Paulywood

Sign me up Rich. This is a great idea and a great charity to sponsor. Thanks to Big Jon and Dreamweaver for sponsoring this.

Those Walleye boards will pull your setup. I'm pretty sure that's what Mike uses. I use either 30# wire or 30# Ripcord(Braid) on my dipseys. By sailing in the wake do you mean tripping and coming to the surface? If the dipsey is set right it should dive down and to the side. They work better if you point them either parallel or pointing at the water. Adjustable rod holders are a must with dipseys.

Went to Lake Missaukee yesterday, caught 50 gills, crappie and sunfish between the 5 of us, only 4 keepers. My brother had an Aqua View and it was neat to see how many fish there were down there, that didn't want to bite!

Sign me up too, Rich. I'm hoping to make a run at Phil's title. I'm trying to pick up Adam on the free agent market, I think that'll give me the edge I need!

That's where the reel comes into place. A reel with a very good drag can make a huge difference. Keating claims that he loses a lot less fish because they are tired when they get to the boat. I don't have $300 to drop on a reel but I tried it last year w/ a Daiwa Sealine and had no problem w/ fish breaking off. Plus, it's a lot of fun fighting fish on line that light. I am running 15# on my regular spoon rods, 20# on my flasher rods, and have 1 set up w/ 12# to use during the day when the bite dies.

The Sub-Troll is just as accurate, the analog dial is broken into very small increments and is easy to read, just not digital. Both are very good products.

The Sub-Troll also uses a coated cable. If you do a search I think that there was a discussion on this last year. No matter what you get it is a valuable tool.

I also am adding a speed and temp this winter and decided to go w/ the Depth Raider. Everyone I have talked to that has one loves it. They are easy to use and reliable. No problems w/ loss of signal at deeper depths. My second choice is the Sub-Troll. Pretty much the same set-up but it has an analog speed display and digital temp display. The Depth Raider is easier to read IMO. The charter captain that we have used in the past recommends the Sub-Troll. They are much more reliable than the Fishhawk that he used to use. I know a few people that have the Cannon's and love them. Also know a few that have them that don't. Everyone I know that has a Depth Raider or Sub-Troll loves them. My $.02.

I went to his seminar last year. He uses a Bass Pro Shop special $20 rod. Of course he uses Penn International reels. I think they're like $300-$400 each. His advice was get a good reel, go cheap on rods. The seminar was great by the way.

I got a 5 point opening day and a doe the second day, both gun season. I'm not a big hunter but this was my first buck so I was happy.

Yeah we were. Last time I was up there (2 years ago) we fished off the west boat launch and everyone was fishing off the camp. This year it was the opposite. Might try again next weekend.

I went to Lake Margrethe last friday but didn't catch anything. We were on the wrong end of the lake. Marked a few walleye but no takers. Probably go out again next weekend. Too busy this week.

Caz, I'm assuming the blow date for June is June 8th, not May 8th, correct?

I have 2 Big Jon Manual Downriggers for sale. They both have 4 ft. tilt booms and single rod holders mounted on the booms. Both have approximately 200 ft. of 200 lb. cable. One has a clutch mechanism and the other has to be lowered by hand. They are in great condition and work great. I am selling them because I am upgrading to Big Jon electrics. I am asking $300 plus shipping for the pair. I would be willing to meet someone within a reasonable (100 miles or so) distance to save on shipping.

I've had limited success on catching trout but if you want to catch smelt I've gotten pretty good at it. It's a lot of fun.

I ice fish but have never been on the Bay. I fish smaller inland lakes and Higgins once it ices over. If you're offering to guide an outing on the Bay I'd be interested:D

If you put a Dipsey on a leadcore I would think that you would get LESS depth than a wire dipsey. The leadcore has a lot more resistance than wire going through the water. And you would lose any advantage that you would gain with the weight of the leadcore by putting it down by the leader. You're diver would only go to a certain depth and then the core would hang lower in the water behind it. I'm surprised that Mike got his lines deeper by putting the Dive Bomb at the leader end of the core. When I have used snap weights I put it up at the backing. Of course, part of that's due to not wanting to clip it on the core. I plan on trying the Dive Bombs next year and seeing what happens. Seems like a great idea to me because I refuse to run a core and a half or double core. Well, I might run it but would never reel it in!

While I didn't catch many lakers this year most of them were on an 11' Pro-Troll double pearl fish scale w/ green Sigg's Riggs fly. I also caught one on an 8" Blue Bubble Spin Doctor and Blue bubble fly. I know that a lot of laker guys like tin can dodgers and yellow flys. White flys seem to be good also. As far as rainbows go the 6' SD in orange and red would probably work. I used orange and red mini dodgers w/ some success this year. Black and purple or black and blue flies. Just a few hints, hope they help.

Might want to recheck your stats on thaqt first one Dan, the Lions have won 6 games lots of times. (Just rarely more than that)

I have an extensive to-do list this winter: 1. Remove and repair axle on boat trailer. Either the axle or the spindles are bent, the tires wear funny. 2. Remove outdrive, replace exhaust bellows, shift bellows, gimbal bearing and bellows, and anything else that needs to be done. 3. Replace trailer lights with LED's. 4. Since I decided to keep the boat I have for another year I will also be upgrading to electric downriggers and adding a speed and temp at the ball unit. Either a Depth Raider or Moor Subtroll. 5. I am going to sort through my spoons and eliminate ones that I don't use. I also need to replace ones that were lost and would like to add duplicates of my "old reliables". 6. Remove lower unit and replace seal and/or shaft. I think that I have a leak, the gear lube looked a little off when I changed it. Might have been caused by hitting that sandbar in Muskegon Lake. I haven't decided if I am going to be doing the outdrive work myself or not. I bought a service manual and it looks a little more complicated than I thought. I will get some estimates and figure it out later.

I'll take them Rich. Let me know what shipping is and I'll get you the money. Nick

I use a rubber band on the backing to keep the board above the leadcore.

Good job Brek! I might have to come over and bum a ride w/ you since I put my boat away.

We're looking at going to Costa Rica for our honeymoon, deep sea fishing! I can't complain, I had almost 100 hours on the water this year. She even took last friday off and wanted to go fishing.

I probably won't be able to make this one. I have a wedding on the 7th, mine:smileeek: