Satisfaxion_Gauranteed

Thanks for the report. What depth were you running at? We are planning on heading out tonight from South Haven. I'll post a report some time on Wednesday.

I personally buy extra long rods, normally 9-9 1/2' for my dipseys just for running flasher/fly combos. Including my snubber, my leader to my fish catcher will be ~3'. Add to that my 4' of leader to the fly or 4' long 3fly rig, and I'm already at 7+' of total length, which gives me a foot or two of play for different setups. I agree with not making it longer than the rod. That's just a hassle to set, not to mention tougher to net that huge man eating fish on the other end when it hits!

How do the probes measure the depth? Water pressure? Electrical resistance? Some sort of transmitted signal to measure bounce back?

If you don't play the lottery, please tell me some good numbers! That's unbelievably lucky! Thanks for the report.

I'll use some Berkley cut bait strips on some of my flies or in the Brad's superbait lures. They've done okay for me this year. They come in shrimp, herring, and more. That scent is potent! Just a tiny piece will work.

I'd just disconnect one of my trolling motor batteries and do a switch-er-ooo. I always keep the trolling moter batteries charged up, so if I ever did run into such an occaison, I could use them in a pinch for main engine.

My Garmin, being dual frequency, is 35 degree cone angle for the 50khz and 12 degree for the 200khz. My Lowrance has a 20 degree cone angle. You can use geometry to figure the depth at which you'll get interference. I'm not 100% sure how the Lowrance units work, but I know with my Garmin I do not notice any difference in fish marking when using the dual frequency option. I do know the 525c Lowrance with dual frequency has the ability to show you two sonar graphs simutaneously, one graph per frequency. My Garmin has the same functionality. However, with my Garmin, if I have the gps/sonar split screen enabled(which is the normal for me), AND I have the dual frequency sonar enabled, then the graph will show me both sonar returns on one sonar graph. I'm not sure if the Lowrance units do that or if they automatically choose which sonar to use based on depth or some other value. My Lowrance works great for big lake fishing! I would use 200khz system over just a 50khz by itself. It will mark thermoclines and provides a more detailed picture of what is happening right around the boat than a 50khz system does. Most 50khz units are dual frequency. Having a dual frequency is awesome for deep water fishing on the great lakes. I'm not aware of any units that run strictly on 50khz that also don't have the option to run at a second higher frequency. The reason being that 50khz sonars will miss fish around structures. The main advantage 50khz has is the ability to cover more water. A good rule of thumb is that a 50khz sonar will cover 2/3 the depth horizonatlly. So, if you're in 30fow, it'll cover 20 feet horizontally at 30' down. For the 200khz frequency, the ratio is closer to 1/3. So, if you're in 30fow, it'll cover approximately 10 feet horizontally at the bottom. Having the knowledge of how the cone angle and frequency works gives me added knowledge. For example, under normal circumstances, I set my Garmin to run at 50khz and my Lowrance runs at 200khz. I know that the 50 covers more water, so if I get a fish on my Garmin and don't get it on my Lowrance, I shouldn't expect that fish to take anything right around my boat because it's likely to be far to the side of my boat. If I'm getting a lot of bait fish in a certain portion of the water column, I'll use my Lowrance to zoom in on those regions and leave my Garmin covering the whole water column.

Thanks for the post. I've been meaning to get back to this and post what I found out from the Garmin tech support(which is very good and extremely helpful). Here's how it works: Sonar is vibration, so no matter how you cut it, you're vibrating the water column with an amplitude(power) at a time rate(frequency). My boat with cone angles the way they are will experience interference from the 200khz units when I have both operating at 200khz at depths greater than ~35fow. However, two things can help/fix the issue. First, sonar won't interfere at all if you're frequency is 50khz or more away from one another. Second, the ping speed of the units can be adjusted so that the interference can be minimized greatly. Ussually, it will amount to being very faint verticle lines on the graph of the unit being interfered with and is ussually liveable for the user. On my setup, my Garmin is dual frequency and runs at 50 and 200khz while my Lowrance only runs at 200khz, so I never experience an issue because I just use the 50khz frequency on the Garmin and the 200khz on the Lowrance. The 50khz frequence covers much more water, but the 200khz gives you more visualization right below and covers bottom detail extremely well. My Garmin at 50khz marks the depth at the bottom very well, but bounces at +/- about 2'. It will show me fish/bait that the Lowrance will not operating at 200khz because of the greater water coverage of the 50khz. However, the Lowrance running at 200khz marks the bottom depth extremely accurately with great detail, but does not cover as much water horizontally(parallel to the bottom). So, to make a long story short, you CAN indeed run dual transducers on a single boat, but you need to ensure your operating frequencies are 50khz or more different. They sell a variety of units that operate at different frequencies for just this type of application. 50 and 200khz is the standard, but 130 and 270khz units are both available. My two units work GREAT together. I love having them. I can zoom in each graph to see different things. About 80% of the time, both graphs are telling me the exact same thing. This gives me the flexability to zoom the Lowrance in on bait clusters or certain portions of the water column to see great detail while leaving the Garmin focused on the whole water column. There are occaisons that the Lowrance will pick up a fish right at the bottom that the Garmin misses or the Garmin picks up fish that the Lowrance misses. Again, I love having both units and have found the added investment well worth it. Hope this helps anyone looking to have a similiar setup.

