Paulywood

I fish mainly out of Muskegon. There are 2 WMFL events out of Muskegon as well as the Dreamweaver/Big Jon charity tourney. Feel free to contact me either before you go out or over the radio, I always post reports and will answer if I hear you.

The reason that wire dives deeper is that there is no stretch. I use 1000' of 30# wire on a Daiwa Sealine LC47 and it fits perfectly w/ no backing. Just some electrical tape on the spool to help it grab.

Caznik did a fly tying seminar last year. I think that he gets his stuff from Jan's Netcraft.

I'm leaving in a few minutes for a weekend of icefishing at Higgins. Maybe I'll bring my nephew up next weekend to fish the contest.

If you are going to go w/ a roller rod, spend money on a good one. The first year I used an Eagle Claw roller rod and lost 3 dipsey, flasher, fly setups. Last year I used a pair of Daiwa Heartland dipsey rods w/ Twilli tips and had no problems. I was really happy w/ how they performed. And for $37 for the rod and tip, they are much more affordable than $120 Shimano Talora's.

That's the Precision Trolling book. It has dive curves for mono, braid and wire dipsey's, all different sizes. Plus leadcore, lead balls, snap weights, Jet Divers, Slide divers, and mini disks. Real handy, keep it on the boat.

I'm signed up, Team Beer-N-Stuff will kick butt!

Here's the one I have: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/223411/377%20710%201407/0/Antennas,%20Mounts,%20Cable/Primary%20Search/mode%20matchallpartial/0/0?N=377%20710%201407&Ne=0&Ntt=Antennas,%20Mounts,%20Cable&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&page=CategoryDisplayLevel1&isLTokenURL=true&storeNum=5003&subdeptNum=3&classNum=309 I helped Red Eagle install a Uniden Solara and this antenna on his 16' Lund Fisherman and it was an easy install w/ easy mounting. He used a ratcheting mount on his gunnel. It's set up so the radio and antenna can both be removed easily.

I bought a Garmin GPS Map 192 last year and really like it. I paid $400 for it from marinewhiz.com. They have pretty good deals. The one I bought has a 5" screen. I'm sure if you wanted you could find one with a bigger screen for $600 if you wanted. I also have seperate units and didn't want anything bigger than that. I like how you can link the Garmin units together. (Same w/ Lowrance) I can display my fishfinder on the GPS screen. It also has boat info such as voltage. Can even take it in the car. There are a lot of good units out there for that price. Good luck Scott.

I run green dipsey's on the port side and clear dipsey's on the starboard side. I don't have a preference I just do it that way to limit any confusion from putting dipsey's out on the wrong side of the boat. Some guys swear by black ones.

Flares are required to be out on the great lakes. Also a sound signaling device, I have an airhorn. I would never trust a cell phone out on the water. They don't try to provide service out there so it is not dependable. At the very least you should have a handheld radio. A fix mount radio is better, has a lot more range. I just have a cheap ($100) radio and a 8 ft. fiberglass antennae that I got from West Marine for $55 and I have a 20 mile receiving and transmitting range. I've even been out of Port Sheldon and had Brek (Redeye) hear me when he was out from Duck Lake. That's an easy 25 miles. For $150 I feel a lot safer. I plan on buying a handheld radio this year to keep as a backup in my "overboard" bag. This includes flares, handheld GPS, compass and whistle in a waterproof bag. I will also be wearing a self inflating vest when I am on the boat this year. I love being out on the water but believe in being safe.

I've barely started. I bought a fuse box to run all of my electronics off. Now I have to buy the electric riggers and Depth Raider and wire everything in. I also need to have my lower unit looked at. I think that I might have ruined a seal when I hit that sandbar in Muskegon Lake last year. I was going to do it myself but now I think that I'll have to pay someone. The outdrive also needs to be pulled and have the exhaust bellows, gimbal bearing, shift bellows, etc. replaced. Probably have to pay someone to do that too. I added a set of rod trees last year and need to have them cut and rewelded, their a little tall. Not to mention that my trailer hitch should be taken apart and greased and the surge brakes adjusted. I do have must of my rods set up and ready to go. Started working on spoons and flies. Need to be ready by April. I need to get a crew like SG's, I do all of the work myself.

Hey, since Mark got such good advice I also have a snowmobile question. The kill switch will turn the sled off when it just idles but after running it for a while it just keeps running. I have to pull the spark plug wires to get it to shut down. It was idling real fast so I turned it down. Any ideas.

