sherman51

that sure makes for a bad day. i could have had electric,s years ago if i had been willing to get them like that. i,ve always just used manuals until last year. then i got 2 big jons, then got my other 2 this year. i love them. and i waited until i just could handle the old manuals anymore. and guess what?? yep i paid for them myself. how can anyone enjoy using stolen riggers is beyond me. its bad out there and im afraid it might get alot worse. hope your new ones are blessed.

sherman

just alittle wierd, but some awesome fishing.

did you find out about the tagged fish?? it isnt one of cabelas fishing for millions tags is it??

sherman

hey

welcome to this great forum. i also live in indiana, and have many years of fishing lake mi under my belt. but i have only been fishing erie for some time now. i live in muncie and have got some very good info on here and have tried to help where i could.

sherman

yes you can get the lower welded. but you need to take it to a good welding shop where they can weld aluminum. as for the skeg i have heard of people having them welded back on. or if there is enough of the old one left you can get bolt on replacements. i think you can find them at places like bass pro or cabelas or try west marine. hope this helps.

sherman

yes they have them at cabelas. they are made from a polished stainless steel. just go down the list at the bottom until you find the one you need. these are alittle pricey so i would check around before i bought.

sherman

Sempe Fi brother, I was a cpl also:thumb:. To hell with helping out, get over here next year and get your but in a boat out fishing! That's what its all about, boat cptn's taking out the vets and showing appreciation for your service to our country. If you want to lend a hand when your done yankin them in the boat, the more the marrier:D. Thanks for your service. It was a geat time and was very well planned out for first time. We cleaned quite a few fish, hopefully its about same time next year. June seems to always be best walleye month on the bay!

all you guys just never cease to amaze me on this site. im sure most of the vets you honor pay it forward. SEMPER FI BROTHER.

sherman

as i fish the geneva ohio area i will make it a point not to purchase a canada license and not fish there waters. it would just be to costly and take to much time to go all the way to land just to get permission to go a couple of miles across the border. i would hope that others will take this stance untill this matter is fully resolved.

sherman

if anyone has any extras please let me know. when i bought i wasnt thinking. so i got the 24" tracks. now i want to add 2 more holders. so i need longer tracks. or if someone wants to trade 36" tracks for 24" plus a few $$$$. need all the help i can get. the holders are 65.00 eack and the tracks are 79.00 at amazon.com. i prefer the single axis holders. but would take the double axis if the price is good. i will pay a fair price and shipping costs. gas being so high it just wouldnt be cost effective to pick them up. unless they are reel cheap.LOL.

sherman

im glad this is my first time posting this thread. now all i get to do is brag on your boat and all the guys that helped you. those riggers and rod holders were an awesome upgrade. i went with big jon riggers because of the price i got them for. last year i got 2 sportsmans electric. this year i got 2 more pro tournaments with 4 ft booms and auto stops.. got them new for 525.00, i couldnt beat that. then i couldnt use the short booms on the ones i got last year, so i sold them and got 2 more pro tournaments. i just wanted 4 electric. i,ve fished big water since 77 and would never spend the money until last year for elect. but my point is i love walker riggers. if price had been even close i would have walkers. you do know that walker has auto ball retrievers you can get dont you?? they bring the weights right up to the boat. you,ve already pretty much already done all the things i was going to suggest to you. looks like somebody may have really helped you out with those riggers and berts holders. you didnt go wrong with either of them. did you get the same help with placement??

i really had a hard time choosing ratcheting rod holders and tracks. berts looked good and cannon looked real good. but i found 4 cannon on ebay at a real good price. so i got them. they were the double axis. then when i started to get more. da$$ they were expensive. so i checked the single axis, and they were just great for what i wanted them for. i found then at amazon.com for 65.00 each. which is about what berts sells for on ebay. so i came out ok in the end. im not meaning to steal your thread. what i wanted to say was if you get more tracks my advice is get the longest tracks that will fit your boat, then you can add holders for more rods or just move the ones you have. i made the mistake of getting the shortest one that would work. now i want to add another holder there. and cant do it. i,ve got to get 2 more holders, so i may go ahead an get the longer tracks. i just cant really afford to do that tho. i dont use wire or copper, just the lite bite slide divers. and my 4 riggers and outriggers.( i have big boards but i am in bad health and just dont like to mess with them unless i just have to.) i,ve been running 3 divers per side, this year im going to try 4 thats why i need longer tracks and 2 holder. sorry this is so long but you and your boat just got me excited. go catch some fish.

