Paulywood

I do fish some of the rivers but from shore/wading. No boat. Terry (Dirty Dog) has been pounding the K-zoo for the last week. He might be too busy fishing right now to chime in.

Very nice, congrats!

Congrats to you both.

Reel fill calculator here: http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16491

I honestly haven't been out the last 2 winters. Between Parker being born and starting a new job it just didn't work out. Now that Parker is older and I don't have to work weekends anymore I plan on getting out at least a few times this year. I used to go out to different lakes and fish a lot of different species but mostly just go to Higgins and fish smelt now. Instead of running all over chasing fish, I let them come to me!

If you already have them, I would probably put them in. If they aren't in your way then they wouldn't hurt anything. And there's been days when I wish I had more riggers.

The reason that they advise changing it in the fall is because any water or dirt that has collected in the oil will settle out and then you could pollute your new engine in the spring. That's the same reason the advise you to change your outdrive lube.

I did most of mine last weekend while the weather was still nice. I add SeaFoam to the remaining gas in the tank. I try to run it as low as possible at the end of the season. I normally run the motor for 1/2 hour to let everything warm up. Then I drain the oil from the motor and outdrive. After that I change the filter and fill the oil and gear lube. Then I run the motor for another 1/2 hour or so. Then shut it down and drain the water out of the petcocks and take out the thermostat and close the housing back up. I also pull off the spark arrestor off the air intake. I have a funnel and short length of hose that I attach to the muffs and fill them up with antifreeze and start the engine. Then I dump 5 gallons of antifreeze through the system with the engine running. When the 5th is in the funnel I grab the fogging oil and start hosing down the air intake. It normally stalls out by the time the 6th gallon is in there or if not I just shut it down. Then take off the thermostat housing and put the thermostat back in. After that I dump antifreeze into all the drain and by both bilge pumps. Then I manually run both bilge pumps to suck in water. After that I pull the hose off the raw water pump and stick it into the antifreeze jug and run that. Then I put Damp-Rid in the cabin and scatter a bunch of dryer sheets all around the boat. Put the cover on and then I'm done.

Welcome Kris!

I also recommend Bowkers. They are very thorough and make sure the repair is done right. I can't even tell where they did the work, unlike the repair I had done on my last boat.

Good job guys and thanks for keeping it going, Jon. Maybe the schedule will work out in my favor next year. I've barely been out this year.

Welcome Mark!

Sharp looking boat, congrats!

All good responses so far. We all have bad days but as you learn more you should be able to become more consistent. Riding with other people, or inviting others on your boat is always a good idea. Doing some research in the offseason helps, too. Both Dan Keating books are well written and contain a lot of info. I reread Keating on Kings evry other year or so as a refresher. Good luck and don't be afraid to ask questions.

Welcome and thanks for the post! I think we all remember what it was like to be a newbie. I donated a cannonball my first trip out on my own boat.

I put a Garmin 740s on this year and really like it. It might be a little out of your budget, though. I have been running Garmin's for about 6-7 years now and really like them and they have good customer service. Probably just preference as I think all are good units. The new Dragonfly sonar does look sweet though!

Welcome aboard Darrin!

Check out Freestyle Charters website for reports. He posts a few times a week with updates. The fish-ludington website reports from Glen are good too. We were up a few weeks ago and couldn't catch a cold, although we marked fish everywhere.

It's funny you say that about wire cutting mono. I have never cut off a mono line on a wire diver but have on a braid diver. When the braid is stretched tight and a king runs a mono line across it will slice it really quick. Not that wire won't but braid can too. I agree with what you said about braid running deeper and if the original poster is running the same line out as last year he is probably running significantly deeper.

This or any mag glow spoon. We have had good luck with the different glow frog patterns.

The launch is actually in Montague. Here's the address: http://www.cityofmontague.org/boat_launch.html

I leave all of my flies tied to the attractor they go with. I make flasher files to store the combos. I use Big Weenie flies so the spares stay in the bags and get stored in a Plano box.

Well, we will be heading up to Ludington on Sunday afternoon and hope to fish sunday night and monday morning. If you guys get out this week or weekend I would appreciate any info or tips you can share. Thanks in advance. Nick

Fish were in tight this weekend but the winds might have changed that. Inside 75' was where most of the fish were caught that I heard about. Baits are mostly the same, blues, greens, yellows. Orange for steelies, seemed to be a few around. I only fished for 45 minutes due to my crew getting sick but the guys that toughed it out seemed to do good.