jimski2

I wonder if someone installed an electrical device using the hull as a ground circuit rather than running negative wires back to the battery. That could cause electrolysis. There are a lot of unpainted aluminum boats sitting in salt water year round without corrosion . You must control the degradation of your sacrificial zinc anode on your outdrive. Paint on an aluminum boat is mainly an appearance enhancer to increase sales and desirability to compete with the chrome and gelcoats of fibreglass boats. Whatever you do, don't paint the underwater portions of your aluminum boat with a copper based antifouling paint. Copper and aluminum react with each other to destruction. There are special underwater paints made for aluminum hulls.

I used 1/2 inch "treated plywood" from Home Depot in my Lund. The old boards were used to trace a pattern. The old rugs were glued back in. I have some worries about the "copper" fungicides in the treated plywood, but we'll see what happens. If I had to do it again, I'd try diamond plate aluminum for the decks as you wouldn't need carpets or rubber matting. I'm not an "appearance freak", just want good function for my boat. If you went with diamond plate, you'd need to install your seat mounts before you fasten the deck down.

A lot of better fishermen are switching to the scented rubber/plastic lures made by Gulp, Yum, etc. and forgoing the use of minnows and worms. Their catch rates are higher, they claim. Anyway, I'm stockpiling a lot of that stuff also to use this year, like the lottery, you never know.

On the lower Niagara River, we used "the no communication rule" with one fellow on the boat. That was he didn't get any "Dr. Juice" trout scent for his egg sacks. We had 15 rainbows for the two of us to his one when we relented and gave him some. His catch rate then picked up. I wouldn't fish without the Juice on my sacs, especially in ice cold waters.

The"No Communications Rules" that I was brought up with were always and still are in existence. 1. You cannot drink beer or drink in another bar with members of another boat's crew. 2. You do not hold the net in the air when reeling in a fish, try to slide it over the transom if you can. 3. Sit down and reel in a fish so no one sees it. 4. Don't tell nobody nothing! 5. Say nothing over the radio, be like a submarine and don't come up with anything. All cell phones are to be left at home to prevent "bad news" from reaching the boat and ruining the day. 6. Violation of any of the rules will result in shunning and banishment to the beach. It should be noted that these rules are to be followed at all times, not just fishing contests.

Across the pond, the Bay of Quinte Walleye guys had a good December catching huge walleyes. They're still fishingfrom boats there.

Ultimate Fishing Show Detroit, presented by www.showspan.com January 12 to 15, 2007.

Last spring the amount of Emerald Shiners I saw in Wilson and Olcott Harbors was the highest in many years. This may be due to a smaller population of smelt, but I think it was a positive sign for the future.

The question is-"is the rule enforcible?" With text messaging, cellphones, DSC, other radios, I don't think so. If the rule isn't enforcible, why have it. I'm the type of guy who doesn't think its right to share info, but there will always be someone.

Try using a "double lure" off the dipsey.A spoon and a diving plug give off a lot of attraction together.

My good buddy won a Grady also, then the IRS wanted the tax on the list price of the boat package. All the good buddies back then bailed out. He was lucky to sell the boat for 50 cents on the list price, the tax man came and took his federal and state income taxes. Needless to say, a lot of good friends were lost. Make sure everyone shares the real "proceeds" after taxes and sales. Or else consider yourself lucky you didn't win and have to deal with "the sharing of the prize". Maybe the prize should go to the guy who caught the fish and keep the friendships together.

If these guys are in the Bay of Quinte, they must be out in the Lake also. We have to motivate ourselves to run some worm harnesses off the boards and see what happens.

The feed wire from the battery to the radio should be 10 Gauge copper to get full transmit power. A guy changed mine to 16 gauge and my buddies said my radio was coming in weak. After I found out and fixed it back to 10 gauge did it work right.

