Eliminator

Shawn, My first forschner was a 12 incher, that was back in to the 20 pounder days. It's great for big fish. I like my 10 incher best for the size of fish we have been catching in recent year.

Thanks Ed, I was leaning that way, but didnt want to undersize myself too much. Maybe I will start with a 10in now and get the 12 later in the year.

I am looking at picking one up this year, any one have reccomendations? I dont know if I do a 10in, 12in, or the 14in........... Do you only use it for taking the meat off the fish or do you fillet the skin with it also?

Tony,

Those look great!!

How much will you be charging for them? I will be adding several bloodrun coppers to my boat and could not think off a better rod.

Shawn

Boat comes out of storage on the 31st of March. Spent today re-spooling reels and setting up some more spring program rods. Lite line and Yellow birds in the shallows. Gonna have the MC2 in St Joe this year, hope to be fishing by the 5th of april. Some Brown and Coho action is what I need to get me back into life again. For those that hadn't heard my Wife passed away on Feb 4 and I really need to get back on the lake. Then maybe it won't hurt so much.

Mike,

I live in Kalamazoo, let me know if you ever need a rider and I will do the same if your interested. Send me a pm if you would like my number.

Maybe I'm some sort of sicko, but the boat is already cleaned, gassed, batteries charged and all of my brown trout gear is rigged and ready with the poles already in the boat. I keep thinking that if I stare at the ice hard enought at the Manistee launch I can melt it, but all I got so far is a headache and a lot of strange looks.

Oh man is that not the truth!!! I stare at the snow just waiting to uncover the boat.

I know I am not the only one to feel this way about the long winter. I am just itching to dig the "Snag Hag" out and begin setting her up. The problem obviously being we still have snow. My hope was to dig it out around March 10-15 and take a week to set up, and then off to the Joe, but the weather might prove otherwise.

When do you guys plan your first trip out and where will it be?

Hi guys,

I just received my new convector reels and wondered the best way to tie power pro to the reel with out it slipping. Also wondering how you do it for wire on wire dipseys. Most of them will be spooled with power pro then blood run 32 lb copper. Not sure if I can wing wire divers or just do power pro again.

Great thread and tutorial. I'm an owner of a handful of Magda's and Convector's. In order to do the upgrade I need the carbonex drag washers, reel oil for the bearings, and cal's drag grease for the drag washers?

Is there anything else that I might be missing before I place an order?

It's not necessary to replace any of the metal washers is it? It didn't look like it but just want to clarify.

And sorry if I hijacked your thread eliminator.

Gosh I love this site! Such a wealth of information. Thanks guys.

No problem! I agree great site with great info. I was wondering tue same thing.

http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=774.0

This guy does awesome tutorials for a lot of different reels, just oil and grease as he recommends. I use Reel-X oil and Cal's drag grease. If you haven't replaced the drags in your Magda's and Cabela's reels, call Tuna Tom and get Carbonex drags for them, they are well worth the money.

Wow, that is a great site. I am going upgrade my magda's with drags from tuna toms. I am glad to know my convectors will be simy to maintain.

Hi Guys,

I have several of the Okuma Magda reels 30 and 45's, along with a handful of their cousins the Cabelas 45 reels. I was wondering what maintenance you would recommend. The first thing I am not sure of is what oil or lubricant to use on the screw drive for the level wind. On top of that should I be greasing bearings or other points? I am adding 10 new convectors this year and will need to do the same next year for those. Appreciate the help anyone has to offer. I hope to start fishing the Joe in Three weeks, we will see……..

Welcome Kev!

This is a great site and a great group of guys. I have been on here since august and have not looked back. We are all trying to fish and learn and with a group like this one you will do really well. Good luck too you and can't wait to hear how Canada does it.

Any part of june or July should work for me

Captain: Shawn 31, CEO(Wife): Becky 28

Kalamazoo, MI

1986 21’ Trophy hardtop.

Mostly Fish out of St. Joe and South Haven.

“Snag Hagâ€

Since a kid I have always enjoyed being on the water and fishing, although I have to be honest, until I did Lake Michigan I was never hooked like I am today. My wife is my co-heart on the “Snag Hagâ€â€¦yea, she hates the name, but it came on the boat, what can I say? My first boat was an OLD 14 aluminum and mercury 15 horse. That was 11 years ago, and since had a 17 Sylvan that we just sold this last fall and purchased the Snag Hag.