sherman

sherman, thanks that was a lot of writing. I have the old style. Is the directions on their website for the lite bite the same as the old style?

as far as i know they work the same except just the lite bite arm. i,ve never used the old ones, but i have looked at them.

sherman

i would have loved to have been able to have helped with this. but i just live so far away, and i havent even got my boat back from the marina. but i do help support our vets as i am a disabled vet myself. but i still manage to donate to the veterans as often as i can. and thats a way others that want to support our vets and wasnt able to particitate in things like this. alot of people just giving alittle can mean so much. here a couple of years our local vets bought a brand new van for transporting our vets. it was totaly paid for with local donations. YES!! i was a cpl in our great usmc. discharged in feb 6th 1976. and im still proud of my service to our country.

sherman

hey guy

dont look like you,ve had alot of help besides the website. which does pretty much cover it all. then it helps if you have the instructions. i dont know if you got the old slide diver or the newer lite bite slide diver, which i use myself. because of the lite bite feature. you can adjust the tension on the front tight enough where you dont get so many false releases in rough water, then you adjust the lite bite arm tight for salmon or very loose if your getting alot of small fish. walleye fishing on erie we get tons of small fish, white perch, white bass, yellow perch, sh$t heads, oops i mean sheep head, and small eyes. but the diving part of them are pretty much just like dipsy,s. but you can use a very long lead if you want with the slide diver. i think the walker deeper divers are much better than the dipsy,s. but unless your using a long lead the regular slide diver isnt as good as the deeper diver. now that being said the lite bite slide diver makes the others out of date in my opinion. i still just use it like a regular dipsy. i tie my braid to the front arm on the diver. then i tie a short piece of line to a split ring, then lace it through the back line guide, then over the lite bite trigger arm, be sure to put the short piece of tubing over the end of the lite bite arm to keep your line from jumping out of the arm, then tie that to a rubber snubber, then tie about a 6 to 8 ft leader to the snubber, then tie on a good swivel, and then my lure. there may be times that a longer lead may catch more fish. but i like to use the diver as an attractor. so i dont have to mess with all that rubber tubing and stuff on the front. but you can get a set of rings 1 small and 1 large and a weight set with a 2 oz and a 4 oz for the lite bite divers. i just use the small ring and weight that came in it. then went to 50 ft of water. with 65 lb braid at 2 mph and on 4 setting(the settings are for left and right only) on my front rod then let out line until i started bumping bottom. it took 185 ft out to hit bottom with my set up. that came out to 2.7 ft down for each 10 ft of line out. so i just use the outside or front rod to set up my diver spread. so if i want to run 55 ft down i just let out 200 fol. that gives me 54 ft down. then i just stager them. i will put 3 setting out 180 ft next, then 2 setting 160 ft back in the back. then if you have to put 1 of the front rigs back out. just go to the other side of the boat, put the diver as far over as you can without getting in the other lines, start letting it out, when you have about 10 more ft to go before you have it all the way back out, just lightly lay your thumb on the spool, take it up and over the back rod or rods and put it in the holder and put it in gear, check your footage and make sure its where you want it. adjust as needed, this way i run 6 divers. you should use atleast 50 lb braid for diver fishing. the braid just works better for tripping the diver from the boat. and it lasts for years where mono needs changed atleast once every spring. im using the same braid i got about 12 yrs ago. the divers have a depth chart but remember its just a guide and not perfect. all line counter reel will differ according to the brand of reel and the amount of line spooled on them. one thing that helps is to fill the reel pretty full. and put the same amount of line on each reel. so if someone comes over the radio and says 3 setting 180 back, and you copy that you could be off by 20 ft out in actual line out, which could change your depth by 5 to 10 ft down. so its just a starting point. if your not catching anything try letting 1 side out alittle and bring the other side in alittle. also if you use the big ring and or the 4 oz weight your chart is useless. they will get very deep with the big ring and 4 oz weight. if your going to be fishing deep and more than 1 rod per side then i suggest you go out and get your own depth chart the way i did it. you could use 50 fow or 100 fow if your going deep. then let out line until you bump bottom. then see how many ft down you get for each 10 ft out. just do this on the highest setting your going to be using. and remember to put it in the front then use 20 ft less for each of your other rods. you can get package deals with divers rings and weights at slidediver.com. and there is another site where you can get these in metallic colors, if you want to use them as attractors like i do. i believe its allseasonssports.com i sure hope this helps. this is a huge post but i tried as best as i could to help. i guess i should have pm you. but this might help someone elce. good luck with your divers whatever you end up using. you are welcome to pm me if you have any questions. also you might try catching a ride with somebody that uses the slide divers. there is just nothing like going to school. i went out on a charter a couple of times, and learned how to use 6 dipsy,s. then i switched to the deeper divers, then to the lite bite slide divers, and have never even looked back. NOW GO SPEND ALOT OF MONEY AND CATCH A FEW LITTLE FISH.LOL. and if anybody has better info or something i missed please chime in. and please let us know if this helped, and what you decide to do.

