MY2SONS

thanks for the replies i went to my local hardware and they had a brush that is firmer than the deck brushes i have now and the lady says her husband uses it on thier fishing boat. I may use the softsrcub this time as the previous owners never cleaned the boat and has some stains then after will use the woodys wax and deck soap to keep it up once it is done.

Watch the Woody Wax. Very good stuff, but I used some on my boat (very sparingly, and I followed the directions) deck, and when I went fishing a couple days later the deck was a little wet. A fish hit, and when I went for the rod I slipped, and almost went in the drink.

soft scrub works good for me

I was told not to use Soft Scrub, because the abrasive, however mild, will put microscratches in the gelcoat that dirt/grime builds up in. I've used it in the past myself, but just sayin. Personally I like Comet with bleach.

I recently bought a Lund Pro V, and was doing some rigging of downriggers, rod holders, etc, and I was wondering if anyone has mounted rod trees on a Pro V. The starboard side is recessed in to allow for the throttle controls and the wood underneath the aluminum isn't very wide. I'm wondering if using a backer for the rod tree mount would work or if its not structurally sound enough to mount to. Anyone mount trees in this area before or is it best not to to eliminate the risk of damage?

I am in West Michigan in the Rockford area. I have heard of the Amish but I wasn't sure where they were located.

Canvas Innovations in Zeeland does a really good job.

All good input. Thanks for the feedback.

Looking for some information on which GPS/chartplotter to buy. Heard a lot of pros, and cons on all of these, but wanted to see what the majority of people are using, and why. I'm looking for something with a large display, easy to use, reliable, and excellent customer service. May be a lot to ask, but one of these should offer this. Any thoughts?

I run Blood Run copper on all my copper setups, and haven't had any major problems with it, but a buddy of mine told me that he suggests using Morgan's copper line because it has less memory. Anyone familiar with Morgan's? If so, does this sound right?

BREAKING: Two Bodies Found on Lake Michigan

46 mins ago

The search for 2 missing boaters is now on hold this morning on Lake Michigan off the coast of Ludington.

The Coast Guard told 9&10 News that crews recovered 1 body last night and a second body around 8:30 this morning.

They are in the process of identifying the bodies before they continue their search.

Searchers found one of the bodies, plus a debris field, about three miles north of Big Sable Point.  The boat is still missing.

The fisherman went out around 5:00 yesterday morning and were suppose to come back around noon, Coast Guard was notified around 5:00 pm that they two were missing.

Stay with 9&10 News for continuing coverage on this story throughout the day.

You probably had a swivel failure.

Most of us are in the same boat. What I found that helps best is quality swivels on both ends of your leader, and on the end of the wire. At one time I found some bead swivels that had 4-6 beads before the swivel. These are what I have on the end of my wire rods. Unfortunately, I dont remember where I found them.

Cabellas have the swivel beads, but they're not cheap.

I'm trying to decide which GPS fish finder combo unit to go with. I've narrowed it down to two that sound pretty nice. One is the Lowrance HSD-10, and the other is the Garmin 740S. Anybody have experience with either of these two units? Is there another one that's better? Any help would be appreciated.

How many of you run copper in excess of 850' in length? How many use 1000' copper, and when do you use it? Are you targeting lakers specifically, or have you had luck with salmon as well? Also, has anybody gone really wild, and ran anything longer than 1000'? Just curious. I saw some posts where people were running 1000' copper. Wouldn't care to be the poor soul reeling that big dawg in.

What is the best way to terminate your downrigger cable at the ball? I run Cannon downriggers, and the little plastic thingamajig that comes with the DR where you route the wire through a series of channels, and then clip the two pieces together seems pretty cheesy. Anybody have a better, more robust method that works?

Avon skin so soft. Smells a little girly but works good. Mosquitos are not fased by it though.

The Skin So Soft stuff does smell a little like a French whore house, but it does work if you get the one with Picardin.

I have been using a strong bleach and water spray that seems to slow them down. Gonna try that electronic deal that is advertised for hunters. Cant remember what they call it but it has to be better than the dang little critters we had to battle today/.

