mr 580

Ok, glad to see you got some help. Your description was a bit confusing so it wasn’t clear if you had a display issue or problem with probe signal feed. Sounds like an antenna will fix you right up.

When you power up the display you should have several dashes appear on display. If the display stays blank you need to check 12v power supply and ground for display. The coax cable, antenna, and coated cable feed the 9v signal to the display from the probe itself. Sounds like your issue might be in the wiring to your display if your screen stays totally blank.

If most of your fishing is Lake Erie, the 12lb ball will be fine with a probe. For non probe rigger might not be bad idea to drop to a 10lb. On Erie most people are trolling slower especially if running crawler harness and same goes for cowbells for lakers.

The small alternators on kickers don’t keep up with the draw used trolling especially with high speed riggers. What position is your battery switch in? Best bet is to run 1 or 2 position not in “both”. When you run “both” the weaker battery draws down the better battery. Also how old are your batteries? I’ve had older batteries that load test as good when fully charged, but then discharge quickly. 3 years is roughly the life expectancy of a battery. Your Honda should have an alternator. I had a Honda and the alternator output feed was an option sold separately. So check your wiring to see if it has been wired in to your electrical system. With fully charged batteries, you should be able to run all day on a single battery with your second battery as a backup. Between trips charge the battery. My next kicker will have a larger alternator for sure.

The Mag 10A motor assembly has a internal gear arrangement with three plastic pucks. When those pucks disintegrate the motor begins to “skip” on retrevial. Pull output gear off shaft and lift cover to expose the pucks. I made some new pucks for a rigger I used to have- think I might have the jig and the composite material to make more. Cannon doesn’t have motors for that model available. I had trouble finding pieces to fix my rigger and that was probably 7 years ago.

Snap weights are a good option. Make a lot of sense especially in smaller boats where rod storage is tough. With 3 and 5 colors plus some snap weights a lot of depths could be covered. In line boards also save space and go well with snap weight setup.

If you are heading to Dunkirk or Silver Creek just PM me and I’ll share info. For anything over 7 colors I have been using Tuff Line Microlead and I run my 10 colors on 50 Saltists. Makes a big difference using a high speed reel.

I setup a 250 BR walleye copper on a Daiwa 57 LC5 this winter. I can’t say how much backer in terms of feet were, but I felt it was more than adequate. My thought was same as yours- hit 60 or so down with less line than a 10 color. I played around with the walleye copper a few years ago in shorter lengths to possibly replace some lead core but wasn’t happy with the result. If you have silver bass wad up that copper you can have quite an impressive mess.

It’s been a while since I’ve fished Honeoye but likely still fishes the same. Usually pretty much a night bite early trolling plugs shallow. Should be a weed line to work in daytime. Lots of bass and panfish. I used to fish it in May, after Memorial Day it got too busy for me. At night you had to watch for “stealth” trollers without lights and docks. Was never big on numbers but you could usually find a few eyes. Living in Rochester area it was a close option for eyes. Being small info was always limited and guys were tight lipped.

Sometimes there are some good savings on “factory reconditioned” and “open box” electronics. Advantage here is that you might have a warranty that used won’t have. A few years ago I picked up a reconditioned Humminbird for about half price with 6 months warranty instead of a full year- the only thing I could find was the plastic cover had some sanding marks cleaning up a mark from a mold. IMO used electronics can be risky unless you can see them working.

Yes, the power handles are different. Handle is longer.

I've been able to reuse some of the them. I f you are careful taking them apart sometimes they won't be damaged. If I don't like the looks then I put in a new one.

I look at them several times a season-probably more for the probe rigger. If I see anything I change it out. I use Cannon terminators and clincher style which are both pretty troublefree. It is better to be safe than sorry. Normally I redo probe about twice a season.

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The possession limit is the issue. If you were staying near Northeast then you could fish Northeast in the morning then drop that catch at camp then trailer to Barcelona to fish NY in afternoon so you never exceeded each states daily limit with you. Even then I don’t believe you can travel with more than two days limit.

IMO if you were checked at the ramp in Northeast and you had two coolers of walleye that you would be under Pennsylvania regulations and limits without any consideration of N.Y. limits. Suggest you check regulations as that scenario is likely covered-same would hold with bringing fish back from Canadian waters. If the Pennsylvania limit is 6 walleyes then that is what will be allowed as you can’t designate New York fish or Pennsylvania fish.

I use Salty S17’s in my musky trolling setup and they work well in that application. One downside in a salmon trolling setup is on many boats the rod butt will stick out into the deck space so you have to be careful not to knock rod loose from holder going to other rods. As hard as dipseys pull I prefer a full length metal tube rod holder for dipseys. With the salties you might want to have a “safety” cord on your rod just in case rod gets a hard hit or knocked around.

In the eighties we ran a lot of lightweight spoons like evil eyes and Sutton’s. I kept my boat in Braddocks then and one Fall Derby after a hot tough day on the lake we stopped at WYC for a cold one. A couple guys were there who were fishing some prototype spoons that outfished us 2 to 1. Turned out they were NK’s. Back then information was tough to come by as most guys were tight lipped. When the NK 28’s became available the tackle stores kept them under the counter and you had to ask for them- they were wrapped in paper. They really did change the spoon game as they made heavier blanks popular and they had better plating and components than others. They set a new standard for trolling spoons. Many of today spoons have some NK similarities. The fact they are still being made shows it was a good design.

I don’t know what would be involved in adding a 6 amp alternator to a 9.9 Mercury. I can tell you that a 6 amp alternator will not keep up with multiple riggers, ff, gps, wash down and vhf. I have a 9.9 Yamaha with 6 amp rated and I figure I might get 2 amps at trolling speed with my 25 footer. I have to charge batteries between trips. When I update kickers I’ll look for at least 12 amp rating in hopes I might get 5 or 6 amps trolling.

Shakespeare has an antenna selector on it’s website that explains differences in the antenna offerings. Pretty detailed and helps explain price differences.

Leadcore is measured by color with each color being 30 feet- so when you let out 10 colors you are letting out 300 ft of line. Spooling up 5 colors is 150 ft of line. Normally you let out all the leadcore and use backing to attach to a board as the leadcore can be damaged in a release. Rule of thumb for depth is roughly 5 feet of depth per color- 10 colors 45 to 50 down and a 5 color 20 to 25 depending on lure and speed of troll.

If I was limited to two lead core lines, it would be a five and a ten color. Five color pretty effective early in the year and fishes well off boards. For the ten I find that a high speed reel like a Saltist 50 and Tuff Line Microlead make fishing a long line easier. The microlead takes less spool space so allows for more backer. Having some snap weights and a lot of different depths could be covered with two setups. Having the right reel makes a lot of difference in “liking” fishing lead core and wire.