al9981

If you put lights in the front they by law cannot innerfear with your bow lights. In other words, other boats have to be able to see your red/green lights. I have found it best to rely on your own night vision while operating after dark And I do a fair amount of night fishing.

Thank you Steve. That is a great point. So no lights in front except the red/green. But I will do plans for the back lights. I do have to figure out where to mount them as I do not have a top on the boat.

I run a couple halogen ligths off the bimini for rigging and netting fish. Other than that, i have the required lights by law and thats it.

Adam, do you have a two system battery? or you are using the starting battery?

Thanks for your help

Thank you all for the warm welcome. I am getting all of information I need to get the boat ready for the big lake for next year. I would still like to get out on lake with somebody who is willing to teach me salmon fishing 101.

So far on my list:

1. GPS / Fish finder

2. Fixed mount radio

3. Fire extinguisher

4. Flood lights for the back of the boat.

5. Spot light

6. Second battery

Thanks again.

Most lights are not much help for navigating after dark except for spotting pier heads and docks. Your gps, and radar are best used after dark. Keeping everything as dark as possible helps your night vision to see other boats running lights. I have spots mounted on the front of my boat, but for the reasons above. I also have flood lights mounted under the rear downrigger railing for out the back of the boat, I use these lights for after dark fishing. They light up the water and I can see the planer boards as well as the tips of my rods on the downriggers, but since the light is behind the boat it doesn't affect my night vision.

Thank you Tony for the info, do you have any pics of your flood lights on the back of the boat?

Do you use the outboard battery or is it a separate battery?

Mazen,

Usually Documented Vessels are the larger boats on the lake. There is a preset for being able to document, but, I don't have it right here in front of me.

As far as the name on your boat, that is pretty much up to you. As long as it is not profanity. And no you do not need to document your boat.

Your questions are NOT stupid. The only Stupid question, is the one that is NOT asked.

On the bow, red and green, stern white light.

Thank you Bill for clearing that for me. I do have the red/green and the stern light all working.

But what about getting on the big lake in the dark and getting on the water? Do you put some headlight or a fog light in the front of the boat to see?

I would like to see some pictures if anybody have some to have an idea of what to look for.

Thanks again.

Mazen

Mazen; You will want have a picture ID. with you, as far as know name on boat not req. If you go out and cut someone off, you will have a lot of name's for your boat. LOL.

Good point Grant. I can guarantee you that I am a good driver on the road and on the water. And I will definitely have my driver's license on me all the times.

2 Certificate of Documentation

For documented vessels only, an original and current certificate must be on board. The vessel name must be on the exterior part of the hull and cannot be less than 4 inches in height. The official number, at least 3 inches in height, permanently affixed on interior structure.

III.

Thank you Ken for the quick and detail response. What is a documented vessel? Is a personal boat count as a documented vessel? If not, do all boats on the big lake need a vessel name? Can I put a name on the boat without documents?

Sorry if my questions are stupid, but when the in laws used the boat on the big lake years back, they never had a vessel name on it.

Fellow members;

I am new to this site, and I know there is a lot of knowledge here that will put in the right direction. I am getting my 18ft 1969 aluminum Star-craft Holiday with a 75hp Mariner ready for salmon fishing on Lake Michigan. I would like to know what kind of driving lights I need to get me out of the launch to the fishing spot and back in the dark? Front and back of the boat? Do the lights power out of the same motor battery or a separate battery?

Question #2l: Is it required by law to have a fixed radio with an antenna in the boat? or would a handled radio be fine?

Thanks in advance.

Mazen

Welcome aboard.

Stick with the two riggers, and add 2 diver poles, and 2 core/copper poles.

Do you have any friends that fish the big lake tat can take you out?

Nailer, I do not have any friends for the big lake. I would love to get on board with an experienced fisherman to learn the basic set-up.

HI

I started fishing when I was given a 1969 Star-craft Holiday from the in-laws. It was seating wide open at the farm for 8 years. Boy, they were happy to get rid of it. It took me weeks to clean it. I redid the floor, seats, carpet and transom. And the motor fired right up. I was excited and happy. Since then, I did some PM on the motor and it runs like a champ. We been fishing the local lakes and it has been a wonderful experience. But now, it is itching me to start fishing for salmon on the big lake. The in-laws had couple manual down-riggers that I got later and I been practicing on Gull lake and I been getting some northern pike, but no salmon or trout.

So here I am, begging for some advice of what I need, what the boat needs to be equipped with for the big lake, and the personal experience for the big lake.