sherman51

I've been using other brands of m actions rods with my divers for yrs now and the rods did good for walleye on erie. but the old rods didn't match, I had 2 rods of one brand and 2 rods of another brand and 2 more rods of yet another brand. now I have all 6 rods of the same brand.

I went out to the local lake and put out my divers with the new wilderness m rods running 1.8 to 2.0 and they seem to be working good. I don't know how they would work for salmon where you troll faster speeds but I think for walleye there going to work good. they have a good bend in them and should be easy to read the rods when a small fish is on.

I want to thank all you guys for your feed back. and welcome any more feed back.

who has used them? are they a good rod for divers? will they last?

I bought some of the 8' m action for diver rods but haven't used them yet. would like to get feedback on them. I bought them from fishusa.com for 15.95 and got free shipping. I think they are made in china and are made of glass. but what isn't made in china these days?? LOL. I like glass much better where sensitivity isn't a factor. the glass seems to stand up better to being stressed over o long period of time than graphite rods do.

your opinions means a lot so lets have them.

traxstech makes the best ratcheting rod holder for running divers. it has 17 positions where the others only have a few positions. if you cant find anything here try traxstech.com they are 124.99 each.

that's great! wish they had the ratcheting holders when I bought my cannon holders.

im no expert but there should not be a nuclear waste site even close to the great lakes. but im just a hillbilly.

It doesn't look like Ken has been here since he started the thread a couple of days ago.

oh where oh where can he be? I would like to know how things have turned out for him.

have you tried ebay? I find everything I need for my 350 mercruiser on ebay. and at great prices. the link frank posted looks like just what you need.

Looking for 2 per side they can be mounted together or seperate. My main question is what's avaliable that will be strong enough to handle dipsey getting smashed by a king without costing a fortune. I see big Jon, berts, tite lok all have versions obvious price differences. Will the low priced stuff like tite lok handle that? Also are there some less common brands that sell good stuff that are worth liking into? Will consider used stuff if someone has anything.

let us know which holders you decide to buy.

if the solenoid is clicking its probably working. I would say its your starter going by the info you gave us. if the battery is fully charged and the terminals are tight and clean at both ends them my next step would be to remove starter and take it to a auto parts store like auto zone and have it tested.

I'm pretty sure that all of the rod holders being discussed are made in America -- in fact in the Great Lakes region.

Traxstech -- Michigan

Big Jon -- Michigan

Bert's -- Michigan

FishOn -- Michigan

Great Lakes -- Michigan

Cannon -- Wisconsin

Cisco -- Ohio

I agree that all the holders listed above and many others are great holders. the ciscos are one of the best non ratcheting holders and they cost a lot of money for that quality. but the ratcheting holders with the track systems lets you remove your holders in short order just leaving the tracks on the boat for watersports. after using my cannon ratcheting holders I would never go back to any non ratcheting holder.

you may not need riggers but they are a great tool for catching big kings. I used manual used riggers for many yrs and they caught fish for me. now I fish erie for walleye and have 2 electric riggers I use. you can find some great buys on used riggers on ebay. I have seen a lot of used manual riggers sell for 200.00 for a pair of big jons. and have seen some good buys on electric ones. I have 2 big jon pro tournament riggers I bought on auction new for 525.00 plus 35.00 for shipping. but that was 4 or 5 yrs ago. now they put a reserve on them so you have to meet the reserve to get them.

i'll never understand why some boats want to get so close. its like its a game to see just how close they can get. why don't they just go around boats that's fishing?

Traxstech hands down. Super smooth, easy to pull them up, and far more locking positions that Berts, Cannon or Big Jon.

have to agree on the traxtech holders. they are the best ratchet holders better than cannon berts or big jon. it just depends on how much money you have to spend. the cannons are around 84.00 at amazon and the traxtech are around 125.00 at traxtech.com. if I was buying now I would buy the traxtech but I have 10 of the cannon holders now. if I could sell all of mine for what I paid I would sell them and buy traxtech. the traxtech holders are worth the extra money. but they didn't have them when I bought the cannon. and the cannon are still great holders and I still love them.

Given what I would consider to be a high amount of clutter/noise on your screen, my thought is that you are getting multiple readings of around 2 or 3 fish. Hard to really see on the picture but look for the marks being at depth multipliers -- highest good mark at 25' and another at 50, next highest at 30 with second at 60, 45/90... If gain is real high you could even get triple on shallow fish 30/60/90. The only reason I would have the gain/sensitivity that high with today's electronics would be if looking for small fish such as a school of perch near bottom in deeper water.