Yes, when shorter lengths of leadcore are producing, I'll shorten up the ten color rods. I use 4 & 5 color rods + two 10 color rods. Getting the lines away from the boat seems to be the way to go, especially with the high lines. I don't use the dipseys off the boards, the #3 setting seems to get them far enough away. Alot of my buddies aren't using riggers anymore, just leadcore and dipseys, and they're producing good fish.

When I run the leadcore off the big boards, I use an alligator clip on a shower curtain ring. On the line, I attach a rubber band by dipping it through itself andhalfhitching it. Small lines require only a "red rubber band". Larger rigs like leadcore, I use the brown rubber bands. If you have a small fish on, they may not release but you'll notice an increased stretch or bouncing on the rubber band. The dipseys have a slotted screw for adjusting the tension on the release. If they trip for no reason, then tighten the screw, loosen it up if it's too tight. You have to play with the release tension to get it just right. I like them to release as easy as possible to not have to snap them hard to get them to trip.

When water temperatures are lower, the thinner lighter spoons work best at slower speeds. As the waterwarms up, the heavier NK spoons work better at higher trolling speeds. My 2 cents.

One thing I've experienced is don't jerk the probe and cannonball as the cable will break and you'll be buying a new probe, cannonball and terminal gear for the tune of over $100. The cable is not as strong as other wire and the high speed riggers may snap the cable. Go slow raising and stopping the rigger with the probe on it. You may be using heavier cannonballs and that wont help matters. Also expect more "blowback" from the drag of the probe so your depth may be higher than indicated on your rigger spool.

The West Coast commercial trollers usually use 6 lines. Two 50#, two 40# and two 30# cannonballs run off a powered gurdy with 6 spools of very heavy wire cable to which lures and dodgers are attached with snap clip. That's a lot of metal and for sure they may need the electrical charge balanced from all that goes on in salt water. I measured my riggers one day as the Black Box sales people direct and sure enough there is a reading. I didn't buy one because we catch enough fish without it. I've really thought about using the kevlar line power pro for downrigger cable since it probably doesn't conduct the charge like steel wire.But then aren't we catching enough fish? Also, I'm using dipseys and leadcore off the boards a lot more than the riggers lately.

In 1965, the Coast Guard was ordered to respond to Viet Nam. The only firearms training we had was 5 days in boot camp. It took them 2 months for firearms and self defense training to prepare them to go. If they aren't trained on a regular basis, how can you expect them to respond to the drug dealers, aliens entries, terrorist threats and the next war?

www.clevelandboatshow.com It's not as big as NY City but bigger than anything we'll have in WNY. There's a lot of used boats available in the Western Basin area of Lake Erie also. Jan. 12 to 21, 2007. 1200 or more boats on display.

We trolled for salmon all winter long in Puget Sound and there is an established winter salmon fishery in Kachemak Bay near Homer, Alaska. The key to the fishing is you need an enclosed heated boat. On Lake Ontario you also need to be aware of icing of your hull from spray and the fact that if you have a problem, there is no one ready to go out and help you. The fish could be anywhere in the water column but warm spots attract more fish. There is a sewage outfall east of Fort Niagara where the warmer water attracts brown trout like crazy. The safety factor is the most important consideration. Look at those mountain climbers on Mt. Hood and all the problems they caused.

Speed is true speed over ground, on the water you are to be aware of changes by currents that your lure action may change. Always look at your lures when trolling to check their action. There is surface speeds and speed at the ball that are different than speed over ground.

I use a Garmin handheld on my boat as a different page display and it has accumalated a lot of waypoints. I take it in my motorhome on trips and it gets me back to where I'm staying, etc. I've taken it to Alaska and used it in my brother's plane to keep track of our flights. He was impressed enough to buy one for the plane. Whether you're in your boat, car or a small plane, you can't beat a small handheld GPS. Where it didn't work was when I left the moose camp in Alaska, it didn't give me the proper bearing to return to camp. You have to be moving for that function and you still need a hand compass.

Being married makes going out on the boat twice the fun.

www.billshooks.com in Dunkirk, NY