Priority1

Get 2.

It's GR8 U made it out. I hope to have mine in the next decent day. It's always nice to get that shakedown cruise behind you, and start concentrating on fishin.

Cool pic Cazz. Are those #6 shotgun pellet holes in the deck rails. Now I can only imagine how you get those bucks.

WTG nice catch.

I would say that it's adequate, but common sense has to enter the picture. There are times when I wouldn't want to be out there in a 40 footer. It would also be nice to have a lil more HP.

22-30 FOW. Bottom Bouncers with various color homemade crawler harnesses. More limits than not last yr, but a lot of under size fish. Should be another G8 yr.

Rich, You should have changed the count under you avatar. LOL

I have a few odds and ends to do, and if all goes well I'll launch it this week.

These Charter Captains have to produce fish for their customers. Boards and leadcore are for the spooky fish. Dipsys for me have been HOT. I have used the planerboards for Walleye for over 20 years. You spook the fish to the sides, and have something waiting for them. The riggers produce, for those in your face fish that have no fear of lead balls, prop wash, cables, etc. What I feel about the leadcore on planerboards, and Dipsy presentations is not that much different than the boards for Walleye. Picture this. The boat and riggers pass over some spooky fish. The fish scatter to the sides. What do you have waiting for them?? Dipsy 75-150 ft back. Another Dipsy 100-200 ft back. Leadcore on planerboards 600 ft back. The stealth like presentation of the Dipsys and Planer boards is also there for the undisturbed fish that they happen to pass in front of. So these off the side presentations target the fish they normally would pass over, but also the fish spooked by the rest of your gear. Why these presentations have been outdoing riggers is just that simple. Of course this is just my way of looking at it, and I may be wrong. Let's ask the fish.

Don't be between me and a rod that goes, unless you have the rod in your hand. I got used to running free sliders to get another lure in the water. It is so important to grab that shaking rod and reel up the slack.The same goes when a release trips, you need to put some tension on the fish. I have had a quite a few Kings come at the boat. Nothing worse than slack line.

My Dipsys were hot, but I haven't run leadcore yet. I have the gear, and will try leadcore this year. Does anyone run leadcore in the dark? It seems like it would be tough to do. I probably wouldn't even try it unless I was a mile away from everyone, and it was daylight. Thanks in advance.

Nice Pics Mike. I'll bet those boys loved every minute of that trip.

Dipsys by far. Most days we would limit before daybreak. When we fished the evenings, when the sun touched the horizon, GET READY.

The DNR Launch in Tawas is now ice free. As of 9:00 AM this morning, the launch docks were still not in. There were about 6 trailers in the parking area. There was still some ice inside the harbor around the State Docks.

Hand held VHF radios are mostly limited by the antenna length and lack of power. VHF radio reception is basically a line of sight thing. If you must, I would select a good ICOM hand held. For safety sake, I would go with a Fixed ICOM VHF and a quality 8 foot antenna.

A 8 inch white glow FishCatcher And a white glow squid. These did exceptionally well off the Dipsys, but they worked OK off the riggers.

VN Boat Baydog. I am very partial towards the Hardtops. They are like finding a shade tree in the middle of the desert. I know you will enjoy your new ride. If you want to run big boards, the Hartops make it so EZ. A couple of 1/4 inch S.S. eye bolts as high and as close to the front of the HT as possible, is all you need. This is inexpensive and it leaves a nice clean look. If you want some details PM me.

The DNR launch in Tawas is still iced in.

Nice Rig Capt Dan. Those G.W.s are well constructed boat. Maybe we will cross wakes on the Saginaw Bay this year.

WB Mike.

Nice boat Tony. You know I Love them Starcrafts. At one point I had two 22 ft SC Islanders and A P#@#%# Off wife. LMAO:lol: I hope to see that boat in action on the Bay this yr.

Upgrade to electronics ignition. About $200. Here is a link. Don't get hung up on the OMC. That same GM engine is used in the Mercruisers also. Click this http://www.amarket.com/imdist8v.htm Here is another link http://www.michiganmotorz.com/3.0L+Delco+Voyager+EST+marine+electronic+distributor+kit

Nice boat Spoon. Pursuit makes a good solid boat. How do you have it rigged?

Running in line weights or bottom bouncers 10# mono trolling around 1 MPH 2 oz of lead and about a 45 degree line angle will get you down about 25 ft. Best bet is to add weight to your set up till you start ticking bottom. More line out and angle will take you deeper also. Like you mentioned there are so many variables. You can put on an ounce and troll in till you bump bottom and get a good indication from a graph reading. Hope this helps.

I've been told I have that much lead in my A$$ at times. Maybe from too many pancakes. But seriously, it sounds like a good deal some lead for some pancake weights.