stinger

Spoonfed>

Here is another version of making the trolling fly: http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/tips/ ... ctions.htm supplies: http://www.stanleysstingerflies.com/ http://www.lakemichiganangler.com/store/store.htm (bottom right cornor of page)

well.....that's not vary good news. My helm is all ripped apart. Tired autopilot is out, worn out rack steering out,........new steering & autopilot to be added in March. Hope the bankruptcy can be turned around or the company can be salvaged.

You have to have a good set of arms when you play the COPPER game. Generally not much fun for the kids. Lyteline got around that issue with this....> .......................> It's battery operated and semi-portable.

Thanks Gez for the heads up on this. Checked out the link. Seams simple enough. Will consider it.

Hi Sean,.......I'm pretty much sold on the Raymarine SmartPilot X-5 Sport Pilot. That unit seems to be like a modern day version of my King AP2000 autopilot. I like the idea of a helm mounted unit. No hydraulic lines & fittings to jerk around with. No rudder feedback gizmo adjustments to add to the mix. Although the X5 had some issues early this year Raymarine was quick to get it right. That is important to me. I'll be installing the X5 in my boat unless some more negative stuff develops over the winter. There are a few posts in the last 12 months about autopilots. Do a search and you'll see that everyone has their favorite just like downriggers, sonar, GPS/Chartplotter. I like simple and this unit sounds simple. Go to Raymarines website and download the installation manual. You'll see how easy it is to install. http://www.raymarine.com/ProductDetail. ... ODUCT=4177 Good luck on selecting a unit Sean. Love to hear what unit you finally decide on and why. Mike

...like you Chowder I put about 4 hours on my boat Saturday.....stripping out my autopilot and some of my steering. Got lil’Buddy all packed up for the winter. Will be installing new hydraulic steering and autopilot around Feb/March. After 2 boats and 17 years of service my autopilot got tired. Time for a new one. My cable steering also is starting to get worn out after 7 years of trolling with this boat and a good time to replace it. This is not exactly the fishing report I like to make but while I was shifting stuff (rods, flasher/dodger boxes, fly boxes, plugs & spoon boxes) around the boat I kept thinking how I should have been out on the lake instead of tearing my boat apart. Great report Chowder. Thanks. You made me jealous this morning reading it.

No I didn't read your EFA post HB. I'll have to do a search and check it out. The main reason for the reminder of the new PFD law was more for the safety aspect than dodging tickets. I made a similiar post down in the Finger Lakes Section because of the winter fishing. I added these lines on that post. "Just remember if you go over in that 37-40 deg water you won't last long but if your wearing a life jacket at least your family will have a body for the funeral and you'll be saving the local emergency personal a lot of time & money." This is what I use. http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/store ... 0_225-17-0

I posted this in the Open Lake Discussion area also....... viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14267 Just remember if you go over in that 37-40 deg water you won't last long but if your wearing a life jacket at least your family will have a body for the funeral and you'll be saving the local emergency personal a lot of time & money.

Just a reminder & a heads up......this takes effect this Sunday 11/1/09 http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20 ... ect+Sunday

