Paulywood

Did you start it up and run it at home? If you spun a bearing you should be able to tell. If it sounds bad when you fire it up shut it down quick to limit the damage. Hopefully it will be ok.

Here you go: http://www.michigandnr.com/FISHSTOCK/

They do stock salmon up north. That is why so many of them return in the fall to spawn. You can find the stocking data on the DNR website. One of the main hatchery's is up on the Platte River. Sounds like you are heading to Ludington at a good time. Check out Glen's reports on www.fish-ludington.com. It should give you a good idea on where to start. The fishing has been a couple of weeks behind this year so hopefully it goes longer in the fall. Good luck.

In the northern ports the salmon are few and far between in the spring. Scientists think that some salmon and baifish go to the deeper parts of the lake in the winter. Then when the baitfish move in shallow in the spring, the salmon follow. Same thing with the baitfish moving north. The salmon follow the bait. In most northern ports the spring fishery is mostly browns and steelies. I don't know of any northern port that has a consistent salmon fishery in the spring.

Here's a picture of my father-in-law and his first fish. It weighed 11 lbs 12 oz on my scale

You can run copper inside of your core, but it has to be deeper. If it were me I would setup 300' of 45# copper as a deep rod. And if I was going to add another rod it would probably be 300' of 30#. You seem to have the upper depths covered pretty well with your core.

Hate to do this to you Mark, but now you're 15. I am going to have to bow out. My brother-in-law and his family will be in town from Virginia that weekend and I need to keep the wife happy. Good luck guys.

I have Sprint Mike. But I don't know anything else. My laptop is pretty old. Let me know if I can help.

Here you go Mike! Nice fish. That second one looks like a flasher for the first one:D

You can leave from a marina Mark. The weigh-in will be at Fisherman's Landing.

Are you bringing the limo?

I received this last week to test and gave it a good workout this weekend. My main net is older and had a large fiberglass handle. The Net-Mate had no problem holding it secure in 3' waves on friday. My backup/walleye net is aluminum and has a much smaller handle. This holder had no problem with this net either. Here is a picture of the 2 net handles. You can see the big difference in diameter. All in all this seems to be a great product. I would highly recommend it and plan on buying another one for the other side.

Weigh-in will be at Fisherman's Landing. You can launch anywhere on Muskegon Lake but you must launch out of Muskegon. Sign-up here: 1. Paulywood 2. nailer 3. Just Hook'N 4. catfishhoge 5. 1maniac 6. dcralston 7. oakley 8. severus

We fished friday morning and saturday in the WMFL event. Friday we started setting lines at 6 am in 35 ft. north of the pier. In 45' a wire diver on 1.5 w/ 60 ft. out went off. This was setup w/ a green/chrome Spin Doctor and silver/sparkle Siggs fly. Ended up being an 11 lb 12 oz steelhead that my father-in-law landed for his first Lake Michigan fish. We kept working northwest out to 80 ft where a fullcore w/ a Craig's Xmas stinger went off. My father-in-law's second fish was a 12 lb female king. Took another rip on the fullcore that was on for a while and felt like a good fish but it got off. We worked the water northwest out to 140 ft and back into 75 for a while before taking a double of lakers that tangled a 3 color Goldilocks w/ a fullcore and 3 oz Dive Bomb setup w/ a Princess Frog. One laker was 3 lbs the other was 7 lbs. The fullcore was trashed and I had to bring both fish in by hand. We fished a while longer and started to pull lines around 1pm. When Marty (ratchet) tripped a rigger set w/ a Purple Thunder set 55' down in 100' of water a 5 lb king hammered it. It was actually after the line was free from the release that the fish hit. So we finished the day 5/6. On our way in we marked a ton of fish and bait in tight between 20-30 ft of water. I decided to start there on saturday. After our 2 hour delay we setup in 25 ft. of water north of the pier. I had an inexperienced driver and it seemed a little rough going north so I headed the boat south and then started setting rods on a southwest troll. Set 2 riggers and the first dipsey, wire on 1.5 out 60 ft w/ a blue blade Pro Troll crush glow/slick w/ a UV Pulse fly. Started setting the second dipsey with the same setup that took the steelie friday when the first dipsey fired. We were in 45 ft straight in front of the pier. My friend landed a 15 lb 12 oz king at 7:30. Then we were done for the day. I stayed shallow to long and had trouble getting where I wanted due to being shorthanded. Ended up being a great day weather wise and I got to run a lot of lures that hadn't seen the water in a while.

