1mainiac

The bag has about 8 D rings sewn around the outlet the control rope runs thru the D rings and clips to itself so pulling on the control rope make the outlet smaller, adding more stopping power. Just like a choke collar on a dog.

While 36in bags are likely small for your boat how big are the openings on the outlet. My son made me a adjustable bag years ago it has a second rope that when pulled closes the outlet which improves speed control. From fully open to fully close d it gave about 1 mph of speed control which on my 18ft would drop me down to under 1mph closed and around 2mph open. The reason I mention this is you may be able to modify your current bags to slow you down more.

My rule of thumb for bags has worked pretty good for me if using 2 get at least 1in per ft of boat. I have 2 30in bags on my 26ft and on a calm day can get to walleye speeds if I wanted to. On a 37ft I would look for 42 or 48in bags. Tie them off on a forward cleat so they put pressure on the bow and let them dig in mine run about a foot under water and fully forward of my fishing gear. To pull the we just hit neutral pull up the back line and toss them over the railing. When setting up in the morning I slow to about 5mph we put all the gear in and then drop the bags and we are down to about 2.4 to 2.5. Going fast helps set the coppers and long stuff out much faster then we toss out the brakes and are ready to fish.

Is there a specific tournament(s) that you're referring to where you see a problem?

I didn't see a problem in the math' date=' the math adds up. I checked it long before I brought it up...

What I stated was " I was just asking a simple question of where does the money go" This is somewhat misleading of my own question.

Maybe It should have been whats the point?

Fishy, You have a valid point, I could start my own event or series of events, but that would divide a small population even more, which defeated the purpose.

Jim, I will not get into a liability discussion, I see your point, but your math does not add up if your looking at the payouts vs money taken in for the Holland event. 100% payout based on amount of boats.

none the less guys, I was just throwing it out there the question of why does the AM side cost what it does for an armature event. MOST of us do not fish for the money, but the bragging rights of beating others at any given day.(And maybe a cool trophy or two)[/quote']

Dave the numbers may be off some but the point I make is that much of that cost is absorbed by sponsor contributions. The cheapest insurance I could find when Don and I started MSCST was 650 bucks with a 25 boat max since we avg 15 boats that would be over 45 per boat. I did not get quotes for a larger event we decided to run without and just have waivers signed. This is not a business if it was it would be a huge loser that is however not the point never was I hope it never will be. Lots of things go into sponsoring a major event one of which is local revenue and bringing a lot of people into town for most of a week helps the entire town so many local merchants help with expenses. Marina's rent slips hotels rent rooms restaurants sell to more customers so often the tourney itself is only a small part of the deal at least in terms of money to the port. Another thing is the Tournament Trail has it's own revenue stream they bring in plus they have their own sponsors as well. Many ports like Muskegon turn the day one catch over to local food banks which is another value to the port and it's people. The list just grows as volunteers often donate more than just their time.

Years ago I used to complain about them but the fact is they are a great deal for everyone. And nothing much we can do will replace the feeling when you hear the start from the helm of your boat and it is on.

The cost of running a small tournament is not cheap Don and I have spent our own money every year to put on the MSCST tournaments. There is the cost of the Website,the scales, flyers, gas to go to meetings with each other and sponsors, tons of things you can't even put a dollar value on. Then there is the legal advice you need liability issues and such. The hundreds of hours spent dealing with things like sponsors and delivering flyers. That is just for our small tournament in a larger event you have insurance, tents chairs and tables, advertising, more of everything.

If had to put a number on it I would bet the 1st 200 bucks per boat is in tourney cost. I looked into insurance for our tourney back in 09 and the best deal I could get for limited coverage was over 45 bucks per boat. That would not cover spectators at weigh in just the boats while fishing and only member boats and damage cause by them.

There is more to running a tournament than just a group of guys shaking hands and throwing money in a hat.

I'll take jun 2nd at current rate.

I wonder if the new one will interface with my Lowrance plotter without the convertor. I was bummed to find out one of the reasons I bought it would not work with my current setup. Esp after NEMA was touted as the universal answer so all marine gear could talk under the same language. The when you actually try and do it you need to spend way more money.

Yes I have several pullers but did not use one to remove the wheel. What I did was back the nut off about 5 turns used my slide hammer to hit the shaft while pulling up on the wheel. Popped right off.

