Satisfaxion_Gauranteed

I've fished as early as the 1st week of March in previous years. I trailer my boat to where I need it, so it does not stay in the water for extended time. The latest I've ever been out is the 2nd week of April, and that was last year.

Pretty much, you just need to be concerned with the hard freezes. If you're like me and want to fish early in the season, then just keep an eye on the weather. If there's the threat a long, deep freeze, then pull it into the garage or run some antifreeze through it. The overnight dip into the 20s won't hurt it on the trailer when it warms up to above freezing during the day.

my 2cents,

Decals, so when you sell it to some guy like me I won't have to take the time to get that painted on name off of there:no:

I'll second that!! My buddy bought a used boat and sooooo many of them out there had names painted on. It actually had a little bit of influence on his decision on which boat to buy.

We're doing the South Haven Steelheader and that is my only trail event for this year. We may expand next year, especially because my boat is easy to trailer from port to port.

We are also doing the Dreamweaver in Muskegon.

This summer, one of my teammates is getting married, another is having a baby, another is scheduled for knee surgery in June, and my alternate is also getting married! That makes it tough for tourneys. It also is the major reason we're aren't signed up for the West Michigan league because we won't be able to make a lot of the events

C'mon spring!

all white glow fly for me.

I'm Jason.

D&R is a very good place to shop for salmon gear. They'll spool your rods, order equipment, provide good advice, and have a good selection of gear from a wide array of manufacturers. Several of the folks from the staff are salmon fisherman and good to talk to in regards to setup/equipment questions. They've offered me good advice on my setup questions

I'm looking forward to going to the March 8th event! It should definately make me even more anxious to get on the lake

If I had to start over I would buy fewer spoons but buy them in different sizes and buy duplicates. Here is what I mean. One of my best spoons this year was a Stinger Kevorkian. I caught fish in every size from small to Mag. So I would buy 2 or 3 of every size of just this spoon. I think that you could do just as well with 15-20 different spoons instead of the hundreds that many of us have.

I agree with that sediment totally! Particularly starting out, it is easy to get so many spoons that sometimes it's easy to chase yourself with what spoon to use as opposed to paying attention to speed/presentation/depth/etc.

Tight lines,

Clean as many fish as most full time charters do and you'd get pretty fast at it too! ( especially when the brew wagon is sittin close by:D)

LOL I tend to get slower with the brew wagon next to me, and I've never done it in 39 seconds

hmmmm, brew wagon.......especially when you've got those bottles that have been on ice all day just waiting for ya.......a little frost on the glass of the bottle.......so cold that when you first open there's just the very faint sensation of the ocaisonal ice crystal......then that first drink........hmmmmmm

Okay, well, I'm in the middle of the work day where I've got to work late, so cleaning fish and have a drinky or two is sound GREAT! Thanks for the mental break!

If I had it to do over when I was first starting out and picking spoons, I would have started with the glow spoons. These work great in low light conditions and will also catch fish in the middle of the day. Blues/greens/whites for colors to start and probably would have salted in some orange for steelhead killers. There are so many brands of trolling spoons available that I think a lot of it comes down to personal preference and fishing style.

I'll second the sediment of Priority 1 and say to throw in a couple plugs. There's a wide array of those, but my personal preference is the Lyman lure. They are made of cedar wood, which seems to make them swim much more eradict with much shorter leads than the plastic alternatives.

For flashers/flys, this is another personal preference. I like the Pro-chip flashers that are white with a glow tape on one side teamed up with blue/green/white flies. The spin doctors are also another favorite of mine.

Good fishing!

This is what I use for the lighting on my boat. I think they do a really good job at lighting up the back of my boat. This fog light kit($19.94) came with a switch.

These are flood lights and not driving lights. You do not want driving lights as they have a beam instead of a spread out light.

I spent maybe $25 at Walmart on everything. I had extra wire around the house.

I attached the lights to the clips with 10-24 stainless screws and nuts. I clip these on my top. They are easily removed. Some day I will get a radar arch and I will install them permantly on the arch.

The work decent for charging your glow in the dark baits.

This idea seems pretty good. I was actually looking at a pair of blue lensed 55w lights that are also $20 from Autozone. I like the idea of bolting them to the spring clips. Do you have any issue with the clips falling off at all in rougher seas? If not, I may borrow that idea:D That would give me a lot of flexability when attaching them to the top without hindering the ease of being able to remove them when folding the top down and covering the boat.

I don't like my boat lighting very much, so I won't speak too much about that I've been on boats that have a wide array of lighting and I've liked the smaller fog style lights over head best. This does the job without blinding you every time you turn toward the front of the boat.

I use those hat clip lights for setting lines and getting fish. The LED ones work great and most are have multiple settings to change intensity.

