Treblemaker

Adam has the program for summer when water temps are above 45 degrees, but for colder water of fall and spring the stickbaits will usually prevail. I like the Rapala HJ12 or 14 best, but floaters and other shallow stickbaits like the Smithwick Rogue work well too. Trolling between 1-2 mph unweighted at night off inline planer boards, or rod in hand if using the electric motor for fishing the spot on a spot. Don't be afraid to troll the beaches and trofts looking for walleye too. Once the fish are located casting for them can be very effective and will not spook the fish away with the noise of boats and motors.

For daytime the fish tend to suspend 10-15 down and the deep minnows work well. Adjust your leads to depth and troll in between the pods of bait marking the pods with larger marks around them, this is where the walleyes will be. Let me know if you want to try it sometime Caz, should be on in a couple more weeks!

Thanks for the update Tom. I do know the entire program was suspended last year so they could confirm that walleye eggs and hatch lings could be disinfected and VHS free prior to releasing them statewide. Many of the procedures to disinfect eggs have been documented on cold water species like salmon and trout, but had never been tested on warm water species like walleye from my conversations. Hopefully this news will mean the return of DNR walleye plants for 2008! Please let us know what we can expect for this year.

Thanks Rich, always nice to hear positive feedback!

Each magazine has their own writers guidelines and pay schedules. Many contributions are added with no pay as well.

I've written for :

Midwest Outdoors - $30 for featured articles and pictures.

Woods and Water News - $90 featured article + $10 for pictures.

Great Lakes Angler - Free + $50 per picture, never done a feature but hope to get paid for one in for May this year.

Trying to double my efforts this year to help support my fishing habit, so would be willing to help any way I can. It's a lot of work, and the editors have ultimate control over everything. He also takes the beating if things go wrong too.

I have done some writing and picture submissions.

Startup would take a lot of effort and capital. You would need:

Editor - to work with writers, advertisers, layout of magazine, content, proofs

Advertising - to pay for printing costs, payrolls

Writers - usually paid for articles and pictures

Subscriptions

Distribution to get in stores, newsstands, to subscribers

Got mine earlier this week! Won't be long now! (I hope)

And I thought I was nuts!

Thanks for sharing the pix, I hope his gelcoat is ok. That guy in the jon does look a little stuck.

You mean to tell me salmon will bite at night?

I use my basement, it is the only space big enough to handle my full collection.

They all have their time and place. Try a gold blanked version of your favorite spoon some time. Run it generally higher in the water column than the silver blanks. Believe me the fish will show a preference on a daily basis, I was shocked as I ran them on opposite sides and saw the results myself. Copper works well up high and in shallow or stain. Lake O and Erie do well on copper or brass backed spoons. Check out Great Lakes Angler Magazine in May, there will be a feature on this topic.

I switched to yellow 40# Power Pro (10 lb diameter) for core and copper last year and I really liked the high vis line to easily see lines behind the boat preventing tangles and to all of the boards.

Hopefully it will get many of the local anglers to consider joining in the fun. The reduced entry price should bring a few more boats out, many would already be fishing anyway. What better way to add to the fun or competing against your buddies, and pretty cheap with a few guys in. Once some of the guys see how well their catches can compare to top am and pro boats they will probably consider entering other tourneys as well. If it works out well to bring in more people, I would like to see it more often at more ports.

This will likely be the last year under the tournament trail brand name. GL2S or Great Lakes Salmon Series will be the brand of the future http://www.gl2s.com/. They are trying to get televised coverage and sponsors to take the little known salmon tourneys into the public eye. Once they capture the attention with the excitement and competitiveness of this sport I thing history will write itself.

I wonder how deep it gets when the LC reads 400' back on a 1 1/2 setting?

Sorry to hear that Mike, Speaking of deals, I will have available:

3 rigger combos lined and ready to rock $30 ea

330' 30 # copper combo $75

wire diver combo $75

flasher fly combo's (good ones) $5 ea

spoons from under $1 ea, crankbaits $2 ea, windlass tip ups $2 ea, j-plugs $1 ea, super J-plugs $3 ea.

Plus much more to list, and I plan on not taking anything home!

Here is me (Tim) with a nice 2008 walleye.

Don't forget, this Saturday 10am folks. I talked to many people this weekend and cannot believe all of the gear that will be here. Lots of rods and reels coming too, time to upgrade or add a few.

Thanks for the sticky guys!

South Haven, Saugatuck, Holland, Grand Haven, and Muskegon here. Can hardly wait!

My name is Tim, and I am a fishaholic.