sherman

hey its good to hear back from you. and that your so close to being on the water. you said in your last post you picked up the short block. did you get a short block or long block.

looks like your going to get on the water before me anyway. i bought a boat last fall that needed alittle work. and im just not able to work on them anymore. so its been at the marina since last fall. they have really been jerking me around. they said it needed some parts and they had them in and would get to it soon. every time i went out to check on it i got the same story. well last mon i went out and got to talk to the mechanic thats been working on it. he said he had all the parts on it and the motors were running good. but the wiring was a mess that everything had been rigged. so he needs to get that all taken care of. he also said the trim pumps on both outdrives had been unhooked, and he didnt know why. i told him if they were bad to not get new pumps. i dont want to pay 700.00 each for them. i already have one i bought for a spare for my other boat and i could get the other one. i asked about how much longer he would need. he said about a full day. that was on mon. and i still havent heard from them. but he didnt say when he would get to it.LOL. maby by christmas. you think!!! and then i,ve got to do all the rigging on it. and with my health thats going to take some time.

sherman

i used them many years ago, and would not suggest you go out and buy them. but if your budjet is for them then by all means use them and upgrade if and when you can. i reccomend the newer line counter reels. i bought all mine off ebay over a 4 or 5 month time. i got my daiwa sealine sg17lca reels for 54.00 to 65.00 each. some of them were new then i got daiwa accudepth adp17lc reels for 35.00 to 45.00 each. i got 1 sg17lca that the handle turned backwards. i contacted the seller.(if the seller dont take care of you, ebay will give you a refund if item is not as described.)and he paid for me to send it to tuna tom,s for repair. so you need to check them out good as soon as you get them. if there not as listed contact the seller first. if he doesnt take care of you then contact ebay for a refund. but i was having trouble with some of my reels so i sent them to tuna toms. and contacted brett,s place on the bay. and bought 12 of the okuma convector reels for 64.00 each with shipping. then i found out the only thing wrong with my other reels was the braided line was slipping on the spools. i hadnt used a mono backing on the small reels with braid. so he put pins in the arbors to tie to. no more problems. heres my list from bottom to top, and get the line counter versions. and what ever size you want. i got the small ones because i take small women and my small grand kids. and just fish erie for walleye and steelhead. here is my list. bottom to top that i know alittle about. okuma magda, then the daiwa accudepth plus adp lc about 55.00 new on ebay then the okuma convector line counter about 67.00 new on ebay, then the one i like for the money i paid used on ebay, the daiwa sealine sg lca about 95.00 to 100.00 new on ebay. then one that some guys swear by, the shimano tekota the price is all over the place depending on the size. i seen them on ebay from 162.00 for a 600 to over 200.00 for an 800. and daiwa has a couple of new ones but i dont know much about them. one is a sg lcx, and a digital one. the size you want you put in the middle like sg27lcx or sg47lca, i just left that part blank. i sure hope this helps you alittle. i had this all typed out once and lost it all.LOL. and started again. good luck and good fishing. and just keep asking your questions. you will get some good answers, and then some like mine.LOL.

