its an addiction

Good work. I bet that 30#er was a riot!

Sounds like fun! Too bad I'm 3.5 hours away.

I've been putting mine on a stringer. Once on the stringer and tied off to the boat I've just been slicing both gills with a pocket knife. I plan to get a pair of scissors on board and see how that works. Scissors sound/seem much safer.

I just started doing it this season, and will continue to. The meat is cleaner, and what I really love is I don't end up filleting Salmon in a pile of blood.

Thank goodness I have a great boss. I saw how beautiful it was out while sitting in my office and asked if I could scoot out of work early for some fishing, and he willingly allowed it!

What a beautiful day on the lake, if only the fish were more active! I only had two hits all day, but at least they were two good ones. Water temp leaving the harbor was 80 degrees, and out at 100 feet it was still 78 at the surface. WARM!!!

5:30 pm lines set in 85 foot.

First hit on a NW troll in 100' of water on the 300' 45lb Cu with some sort of nbk spoon I believe. Ended up being this big slob. My personal best greaser. Weighed out at 14lb 6oz.

Then it went quiet again until 8:00pm. I maintained my NW troll and got this nice king in 130' of water on my rigger set 100' down. He hit my standard size double orange crush spoon on my free slider. 2nd time ever running sliders and it has already paid off!

And that was it. I did speak with another boat at the launch. The three of them tried water from 60-90 feet and went 0-1.

Another beautiful Lake Michigan Sunset.

That is sweet! Thanks for sharing!

I learned what Mark said the hard way this weekend. I ran mine for the first time, and with only the one swr down and the other rigger, I still managed to create quite the mess.

Although, I made the mistake of having my non swr rigger being the deepest set. So, I think that's where I went wrong.

Thanks guys. I just got a new camera and have begun trying to take more photographs. No need to worry though, the photo was taken afte I pulled all my lines before heading in with motor in idle

Made yet again another solo mission to the big pond. Had lines set before sunrise in 90' of water. It was an hour before the first bite. At 7:30 I got 5lb coho on the DR set 70' down in 115 with mag lemon ice. At 8:30 I got a nice steelhead on a 2 color SWR set 90' down in 120' of water. Dead until the Lake Trout action picked up. 115' of water on PP dipsy 200' back with white Spindoctor and fly. Then two more lakers on the 2 color swr with a pro king purple/pink magnum spoon set 100' down in 120-125' of water.

Lots of chatter on the radio. Sounded like the majority of the catch was coho, steelhead, but mostly lakers. Sounded like the kings were playing a game of hide and seek and nobody could find them.

Thanks for the input guys. I appreciate it.

Hey Guys!

One of my best buddies is getting hitched this October and we're having a bachelor party a couple weeks before in mid-late September. He is my biggest fishing partner and loves to fish so I was thinking we'd take a charter out.

So, I'm looking for recommendations.

1) The bigger the boat the better. I'd like to take six guys out.

2) It's is a bachelor party, so I'm sure there will be some alcohol consumption, so It would be nice to have a captain that has no issue with that.

3) We'll be staying in Toledo, so anything within an hours drive from there would be fine.

4) Cost, not worried about it. Seems $540-$600 is standard.

5) And most importantly, somebody that can lay the smack down on the walleye. I'd definitely like it to be a trolling trip.

It would also be nice to have a captain that is a personable and friendly person.

Thanks for your time guys, and I appreciate any and all recommendations!

I made the solo trip yet again to New Buffalo. Got set up in 65' of water and headed on a W troll at 5:30. Two hours of nothing until the first hit at 7:30, then nothing until all hell broke loose for me at 8:30 with 3 fish all back to back to back. I actually broke a sweat with the short period of non stop action between reeling in two full cores and my manual downriggers. Then that was it. Ended up 4-4. Fish were caught straight out in 85' to 95' of water. Two on a S troll and two on a W troll.

Two steelhead on full core with a freakin veggies spoon.

Two Kings on Downrigger set at 67' on lemon icicle spoon.

Marked quite a few bait balls out in that 90' of water.

Here's the damage.

Woke up early and had the lil 16 footer in the water at 6:45. We dropped lines in 60' and set the boat on a W troll. First action was a big hit and felt like a nice fish on the ten color that disappeared after about ten seconds in 88 feet of water. A few minutes later in 93 we got a small coho on a braid dipsey out 120 set on 2 with a MD spin doctor and fly. I turned the boat on a South troll staying in the 90 foot of water and shortly after we got a nice king once again on the MD spin doctor and dipsey out 120. Next we got a nice king on the 10 color on mixed veggie spoon. Nothing else until we started to pull lines at noon and found a small king on the downrigger, then had a nice rip on the dipsey and as soon as I got the rod out and a few cranks he disappeared as well. So, 4-6 for the day. I sure wish the waves around 1 foot forecast was true. It was a little bumpy at times.