Basically the same thing as setting your depth range to 300' with the real bottom in 90'. If the gain or sensitivity is set too high you will see a second bottom at 180 and if it is real high, a third at 270.

I set my gain so that it is just lower than what is needed to get the second reading of bottom. Set the max depth to a little over 2x the actual depth and increase the gain until the double bottom snows up and then reduce it until it disappears. Then set the max to a range that will not show the 2nd bottom echo -- ie: bottom is 120 then max is 150.

have to agree with him. it looks like you have your gain set to high. you should have a clear screen if the gain is right unless you getting electrical noise on your screen.

It can be rotated 360 and has 5 locking positions. Can change up and down by two hands or if rod in holder, one on the rod pulled backward, the hand pushing the tube backward. There is a good vid on their website.

I watched the video and they are not ratcheting rod holders. they have to be manually pushed to the side to adjust them to the up position. with the cannon traxtech holders you just grab your rod and lift up and the holder ratchets up. but the magnum holders does look like solid made rod holders.

Magnum Metalz has singles that are excellent and strong. Just mounted two and am pleased. Reasonably priced. Check them out.

are these ratchet holders? there is a big difference between a stationary rod holder and a ratcheting rod holder. the cannon can be adjusted up and down with one hand and has 6 locking positions and can be raised to the upright position by grabbing the rod and ratcheting the holder to the upright position. the traxtech holders takes both hands to adjust them down but has 17 locking positions and can be raised by grabbing the rod and lifting up to the vertical position. and both the cannon and traxtech have an oval base and can be adjusted from side to side 90 degrees.

wrong rod holder

I'm liking the cannon single but for 15 extra dollars duels may be an option. Are either of those mountable with out tracks?

If I have to get tracks I may go with single.

It's not my boat the owner will make the end decision I'm the freind who is helping him get the boat rigged. He is a perch guy with no salmon experiance and I'm a novice mainly helping rig and run lines and catch fish with a few buddy's on their boats for about two years now. Used to 18 foot aluminum boats and I'm in heaven fishing on a much much bigger boat ! Got some learning to do

you probably could mount them without tracks by bolting them through the gunnel but you'll be much better off using tracks.

the cannon has 6 locking positions up and down. just set them where you want them then to ratchet them up just grab the rod and lift to the upright position and lift your rod out. no more leaning over the boat to get your rod out when a fish strikes. and right now the double axis is 83.88 and the single axis is 84.99 at amazon.com. so the double axis is cheaper than the single axis. but if you have the extra money I would still look at the trax tech holders they have 17 locking positions for up and down. that would really be nice for setting rods when using dipsy type divers. set the back rod at the horizontal position then raise the next rod up a notch or 2 to separate the rods. the trax tech holders goes 2 notches below horizontal then has 14 notches above 90 degrees. they are priced 124.99 at traxtech.com. but you might find them cheaper by doing a search on line.

I would take a serious look at trax tech if you want strong ratcheting rod holders. I now have trax tech along the gunnel and cannon on my down rigger, love both of them. Cannon can be operated with one hand. Either one of these are great, see what the price comparison is. I had Berts for years because the price was better, now I believe thet are all pretty close. Bert's weren't near the quality of trax tech or Cannon.

if I was buying new holders I think I would buy the trax tech holders. they have 17 adjustments up and down, this would be great for spacing rods when running divers. but the cannons are 85.00 and the trax tech are around 125.00.

another thing I like about the cannon holders is you can put then in the down position with one hand. you just squeeze the rod holder with one hand and adjust to where you want them.

I love my single axis cannon holders. I like the side to side adjustment on the single axis. they have an oval base and can be turned just a little or up to 70 degrees from side to side. the double axis has a square base and turns from one pin hole to the next. but they are both awesome rod holders. there about 85.00 each at amazon.com.

the cranking problem could be a bad solenoid. they only cost a few bucks. it would be worth the investment to replace the solenoid. the tune up could take care of the running problem. if the tune up doesn't fix your problem then its time to do a compression check.

21' cobia with 350 v8 315 hp. about 65 bucks for 8 hrs of trolling and the run out about 15 miles and back in. but its worth it.

some people just don't know any better and some just want the fish look bigger and some just want a good picture of there catch.

I agree with the others, as long as you have the tracks mounted with some type of backing like a backing plate or fender washers you should be ok.