Yooperdad

Kris, welcome to the site. Lots of great folks here that are willing to help.

Check out my "tips" page on my website.

http://www.eyeflies.com/?q=node/6

This chart was developed by a fisheries researcher friend of mine some years ago, based on the research findings on kings, and what kings see when. The colors at depths are kind of surprising to some.

The colors are applicable to both spoons and flies.

Good luck.

I am going to replace my old Garmin 182C and have almost decided on the Garmin 536 with Lakemester map for detailed coverage of Lake Michigan.

Does anyone own this unit and have a recommendation. Thanks.

Another attaboy for Z Boards!

I have always used Church boards and last weekend ran both Church and Z Boards. The Z's pull faster and harder, no question.

However, I still view that plastic plug connection to hold it on your line as a minus. We had some trouble with it wanting to pop out, and I was only running 5 colors.

Daybreak was the only boat I recognized Bromley. We slid by and talked for a few minutes.

Yes, it was a great day out there. To me, surprisingly cold though. My son-in-law got on my case because I told him he didn't need his snowmobile suit:no:

Jeff's Sportcraft is a nice fishing platform, and very nice for the ride in and out with the hardtop, curtains, and HEATER! Just a bit more civilized than my old Whaler.

Take care

Awesome fishing Russ! I'm glad my Eyeflies worked for you:D

That's too funny! That guy in the red flannel owned and ran Catch-A-Finn charters from Marquette for about 20 years. He knows Stannard very well and felt compelled to ham it up for the photo:D

Made a trip to Stannard today on Get Bent, a nice 25 Sportcraft. Had a great time and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather. That biggest laker was 42" and 27#.

Great day John. Things picked up for us too, later in the afternoon. What a gorgeous day at Stannard! I'm going to try and post a picture too.

Mike

Thanks for the kind remarks guys. The proof of the product will come with fishing:)

I'm still having problems with the website and am looking to move to a new host company server. Sometimes it works well, and then others it is extrememly slow or won't open at all:mad:

Thanks Ken. Right after I made this post today, I discovered my website was not working due to a server issue. It's running fine now though:thumb:

Mike

Good Morning Great Lakes Fishermen,

I've been a member for a few years, and was told it would be OK to announce my new business venture in this section. I'm retiring in late June after 40 years with a great employer and am converting my avocation, great lakes fishing, to my vocation with the opening of Mike's Eyeflies. The website can be seen here www.eyeflies.com and I can be reached here [email protected]. I started tieing flies as a kid back in PA after my Dad started taking me to Fishermen's Paradise near Belfonte in central PA..... no robin, blue or redbird, pheasant, rabbit or squirrel was safe after that:lol: Anyway, check the website to see my products and store, and I'll use this post from a Great Lakes Charter Captain, Daybreak in Marquette, tell you about what I am making. Good fishing!

Mike

" I wanted to post this site for people to check out. www.eyeflies.com

The company is brand new and locally owned and operated. The website is brand new and will constantly being updated with new products and info. I have used a lot of different trolling flies out there, but I definatly have a new favorite! Very high quality materiels and craftmanship and a great choice of different colors and combos. The hooksets are also very nice, with either single 5/0 hooks or double 4/0 hooks. Also availble are Glow Beads. These arnt the sh*tty beads that glow for 5 minutes either. These beads glow like a Moonshine spoon, and last for well over an hour or more! They have all the features I like about other brands, and a few extra!

A nice feature of these flys is the inside diameter of the head is slightly larger than other brands. This enables you to switch fly bodies with ease without switching leaders everytime. Just slide the fly body off the leader and slide on a different one. There are also UV color options, as well and the addition of the silicon strands in the skirts really makes them shimmer in the water!

If you are looking at replacing a few old flies or just want to add a few new ones to your box, check these out! You wont be dissapointed! Locally made and they catch fish!! "

Thanks Daybreak

LBB = Aqua Crinkle! Wonderful and thanks for the info.