I think the electronic gadget you're referring to is the Thermocell. I have one of these, and they work great as long as there's no wind. The unit heats up an insect repellant soaked pad, and emits "smoke" that keeps the bugs away. You can't really smell it, but it works. Problem is with any breeze it blows the repellant away making it useless.

Check the Show Span seminar schedule. There are plenty of free seminars. I like to just pay the $7 fee and park in the ramp next to the event. There are plenty of fun restaurants in GR, or there is food at the event.

Guys, when is the show? I've been out of the loop as of late. Thanks!

I've been doing that from time to time but i hate paying the shipping and then having to wait.

Not exactly sure what things you're looking to buy, but I'd suggest going to Boat Services at Yacht Basin Marina. They have, or can get very quickly, most things you can get at West Marine except cheaper! West Marine price gouges a lot of there stuff.

Do you still have the reels for sale?

They sold recently.

Bob, I have seen all kinds of inconsiderate stuff at the ramps. Nothing much is worse than waiting on boaters prepping in the ramp area. It makes it worse when they drive past you in the prep area and then you have to wait for them while they prep on the ramp. Most of these same idiots have little knowledge of etiquette on the water. Most of this stuff is covered in boaters safety classes. Why is it that you have to pass a test to drive a car but nothing is required to operate a boat? What makes these scenes especially bad is when the morons have kids with them. They are bringing up a new generation that think these actions are the norm. It would be nice if once in awhile there were authorities at the ramps that would enforce the rules. Maybe these goofballs just don't know.

Having the "authorities" at the ramp doesn't always work either. I remember they had Barney Fife working the DNR launch in Holland and this Einstein had boats launching in the retrieve sections, and vise versa. He was actually directing these people to do this! My personal favorite is the yearly pleasure boater trying to launch there boat with the husband on the dock, and his bubble-headed wife with cell phone, and cigarette in hand trying to back into the water. :eek:Ended up with truck at such an angle the other ramp couldn't be used, because it was blocked. I slipped my boat at Yacht Basin marina the last two years, and it's cheap entertainment to watch these people. We all make mistakes, but damn, some people are just plain idiots. It's like fingers on the chalkboard when you hear someone drag there lower unit skag up the ramp.

Will be adding a depth/temp probe to the boat this year, whats everybody running? Thinking about a fish hawk or sub-troll right now.

I have both Sub-troll, and the X-4 on my boat, and although both are nice units, I'm partial to the X-4. Very sweet unit. Updates are fast, and display is easily viewable from the back of the boat. The sub-troll is a little harder to see.

Hewes craft

260 pacific cruiser

all welded all metal transom and front deck

1/4" thick bottom

Man looking at those pictures had me drooling all over my keyboard! That is a saweeeet ride.

:thumb:

Dont spit into the wind either.

Dont try to make the Badger move for you in the fog

I don't think I'd want to try to make the Badger move out of my way even on a clear day. Bad things would happen.

I was told by a guy who fixes reels, he said that the okuma CV are the best looking reel inside and you couldn't pay him to fish with a tekota. Its not the money cost he said there built like crap.

I would totally disagree. One person's opinion compared to several tells the true tale. Takota's are the way to go.

I run all Takotas with the exception of a couple Convectors, and Solterras. I was skeptical about buying Okumas because some other web sites said they were junk, and didn't hold up. I took a chance, and bought the Okumas to try this Summer. The Solterra SLR-50L's were purchased primarily because I wanted to run 550', and 600' copper too, and the Takota 800 wouldn't hold that much (so I'm told) copper with sufficient backer. I like the reels so far since they have a huge power handle, but we'll see how they perform this Summer.

Merry Christmas everyone. Lets see what the new year brings for us.

Merry CHRISTmas to all! Tight lines, and screaming drags.

OK, I figured out how to upload it. Here is a picture of one of the reels. The file was too big to show both, but the other one looks just like this one. Let me know if you're interested. $70.00 each, or best offer. Cash only. Will ship.