killerbe20

I have always used brads with great success. Recently picked up some McShads from Bass Pro to try them out. Nearly identical as the storms but much better price point, less then $3(?). If i ever get my boat in the water i will find out if they work....

you are correct, by "regular" i am referring to the power swivel

I use the #10(?) 35lb spro regular swivel instead of the heavy swivel. It is super small and fits through very great especially with Okuma's wide mouth guide.

Thanks Phil!

the weather is the only thing helping me cope with not having the boat in the water yet, but seeing all the salmon out of Racine is not helping!

I heard about the boat out of Pastrick. Thankfully everyone was ok. Doesn't take long for hypothermia to kick in in 60-70 degree water. 30-40 degree is almost instant!

Also thanks to anyone else who has voted!

nice fish russ. I saw randy's catch yesterday, what are you doing up in milwaukee still?!

One of the Racine charter boats supposedly caught a 34lb brown last week off Racine. I saw it on GLAngler but have not had a chance to talk to him yet about it to confirm.

I like the trolling motor plugs cause the have a twist lock

I have too many rods and reels as it is already, I don't see having separate setups for ff/flys and spoons. Besides I change a lot at times and don't want to worry about whether I have the correct rod/reel for the bait I am changing

i think light line setups would be fun but just not conducive for my fishing. I would not trust the average customer to know how to catch a fish one it and it just does not fir in my spread. I also do not know if it would really increase my fish catch the way i am setup.

I run SWRs on each outside rigger and usually the center is deepest with a ff/fly or meat. this program has worked extremely well for me to keep my downriggers active all day long. All 8'6''medium action Daiwa inline rods with Okuma Titus T10L reels, 20lb line. I did pick up a set of 8' medium Daiwa inlines i plan on switching out this season.

i use a regular #10 spro swivel, not the power swivel

If you guys have a free minute or two, I would greatly appreciate taking the time to vote for Proposition Fishing Charters for best charter in the Milwaukee area. We made the top five last year and would really like to be in the top three this year! Every vote helps!

thanks in advance!

http://wisn-springfever.cityvoter.com/proposition-sport-fishing/biz/545692

hey jim - have heard lots of reliable reports of tons of cohos just south of milwaukee. guys are getting limits or near limits from the green can all the way down to wind point. Of course with the massive blow yesterday, who knows now.

I used these releases on all 4 downriggers last summer and they are the best I have used yet with one problem. When trying to run flashers/flys or meat rigs deep, I cannot keep the releases from tripping, haven't figured out how to overcome that. A little stronger magnet would probably do the trick.

this was why i did not buy them at the Grand Rapids show. Otherwise seemed like the next best thing since sliced bread

18 years never even thought about it

i do not have my divers pointing to the water though. they are either horizontal or even a little higher.

it does not damage the rods. the two guides are similar material to what Tony is using for his Eyeful wire rods. The Daiwas do seem pretty hard to come by. I just found some on Ebay to add to my arsenal at a pretty decent price. I think the lack of demand is the reason for mot being able to find them.

I have tried interline rods on the west side but the sea fleas clogg the tips.I have also had many Blue diamond roller rods break. Never had an issue with Talora roller rods. Twilli tips are the best low budjet option in my oppinion.

Side note: This is a mellow natured post just for conversation purposes

I heard this time after time when i was over by you guys in Grand Rapids. We have sea fleas too, its the same lake. In my experience, wire cuts right through the fleas. And yes i have had them built up 1 to 2 to 3 feet down the line. Cotton wood is really the only problem but that clogs my conventional rods too. With wire it is easy to "saw" this crap off before it enters the rod.

A build up at the tip on an inline rod is the same as a build up at the tip on a conventional or roller rod. the only difference is if it passes (ha ha!) you can see it travel through the rod on one and not the other. In ten+ years i can only think of one instance that a rod got clogged to the point of it being an issue.

To me, a twilli tip as a short section of inline rod at the tip of a regular rod. My question is how is this not an issue but an inline rod would be?

love my Daiwa Interline rods. i get the feeling they are not a west side thing though.

brads tiger as well

i am not familiar with the storm thin fins but have been told they do not have a rattle but brads thin fish do

Thanks again guys. I went with the original VC so the activated color will be a dull black color.

This was a bigger job than what most would have to endure as my boat was a salt water boat and lacked TLC the last few years. Hope this helps people see working on their boats does not have to be intimidating. also wanted to help those who may want to take on a similar task learn from what has worked and not worked for me.

Thanks guys!

Russ - I'll probably never go slow enough to catch a fish now! hopefully it is a once in a life time job. Some of the guys by me spray another coat of VC on every spring. I will probably do the same. The prep is simply wiping with acetone before painting vs sanding and all that mess. The fall clean up is also unbelievably simple compared to what i was going through with regular anti fouling paint. cant wait to see how she preforms!

Finally painted!

tented the whole boat from the rub rail down. Used 6 mil plastic so it was a little more difficult to hang, but we got it. It was a 100x20 roll so i was able to use the same plastic to cover the floor. A good friend of mine with more experience spraying VC-17 came by to do that "fun" job. The paint dries so fast it was really a non stop project. Took a few small breaks for fresh air and beer. The paint has to be cut with acetone or thinner which makes for quite the poor air quality inside the tent. I can not believe he made it out alive! This paint dries and is water ready in about 5-10 minutes so if i ever do it again, it will be outside right before splash time.

Trim tabs came today, props are on the way and i already have all the preventative maintenance motor parts. Hopefully over the weekend all that work will be completed and the hull will be buffed and waxed. I'm at the firehouse today and if I did not have a presentation to finish up for my last day of school tomorrow night, I might have made my April 1st deadline. A little disappointed but when i look back at how far its come, i'm OK with being a couple days late.

i like being poked!

They would be required to spend the money, no wonder we have so much wasteful government spending

I am moving the stands one at a time as I go. The blocks have not moved at all. I will throw some paint on those little spots before she goes in. I have a two ton jack here that would probably work to move the blocks but I'm not that brave.

That's it Josh...you and me in the ring this weekend. LOL

I agree, I think it's more about placement of spread than delivery device. Also, lets not forget that it's personal experience that comes into play here as well. I would not say anyone here is WRONG or RIGHT. We're not really fighting over whether to use wire line rods or not but rather what some of us on the water have experience while deploying different spreads.

In the end, we are all allowed to have different opinions and different views regarding the tactics we employ and the way we fish. Heck, I've even seen different spreads used on one side of the lake that you can't seem to buy a hit on on the other side of the lake.

A fishes attitude changes with the conditions and we must adapt accordingly. Will wire always be the answer......probably not, but it does have a place on our great lakes boats.

Good luck to all this year.

copy that

Started the fun part yesterday. After a quick acetone wipe down and masking off the water line, running gear and thru hull fittings the first coat of barrier coat finally made it to the boat. This stuff can be tricky. There is a 20 minute induction time when you mix it up and if you do not wait, the mixture will be too thin and not cover properly. On the flip side, it only has a three hour pot life and after about two hours it gets very thick and tacky making it difficult to spread. The first coat is a little tough to apply but after that it gets easier. Even though you will probably end up throwing your supplies away when after each coat, do not skimp on quality. Barrier coat will destroy cheap roller covers and brushes. Cheap foam roller covers fall apart and cheap nap covers shed hair on the surface of the hull.