Priority1

Has anyone tried running a large Flatfish for Salmon? I know it's a popular bait on the West Coast. The Luhr Jensen Kwickfish is one brand. I also noticed that Dan Keating mentions a Flatfish as one of his top 10 Body Baits. I don't think the Flatfish would be as speed tolerant as a J-Plug or spoon.

Has Anyone tried using 2 single hooks with the bead chains? I have heard of people doing this. I had fantastic results with Glow Js on the riggers this past year. The only thing I don't like about the double treble hooks on the Js is the net tangles.

Ya know I'm a HT man.

I like to be out of the sun. I spent too many years working outside in all kinds of weather. The Hardtop gives you a place for rod storage GPS antenna etc. Mine is open more than most HTs, but the side curtains go in quickly. I mounted an 8 rod rocket launcher, along with two 55 W Halogen lights for fishing, and my all around aft light. I'm building SS Bird Trees that will go from the HT sides down to the gunwales. The HT with a camper canvas or just a regular canvas cover from the top to the stern makes a great shelter when you have the boat slipped over night. Lot of options with a HT.

One drawback is trying to dock in a cross wind. You do get pushed around a lot more by the wind. If I notice a cross wind I will dock on the up wind side of the dock. Another drawback is you need at least a 10 ft high door to get it inside.

Welcome aboard WalleyeMagic. Just holler if you need anything.

I fish Lake Huron and it's Saginaw Bay. I do make a few trips West to Fish Lake Michigan.

GJ on the perch. Be careful out there. I think the Bay has claimed another fisherman. Someone went out of Pinconning and hasn't returned. Stay in the very shallow water if you do go out.

Check out some of the plastic and plastic composition Deck Material. If you build your own don't go cheap on hardware. Deck screws will not cut it. Drill through with S.S. bolts washers and locking nuts. I used some 7/8 SS OD tubing to support it. If you decide to go this way I have found some sources for the SS tubing. I used std SS Bimini top hardware to help support it. There are a few tricks to doing this, that don't involve much time or $s, so if you decide to go this way PM me. here is a pic of my boat. If you save the pic to my pics you can enlarge it and get a better view of the platform. If you need any close ups I can probably get some.

PS It seems that anything that has boat or marine type applications the price quadruples.

A friends boat (21 ft FG) with a 9.9 2 stroke would use about 2-2.5 gallons for about 4 hrs of trolling. We never ran the 3 gallon tank completely out. That was at Walleye speeds. Fire up the 200 2 stroke on the same boat and a way different story. With the four stroke 15 you will get similar results.

Some where around the first of April.

These were Sold on another site.

Thanks for the replies Jon and Rich.

I'll bet they do go twang with a Dipsy load and fish releasing from the out rigger.

I never knew that outriggers were used for Dipsys. I'm building a couple of HD SS Trees. I could stick a couple of 15 foot outriggers out each side and use them like curb feelers along the piers. Yes the Planer Boards have come a long way in the past 10 or so years.

GJ Roger. I wish my wife would join me fishing once in awhile.

There is some open water in the AuGres River @ US23 in AuGres. The DNR Launch is still iced in. 7 degrees and snow up here this morning. Will Old Man Winter let go soon?? I saw one trailer at the DNR Launch, and 4 wheeler tracks going out on the river. Be careful out there the ice is going fast, and deteriorating from the bottom, especially in the rivers.

I noticed some open water at the bridge in Omer. It wont be long and the banks will be full of sucker fishermen. There is still a lot of ice on the river.

Welcome aboard Dan. You will like it here. Let us know if we can help in any way.

I fish from a 22 Starcraft Islander HT, mostly on Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay. I do make a few trips a year to Lake Michigan for some Salmon Slammin.

My bro Marty fishes the Boles Harbor area. His handle is Fishhook.

(Three) OR-18 Snapper Adjustable Tension Inline Planer Releases. These are new but out of package. $18 for all 3. These are not in the pic. SOLD

In the picture

(Six) new OR-14 black medium tension releases these were taken off inline planer boards. $6 The pic shows 5 but I found another 1. (OR14s are SOLD)

(Two) New OR-1 Medium Tension Downrigger Releases. $7 for both. SOLD

(One) New OR-2 Medium Tension Stacker Release, and 2 used ones in good condition, and one used unknown one in ?? so so condition. $18 for all the stackers. Note these can be taken apart and made into singles.

