Paulywood

Good luck Frank! I have vowed to be ready early this year. The boat is already out of storage and I have been going through all my tackle.

But it's at Bowkers in Zeeland. Last fall when I was cleaning it up I noticed a small crack in the gelcoat on the bottom of the boat. I ran it over there this morning and he said it was a repair that was done poorly and was falling apart. It's a good thing that I crawl under the boat and check/clean the bottom every spring and fall because he said normally people don't find these things until there is water running into the bilge. And then it gets costly. It should be fixed by next week, or early the following week. Then it will be home and ready to go. Not a bad idea to inspect the bottom of your boats occassionally just for safety's sake guys.

I ran Twilli's for a few years and they worked ok, but I tried the Torpedo tips last year and they were much better. Far less resistance. With roller rods, price does matter. I lasted 1 trip with a cheap roller rod, it cost me 2 dipsey/flasher/fly setups. If I get another set of roller rods they will be nice ones, either Talora's or a set of Tony's.

Welcome aboard!

He is planning on getting 2 seperate 5" units, just thought about getting a combo to use as a GPS so he would have a back up sonar. The price for the combo unit is almost the same as a stand alone plotter.

Thanks Brandon. That's what I thought but before he dropped the cash I wanted to make sure.

This might be a dumb question, but can you change the size of each display? Can you change the display so that it only shows either the sonar or the gps? One of my friends just bought a new boat and he wants to install 2 5" units, one sonar and one gps. But you can buy a combo unit for the same price as a gps. So he was wondering if you could just have it show the gps screen on the combo unit. Then if something happened to the sonar he could just plug it in to the combo unit and be off and running. He is looking mostly at Humminbird, Garmin and Raymarine. Thanks.

Looks good! Nice job.

I agree with the other guys. You could run your electrics off the back and run 15# balls off them. Run the manuals off the side. If you want longer arms off the side you shoudl be able to add/subtract to your booms.

I took care of it for you Tony.

If it's worth $500 new than asking $250 wouldn't be out of line. Maybe look up the particular box you have and then when you want to put it up for sale you can attach the info for a new one. Generally used gear goes for half the new price, give or take.

Looks good!

I think that mine is coming out of storage this week. I have a few maintenance issues that need to be taken care of before the season and I'm on spring break this week so I have a little time.

Congrats! I agree with Jarrod, he does look cute. Hard to go wrong with those 2 breeds, both great dogs. I'm pretty sure my weimareiner/shar-pei combo is pretty rare!

John, do you leave the beadchain on the opposite end? I tried running these once last year and tied it directly to a large paddle. When I brought it in the line was twisted horribly so it never saw the water again. I have a wonderbread and a green one. I plan on trying them again this year, hopefully I can get them setup right and will have more confidence in them.

I am going to be adding a Fish Hawk this year. I am also adding at least 1 copper setup. I am going to try and limit my lure additions this year, I'm pretty sure the ones I have will catch fish. I already upgraded some of my rigger rod and reel setups. And I am adding shorter wire rods. I am trying to get things a little more uniform on the boat, as well as running shorter rods due to ease of handling in the boat. I need to connect my AP to my GPS and might add a rudder reference to get it functioning at the optimal level. But otherwise a pretty quiet offseason for me. I am going to be installing a new Humminbird combo unit on one of my friends boats, and another one of my friends bought a 21' Seaswirl Striper from Leaders Marine on friday so I'm sure I will be helping him with setting that up also.

This is what I plan on doing.

I have been running the Walleye boards with an Offshore OR18 in the front and an OR 16 in the rear.

I don't buy much in the way of lures anymore but I still spend on rods and reels. I am also adding a FishHawk this year. And I am thinking about a radar arch and radar. And maybe a big multi-display unit. And a new cover. Man do I need some more money:) The wife is going to have to work harder!

The longer the piece you can get under there, the better. It will help disperse the force of the fish hitting that dipsey rod. I have 5' worth of tracks on my boat and I ran backer plates (engineered deck boards) the whole length of the gunnel. But there is no standard ratio or anything, just whatever you can fit.

He was on my boat last year but I don't remember who he was? I think this was his first salmon but he seemed to be a master fisherman. Maybe someone here can help me out:D http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/gallery/files/8/5/sspx0001.jpg' alt='sspx0001.jpg'>

Due to popular demand, here are a few pictures of the new crew member: ]

As of right now it would be my autopilot. After that the gps. But I plan on adding a FishHawk this year so we will see how much that helps.

I think for that price he could probably just get the Bert's or Traxtech stuff that he wants. Check out the Northwood's website, they have been the cheapest for that stuff.

Thanks guys. We are getting settled in.