We run our boat A LOT, and cross the lake a few times a year, so we are a little more proactive when it comes to maintenance than most.
Oil and filter changed every 100hrs
Each Spring:
Impellers
Plugs
Caps and Rotors
Fuel filters
Check timing
Every 2 years:
Belts
Wires
Depends on water clarity, depth, and bait choice. In the spring in lightly stained water with shallow diving baits we'll run 150 on the outside, 140 in the middle, and 130 on the inside. As bites happen you have to shorten them. Once I get to 80 or 90 I'll pull a side and re-rig.
Obviously you adjust from there depending on the above factors.
Nobody want your numbers! Just go out and fish! 95% of the field fishes close enough to the port the event is held out of that everyone knows where people are fishing. Part of tourney fishing is learning to read boats.
Spring KOTL doesn't require numbers. Yet everyone and their mother fished with us on day 2 last year.
That being said I could care less if we had to have numbers or not. If the rules require them then fine. It keeps people honest during boarder events.
If you need more than 8 fishing is slow, or your in the wrong spot! The only time we go to more than 8 (6 board lines and 2 riggers) is when it slows. Even then you'd never see more than 12 total off the back of my boat.
Who installed it? Was it installed correctly?
We have marked Kings down 350-400' off Oswego, and regularly mark them down on the bottom in 250 in the West end of Lake Ontario. It could be settings related especially with the 'Bird ducer. There are multiple frequencies it can run on depending on what you want the unit to do (side image, down image, narrow and wide beam 2D).
When Erie froze over about 3 Winters ago we saw a lot of Fog in May on the West end. Radars were very helpful! The King bite was tough for the first half of the month, but Lakers and Coho were plentiful. Then some Salmon showed in numbers offshore for a few weeks towards the end of the month. The motherload hit the inside waters during the Niagara Pro Am. It was a slaughter!
Tim - you can sign prior to the WHI or OOO. If you sign up at the OOO then you can't count your WHi scores. So, if you fishing both you'd want to sign up for it at the WHI.
Minimum lengths are as follows:
King, Coho, Brown Trout, Lake Trout - 19"
Steelhead/Rainbow - 22"
Atlantic - 26"
Your Salmon limit can be any number of any species of Salmon.
A teams daily box will consist of 5 Salmon and 5 Trout. The maximum number of Lake Trout allowed in a teams box each day will be 3. The strategy level of this event will hit levels never seen on the Lake Ontario tourney trail! This is also a cull event.