Yes John, The Blue Glo Eye Ghost and the Aqua Eye Ghost have that as a major component. Made a lot of twinkie rigs with it this winter too with Yoda's coaching:)

Mike

Pioneer, I just checked Siggs and Purple Taco and neither have a mylar called Little Boy Blue or Iris. Guess that's why I asked the question as there is a LBB fly, but I don't know which specific mylar is used to make it. There are a ton of blues. I hate to be a PITA but how about another name:)

Thanks,

Mike

KJ, you asked above about glow Trout Beads and I didn't see that anyone responded. I bought some this winter and they don't come close to the extended glow beads from Purple Taco. They have a good selection of colors and are cheaper, but the glow doesn't begin to compare. I glowed them both, side by side, and kept checking. No comparison.

Mike

Hello all, great site. I use thin wall aquarium rigged tube to tye to and soft tubing over the top. Siggs is a great place for mylar, beads, and silicon skirt. I have some of the new band-a-boo from Curt but don't have any water time on it. The 3/16 inch riggid lets my knots go through so I can change fly's. A favorite color 3 years running on the bank reef has been dark green/red fleck silicon over 1 1/2 inch crushed ice mirage then 2 inches of LBB behind a white flasher(Hotspot/E-chip).

Pioneer, what is 2" of LBB?

Thanks,

Mike

You guys be careful down there. Just got this email at the office yesterday. Mike

Subject: Eye Opening Story

To: [email protected]

CC: [email protected]

Melissa Voorheis (Wife of Craig Voorheis ,Midmichigan Council Rep. to the MSA Board of Directors) Went into the Bay Near Whites Beach On Sat the 13th at night . Apparently a area around 1/8th mile wide and ¼ mile long opened up that afternoon . She spent nearly an hour in the water and almost died due to Hypothermia .The Attachment is an account of what happened . I have sent a copy of this to Jim Dicky already . You may send this to the board members if you wish .

They tried to find the sled Tuesday but could not locate it . They finally retrieved the sled on Friday the 19th , I hope to be getting pictures soon on this .

Hello everyone,

I wanted to let everyone know that I was involved in a snowmobile accident Saturday evening. I was riding on the Saginaw Bay with 4 other people and it was dark out. We came across open water but were unable to see it till it was too late. The other 4 people I was with made it across but I was unable to. My sled and I went down in a large area of open water, approximately 1/8 to 1/4 mile wide and approximately a mile offshore, were later told that it had just opened up that day. Because of the weak ice around the open water and how large of an area it was, no one could get anywhere near me. The only communication I had with them is us yelling at each other so that they would know I was still ok. 911 were called and they were able to triangulate our location through GPS on cell phones. Coast Guard was dispatched through Bay City on an air boat but because on the rough ice and snow conditions, they were only able to travel at a slow speed. The only air support is in Detroit and was estimated at a 45 min travel time. Local fire and rescue arrived very quickly but did not have the equipment needed for a rescue. I was lucky that a man living on shore, Jerry, used his and his son’s sleds and small aluminum boat to aid in my rescue.

When I first entered the water, I immediately began planning what I was going to do to survive. I wanted to get anything heavy off so it would not pull me under water. I took off my helmet and gloves and was working on getting my boots off when I realized that my helmet was floating. I emptied the water out of it and then put the neck opening into the water, trapping the air inside it. This only was enough to keep me mostly floating. I continued to try to get my boots off and when one came off it popped to the surface. I emptied the water out of the boot and trapped air inside of it and used this as a second floatation device. Later I did the same thing with my other boot. By this time everyone else had made it to solid ice and knew I was in trouble. We yelled back and forth for the comfort of knowing I was still ok. I wanted to swim to ice but it was far enough away that I could not see it so I started just kicking in the direction of the voices. After some time I finally located a large body of broken ice chunks. When I got to them I was pulled in between some of the pieces. They ranged in size from a couple feet wide to several feet wide. I was getting banged up and needed to get out of them for fear of being crushed. I was able to get to the outside but could not pull myself up on any. They were smooth as glass and I had nothing to grip on to. I kept moving along and finally found one that was snowy and rough. I knew I couldn’t pull myself onto it as I was too weak at this point. I had lost all use of my hands and had very little use of my arms and legs. I continued to stay next to that piece of ice.

