Leafybug

Really? And otter boats are? I've ran mine in place of a high outside dipsy. Seemed to work well for me but what do I know? I'm sure a salesman from Alabama knows much more about lake Michigan salmon fishing than I ever will. I really liked using mine walleye trolling with a double pinch pad release. Worked extremely well in waters less than 35' to get those lines spread out. This is my opinion... good luck and congrats on the new fishing machine!

I'm looking to sell or trade for a smaller aluminum boat. I've got a 25' Grady with twin 200's and a 4stroke kicker. Fishes and trailers like a dream, just dont have the time to use it...

amen to the metal, hard rock, and classic rock guys! ABSOLUTLEY NO COUNTRY ON THIS BOAT! All depends on my mood, but the tropical pre country-esque sound of some old school buffett is really tough to beat when your on a boat.

on second thought I may have just used 5200 sealant... But I definetly used stainless hardware.

Barn door lumber in Hemlock, Mi (just west of Saginaw on M-46) does have teak. Teak is crazy expensive. I made a bow pulpit out of laminated starboard for my old sea ray because the teak was too expensive. I believe I used the "west system" to epoxy the layers together. Starboard is a great product and works easier than wood with standard woodworking tools. I had a large danforth plow anchor and a windless also mounted on there and never had any issues. I used the old stainless guides from the original pulpit and new stainless hardware. Just be carefull not to over compress the layers together and squeeze out the epoxy before it sets. PM me if you have any questions, I'll try to help

we had a sportjet 90 in a jetboat that we kept for a toy at the marina. It was a pain in the but when it didn't run right, and when it did run right it didn't make enough power and wouldn't run right for long... But anything with a motor is fun... good luck

I launced my 25' Grady there quite a bit last year. Yes it was shallow but I never had any problems. Make sure you head directly for the channel immediatly from the dock, then turn to where your going. Any dredging at all would greatly improve conditions and I can't wait to get back over there to cruise the piers... I mean go fishing...

Wow, thanks for the breakdown on that Ryan. I was really thinking of working towards my capt. license just to say I have it and maybe try to get a couple of jobs running boats for rich people around the great lakes. Either way, it would be cool to have but for 1700 bucks I think I could better spend my money on something else... Maybe new electronics???

It really all depends on how slow you want to go and the prop size. Personally, I hate my kicker on my 25 grady but I know other guys swear by them on all different size boats. I find it to be a bit tougher to control the boat with my kicker but it is mounted way off to the side due to a pair of outboards for main power and I dont have any controls connecting it to the helm. With a 27 to 30' boat I would thing a 15 hp 4 stroker would work great. Just remember to isolate your batteries, if you run your riggers, electronics, tunes, and anything else you have on board, that little kicker may not keep your starting bank fully charged (I learned that little piece of advice the hard way).

"Nautical Ease" makes by far some of the best cleaners I've ever used. We used to keep our boat accross from a coal power plant in Bay City on the Saginaw river. Needless to say that boat got dirty all the time. Black streaks, lyme dust (from the cement plant up river), worm guts, fish blood, spilled adult beverages, carpet growing on the bottom from "naturally occurring wastewater dumps", bird poop, and scale buildup from running the AC or heat all the time. Nautical Ease makes minimal effort of all those cleaning messes. I used to use soft scrub on one my previous boats and found it does more harm than good. Another good cleaner to try is called "Amazing Roll Off". It can be a bit tougher to find but works exceptionally well for removing really stubborn stains like the sun baked on barn swallow fecal matter.

ha ha ha! and they wonder why the south never succeeded!

great read, learned a few new tricks too. Thanks

I was all for getting a survey on anything I've owned. The last time I had one surveyed the guy really didn't do anything at all and charged me a ridiculous price. IMHO, unless the bank or insurance requires a survey, get someone you trust, has the knowledge, has the tools, and the knowledge to use the tools (i.e.moisture meter) to look it over for you. I've known several people that have had surveys and the surveyor never opened the bilge because in their disclaimer it relinquishes them of said duty. Best of luck to you, if your near Grand Blanc area and I can help you out just shoot over a pm.

