Eyefull

Thanks Frank, heard you on the radio a couple times, didn't want to jinx your mojo by calling you, sounded like you were on em also.

Same to you, seems like the Thomas tourny was the same weekend last year also.

Percentage of pot from entry fees.

The Michigan-sportsman outing/tourny. It is open to all, good fun, great food, and nice format.

Hoping to get back out Friday to find some fish closer to Sebewing for the tourny there this weekend. Fished the slot Sunday for a couple hours and had troubles getting them to go on spoons. May have to dust off the crawler rigs for that outing, or make the run West if the water is flat.

Here we go again LOL, stay on them Frank.

I had Paul Vantol and Alan Mackey with me today aboard the Eyefull. We left the DNR dock at a few minutes after 8:00 am, and headed to 1 & 2 to see if any fish were out there. Never caught or saw a fish on the finder for almost an hour and a half. We put her in a southwest troll, heading for the west south west area of the black hole. We started hitting fish about half way there, first a huge flathead that required me to slow the troll for Alan to stop the dumb thing. Our first walleye came on the 80' Blood Run copper let out 200 feet beyond the copper and highlined straight off the back. After that, it all gets fuzzy, almost everything in the water caught fish. A solid third of the fish came on one of the two copper setups we ran. One problem I have to get figured out is that the fish can't really pull enough to indicate a strike with the copper off big boards, we towed a couple around at least twice on that setup. The longlined setup was much better, just back the drag off until it ticks periodically, then any fish make that sweet sound. Anyways, the normal Silver Streak Jr., and Minis in a variety of colors, mostly including pinks, chartrueses, purples, and UV's. Nascar hit a couple also. Pulling them behind the walker mini discs as normal. We also had a fish come off a slide diver and a UV Pink Silver Streak 25' back on 0. It seemed like the closer we got to the sailboat boueys, the action picked up, but the fish quality shrunk. Farther north, we only threw back maybe two. One thing we did notice is that the fish seemed to move around in the water column a few times. We would catch them deep for a while, then totally have to change everything up to the extreme opposite to get it going again. We caught them with as little as 15' lead to the diver to as much as 150' of line out. We got our three man limit around 2:00, and finished the day with a triple while pulling lines. That part didn't impress the DNR, we got a talking to about having two fish over our limit while clearing lines. Apparently taking them off your hooks is "possesion". Anyways, no ticket(thanks Chad), just a chewing out, so good day. Here's a photo of a couple spoons that seemed to take more fish than the others, but really most of what we had in the water hit fish: We ended up with our three man limit of 15, including a huge flathead thrown back with maybe 7 or 8 undersized walleye, and our overpossession keepers that we tossed back while discussing case law with the DNR. Don't get me wrong, they do a thankless job out there and from his vantage point, it must have looked bad, but in the end, we reached a friendly agreement. I would like to thank mother nature for the absolutely glass flat water today, and for the bug salad we had all day long, really nasty hatch to go along with the 95 degree sauna. Big thanks to Alan and Paul for fishing with me today, without help right now, I am pretty much shorebound. Too much of a sissy to even fight a walleye right now! :oops:

Don't feel bad. I came out of Quanicassee for my shakedown trip last night about 4:30 and fished to 8:00 with little to show for our efforts. We fished in the pack, and on either side of the slot, not marking fish or seeing any nets working. We managed 2 keepers and threw back 3 sub legal fish. Silver Streak spoons behind Walkers was our program. One bright spot was the 60' Blood Run copper setup hit the first fish with a Mini Streak in UV watermelon.

Keep those fish herded up for the week before July 4th!

It appears to be a spray expanding type of foam. Yep, I did exactly that with the adhesive. Thanks everyone.

My own question was just answered. I pulled the speaker out and the entire space between the two walls is foam filled, no way to get at the bottom of the gunwalls. Totally foam filled hull! #14 SS Sheet metal screws all round, we'll see.

