KING ME

great deals also at www.shopepal.com also at www.boemarine.com if you are still up in the air on what best suits your needs and budget give boe marine a call and talk with Jim. He will guide you in the right direction and unbiased professional input . Jim deals and services ALL manufacturers and can give you insight without drama or being bais.

when you stop learning the game is over!!!

why is it called "jumping on a bandwagon?"

how far you willing to travel from Rochester? L&M from this board is a mechanic and does great work. Not to mention he is "older" also

I was running the swr rig before I came up with the idea and started this message board back in 2006. Was running it also back when I first got my capt. License in 2001. So it has been around for awhile. Apparently it was only used by Yankee Troller, myself and a few others before Keatings book/seminar came around.

and gonna keep changing more and more. but thats what keeps it interesting

Realy??? but ALOT HAS NOT CHANGED! just stating that it's nothing new to lake ontario the swr has been around for a number of years and it works.

what are you looking for in a unit? color, size, thru hull transducer or transom mount. Multi function display or just a fish finder? what do you primary fish for and what depths?

I think there should be a few "sticky" threads made. 1 for Best manufacturer reel debate, another for best manufacture electronics debate, and then one for the best downrigger manufacture debate.

SWR have been around for many years, i can remember over 10 years ago running it down the chute with Shorthanded and woody for this board - smoked the browns and kings on this set up. Like everything else it is a tool of the trade - it will work but has it's time and place that it produces better than another set up. Just like down and outs of riggers or anything else.

all manufacturers have pro/con, bells and whistles we just did a huge upgrade ,switched out the furuno's and went with all raymarine. do a search and you will see a couple different discussions on this topic. everyone has their personal preferences just like rod/reels, boats, riggers, etc. it comes down to what you are looking for, $ and what works for you.

nope the reports you hear and read are probably alot closer to the truth on whats going on out there than the data you read or hear at the DEC meetings! I have spent COUNTLESS hours discussing these creel survey's and catch rate data. this argument is on the same basis as bait trawls and natural reproduction numbers of Chinook. Going to try to be VERY brief and vague on this ..... here are just a few issues that make the numbers inaccurate: 1. DEC creel census boats that collect the data 99% of the time are not present when majority of charter fleet returns to the port that the census is being held that day. I AM NOT SAYING THAT REC. ANGLERS don't catch as many fish just stating a fact. 2. The people providing information (charter and rec.) often provide inaccurate or incomplete information to the questions being asked by the DEC census personal. I have filing cabinets full of data, meeting notes, suggestions, compromises and etc .I can go on and on for pages about all this but i did my time and had my headaches. just a note for some food for thought.....

15lb. big game clear main line with 30' of 8-10lb flouro on the big boards, for the riggers we up the flouro. to 30' of 12lb for the kings and coho's hanging around the shallows.Okuma blue diamond rods on both boards and riggers.

Ryan makes great flies, fast turn around time. ANY color combo you can think of. Check his site out you will not be disappointed Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Fish hunter -yes big weenie makes alot of nice whole and cut bait rigs!!!!! final added note sometimes just a clean bait head (non twinky rigged) either behind an attractor or simply just behind a dispey diver with no attractor is deadly.

final fight- when "pegging" place a small bead between "peg" and the squid or fly. As for spacing I space mine 12" - 16" apart depending on overall length of twinky harness and first one is placed 24" for bait head. you can play with how many, spacing, color combos with the teasers - possibilities are endless.

Okuma blue diamonds - bd-c-762ml-1 rods are 7'6" med/light action have a triangle fore grip which is very comfortable and "natural" to hold on to. browns and coho's are perfect on this rods and enough backbone for the lurking spring king.

Wow sorry that just plain sucks. best of luck with insurance company and finding another boat.

As Matt stated -Tuna tom does excellent work! he did all my old sealines and i know alot of anglers that have used him -all with great feedback. Any issues with any manufacturers reels - he is the one to go to.

Vince- excellent point you mentioned about backing off drags! I see alot of anglers that don't do this -regardless of the manufacturer it is important. Also proper care and maintenance- reel oil does wonders. I have owned just about every manufactures reels designed for the great lakes also - been fishing L.O. since i was 8 years old.All manufacturers have some "corks" either past or present. I owned Daiwa Sealines for years, then moved to shimano charter specials, back to Daiwa sealines, penn gti's, then Shimano Tekota (500lc - 800) then sold them and now for past 2 seasons been Okuma. Have 38 okuma's currently and have not had any issues with them. Convector 20 linecounters, Catalina 30da, Clarion 553's and Solterra for copper. i have no experience with the coldwater or magda line of Okuma but i can say that i have had no issues with any of my Okuma's. No upgrades made to them, just routine maintenance and care. I am very satisifed with them and no plans on switching reels back to another manufacturer.