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Progress is creeping along on HB 5093. The bill will get a hearing at the House Natural Resources & Tourism Committee on either January 14th or 21st. The bill needs to pass the NR&T Committee to move to a vote by the full House of Representatives. The GLSI and Michigan Angler's Consortium have verbal and/or in writing commitments of supporting groups and businesses and this lists keeps growing. ending emails to the House Natural Resources Committee member to urge them to pass HB 5093 will also really help, especially if you are in their district. Contact info here: https://www.house.mi.gov/Committee/HNATU This Bill will really help our big water and inland lake fisheries. How? The first 2 on the list are the BIG TWO changes from this bill: 1) Puts all license fee revenue in the DNR Fisheries Division-right now your license money goes into the black hole general fund. 2) Puts a Citizen Advisor in a new Fisheries Oversight Committee to speak for recreational and charter boat fishermen, and oversee DNR Fisheries spending-this will expand funding transparency and align DNR Fisheries priorities with recreational and charter boat fishermen's priorities. 3) 1 million more walleye for inland lakes 4) Increase of 25,000 more muskies for inland lakes 5) Increase the number of inland brown trout, rainbow and lake trout stocking sites 6) Continue reintroduction efforts of arctic grayling and sturgeon restoration. 7) Fund increased cormorant control. 😎 Expand inland lake and river surveys which are critical to stocking plans and regulation changes such as slot limits to increase natural reproduction. 9) It will continue funding for salmon and trout stocking programs. 10) It will continue ongoing research and data collection such as creel counts; charter reporting, fish population studies and forage surveys are required to manage inland and Great Lakes fisheries. Here is the current sign on list and it continues to grow. Get your group to sign up. We need to pressure Lansing to do something about our dwindling inland lakes and our regulation management. Ludington Area Charter Boat Association Northwest Michigan Fishing Club Eastern Michigan Sportsman Hammond Bay Area Anglers Association Arenac County Walleye Club Battle Creek Chapter of MSSFA Manistique Area Sportfishing Club Muskegon Charter Boat Association Michigan Spearfishing Association Grand Haven Chapter of MSSFA South Haven Chapter of MSSFA Pentwater Sportfishing Association Southwest Michigan Chapter of MSSFA South Shore Fishing Association Marinette Menominee Great Lakes Sportfishing Captain Chucks II Blood Run Tackle Dreamweaver Lures Yeck Lures Traxstech Saugatuck Sportfishing Association Holland Sportfishing Association Cannon Downriggers Michigan Boating Industry Association ( MBIA ) Charlie's Fishing Hole and Tackle Shop Michigan Salmon and Steelheaders Fishing Association. Michigan Trout Unlimited Raptor Trolling Flies Great Lakes Salmon Initiative Keweenaw Economic Development Alliance Visit Keweenaw Michigan Charter Boat Association Detroit Steelheaders Magee Insurance Ludington Bay Brewery Reel to Reel Outdoors Blue Water Sportfishing Association Andersons Pro Bait Lake Michigan Citizens Fishery Advisory Committee Tournament Trail.Net Hoosier Coho Club St. Clair-Detroit River Sturgeon for Tomorrow Lake Superior Citizens Fishery Advisory Committee Manistee County Sportfishing Association Haglund Floor Store Fish Hawk Electronics Fish On For Freedom Michigan Muskie Alliance Jamesport Brewery Ludington Meat Company Great Lakes Fisherman’s Digest (John Bergsma) Michigan Outdoors TV (Jimmy Gretzinger) Shalvis Taxidermy Mascot Reel Service MAC Rod Repair Sekenske Marine Sportsman Charters Pentwater In Depth Precision Charters Tribal Co-Management Citizens Fishery Advisory Committee Fisheries Oversight Committee Danish Brotherhood of Ludington Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 1354 Mike Avery’s Outdoor Magazine Radio

Any update on this proposed legislation? Thanks In advance.

Or your crew doesn’t put the line behind the pin. Or the split ring the release is on opens up. Or the screw eyes works out of the board…

how are you losing them? Is your line breaking? Like the other poster said, if your rear clop has the pin, only a line break should cause you to lose a board. The only boards I have lost are on breaks- hence the 50lb braid backing. I lost a Church 44 on my last trip because the 30 lb reaction tackle braid just snapped and we didn't notice immediately.

I’ve been having problems with picking up green slime while trolling near the bottom or in shallow. That can bugger up the best of swivels.

Need quality ball bearing swivels to prevent twist. Also, do you know what brand of line and lb test you're using? When I started I was doing the rubber band method on blacks releases, then I got rid of the rubber bands and just use the blacks. No problems in 11 years of big lake fishing for me.

I used these and attached the rubber band to them at a tension that the bands would break most of the time. I used one band down to about 50 ft and 2 after that. Dan Keating method. The bands seemed to hold pretty well. I'm not sure how this would cause or allow for twist. I put in the Chamberline releases at the end of last season with shock absorbers, and I did like the change. But I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong and if that I'm missing something that is increasing line twist. It seemed like I was getting twist even if I ran a 10 foot floro leader at the end of my mono leader with a bearing swivel at both ends.

I have never used the rubber band method, but if the rubber band holds your line while dropping down that may be the issue. I have always run Blacks Releases https://www.blackmarineproducts.com/product-page/black-s-downrigger-release-clip no issue with line twist using these releases for me.

How do you minimize line twist? I am using barrel swivels, and fairly cheap bearing swivels for spoons. I seem to be getting a fair bit of line twist- more than I was hoping for or expecting. What are some of your tips for minimizing line twist while trolling- esp on downriggers. Related to this, I was using the rubber band method on downriggers for most of last season, but I had a couple of lines break off. It seemed like the line was moving through the 2 rubber bands I had on the line in 8-ft of water, and as I put pressure on it to break free the line would slide a little then snap. Any experience with this?

Thanks for sharing Rich, I truly hope to see legislature like this pass to any measure. Unlimited rods for a solo seems to good to not be amended! More money and more money from the sportsmen, how can the everything robbed to the general fund stay mystical while we attempt to support what should already be funded??

I ran ten rods out of a 14’ with an eight and seven year old in the crew. Second fish was a 8# brown. That got interesting but the youngest crew landed it.

Just fish when you can steelhead inter the river all year long