Thanks guys. I guess I really don't have much to lose here. The one side I can use thru bolts and backer due to the speaker hole. I think I will use the #14 ss sheetmetal screws on the other and keep close eye on the status of the mounting over time. If they loosen up or show weakness, I can always remove and cut a hole on the inside gunwall like suggested. Good suggestion, I actually have one of those covers in the floor of the boat, and they are readily available. Like others have suggested, I had my planer masts mounted with ss sheetmetal screws, again because of no access to the area they were mounted in. No issues.

I have a pair of Traxstech tracks that I am trying to mount to my Striper 1851 Walkarounds gunwalls. They are designed to be mounted using through bolts and backer from the under side. The right side will be easy enough, I can remove a speaker and reach up inside and do whats necessary. The left side however has zero access to the inside of the double walls. I may be able to get couple of thru bolts in the very back by reaching around from the battery compartment, maybe. The freshwater piping may be in the way. If I use 1/4" shank stainless self tappers and epoxy the threads will this be sufficient? The tracks will never have downriggers mounted on them, just rod holders. The downriggers are already hard mounted. The glass in this area of the top of the sidewalls is almost 3/4" thick. I don't see a way to get inside on this boat, short of cutting an unnecessary hole on the inside. Looking for some ideas.

Franks in Linwood normally has green lable whole in stock. If I get up that way, I'll ask.

Keep kick'in em!

Many thanks to Terry, great fun, and good eats now. Don, you got the guys worried, they don't want to get shown up with pink rods, even if they're bad ass:D. Couldn't have asked for a better day on the water, great friends, great fishing, now great eating as well, doesn't get better. I'll try and get some video posted of the action in the coming days. Like Terry said, we tested the new "Blood Run" series copper rod and it exceeded my expectations. Look for these things soon, just starting to ramp up production on them, especially after confirming they are as advertised on the water this weekend. Great action, lots of power, but with a nice soft feel while fighting.

Dave, if you know the names or color numbers, I can get them for you as well. Talk to Don A. He knows the new stuff and names.

What are you guys hearing about the availability of whole this year? I still have a decent stash from last year, but wondering?

Can't wait! I'll see what I can do about bringing along a pair of seriously hot pink rigger rods.

Anyone heading down that way should give Chris a call and get out there. We were on fish all morning, despite tough cloudy conditions. We talked to several other boats that hadn't hooked a fish and we got three apiece! Truth be told, if we could cast or see fish worth a darn, we would have had dozens each. I have to say that those big reds fight like a spring king, but in shallow water, really exciting. Great trip.

Terry, if you still have room and if I am up and around well enough, I would love to come over and provide your handicap? Keep me posted.

Thanks guys, sounds like two very good options. I have heard good things about the Manistee bags in the past and have had several guys recommend the Amish bags also. If I were to run one bag, it would go on the kicker side correct? How much gain in stability of I ran two smaller bags, one off each side? Looks like a couple phone calls are in order.

I am looking to add a pair of trolling bags to the Eyefull this season. They Eyefull is a 19' Striper walkaround. Not sure what the best bags available are and what size should I get. I am looking to raise the RPM's slightly and set the boat in the water in lumpy days a little better. Speed really isn't the factor here as the boat trolls down to .7 without bags using the 9.9 yami. Just looking for better throttle control, less side to side movement in big water, and a few more RPMs.

One thing I forgot to mention is that the programs I described were mostly off shore and deeper areas. When the water heats up, don't overlook the weedbeds in shallow. With your boat, you will be able to put together a pretty stealthy shallow water weed bed presentation, catching fish that us deeper water guys drive right by on our way out. A good example is that when the fishing went dead last summer for 90 percent of guys, the fish were still being caught by the guys willing to tough it out in the weeds.

I have very good luck running them just like any other presentation, where the fish are. I do run them slower than if I am running say Streaks, maybe 2.0 - 2.2gps, you just want a nice slow roll, not a spinning action. If your going to run meat, I find it best to load the spread and committ to it. My morning program last summer went like this: Start out in dusk with spoons, flasher flys, and plugs. Catch the hot bite with the above. Once the fast bite goes away, I start dropping the meat rigs to keep the bite going.