1mainiac

I agrre with Frank GPS is a low orbit satelite (actuall a bunch of them ). However the freq used is highly directional and totally line of sight. This means if the antenna cannot see the satelite it will lose signal depending on the quality of the fix it is often no problem as the new systems can track as many as 12 satelites so losing one only reduces the accuracy slightly. However a fix of 3 satelites which was considered good a few years ago losing one can move you several miles on the chart. As a rule of thumb we use 24deg as a reference on mobile satelites and this should be close for GPS systems as well. How we do it is simple set up a 24 deg angle from the antenna location and rotate it around the antenna anything in or above the 24 deg angle can block your signal. I have a Lowrance 525C DF on the dash with a remote antenna mounted on the roof of the cabin I also have a GPS76 handheld mounted on the dash by the windshield this is wired to my radio and is part of my distress beacon if I ever have to push the red button. The Lowrance is much more accurate and will be wired to my autopilot when and if it ever arrives from Raymarine ( another sore subject ). If you want accurate GPS first get the remote antenna second spend the extra bucks and get the better antenna and finally mount it as high and clear of the boat as possible. Call it whatever you want GPS is a radio receiver this means it has to receive via a antenna. And when it comes to antennas bigger is usually better and height is mite a walkie talkie on top of the sears tower will out preform the biggest cb you can build in a truck on the ground. I am a Extra Class Ham operator I know a little about antennas.

Tight Lines

Jim

Tadpole makes 5 so we are at a 10% donation if one of us wins.

Thanks guys lets make this a great charity event which will insure more sponsers for more tournaments in the future.

Tight Lines

Jim

Ok Deadwater is in that makes 4 boats come on guys this is a charity event

Tight Lines

Jim

I am planning on going out for a couple hours tommorrow night if I can get home from work at a decent hour. Got a spot I haven't fished yet this year about time to see if it is as good as it was last year. Last year I averaged 6 fish a night out of this spot mostly 10lbs and up several times could not keep a lure in the water fish were hitting so fast. Will look forward to seeing everyone this weekend.

Tight Lines

Jim

Opps should read the rest of the posts and look at the dates sorry for the late comments

find a older Ford f 250 diesel with the 7.3 they run forever and get decent mileage I average close to 19 with just the truck and around 17 towing the 26ft boat. A friend of mine has the chip kit and ram air on his he gets 21 mpg and will smoke the tires if he wants to play. Have had mine 7 years now and have put on over 90k miles with no problems other than tires and brakes and batteries no repairs at all. Best part is they are getting cheaper every day as people trade em in for econo cars. With the cost of fuel all mine does anymore is pull the boat and haul stuff but it is paid for itself several times over so I am fine with it.

Nice boat

Tight Lines

No it really is copper stripped it off glad I did really poor setup only had about 30yds of backer would have really sucked to get a big fish on that. Installed 150yds of dacron backer and 600ft of 30lb wire did not realize I had just 2 small spools of wire left so had to splice them together pretty sure it will hold. Now if the weather and my scheduale will just cooperate will try and get some test fishing in with new setups. Moved my front down riggers all the way back even tough I liked the setup at first will fish much smoother without the wierd rod configurations.

Most tournaments specify a max length of 6ft which is what I made most of mine to meet.

I probably pay too much for the good swivels but they don't fail so maybe worth it. As to your question I used to just tie loops on my flies and some of my leaders however when I began losing them I had to assume that the loops were getting cut but since I never got one back I can't be sure what the exact failure was. All I know for sure was everything in front of the loop was still there. On my Steelhead gear I use loop to loop connectors all the time with now failures but when I use loops behind my flashers or other gear the failure rate is too high.

Good Luck

Thanks Jason this a full roller rod so not as concerned about the fraying issue. But good point I think I will just go ahead with my orginal plan and replace the line just will save the copper if it is all in good shape.

Oh and more on the subject I bought my boat at Halls in early March and purchased a New autopilot with a schedualed delivery date of April 20th. Well chk the calander cause I am still waiting on the autopilot Raytheon has changed the delivery date 7 or 8 times now. According to Mariner Center the only other autopilot that will work on this boat would require changing the boat to a SeaStar steering system which they want 2500 bucks to do. My point is this I told them up front I would only purchase a boat that met 3 conditions those being trailerable, have a bathroom for my wife and to have a autopilot so I can fish shorthanded. So far their only offer has been for me to continue to wait or to accept a refund for the autopilot. My point is that if I had known that the autopilot would not be released the boat would still be in their showroom I would have bought a differant boat there are plenty of good used boats out there. So if I don't get this resolved by the end of the month you may see my 26ft boat out there with "HALL'S SUCKS" in 2ft tall lettering on each side.

