drift

Count us in don.

we will be there Don.

Nice job ken. You did much better than others i talked to!

Way to go doug. Nice start to the season.

270 Wellcraft with 8.1 volvo. almost 10,000# wet. cruising 6 miles offshore, trolling for 4 hours, crusing back in has yielded about 16-18 gallons fuel.

Way to go Don. Whenever in doubt, just fish down deep.

Flat seas were a great site sunday morning. We ran straight out to 160 and set lines. We had a great early bite with Big Weenie paddles/flies 130-210 down on riggers and wire divers 300-380 back. After 9:00 the bite slowed and we picked away at a few coho on 200-250 coppers with mix vege spoon. Ended with a 3 man limit.

If your not running a few of these Big Weenie paddle/fly combos, you might want to invest in a couple. We have taken 85 fish this year in 4 trips and 78 of these fish were on Weenie gear. Attached is a quick video showing the paddles that are working for us. Rubber Poofster, Artic Ice and Frostsickle were good this weekend.

we decided to venture out Saturday in the 35 degree air temp with a stiff se wind and ice pellets hitting the boat as we set lines. 3-5 foot waves pointed us on a nw troll with a 4 rod spread. It only took us 4 hours to get our 4 man limit. Same program we have been running all year, Big Weenie paddle/fly combos on riggers 130-180 down and wire divers 300-350 back. Best water was 180-220.

You can ride with us Don incase your boat is not fixed.....

These are gone!

Fished muskegon saturday 6:30-10:30 am. Best depth was 160-220. Kings were 180-190 down and also found some trout in the top 20. UV paddles rules the day on riggers and wire divers. Ended the day with 24 fish with a "grand slam". Fishing remains incredible for April so get out if you have the opportunity. Some more amateur video attached.

Very nice Tony. The boat has never looked that good. I like the stickers too!

I have (2) brand new Big Jon Triple Axis pedestal mount holder sets. They are new, still in the box (didnt end up using them).

$175.00 each (will meet in some where between Lansing and Muskegon)

http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/gallery/files/2/4/9/8/bj_triples.jpg' alt='bj_triples.jpg'>

I have a 8 rod pedestal rod holders from Cabelas. $25.00 (no shipping)

http://www.greatlakesfisherman.com/gallery/files/2/4/9/8/pedestal_rod_holder.jpg' alt='pedestal_rod_holder.jpg'>

Fished my new boat out of muskegon friday for first time. Ran out to 180 and put the auto pilot on south troll at 3:00. Pulled lines at 7:00 with 30 fish boated. fish were right on the bottom so we were limited to 2 riggers and 2 wire divers to get down there. All UV paddles and flies. Non stop action for 4 hours. Also caught a grand slam with a bonus brown and steelie and a 2 color. Made a quick video of some cell phone video and pics.

I have a bunch off slightly used offshore releases that I no longer have a need for. There are 28 yellow and 11 black. Anyone who runs big boards for walleye will like the yellows and the blacks work great for pulling leadcore. These things cost $5.00 each new.

$35.00 for all the blacks

$85.00 for all the yellows

Ken,

I did get a new boat. Its a 2002 270 wellcraft coastal. I pick it up this thursday. Here is a picture i took last week getting new bottom paint. I will post more pics once i get the riggers and rodholders installed.

I can attest to Tony's excitement. He was a happy man on Friday. I was a little emotionally down, seeing my mistress of the past 10 years leave. I was happy for Tony's excitement and hope someday we can fish together on his new boat. Congrats Tony, I hope you have as many good memories that I had...

Bill

scott,

I agree with the offshore fishing. I talked to charlie @ Fishinghole today and he said some charters were getting fish 17 miles off shore. If I were to go of St Joe anytime soon it would be deeper water until i found some colder water.

Fished st joe tuesday from 8:00-1:00. Ran down to the A frames where the water was very clean and 50 degrees but the fish were non existent. We pulled lines and fished the dirty water out front where water temps were 56-58 and had fish on the screen. We ended up 7 for 8 in 3 hours fishing. Only kept 1 decent coho about 3#, the rest were 10"-12" throwbacks. 2 and 3 colors of leadcore and riggers at 15 down were best. Couldnt get a bite on a body bait so we switched to all mini spoons.

Nice looking boat Don. Very clean for her age! The Fishsniffer2 will definately be a comfortable boat for fishing the Tournament Trail this year.

Thanks for all who looked, but the Winddrift is sold. Congrats to Tony on an excellent purchase. You will be more than happy with this boat. Now you need to start making more rods in order to fill the 43 rodholders on this boat...

1986 Bayliner Trophy 24ft

Drive

Chevy 305 repower in 2004. appox 700 hours

Electronic ignition

Volvo outdrive rebuilt in 2011

washdown

tandem axel trailer

refrigerator ac/dc

porta potty

shore power

auto-pilot

2 batteries

Equipment

Lowrance 7" GPS

Lowrance X104 10" color unit w/GPS map chip

Lowrance X15 MT

Fish Hawk 840 w/new x4 probe

Marine Radio

Stereo w/cd player

(4) Scotty electric riggers

Bow mounted Big Jon power mast w/dual planers

13 Big Jon rodholders

26 hardtop rodholders

Turn key fishing machine, fully equipped

top speed 35 mph

cruise speed 23 mph

very fuel efficient with 90 gallon tank

THIS BOAT IS SOLD

Jim,

All the rules look good. We look foward to fishing the tournaments again this year. I do have a question about rule #11. You may want to elaborate on the words "checked in". I can read this as:

1. a radio check in as you get in the pierhead

2. cooler check in at the weigh in

If the actual weigh in is at 1:30, do we need to be there at 1:00 to check in?

I thnk if you make this clear we wont have the issue like we had last year.

Bill

Jim,

we had a good time fishing the tournaments last year. I read the rules you posted for next year and i am ok with any rules you make. I do have a problem with this rule:

"No slipping boats at the launch if you use a slip you must make arrangements to take care of your boat and be on time."

We had no issues that i know of last year being tied to the dock for 30 minutes during weigh in. i slip on the opposite side of the lake which is a 20 minutes by vehicle (and 20 back). I dont think i will participate this year unless this rule is re-worded.

Bill