Tacklebox

Go into a bay or small lake on a calm day. You just can’t tell on the big lake.

Thanks guys. Sun damage and general wear from the downrigger has to take its toll, but to what extent? I hear Spectra is fairly UV resistant. I assume most are using original PowerPro spectra or Scotty's spectra. If I had to guess as to when to change for a typical rec boat, it would be 3 years on most riggers, and double that with a Scotty electric or a rigger that gets covered up each day, as long as the last few feet are trimmed 2x a year. I would also expect heavier weights will affect its life as will 250lb vs 150lb. Of course coming into contact with something underwater (like debris, or a wire line) could drastically shorten it's life! It seems expensive compared to wire if it needs changing every 1-2 years unless you're a busy charter.

That's exactly the setup I use. Main tank to selector, then primer bulb to water separator to my Tohatsu kicker or main outboard.

I'm wondering how long braid for downriggers will last before replacement is needed? For you guys that have been running it a lot, do you notice any wear before its a problem? What I really want to know is would you trust it with a Fish Hawk probe over using wire cable!

I figured the wire would get damaged eventually. Maybe heat shrink that doubles as a distance marker? Not too keen about the wire running out to the board either. Would like to hear if anyone else has been able to do this without losing tackle!

Is anybody running steel backed with 19 strand off a board? Sounds like this combo should only be run off the back of the boat unless you're adding sections of braid too.

Nice brown. Its fun when all you need is a little boat.

On Friday my friend Paul and I decided to do some mid-day fishing, so it was 11:30 when our first lines hit the water. Two minutes later we had our first hit. Expecting mostly a brownie bite we were pleasantly surprised when this nice walleye came to the net! I wouldn't mind seeing these guys on a regular basis around here. After that we caught 4 rainbows in a row before hooking up with the usual suspects. The fish were eager to hit. Twice we had fish bite while hooking up the releases. No cohos today. 11 and 13 rapalas were the hot ticket for us with the bows showing their preference for orange and the rest on silver. All C&R. We stayed awful tight to shore most of the time and ONLY caught bottom twice Lots of good stained water to be found. Speeds from a pokey 2 mph to 3.5 all produced hits. Bill

I've actually seen deer in Ontario a few times. Like Just Fishin' saw, one was offshore headed for Canada. Gotta wonder if dogs chased them or what it is.

Very nice atlantic Dave, and great job on the brownies. Wow!

Thanks guys. Nah, I'm just getting warmed up I've definitely been traveling around more this year with the new project boat.

It was aother stellar weekend for fishing. Started out Saturday off the Genny in 140' working our way out to 300 and back with a steady pick all morning. Kings, cohos, steels, lakers and a beauty 15.5lb atlantic kept us busy. Hot lure off the 110' rigger was an NK mag in sliver/blue taking silvers including the atlantic. Wires pulling white paddles w/little boy blue and hammer flies took lakers and immature kings. The 300 copper with green spic doc/fly took a couple kings too. No matures this trip but only 2 skippies. We had one steelie rocket to the surface and leap out of the water a few times while he spit the lure back at us. Sunday afternoon I took my girlfriend and our yellow lab out to Hughes for a could of hours. Started setting up in 120 and immediately took a steelie off the 100' rigger on a blue/silver NK. Headed north for a quick look and only hooked a skippy so I turned back into 130 where we doubled up on steels. Another pass yielded up one more. By now the dog is whining so we wrapped it up. Bill

120 to 220' produced for us this weekend. Lead loc fish on day 2. White spin doc/hammer on 300 wire. Hope it stays on the board. Some quality fish this year. Here's my friend Paul with his trophy. Bill

Heading west we found the cohos were still around with a few browns thrown in. Mid morning we had something big hit. 20 min later we're looking in the water at this pig brown. Then - netting mishap. I hate that crushed feeling. Great day to be on the water. Here's a pic of the boys.

After much discussion about the weather I convinced a couple of friends the lake would be fishable so in the morning we headed out the Genny instead of our usual port at Hughes. Soon after setting out our spread of stickbaits in the muddy water we had a coho on. The wind was out of the west with 1-2 footers with only one other boat in sight. It looked like it might shape up to be a good day. Sure enough a few minutes later we had another one on. Coho. Pinpointing the warmest spot in the upper 40s we would pick up a coho on most every pass. Numerous fish were caught and we had a great time. Silver and black rapalas did best for us. Where was everyone? Bill