Rodm

Interesting story. Are you talking surface speed or speed at lure? I can see how depth could vary greatly using surface speed as a reference. If it's the speed at the dipsy, what do you think causes the change?

Cork Dust, You have a lot more info than me. Where did you find your info and the illustrations?

I had a similar problem at a clients home. The detached garage was feed by a buried cable. A short piece of conduit with a 90* bend was used to route cable out of ground and into garage. After years slight movement ( freeze / thaw ) of the floating slab the egde of conduit cut into cable and shorted out one leg.

I've read there iS a new smart troll system that is being introduced at the LOTSA and Grand Rapids shows. Sounds like it will be reasonably priced and more diverse / flexible in how it's deployed. I'm very interested to find out more details.

35lber?

Dave and Dan do a great job! My thanks to Frank and crew at Lake Michigan angler too. Good people. Lots of interesting new tactics and great info on how to understand the lake and how that effects where the fish will be. The goodie bag, lunch and raffle prize won (everyone won something) was worth more than the cost of the seminar. I also now know how to properly use a blue Coleman cooler to save my life if needed. Priceless. Thanks Dave.

Hi Dave! See you at LMA. Will you be selling subs at the school? With all the uncertainty, I let my subscription expire last year. Where can I get a copy? Thanks, Rod

You can run spoons, attractors, meat rigs pretty much anything used for salmon fishing behind a dipsy. A set of planer boards would be a good buy. Check your area for clubs - swap meets. Great way to get some good deals, info and good people.

Nailer, I believe all the GL salmon and steelhead are considered landlocked, no ocean to go to or return from.

Shawn, I have not used that combo, but can't remember anything bad about them. There are plenty of other things you will want, I wouldn't replace anything in good working order. My Downrigger rods are spooled with mono. 20# for flasher / fly and meat rigs, 15# spoons (some use 12#) . I use floro leaders on my coppers and LC's. 10# will work fine unless you plan to fish very deep water.

I do this and it's great advice for a few reasons. First, how many of you could sit down and list all the gear in your boat? Most of us have no idea how much $$ we have invested. Even a small tackle box can hold a few hundred pieces, most worth a few bucks. The value of what you forget or can't justify will far exceed the extra premium.

Send me some more info about repairs needed and pics. Would be a project boat, no interest in the extra stuff. Regards, Rod

Wise makes a nice Stainless steel swing back bench that fits up to a 94 qt cooler. Wd155p http://www.wolfsmarine.com/Stainless-Steel-Swingback-Seat-for-Cooler-P1308.aspx

I heard it will be out early next year, in time to install for next season. Also heard it will not be replacing the x4 and probably $100 + more expensive. The depth feature would be interesting, not worth that much extra $ IMO.

I voted affordable, but would also say I find what I want is to high! You can get some great affordable stuff that does a lot more, a lot better than what I started out with. If you want the best, the state of the art, the newest gadgets you'll always pay a premium.

Fun and interesting! Doing anything unusual? Slow speed? Small lures, scent?

Before you jump on them, even if properly prepped it's bonding to the previous coat. Can you tell what layer is failing? You should bring it back and question the service provider. Go in with questions not accusations. It may or may not be their fault. Could be a bad batch of paint. Either way give them a chance to be helpfully and stand behind their work first.

I've seen some crazy set ups. I have a friend who waited way to long to buy riggers. We still joke about some of the spreads he used. He caught some big fish and had some prize worthy tangles.

Is this your usual spreed? Or what youliketo have on board to chose from?

Copper vrs lead core, they both have their best uses and can be the best rod of the day. I consider them both stealth presentations, but consider the copper a little lees so. I look for ways to best cover the target - productive depth. Like many I had a good collection of LC rods before copper got to be the hot topic. I have had great luck with it, wouldn't want to leave the dock without it. To me, to run anything larger than a 10 color LC is too long and the rig gets to big, hard to handled for most. Other than a SWR of a rigger, if the fish are under 40' copper is a stud of a presentation. Shorter one work too, but when funds or storage space is an issue, I don't see enough of a differance in presentation or performance to have both rigged for similar depth. Try something 300' or longer with a good reel. Okuma makes a nice copper LC rod about 45$ I think. It has a triangular foregrip keeps the reel up and from wanting to spin in your hand. As another poster wrote, if he's a good and / or smart boyfriend ......

Go too, for me is a combination of what's worked in the past, what people ( I trust ) say is hot. If I'm marking fish and the bite is slow, I'll leave the proven producers in the water. I'll choose a few rods and change things up, hoping to find a hot combo. The moonshine rv stuff was great. Long copper rigs 400+ saved the day more than a few times. Always give last trips stud some prime time the next outing.

I've never had a plate, kicker motor on my first boat, bags on the next. Do think keeping the rpm's up a bit is a good thing. Just wanted to pass along a caution about using bags. Twice in the last few years a boat using bags has sunk in the IL / WI area. Both outboard powered with low transoms - deep cut motor wells. Weather - waves started getting rough. The occasional wave would slop a good amount of water into the motor well. Operator at some time saw a larger wave approaching and throttled up thinking this would keep the wave from dumping water in the boat. With the bags deployed the resistance and mid cleat tie caused the nose to pivot up, actually lower the transom to the water. First wave swampt them, next few finished the job.

Well that's some of the most cheese clouded thinking I've read in a long time! I've been fishing the great lakes for many years and know many that have fished the longer. If you target a fish you know it doesn't know the state or international boundaries. Just because these areas caught what they were baiting for ( tourists ) it's the flat landers fault??? And I'm sure there is pressure from other states too.

I've had the same thought. Have had some luck with BW's grease traps. There an attrator w/o hooks. It's hard to run rigs like you mention in my waters. IL 3 rods and up to two lures a rod, WI it's 3 lures. Rigs with multiple lures W/hooks can be illegal. The reduction in the # of rods you can use in your spread out ways the advantage they might have over a tradition salmon presentation. IMO

If you have done some fiberglass and gell coat work before, it's a nice way to go. I wouldn't recommend it it it's your first time working with that type of material. There are heavy duty marine grade vinyls that make for a nice, tough, easy to clean, no skid floor finish.