SPOONWASHER

Very nice buck Steve!!

Very nice!! Sounds like fun to me, our boat got winterized yesterday.

Inland lakes can be hard, but usually once you put together a pattern your set. Where are you located? Planner boards are a must, popular brands are Offshore Tackle, or Church Tackle. Both work well. Some basic riggings are running ReefRunners off of the boards. I like bare naked, and pink lemonade colors best. You could also run hot n tots off boards in purples, firetiger and yellows. The Precision Trolling Guide is a good investment so you have the dive curves for the popular brands right on hand. If cranks aren't working try some crawler harnesses. Run them SLOW, I have had best success with # 4 and 5 Colorados at about 1mph. Good colors are glow, purple, and red. I think it is easier to run the harnesses with clip weights, better than bottom bouncers IMO. Hope this helps, you really got to experiment. Walleyes also love mini spoons like the Scorpion Stingers and the Jr Silver Streaks.

Very NICE Justin, the Doe will eat good, and the BUCK will look good on the wall.

The doe has been very good! Had backstraps the night after:p I wont be mounting the buck; however, I might do a Euro mount!

Thanks guys! I hope everyone has had a SAFE and fun season.

Well guys, I have had a good season so far. Season started out with hunting a big 8 behind my house that ended up dissappering. Don't know if he was shot or what. Hunted hard without much success, passed up a lot of doe's and a few small bucks.

I have bowhunted for 4 years (ever since I legally could) and have never connected with a deer. October 15 rolls around and this keeps repeating in my head. I wanted to get that first bow deer under my belt, and when a doe stood quartering away at 10 yards, I did just that! Perfect double lung shot, ran 60 yds and piled up.

I was super excited about that first bow deer! Hunted on and off for the next few weeks. Saw again a number of small bucks and a few doe's. Some rut action-bucks chasing does, scrapes, etc. Nothing much happening.

Then this weekend rolls around. Saturday night I hunted a stand that overlooks a swampy field on one side and a small clearing that held 9 scrapes on the other. I had hunted this spot hard lately, I knew there was a big boy running around on our property in Paw Paw and it was just a matter of time. I got a text from my dad that night saying he jumped a MONSTER 10 pt walking in. I later found out this deer had massive tines, and was real wide. Saturday (last) night ended up seeing a few doe's, one small buck, and a buck chasing a doe. Also heard some bucks fighting.

This morning I planned on sitting the same stand I did the night before. Walking in the moonlight lit up the woods and I could tell some of the scrapes had been hit in the middle of the night. Around 7:00 a 7pt passes my dads stand (my dad hunted about 60yds away) and came strolling right on in to me. It was hard to but I had to pass this deer up. I had seen him several times and I knew he was just a 1 1/2 year old. Next year he will be awesome.

At 8:30 I hear a crash and see a buck chasing a doe through some real thick stuff about 40 yds away. I hit the grunt call and he spins around and is now making a b-line for my tree. At 30yds he stopped but the shot wasn't favorable so I let him keep coming. 15 yds in the wide open, slightly quartering to from 22 ft up, I mouth grunt to stop him and hit the release. THWACK! Shot was a little high but definitely where it needed to be and I watched as this buck got wobbly 100 yards away and fell over, double lung. He is a older deer for sure- no teeth, thick gray body, gnarly horns, and has a lot of fat. He broke quite a few tines but is still an 8pt! Not the biggest deer ever but I am happy! My dad watched it all unfold from his tree which was neat, glad I passed up the small buck earlier:D First bow buck is now down!

Hope everyones season has been good!

Ive almost had all the ice rods I can take for the year already! Been building them since September:rolleyes: I am very ready for the ice though, can't wait to be fighting slab gills on the other side of a UL!

Oh yeah gold inserts I gotcha, the more I hear about it the more I want to make one just like it for myself! Lol you wont be disapointed I can promise you that.

Yup, exact rod I looked up. Very nice!! Alps makes great real seats as well so it sounds to me as that is a good set up. Do you know what kind of guides?

Rainshadow makes a pretty good blank. Quite a few of the poles I make are Rainshadows. Did Eyefull make it? IMO custom rods are the way to go. Is the blank a Mod/Fast Action? What power is it? I just looked it up a 9'6" Mod/Fast Medium Light and that is a nice blank. So any blank around there will be really nice! I would definitely go with it if it fits the action and power that you wish. Sounds like a really nice set up!

Trip of my dreams!!! Awesome pictures, some of those sunrises/sets were gorgeous! Great job!

Awesome!!

I love shooting geese! Sounds like a good morning, congrats Jim!

Absolutely beautiful!!

Ice fishing for steelhead? oh I must know more.

Ususally up north (U.P.) on small rivers, or streams and a little on bigger lakes in the harbors. Pretty popular to use "slammer" rigs using a fishing pole like a tip up. Youtube it and I am sure you will come up with lots. Steeliebob should chime in, hes an expert!

If I were you I would get a custom made rod. Tell the builder exactly what length, action, power, tip, etc. and he will be able to hook you up. Can usually get different blank colors and a custom handle and reel seat. You can make the fanciest of fancy poles with tiChrome guides or you can get just a basic level. You can also choose the color the guides are wrapped in which can be pretty much be every color imaginable. So basically you get whatever you want, exactly how you like it. This is just the route I would take IMO

Nice job Steve!

Welcome! Even if the boat is not in the picture is a fishing kayak a possibility? In the spring the fish stack up in 15-25 fow in Lake Michigan out of St. Joe. If you pick your days right I bet you could have a good trip! Anyways good luck river fishing! Let us know how it goes.

Our food saver died on us and wouldn't fully seal or vacuum very well. Ended up buying on of the little hand pumps ziploc makes and the darn thing works pretty good!!! The bags are resealable which is a plus and they are wayyy cheaper.

http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17456&highlight=radio+etiquette

Thats a little info. Quite a few people use radios to give reports but seldom do I think they are telling the truth. If you do give a report it is likely within 20 minutes you will be fishing with 10 other boats near by. Channel 68 is common for lake Michigan and I think up in the bay's as well. Radio checks arent always proper but it is extra ensurance that your radio is transmitting properly. Example-"This is Ashman can I please have a radio check on 68?" And quite often a response will be loud and clear or something of the sort. I still don't know what the proper etiquette is for radio checks but that is the most common.

Thats an awesome video! No way I'd do that thought. That boat is a Protector and its got twin 300's on it!

I heard the fish were in close. Anyone want to get out the kayaks and have a salmon run/kayak fish off??

South Haven is decent just about year round. September is usu sally a good month thought. If you go this weekend bring the dramamine (15-20 foot waves)!

Might also make a trip for pics/video. We went last year and it was one of the coolest things I've seen. 20 footers were getting the tires wet on the North side of the south haven pier.

All very good info, I really want to try jigging that area Mike mentioned. I think it would be an awesome battle with a big king on spinning gear.

Paulywood hit the nail on the head! We use it and it transmits a long ways. Some days we pick up calls from Holland when were in S.Haven.