Long Lines

Very nice. Have been tying a few flies using the Big Weenie heads. How do you tie to the tubing? Two sizes, one over the other like some flies on the market?

Checked the instructional videos here w/o much luck...will check you tube as well.

I have tried a cast net in the past but when Michigan changed the regs to allow 6 hooks on one rod I started using the Sabiki. I found that Michigan's 8' diameter for the cast net didn't make that very effective if the alewife were not really concentrated.

Would you be willing to share the details on the sabiki rig you use? Where are you getting them, what size hook? etc.

That's interesting Dave. To your point though, I have been offshore trolling for a grand total of like 4-5 years. 3 pretty avidly. Learning a ton from everyone; but I have not seen any of those techniques used or talked about that much.

Jason, Eric now owns the Slide-Diver company he bought from Randy's siblings. He's been a mate and capt. in Sheboygan Wisconsin for several decades and knows his business. He's worked on the invention, and has perfected it's usage. The original owner Randy ran a charter that ONLY used slide-divers off a long mast that he perfected in the 1990's. It was a sight to witness this kind of fishing, and it was very successful too.

Very nice guy! He walked me through how he runs his Slide Divers and the improvements with the new weight sets; definitely left his booth feeling like I needed to give that product another shot.

Cool post...agreed though...separation is the key....got pretty decent in my 18' Lund at running 8-9 rods. 1 rigger, 1 low diver, 2-3 walleye boards per side. Usually 400, 300, 200 copper on one side; 350, 250, 150 on the other. Moving to a larger boat this year and don't expect to change much except go to 1 rigger, 2 divers, and 2-3 planers per side depending on crew size.

I went to the show in Novi last weekend and stopped by the Slide Diver booth....I think I talked to Eric...I think. Anyway, dipsys are a pain when trying to run long leaders...the handlining, storage and deployment w/o tangles of the leaders, etc. Slide divers seem like a reasonably better option if I could get over a few of their apparent issues. Was hoping to get some insight.

I have struggled with:

1.) the diver sliding down the line as you are fishing.

On the main line he described running 50 or 65 lb power pro and using the surgical tub in the main pinch point as well as a plastic tube instead of the spring in the front eye...this crimps a little creating another pinch point on the line to stop sliding. Seemed reasonable.

2.) dealing with the rod during running...the diver now in line to the set up. always pulled my dipsys.

Seems stupid, but I hate tackle bouncing around on my boat. He showed me how he wraps the diver around the rod which works pretty good...I think I may couple that with a bundeez that I picked up this fall...saw them given out during the WMFL.

3.) running low and high slide divers.

They now have weight kits that turn their standard diver into a mag...so you could run both w/o the hand lining if long leads is the ticket.

4.) Eric described exactly what is shown in the KC1 video (sweet lil video...thanks Matt)....wire to 65 lb power pro, a swivel w/ bead to stop the diver from getting down to your spoon or attractor.

I am pretty convinced I will be giving the slide divers another whirl...possibly replacing my dipsys if I never have to store another long leader or hand line again.

Great thread idea...it was fun going through the pics. Quickly realized I don't take enough pics...remember so many great outings w/ good friends that I didn't find pics for. Holland Big Red and many outings on board Motion Show with Marty and Shane, the 3 of us and Nick on board the Pursuit for an amazing maiden voyage, etc. I had a great 2013 and looking forward to 2014 season:

A good friend, Bob, and a great fish that was one of a few 19-23 lbers in 3 hours one evening out of Holland. Had some good outings in the old Lund. Will miss my first boat.

The new-to-me Pursuit purchased in August.

Nick with a nice fish and an awesome sunset! Never did get him a 20 lber...good goal for 2014.

Keep up the smack talk boys, We really want to grow the league this year to an average of 20 boats. so get the word out.

I really enjoy being able to have the fun poking with each other during this event. A win in league is not going to make you rich, it may pay for your gas. but it is what we can learn from each other at the end of the event by sharing information.

the way I look at it, I'm going to fish, why not get a chance to hang out with a few people at the end that share a common interest.

Right on Jon. Looking forward to this season. Thanks for managing it. Had a great time fishing w/ Motion Show last year on a few events. Hope to have my boat in a few of this years events. Gotta help Shane knock Dave off the top of that list.

A couple of friends and I get out every year...usually just once, to catch up and for some river steelhead action...usually right after Thanksgiving. This year our schedules put us out this past Saturday in that wonderful mid December weather! K-Zoo. Pretty rough fishing thanks to the cold, snow and wind; but Toby managed to land one. Chris (painfully retying in the one pic), had another nice fish on that never made it to the net. Yours truly got skunked.

Gotta say that despite the good company and one beautiful fish, I was missing the big boat, big water, warm sun and cold beer! Let the count down to spring begin.

Agreed...been looking on line here tonight. Tacos really don't have a great reputation.

The Coastals seem like a reasonable cost, a good light, and it sounds like GREAT customer service.

WOW....those Rigids are impressive lights! Thanks for the pics Josh. Well I guess you get what you pay for right. Good input on the lights guys. Will reconsider the Tacos and look at the Rigid and Coastals.

Anyone have direct experience with the Coastals?

I used TX44s for 300 plus length coppers last year and like how they pull...stayed with the walleye boards on shallower coppers.

