 22' fiberglass boat? I can probably spend a couple hundred dollars if I have to but don't really want to. I'm pretty cheap.