Yooperdad

hourlate, I got a Garmin 340C(now discontinued) as a gift a year ago. Used it last season and loved it. The 400C appears to be the current Garmin model.

At the time, I would have preferred the Ray 600DX from all the reports and recommendations that I read on it. But couldn't find it under about $700. So I put the 340C on my Christmas list, which was half the price.

If I needed a fish finder today, I would not hesitate to buy the Ray product. Especially at the current price.

Sean, thanks for the post. I didn't need a new fishfinder but I looked anyway since I looked at them a year ago and ending up with a Garmin. The 600x was too expensive for me at the time. This price is amazing.

However, I did need a new marine radio and tonight I bought the Ray 54 that is also on that "specials" page. $89 is a great price. Found them elsewhere for $160 to over $200.

Thanks again for the tip.

Mike

I'll have to check the map for Grump's Hump. I think I looked at it before but haven't been there.

From the NWS summary page:

...THE MARQUETTE MI CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR FEBRUARY 28 2009...

CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD 1971 TO 2000

CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD 1961 TO 2009

...........................................................

TEMPERATURE (F)

YESTERDAY

MAXIMUM 17

MINIMUM -8

AVERAGE 5

SNOWFALL (IN)

YESTERDAY 0.2

MONTH TO DATE 58.9

SINCE DEC 1 170.9

SINCE JUL 1 216.7

SNOW DEPTH 32

Welcome Sean. Drove through Munising on my way home to Marquette yesterday. Bummer! This winter can end anytime now.

This is a great board with a lot of friendly folks. I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Maybe I'll see you at Fairport this year. I'm anxious to get back on the water for sure.

Hey, it's been many years since I fished the Big Reef. You ever go out there?

Mike

The Holly Christmas is the same colors, but craigs x-mas is orange on the top side and orange/green dots on bottom....page 4 on the stinger site.

Is your pic at ranguettes in fairport?

Just found it. Actually I was searching for Christmas instead of X-Mas. Duh!

Yes, the picture is in the marina at Fairport. Great fishing community there.

Mike

I found a Holly Christmas on the Stinger site. Same thing?

Silver Streak "Greasy Chicken Wing" by far.

Our favorite is to thin down mayo with dry vermouth to make it runny and easily spreadable with your basting brush, mix in a good dose of garlic powder and paprika. Baste on both sides while grilling.....no foil. Yum!

I always skin and debone my fish at the cleaning station too.

Mike

P.S. Works great on pork chops too!

The foreign sources of oil are all fed up with the US and our pleas when we sit on an estimated 50, yes 50 years worth of oil and gas in our own country and offshore. They would be nuts to pay any attention to us when we are not willing to do anything to help ourself. Nuts!

Priority1 and I are going to trade some gear, so looks like I will be in the SD game this year too. Great comments and great advice as usual. Thanks everyone.

Combat fishing???

Mike

Frank, I checked and I do have some extra dipsies. I'll send you a PM.

Mike

Let me check when I get home tonight. I think I have way more dipsies than I will ever need and the trade sounds good. A friend moved to Florida and gave me his supply, but I'm not sure what size they are.

Mike

I have 2 wire and 2 PPro dipsy rods on my boat and it has been suggested by an experienced fisherman that I keep the wire and go with Slide Divers on the PPro instead of adding more rods. Good suggestion?

I see there is a new SD Lite Bite out this year. Is that the one to buy? Do I need the depth rings too?

Weight of PPro to use with a SD setup?

Thanks for the help.

Mike

Mine is closer to the Wisconsin Fish Boil.

Big pot with lots of water ( mine is 8 gal with a basket) . Add about a cup of kosher or pickling salt and bring to a boil.

Add skinned onions, one per person, and leave the root tip as best you can to hold it together...vadelias are great.

After 5 minutes, add one potatoe per person. Boil about 40 minutes, or until potatoes feel close to done.

Add another 1/2 cup of salt and the fish of choice. I use lakers or salmon, filets that are skinned, and add them to the pot in a basket. Boil another 12 minutes.

Serve with lots of melted butter.

I just cleaned out the freezer and did this for a camping group Memorial Day weekend, and some had 3 helpings! Others who generally don't eat fish tried it and had seconds.

Mike

Hotdog71, I recently scanned my manual and can send you the manual as a pdf file. Send me a private message.

Yooperdad

Slipknot, like I said above, I haven't tried it yet either. But I made several and I'm going to!

Good luck.

Mike

Wolf99, how did you make out with the counters you were looking for? I may need one too, so am curious what you ended up with. Thanks,

Yooperdad

Nice fish and great day on the water. We still have float ice here in Marquette.

Yooperdad

Did you try Niel at Walker Downrigger Service Center?

269-673-7442

FAX 269-673-1886

I found his prices very reasonable for the few parts I have needed.

Yooperdad

This whole topic sounded familiar so did a quick Google. A % of the gas tax goes to the State Waterways Fund to support boating, harbor construction, etc. There was a ballot proposal in 2006 to protect that money from politicians, but it didn't pass. Found this in the article: CRC was able to identify one diversion of resources from these funds and accounts in the recent past, a FY02 diversion of $7.8 million from the Waterways Fund to help balance the state's general fund budget.

I didn't find the % of the gas tax that goes into the fund.

Yooperdad

I am reading your posts about spring fishing with a degree of envy. There are a lot of good things to be said about living in the UP, but getting an early spring is not one of them. More snow yesterday and today, so it will be a while yet before the boat gets out:mad:

Yooperdad

Excellent Frank. You are fortunate to have a "fishing buddy" close to home.

Yooperdad

Cheap is good! Good suggestion SalmonQuest. Asking about fly storage, I guess my concern was crushing the flies flat and perhaps losing some of the pulse action in the water. If flat in a wallet doesn't affect catchability, that would certainly be the simplest and cheapest way to go.

Yooperdad

Ken, nice pics. Isn't it amazing how fast those kids grow? Enjoy while you can.

Been to Raber many times, and to Lime Island. Beautiful spot. I last fished Detour in 2004. We caught fish, like you, but nothing like we used to. We got a slip at the marina and camped right next door at the campground. Nice setup.

For 2005, your catch was pretty decent! Hope to go back there some day and spend a little time.

Yooperdad

I didn't know if the fly I tied and described was very clear in my initial post, so took a picture tonight. It's a glow squid with the sparse fly. What do you think of the combination?

Yooperdad