Over the last 3 days, I've been doing a lot of research on the VHS stuff. I've used three primary sources; The Michigan DNR website, the local DNR office here in Kzoo, and a Kzoo vet who's licensed to perform research for the DNR and wildlife studies and who's familiar with the disease. Here's a hitlist of facts EVERY angler should know: 1) VHS is cold water species virus who's symtoms are very similiar to the Ebolla virus. It stands for Viral Hemoragic (I think the third word is syndrom, will double check). That basically means that the fish hemorages, or bleeds as a result from having the virus. 2) It only affects cold blooded species. Eating a piece of VHS infected fish will not affect any warm blooded animal(including humans). There are no restrictions on consuming fish due to VHS. It cannot be transmitted to a warm blooded species. 3) There has not been a large magnitude of die-offs due to this disease. It has killed a couple of warm water species(crappie and musky) as well as a couple of different varieties of bait fish. No significant die offs of cool water species(trout/salmon) have been attributed to VHS. 4) 95% of all of the fish in Michigan are known to be carriers of the virus. It's believed, but not known for sure, that certain attributes of ecosystems can help them to resist significant viral outbreaks. It's not known for sure if it will kill any fish infected, but it seems unlikely because nearly all fish are carriers. More research is needed in this area. 5) Fully expect EXTREMELY tight regulations on the use of spawn and most types of live bait this summer and fall. The post Walleye Express made has the link to the DNR website. 6) The DNR is asking that ANY fish caught that is suspected of having the virus be put on ice and delivered to a DNR station. Symptons are blood or bloody splotches in the eye of a fish, blood or bloody splotches from the scales of a fish, or blood hemoraging from a swim bladder or other internal organs. Salmon Quest, the bulging red eye would be suspect fish while the missing fin is likely a clipped fin or damage from another fish. 7) This came from the ocean and has been known for several years in the atlantic northeast portions of Canada. It likely came in from an ocean vessel. 8) There's no risk of fishing being closed in Michigan. I heard that rumor at the boat ramp several weeks ago. The fishing will not be closed. There will be bait regulations in place in the near future. 9) This was emphasized HUGE. Make sure ALL vessels are cleaned prior to fishing. It's our responsibility to help manage the ecosystems we enjoy in the region, and this is a simple way to do it. It only takes 15 minutes to rinse off the outside of a boat with a garden hose and to dump some soapy water through your live wells. I did this to my boat last night. Including uncovering the boat and covering it back up(by myself), I spent a half hour doing this. Cleaning the boat and bringing infected fish into the DNR stations are two simple things that help to give the proper people the tools to help our manage our natural resources. I hope this post helps educate and encourage everybody who enjoys the state's fisheries. We should not fear this disease, it's been around for a very long time. We SHOULD all do our part and help conserve our natural resources. Good/responsible Fishing!

That is indeed very great news! Thanks for the update!

Sorry for the late report, but here it is: We setup in 60fow about 1 mile south of the Grand Haven Piers on a 2.7mph SOG troll. Took the first fish on a black and white moonshine off the rigger set 55down, small king. That was about 5:20am. The second hit came about 5:40am off the blue/black moonshine off the rigger 55down in about 70fow. We lost that fish. Then the fishing died for us until about 8:30am when we took a decent steely off the half core green/silver Pro-king lure in about 120fow. Then the fishing died again until about 9:30am, and took a solid rip on the blue/white 3fly herring rig behind a white pro-chip flasher down 45 in about 195-200fow. Lost that fish, too. 15 minutes later, took another rip on the same setup, nothing home by the time the rod was handled. At this point, there was only about 1hour left in the event, so we opted to go for broke and make 4 of our 6 lines herring haulers. It paid off with another hit in the same 190-200fow area, but again no hook up. And that ended our morning, 2-5or6 on the day. This week I've been making my own herring hauling 2-4 fly rigs. I've done really well on the meat so far this year, but the hook up percentage hasn't been so great. To remedy this, I'm replacing my trebles with a double single hook setup and a double swivel ahead on the head dressing. I'm also making a couple of glow rigs for use in the low light hours. I'll post reports using it the next time I fish, likely to be night time trips througout the next week. Good fishing and fun day!

Geesh, that's something I'm not accustomed to. I do plan on fishing there for the first time this year, so hopefully we can get into some of those big kings!

