BenLubbs

Wow, good job. I can't wait to get out this weekend.

The farthest I've heard is from Grand Haven, I don't think it has the range to reach Muskegon.

I got the autopilot on the boat working tonight. While we were out Friday my brother pointed out that one of the wires was not plugged in (its always the obvious things isn't it ) Well anyway, I plugged it in to night (it was the helm position sensor wire) and was able to get the autopilot to turn one way or the other by holding a wrench next to the compass. Now I just need to try it out on the water (maybe on wednesday evening)

Good Job on the fish Jimmy, looks like the kids had fun.

Nice Job.

Some of Tim's flies on my boat already and love the looks of them. Still have to get them wet but that will happen this weekend

I like Meal Time and the UV farthest on the right

Just heard Jimmy on the radio, this really is sweet

Well with the boat running I'm going to be trying to tweak the setup to make it run as smoothly as possible. The first trip out i only ran one lead core per side, one wire dipsey per side, and downriggers of the corners. At one point I tried to add a dipsey on powerpro and a 10' rod (the wire rods are 8.5') but ended up with a tangle before I even got it out all the way:(. Given, my dad had accidentally started turning in the fog and the SD on the dipsey going in as close to the wire rod but I'm wondering what my approach to adding lines to the spread or resetting lines should be (especially high divers or short cores that will run outside of lines that are already in the spread). Thanks for the help.

Very cool idea, I will have to monitor this on the days i'm thinking about going out. Thanks for posting.

Were you driving the boat around Yacht Basin on friday night? I thought I saw you as we were just passing then end of the first dock. Good job on the fish.

Depends on the spoon, there are some that come with good hooks out of the package (ie JP slammers) and some that come with crap hooks. If I don't like the hooks, I change them out with VMC's. Same goes for flies and plugs.

Went out of Holland tonight, went 0/1, with the hit being a really short rip on the 7 color with a Mag Blue Dolphin on it. Fished from 30 - 80 FOW and never marked a fish. Heard a bunch of people on the radio but only heard of one fish being caught all night. Was foggy at first then cleared, then started getting foggy again. Had a good shake down and will hopefully be back out tomorrow some time.

So this evening was the maiden voyage of the boat. Got gas in it at 5:30. Put 25 gallons in and bumped the gauge from 1/4 to 3/4. After some delays getting the family going we got out of the driveway about 6:00. We got to the launch by 6:45. Boat loaded off the trailer great. After a couple tries with the throttle the motor fired right up and purred like a kitten. Mac was dead calm once we got out of the no wake zone and the boat got up on plane great. Went over a couple of wave and guess what, I didn't get wet (probably one of the worst things about fishing out of a 16 aluminum boat). The boat cruised at 29 MPH fine. Got to the NO WAKE zone before the channel and were met by soup. Visibility was less than 100 ft. and I was thinking oh great:mad: It was literally so bad that when we got to Big Red we couldn't see it from the other side of the channel. When we got the end of the piers we decided to turn around because we couldn't see and it wasn't worth the risk. Once we got turned around the went back thru the channel the sun was peeking out thru the fog and it was starting to burn off quick. We rode around a bit more in the NO WAKE zone to see if it would disappear. By the time we made it around it was looking a lot better so we decided to go out fishing for a while. Heard some chatter on the radio and tried to get a radio check but didn't get any response after several tries. Finally figured out that it was in hailer mode and then got a response. Set lines in about 35 ft headed strait West. Went with a 5 color, 7 color, two wire divers (90 and 75 out) and two downriggers. The fog continued to burn off and for a while we could actually see the tops of the dunes. We trolled out to 80 ft, made a turn south, then turned back toward the peirs. Had one very short rip on the 7 color with a blue dolphin in 65 ft but otherwise just washed the lines. I had one tangle when I tried to let out a third diver with a SD on it that was a combiniation of driver and my error. Got back to the launch and got the boat on the trailer pretty easily. All in all it was a good shake down other than not getting any fish. I'm very happy with the boat and glad I made the decision to upgrade last fall. BTW, saw Just Hookn' on our way out, not sure if they just were heading back in or if they didn't go fishing because of the fog. Also heard Plumbcrazy on the radio. Only hear of one fish caught all night so it didn't sound like anyone was doing real good. I will probably try to get out there some time tomorrow again if the storms hold off.

Thanks for the report, planning on making a trip out tomorrow evening.

Thanks for the report. Good job on the fish.

Good Luck with the surgery Dave.

Thanks for the report Jimmy

Sign me up Ken, the boat will be ready this time:thumb:. Thanks

My personal favorites: Dbl. Orange Crush Glow Bloody Nose I've never tried to run any flasher/flies on my cores.

The boat has a Autohelm SportPilot + in it, it was made by Raymarine but has been out of production for a while. From what I've found Raymarine stopped serviceing the units so if you have issues you are on your own. I'm hopping that mine is fine and the guy just didn't know how to work it. As for an update, the rails are mounted, the trees are modified, and the downrigger bases are built. The bases and trees got dropped off for powdercoat today and should be done by Thursday. Right now I'm planning on making the first trip out Friday evening after I get out of work. Hopefully there won't be any issues and I will be able to wet a few lines. If everything goes good friday I will be out Saturday for sure. If you're going to be out Friday night let me know and I will give you a shout.

A lot of the guys I know and fish with run only one core and it is always down the chute. They've gotten good at it and rarely tangle and take a lot of fish on them too. If they get a fish on the rigger or dipsey the core gets moved to an outside rod holder so it it out of the way. That being said, I have always run my cores off of boards.

Either of the dates work for me.

Looks like it was an awesome day until the weather moved in. I was wishing I could have been out there the entire time.

Sundays don't work for me either. If Sunday's don't work for a bunch of people maybe we could move it to the following Saturday?