fishy1

Why allow this senseless pollution to continue if my boat spills oil accidentally in the water I can be charged with polluting the great lakes with a possible $25,000.00 fine yet the badger can dump between 500-700 tons of ash in the water a year and thats ok , who are the idiots we have in the goverment that continue to allow this to go on.

I'll throw in my two cents most of the charter captains I know which has been many in my 30+ years of fishing in Ludington don't fun fish for salmon as once you do something that was fun as a job it ceases to be fun. So if you are just looking for a job as a captain I would say go for it if want to do something you will enjoy for a long time don't charter, as prior post have stated with the economy the way it I also believe that people have less disposable income and to most fishing is not the highest priority.

I have read the science and fly ash contains mercury and if you read the fish advisories you will see mercury listed as a hazardous compound.I have had a boat slipped in Ludington for over the last 30 years and have seen the damage the fly ash does to my personel property as well as all of the surrounding homes. If you believe that for one mans personel wealth retention to be placed ahead of the good all the people in the great lakes why not let him store the harmless ash at your home. I'm not a liberal in any sense but how ignorant as responsable human beings do we have to be to keep destroying our enviroment , and its not as if they don't have a alternative to dispose of the ash it's why bother if someome will continue to allow you to dump your crap on someone else.

I can't believe that the epa would allow this practice to continue if they do then why not declare all of the coal fired power plants " Historic " and allow them to continue to pollute the hell out of our enviroment.

I tie leaders with flourocarbo about 5 -6ft long and the just connect them to my snap swivel this still allows you to use whatever lead length up to 50 ft which is the my reason for using slide diver as they were intend for and when running meat rigs or spin doctors and flies I dont put the floro leader on as this allows a easier net job and no handling like you have to when you run walker or lurh jensen divers.

As Matt said I do the same I blood knot 30-50 ft of mono on for the diver to clamp down on, Ive tried flourocarbon but it slips thru the tubing . I also tried turning the tubing a turn and it still slides so I just use the mono for a leader works great.

I agree with bigweenie all of the flies I purchase I end up changing the leaders over to fluorocarbon so why not just purchase them with the right leaders and hooks from the start.I plan on picking up some of bw rigs at birch run great looking flies.and meat rigs.

Just wondreing if you will sell the individual component so I cam make some of my own combos

The baitrix baits I run I use in meat rigs in place of whole or strip herring, you can also use them in just a meathead behind a dodger or flasher. They have several colors to select from and if you buy the tunable ones you can set you roll to what you want ,aslso as I stated its advantage over real herring is you can catch far more fish without having to replace them ,I have several of the baits that i am still using from the 2010 season and the fish don't seem to know the difference between the baitrix and real herring.

Go to michigan sportsman web page they sell smelly jelly it works great, I've used it along with fake herring from baitrix and have great success using them on meat rigs I refuse to use real meat on my boat because of the mess and smell. I catch just as many fish or more as friends of mine who are using meat and with the batrix baits you can catch tons of fish on them without having to replace them hope this helps.

I have a 1994 31 open that I purchased in 1998 and always wondered what the fuss was about with owning a Tiara. It is probaly one of the most overbuilt boats made and I found out the rough water handling ability on many occasions. My advice if you are looking to purchase one is buy it with the largest power plant that was offered in the time frame you are seeking and I'm not sure what year they went to the raised cockpit floor but that is only a small consideration, also one of a few boats that hold tremendous resale value. I personally wouldn't own another boat besides a Tiara.

I live in Michigan not Minnesota but if I were a resident I would petion the legislature to raise the additional revenue by increasing fees on the ocean bound freighters and shipping companies that have introduced all of these exotics.

The fly ash contains mercury and we all know about the fish advisories about mecury contamination in our fish, this is a issue that should concern all fisherman in lake michigan because we all know how the current in the lake has spead this around.

As far as the damage the fly ash causes it destroys the canvas on your boat as well as discolors your gel coat,I have used about every cleaner know and once it discolors something you will never be able to restore it .

It's also nice when you go out fishing and grab a rod and when you look you see you hand are black from the ash, I wish more oressure was applied to them to convert it over and quit polluting the lake.

I keep hearing how it is a 'Historic Vessel' well with that reasoning what about all of the 'historic' coal fired power plants that the EPA made clean up thier emissions.

Mr. Barker must not of ever slipped a boat in either of the marinas in ludington. I have had a boat in both marinas and get to see the effects of the fly ash the Badger releases on a daily basis. I don't wish to see the badger discontinue service but it seems this issue has been going on for ages and every time a deadline nears the owners who are well connected politically manage to donate sums of money to these congressional represenatives and magically the Badger gets another exempetion.

If the owners of the Badger were true businessmen why can't they find a solution or even purchase new vessels such as what was done in Muskegon ?

Instead they continue to pollute the lake and surronding communities were the dock, what right do they have to destroy everyones personal property.

It is the same as your neighbors large dog being allowed to use your yard everyday for its own bathroom without recourse.

I slip my boat in ludington and it was hard to keep a showtime spin doctor in the water

I found Jims website it is towers unlimited of west michigan he is in zeeland mi.

I also own a 31 tiara and had a custom rocket launcher made for my boat by a man named Jim Dearborn who lives in either holland or grand rapids . You wont find a better looking rocket launcher anywhere and I knoew for years he was the person doing all of tiaras custom fabrications. I dont have his number but I believe if you look up his name you should be able to find it or call tiara and I'm sure they can give it to you also if I remember correctly he was listed as towers unlimiteed. Hope this helps.

the dreamweaver uv light sells for 10- 15 dollars and works phenominally

I have personally used all the mention reels but have used the okuma catalina reels for several years and believe they have the smooothest drag system.I would rate the tekotas 2nd and find them ergonomicly incorrect if you use a pumping motion when reeling fish in, unless you dont use the fore grip on your rod the line counter is constantly hitting you in the wrist this is just my 2 cents

I have used them all but the okuma catalina is my reel of choice best drag system of all reels mentioned the tekotas second but they are not ergonomiclly designed if you pump the rod in fighting a fish and use the fore grip the line counter smacks your wrist everytime just my 2 cents

If thats the biggest issue you have on any given day you should count your blessings and hopefully get a life.

I say the two biggest factors are speed and current direction, I've found that many times if your trolling direction is off 5-10 degrees either going into or with the current is the difference between great fishing or slow fishing.Also a sub surface probe ( depth raider , fish hawk) will tell you when you are truely running with or against the current, but the simplest wat to tell is when all your gear tracks straight. You willfind many times that trolling straight into the waves or with them is not completely following the current flow. Hope this helps alittle.

I've been using slide divers since the day they came out, I have always used 30#line and never had a problem. As Matt said i now run 40# power pro and splice a 30 ft leader of 30# big game on. I've tried using about every brand of florocarbon but the diver wants to cheat down the line . Check the brass for knicks as others have stated.

I have slipped a boat in lundington for over 30 years and it is a rare year to not see at least one boat crash into the break walls. It always boils down to operator error and amazes me that people fail to understand the basic laws of navigation with the one of when traveling in conditions of limited visibilty ex. fog ,nighttime to reduce speed accordingly , hopefully all parties involved recover .

I think comparing the 2 lakes is like comparing apples to oranges . The biggest factor is lake michigan does not have to account for millions of walleye roaming the lake . I believe the DNR did the right thing along with all the other bordering in reducing the fish plants if you have a predator prey relationship were the predatoors outweigh the prey you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out whats going to happen.If you get a chance in the winter attend a sea grant meeting and learn how the lakes are being managed and get the information to make a sound decision about where the lakes are headed.