We also picked up a couple of the high retrieve ( I believe Tuna Tom modified) CV-55 Okuma reels for those long coppers. Those are GREAT reels for the long coppers and big boards!

We didn't lose that many fish, but definitely a few...some of the fish we lost I believe were big fish that would go from submerging the walleye boards or really tugging on the TX44 to running at you to the point where it was difficult to keep up. We even found that a couple of fish we thought were gone were still there if we didn't stop hauling on the reel. Perhaps that had something to do with some of the losses on the big boards with big fish running at the boat and getting slack. Tough to keep up w/o the high retrieve reels.

Starting to think about a few things I'd like to improve on the new boat. Haven't put a lot of thought into it yet but a rocket launcher has been discussed (mostly w/ Nick_DoubleDFishing_who fishes with me often); that could be an expensive, although very nice addition that may have to wait. Besides the money, lots to think about there...fit into current storage at home, hard or soft top integrated, etc.

Spreader lights mounted to Bert's swivel trees seems like it could come in handy early morning and late evening.

Was looking at the Taco Marine F38-4500 LED spreader lights and mounting it to the top of the tree tube...winding the wire around the tree.

So, any comments, ideas, smart remarks?

I agree w/ Dave (Killin It) and Bob (Coralee). I am currently trying to sell my 18' Lund Alaskan. Put the Terrova 80 w/ I Pilot on the bow a few years ago. Was an awesome upgrade to a simple boat. Used a 6 hp kicker for thrust. Drop the Kota, turn on the gps autopilot and set your direction. Set your speed so it has enough thrust to control the bow and you are hands free. Remote control on your belt if course changes are needed to land fish or dodge traffic. Makes a great autopilot for several hours of big lake trolling and can always be used for perch or walleye with the electronic anchor feature. Buy two good AGM batteries though.

Anyone know if the docks are still in at the Holland DNR launch?

$10 I work in Hudsonville. Can meet you somewhere off 196 or M6 at lunch or after work. Sent you a PM.

I second Matt's (Hear Fishy Fishy) approach...and whether you're using wire or braid, learning when to use a high diver vs a low diver and when to switch is valuable to learn. Fished 6 rods for a few years on my 18 Lund until I added the holders and gear to fish 3 guys and 9 rods. Am just now figuring out the low and high diver thing. For the planer's, if you can put together 4-6 setups to switch out as needed, a couple of short cores (3 & 5 color; buy a full core of line and use the remaining 2 colors for a SWR for the riggers) and a 200 and 300 copper are tough to beat. Coppers are my favorite though.

A lot of guys will go with 2 riggers and 4 divers early AM and then pull the high divers when they stop firing and deploy the planers to replace them in the spread. If you like this option, you may want to look into a couple more dipsy holders if its possible.

Agreed...and proctologist fly with certain spin doctors were a go to bait on my boat.

Thanks Keith from Hawghunter and everyone else. Feel free to give me a shout on the radio...if i am out there i will gladly share info with anyone. Learned a lot from guys on this site...can't say how many posts my fishing partner Nick and I have read from guys like Nailer, Dave Ash, Ben Lubbs, Dirty Dog, Wild at Heart, Far Beyond Driven and many others. Lots of good tidbits of info on this site from helpful people; especially for those getting started or struggling finding the bite. Will try to be as helpful as I can given my still very limited experience.

Its on my list for mext year to play hookie more often!

A couple of friends and I took the afternoon off work and hit the water out of Holland yesterday at around 2:00 PM and fished until after sunset.

Motored straight west to 180 fow where we started setting lines. Trolled west to 235 and turned back east as the Lowrance went blank. Best marks were in 170 - 200, caught all of our fish on west and east trolls in 185 - 220. Crazy thing is we took all of our hits from 2:30 - 4:00 or 5:00 and then nothing the rest of the night. Cold water (<50 F was down below 100' mark).

4/5; two steelies and two kings

100 copper with DW SS, Captain Gary's Orange MI Dolphin took the nice steelie right away.

Rigger down 90 with UV blue dolphin came unbuttoned shortly after release.

250 copper w/ Moonshine, Happy Rock took a king.

300 copper with Moonshine, Blue Jeans took a king and a small steelie.

Beautiful evening and had a great time; hope this isn't the last trip!

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Nice job on avoiding the skunk Jon. Its been pretty slow going out there lately.

Agreed on those east winds; a steady/strong east blow creates some of the steepest, tightest waves I've seen on Lake MI...and they make anything but trolling to Wisconsin a wet, spine jarring event. In an 18 foot open bow, it also a dangerous proposition as I found out once a couple of years ago.

That looks awesome Frank. Can't wait to get over there next year and put some of those bay 'eyes in my skillet.

Agreed...very good info. Its nice to learn a little about the quarry other than how to catch them.

Wow! I was under the impression that only 4 yr olds spawn with maybe the occasional 3 yr old. That's messed up. So the fish we will be catching moving into October are 1-2 yr olds mostly?

Just reading through the stocking plan again as I remembered something about age and weight; so the DNR says they want 3 year old fish to be 15.4-19.8 or above to avoid further stocking reductions right? How do they age a fish....any info? So then, is a 2 year old fish gonna be 8-12 and 5 year old (if they fail to spawn at 4) 40 lbs? Pretty darn confusing.

Guess I'll just show up and fish next year.