Salmon Slammer

If I still had any Dipsy's to trade for Slide Divers - I'd take you up on that offer Priority 1. I traded or gave away all of my Dipsy's after winning a cooler full of tackle in a Ludington Pro-Am many moons ago which had inside the first Slide Diver I'd ever seen. I also have a few Big Slick divers (developed by the guy who designed the Dipsy and sold out to Luhr Jensen) that I will occasionally run when the fish are near the surface. At the time, there was a welding problem with the front trip arms on Dipsies and we were having problems with them. Went to the Slide Diver and never went back. My buddy Brian figured out the slipping issue which occurred with using super-lines with SD's years ago. Slide Divers now come with a piece of silicone tubing that grips the slippery braid or fused line. They also come with a spring tube (like a Twilly tip) for running lighter mono. I typically run mine with 30# mono and first add rings and then clip on a weight in front of the SD if I need to go deeper. You can also run Slide Divers with wire by tying in a segment of mono (for the SD to run on) with an oval ring or micro-swivel that'll pass through your guides and wind on the reel. Pro's and Cons - With a Dipsy Diver, you're limited on leader length and the Diver is tied in line and a snubber is often needed to take up the extra shock. With a slide Diver, you have a virtually unlimited leader length and can reel down closer to the fish on netting. The Slide Diver slides on the line giving you a better feel for the fish with less shock on the tackle and a snubber is not needed. You can hook a Dipsy on with a snap making for easier tackle storage. The Slide Diver is riding on your main-line and must either be cut off or packed away with the rod. Since they slide on your line, I lock my Slide Divers on the bottom of the reel and pull my line towards the tip of the rod and clip my snap swivel to the frame on one of my line guides. They stay like that during the run in and out in the rod-holders and I can store my rods without breaking them down. The Slide Divers stay on the rods unless I want to change color of Slide Diver. I started running the Slide Diver Lite Bites last season and they have worked flawlessly - a little more tuning than the original, but well worth it. EVERY fish has tripped the release on the diver.

I just checked out the Dive Bombs pictured at the link above. I'm wondering ... Why the change in Dive Bomb design from the one piece molded and painted lead design with the rubber pin to the steel upper part and black pin?? I'm just guessing that it's the cost of lead.

Eagle Claw L375 2/0 Lazer Sharp Trebles. I don't sharpen hooks - I replace them. These have the traditional Eagle Claw "talon" point. I change almost every hook on my spoons to this hook and run this hook on my flies and squids. I use a 2/0 on the front hook and #1 on the back hook for J-Plug harnesses. ST-41 Owners are a REALLY good and sharp hook but quite pricey at over $1 a hook. They have a unique cutting point.

The only time I don't run run flashers is in Muskegon Lake in the fall.

I like this one too. Nice offset with just the black edges showing on the under-tape.

I'd like one Stinger size and one Stingray size please. I'd suggest calling it Muskegon Mongoose too. The FIRST Stingers had the ORIGINAL scallup tape on them. Your prototypes look like what Stingers are supposed to look like. Good job Mike. I'll give you a LOT more credit than other area Stinger Pro-Staffers.

Tim, Mike, and Rayman, Thanks for the offers. I'll talk to you this weekend Mike. If you don't see me at the marina when you come in from fishing, then I'm probably still working at the "shop" - stop on in. I would go FAR SOUTH in the morning if I was going out. Chances are that I'll be working on the Salmon Slammer Saturday afternoon. It came out of storage and made it to dry-dock at BBM today. I have some of my footage on DVD's, but don't have the technology to get them on the computer or onto a CD. I don't have them organized like I'd like, but can get video from the camera burned to a DVD. I have ALL of my mini-DV tapes here. I can bring some of the DVD's with better fishing footage on them down to the marina with me. I would just suggest NOT watching them with children or others with "sensitive" ears around. My buddies (and I) often forget they're being taped and don't always watch their language. As far as getting Windows Movie Maker to work - I doubt it. I am running Windows 98SE on an old and slow machine in Muskegon with no DVD drive.

I have a camcorder and DVD burner for taping and copying videos. I've been taking some good (AND A LOT BAD) footage for the past couple of years of Big Lake Fishing, River steelhead and trout, ice fishing, pier fishing, etc. My computer isn't new enough nor do I have the technology for taking video from DVD to an .mpg or .avi file or whatever for posting on youtube. Is there anyone in the Muskegon area who's willing to help me get some of this entertaining footage I've taken out on the web? Send me a message or reply if you can help. P.S. The Salmon Slammer is supposed to be coming out of storage in the next couple of days.

Flintstones Big Daddy Green Jamaican Sunrise.

There was no spot to put Slide Divers or drop-weights in the poll. It's a little difficult trying to run 10' to 15' leads to your FishCatcher/ Slammin' Fly rig with a Dipsy.

I use fish icons to mark EVERY SPOT where I caught or hooked up with a fish and then go back and put waypoints over certain areas. I try to be creative with the names i.e. No Regrets - where I followed No Regrets to his "hot spot" one day off of Mona Lake. Joes 15 hen - the area where a buddy named Joe caught a 15 pound steelhead. SpoSpot - where my buddy Spo and I trolled around each other catching fish. Some waypoints are named for the general area. 180 DROP - the slight drop-off off of Muskegon that starts in 180 FOW. Musk PR Hds - that ones pretty self-explanatory.

Harbor Towne is basically free of ice and it's opening up pretty quickly through the Sand Docks. You may be able to launch sooner than you think. Just gotta watch for the pack ice. If there wasn't all of the shore ice between the south pier and stub pier, my buddy, Smoked Chub, would probably be launching his 16 footer where the old boat launch used to be. The east end of Muskegon Lake is open. Another buddy went out of the North Branch on Wednesday but didn't get any hits trolling around. He was trying for 'eyes and steelies. They got fish Monday and Tuesday out there. It looks like the rivers peaked yesterday and are slowly receding. I'll be up to Hespotuckey on Sunday doin' some jig'n-n-wig'n. Thanks for the warm welcomes guys.

I ran into GLF (Mike) at the Ultimate Sport & RV Show in Grand Rapids today and he suggested that I check out greatlakesfsherman.com, so here I am. I registered with my boat name, Salmon Slammer, which is a classic 1974 SS-235 hard-top Slickcraft slipped on Muskegon Lake at Bluffton Bay Marina. My name is Matt Schalk and I am the President of Slamco, which is a small tackle manufacturing and distributing company based out of Muskegon, and owned and operated by my wife and myself out of our home in Ferndale (near Detroit). I've been a commercial fly-tyer for the past 20 years and am also the designer of the Slammer Tip-Up and Glopedo Steelhead Jigs. I have fished the Big Lake since before I was born and also fish the streams, lakes, beaches, and piers primarily in West Michigan. I am also a member of several chapters of the Michigan Steelhead & Salmon Fishermen's Association and other conservation organizations. If you're fishing out of Muskegon, Grand Haven, or Whitehall, give me a call on the radio. Now that the ice around here is unsafe, let's hope that it goes away quickly - I'm ready to troll!