Paulywood

Are you looking for a large, multi-display unit? How big do you want it to be? How much do you want to spend? If you figure these things out it will give you a head start. Also, I don't know if you like your Lowrance products or not, but I have heard some horror stories about their customer service. I have Garmin and have been very happy. I also know that Raymarine and Furuno make good products. Here's a link for a good deal on a Raymarine unit w/ and 8.4" display. http://www.boatersworld.com/product/319883252.htm?bct=t13046503%3Bcigps-electronics%3Bcigps-chartplotter%3Bcigps-sounder-combo Here's another site that usually has pretty good deals: http://www.marinewiz.com/GPS_Chart_Plotter_Fishfinder_s/3.htm If you keep an eye on them sometimes you can find a good deal on items that are discontinued. Especially if companies are coming out with new models. Also, you might want to think about a thru-hull transducer. They seem to pick up more detail when you are on plane. Good luck, just say somethin if you need any more help.

It's funny Frank, I don't have a boat to work on this year and I'm still busy. I bought a small trailer to haul my snowmobile around for ice fishing and it needed some work. Put lights on it and changed the bearings and seals. Then I realized that the tires were rubbing, the old owner must have had some tires with a huge offset. I just got back from cutting off the drop axle, welding in a new piece, and welding the spindle back on. That moves the tires over 2.5 inches. Should give me plenty of clearance. Now I need to remount them and check the toe. After that I have a couple of modifications to make on my shanty to get it a little more fishable and then try to chase down a short on the snowmobile that causes the headlights to burn out. And in 3 weeks I am planning on going to Chicago and look at a new boat. Oh, did I mention I have to go back to work on Jan. 5:( Oh well, it's been a good 6 months.

That's great Scott. Good job!

I use slide divers a little when I am targeting certain species such as steelies. I am also planning on trying a thumper rig this year. I have everything, just never tried it. I have had more success using less glow in my pre-light setup. Kevorkian spoons have done real well in the dark. I also use a lot more flashers than I do during the day. Just a few hints.

What a cute Christmas puppy! Merry Christmas everyone.

I was talking to a guy that did well fishing the amateur side of the Gander Mt. tourney 2 years ago. They were running the leaders from the dipsey's so long that they had his girlfriend sitting on the hardtop of the boat and had to hand the rod to her in order to net the fish. If they ran anything shorter they couldn't get a hit. I have never really changed leader length's but might play around with it this year.

You probably could use them as rigger rods, but they aren't the best. I prefer a rod with more flexibility. A good, economical rigger rod is a Daiwa Heartland. Should be able to get one for $30 or so. A lot of people like the Ugly Stick 1 piece rigger rod also. They are more expensive but very nice. I also have a Berkley Power Rod that I use as a light line rod. Very flexible tip but good backbone. That was only around $25.

I think we have close to 10" here. My wife got stuck in the driveway. I guess she couldn't get through a measly 4' drift in front of the garage door. I found out it's hard to snowblow through drifts that are taller than the lawnmower.

Matt, I received the email from the DNR. I responded to the survey they put out earlier in the year. I think that the Steelheaders chapters have also received these emails. I don't see this significantly impacting the fishery. I can only think of a handful of times per year that I would have been able to take the extra fish last year. And I think the majority of "weekend warriors" are in the same boat. The few times that I have been able to do this I kept fishing and targeted other species. Then I had to release kings or coho (in the spring) that I caught. This will end releasing these fish, some of which I'm sure died. Also, some people will make fewer trips to the lake if they are able to put 5 fish in the box for each fisherperson. The majority of people who opposed this change were charter captains. Now they will have to stay out longer and won't make as much money. The boat traffic for salmon fishing has reduced drastically the last few years. Last year we went out of Muskegon on Memorial Day and the parking lot at Snug Harbor was almost empty when we got there at 7 am. If you talk to marina owners and bait shop owners they will tell you that business has fallen off dramatically. The DNR is going to monitor the impact yearly and can adjust it if there is a problem. Also, many of the other states already have the 5 fish rule, it will help cut down on confusion when fishing near state lines.

Thank you for taking time out of your valuable schedule to assist Fisheries Division and the Department of Natural Resources in our request for your opinion of the proposed change to a Statewide fishing regulation to increase the Daily Bag Limit (DBL) for salmon in the Great Lakes. This proposal included increasing the DBL from a maximum of 3 to maximum of 5 fish, in combination with other trout species. Your input is highly valued and we considered each response in our formulation of the final recommendation. We heard from nearly 300 interested citizens and approximately 70% of those responses were in favor of increasing the DBL for salmon to 5 fish per day. The proposed rule change to allow for up to 5 salmon per day (no more than 3 of the 5 can be brown trout, lake trout or steelhead) was discussed at three monthly meetings of the Natural Resources Commission. The Michigan Charter Boat Association and about 30% of the survey responses were not in favor of increasing the DBL for various reasons. Each comment that we received along with the discussion we had with anglers presented legitimate points of view, regardless of opinion. Because this regulation does not have a major biological impact, we feel that alternate views are important and that the decision should be primarily based on social considerations. On December 10, 2008, the proposal to increase the DBL for salmon in all public waters, in combination with other trout species, was approved and will become effective April 1, 2009. However, this regulation change incorporates a new management tool that provides an objective evaluation that will allow the Department to modify the bag limit for salmon if fishing success and catch rates changes significantly. Fisheries Division staff spent a considerable amount of time assessing the comments and concerns submitted by you and we used those comments in the development of a suitable proposal to move forward with a regulation change. A proactive approach (attached) was detailed in November that evaluated the catch per effort of Charter anglers (fish caught per hour) for Chinook salmon over a 22 year period, and assessed Charter anglers catching 3 or more Chinook salmon per day. Using our established data from mandatory charter boat reporting for Lake Michigan, baselines were established for catch rates (0.165 fish per hour) and angler success of catching 3 or more salmon per day (13.1%) which represented "breaking points" based on real data where the DBL could be changed. Currently both of these benchmarks are being exceeded, which means that catch rates and angler success is high. Under this new proactive approach, both of these benchmarks will need to fall below their baseline values to change the regulation (decrease the DBL back to three). If just one of the indicators drop below the baseline, the regulation will remain in place for a 5 fish DBL in combination. Likewise, if the regulations revert back to 3 fish (meaning both falling below baseline levels), it will take both benchmarks to improve beyond their respective baseline values in order for the Department to change the DBL back to 5. This tool gives the Department the ability to be more proactive, providing opportunity for annual review, and implement regulation changes as needed using this predefined management tool. When fishing is really good and salmon abundance is high, the 5 fish limit would likely be in effect. Conversely, when fishing is really poor and there are perhaps not as many fish, the limit would revert to 3. The Department will have the ability to make this assessment and consider a regulation change each year based on that years fishery data.