PM me

The whole kit and kaboodle. $20. A lot of these were never used. The rigging should be checked and retied to your specs. PM me. I will mail for actual cost.

I thought the first day of spring was the 20th?????

Technically you both are correct. Spring started some time on the 20th, but the first full day of Spring was on the 21st. Now hows that for being politically correct. I must be watching too many politicians on television.

Yep, always a good plan to change the impeller. Mine will get changed next Winter. I do mine every 3 years. Cheap insurance. Boat that get a lot of shallow water use and churn a lot of dirt should probably change impellers yearly or at least every other year. I use my boat a lot, but I'm most always in deep water. It's not rocket science but like take six points out there is a procedure that needs to be followed.

Some very interesting Easter Trivia.

Early Easter Trivia

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring

Equinox (which is March 20).

This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used

to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Based on the above information, Easter can actually be one day earlier

(March 22) that is rare.

Here's the interesting information. This year is the earliest Easter any of

us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our

population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above). And none of

us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here's the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228

(220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're

95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year

2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no

one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

Interesting!

Happy Easter everyone.

I know this may not be politically correct, and if anyone takes offense, my apologies in advance. The word Easter of course is derived from the word East. The Sun rises in the East. The Son also rises, according to Christian beliefs. The two different words sound the same in the English language. I'm not quite sure if that was intentional or not.

Happy Easter Frank

Do any of the Charter Captains, or others here, run Outriggers? I have seen a few big Charter Boats with them but not many. I was just looking for the pros and cons about running them. It seems like 15 years or so back I saw a lot more of them. Are the Outriggers going the way of the nickel beer, or 35 cent a gallon gas?? One thing about Outriggers they look soooooo cool out on the pond. Kinda like fender skirts, or dual rear antennas on a car. I know that dates me. If I recall correctly most of the captains were using jettison weights with them. To me dumping lead would be one drawback.

i think i better get the sleds back out and put the boat project on hold

LMAO You got that right Phil. Remember this is Michigan.

When fishing offshore and the water is right, you will catch everything! Kings, Cohos, Steelhead, and Lake Trout. Trust me, Lake Trout can catch a lure at any speed, just like all the other species.

You are so right about that Jon. We seldom target LT, but have picked some up over 3 MPH. In some areas slowing down below 2.5 the LT catch to Kings goes to LT. The LT are a good resource especially for the Charters. Paying customers want action, and to some a big fish is a big fish. I'm just grateful to live close to some of the best fishing in the country.

One huge trout. It looks like it swallowed a football. It does have the shape of a huge Brown.

hi everyone,this is my set up for my meat rigs,i use the plastic common meathead riggs different colors and sizes,one thing i keep the same is this,i use a peice of oxygen tubing or iv tubing that hosiptals use for paient care,some iv tubing is larger in diameter so go with the oxygen if ya can. slide meathead on your line cut a peice of oxygen tubing 1 3/4" long slide it on your line and tie on your trebble hook.this does three things gets rid of the tooth picks and protects the line from the fishes teeth and is the right lenght for most cut bait. i also put a dab of two part epoxy at the base of the trebble hook in between where all three hooks meet this prevents the line from entering the gap and being cut off, i do this to all my trebble hooks, hope this helps, PLAY HARD--FISH HARDER

BBBBBBBAD, I picked up 3 ft of the tubing 11 cents a foot. I tied up a meat head rig with a single 4/0 hook. The tubing is 1/8 ID and 3/16 OD. It worked slicker than snot on a door knob. I forced the tube over the eye of the hook to protect the snell also. I think I'm going to utilize this on all my rigs, including flies and squid. I like the way the hook is positioned. I think I will run a small glow squid 6 or 8 inches up from the meat head. I noticed before, a lot of the Salty Fishermen use shrink tubing on some of their ocean rigs. Thanks for the tip.