My wife is very big into theater, and they run into a similiar issue. How do you provide a very small amount of light backstage while not ruining the eye's ability to transition to different lighting? Most backstages use small blue lights because blue lighting will penetrate well to light up nooks and crannys while not causing your eyes to have to readjust drastically for night vision or bright lights. Since I do not have a rocket launcher on my boat, I will probably use this concept to fix the lighting on my deck.

my 2cents,

Hey Rich,

Great idea with the charity. Please sign me up!

To add to sediments already posted earlier, I did this event last year and finished 3rd from last place and still had a great time! It is a lot of fun the people fish this event are a fun bunch!

Fish On!

Mine are:

Continue living like I'm totally broke so my wife and I can keep saving $$$$ to build a house in the next couple of years.

Improve my physical health by spending more time in the gym, even during fishing season......

Pass my engineering licensing exam and get the Michigan licensing board to grant me my engineering license. This is a LOT of work, but I promised myself I would.....

I've been hearing more and more about the huge concern about the baitfish population drops that this article alludes to. It seems that most of the fisheries bioligists agree that the next year or two will be very telling for the L. MI salmon. They also seem to agree that the catch sizes and rates will decline.

Scary stuff......

The most accepted thought is the mussles brought in from the Ocean liners is having an effect on the baitfish. If that's the case, would L. Ontario be seeing the same thing? Being from SW Michigan, I don't often hear about the conditions over on Ontario except for seeing some nice pics posted on here.

Maybe I should have studied fisheries biology

I'll be at the D&R show and will likely make a trip up to G.R. for that show.

C'mon spring!

Some guys that want to cut down on there core rigs will take and splice mono in the middle of there core (thus giving them a place to hook there board to).

This would give you a 1/2 and a full core.

Good luck, it sounds like a nice rod.

That's an interesting thought. Anybody do this? Have any issues with it?

I was told at D & R Sports that Fish Hawk was bought out. I was also told they are redesigning the probe. I am not sure if they will do the control box or not.

It would be good to see them do the control box, too. Those things are huge in comparison to the other products out there. I can't help but to believe those big, metal boxes are part of the reason they are more expensive, too.

I 'think' I read in the other thread on this same lure speed/temp topic that the Cannon and Fishhawk units are capable of running two probes. Is that the case? What about Moor and Depth Raider products?

I, too, will be adding a lure/speed depth indicator to my boat this off season and have been investigating.

I've looked around quite a bit and could not find a price better than $55. I even tried to get a couple of the local tackle shops to match the $55 mark, and none would go that low.

If you do find some, let me know as I'll be in the market to add a couple of more, too.

Thanks for the greetings and Merry Christmas back to you and yours.

That's a great picture, too!

Dive bombs and snap weights have worked well for me. I also only keep full cores as my longest core rods and the snap weights and dive bombs are great.

I still use both methods of getting cores deeper, but if I were pressed to choose just one, the dive bombs are easy and convenient. I really hope some depth charts are coming for them!

I like the setup, particularly the moonshine blue flounder and dipsey selections.

I think everybody has those two or three first tries that always make it in the water first thing. In August, I'm always hitting the white/pearl pro-chip flasher and either a white fly or blue/white meat rig. Add to that a chipmunk lure off a 6 color core and an all white lyman lure.

Confidence based on success! I'll swear to the day I die that the good ole cheap Busch Light will catch way more fish than most other beers!

I've already got the fishing itch and hunting season isn't even totally over.......

I never decide where I'm going to sit until I'm about to leave for the woods. Then, I grab some leaves, lift them over my head, and drop. That dictates where I go to sit.

Not overly scientific, but more of an old tradition I've used since I started hunting.

Thanks for the response, Rich! I've had to track a deer well into the night before, but never the next day.

To update to this story, my buddy found his deer still alive in a brushy area next to a swamp around 2pm ish the next day. I didn't get there until he had already found it and dressed it, but he said it tried to get up and run, but fell right down again.

Good/safe hunting to all this week.

I've never had to search for a deer the next day, so I'm wondering if anybody can help me out in my situation.

My buddy shot a buck right before dark last night(11/11). He tracked for a while, but it ran into a wide open 20 acre field where he lost the blood trail. He says he 'thinks' he gut shot it and figures it ran into an adjoining swamp. He emailed me today(11/12) and wanted me to help him track it after work. He's never had to try to track a deer the following day either.

My question is; at what point do I know not to try to salvage the meat from the deer? My buddy says 24hrs is okay, particularly since he thinks he gut shot and it probably didn't die right away. I'm a little leary, but don't have much experience with the issue. Are there any tell tale signs? If the deer is cold, does that mean it's best not to try to salvage?

Any help is much appreciated!

Thanks,

Well, at least MSU has a great looking basketball program..........and a hockey national title.