K Gonefishin

These guys are right on with the advice, the size 47 LCA holds 1000 ft of 30 pound wire perfect (I would go with wire), Malin, Opti Tackle, AFW will all work well, even though you will get it on the spool tight before fishing with it take something with some weight and let out almost all of it while on the lake (with nobody behind you) and crank it in tight one last time so it's laying on the spool right just to be sure...we're making it sound difficult but it's really not. After setting your dispey and your rod and reel is in the rod holder set your drad just to the point where the line will not creep on a big swell or boat wake you don't want to crank it down you just might get cleaned off when a big king hits. I don't use crimps at the ball swivel just the knot on the lotsa website works great and easy to do. 10 ft rods are to long and not needed I borrowed a 10ft wire set up and it was way to long I used an 8 fter and it was nice. I say no longer than 9 would be may advice. For leader line I like 40 or 50 pound seaguar leader material for flasher/fly combo's and Sampo's in the 60 pound grade range. Visit the A Tom Mik website and see what gear is available this is the stuff that is used all over lake O and will give you a good indication on what alot of guys are running.

Thanks guys keep the suggestions and discussion coming good stuff.

Go with the Trollmaster I also have a 9.9 pro kicker.

What's the dogs limit?

I used the Crystal last year and it worked very well for ice fishing.

No I have around 7 that are fishing related.

Next season I want to learn to run Familiar bite with flashers, I think I've missed out on some bites a few times when I had a decent day but other guys had good days. I've been mainly running spin doc and fly programs along with spoons i the spread but want to expand my arsonal knowledge. What brand, style and size are you guys running with your meat rigs and maybe some colors. I've heard good things about Captain John King's flashers. I have seen alot of guys running 8 inch Pro trolls with them as well. Maybe some info on bait heads as well. I fish out of Wilson/Olcott mainly. You guys running them in the spring as well? Any input on this topic would be appreciated as I don't know all that much.

Here's a couple of my favorites, I took all but 1. Lake Erie at Geneva State Park (this is the one I didn't take) Off Olcott Sunset on Erie My brother and two friends in my boat that another friend took I they fished it I wasn't there. Sweet looking shot from the water

How does this work? I would like one just email you? I have a pay pal account. ...nevermind I'm working on it now and figureing it out I'm good now I had an account already but haven't used it in awhile..what a PIA...I just wrote the size in the message and my shipping info should have came through with the pay pal info.

The new HDS units had some bad batches during the first run of units, since then they have been rock solid. Go check out some threads on Thehulltruth.com guys are singing like birds about how awesome they are, TONS of awesome responces very very few unhappy customers...even guys who needed service. The new units come with a 2 year warranty as well, double the LCX series units and others. I'm a guy who has had nothing but awesome luck with Lowrance I currently have 3 on my boat now and my past boat had 3 and my other boats had them as well. nothing but good luck. I have always used Linda Colt for customer service I only had a question about a network possibility and she answered with 12 hours of me sending the email...if you know how to get service it's stellar. Linda Colt 12000 East Skelly Drive Tulsa Oklahoma 74128 1-800-324-1356 ext 8747 Direct Line 918-438-8747 [email protected]

LAX is one of the best who does toothy fish, Musky, Pike and Eyes, they are knows for Musky's the most. My buddy got a big one he let go and he wanted to get a replica mount. The pics are cell phone pics but I can attest to his work...AWESOME! Looks real as can be. I don't care for what the walleye look like but the musky look straight out of the water. If you have pics they do the best they can to make it look like the fish you caught as you know musky from different waters look different great lakes fish vs inland strain etc. Price was between 600-700 with shipping and it took around 8 months or so. Here is the fish (st clair monster) it was a fall fish very fat and girthy. I was there on this trip i got some big ones too but nothing like this horse just nder 40 pounds.

If you have a glass boat, shoot thru hull transducers are a great option. I have one and love it and I'll never go back to to skimmer/transom mount. (true thru hull are the best actually but $$ and typically need to be installed by a dealer),

Check steering clearing full lock to lock if your going to use an EZ Steer make sure nothing binds up, also height as far as waterline goes, don't want the motor to far in the water. Hopefully someone with your boat will chime in with some pics...try and learn from someone else's mistakes (if they made any)

Here is a link to a camera that sits 3 miles offshore directly off of downtown Cleveland on Erie. It's called the "crib" it's northeast ohio water intake. http://webcam.clevelandcrib.org/ if the video doesn't play just refresh your browser...they may not look that big but I know how big they are because I know what a boat looks like when it passes through the cam or when a boat is anchored and perchin by the crib...WOW they are huge. They surf down here at Edgewater park, even a website dedicated to it, some guys on Youtube have some video's up. search lake erie surfing and it'll come up on the first page.