Way to go Olivia! ...and dad too.

Thanks Mike, that link works. Mine got broken up I see.

There will be lots of great gear here. You won't want to miss it. You can outfit a boat for a fraction of the cost of new.

We still have room for more tables in case anyone wants to sell too. Plenty of time left to go through your gear and sign up. No deposit required, this is a charity event.

I quit drinking beer. Made it almost a week now.

I am also trying to be a better husband and friend to my wife.

When: Saturday, Feb 2, 2008 from 10 am to 1 pm. No Early Birds Please!

Where: Homefront Church, just off 196 near the Rivertown Crossings Mall at 6265 8th Ave SW Grandville, MI 49418

That's right, we're back!

The Saturday before Superbowl XLII is the date for this years swap meet so mark your calendars. Last year was such a great success we're going to do it again, hopefully without the blizzard this year.

We are having a swap meet for anyone that would like to sell, swap, and buy excess fishing gear on Saturday, Feb 2, 2008 from 10 am to 1 pm. We are thinking that the theme be related to items for fishing but we also are considering that it be open to sporting goods in general. No flea market crap, just good used gear that one no longer needs or use.

Sellers contact me prior to the event to reserve a table. Cost will be $10 per vendor. Sellers are welcome to share or split tables. If there are left over tables we will offer them up for donation only basis for those who would like to sell, and cannot reserve, afford, or do not need a full table.

Set up will happen between 9 and 10am. If I could get a few volunteers to show up early at 8:30am to move some tables and chairs. We will need to move some chairs first, set up the tables, then set up our items. Volunteers please contact me, and will get to pick the best locations. We will need a crew available at the end to put the tables away and put the chairs back as we found them. Many hands will make this an easy job.

Buyers can stop by from 10-1pm. This will be a free event for buyers, donations gladly accepted. Bring cash and change if possible to make it easier on the sellers who will have limited abilities to make change throughout the day.

We have decided to do a 50/50 raffle for the Youth Ministry and they will be on hand to sell coffee and snacks too. Please support them with their fund raiser. We are looking for donations for door prizes, and raffle prizes as well.

Location has been set at Homefront Church, just off 196 near the Rivertown Crossings Mall. The address is 6265 8th Ave SW Grandville, MI 49418. We will have full run of the place with plenty of tables, chairs, and room to spread out in this new facility. Here is a google map to the location, please DO NOT call the facility directly since this is a private event, contact myself with any questions or issues.

Directions

There is shopping and plenty of great restaurants nearby, so bring the family out for a day of fun, fishing, and good friends.

My e-mail address is [email protected]

Hope to see you there!

Tim

I've got you beat Ed. Today will be the longest day ever for me.

Good luck Ed and have a great trip!

That's interesting you let the rod sit in the holder for a while. I never thought of doing this mostly because of the excitment of having a screamer going!

Do you let is sit just when running the cores to let the line straighten out or do you let any rod sit for a couple moments?

No, I don't let them sit, but I will just grab the rod gently, no jerking it out, and let the board pull back with a big fish. For smaller fish I just hold the rod tip low out the back of the boat and reel steady. We had a lot of fish that swam faster than you can reel and while it felt like the fish was gone, keep reeling and you may find a suprise when it gets closer. Always keep reeling and check things out after a hit.

On my buddies boat trolling Lake Erie in early April for hog walleye, we do not touch the rod until the board stops falling back, that is our signal to grab it. Many times buried, and standing straight up we reel steady, no pumping. He will take away our beer away if we start getting grabby on the rods.

IMO the hook holes open up when a fish is hot and thrashing, and also uneven pressure wears bigger holes. No doubt hard pressure opens them up too. I like to let them finish doing their thing, then turn their heads and keep them coming towards me steadily. Most times If they are not hooked funny they will generally be cooperative about it and swim right along once they tire a bit. Then slip them in the net with one steady action before they even know what happened. By this time they are thrashing in the net on the boat floor. Arms burning from reeling in a core that fast.

Other than the rod tip causing breakage issues I have found an even bigger culprit in core breakage this year...tangles. Most times you can salvage your cores by untwisting the lines and get it all untangled. If the line crimps or bends in half, the lead can be damaged and can sometimes twist and bend inside the sheath. After one tangle I remember a small piece of lead sticking out of the core. I let it back out and the core broke at that spot when a fish hit it. I will try to manipulate any tangles out such as to remove all of the kinks and twists, and I will cut and remove any bad sections now instead of sending them back out. A quick way of retying them on the water is remove the lead from both ends, and join them with a Uni-Uni knot.