After spending a day in a boat with Frisco your lucky all you got was the flu

Had a pretty good day out on the lake. Didn’t get the quality fish that Sean (Hookedup) did the other day but we were up the lake farther and didn’t go scouting once we started to catch fish (never leave fish to find fish,.. right?). That’s what my guest, Frisco keeps telling me. Well seen as he was my guest I went along with what he said and didn’t pull rank on him. I needed him to steer the boat `cause my autopilot pooped out on my last trip a couple weeks ago. Anyway we stayed with it in the hopes of knocking off a couple of those beauty rainbows but that never happened. So anyhow our day was a 43+1 for 46er. No bows or browns. 25 Lakers & 18 LL’s and a +1. Now what in the heck is a +1.....I’ll get to that later. We launched out of Long Point and set up lines just as we cleared the shallows & headed north. Fished the East side up to the green can and doubled back south pretty much on the same course. Started catching fish in the 95' FOW off the college and it was pretty much steady until we knocked off. All the LL’s were short in the 15" to 17" range and were hitting spoons mostly but a few hit flies down 70' to 90' off the ball & out 210 to 240 on the dipsey . The lakers ranged from 17" to 27" and took spoons & flies, mostly flies. Both rigger & dipsey were taking fish but I think the dipsey may have popped a few more overall. Ok, what about the +1. Well this was a first for me. Never caught one of these on a dodger/fly before and never heard anyone else mention it either. I may be giving away a tightly held secret and hope I’m not blowing it by giving this up...........My prize of the day (and maybe the season) is this beauty caught off the rigger down 70' over 80' - 115' FOW Closeup of my prize . . . That's the end of my report and also the end of Lil' Buddy's season.

H&C,...you had the right idea about this site. It's here to share. Not all share info. Some just read the posts and don't contribute and some just hoard info like it's a matter of national security. They are just threatened by their own shortcomings. Don't pay any attention to them. If everyone did that then this board wouldn't exist. Info on this board is give and take. Hang in there. I hope your kids get tired arms from reeling in fish.

Do a search for jigging for lake trout. Vary effective. Past post on this subject should give you enough info to get you up and running.

....well sliderman, while you are at your office dreaming of all those bows on skinny, two of your buddies have read the above reports and are now out on the lake reducing the number of rainbows for you to catch.

This quote came from a locked topic. Chris,.....I've been interested in that X5 to replace my existing autopilot but held back when the recall started earlier in the season. Just wondering if you would give us a post on the status of the X5. Thanks

Fished yesterday (Monday 10/5) up around the Long Point area. All fish caught were in the 50' to 80' range, mostly over 85' to 125' bottom. Spoons at 50' & 60' would only produce dinks in the 15" size, 9 LL’s, 1 rainbow and 1 eyeball. The LL's must of been hitting on the side of the spoons because I got 4 of them foul hooked on the side of their heads hence the eyeball must of popped out on one fish. Lakers hit flies off the rigger 70'-80' & dip @ 200'-230' # 2 setting. Boated 9 lakers from 15" to 23". Lots of bait and it was all on the bottom at 80'-90' or suspended at the same dept close to structure. Tried plugs on the surface,then with a ½ oz drop weight and then off the ball @ 15', 20', 25', 35' & 40',.....no takers Winds picked up about noon so I packed it up. Hope to get out a couple more times before Lil’ Buddy goes into hibernation.

Yes, you are right. My bad

I thought I'd post this here for those that may trailer from this area and would like to keep ethanol out of your boat as long as possible.. The Citgo station on the corner of Exchange & Susquehanna Streets does not have ethanol in their fuel. Asked the owner because I did not see any stickers on the pumps indicating that there was 10% ethanol in the fuel. He said that his tanks & supply line could not be used for that blend and that he was not going to pay to have the system upgraded. I asked if he would be forced to upgrade and he said as of right now there is no mandatory directive so he'll just keep everything as is.

I thought I'd post this here for those that may trailer from this area and would like to keep ethanol out of your boat as long as possible.. The Citgo station on the corner of Exchange & Susquehanna Streets does not have ethanol in their fuel. Asked the owner because I did not see any stickers on the pumps indicating that there was 10% ethanol in the fuel. He said that his tanks & supply line could not be used for that blend and that he was not going to pay to have the system upgraded. I asked if he would be forced to upgrade and he said as of right now there is no mandatory directive so he'll just keep everything as is.

The wind forecast for Sat & Sun is pretty mild right now (5'-6's), so you should be OK. http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/fin ... uery=14850 Couple riggers and a couple dipsey's and you'll catch fish. Look back at the last couple weeks of reports. Nothing has changed much. Have fun.

opps,.....double post. How'd that happen?

Vic, this one fell for Mr Wiggly this past Sunday.

Rainbow

Thanks for the heads up Ray.