Here are the overall standings: 1. Just Hook'N 320.15 2. catfishhoge 294.01 3. nailer 243.09 4. Paulywood 237.11 5. dcralston 236.12 6. 1maniac 191.04 7. Nocturnal75 177.02 8. Far Beyond Driven 118.12 9. Sixshooter 46.11 10. Trout Tracker 39.11 11. kirby 38.4

We had to delay for 2 hours in order to let the storm pass but since everyone was there we decided to fish anyway. Good fishing in some tough conditions guys! 1. Nailer 134.1 2. Far Beyond Driven 118.12 3. dcralston 102 4. Just Hook'N 96.5 5. catfishhoge 59.3 6. Sixshooter 46.11 7. Trout Tracker 39.11 8. Paulywood 30.12

Looks like we will be able to fish in the morning. See everyone tomorrow. Nick

OK guys, I would really like to try and fish this event on saturday but we will have to see what the weather does. I'm not a big fan of lightning, but the weather guys don't seem to have a good read on it yet. I plan on fishing tomorrow morning so it will be around 5 pm before I can make a definite decision. Feel free to call me if you have any questions.

Welcome! You have gotten some good advice so far. I have a couple of hints for you. I personally only use flashers in front of flies or meat rigs. I like to change things up, sometimes I use the same colors, sometimes I try to contrast. Personally I usually run flasher/fly combos on dipsey's and in the morning on riggers. They can be a pain to run on core. But you can run any setup on any presentation. Usually when guys talk speed it is SOG. Unless you have a temp probe, then it would be speed at the ball. Instead of snap weights I would use Dive Bombs made by Stinger. They are cheap and made to use with core, plus achieve more depth. As far as trolling bags, they are also a very good safety device. If something were to happen where you lost power you could deploy the bags and keep your bow pointed into the waves. Much easier to justify when you think of it like that. Besides, they will last a long time and I have a feeling there might be more trips in your future. Good luck and keep asking questions, people are always willing to help.

Thanks Don! I will be fishing Pt. Sheldon friday and saturday so I'm glad for the good reports.

Hey guys, if Jim doesn't feel like making the drive to Pt. Sheldon that's his choice. In these tough times people have to make tough decisions. However, I do feel that things like the WMFL are important. That is the reason I took over when Rich was unable to run the League this year. I have made a lot of good friends and learned a lot that helps put more fish in the boat. And I have to drive 2+ hours for each event. The money is just to make it interesting. That being said, I don't have any problem with changing the rules, just feel that it would be better to change them during the offseason. I am taking off for Mackinac Island tomorrow so everyone have a good week. Nick

When you say marina do you mean a place with slips? Will they let me park there and is there a fee? I haven't been to the area since I was a kid and don't really know where anything is. There won't be much on the boat, just a handful of rods and lite tackle. All of the trolling gear and tackle has been removed. I like the idea of parking at the marina and leaving it hooked up. Thanks for the tips.

I used composite decking material for my backers. I cut the pieces to fit under the whole length of the tracks. I might use them for riggers in the future and wanted to be sure they were is strong as possible. I went with the composite due to less chance of rot and lack of voids as compared to plywood. It is very easy to work with.

I asked Big Jon about the Pro Tournament riggers and they said that 15# is the heaviest they would use. I'm not sure if the motor is the same in the Captain's Pack or not. Give them a call, they'll be able to tell you.

After hearing from most of the teams I have decided not to change to a 9 rod rule. I am reluctant to change anything during the season and a couple of teams were not really sold on the change. These are the rules we agreed to before it started so I am going to keep them as is. This would be a better issue to tackle during the offseason IMO. Nick