HUNTINFOOL43

Don't know which motor you have in the Islander but if it is a 3.0 and you are interested I have pretty much everything from the flywheel back off a 85 3.0 400 mechanical drive. The lower has a crack that needs welding but is all from a low hours boat also have a new in box set of ball gears. The stuff all needs a good home make you or any other member a darn good deal.

I purchased a used wire diver rod a few weeks ago and stuck it in the garage thinking I would replace the wire which looked pretty old. Was getting the gear together for tommorrow and thought I wold replace the wire and give it a try. Well it has copper on it the guy I bought it from said he used it to run dipseys. So I am curious has anyone used copper wire on a dipsey rig and if so how much would it affect the dive curve. What I am thinking is useing it for a outside diver set on 2.5 so I could get both wide and deep. Any thoughts?

Update the Cobalt is gone and waiting on cash for the 402 Merc upper.

THis is a challenge to my fellow members I origonally posted this on another thread but will move it here so I can keep track of who is in. So there is no misunderstanding I am coping my original post again here. This is for the big fish pot in the Dreamweaver Charity Tournament at Muskegon this month.

And the best thing is the money goes to a good cause. Since this is a charity event I would like to make a charitable challange to other entrants. And this requires others to join in and agree to the same challange since the more that join the bigger the challange. I should have thought of this sooner but here goes this towards the Big Fish prize money. If I win the Big Fish I will donate a percentage of the cash up to 50% to the charity. The percentage will be based on the number of other boats who agree to do the same if they win the Big Fish money. So if I am the only one doing this it will be a 3% donation if we have 5 in the challange than it will be 10% donation 10 boats in makes it a 20% 15 boats makes it 30% 20 boats makes it 40% and 26 or more makes it a 50% donation. No crawfishing if you get on this list you have to make the donation if you win. Any Takers?

1MAINIAC first challange boat

Count Team Caznik in this one, but you are in charge of this because I do not want more work....

Caznik

Joel sanders +crew are in also!

Ok that makes 3 boats 43 to go and we can just split the big fish with the charity right away. I don't think any of us are here to win money or prizes though they do help. So lets go fish and have a great time and help the kids at the same time.

Tight Lines

And the best thing is the money goes to a good cause. Since this is a charity event I would like to make a charitable challange to other entrants. And this requires others to join in and agree to the same challange since the more that join the bigger the challange. I should have thought of this sooner but here goes this towards the Big Fish prize money. If I win the Big Fish I will donate a percentage of the cash up to 50% to the charity. The percentage will be based on the number of other boats who agree to do the same if they win the Big Fish money. So if I am the only one doing this it will be a 3% donation if we have 5 in the challange than it will be 10% donation 10 boats in makes it a 20% 15 boats makes it 30% 20 boats makes it 40% and 26 or more makes it a 50% donation. No crawfishing if you get on this list you have to make the donation if you win. Any Takers?

1MAINIAC first challange boat

I use Albert Clippers for fixed sliders works great when fish hits slider often get doubles as it yanks main line up in front of the fish you are fighting. Nothing compares to the feeling of being in a fight and feeling that second fish hit. However when the main line gets hit stoping behind the boat to yank the slider sucks so unless I am sending them down deep I use free sliders more than any other setup. I considered the rubber band thing a few times but not sure I want to be trying to break a rubber band while fighting a fish at the back of boat and real sure I don't want any sharp objects near my line while doing it either. With the Alberta Clippers I have reeled in fish without removeing them but no matter how you run sliders there is a chance you will lose a fish because of them and a chance you will catch more fish because of them. Oh and 2 years ago I ran fixed sliders on my dipsey's with no success but did get them to run without tangling but I figured 16 lures on 8 rods ought to improve the odds. Don't remember who said it but the best way to catch more fish is to fish more often.

See you guys at Port Sheldon.

Tight Lines

Well my crew situation is in the air right now was considering it but still have more maybe's than yes's. Will know better in a few days you can pencil me in but there is still a chance I won't make it.

Tigth Lines

Live2fishdjs one of my guys just moved his dad to hospice today so i may be a man short if so you would be welcome to fish with me. As it stands now it is me and my wife and 2 maybe's. If i get a sure answer i will pm you directly.

