Far Beyond Driven

Seriously, put in under the ''free" area in Craigslist.

Check all your core leaders, diver leaders, and the last 50' of your rigger rods before every trip. Sounds like paranoia, and my barn cats don't walk near the boat for fear of getting gill netted in all the cut up line that piles up over the course of a season. The last fish I broke off was last summer in a tournament on a fly leader I didn't check. I think I have to go two years back from that for the next break off.

Pretty sure you can keep all three rods in the water until you're boxed out. What I've had before is 8 rods out with 3 people, land coho 13 and then pull two rods since one person is limited out. Land coho 14 and pull three more rods. Land coho 15 and pull them all. Actually, we quaded up to end that day as we could not get rods out of the water fast enough, but we were trying to be legal.

I will take out the NOAA guy that says 1-2' every time he calls for that, in my 14' boat, and we'll troll into them with him in the bow seat. The forecasts will get more accurate, and he'll find God. We all win!

Thanks for adding the picture. My daughter had thrown up just before we pulled them and was not feeling well, so she sat in the truck with the AC on trying to cool down and drink something. She felt bad about missing the weigh in. Stopped at the gas station and got her a Powerade, which she finished before we got home. Wife does not and will not know about this......

Fished the WMFL this morning. After weighing 1 king in each of the first and second tournaments, I've kind of doubted my ability to get kings. And landing 4 last week with boats on either side of me getting 15 kind of hurt. Set up in 70' about 2 miles south. 5:15 8# king on a wire diver out 80, green fish catcher blue bubble glow fly. 5:30 5# king on a yellow submarine moonshine down 35' 5:31 4# king on the other wire diver, mag diver on 2 out 100', blue bubble glow spinny rig 6:15 10# king full core green glow #4 J We slid out, in 100' took an 11# king on a white 10" spinny mirage fly 65' down. Worked out as far as 180', lots of hooks down 60' but could not get bit. At 11 we decided that with 43 degree water 60' down in tight those early fish had no reason to move, and we'd go back to them. Ran back to our original track and set up. 11:30 full core starts digging in, pull a 12# king on a DW green dolphin. OK, not expected, but cool. Set that back out and at 11:49 it took off screaming. Got the board in, dropped the boat out of gear and screamed the thing in. Netted it with 6 minutes to spare. 14.4# king. Wished we would have moved in there earlier or could have stayed there a while. We took third, I think one boat had a little more weight and another had the steelie we could not find. But it was a lot better than the 14.6 points we had last time.

Something is very wrong with all this. I think you'll be really happy you ran far away from it. My boat - third owner - they guy got me in contact with his buddies in the marina, the first owner, the shop that did all the service, handed me a folder with the original receipt and every bit of labor ever done on the boat. Let me run it 3-4 times as soon as the ice was out with a couple different people that had the same model (we had a hold check in escrow). I didn't get a survey but I didn't think I needed to, and that was 950 hours ago.

I think we followed you out but ended up north. Good to hear that wasn't you, that clown trolled by so close I had to pull in both cores on that side to let him past with no one on the other side of him. Was trying to fight a fish at the same time and my crew was not up to helping (one driving, one looking for a bucket )

Were you in a tan boat with a hard top? Think we fished right next to you for a while.

Had a trip in June where we went 12/23 and never put the boat on plane - steelies packed in the harbor. Had a June where I didn't have 12 hits all month......

Ended up 2/4 Saturday night in 90'. First hit setting lines, good hook up on a rigger 80' down. I'm playing with the core, pointing and screaming and my crew is paying no mind. Ran into the wire diver and got loose. After an hour, thought the core was pulling hard. Pulled it in to find a 5# king swimming along. No more than set the back up and it got a rip you wait all season for. 330 just starts screaming, board skipping across the wave tops, and then gone. At about 9:30 we pulled it again as it was dragging and found a 3# king. Had I not dragged those around, and had I loaded up on that spoon (Strike Zone 50/50 with an orange ladder back added) I could have boxed a few more. But my 3 year old got to reel in her first king (at least the last 3 colors on the core) and start yet another little Essenburg on the path of sleepless Saturday mornings and thinking that a crack addiction would be cheaper in the long run.....

Nice fish. My biggest to date this year is 11#.....

In a no fault state, when you hit a building, who pays to fix the building My BIL drove into a car in a dealership parking lot. Dealership fixed his car for him as the brake job they did apparently wasn't so good......

Sambuca is cheaper and works just as well. At least for going numb, not so sure about the fishing... Thanks for the report.