Rich, I think I have some info on sending things over, I'll look around. My friends little brother is on his 3rd tour over there. He drives a Bradley. I have a lot of respect for him and all of the other troops. Yesterday was also the last day for one of my coworkers, he joined the Marines.

Rich, Everyone knows that a 202 Regal Valenti bowrider is the greatest Great Lakes boat ever built:grin: Seriously, I am a big fan of the fiberglass walkaround's for fishing. They offer a comfortable ride and are very versatile. That's what my next boat is going to be. Wellcraft, Pursuit, Pro-Line, and Grady-White are some of the most popular. I'm not picky, I'd take any of them.

If the boat is in the water it will be protected from the lower units freezing, they freeze the easiest. With that being said, there might still be ice in the marina that early. If you can get it on the trailer without putting it in the water, it might be best to wait a few weeks. Either way, spring fishing is a lot of fun.

I won't be fishing any of the bigger tournaments. I feel that I am at too big of a disadvantage in my boat. I can't run a lot of rods and I don't have enough room to take the different equipment that I need to compete againstthe other boats. I plan on fishing these when I purchase a new boat(hopefully within the next 2 years). But if someone needs an experienced crew member I would love to participate.

Cabela's leadcore is fine. I normally use Mason.

I'm Nick.

UNREEL, For the Port Sheldon tourney's we launch at Pigeon Lake. In the past the weigh-in has either been at Gold Coast or at the launch. For the Muskegon tourney's the weigh-in has been at Fisherman's Landing. A lot of guys launch there also. I think that it's cheaper to launch there if you are in the tourney.($5 instead of $10) Some of us stay there the night before and either prefish or just sit around and drink beer. Either way it's a good time. Look forward to meeting you. Nick

You definitely want the 45 for leadcore. You want as much backing as possible. For a half core or less, I use mono backing. For anything more, I use PowerPro or Ripcord. Usually people say to have at least 300' of backing, but some days, and some fish, you could use more.

If I had to start over I would buy fewer spoons but buy them in different sizes and buy duplicates. Here is what I mean. One of my best spoons this year was a Stinger Kevorkian. I caught fish in every size from small to Mag. So I would buy 2 or 3 of every size of just this spoon. I think that you could do just as well with 15-20 different spoons instead of the hundreds that many of us have. That being said Blue Dolphin, Green Dolphin, Caramel Dolphin, NBK, Lemon Ice, Double Orange Crush, and Mixed Veggie always see the water on my boat. For glows I like Moonshine spoons, although some of the others are very good as well. Most people use these during low light but I have found them to work just as well during the day. Of course, I also use non-glows before the sun comes up, so I might be different. I like the Moonshine, Do-De-K, Flounder Pounder, Blue Flounder, and one that I call a bloody nose dalmation(white glow w/ red nose and balck spots). For flasher I use mainly Spin Doctors and Pro-Troll. A white 11' Pro-Troll Double Fish Scale w/ a green Sigg's Rig's fly was a hot producer for me. A Mountain Dew SD w/ a white or green fly was also good. Not too mention a Blue Bubble SD/Blue Bubble fly combo. And you can put almost anything behind a Double Crush Glow SD and it will catch fish. The main thing would be to keep things simple and try to find lures that work for you and you are confident in. Good Luck to you.

Here's another one: http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/producte/10001/-1/10001/81192/377%20710%201621/0/Switches,%20Fuses%20&%20Accessories/Primary%20Search/mode%20matchallpartial/0/0?N=377%20710%201621&Ne=0&Ntt=Switches,%20Fuses%20&%20Accessories&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial&page=CategoryDisplayLevel1&isLTokenURL=true&storeNum=5002&subdeptNum=9&classNum=295

I currently have all of my electronics wired directly to my battery. I want to add a fuse block to wire everything into. I am also adding more electronics. I will have 2 electric riggers, a Depth Raider, a GPS Plotter, a Fish Finder, and a radio. These are the 2 that I have found so far: http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10151_-1_10001_97360_200003004_200000000_200003000_200-3-4 http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp;jsessionid=MIVKA5YJJMK4PLAQBBISCO3MCAEFEIWE?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat21276-cat21310&id=0019040011915a&navCount=3&podId=0019040&parentId=cat21310&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=IH&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat21310&hasJS=true&_requestid=11185 I think that I like the one from BassPro better. Anyone have experience with either of these? Or any other ideas on what you use. Thanks in advance. Nick

Riggers have been sold, thanks.