Priority1

I don't blame you. If he wanted to BS all day he should have had someone else there taking care of business.

Tim, I can just picture you handing that cash over. Ya probably looked like Al Bundy. I'm going to have to recruit some Eastsiders next year and make it across.

One of these years I'm going to have to make it to the swap meet. Maybe I can carpool with a couple of more Eastsiders.

Aaron, Sounds terrible. Walleye guys probably use them bags for big lake trolling more than salmon guys. Some times the eyes like it below 1 MPH but most of the time about 1.5 MPH. pulling crawler harnesses. Water temp comes into play here.

The extra laptop may not hold up and is probably not sunlight viewable. The Toughbook I'm referring to is sunlight viewable and can take a pounding and a splash. Your average laptop would probably be toast in a trip or two. A friend of mine does use a regular laptop, on an open boat, but he is very careful. He absolutely needs a visor for his. I do believe that the Toughbook is the key to durability. Our military uses them. I have an older refurbished one. It doesn't take a powerful laptop to run the programs. I do have a hardtop boat and I use visors on my Laptop, Garmin Sonar, and ancient Lowrance 350 combo. It's nice to have the charts on a 13.3 inch screen. The refurbished Toughbook can be used off the boat as well. I live 8 or 9 miles N. of AuGres. You are welcome anytime.

It's great to involve the kids. They will be real excited when they catch a fish on one they made. The paint, stickers, etc. don't have to be perfect to catch fish. The store bought lures have to be perfect to catch you. I just love it when the kids get involved.

I can run two programs on my toughbook one with SeaClear and the Raster Charts and one with open CPN and Vector Charts. I can toggle between them if I want. I seldom run both programs at the same time. I can do the same on my PC. You can do far more with a toughbook chartplotter than you can with the popular ones. You do need a large dashboard to accommodate it. You could type several paragraphs for each waypoint. The only limitation would be the size of the hard drive. There are several hot keys that make it easy to do things. Example; Man Overboard is Control Spacebar, Zoom in is Control Z, Zoom Out is Control X, Find Boat is Control B and that will center your position on the screen no mater where you are looking even if it's a different chart. It's not for everyone but it works for me. The programs take some getting used to but if you have them on your PC you'll pick it up fast. The Zoom on these programs will amaze you. If you need a demonstration I sure could do it. This link shows my usb GPS receiver. It's no bigger than a pocket watch and can pick up signal in a steel building. It's signal receiving capabilities is far better than any I have seen. I took my set up to AuGres Marine and used it inside the building. His units would not lock on. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Global-Satellite-Bu353-Waterproof-Usb-Gps-Receiver-/330627601058?pt=GPS_Devices&hash=item4cfaf0d2a2 I have loaded inland lakes that I have manually calibrated with Map Cal into SeaClear also. Here is one of Houghton Lake that I calibrated for use.

Some former threads on the subject. http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16411&highlight=SeaClear http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24898&highlight=Smart+Phone

The NOAA charts even on a Laptop meet the CG requirements for commercial vessels including charter boats. I sure do trust them. I have been running them for a couple of years. Most of the chip makers use these charts and maybe modify them and add them to their proprietary software. There are disclaimers that come with any chart or chartplotter. I have a refurbished Panasonic Toughbook on my boat. We had an extensive thread on this a couple of years ago. I'll dig up the link.

Shane, They look good.

They do look good for the price. Heck the blades alone are close to the price. Thanks for posting this. I don't run them or any store bought rigs. But for the guys that do this is a great price. I may get some for the tackle tamer and hardware. They will get cut up for sure. These are one and two hook crawler harnesses. The best part Cabela's has 1 cent shipping if you add some clothing.

TJ, GJ @ Fletcher's. Congrats:)

Reels counters are always way off until you fill them close to their capacity. I like what you have there. It should make filling reels very efficient. I think real capacity can vary because of the way they are spooled. Different people may spool differently. Some get wrapped tighter than others. As you stated the capacity charts on these reels can be off some also.

This thread was started in the Saginaw Bay Forum. WALRANGER5 (Tom), and others are talking about a larger area. There is nothing wrong with what has been posted in this thread and I just wanted to clarify that. What needs to be said no mater the forum title is OK. Like mentioned above there are times when the big spawners are vulnerable. I know it's legal but taking several 27 to 32 inch fish full of eggs is not moral. Closing the season from mid March until the last Saturday in April, including the Bay, would help. A closed season would be easier to enforce than slots. Moral values differ and I will not try and force mine on others. In spite of the big female take in late Winter early Spring the Bay seems to keep giving year after year. Natural reproduction has forced the DNR to eliminate planting in the past. It's all a delicate balance that I'm still not totally convinced needs messing with. My posts have been focused on the Saginaw Bay. I have fished the Bay for 60 years +-. I'm an old dog that is always open to new tricks. I just wanted it clear that my post are about the bay. The pendulum swings. Like in the 80s we will have a mix of bigger fish in the future. I'm keeping an open mind. Gotta Luv Dat Bay, Lord knows I do.

Here's a screen shot of Open CPN running a chart off South Haven. I know Reel Screwd can relate to this one. The charts are free paid for by the US taxpayers and the Open CPN software is also free. Here is one of South Haven a Raster Chart running in SeaClear

I have been playing with these programs for a couple of years now. My PCs desktop is a screen shot of one of my favorite fishing areas. I am also well satisfied with the durability and performance of the 13.3 inch Toughbook Laptop being used as a chartplotter on Priority1. You do need a big dashboard to accommodate it. These programs have a fantastic zoom also. Even with my old eyes I can read depth numbers from the back of the boat. It's not for everyone but it works well for me.

This has been a good thread. As far as predators go I have caught Northerns on the Bay longer than my pant legs. Talk about eating machines. I never seem to hook up any hammer handles. We don't target the Pike but baby a quite a few to the boat on harnesses every year. The Bay has a ton of trophy Pike that seldom get targeted. The bass also take a back seat to walleye and they are plentiful in the bay. So far I'm still leaning towards leave the Bay fishing rules as is.

You can download the Raster (Scanned Paper Charts), and Vector (ECN Charts) charts from the NOAA site and run them on your PC with free software like SeaClear for Raster Charts, and Open CPN for the ECNs. I have the programs on my PC. I also run them on a laptop (Toughbook) chart Plotter on my boat with a inexpensive GPS receiver ($37). On a PC it's a very useful planning tool that you can pickup coordinates. Lots of stuff on the www . Holler if you need any help with it. You don't need the GPS reciever to use it as a planning tool. I hope this helps you. NOAA Link http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mcd/OnLineViewer.html Screen shot of a ECN chart running on Open CPN software. This one has GPS installed but it's not necessary. Notice the boat location in real time. Screen Shot of Vector Chart running on SeaClear.

Josh, I feel the same way. I'm thinking not only close the season a touch longer but expand the area to include the Bay:). I know some areas on the Bay where its slaughter time in late March and early April. I don't partake in that. Most of the fish I catch between Late April and August are the 17-22inch fish. I like it like that.

Jim, A warm welcome to the GLF site.

Steve, A warm welcome to the site.

Check this place for an alternator. Mine was less expensive to replace than rebuild. No cores needed. http://www.dbelectrical.com/c-3426-marine.aspx

Thanks for the report.

Yes!! He's asking for info on a #1 Dipsy with a mag ring. That set up should run somewhere in between the info from both those charts. With Dipsys it's not rocket science. There are charts that can put you close, but there are a lot of variables.