If you need a hand putting it in call me I would like to see how much it changed from mine. The only thing I don't like about mine is the motor noise which on rough days is almost non stop.

You never know I might drop in on one or 2 this year.

I would also like to thank Don and Patti for all their work helping put this together. But esp Patti for the cookies at weigh in LOL. Lets also try and remember to support our past sponsors since many of them still support us and we still support them. So I will list our past sponsors as well.

Purple Taco

Pro Troll

Z Boards

Papa Bears Restaurant

Eyeful Custom rods

Church Tackle

Okuma

Fish on Bait and tackle

Tuna's Reel service

As well as our friends who have helped with ideas and support. Thanks we will try and make every year better than last year and keep this fun.

Lots of V bulletin sites have similar issues with links I know several that block wiki links and others. The MSCST site blocks a few links and I run it, the blocks are in the spam filters so any links that have had spam reported on them it blocks. It also blocks on IP address email and user names but frankly Don and I were tired of deleting spam and spammers so I raised the security level making the site pretty much read only unless you have a membership setup that has not been deleted or Don or I set one up for you. But the only reason for the site was to inform people about the tournament I set it up with forum software because it is much easier to update then writing pages of code for every update. The first version of it sucked because it took me hours to code pages and then correct mistakes once I published them LOL.

While Salmon can move 30 or more miles overnight the bait fish can't The most common current in West MI in June is slightly north near shore and it diminishes as you move off shore. In Muskegon near shore is out to about 120 to 130fow. In June you have a lot of issues dependent on weather and water temps. 1st the water has not fully setup so fish can be anywhere but is we have a few days with calm winds and clear skies you can bet you had better run deep if you want to catch numbers of fish. If your looking for the bigger fish you have to find the pockets they are hiding in usually more in near shore waters. After sunup on clear days this means more of a laker program go slower and work the bottom 10 to 20 ft of water. Flasher flies work well on this as well as meat rigs. Spoons will also get hit but not as much since these fish are usually suspended near the bottom and resting. So they will grab a easy looking snack but are not gonna chase much. Going out deep will get you into more fish that are younger and more active move fast and work the top 50 to 70ft hard. If you see bigger marks down deep then send something down there as well. I have had a lot of days when I am pulling decent kings 120 to 180 down in 225 to 250fow while also getting a steady catch of Steelhead on top. Running as fast as 4 to 6mph GPS My divers do not like this speed so they go in storage and we work the riggers deep with sliders on them and lots of copper and lead core. As to lead core at this speed forget the short cores a 5 color will only be about 10ft down. I get a lot of big Steelhead out there on 300 copper pulling a Ace Hi Yellow Tail plug. My guess is at that speed a 300 copper may only be down 30ft or so. Even with 15lb weights my riggers will be way back so 180 down on the rigger is likely around 120 I have had them down 350 in 250fow and never hit bottom. But again I am hauling butt we cover a lot of water and when I find a pattern for Steel we kill them a couple years back we took a 4 man limit on Steelhead in under a hour and got 3 kings on the riggers as a bonus. However that was fishing there every day so I knew where the fish were and it was just a matter of running back to the same area and dialing them in.

Most days 60% or more of my spread is copper and I don't get birds nests I just have to clean them up later. You'll be stuck with lower end smaller reels the rest of your life if you can't learn how to fish without a level wind.

Very few high end reels even offer level wind so I just took one of my reels for a 200 copper that had been skipping on the level wind and causing problems 20 min later no more level wind issues. This also increase clearance on the reel because when the level wind would skip the copper would bunch up and hit the level wind making the problem even worse. If this saves me one birds nest a season it will be worth it.

Advantage to no level wind less backlash issues and slightly higher line capacity. Cons you have to keep the line level or it will pile up. If up to me I would not have level wind on my copper reels. The guys who fish with me however prefer it.

I get my codes from the forum emailed to me plus I have Vimeo so I can watch old episodes what I can't find is the last part of the finally it say part 1 and part 2 but part 2 ends before the weigh in and so even though I know what happened I can't watch it. All most all of season 3 is there and MI city and St Joe are there as well.