650-730fow??? Do you pick up the Wisconsin radio stations out there? We do in about 250fow out of South Haven. Sometimes we try to call in and say we're from MI and request a song. Geesh, how far of a run is that? It's about 14miles to get to 200fow south of the piers in South Haven and only a mile or two closer than that north of the piers. What was the water temp way out there? What kind of sizes were the fish? Thanks for the report, my friends and I are planning a long weekend getaway to get up to Manistee/Pentwater/Ludington areas.

That's the name of my boat. My wife named it, which is why 'SatisfaXion' is spelled with an X

Wow! Coming home from a morning of fishing, then cleaning up the boat and getting stuff put away, about the time you think about a nap and the water breaks! I bet you both were extremely tired after all of that excitment! Big Congrats keep us posted in your spare time!

We fished South Haven last weekend and it was slow, but not terrible. Most of the guys at the ramp had a couple fish, but there was at least one boat that came home empty. The perch fishing was slow according to the guys I talked to. We managed a few fish and even got a guy who'd never fished L. MI before a 14.5lb king, so that was fun. The week before and after the 4th of July normally does okay with the steelhead fishery. Once that happens, the kings normally start to follow. We'll taking one of my relatives from Kentucky fishing out of South Haven on July 7. We are normally on 10, so if you would like to know how we're doing, give a hollar. Fish on!

Good work to all of the teams! These events are always a lot of fun! Next up, fun July fishing!

I use snells to keep my leaders, flies, and cut bait rigs. They work great and store easily with no tangles. Simply wrap/unwrap whatever you need. Plus, most of the foam type snells only cost a buck or two. I don't remember off hand the size/type of swivels I use, but I'll look tonight and repost unless you get other posts on here. I only have them memorized by store location...........

This was my first thought exactly! I never used to have good luck with fish catcher and flies because all of my leaders were way too long. My normal setup; dipsey 3-4' leader(including snubber length), fish catcher, 18-24" leader, then small spoon or fly or 3 fly herring hauler, etc. On the riggers, I'll run the same thing with the exception for using another foot or two longer leader between the ball and fish catcher. Lures with no flashers/spinnies, I'll run long leads behind the ball, particularly early in the season. On the dipseys, I use 30# super braid and absolutely love it! I'll wind a few hundred feed of 30# test on the reel first, then another 300' of Spider Wire stealth. Wire also works very well. I'll add to the previous sediments on leadcore. However, after 3 years of using and looking back on my records, I've noticed it's much hotter in spring and early summer. Come July, I don't catch nearly as much fish on it as I do the riggers and dipseys. I think the fish are less ball shy and more aggressive in July and August. If the fish are active and hot, I won't even take the time to set the core rods and just run 2-4 of the hot lines(rigger/dipsey combos) and let the scramble begin. Troll direction, troll direction, and troll direction! This year I've been very actively changing troll directions prior to changing lures and it has been successful. I think that in many cases the direction of your troll is more important than the lures themselves. And the last thing I'll add, unless your wife is extremely understanding or completely hooked on big lake fishing, don't tell her how much you're spending on the above mentioned goodies! My wife and I have a 'don't ask, don't tell approach' to my fishing gear and her clothing:D Good fishing,

I checked my radio last night again by having a buddy take his hand held vhf radio up the road. He lost me at about 9 miles, but there were a couple trees, small hills, etc, so I think that's working pretty good. I lost him at about 5 miles, but his radio is a handheld, so I'm assuming that's why I lost him. Either way, I'm happy with it and haven't noticed any issues on the lake, so I'll save the task of eliminating my coiled up spare cable for an off-season project. Hope you get your issues worked out and that it's the easiest/cheapest one to fix!

I'm currently running 9' dipsey rods, and as previously mentioned, I like the extra length on my dipsey rods because 1) it makes them easier to set out past the side riggers and 2) the hard pull of a dipsey bows the rods more, reducing the length. For comparison, I run 8' rods everywhere else. my 2cents,

My radio range seems to be okay. I was talking with a couple of boats out of South Haven a couple weekends ago without issue. He was about halfway between the piers and the power plant and I was about 2-3 miles north of the piers. I'm guessing the total distance to be about 6-7 miles apart at that point. That's the best gauge I have thus far on transmission distance. I don't normally have any issue hearing people. I hear ya on the fishing slush fund! This is not a cheap sport. Last weekend, a guy cut it really short behind my boat and wrapped my core line around his rigger cable I lost my 1/2 core, 100+ of dacron backing, planer board, and lure. $$$$$ I would've understood a little more if he were fighting a fish or if I hadn't been trolling in the 180degree opposite direction of him or if I were in high boat traffic or he would have responded on the radio so I could at least get my board/lure back or............. I won't get into gas........

Are you speaking from experience!!?!?!?!??? :lol:

Wow, loaded question! You may want to search the pros connection for a similiar thread on line. I personally run 20# big game on all of my reels with 17lb leaders to help lure action.

Wow, thanks for posting the info. I'm now wondering if I should shorten my antenna cable. I haven't noticed any issues, but I have about 3 or 4 extra feet coiled up below the console. I'll add it to my off season list