sherman

you can get a colman extreme 150 qt cooler on ebay for 125.00 with free shipping. dont know about a hold down kit. but they will keep ice good.

sherman

Although i agree with most on the part of rod count, handling fish, fishing equipment etc, i would find it pretty lame to be ticketed for driving a boat or just being a passenger and not participating. Particularly if creel and rod count are in line with licensing on board. To me being a passenger or driving the boat would be no different than sitting on the bank of a river with no rod and reel b.s.ing with a guy fishing. Are you gonna get ticketed for that if you dont have a license? I sure wouldnt think so. And if i did, you can bet id be in court.

Now, in closing, i cant imagine for one second getting on a boat and driving out on the great lakes as a passenger. There's such great fishing out there and why anyone wouldn't want to participate is beyond me...If i wanted to go for a boat ride id get a jet ski!!!! Have em get the day license and winch in some ><>....Itll be money well spent!

i know for a fact that in indiana they will in fact ticket someone for driving the boat with lines in the water. i seen it happen once. it doesnt matter how many lines are in the water. the driver is fishing if there is one line in the water.

i,ve seen people pay 5.00 for a cup of coffee, why would someone not want to spend 7.00 for a fun day on the water. and believe me i do understand that sometimes 7.00 can be hard to come up with. if i was wanting to spend a day on the water with some friends who i rarely get to spend time with i would come up with the money if they didnt have it. if i had to go pawn my car title. how many people are we talking about here anyway?? if its 6 then the total is 42.00, surely someone has 42.00 they can live without. im not even going into what i spent taking my 2 brothers and son up to lake erie last year. but it was a 1 time thing. i think they can pay there own way for us to go this year. JUST GET EVERYBODY TOGETHER AND TELL THEM HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE TO COME UP WITH FOR LICENSE, AND POOL YOUR MONEY. if you dont come up with it just take them for a walk on the beach. we have had to do that a few times after driving 200+ miles then it be to rough to go out. SPEND THE MONEY AND GO HAVE A GREAT TIME. AND JUST FORGET ABOUT THE MONEY SO YOU CAN ENJOY IT.

SHERMAN

my first (guess) would be a bad ground. but if you have a way to check the battery, use the same guage and check the wires going to your radio and see if you are getting 100% at the radio. or just try running wires directly from battery to the radio. run both wires, this will tell you if its in the wireing or the radio. i run my radio wires from the battery anyway with a inline fuse. you could just have a corroded connection somewhere. good luck and good boating.

sherman

another bump just to see what happens. lowerer camper price to 3000.00

if you can at all, get a regular marine radio and a good antenna. you wont regret it. those hand helds just arent that great in my opinon. you can get a radio for alittle over 100.00 then invest in a good antenna. atleast a 8 ft one will work good. the antenna is the most important thing. and the higher you can mount it the better. about any of the radio,s are good. you just dont get any distance at all from the hand held,s. getting out on your radio could save your life, or just get you some help if you brake down. and at times you can even get some good tips on your fishing. its really worth it.

sherman

my thoughts is, do what i did this year. invest in the track system and the ratcheting rod holders for your dipsy,s. its the only way to go. if you can come up with the money at all. your rod holders can make your diver fishing so much better. big jon does make a ratcheting rod holder but i dont know if they have tracks or not. i got the cannon with the single axis. i paid like 65.00 each at amazon.com. then berts has some nice ratcheting ones, the best price i,ve seen is around 66.00 on ebay but i would check amazon.com and maby google them and see what i could find on line. you can get the tracks on ebay also, just type in berts, and you get the tracks and holders. i know this is alot of $$ but it is nice to just be able to grab your rod and stand it up before you try to get the rod out of the holder. i dont really know much about berts but the cannon,s are awesome. they should last forever. alot of guys just get anything for a rod holder. but with the divers when you get a good fish it sure makes it hard to get the rod out. but if you stand the holder to the up position it makes it easy to just lift them out of the holder.