I made the trip solo for the first troll this year. Lines in at 7:45. Sat down in 45 feet of water straight out from the pier and a touch South. Picked up a shaker and threw it back. Shortly after I had one of my most memorable fights thus far. Hooked a 12lb king on a SS double orange crush on the downrigger 37 down in 47 feet of water. Got it up to the boat and it took off towards my dipsey line, so I thumbed the spool and pulled hard trying to turn him. My rod snapped in half in a failed effort. Oops. He still got tangled. I winched him and the dipsey line in as close as I could with my 3 foot rod, and eventually ended up hand lining the king the last few feet and gilled him for my one and only keeper catch. No other hits all day.

It sounded like most were struggling in close. I heard good reports coming from 120 feet. I worked my way out to 90 with no other hits. I tried stick baits, 000 dodgers peanut flies, spoons, about everything I had in the box. Water temp was about 48 to even 49 in the mud, and about 45 in the clear.

How far offshore do you have to go for those bad boys? I'm hoping to plan a fishing trip next weekend. Have always wanted to go to Huron in the fall.

Thanks for the report. I've been waiting to hear one from St. Joe. Hope the weather cooperates for the ol 16footer this weekend.

I agree with KJ. I always put enough backing on my reel to fill up the whole spool.

Thanks for all your input guys. I'm going to go with the SPF that Nailer and Priority1 suggest. I sure did learn a lot about the different types of wood throughout this whole process though.

Thanks for the input guys. I was leaning towards getting what you all suggested, but had a buddy who insisted I needed treated our my regular SPF lumber would rot out in a year.

I ended up going to Home Depot yesterday and got the untreated SPF lumber. I didn't want to risk it like you all said. Took me forever to find a good looking 2x4 at Home Depot yesterday.

Would it be worth it to stain the 2x4's, or just unnecessary work?

Thanks guys.

Hey Fellas,

My bunk boards are in need of replacement. I've talked to people who say you have to use pressure treated wood since it will be exposed to water and pressure treated is rot resistant. Well, it appears that one of the materials that the wood is treated with is copper. Most treated wood requires hot dipped galvanized fasteners and I've read that most of it is corrosive to aluminum. Apparently there is a newer pressure treated process called Micronized Copper Azole, opposed to the ACQ(Aresenic Copper Quaternary) that is supposedly safe with direct contact with aluminum, but upon further research I've found this from a manufacturer website of the MCA ...

Aluminum building products can be placed in direct contact with ProWood Micro CA pressure-treated wood products used for interior uses and above-ground exterior applications such as decks, fencing and landscaping projects. Examples of aluminum products include siding, roofing, gutters, door and window trim, flashing, nails, fasteners and other hardware connectors. Aluminum contact is not recommended when ProWood Micro CA treated wood products are immersed in water or are subject to frequent and prolonged wetting or other severe exposure conditions. In such cases, a moisture-resistant protective barrier should be placed between the aluminum products and ProWood Micro CA treated wood.

The wood will be covered with marine bunk carpet I've purchased from Cabela's. But does anyone have knowledge or experience with replacing bunk boards and what type of wood they have used or what type you would recommend and why.

And thanks for anyone who stuck through and read my lengthy post.

No snubbers for leadcore.

Is your diver rod mono or braid or wire? Some people choose not to use snubbers even with braid or wire. I wouldn't stress on it. Go fish!

I've used both the strikemaster lazer and the Nils 6" hand augers. The Nils is so much better and was by far worth every penny and I would have been happy paying more for it. I used to break a sweat drilling holes, not anymore. I could drill hole after hole and not get tired, no sore arms, no sweat, and it was lightning fast. I've heard their power augers are the s**t too.

I run Cabela's 20lb fluorocarbon line for all my leaders on long lines (cores & copper). For leaders between my dipsey and flasher/fly or spoon I use the a heavier, i think 30/40lb leader material. To make/replace fly leaders I use the leader material in 50lb test.

That leader material is too darn expensive in my opinion to be using 10-20 foot for long line leads.

I want to know who the smart guy was that thought carpet was a good idea to put in fishing boats? Geez. Carpet is such a pain. I clean my carpet at least three times a season and it's always filthy after 3 or 4 trips.

I haven't dealt with moss, but I've used diluted Simple Green in a bucket with a scrub brush with great success. Scrub it down a few times and rinse it until there are no bubbles. It got worm dirt, goose poop, fish blood, coffee stain and chew spit out of the carpet.

Wow. Those are some great looking smallies.