skipper19

Yup, 4th of July. I try to put on a small display by firing off my old 12 Guage flares dated exp. 2009. They have been stored in the boat as extras in a watertight case along with the flare gun. The gun worked fine, but the flares, all four of them were duds. I do keep them updated... but now I really am sure that keeping the old ones is useless.

Thanks for the heads up Carl!

Les makes the point of learning to put human senses ahead of "automatic" as I did here too. His summary for entry level lake fishing is spot on. Any of us who have fished everything on Lake Ontario since the 80's has learned that human deduction thinking will always be the best tool on the boat. That comes from experience. You can spend thousands on devices that give you data readings and all those can do for a seasoned Ontario Troller is help dial in a set of baits somewhat faster in a data zone. The latest stuff isn't necessary for those on a budget. As I said before I have put the probe on last year and caught less fish...especially kings...can anyone honestly say last year was the best fishing for kings they ever had! Human deduction thinking set in pretty hard end of the season. All the electronic stuff running dead on in the known data zones and I had one of the worst seasons in a long time. So the probe only helped me spend more money to tell me I was doing my fishing in the zone...same as I would have done the previous years only with a lot more head shaking. Automatic is good for convenience. Like electric reels so ya don't have to wind. Just leave the rod in the holder and finish your beer. Auto pilot in case you're drunk or sleepy. No human experience interaction no problem right? Makes me want to get on a plane with pilots with no manual or visual flight skills. Captain Sully..yes..experience. Buffalo flight ...ice on the wings on autopilot until final approach? Not so much. The point is all that stuff can mask a lot of other problems including fishing where there are no fish, not knowing even how to net a fish...what's next automatic net? These probes are only as Carl said "data points"..helpful if ya know what you are looking at and apply experience to it. New guys! Get the experience first..charter with a Captain who will show you his experience. Get on with a seasoned lake fisherman on a boat equipped with downriggers and long line dipsey or coppers. That's what you need before automatic stuff.

I like the Simrad EVO units. Multiple function touch screen. Sizes all the way up to 18 inch! Big $...but very user friendly and intuitive. Do not have one YET...but planning on a 12 inch display bundle with 4G radar. Hope it performs like I believe it will. The fiddling with settings on what I have is what drives me nuts. Menus and pages and buttons...argh!

Other way around...sliding down the banister I guess..splinters are tough to remove too!^_^:wacko:

I put an X4 on my boat last year, and so far have caught less fish with it than I did the previous 4 years...might be poor fishing techniques or might be poor fish population or might be I don't fish as much last year and this year so far. I still rely on my senses of sight sound and graph. Sight...the rods are bent over right The rigger cables are deflecting right and drawing a bubble of air down, creeping on the cable to a foot or more before letting go. The color and look of the water are right. I see a thermocline and bait on the graph I see my riggers on the graph Sound...I hear the hum and whine of the riggers cable. It's right for speed. The drag pulling on the divers...too fast! Then drag screaming...speed just right! Look to see what it is on GPS look to see direction on compass heading....DUPLICATE! now with the probe...it's another gadget to narrow the possibility of a human error...CAPT CARL HAS IT NAILED!

I hate the smell of pinesol..er maybe it's taint..whatever I do not like it!

Nice job targeting specific species in the rock and roll Rick!