anthonyyost

I am assuming that they mean that by buying the larger spool, it is cheaper. Then using it as needed as replacement.

I did find after inspecting the end pulley that it did have nicks and cuts in it, so I swapped it with another pullery off from a different downrigger. I used the liquid electrical tape (2 coats) to cover the bare wire. I will let you know how that works out. Where do you buy your 500' spools of coated wire? Also, I have found that sidecutters work well to crimp, providing you are using the heavy crimps.

We only caught 3 small ones, water was 4-5' until about 11 a.m, then it layed down a little. Caught all three in over 200 fow. Went out this Saturday, and could only manage 1-4lb. steelhead. That was in over 400 fow. Tough fishing the last couple of Saturdays. I rented a slip for the 3rd thru the 5th of July at the City of Ludington Marina, hope to get some serious fishing in as well as catching a good fireworks show.

I went out on the 20th with my uncle and his two sons. One of them snapped this photo as we were heading out.

While you are on the subject, I bought a Depth Raider, and after about 5 trips, the coating is coming off the wire up about 6' from the ball. Now I am only getting it to work if I keep the ball at less than 50' down. Any suggestions? I would hate to have to break apart my connection to the blacks release and cut back the coated downrigger wire every 4 or 5 trips.

So what is the Dirty Dog Special?

I have a wire line setup to use as a bottom bouncer, but I cannot seem to get it to hit bottom. Using a 2 pound weight, what would be the deepest water you could expect to be in and hit bottom trolling a 2.4 mph at the ball?

I could fish all day in that!

How deep were you setting your gear in 300'?

Good job Matt, bet you and your grandpa had a good time.

I saw these units when I went out with Mike last week, they look brand new. Good price, whoever buys these will be getting a good deal.

My dad and I got out on the water about 7 a.m. and headed straight out west into 200' of water and picked up 2 kings on the way, 1 on a full core with a orange/yellow spoon with black dots that I picked up on ebay, the other on a half core with a craigs christmas. Turned south towards the project into 140' feet of water and picked up 4 kings and a lake trout, 3 of which came on the new wire rigs I just bought, green spin doctor with green fly, and a white echip dodger with a purple/yellow fly with spinner combo. Got off the water about 1:00 when the water started to get rough, ended the day 7 for 7, great fun.

Well, I broke down yesterday and bought 2 Okuma Blue Diamond roller rods, with Okuma Convector CV45D reels. I bought at Jay's in Clare and had them spool on 1,000 of 19 strand torpedo wire on each with some 30# Big Game mono as a backer to fill the spool some. Hopefully I will get a chance to get out and use them sometime this weekend. Also, would a Palomar knot work for attaching the wire line to a snap swivel to hook up to the dipsy? Thanks

I did not realize that Hummingbird made VHF radios, but I just bought one direct from the manufacturer. After rebate it was $129.00 and has all the features of the more expensive models, including a dedicated receiver for channel 70 for the DSC function which will be very important in the next couple of years.

Went out with GLF Saturday, and now I am interested in setting up a couple of wire lines with roller rods for my dipsy's. I have checked at Jay's and Cabellas for the rods and reels with 19 strand wire, looks like somewhere between $200.00 and $270.00 per rod to set up. Any advice on the best package to use, and where to get the best price? Thanks, Tony

Plan on it.

Mike, Thanks for letting me come along, had a great time and learned a trick or two at the same time. You and your boys make a good crew, hope to join you again someday or perhaps you can come up to Ludington and join us in a trip. Tony

I just got set up with 4 rods with lead core to run off planer boards (SST) and a 10 color to run down the chute. The question I have is, what are the best lures to run off the planer boards? Are Spin Doctors and dodgers for downriggers only, or can they be run off the planer boards as well? I set the 4 rods up as follows for the boards: 1-10 color 1-6 color ( was supposed to be 7, but I miscounted spooling it on) 1-5 color 1-3 color Thanks, Tony

Hope to get out of Ludington at least a couple of times this weekend.

Nice boat! Sounds like the fish like it.

No the stripper doesn't harm the gelcoat, I tried other solvent based strippers but that was no good, they softened the gelcoat in the test patches. This stripper from Sherwin Williams came in a white 1 gallon pail with a green top, I can't remember the name of it but you will know it when you find it. It seems like it was about $40.00 per gallon.

I have a Thompson boat that I removed the old antifoul paint on the bottom by using an water based paint stripper that I bought at Sherwin Williams. I put it on with a barn brush and let it set for a couple of days and then using a powerwasher, cleaned it off. The anti foul paint was on pretty heavy, so it took a few applications, but it did the trick. I tried alot of other ways that didn't work, this finally did.

Well, I finally broke down and bought a probe, went to Captain Chucks in Ludington planning on buying the new Fishawk unit, but after talking to the fellow and comparing units I went with the Depth Raider and had enough money left over to buy 4 new 12# Yeck cannonballs. I decided on the Depth Raider for 3 reasons, first I already have surface temp. and top water speed from my Hummingbird 917C unit, second the speed paddle on the Depth Raider is mounted on the side of the probe instead of the bottom, and this is supposed to limit the speed variations from the probe climbing the water in rolling seas. Third, it was $150.00 less expensive. Hopefully it works out ok. I used the termination with the church release that I found on this website. That way I can disconnect the probe at the end of the day instead of having it installed permanently.

I guess I don't feel so bad then, first time out unloading I couldn't figure out why it was so difficult to get the boat off the trailer, finally did and when I walked around back, there were the cut ends of my tie down straps that had finally broken off. Duhhh