killerbe20

if you are fishing deep water and targeting deep water, you may want to go with longer coppers, 300-450. if you are fishing the top water zone out in deeper water, i think what you have planned will be good. last year with the colder water deep water fishing for me ment fishing the absolute top down as far as i could go. pretty non-typical fishing year. fishing deep water out of Racine, 10 color lead cores and 300 coppers are pretty standard for me. this year i plan on adding longer coppers. you will get varying responses but a 300 copper will get you down anywhere from 60-90 feet depending on speed, bait, turn, etc.

also, if anyone needs a cooler, check in your local store. they have a clearance on any store stock igloo and igloo elite coolers. I just picked up a 128 qt elite for $60. checked their website and it lists for $279! i believe the 94 qt was only about $35. http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=43283&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=10119&subdeptNum=11415&classNum=11416

i was in west marine yesterday and they showed me a bunch of clearance items the store had. Got me thinking about what else may be on clearance. checked the website and found this. I remember reading somewhere guys wondering about the Cannon tilt up bracket. At this price may be worth buying to find out. The stainless steal mounting bracket is a steal too! http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=103303&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=10119&subdeptNum=11294&classNum=11297

copy that! i LOVE eating lake trout! I love them smoked, grilled, fried, boiled...... they actually make an awesome fish boil. they will never replace a whitefish boil but the next best thing for me!

based off of last year, Super Slim Cheap Sun Glasses with a piece of glow tape. http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/gallery/files/1/7/5/0/2010-10-08_00002.jpg' alt='2010-10-08_00002.jpg'>

setting is the same as any other diver

welcome aboard!

seems like fair prices to me. retail on a 55L is about $100 and 300 feet of copper will be about $30, leaves $20 for the rod and the rest of the line. A 30D retails for about $85 and the BD rod is about $75, there is your $160 without any of the line. Granted this is based off of retail prices. there may be better deals out but i prefer my local shop when ever possible, especially if it is a place you frequent often. or a familiar Great Lakes Fisherman!

Started going through rods/reels today and thought i would re-evaluate my copper rods. After reading this, i have been contemplating switching to the Okuma rods because of my loyalty to the company and how good they have been to me. I have been using $30 Ugly Slick rods for about 4 years now and am pleasantly surprised at how well they have held up. The eyelet inserts are aluminum oxide and show no signs of wear what so ever. i am not sure if i want to give them up! http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/gallery/files/1/7/5/0/2011-01-18_00002.jpg' alt='2011-01-18_00002.jpg'>

sorry about that. i did not mean to ignore the previous threads! my boat had pretty severe oxidation on the top side. worked awesome but i have been told tiara gel coat is know for coming back to new with relative ease. i have not worked on the hull sides yet. i used a wool pad with a high speed buffer on the first step and a wax master orbital buffer with the wax.

they are the only rods i use and have ever used except for my coppers and long cores. the daiwas i use are the best smoothest rods i have ever fished. started with store brand rods that were not very good, but the daiwas are awesome. i use them with straight mono, braid and wire divers, SWRs on my downriggers, and up to 5 color cores on boards. with leadcore the only knot i think that works going through the rod is the willis knot. i am not sure about changing the tip out. never had to think about it, even with the wire diver rods. my rods are going on seven years now and are still flawless. The only issue i have with them is early in the the summer with the floating cotton wood but i have issues with that clogging my regular rods too. when ever i have had some stuff clogged in there, a simple over hand know pulled through out the tip frees them up. if i had any other complaint about them it would be their price, but them again going on seven years is a good initial investment! if anyone has some of the daiwas they want to get rid of let me know, i could use a few more!

for me wire divers are a standard every time i leave the dock. i view adding a light line setup as slightly beyond just the basic fishing setup. additional, at anytime you can take any of your current downrigger setups and simply change the line to lighter line to make a "light line setup." -editiorial- i am not doubting its effectiveness, but i do wonder how much having slightly lighter line as a main line really makes a difference. if this is really a concern, and most of us believe in the effectiveness of fluorocarbon, why don't we all switch to 100% fluorocarbon?

this is going to draw lots of varying responses.... My Blood Run setups consist of Okuma Convector 55's, Ugly Stick 7' rods and 40 pound mono backing. The reels are great workhorse reels, stand up to the abuse of charter fishing without breaking the bank. I prefer the shorter 7 foot rods for taking off boards and storage purposes. I use mono because of the stretch factor, and honestly, i don't really like braid line. I may actually drop down to 30 pound this season for added capacity. i'm not saying this how to do it, just my preference

that picture of russ's boat is from Racine's small boat basin where the launch and festival grounds are. it is the southern entrance in the picture. that and the eastern section of the racine harbor were created by encircling part of the lake. http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/gallery/files/1/7/5/0/racine.jpg' alt='racine.jpg'> as far as the center rigger, i can not speak for Russ, but i have had great success since switching from four down riggers to three. i actually rarely ever tangle anything because of it. i had much more tangle problems with four downriggers on my old baha.

this is what i used to restore the gel coat on my florida baked tiara. worked outstanding! it is expensive but worth it. this has the finishing material already in it so that cuts out one step. http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_11151_10001_21214_-1?cid=chanintel_google&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=21214 follow that up with a good coat or two of wax. i used Meguiars premium marine wax. again a little more expensive but great finish. http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=14676&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=10104&subdeptNum=10384&classNum=10386

a lot of guys use them over here on the wisconsin side. i have not had much luck with them personally, but really did not give them much of a shot. i have been told they work the best when having 3 or more in your spread. again i do not have much experience with them. there are not a lot of guys that i know of fishing real meat rigs over here so i do not know how they compare to fishing meat rigs.

we actually started with some cheaper white ones, not sure the brand but they were not daiwas, hated them. switched to the daiwas and have never gone back! the biggest problem i have with them is the cotton wood in the early summer. that can be a huge pain. all the advantages of inline rods definitely out weighs the few issues for me.

when we first though of trying it, the captain i was working with at the time called daiwa and they said they would back their product. eight - ten years later they have held up incredibly! only the two line guide eyes and they have never shown any signs of wear. they are the only rods i have ever used for wire since i started chartering seven years ago. actually the only rods i use except for long core and copper.

http://www.daiwa.com/rod/detail.aspx?id=168 best wire diver rods i have ever used

approx. What's the cost for a new drag/rebuild for a reel from tuna? I have about twenty okuma reels I would like rebuilt. Trying to decide whether to send them to tuna or okuma.

i hear ya! must have been our area! i didn't have any over twenty pounds that i can think of either

i'm actually using 30 series catalinas now. sweet reels but much pricier! convectors are great workhorse reels. either way, 30 series okuma size reel with 1000 feet and no backing, perfect.

copy that! i have been using daiwa inline rods for my wire for seven+ years. best rods for wire i have ever used. never any issues with the two line guides from the wire.

i personally do not like the larger weights of the 124 walkers, but do like the fact there is no ring. taking advice from a magazine article i once read, not sure when or who wrote it, i use the 124 walkers but replace the bottom side with 107 bottoms and weights. The only downside is buying two divers to make one but its worth it to me to not have to deal with rings. i also prefer the walkers because they "click" and lock on each setting. seems like the LJ divers get sloppy over time no matter how tight you have the screw.

i didn't mean intentionally bouncing the bottom. that is usually by accident, ha! but you figure out how deep your diver is though! the 124 walker divers come stock with a bigger weight then the 107's or a #1 luhr jensen dipsy diver, it would be more comparable to a luhr jensen magnum dipsy diver.