BenLubbs

Looks like a nice bunch of fish you got there Ken, good job (and thanks for the tips Friday). Also looks like I'm going to have to get the Dog on my boat some time

Erik, I like the addition of the web cam picture to the page:thumb:

I see where you are going but that's not really the way I look at it. I just like bringing people with me, especially if they haven't ever or rarely get the chance to fish. If we catch fish, great, it makes it more fun, if not, well we got to spend time on the water

The fish I was catching last week were all empty, but the ones I caught last night all had alwives in them. The 16lber I caught had 7 big fresh alwives in it and still hit my Glow wonderbread. Good job on the fish

If you are open next week, I get out of school at 2:15pm Mon, Wed, Thurs and would be willing to come take a look. I'm by now means a master but I have done some wiring in my day and have had some classes on it. From the sound of it, it is probably not getting the power it needs for one reason or another.

So I headed out tonight with two guys from work and my two little brothers. Left the dock around 6:30. I had checked the web cam around 2:30 in the afternoon and the lake was flat. Got out there to find 1-2s and a pretty good chop. Ran out to 80 FOW and started setting lines trolling west with the waves. Well, setting lines turned out to be a PITA, mostly because of the waves and my stupidity. Probably reeled in empty cores about 5 times because a wave would rip on the board good and long. Also, somehow I switched my dipseys around in the boat working on it this week and so I was putting the wrong one on the wrong side and couldn't figure out why it kept crossing behind the boat . While that was going on we did end up picking up a small king on a Blue Flounder (Thanks Ken ) on the rigger 45 down in 120 FOW. My coworker Hassan reeled it in to make it his first ever fish. We finally got turned around in 156 FOW and started to fight the waves back in heading strait east. By this time the waves were steady 3's with 4's thrown in for good measure. It was a fun ride back in to the fish (I neeeeeeed to get some trolling bags) We finally hit 80 FOW again ans started marking fish like crazy. The waves were quite a bit calmer in shallow so we turned south to make a pass. Picked up an average king on a regular Glow Easter Egg on the 10 color. We turned back north after a while, staying in the same depth of water and still marking fish. Finally another rod went at 10:00. After a good fight Javier was able to land a 16lb king . Coming in the boat I would have sworn the thing was at least 20, but then again I haven't caught that many big fish. The fish came a regular Glow Wonderbread Stinger on a 7 color. We trolled around for a while longer but no matter what I did we couldn't pick up another fish. Headed in at 10:30. By that time it was fairly calm.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm planning on getting a set of bags soon, now I know that size I want

I have a question about the license requirements/interpretation of them for Michigan. With my new boat I am planing on bringing a bunch of first timers out on the water. If I only fish the number of poles allowed for the number of licensed/eligible (under 17) persons on the boat and only keep the limit for the said individuals, can I still get in trouble if I have people with who don't have a license? I know I can have them with, but can I let them catch fish (not posses). I'm curious how others do it. I don't want to break any laws or getting in trouble, but at the same time I don't want to make the guys I take along go and buy licenses if its the only time they will ever be out. (I know there are 24 and 72hr licenses, but they're still $7 and $21) Thanks

I catch some of the fish i mark, but the majority that I catch are ones that I never marked. There's also something to be said about trusting your gut. When I went out memorial day evening, I set up in 100 FOW (I'd been catching them in 120 FOW in the morning). When I was talking on the radio, other boats were telling me I should be deeper. Well, I picked up 3 in the first 30 minutes of fishing, so I was pretty happy where I was

All of the fish I've caught so far this year have been empty.

What he said. I believe I read somewhere on here that most line counters are set up to read accurate when the reel is 3/4 full I would add more line. If you want to know exactly how much line you have out, do what you did and then keep the ratio in mind when seting the rod (so for every 25 ft of line you want out, the reel should read 33 in your case).

Seems like this year is turning out to be like last year, every time I'm going to go fishing the lake picks up and ruins the plan

I just picked up a couple last night from the Outdoorsman because I always see them in your reports Good job on the box for the tourny.

Well I got everything back together, made sure everything was tight and such. I inspected the steering cable along the entire length and there are no cracks, it looks like it has been replaced since the boat was new. Seems like there is less slop than there was, but there is still some. Looking at the outdrive closer, I did notice that there is some chucking between the drive and steering spline. I think right now it is just a stack up of little things that are adding up to the amount i'm seeing. We'll have her out later this week and see how she goes.

Ken, I was looking at the Dreamweaver BFK tournament page on facebook and it said something about the registration dealine being June 2? Is that accurate?

Hey now, no need to start it so long before the next event

Looks like you mistakenly put some extra bait in the picture Good luck with the surgery.

I've defiantly had fun with my new wire setups too. Good job out there, from the web cam it looked like glass.

So after having the boat out for a few trips I've noticed that the at low speed there is a lot of slop in the steering. At cruising speed it is not an issue, the steering is tight. This causes the most problems in waves or when using the autopilot. When a wave hits the boat, you have to over steer to correct and then you end up sawing the wheel to keep it strait. Same thing with the autopilot, it corrects on way, then has to over correct the other way. Eventually you are going in circles. So I tried to fix it. Found some slop in the conection between the outdrive and the steering cable so I tightened that up. Now, I can still turn the outdrive about 15* before the wheel starts to turn. I can watch of the steering cable by the outdrive move in and out without the wheel turning. I took the rack apart but there is no slop in the gears. I'm left with the cable must have streched and/or the housing expanded so that there is slop. Is there anything i'm missing? What are the options I have to fix it? Am I over exagerating the problem and it is normal for boats to do this?

Good job out there Jimmy, I thought I heard you while I was listening to the radio stream last night

I've been setting up inside of most of the boats and doing pretty well. Early last week they were catching limits out deep but we were averaging bigger fish in shallower.

Congrats to Dirty Dog, although I think it was expected. Dave, 17lbs? that must have been a nice fish Mark, is the engine giving you trouble again? Wish I could have been there, from the webcam it looked amazing. Hopefully the weather cooperates better for the next event.

I'm have a facebook page but I rarely use it now days other than uploading pictures of my fishing trips. I actually found something really scary while uploading pictures last week. Facebook now has the ability to pick out faces in pictures and then tag them as your friends (if facebook has facial recognition i'm assuming that anyone could get a hold of it and use it).

I have had RPM on Chicago Dr. in Jenison do my car head for me, though I don't know how he compares to other shops because he's more performance oriented. Also he's a one man deal so if he has other stuff going on it might take a while.