I have both Maui Jim's and Ray Ban. Both polarized, all glass, and both are far superior to any other brands I've ever had on my skull. Although with glass lenses they will be slightly more heavy than the poly-carbonite, in my opinion it's money well spent.

Thanks for all the help guys, I'm pretty sure I will want to add radar within a year or two because my unit now is getting pretty dated. Don't worry about hijacking, I'm not against garmin units either. Just trying to get the most for my money. Looking forward to heating the reports of the newly installed elites and garmins. Tight lines to all...

Good luck fishing this weekend jarod, I think I'm gonna have to wait a couple weeks yet. I'm anxious to know how you like that elite. Ben, have you found that the screen is big enough to split between graph and gps and still read it pretty well?

So I keep telling myself that I need an HDS 8. My wallet says old school guys caught lots of fish and never even had a fishfinder. As I'm trying to not spend tons of money while still getting a good unit, I keep thinking about lowrance's Elite 7. Anybody have any experience with that? I'm looking at about 700 with the gps and sounder vs. 1600 for the HDS. Do you guys have any other thoughts on them? I'd like to get as large of a screen as possible, must have reliable GPS and a suitable sonar system for both the Saginaw Bay (shallow 10-25') and Lake Michigan (obviously lots deeper). Thanks for all the help guys.... again

So it's finally time to upgrade my sonar/gps/chartplotter and I've been doing a little shopping. I really like the HDS 7's and 8's but really havent talked with too many folks with real life experience on these units. All my info seems to come from the guys wanting to sell them to me. I fish Saginaw Bay a little in the spring and early summer, then the boat stays over on Lake Michigan for the majority of the summer and early fall, then back to the Bay for late season days when I can get a chance to go out. I have radar now and like the idea of being able to upgrade and integrate into a new system. Can both the 7 and 8 run radar while still being able to read charts and GPS? As far as transducers go, I think I want the 50/200 for deeper water, if I remember correctly. What about side/down imagining, that seems a bit over rated for salmon trolling (more of a great bass fishing tool), does anyone have thoughts on that? With or without the insight or lakemaster software? I'm really just looking for real life opinions from real fisherman, not showroom fisherman. I have plenty of dash space and the unit would probably be mounted off to the port side of the dash so it's not in my direct line of sight (opinions are always welcome there too). Thanks in advance guys!

I'm working on scrounging up some money to pay for a new hds 7 and either fishhawk or smart troll. Other than that, I hope to god it all works again! btw, anyone looking for a mariner 8 horse kicker?

It was also almost 80 degrees in early march last year...

I know you were asking about the Great Lakes Planers and I don't know anything about them but, the stuff from "fishonsports" is for sure some quality gear, and the guy that owns it is a pretty cool cat too. Good luck

I went friday night. Got some really good deals but I wondered what happened to Franks booth, that was the smallest booth I've ever seen them have. I was really looking to dump some quid there too. All in all it was a pretty good show...

I was told by a lady last year at the novi show (was selling her new brand), that it will not need replacing for a very long time, like 15 - 20 years. She seemed very knowledgable about the manufacturing process and stated that there are only 3 ( if memory serves correct) manufactures of the base material, 3m, honeywell, and some other. From experience, I've had and old reliable spinning reel with some very early spider wire that I still can not break by hand and it gets worked hard every fall and spring jigging the nasty saginaw for walleye. If that river doesn't disolve it in a season or two it must be some tough stuff!

Absolutely spot on! Even as fisherman we know its the companies new "marketing ploy" to get us to buy all these new and improved items, but we keep doing it. Why? Because we like it! I for one know that buying fishing related stuff makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.:D

I like my Big Jon's. Always have, always will. Fished with capt. paks years ago and just got a new set of Brutes last year. I love them! A good fishing buddy swears by his cannons and I'm by no means knocking on them, but they just dont cut it for me. The stats on those fancier scotties look pretty impressive as well.