I was forced to make the decision to abandon my boot and helmet, I had already lost one boot, because I could no longer hold on to them and without them I would go under. My fingers would not bend and were relatively straight so I used them as chisels to create holes in the ice so I could slide them in and anchor myself to the ice. Every once in a while my right hand would slide out of the hole and I would use my chin to grab the ice until I could get my fingers back into the hole. By this time I had lost my vision due to my body shutting down, I could only see light but no shapes. I asked Craig and my friends to show me a light so I’d know where they were. Craig used his cell phone so I could see where they were. Eventually I lost consciousness. I came to when a man was yelling that he had a rope around me. Two firefighters had crossed from ice chunk to ice chunk to get close to me. They had thrown a rope around me and put a ladder next to me. They needed me to climb on the ladder because they couldn’t get to me. They kept telling me I had to get on the ladder but it was so painful I couldn’t move, I told them I couldn’t. I finally used every last once of willpower I had left and made it on to the ladder. It was so painful I was screaming. From that point on I was mostly unconscious. I remember very little and only a piece here and there.

I have been told that they used the ladder to slide me across the broken ice. The aluminum boat was pushed over to them and they put me inside and pulled it to where the snowmobiles were sitting. Craig, the firefighters, and my friends took their coats off and covered me with them and they towed me to the ambulance. I was driven by ambulance to Bay Medical where a team was waiting for me. My core body temp was down to 85 and I have been told that 86 is when complete body shut down usually occurs. I had a wonderful team of people who worked on me to get my vitals back up, then was transferred to ICU for the night. There was much concern that I would go into cardiac arrest from the severe hypothermia. Luckily that did not happen.

My hand are cut and bruised and I broke off most of my nails very low do to digging in the ice. They are extremely sensitive and somewhat painful but it does not look like I have any frostbite. My arms, chest, and back are bruised from the ice chunks but other than that, physically, I am in good condition.

I’m sorry to send this out in an email but I’m a little emotional right now and am having a hard time telling the story to people. I didn’t want anyone to find out through word of mouth and thought this was the best option.

I love you all.

Melissa

Bill Manson

Executive Director

Michigan Snowmobile Association

616-301-2743

I think I'll change mine to 20'. That 10' just seems too short.

Are you running anything in particular on the copper for bait? Spoons mostly, or a little of everything?

I caught a lot of fish on lead last year at Fairport, mostly on spoons.

Cpt Phil, where did this info come from? Just general knowledge gained talking with others who have run copper?

I ask because I have never run copper before and have set up 2 rods for this season. I loaded one with only 10' of leader per advice from a friend, and the other I haven't set up yet.

Thanks,

Great work ITOFlies!

Have you caught fish on the Wonderbread? I was thinking of trying something like that and now you have provided and example. Thanks.

My favorite spoons are the Blue and Green Dolphins and I made a fly version of them this winter. I'm anxious to see how they work:o

Guys, I have always used 30 to 50' behind lead core and that works well for me.

I just set up 2 copper rods for this season. A friend suggested that I not use any more than 10 feet of leader, which supposedly takes advantage of the copper attraction. Seems awful short to me.

Has anyone else found the short leader on copper to be more effective?

Great looking flies Kyle. If you haven't yet found a source for great glow beads, you can get them at http://purpletacoflysupply.com/ They are ultra glow and last a long, long time. A little on the large size but they work. His banded mylar selection is great too, and priced right.

I use 1/4 OD hard tubing from the hardware store, and then 1/4 ID clear tubing on top of that. Here are a few that I make. It's a great way to pass the winter and staying focused on big water time. Oh, our hardware has automotive vacuum tube that is hard and only 1/8 OD that works great too.

John, Jason Peterson made a screaming drags ring tone for his cell phone, if you can believe that! He has it bad too:grin:

Here are some others to really make your cabin fever get worse!

Had a pilot friend at Fairport last August for a few days. He circled over and took a few pics as he left. I have several more that show the area better, but this one is the best of Dick's marina.

Just discovered about a month ago that Convector Line Counters are available from Walmart, Site to Store, at a great price. I bought a 45D for another 10 color set up. The 30D Line Counter is available for $60.

These are better prices than I found anywhere else.

Mike