JWheeler

Love those brownies! How much longer til you're getting the boat wet?

I'd guess you really have the itch for this ice to disappear, esp. with the new rig

Nice looking rig!

Thanks for the insight TS! I hope your prediction is close, can't wait to,get up,to Au Gres on the boat! Good luck:thumb:

Launched out of the Bay City State Park Saturday a little before noon. Stopped at an 11' hump surrounded by 13fow for about an hour. Didn't mark anything, so I packed up to move out a bit deeper. My buddy Joe stopped by as I was breaking down and he was heading to the same general area that I was looking to go. I stopped by where he was setting up, and saw an old waypoint about a 1/2 mile north of there. So, I spread out in hopes that one of us was on some fish. Wasn't long after setting up and I started marking fish on the vex. When I marked them, I raised the blue/chrome jiggin rap about 3' up and they came in and were smashing it. I experienced a fantastic mid day bite from about 230-530. I missed a lot of fish, but was able to put my 5 on the ice. I sat on 4 fish for a long time hoping for a bigger one, but at days end this is what I brought home. I messaged Joe and his buddy to move over next to me, they did. 3 of us were 1 short of a 3 man limit. It was hands down the best action I've seen on the ice for walleyes. That will pretty much do it for me on the bay, maybe a trip out hoofin it looking for perch in the shallows. I was in 16fow, pretty close to the east / west crack that is in the Linwood area.

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Nice work guys!

Take'r over to Port Sanilac in July (well, maybe later this year), PERCH JERKIN!

That's awesome action! Nice job and thanks for sharing!

So with the least amount of ice coverage on the great lakes.....how long until you splash the boat?

The question is, can you get a boat out from any ramp in the area?

I have a thompson 210 fisherman with a transom mount ducer and haven't experienced any issues. I remember when installing the transducer the installation manual was pretty specific on the angle of the ducer to properly work.

Spring is here in Michigan, however, someone needs to show old man winter the door!

Went to Onekama with my sister, her 3 kids, my wife and our 3 kids for a weekend of tomfoolery. Well, if we're going up there, you can bet I'm gonna find my way onto the ice. So the plan was set in motion. I woke early Saturday morning and left out of the launch to go to the spot to look for some perch. I sat in my 2 man clam nanook and landed on the fish. The day broke, and my vexilar lit up with fish near the bottom. I put some fish on the ice and enjoyed some peace and quiet. I told the wife to let me know when they were done with breakfast, so upon her text message I headed to the launch to pick the 8 of them up. Dug into the back of my truck and fancied up 2 jet sleds to tow the crew out to the spot. I was able to, effortlessly, take all of us in one shot out to the spot. 3 adults and 6 kids.... I'm sure onlookers were cracking a smile. So we fished for a while, and I was able to help each of the kids catch some fish!!!!!! The oldest in the group are 6, and the youngest are 3, you can imagine.....they all had a wonderful time catching fish. I was able to get about an hour out of all of them, 4 of the 6 after an hour decided they wanted to go out of the shanty and play on the ice, so they did. My son Adam who is 3, and his cousin Caleb who is 4 would not stop fishing. The three of us worked together in the shanty and caught a mess of perch. We were not able to get the bigger perch to keep, but none the less, we had a hoot catching all those fish! While our bounty was less than what I desired, the true catch was in the fun that we all had together. These are the days we won't get back, and I sure am glad that I was able to enjoy something I love to do with the people that matter the most to me and watch them enjoy it also. We're already planning another trip next winter!!!!!

I've been a fan of these rigs for the last 3 years. They do put fish in my cooler! What I like it the action of a plug, and the scent and the meat along with it. A good combo to me.

Wheels, You got it. There is no such a thing as too many rod holders.

I fished on others boats, some rigged very well, and some that I will not fish on again due to the poor layout of their rigging. My setup is somewhat basic, 1 triple tree on each side, then gunnel mount triple rod holders on each side (dipsys for salmon and down and out for walleye and if needed a 4th planer board holder), and then 3 riggers on the stern with 2 rod holders each. It is very effective set up conducive of keeping lines from tangling and enabling me to deploy a spread with up to 15 rods if needed. Walleye I usually run 8 rods, salmon is usually 12 rods. Then I put a rocket launcher up top, which can stow 7 rods, and the 2 outside holder I angled to use as another board holder....so in theory, 10 boards isn't out of the question, and I would be comfortable doing so.

I wouldn't do without my trees. Either a triple, or a quad tree on each side. One of the best pieces of equipment for the lead cores, coppers and walleye fishing. 3-4 gunnel mount rod holders for divers and also just to be able to put a rod out of the way. The key is functionality, and maximizing the space you have available.

Way to take advantage of a little open water! Nice fish!

Thanks for the report! Runnin and gunnin!

There sure is a ton of ice out there. Saw it a few years ago with ice mountains encroaching on residents homes on the lake shore..........

Pretty cool guys! I caught a walleye with the tag in it, paid me $100 which was cool. However, I never did receive the detail like you posted above. I was extremely interested in the data.

Thanks for the report! Sure is fun when they're biting

Boy...that's scratching me where I itch.......

I did make it out Sunday 1/26 for the evening bite, which....was decent, however, my buddies who were out earlier experienced a great mid day bite. When I showed up the fish would come and go. I did get one keeper on the ice, along with a cat fish. I did have enough action that I could have kept my limit, if I could have got the walleye through the hole. Just wasn't my day. I lost my limit and then some, just couldn't keep them buttoned up.

It was still good to get out.

I like the idea of having short sections of mono between a few colors. Until I have to tie all those knots, I suppose. But I don't have the budget luxury of multiple rigs.

I'm in the same boat, the added expense and room for storage on the boat is a draw back to having too many rigs. Something I have done, I have bought extra reels that I find for very good prices. Word of mouth, garage sales, classifieds on the forum. I buy them and then spool them with whatever LC or copper that I want. Then, I stow the reels on the boat, and if what I am using is not working I just swap out reels on the pole already being used.

That's very cool!!!! Thanks for sharing:thumb:

Welcome aboard

Some guys will load a reel with a full core, and put short segments of Mono at different intervals to attach the board to. It's not a good idea to attach a board to core.

I use a standard Albright knot when tying core to mono.

I'm not sure the name of the knot that I use for lead core, I take some lead out of the sheath, then make a simple over hand knot and leave it loose. I then feed the backer or leader into the sheath of the lead core and then cinch it tight. This knot has been very good for me.