Jump to content

TXRH Wausau

Members
  • Posts

    15
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by TXRH Wausau

  1. I am having a hard time finding good, stainless swivels with welded rings that are made in the US. Anyone got a brand they recommend? (Over the past several years I have made a concerted effort to only buy American whenever possible.) Thanks guys...
  2. So I finally made it out for my first trip ever on my boat on the big pond Wednesday. But first, a report on the night before. Seven of us went out on a couple of charter boats (Tuesday evening) and did pretty well. 30 fish total. 25 Cohos, 5 kings. Biggest King was 14#. Average Cohos were about 6-7#. Caught the majority on a variety of dodger/flies, with 3 coming on clean spoons running on the boards. About even numbers off dipsies and riggers. Fishing in 25-40 FOW about 15-20 down on average. Last light fish started coming on chartreuse stick rebels. So I went out with 2 (also inexperienced) buddies the next morning and broke in my boat. We were on the water at 5 am. At that time the water was reasonably calm, with steady west wind at 10-15 mph. Got one 7# coho about 5 minutes after setting the second rod. (Came on a braid dipsy running a white / glo dreamweaver with a blu / glo howie.) While dealing with getting that one in/netted the rigger on the same side tripped (it had a #00 orange dodger with a white fly). Didn't get to it in time. (Rookies I told ya). That was an exciting 10 minutes. Then things changed. Needless to say shortly after the sun came full up the weather changed dramatically, with whitecaps changing to 2-3 footers and winds averaging 20 mph+ with gusts to 30. Fought that BS for over an hour fighting to keep the boat straight, dealing with fouls, terrible line twists, wrapping around the rigger cable, etc. After nearly 2 hours of that I told the boys it was time to give it up and we headed in around 8:00. What did I learn on this trip? 1.) GLF is a great resource. My boat is set up fairly well to do this, thanks mostly to what I've learned here from you guys. 2.) I HAVE to get the tiller/kicker connected to the main. (Steering from the stern sucks.) 3.) I do have the correct equipment to catch these fish. 4.) DON"T TRY FISHING IN 20+ mph winds or 3 ft waves until you know what you're doing. When it goes from fun to major frustration from tangle after tangle, it it defeats the purpose of going out at all. I will not be fishing out of Sheboygan anymore - it takes me too long (gas $$$) to get there. This trip happened only because of a business meeting I had in Sheboygan Tuesday morning. Algoma will likely be more home for me moving forward. So if any of you fish out of there, let me know. (KJ Pluggin I know you're going out of SB typically - I may make a trip or two up there this summer as well. I'll let ya know...) Thanks again to all for the support. -Brian
  3. Naive, new guy question, but... I was looking at this thread and couldn't help but notice that stingers are VERY popular. Are your talking scorpions or magnums? (For salmonids, not walleyes). The reason I ask is because the scorpions seem pretty small for the fish I want to target (to my inexperienced eyes) and I don't want to make an expensive, unproductive mistake... Thanks in advance, Brian
  4. I bought them. But, since there's no feedback system for sellers on Greatlakesfisherman.com, I just wanted to take a moment to let you all know that Sherman is a great guy. If he has anything listed that you're considering buying, I can tell you that his prices are great, descriptions are accurate, shipping is fast, products are well packaged, and his communication is excellent. This is the way it's supposed to be. Thanks for a great transaction Sherman. -Brian
  5. Well I got impatient today and directly after reading this post went and bought those exact rods, at that price at Fleet Farm. Others have also spoken positively of Ugly Stiks around here and several of the charters I have gone on in the past also used Ugly Stiks. So, I feel very good about my purchase. I work a lot and will consider myself very lucky if I can get 14 days of big lake fishing per year for the forseeable future. Taken care of (which I always do with my stuff), I'm sure the combos I now have will last a VERY long time. (I still occasionally use an Ugly Stik spinning rod I bought nearly 20 years ago. That rod has caught more pike than I can count and it's still good as it was new.) On a side note, major kudos to the Eric Lang (creator of the reel fill calculator). Just spooled one reel with a mono backer and a full core and 10 yards of flouro leader and the other with the mono backer and 6 colors and the leader. Thanks to the calculator, both reels are perfectly full. I am pleased (and a bit proud of myself for getting this right ) Thanks to all. More questions will come soon, I'm sure... -Brian
  6. Thanks Russ. What action would you recommend for these? MH?
  7. Looks like I hit an area of differing opinions on this. Good discussion so far and thanks to all for the input. I have not yet bought the dipsy or planer (leadcore) rods yet (though I have the pair for the downriggers that I spooled up tonight ) AND I bought 2 convector 30's and 2 45's this afternoon for the dipsies and leadcore rods. I'm apt to lean towards the simpler (and a bit shorter) is better approach. I'm not a rich guy, but I have learned the hard way in the past that it costs less to buy the right thing once than go and buy it twice. I was wanting something shorter than 10' before I read all your replies and explanations and now I think that solidified it for me, although there are compelling arguments and explanations for longer rods... Final decision and purchase to be made in the next week or so. Thanks again to all. I am very glad I found this site. I feel like I'm making much better decisions because of all the help I've gotten here.
  8. So I'm all set on getting 2 Convector 30's for my braid dipsies. I've been reading and reading and reading some more on these setups. What I can't find is why are the rods all labled "dipsy diver" rods by manufacturers so damn long? I have a 19 foot boat and a 10' rod just seems excessive and like it may be too much to deal with. What gives? Does length really matter? Will it not be that big of a challenge? Do I just need something with mh or h action? Thanks, Confused.
  9. Well there is no difference of opinion on this matter. Glad I asked before I spent any $. Loving the honest feedback on this site. Thanks again to all. Walkers it will be.
  10. So I read a bunch of reviews at an online outfitter (rhymes with "fellas") and a lot of guys over there seem to think that the newer Dipsy Divers aren't built "like they used to be", and were very disappointed in the poor build quality in the new ones. Crappy reviews were more common than positive ones. However, the Walker Deeper Divers seemed to have nearly all positive reviews. I read this thread but it is over 3 years old, and thought opinions might have evolved so I thought I'd revisit this topic, since I need to buy divers soon. What are your thoughts?
  11. First off, a big genuine "Thanks" to all who have weighed in on this topic. It's interesting to hear all the different opinions fishermen have on any given topic, and this one seems to be no exception. At this point it seems like the majority here are saying electrics are nice but not necessary (especially for someone just starting out...) and that in general, downriggers add nice diversity, are sometimes necessary, but typically not the best producers. (THAT was a mouthful!) I think I've narrowed the search down to some quality used [inexpensive] manuals and go with that plan for this year. (Thanks for the offer though, fenceman2ac!) MAINIAC you have a pm.
  12. I'm thinking Manitowoc at this point. (Shortest distance it seems...) Thanks to all. These are helpful comments...
  13. Hello all. New guy here. Been lurking for a few weeks (great forum BTW!) and I'm starting to put together a game plan for setting up my boat for fishing the big pond. One thing I haven't seen discussed is electric vs manual downriggers. Cost is a factor. But being a small business owner I always look at cost in the long term. So my (naive) question is: would I be better off not having riggers my first year out because electrics won't fit in the budget, or buying manuals and run the risk of replacement cost next year. (The thought was that maybe I could run dipsies off both sides along with planers and save the cost of riggers for year one if it could still be productive.) What I'm trying to avoid is spending the $ on manuals, only to find that it's way too frustrating and needing to switch them out next year for electrics and losing a bunch of $$$. I appreciate the input.
×
×
  • Create New...