Even better. Here's your license and a $50k SUV. Now don't do anything stupid! I'll be driving my 14 year old Escort to work tomorrow.

I certainly wasn't driving a $50k Land Rover on my permit at 15. I think my parents had something like this in mind. Having reached the ripe age of 35 I'm beginning to see their wisdom.....

I've got a navy over gray old square stern Four Winns Sundowner. At the start, 90% of the boats went north, as did we, and we never got beyond 100'. Sounds like that was a mistake. Notables at the weigh in were the sheer number of obese lakers. Some flirting with 18#. Haven't seen that many big lakers in a long time. Got to see the old Running Mon Dorado out there, which is funny as my nephew and I both spent a lot of time on that boat. Small world.

Fished the Michiana Steelheader's tournament with my oldest daughter and my nephew Saturday morning. Nephew being older and wiser promptly climbed in the truck at 3:45 and passed out; daughter chatted the whole way down there. Didn't have nearly the luck Pikeman had. Bummer. Could have used those big fish. After idling around the piers for 25 minutes, I told the crew if nothing else noteworthy happened, the shotgun start would be fun. Enough rollies to keep the aluminum boats down, so when they cut us loose I pointed her north and opened it up. Not happy that a beautiful old Slick was hanging with us, I trimmed her full up and gave it the last 500 rpms I was holding back with. Water behind the boat was beat to white froth but I was having fun and soon ran away from the pack. A shallow victory of some kind but for 24 years and 1400 hours she still knows how to party. Set up in 70' off the dunes and while letting out the last cores, rigger fired 72' down. Mag yellowtail SS looking for lakers but we got a 6.5# king. Nephew having not been on this boat and years grabbed it like the pro that he is. Too bad it wasn't the 19# he landed a couple years ago. Wandered around in there and heard reports of fish in 90', got out as far as 80' (man it takes FOREVER to get more water under your boat at this part of the lake!) when we heard fish being caught where we just left. Back in there, nothing, so out to 90'. Started marking bait and some hooks belly to the mud, kept hammering the bottom 10' for gray fish with the cores up high looking for coho and steelies. About 10 am Andrea just came out of the cabin when the 7 color wiggled, and then the board started crab walking. Grabbed it and had her horse the board in, and then crank in all the core. 2.5# king. Well, she'd have something to weigh. 10 minutes shy of pulling lines the trash can spin and glow rigger that had been ticking the bottom all day finally fired. Big laker for Andrea to weigh? Nope, barely legal. Storm front bearing down, we pulled them and ran in. Nephew took 24th and got a savings bond and a trophy. Andrea got 48th and won a sweet Okuma combo on the last raffle ticket called. Had a really good time. Goodie bags, lunch waiting for you at the weigh in, kids walking around hugging salmon - what a riot. Andrea really wanted a trophy though, and my nephew offered to give his to her, but I want her to earn it. So there's next year......

Get some tape and tape up the ones that the paint comes off. You already know the spoon has good action. I've got a lot of double orange crush dreamweavers that started as dolphin dW's. But then, lots of times I just run them as silver with green glow tape and that works too.

It's all good. I heard a guy in a radio in a tournament say he had 4 all over 20 but he only weighed 64 pounds

Thanks for the info. Just gotta recalibrate on how far out 120' is down there.....

Thanks for the great info. Daughter and I are heading down 6-12 for a youth tournament and I need to find the biggest fish she can land - probably going to have to be a steelie or a laker as at 57# she really can't man handle the big kings yet. But if I get on one of those, I'll put the rod in her holder, pull lines, and idle down the boat.

Picked up my DNR annual permit last week. It's the 4th one I have as it's just easier to grab one for the launches I use most often then to try to remember to have the right change for each one. Seeing as I've put over $200 in gas through the little boat this year and another couple hundred through the 350, no big deal. What they should do it charge one launch fee until 9am and after 4pm for those of us that know how to launch a boat and get the @#%$#@ out of the way, then charge a higher fee for the go fast crowd. Or charge them per minute at the dock. No more 15 trips back and forth to get beer and snacky cakes with the boat tied up at the dock.

Had a 17# king hit a meat rig on a rigger 140' down last year. If I hadn't seen the rod pump in the holder, we would not have known it was there. The rod never moved and he swam with the boat - line angle never changed. We had to drop it out of gear and reef on the thing and gain line by the foot - good thing it was 30# on a MH rod.

I'll throw in my 2 cents. 6/6 in 80' of water, mostly on stingers. One 8# - sheepie. At least it pulled back. 5 kings, from 12-14 inches. None buggered up, all release unharmed. Zzzzzzz......