sherman

i start out by asking at some of the local bait shops and ask at the marina if there is one. then i go by my past trips that time of year. if i,ve been told there getting them in 72 to 74 fow then i,ll start setting up in 70 fow and troll in the direction of the markers on my gps where i caught fish in that depth last time i fished that depth. i,ll also ask on the radio, you cant get alot of info there but sometimes you get enough to get you started. i remember one trip they had been catching fish in 65 fow. so thats where i started, wasnt getting anything even tho i was marking fish. i asked for help on the radio. somebody came back with 65 fow right on the bottom. so i put everything right on the bottom. it saved my day, we only ended up with 15 fish but all of them was 25 to 29 inches. and we didnt have anything untill we moved our baits. there was 5 of us so we got 3 each. to me thats still a pretty good day on the water. much better than that ol skunk.LOL.

sherman

hey brent

have you been back out again?? catch any??

you was talking about your friends not showing up to go fishing. to bad i dont live closer to you. i use to fish lake mi from ice out until memerial weekend then move to erie. we fished just about every weekend for eyes on erie through july. now all the guys i fished with then are either dead or moved away. i had got sick about 10 yrs ago and just quit. then 2 yrs ago my oldest son wanted me to go with his family on vacation to erie. and he just doesnt do any other fishing. i told him yes. then i started trying to get out of it. but we all went, my wife who doesnt fish but loves to camp, and my sons family. he had to do most everything but we had a ball. got me started again. so as long as him or my other son will go and we have money for the gold gas you have to buy.LOL. i,ll keep going as long as i can. we like to fish geneva ohio in july and aug. its rough on the old pocket book.LOL. its 335 miles each way. just cant afford to make many trips. i would love to make a trip up to manistee mi around the first of sept. but thats another story. have a great great season

sherman

these guys are right if they do anything to assist in any way they are fishing. they cant drive the boat net fish tie baits on or even bait a hook to be legal he cant even hand someone elce the net or bait or rod. they cant do anything that assists in fishing. or thats what i,ve been told. and i know thats the way it is in indiana. i talked to the dnr at one of the boat shows and that what he told me. if they wanted to really push it they could probably get you for driving them to the boat.LOL. just buy the 1 day or 3 day permit. you might not even get checked but who would want to take the chance??

sherman

seems like were all saying pretty much the same thing. i lost about 100 ft of line off my #4 reel last year, so when i put it out i just put out an extra 10 ft of line. i was right back on the fish. if you can just get an idea of how deep your fishing just use that and adjust until you get fish. if your sopposed to go out 200 to get 50 ft down and getting no hits try 220 or 180 just whatever it takes to get fish. but you do really need some kind of guide to start by. get a diver chart or make your own like i did. we all wish you the best of luck. ask local bait shops where the fish are, most of them will give you a place to start. then ask on the radio. most guys wont answer you but there is a few that will help you get started in the right depth. and a few will even give you how far back on which setting. that will get you real close. but dont always count on getting any info on the radio.

sherman

i started using gale force tackle last year. now thats just about all i use. the color is a tie between dr death and gale force and reverce muffin. this is walleye fishing only.

sherman

just remember guys it really does not matter if it accurate as long as you repeat the length out every time when you catch a fish,repeating the setup is the important thing. Just my two cents jimmy

totaly right about that. the counter is just a basic idea how much line is out. if its full its off on the low side as the line on the spool goes down the amount of line out changes and the counter is off on the high side. so it kinda averages out. i think i said that right. but its all about repeating the same thing that caught the fish. those diving charts are a nice place to start but it just gives you a basic idea of where your diver is at. the amount of line you have on your spool changes everything. if i go by the chart with a half full reel and you have your reel loaded they will not let out the same amount of line. i couldnt even find a chart with my set up. so i went to 50 fow and let out line until i started bumping bottom with 500 ft of 65 lb braid on my reel at 2 mph on a 4 setting. i hit bottom at 185 out. thats 2.7 ft down for every 10 ft of line out. so if i want to run 55 ft down i,ll go out 200 ft thats 20x2.7 that gives me 54 ft or go out 210 ft thats 21x2.7 gives me 56.7 ft down. but that might be off a couple of ft. but if im catching fish at 210 ft out then i just keep fishing at 210 ft out. doesnt matter if im off a couple of feet if im catching fish. does this help any??