Hey Rich, glad to see you back. I noticed you had the blow date for the June event down as May 14th, I'm assuming that is a typo. Also, glad to see that the Dreamweaver is on a different weekend from the bike rally this year. Maybe we'll actually be able to get a campsite. I'm sure Steve is disappointed though, he won't be able to enter the chaps contest:D Looking forward to another great year.

Jim, Fishlander went out of business earlier this year. Big Jon is doing repairs for them. You might want to talk to Jon and see if you could add Big Jon autostops to the Fishlander riggers. I don't know if the motors are compatible. He should be able to help you as the Fishlander riggers are pretty much Big Jon knock offs.

My brother has that shanty. I have the 5600. They are nice.

I haven't had a land line in 5 yrs. Used to have Nextel, now have Sprint. And yes, they are still different. We also get our internet through Sprint with an aircard. That works great. I'll probably look around next year when my wife's contract expires.

I believe you have to be a supporting member to post in the classifieds.

I had a Uni-to-Uni knot break on me, probably due to the fact that I tied it wrong. I'm not the best at tying knots. So I switched to using a small, #50, Spro swivel. They are small enough to fit through the line guides and level wind without a problem. I have 500' of Ripcord on top of 20# mono backer. I really need to learn some new knots. I have been using the Trilene knot almost exclusively. I can tie it blindfolded by now. I can never remember the Palomar. Maybe I'll practice over the winter.

Thanks for the help!

Blue Knight, How do you run these? Like a regular spoon or off a flasher? What colors do you recommend? Where can you get them? I might try a few this year just for something different. Thanks, Nick

I've been using Cabela's Ripcord. I have never had a problem and it is cheaper than the other braids. I really like it.

Yep, that's why I like them. They look just like the Captain's pack but have a bigger motor and come with the auto shutoff. I think that you can add the auto shutoff to the Captain's Pack but the motor is smaller. I really like the Big Jon Riggers. As far as S-N-T sensors, the options are Moor Subtroll, Depth Raider, Fishhawk, and Cannon Speed-N-Temp. I heard that Cannon is discontinuing their unit. The Moor has been around a long time and is very reliable. One of the things that people don't like is the analog dial for speed, although I don't think its a big deal. The Depth Raider is almost the same as the Subtroll but it has a digital display for both speed and temp. The new Fishhawk seems to be much better than the old one. There were a few problems with the old probe. There have been a lot of discussion about all of these units on the board, feel free to do a search. Some of the differences are probe costs, and how the signal is sent. They all seem to be solid, it comes down more to preference than anything. Good luck and feel free to ask questions, it seems to bring up a good discussion and that's what the board is for.

I changed my spoon rigger rods over to 15# last year and didn't see any problem. I didn't fish my own equipment enough to know if it made a difference or not. I keep a couple of rods spooled up with 20# to run flashers off the riggers. I also have a rod setup with 12# that I run spoons on during the day. It's fun catching 15-20# fish on that setup.

I haven't had a speed-n-temp sensor before and the fishfinder was a great help. If you have one that is capable of marking bait balls and the thermocline they can be a huge difference in a good day or a great day of fishing. Especially if you already have the unit and only need to buy the ducer. It looks like Boomerang has some pretty good info on transducers. Good luck.

I would say that if you are going to spend the money to be out there fishing you might as well give yourself the best chance to catch fish. A good fishfinder can greatly increase your odds. As fas as riggers, I have a pair of Big Jon Pro Tournament's and love them. They have the autostop feature that works great. Good luck.

I was there this morning, fished down by the sub. I went 0-8 on bait. Started out fishing waxies under a bobber. Had 2 hits, including one that I knocked off with the net. It was pretty slow so I switched to eggs. Right at daylight I had 6 bites but couldn't hookup. I had a hard time seeing the rod tip move because of the poor light and my hands shake so much. Once I set the rod down I could see the hits but coouldn't pick it up in time to set the hook. By 8 am the bite had stopped. I walked out on the south pier and talked to the guys out there. One guy said he saw 2 steelies caught yesterday morning but no one had a bite today. He was real nice and gave me a lot of information, I've never fished off the pier before. He also told me about a good spot to surf fish. I plan on trying it out this winter. Good luck tonight guys. I'm taking a nap, we're heading down tonight to watch the Lion's lose tomorrow.

Mike, the limit on whitefish is 12. I will be up there tomorrow morning. I will post a report when I get back. I plan on fishing with bait. I am also going to be fishing for steelies. Good luck.