Awesome fishing guys. I've caught well over 5000 walleye in my life and I've NEVER seen something like that ever..very weird. If my friends would have caught something like that I would have heard about it. I've seen ones with jacked up jaws with upper lips missing and such but nothing like that

I agree, I know for a fact I have caught fish I marked 20-30 ft below where my my baits are running in the deeper water off Erie. I'll mark monster hooks in the 55-65 ft range and run all my baits in the 25-35 ft range and catch 20-30 fish throughout the day and not mark one of them that high. I'll troll with an electric motor so I know I'm not spooking them either. The bigger fish do seem to be lazier and I'll have to put baits down further to get those fish to go. This is a summer pattern in extremely clear water hen the water is warm when they are aggressive...in the fall or spring you have to hit them in the nose

You can do it yourself online! http://www.decalzone.com alot of guys I know get registration # through this place. Happy with the service and prices then you apply yourself.

The wet one gets bit....remember that. Run what you brung I wouldn't leave home without the mirages, greens and blues though. The ones Yankee mentioned where good for me for fly's.

I have XM in my truck and love it and can't live without it. The CD player that came with my boat has a hookup but I don't use it, if I had an I/O running all the time with no worry of killing my batteries I would run the radio non stop but instead I listen to rigger hum and my kicker and drags every so often...if you can get away with running a radio all day I say go for it.

I run 2 bigger screen lowrances 1 8 inch (38HD) that has been flawless for over 2 years that I run on top of my dash and I also run a 7 inch in my dash that is dedicated for GPS only. I was going to go 10 inch but it would bang against my windshield while running in rough water so I went with the 8 inch a couple of my friends have the 10 in their bigger boat (24 and 30) and you can see them perfect from anywhere in the back of the boat even all the way in the back while setting riggers. My rig is 21 so I didn't need the 10 anyways 8 is plenty...go big if you can afford it. Great for the troller who's always running rods. Here are some pics of the units on the boats for size comparison. A HDS 10 on a 24 Rampage My Ranger with 2 units 1 8 inch 1 7 inch.

Down here on Erie we call big fish Trucks or Trucksters...just another stupid term for a big ass fish. I do suppose adding truckster in front of matures was over doing it a bit

Carbon 14 early and or late in the day off 10 colors of Lead, 42nd was hot a couple days and when it was hot and sunny I couldn't beat the fish (all species) of SS and DW Modified Carmel Dolphin. These 3 were my go to spoons I always had one in the water. NK Gator Brass back took a few truckster matures Silver Streak Glow MJ is worthy of mention too.

Great news. One of my life long friends fell on his head on December 26th last year and I went through all the things you are going through. At first they didn't think he was going to make it as he was on life support for a week, he was in a coma for 3 weeks and they removed a piece of his scull so till the swelling went down, he slowly but surely got better little by little just like your father, one day I went to see him it was like a light bulb went off and a miracle happened and he was better by 75%. It was amazing. He was back at home in 3 months time. Just shy of a year later he is almost back to normal he is forgetful at times and has some shoulder damage from the fall and his vision on the one side isn't all that great but as far as everything else goes he's pretty damn good. I know another guy who had TBI from a car accident and same thing happened bad then a lightbulb went off and he improved greatly litterly overnight. Although he's not family he was like a brother to me as he lived 8 doors up and we have been friends since we where 4 years old we're both now 30 and have been through life together every step of the way. Although he's not 100% the same guy I'll take it and he knows he's lucky to be alive and I thank god that he is still living....he will keep getting better and it's VERY SLOW at this point but a day will come when the improvement turn into leaps and bounds after the swelling comes down and from what your saying he's on his way there already....speaking from experience just thought I would share a story with you that these injury's have a way of working themselves out in a weird way. Kevin

Doesn't it run about 35$ now? I actually need a spool so I've been looking. My first speed N temp unit...does the coated cable on the market now peel? how often are you guys replacing it? I only salmon fish in NY 3-5 times per year but do run my riggers on Erie alot.

I agree I would look into a very low pitch prop just like the ones that come with the Pro Kicker or T-8/T-9 by Yamaha. They hold unbelievable in rough water even in the ditch while troughing or going into the waves, they also use these props on Merc's BigFoot series low HP motors. They bite and hold the water much better, If I'm not mistaken the are around 11 pitch or something close to it. Standard props on low HP motor aren't worth a darn when using them for kicker power, the difference is night and day. My last rig had a 9.9 4 stroke with a standard prop and my new rig (same model same boat) has a 4 blade prop on a Pro kicker and the difference trolling is night and day. Cheap fix I would look into it...it's not the HP of your motor it's the prop. My boat is 21 ft main power is 250 Pro XS it weighs around 4K fully loaded. I have a AP Terrova up front and I don't use it all that much except when when it's fire drill or when I don't want to or can't drive due to setting lines, fighting fish etc or when I want to go ultra slow.