mr 580

Rod and reel choices tend to be pretty personal choices. To me no problem using the same rigger and dipsey rods for salmon and walleye trolling. The only thing you might do is drop down in leader size for the eyes. I run more leadcore for eyes so I have different setups for eyes vs my board lines for salmon. I like larger capacity reels so I can handle a king or handle leadcore plus backing on the eyes. IMO the place to put the money is in the reel to get a good drag- today there are some decent rods priced pretty reasonable. Likely you'll find that 6 is just a start.

I have a 9.9 on my 25 Walk and an 8 on my 17 Lund. The 9.9 trolls fine on the 25. When I update that motor I'll likely go bigger to get more amps from the alternator. The 9.9 doesn't keep up when running all my electronics so I have to run a trickle charger between trips. If I had a 15 I think it might keep battery charged.

I ran the torpedo cable for a while and used both their antenna and a depth raider antenna with a Scotty adapter ilo of standard spring. I had better signal with Scotty adapter than torpedo antenna. So I don't see why you couldn't use standard DR antenna. I went back to regular coated cable as I found connection and signal finicky on the torpedo. Regular coated seems to work better for me.

The DEC in the last few months did a webinar on Deer Management where you could participate on line or attend. I attended on line and was surprised how small the number was of people on line. To me way more deer hunters than trout/salmon fisherman. I didn't get to the Lockport meeting as I had a conflict. I usually attend State of the Lake meeting and am usually surprised with the small number of people there. If you can't go at least comment on line during the comment period. When I've commented I've generally had a response from the DEC. To me Steve LaPan has worked hard to get angler input and get info out. If you can attend these meetings it's well worth the time.

What would you use for wires? Has to be very small. Years ago we'd take temp readings with a hand held temp gauge hooked to the rigger with boat in neutral. Had two rubber coated wires-blow back didn't allow you to leave probe hooked to rigger if you went in gear. To me not worth the energy to monkey with this-just buy a commercially made speed and temp.

Another thought for you- if you troll a lot update your kicker to a four stroke. They pop up used fairly regularly especially towards spring. No smell, little maintenance and they are good on fuel. Then when you find a boat package in your budget you'll have already updated the kicker. IMO in a mid range motor like a 90 or 115, the four stroke is the way to go. I don't see a 13K investment as a wise choice into a 30 year old boat however. Best to be patient and keep looking. Would think you could move up 20 years for 15K in a low hour boat, motor and trailer.

Made a quick trip today to 28 line before I pulled boat. Lots of warm water-had 56@100. Took fish at 115, 100 and 270 out on a dipsey. Young kings and steel-hate to target those fish this time of year. Packed it up after a couple hours.

I attach a section of 30lb mono to the braid for diver to slide on- 40 feet works for me. Never have any slip issue- I do keep an eye on the mono as it tends to kink up after a while. I change it out if I see an issue. X2 on using 30 size reel-also use some 47lc's for braid.

Do you know how the previous owner had the engine programmed for oil use? The ETEC can be setup to use XD50 and aftermarket oils. It also can be programmed to use only the more expensive XD100 Evinrude oil. This is a leaner setting designed to be used with the 100 oil(pay more for oil but use less with less fouling). If you didn't get a manual for engine with boat, you should get one. Besides oil use it will give you info on how to "winterize" this engine-very easy. Might have to go to a dealer to attach laptop to check/change programming for oil and check for updates.

I used to go to Cape Vincent late August and September to target walleyes off the shoals out in the lake. We'd run stick baits off the riggers and boards. Eyes we would get were big-was a quality bite not a quantity bite. 25 to 30 feet down on riggers was a pretty good place to start. Water was pretty warm if I remember correctly and we didn't target any trout or salmon just looked for eyes.

Moor and Depth Raider use cable for signal. Have to used plastic coated cable or the Torpedo cable with a wire sheath exterior and a fine coated signal cable in the center. Have used both and IMO pros and con with both. With good connections both read down 100 plus.

Rich s, my thought process when I went to 12lb torpedo was exactly same as yours. What's a couple more pounds going to do. I had rigged boat so my probe was on an old slow mag 10. Initially I ran 10lb as I had on my old boat for years. When I didn't like blow back I used homemade 11lb fish shaped weight I had kicking around which was a little better so I figured 12lb will be what I want. I was only fishing weekends then and had the issue the same season I moved to the 12lb weight. Figured I'd share as two risks to me- first you'll likely loose your gear when it goes and if that includes probe, weight, and release equals big $$$. Then unless you can find used parts you'll turn a working rigger into some used parts. I was lucky when mine failed and saved gear. I'd had rigger for 20+ years so they didn't owe me anything so I got a couple new ones.

I'll pass along my experience of running 12lb weights on early Mag 10A's. Never tripped a breaker, but started getting some problems coming up like rigger was skipping. Eventually rigger failed completely and free wheeled in both directions. Took rigger apart and electric motor ran fine in both directions. What had failed were three white plastic pucks inside the sealed right angle drive at the end of the motor. Believe they were designed to absorb shock of stopping/starting weight. The heavier weight crushed the plastic and those motors or parts for them aren't supplied by Cannon anymore. When my rigger blew it was probe rigger and I was lucky and caught it. Jammed a screwdriver in to hold rigger-was no fun hand winding the rigger up. After that I've updated to newer models with higher weight rating.

I have two Penn 320GT2 LC line counter reels for $110 plus shipping or local p/u. Would work for riggers, flat lines, short leadcore. Pics are in post- reels are in good shape.

Sounds like your Trollmaster is acting up. Might be going into max throttle mode by itself. When it acts up, try putting it into idle mode or shutting it off. If your motor drops back to idle then you'll know it's not the kicker. I've had Trollmaster Pro 2 for over 5 years and never had that issue. I've sealed mine with silicone after having it get wet fishing in the rain. Mine is velcro'd to a rigger so it sits in the weather. You might want to contact Trollmaster.

After losing a weight a few years ago, I started using Amish Outfitter ball snubbers on my high speed Cannons. Haven't had an issue since. I do check my probe rigger terminal frequently and change it when I see any issue on cable.

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Either 1 or 2 should get you close enough to get some numbers working for your spread. With variables like with ring or without, and linecounter/reels makes using someone's number a starting point to get you in the park.