The only real advantage to changing transducers would be if you wanted a thru hull or different configuration. I think Airmar makes the transducer for most of the major sonar units anyhow. However when they design and manufacture a unit for a company they do not usually release it themselves under their name as often the company holds rights to them as well. No different than if you made a part for Ford or GM they would hold sales and distribution rights to the product.

I know i am not the oldest dog in this hunt but I started Salmon fishing in Muskegon in 1969 with my uncle. We built most of out own gear because most of it did not exist here. My other uncle has been a commercial fisherman in AK since the mid 60's and he gave us lots of ideas but we had to build it ourselves. So we made Down riggers out of old pulleys and fished large flatfish Squids and Spoons. My first Big Lake tackle box probably only had 6 or 7 lures as they became more popular and available we bought more. Loco spoons,Little Cleo's, Northport Nailers, the list just kept growing. Not because the old stuff would not catch fish but the constant search for new and better drove us. So we bought new and it also caught fish and we bought more new and it caught fish while the old collected dust. Now I have so many spoons that if I ran a 6 rod spread and changed it out every 15 min it would take me several days to get them all wet and that is just spoons. Add in over a 100 plugs, hundreds of flasher fly combo's Meat rigs ect. With all that guess what I will likely buy more this year. The only thing a vast majority of my lures has ever caught was my eye and my wallet. But hey if you say your catching fish on something I probably have one or something that looks just like it on my boat.

Wish I could help but too far to drive for me.

Anyone wanting a solid hard working 1st mate should give him a try. Even though I don't charter he was my 1st mate for over 3 years. We took a lot of friends and family fishing and fished in around 50 tournaments together. He was on time and great to have on the boat he learns fast and was always great with helping kids get their first big fish. Anyone who has seen the pics of my grandkids smiling with their fish should know the extra hands in the pics were his. He stood next to my 8 year old grand daughter while she caught her 16lb King and helped her catch the fish of a lifetime for her. There is no better friend out there he put up with my crap for years and always had a smile on his face.

Moonshine Flounder pounder day or night nearly always at least one in the water.

Ace Hi on 300 copper Blue Mylar or blue or green splatter back

Silver Streak Sprint car on 200 copper

Silver Streak Panty Ho on 125 copper

Silver Streak glo yellow tail 150 copper

Silver Streak Jerry Lee on 75 copper

Silver Streak Sister Sludge on other 300 copper

11in white blue paddle and BW Poofster fly on deep rigger

Ace hi plug or mag spoon on other rigger usually Flounder pounder

That is a clear day mid summer hunting program if I have the fish dialed in then I will run the dialed in program. But if i am out hunting that is a solid start.

Robert get a hold of me this spring I can bring several setups and help you setup your boat. Or if I have mine out you can come and fish with me a couple of times. No need to try and be a pro just a few simple setups that will let you catch dinner more often.

Separation is the the key to fishing multiple lines. I have ran 4 boards 2 divers and 2 rigger per side and never had a problem. I have also ran just 6 rods and been tangled all day. It all comes down to do you have the room to run the stuff. My 16 rod Steelhead spread is close to 800ft wide. Most people do not realize their divers may be under and outside of the boards. So if I am running divers my 300 or longer copper will be at least 100 to 125ft from the boat I am constantly yelling at my crew to let them out further. A wire diver set on 2 let out 200ft will hit a 300 copper running 50 to 60 ft from the boat darn near every time the mess is no fun to clean up. That is running a fairly straight course start turning or run a zig zag pattern and you need even more room. My standard tournament setup is 8 rods 2 boards and a wire diver and rigger per side. This setup will still likely be 250 to 300ft wide yep we have reel them in for traffic now and then but I tend to fish away from the pack as much as possible. Another reason for 8 rods is if one fires we can put a replacement for it back in while fighting the fish and not be over rod limits.

Yeah Frank it has a lot of potential it does require a bit of a learning curve. Esp since some of the features are a bit tough to understand and push the wrong menu button and it talks in Chinese LOL. However all the software and drivers are on the web for free and the programing cable is cheap. I read a hundred online reviews and everyone said the same thing it was hard to beat for the price. Oh yeah another feature I figured out is you can use it as a scanner and can program it to scan or skip channels with the software. So if you like to listen to the scanner you could add your fav scanner channels and program it to scan them. I still have over 50 empty channels in mine but I am not really into scanners so I don't see me using that feature.