We started Lake Michigan 3 years ago and have not looked back. We are still very new to this and learning a ton. We tend to crack jokes and laugh instead of being serious, so we don’t always fish our “A†game but we sure have fun doing it.

We are always looking to meet new people, so if you see us on the water or shore give us a shout.

THANKS! Tim, it was really nice to pass on stuff to the next guy, and bring home some new stuff, like a bunch of bloody copper..........and some slammer spoons.

I am an early bird also, March 15 through November 14. This year I am going to have video and still photos on my boat. I fish the Joe in the spring and South Haven summer through fall, will occasional trips to northern ports.

Thanks for trying Mike, its amazing how sometimes stuff comes together to simple, and then there is the other times that it just wont work. Let me know for next years clinic, I would be glad to help out in anyway.

i have this baaaaad feeling i may be doing more buying than selling:eek:

Yea, me too.. good thing I dont have an addiction or anything.

Well after much debate and finding GREAT deal on EBAY I did the auto pilot. It is a simrad AP14R. I still have a cable system so I was limited on my options. I cant wait to use it this summer. Do any of you use saved gps tracks for rotuine fishing grounds? Should I use a drift bag to reduce the on time of auto pilot system?

Only two more months, then let the fun begin.

For those of your running 4 divers, how do you get them all out with out any tangles? How far apart are they? Also on the long lines, how are you setting up your boat for these planer rigs? Just wondering if I need a mast system or just where to put these rod holders on the boat.

I run one at a 1.5 and the other at a 2.5 setting. When you set them out just set the rod on the correct side of the diver that is already out. Example: If my low diver 1.5 is out, I would keep begin letting my high diver 2.5 out in front of the low diver (Towards the front of the boat) and very slowly let line out letting the high diver begin swimming away from the boat. Once I know it has cleared the low diver I set the drag a little loose and let the diver pull its self out. Vice Versa, If my high diver is out and I want to set my low, I begin by starting behind the high diver rod and begin letting out the same way as the high diver. The key to divers is too always keep them pulling. Don’t let them free spool or spool very fast. As long as you keep them under tension and working, you can work them very easily.

In the early morning I only run 6 lines even if I can run more. The action is usually fast enough to prevent additional lines. So I do 2 riggers with sliders, and 4 divers. As the day progresses I drop my 2 inside divers and add 2 long line. If 9 lines I add 2 more long lines and 1 shallow high line with a body bait on it, this most of the time will take a steal head.

Thanks for the welcome

Mine is an 86 with a volvo 4 cylinder also, I havent gotten to troll with mine yet so I was wondering if you use a kicker motor or a drift bag or if it trolls down fine as is.

I saw two other trophys that were identical to ours in gull lake marines parking lot this fall,they must be good everyones got one.

One of those was my boat! The origanal name with the boat is "Snag Hag" it came out of bay city. It does troll down no problem, it is a little tough to get between 2.4 and 3 but I am going to use a drift bag this year, then prob attach my kicker this fall. I will tell you, my dad and I put mine to the wave test this past november, we tried to fish prior to a gail warning and the lake became REALLY rough. 6-7 foot waves. Even though they were coming over the bow and rushing over the hard top, we never once felt unsafe. I just bought auto pilot for mine and cant wait to uncover and install.

Welcome Aaron! I have the twin brother to your boat. Mine is a 86 but only has the 4 cylinder, she goes, but does not set speed records. A bigger motor is the only thing I would change on my boat. Good Luck, this is a GREAT site with great guys.

I also have 6 rods set up with Blood Run ,I use the same backing as ive used on core for years. Witch is 50 braid ,I have Rip Cord now becouse I found it supper cheap in the bargin cave ,to that I have a 30 ft peace of 30lb mono and then the copper, also my 250 and 300ft lengths are on cv55 and the 200s are on 45s.

These are also on 7 ft okuma rods.

How long is your backer on your copper riggs? Are you using the Okuma Copper rods, I think they are around $40?

I was all set to purchase a Simrad AP12R autopilot this winter but have found they stopped making them. So, my question is now, what other brands of auto pilots do you guys use and would you recommend it? The big restriction I have is I still have the TeleFlex cable system, I don’t really want to spend $1000 to upgrade to hydraulic.

P.S I have a 21 foot fiberglass boat

It is a Lowrance Marine radio.

The antenna is on the oppisite side of boat. I know the radio is not grounded only hooked to a positive and negative ternminal stripe with not filter. My boat is fibergass. Do I need to ground the antenna and radio together plus the battery? The antenna is 15 years old, and the radio is 2. Is there a compatabilty issue?