Paulywood

Good job Frank. Things just didn't work out for me to get out there this week. Family stuff and weather kept me at home. Maybe next week.

Good job Steve.

Hard plastic, it just protects the rod tip. Some people like to put a piece of rubber tubing on the line to act as a kind of shock absorber also but I don't.

Nice job Mike and thanks for the report. I hope to head up either tomorrow or thursday.

I use a bead on the mainline so people can reel it right into the end of the rod and not damage it. I do the same on my braid dipsey rods. Then I use an overhand loop knot combined with a crimp on the tag end. No break offs in 5 years of doing this. But there's more than one way to do it.

Good job Eric!

Good job Frank and thanks for the report. I might head up that way later in the week since the salmon fishing seems a little slow.

Good job Kevin and thanks for the report.

My 5 year anniversary is friday so I'll be with the wife this weekend. I have monday-thursday off next week so I'll be a weekday guy again. I look forward to all your reports from the weekend:)

Sorry for the late report, it's been so long I forgot how to do it:) We launched shortly before 5am and with no info to go on planned on heading deep to find fish. While going through the channel there were alewives everywhere so we set up in front and made 2 quick passes with no takers. Pulled lines and headed northwest to 125' of water where we set back up. Started marking a few fish and heard the only other guy on the radio say he caught 2 out in 180' so we headed southwest. Had nothing going and had already missed the early bite when I went to change out a rigger and found a small, mostly dead king on the end of the line 70' down with a mag Moonshine RV Bloody Nose. Skunk out of the box! In 150' a high diver out 200' with a mag DW Purple Thunder fired and we boxed a small king. When we hit 185' and the fish had disappeared we turned back in just north of Saugatuck. In 145' a BW Mini Meat Rig on a 10" white double crush/glow Spinnie on a mag wire diver out 225' fired. My friend fought it for a few minutes and then it was gone. I as I was resetting it in 140' the rigger next to it with a DW UV Green Dolphin fired. I grabbed the rod and handed it to the same guy who had just lost the last fish and it felt like a nice fish. Took line out and he fought it back to about 50' from the boat when it got off. In 135' we started marking a lot of fish so we swung north. In front of the sliders the other mag diver out 200' w/ a 11" double pearl fish scale white paddle and BW Double Aqua fly started screaming. My friend grabbed the rod for the 3rd time as it screamed out to 350'. He fought it back to 225', then it pulled back out to 350'. He slowly worked it in for about 20 minutes and we netted a nice 18# king who had the front hook deep in his jaw and the rear hook behind the gill plate giving him extra fighting power. We had slowed down to fight the king and I hadn't sped back up yet when the meat rig fired again, this time with a 16 lb, 1 oz laker at the end of it. We boated that fish but got off course so we headed back in to the 130-145' depth where we marked the most fish. Just north of the piers I turned in and in 125' going east we hit a westbound fish that screamed out line for a good 200' before coming to the surface and jumping around and getting off. He hit the rigger UV Green Dolphin DW set 50' that we lost a fish on earlier. Spun back out toward our 135' depth we liked for the last hour with no hits. But while bringing in lines I found a 6# steelie on the end of a 2 color SWR 70' down with a mag Yeck Polish Blue Dolphin to end our day 5/8. No hits on the 2 300' copper setups we ran, or the full core or half core we also ran. All riggers and divers. The boat ran fine and everything worked so I was happy even though we didn't get a ton of fish. I even caught a fish on meat for the first time on my boat. I plan on heading out again next week.

Congrats Bob!

I here you Frank. I haven't had the boat in the water yet. By far the latest in the year for me. A combination of weather, work and family obligations have thwarted me so far. Hopefully that changes next week!

You can use the Lake Michigan forum for perch reports. There have been a few here and there in the past but they have been spotty. Some of the Holland guys post them on occassion.

Jim, that's what it looks like they used originally and I think it broke down due to sunlight. Thanks anyway, though.

I contacted the manufacturer of my windshield (Taylor Made) and they sell a gasket to go under it. She said not every boat builder used theirs originally but it will work as a replacement. I just have to measure it and place an order.

Like the others have said, it depends on your budget. I ran Daiwa Heartland dipsey rods with Twilli tips for a few years and had no issues. Then I tried the Torpedo Tips and liked them a lot more than the Twilli Tips. There is a lot of resistance from the Twilli's that you don't get from a roller tip. I like running short rods so last year I switched to 7' Shimano Talora roller rods. They are my favorite so far. If you get a roller rod get a good one. The cheap ones have a lot of play in the rollers which allows the wire to jump off, get caught and break. I know from personal experience with a cheap rod. As far as reels you want one with a good drag. I ran Daiwa Sealines and liked them once I added the larger handles. I also ran an Okuma Convector one year and while I like my Convectors for leadcore and copper the drag seemed a little sticky for the wire. I am running Shimano Tekota's now and I really like them. I have heard really good things about the Daiwa Saltist reels but haven't run them personally. I haven't seen anyone talk about the wire itself. I have run Malin 7 strand, Torpedo 7 strand and I'm running Torpedo 19 strand right now. I haven't had any issues with any of them and don't have a preference. They were all fine. I like to use a full 1000' spool on a reel with no backing. You want the wire on tight so most guys put it on and then let it back out on the water with a 1 lb ball to make it tight. I use a different approach. I have a large field behind the house so I tie on a swivel and snap a 1 lb lead ball on it. Then I walk 1000' out in the field and drop the ball, unspooling the line as I go back. Then I tie it on to the spool of the reel and reel it in. My wife makes fun of me every time but it's effective. Good luck, wire is my favorite setup to catch fish on, and it's very effective.

The only place I know to get specialty lumber is Johnson's Workbench in Charlotte. But I would look into some kind of plastic. I'm not sure on exact thickness of starboard but I do know they make it pretty thick. You could call Wolf's in Benton Harbor, they have it in sheets and might be able to help you. Otherwise you could look into a salvage yard, might be able to find a solid teak piece there.

The important question Brian is how did the boat run? And how about some pictures:)

I run 7' rods on the low divers and 9' rods on the high divers. Wire for lows and braid for highs. You might want to think about investing in some wire, Matt. When the fleas come in thick I put the braid rods away as they become mostly worthless. I run my riggers straight off the back of the boat and only run 2 of them. I swung them out to 45 or even 90 degrees sometimes when netting green fish and the divers are still outside them.

Good job and thanks for the report.

Very Nice!

I put inline fuses on mine. I liek the added protection.

Great job Stephen, thanks for the report!

Thanks for the report Dan.