Priority1

Walleye, Perch, Browns, Steelhead, and Lakers will be abundant. Kings will be down again this year. I will make that 3 hr trip on M55 again this year to get into the big Kings off Manistee. (4 trips last yr @ least 2 days each) Have boat will travel. I miss following the Kings up the Huron coast, but I don't dwell on what's not there. When one door closes another one opens. Last year we caught all the eater size walleye anyone could hope for. We also caught some nice hogs and released most of them. Perch have come back like I never thought would happen. Most of the perch we caught late the last few years, were puking up water fleas. So the perch comeback is helping in more ways than one.

I'm ready, but my boat is not. It will take me about a week yet to have it ready to rock. My fishing partner has a 21 Hydrosport with a 200 and 9.9 Johnson, so I guess I am ready. LOL When the weather feels right for these old bones, I'll be out there. It will probably be April before the water temps here get into the 40s. Southern Lake Michigan warms a lot faster.

In case someone wants to build one here are the critical dimensions.

TY for the heads up shu. I'll check em out tomorrow.

LMAO I like this friendly rivalry. Capt. Levi would never be the same, if a bunch of us chartered his boat. The Captain may even learn a thing or three. We could leave the bar @ 2:30, be on the dock @ 4:00, and proceed to show the good Capt. how to run a chum line. But seriously I don't drink and boat.

AHHhhhh! Yes another big ole Thompson Hardtop. You all know I'm a HT man. VN set up.

WTG. I know what it takes to change a coupler. Make sure that Gimble bearing is lined up with the new coupler. It sounds like the conditions on that job were darn good. Donuts, Pizza, Pop, & Coffee. It's always nice to have that extra hand, when things get a lil tough.

Nice set up Cazz. I see you use my favorite release, the Walker.

I don't have any pics but I have taken some in the 20# class off Grindstone City. Cowbells or dodgers with a peanut behind does the trick. Lakers like it slow 2 MPH or less. If possible I usually farm the bigger Lake Trout. My brothers and I won a small Salmon tournament out of Harbor Beach with nothing but Lake Trout. We prefished the tournament and did zip by HB, so we made the run to Grindstone and back. There was a S wind blowing and when we rounded the tip of the thumb, we took a real pounding going back. We just barely made the weigh in. I guess they get some real monsters jigging by Stannard Rock in Lake Superior. I think Stannard Rock is quite a run from the harbor.

Come On Spring

These are last years pics, except for the rocket launcher. I added 4 Big Jon rod holders, and a 8 rod SS Rocket launcher, that can roll down to get through the garage door. When I'm fishing near home the boat never gets covered. She has her own bay in the garage. I pull two large planerboards off a couple of S.S. Eye bolts on the hardtop. I never run more than 10 rods, 5 per side. I also use 4 Offshore in-line boards, when we have a small crew. If we are Eye fishing, and only have 3 people onboard we run the in-lines and 2 rods off the back. We pulled many limits this past year out of AuGres MI Saginaw Bay, mostly on home tied 3 hook crawler harnesses. For Salmon fishing she has 4 electric Cannons. Most of the time I only run 2 downriggers except when the rigger bite gets real hot. My main weapons for Salmon are my Dipsys and Slidedivers. I run 2 Dipsys as lowdivers set on 1-1/2. The Dipsy reels have 30# Spiderwire braid on them. I run the Slidedivers set on 3-1/2 as high divers. The Slidediver reels have 25# Ande Mono on them. I don't use the magnum dipsys, rather the #1s. I do have some mag rings that I may use on my low divers this year. The Dipsys were very hot this year with Fishcatcher glow spoons, or Fishcatcher glow squid doing most of the damage. One morning before daybreak we had 4 fish on with two of us in the boat. We only managed to get 2 of them but went on to limit out before 8 AM. I made four 3 day trips to Manistee this year. We did get a couple of blow days during those trips.

Another hardtop. My kind of ride. Those big ole Thompson Fisherman's are heavy and handle the waves second to none.

Nice set up. Sorry to hear that you got ripped off last yr. This is the kind of a rig that can "Git er dun".

Love the hardtops. VN ride Empty Hook.

We all love our boats, and this one is a humdinger. Lots of room to dance around on the back of this rig. WTG Capt Bill.

VN Capt. Ray. Y'all know I'm a Hardtop fan.

I got here a lil after 9. I was wanting to get here earlier. Maybe next week. I like to chat, especially about my favorite subject.

You know the people that have the gear onboard in case of emergency are the same ones that maintain there boats in the off season. They seldom need the tools or the parts. 90% of boaters that break down on the water do not maintain their equipment properly. I suspect they are the same ones that run for a year with one headlight on their vehicles, or are along side the road with their hoods up. These boaters do little to help themselves, but expect you to tow them in when they have a problem. Don't get me wrong, I have helped a few stranded boaters before without asking for a dime. My point is???? You get my point LOL:)

I have a inexpensive socket set, a 6 way screwdriver, 6,8,& 10 inch Cresent wrenches, Duct tape, electrical tape, electrical ties, wire, some inner tube rubber, pliers, and channel locks. I also carry and extra qt of oil, spark plugs, and some electrical terminals. I probably have more but this is what comes to mind. I keep all my tools in a aft compartment in a white canvas bag that Walmart sells in their craft dpt. I like those canvas bags for stuff on the boat.

I have mine apart right now. I'm replacing the bellows, gimble bearing trim limit senders. While taking it apart I noticed my 20+yo lower shift cable was deteriorated and I'm replacing that also. B.O.A.T. = Break Out Another Thousand. LOL You will need a slide hammer to pull the gimble. Here's a trick put gimble ring in backwards and next time just change the center. Before doing so read this url, http://www.amarket.com/gimrepr.htm

I have a Fish Hawk. Like Hit Man, I'm also tuned to the Rigger Cable angles, Dipsy Rod bends and SOG on the GPS. When the Kings are real active in August, it seems they like it a bit faster. We pull back on the throttle, when the canon balls start skipping on the surface. LMAO If I was to go strictly by the GPS I would try an hold 2.7 MPH SOG, fishing Kings in late Summer. I end up varying from that by the other factors mentioned above. If things are slow on the back of the boat, and our lures are in their face, I do something even if it's wrong. Sometimes we do a lot speed changing to entice the fish. The one thing I like about running boards and Dipsys, is what they tell you on the turns. Outside boards on a turn get hot speed up, and visa versa. Riggers react to the turns, but to a lesser degree.

I have the old bellows removed from mine now, and that was tough enough. Now the fun begins. I have to replace the trim and limit senders, along with the bellows. My water hose needs replacing also. The water hose was in bad shape and the exhaust bellows was starting to get bad. A marine mechanic earns his money on these jobs. If you had twice the room for this equipment, it would be a cakewalk.

GJ Capt. Dan. Let the warm winds blow. LOL I just can't wait to get a boat under my A$$

I directed the same question to a CG officer a few yrs ago. I asked him for a brand name, and he said he couldn't favor manufacturers because of his position. I then asked him what brand of VHF radio do you use on your boat. ICOM was his reply. I have a IC-M45 that I used on my 16 footer and moved to the boat I have now. I have more room in this boat and if I was going to buy a new one I would go with one of the larger ones. The radio works fantastic. Last Summer I was talking to someone in Harbor Beach from AuGres. Everything must have been perfect, to jump the whole thumb of MI.

http://www.amarket.com/index5.htm This place has some good prices on parts, and also posts step by step instructions. Even if you buy elsewhere you can use their info. Only problem with this place is you have to phone in the order. They are still working on their site. They don't have everything but they have some good prices on after market stuff. The parts I used from them were better than the original.