Tight lines

I have run 3 dipseys per side with no problems and have also had some of the worst mess's you have ever seen. 3 years ago I only had 2 riggers and hated core in the late run so had to depend on my dipseys took some time but figured it out. Love my dipseys now still mess one up now and then. But I now know why and how to avoid it. NEVER let them out fast make them pull hard all the way out. Allways set the outside line first and I never use 3 to easy for them to flip over on you. When I ran 3 per side outside was a mono rod set on 2.5 standard ring next one out was also a mono rod set on 2 w/ magnum ring inside rod was a Power Pro with a magnum diver set on 1.5. Really should have had Power Pro on the outside lines but used those rods for other things so just suffered thru. I need to get me another wire setup but short on bucks so just gonna make do hard to choose between more gear or boat gas.

TIGHT LINES

Tried running out deeper this evening set lines at 178FOW and headed SW out to 300 with only one knock off. Ran north at 300 for a while then headed back in rigger went off at about 180 FOW and wife boated a nice little King 4lbs 11oz on a Blue Veggie 124 down. Reset the line and continued in had another rigger go off in 170FOW 90 down with NBK lost it right away. Sun was starting to set so pulled all the riggers and loaded up the Moonshine spoons put a Glow Frog meat rig on a full core behind a board and pulled one Dypsey and put a glow meat rig on it. Watched a beautiful sunset and trolled in Dypsey went off at 130FOW grabed the rod and got into a great fight with a 8lb 11oz King on a Rapture Fly Dreamweaver board combo. Trolled in to 100FOW and pulled lines as rear lights decided not to work and could not see the rods very good anymore. All in all a decent night and ended 2 for 4.

TIGHT LINES

Looks like some of the west coast setups my friends use in WA I have tried a couple and never caught a fish. But then I have hundereds of lures that people said were great that have never caught a fish for me. My son is in AK and he sent me down some of the Wobble Glo setups he kills fish with up there and have yet to catch a fish on them either. As much as I like to try new things at the price of gas I am sticking to the basics but maybe will try some differant stuff this weekend on a couple of poles. I am gonna run out to around 150 tommorrow night and play for a couple of hours then troll in after sunset. Maybe time to try the Wobble Glo's behind the dypseys again.

TIGHT LINES

I have a few pieces left over from a old boat project all 1985 Stringer mount stuff. I have several 15x17 props a starter a 3.0 flywheel and housing a good intermeadiate section. Have a good upper unit from a 3.0 21x18 gear ratio a couple of shift converters a good shift cable and nice looking exhaust housing a 400 lower that needs welding has crack near water inlet. I have a new inbox OMC 800 water pump and new in box OMC set of ball gears complete. I also have a 402 Mercury complete upper with junk lower will have good lower if Camp and Cruise ever replaces the one they messed up. Also a 1985 Cobalt 21 BR free to good home trailer not included However Trailer is also for sale is a tandem axle galv trailer needs tires. Let me know if you are interested.

Tight Lines

Yep she is a older boat but you don't have to marry it or mortage the house to fish in it. Put in new floors and carpet 2 years ago dbl planked 1/2 plywood built in a staorge box in center of floor for rods ect. ShoreLander trailer with nice tires. 1972 Merc 80hp with newer lower unit has Stainless shafts new water pump new Chargeing system Stator and rectifier had 170 or better in all cyl runs very good will troll all day no issues I am aware of. Includes a older Lowrance Loran fishfinder unit that also works and a Lowrance flasher unit. Has a DeckHand 40 remote anchor on the front with a 25lb anchor all new last year and a remote controlled 400,000cp spotlight on the bow so you can see to get home. Also includes a Willye 6ft planer mast and 2 Rivera long arm manual riggers with 4ft arms and counters with rod holders on them. Has cover with a few tears but still covers the boat. Gas tank is nearly full and battery was replaced last season. Will probably need a little TLC and fishing gear and you should be good to go. Will sell as is or part out the fishing gear and power anchor. Let me know if you are interested.

Tight Lines

Dan that is another reason I sugested a band pass design first the speaker is fully enclosed so very little chance of weather getting to it. Second the design is very tolerant of changes to shape it is tuned by sealed volume of the speaker chamber against the volume of the port chamber and the size of the port. These cabinets are made in a lot of configurations and are very easy to build. Some of the Bass tube speakers are bandpass design I built a set years ago with single 15in speakers that were about the size of a bushel crate speaker was mounted diagnally on a board running corner to corner we put tops on them and used em for end tables I don't think any of my friends ever knew they were speakers. Getting the right amount of air volume on each side of the speaker and using the right size port will do wonders.

Good Luck

Jim