jay d

If we ban all words nobody would get their feelings hurt:thumb: WTF who elected this guy!!! Our country is going down the tubes.

Image stabilized cannons do the trick for me,stick with 10x50s anything bigger are hard to use when you are moving.I love the pair i have and anybody that trys them say holy S#^! those are nice.

we fished out of manistee sat on the big pond,out in 140 fow and 6 of the 9 fish we caught had ben in the river this fall and returned to the lake allready.they had some awsome colors and the 3 males had big ole kipes on em and one of the hens had loose spawn.thats more than we have ever caught this time of the year that had droped back to the lake allready.

What is the typical setup for Fall fishing? Lots of high lines? Way out deep?

All depends on the day and the conditions.We start out running and watching the graph untill we locate baite or fish and dial our setup in from there.We do tend to concentrate more on the top 50 fow most days.

I never put the boat away for the season.We get a decent day and a clear launch and its on.we have caught fish on the big water in every month of the year,only 2 January trips tho.Fall fishing is my favorite. We had 43 fish to the back of the boat last sun so the fun is just getting started:thumb:

sengs 231 723 9444 marina is fenced,nice clean fish cleaning station,ice avalible,plenty of parking and clean.

best sounder i have used on a boat.this will be the 3rd summer running it.

the rigids are top notch leds,we have 3 on the back of the boat and 2 up front.they are built for the off road guys.

I like the 4 rigger setup. You don't have to run all 4 but when the rigger bite gets hot you play your aces.

i prefer to trailer my boat.i had a slip the past 2 years but i find it keeps me at that port.next year we will be back to chasing the bite around the state.

we fished the point out of manistee today and went 5 for 12:confused: 1 went 20#s all on mag spoons,most of the lost fish came on meat on the bottom..there was dead baite floating on the surface allmost the whole ride back too manistee 11 miles or so

Im looking at the leds from Rigid Industries.. anyone use these? they are pricey i checked out a display that wolfs marine has set up and they look like awesome lights they just make so many different ones i am not sure which ones to go with

the rigid leds are are great lights.i have a set on my radar arch to light up the front and 3 on the back to light up off to the sides of the boat and the deck.they look good and are built like a tank.i have friends that run them on offroad trucks and they will take just about any abuse you can put them through short of smashing them with a hammer:thumb:built in the usa too:thumb:

the garmin chirp sounders are outstanding.we switched to the garmin mid season last year.target seperation is unbelievable and performance at planing speeds are great.marks fish tite to the bottom.controls are very easy to use.

thanks,we will be headed that way soon:thumb:

how deep was the water at the launch?

Jay,

What about trolling in solid 1-3's or even 2-4's? With our current boat you just get thrown around to really try to fish in those conditions. Also what about fishing with 4 adults and maybe even the occasional 5th?

andy,we can troll into 2 to 4s on the kicker and tr1 with no problems,not to bad a ride.4 people on the boat still leaves lots of room to fish.5 or 6 people would not be to crowded.if you get one get the trim tabs for sure.you will not be disapointed with a hewescraft.i have taken several friends out that have bigger glass boats and they cant believe they were in a alum boat. you can get one for about the same $ as a lund in a comparable size too and have 2 times the boat,as long as you dont need all the fancy plastic junk on the lunds,starcrafts,crestliners,ect.

we fished in some nasty weather this fall and never felt like we should run for home like we did in the starcraft and we kept it 70 plus under the hard top,even when it was 35 deg out.

If I was to take a look at hewescraft, of course I know I'd have to up my budget, what would that really gain me handling wise in rougher water?

andy,you are down by calumet.go talk to frank or derek at calumet marine and tell them you want to take a test ride in a ocean pro.you wont be dissapointed.its what finnaly sold me on the ocean pro.we left the dock and headed towards the mouth of the marina.as we got closer to the mouth i could see some decent size waves and we we up on plane.as we approched the waves i braced my self like we were in the starcraft,expecting a rough ride. i look over and frank still has the seat faced sideways talking to me,i think to my self he is going to end up on the floor.not so,the ride was not bad at all.

these boats perform great in bad weather conditions.we fished in 4 to 6 footers several times this fall.and never felt unsafe.

they are built like a tank too.

I hear same frustration I had for years with similar boat. After too many lost days to it being just a bit too rough we made our change. Our criteria matched yours 100% other than we went new and stayed with aluminum. All of our needs have been met. We've fished a lot more and had bunches of fun. Good luck on your search, you'll wonder why you waited.

same here kevin,my hewescraft is not the biggest boat out there but she fishes like she is.too bad there are not a few more used ones around.we really looked hard before we bought a new one.

we went from a starcraft fishmaster 196 to the 220 ocean pro with a hardtop and extended transom.there is no comparison in the 2,the hewewscraft is 10 times the boat.

i love mine makes it easy for 1 person to run the back of the boat.well worth the money to me:thumb:

jeff redesigned the whole roller on the end of the boom.vectors old design was not made for the heavy weights now pulled on a lot of boats.the plates on the side would be forced apart by the added weight not allowing the rollers to spin.in some cases cutting into the roller its self.we have run the new rollers a couple of trips now fishing as deep as 255 dwn last weekend with no problems.i put a tape on the roller before it had any weight on it and checked it again after the rigger was set,gap stayed the same so i am sure the problem has been fixed.riggers are super smooth now.

on a side note we have seen a lot of baite out there in the few trips we have made this fall.a lot more than the last few years.we marked a lot of the baite from bottom up 50 or 60 ft with a lot of hooks around them.the lakers we pulled from down there were puking up alwives about an inch to an inch and a half long.

how much do you want to spend ? garmin is very easy to use and the new gsd 23 and 26 are great sounders.they just came out with a stand alone chirp unit too:thumb:

took my riggers in to jeff the other day to have my rollers updated to the new design and hit the lake for sum fall trolling.the new rollers worked great,a little faster than they were and built to handle the heavy 20# weights.i think there will be a lot of happy fisherman in the next few months as it looks like jeff is about ready to start sending units out soon.if you are getting a pair check out the cannon wings,they move the rodholders to the back of the rigger:thumb:

goes good with the s$@# wireing on the gm vehicles,every third one on the road has a running light out.i used to be a gm fan but after all the electrical issues i had with my last gm i switched to ford.but ha after the bailout they fixed their problems:thumb:

check out www.rocna.com i have one of there anchors.thay are not cheep but well worth the money.holds my 22ft hewewscraft hardtop in place like it was nailed to the bottom:thumb:

The only way I would buy a Aluminum boat is if I give up big lake fishing. Or at least cut back so much it don't matter. The exception would be a Hewes Craft Ocean Pro 260 it is alum and a great big water boat. Alum is cheaper to run and easier to tow but cuts your days on the water down and beats you up if you have to run fast. Being able to run on plane in 2 to 4ft waves and not being to beat up to fish is a great plus.

i have 5 months in my new ocean pro and love it.it eats the rough water up and the hardtop is warm and dry.i can also tow it anywhere i want no problem.