Sk8man

You might want to take a look at the molds and plastic stuff at Jann's Netcraft http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/ For the real stuff get their catalog. It has tons more than their website. The 2017 one just came out.

I guess a preliminary considerations would be to consider just how much money you wish or are able to wrap up in something that you haven't tried and decided that you like yet. It is always smart to get the best quality equipment you can get within your own personal budget. Many of the folks on here have gradually upgraded their trolling equipment usually after using it for some time and then deciding that they would like something either more heavy duty, higher capacity, or with a smoother drag in the case of reels and sometimes they end up selling even that new stuff on here after they decided that it either wasn't what it was cracked up to be or didn't live up to expectations or it wasn't superior to what they had in the first place., One critical determining question for a setup for fishing Lake Ontario should be "how much chinook fishing do you intend to do"? This is important in three basic ways: 1) you need a rod that is fairly sturdy especially at the base of it and flexible at the tip for most things, 2) you'll need a good drag hopefully in the 20 pound (carbon fiber desirable) range, and 3) you'll want a reel with high line capacity whether for mono such as on downriggers, braid or wire for dipseys, or especially for long (e.g. 400-600 ft) copper wire setups. For wire dipsey setups either a roller tip or a twilli tip is essential. With the roller tips make sure it has hardened SS side plates on the roller tip because the 30 lb SS wire can cut through the aluminum side plates on the cheaper ones. Dipsey rods need to be stiffer than the basic lighter weight downrigger rods to support the torque from the larger dipseys especially. The Tekotas are great reels with smooth effective drags but they are pricey too as are the Telora rods but they are high quality. For the most part if you get any high capacity high quality Daiwa, or Shimano Tekotas or even mid sized Okumas (I have a couple of the less expensive Magda Pros for eyes and they work fine) you'll be able to leader down for walleyes and just set the drags lighter and you'll be ale to get away using them OK. Obviously lighter action rods with fairly soft tips give you more information regarding light hitting eyes so an option would be to use the reels on just different lighter weight rods....not much to shift them over and avoid the expense of duplicate reels. The inexpensive 8- 8/12 ft Okuma GLT series seems to be pretty good all around for the price and I have yet to have one break or have it screw up but the same goes for the Ugly Stiks although I use the 7 footers for the riggers and the light to medium version would be OK for the eyes. I still have about 12 or so Diawa 47H reels for rigers that hold 300 yds of 30 lb Sea Flee line plus fluoro leader and so far I've never had a king that I wasn't able to handle with them even in the past with 12 lb mono. They also are decent (maybe overkill) for the eyes when I use them that way. I know a lot of guys would feel that they are minimal for kings but I've caught some 30 plus kings and many 20 somethings on them and never had any problems with them. With dipseys I use light/medium 6 ft Shakespeare Tidewaters with roller tips that have been replaced with SS Allen rollers and they are great for running in close to the boat and have enough give in them so that I can see everything going on with the tip and front of the rod so they aren't stiff as say a fiberglass boat rod but are a breeze fighting big kings. I run Diawa 57 Sealine SG3B reels with 30 lb SS wire on them and they have done real well. Before wrapping up your entire savings maybe try some "middle of the road" equipment and later on you can always move up as needed. If you have plenty of money then go for the highest quality stuff you can afford. There have from time to time been some great bargains in lightly used equipment right here on LOU.

Or if you have spikes put one on after the minnow or the gulp imitation spikes. The minnows will live for quite awhile despite being hooked through the eyes

Hook them through the eyes.

Great... glad to hear it. Just don't set the battery out on the ice at all as it sucks the power out of it even if not for long I always keep a spare warming up in my pocket just in case but haven't needed it thus far. I feel that it is the best option when the ice isn't super thick especially early season. I have yet to get out but real soon.... P.S. I hear ya on the torque.. mine almost pulls me into the hole sometimes

I believe the exact location will vary by boat and hull design you may wish to get a diagram of your hull beforehand to determine best spot.

They have the metal bills at Jann's and bodies as well. Get their catalog it has millions more items than the website

You sure can tell you've taken very good care of your "baby" too John. I cherish my 18 Ventura and have never had a nervous moment in her on Lake O. Whalers are second to none in the boat department and yours is a wonderful specimen. Best of luck with the sale. I would imagine once someone gets a look at the price of a new one at the shows they will be VERY interested

Thanks for the "heads up" Chad. You do a great job with this site and we all appreciate your efforts. Have a great holiday season by the way

Best of luck this season

Thanks Esox. The one thing I should add regarding the drill/auger approach is something that I have mentioned in previous posts is that the majority of the fishing I do is a foot through15 inches max. of ice or less. Up north I know the ice can get much thicker than that so the results would differ greatly with the much thicker ice (e.g. 2 or 3 ft or more etc). That is where the power auger approach excels.

The latching and holding is a main reason I switched to the Duo locks years ago as well as the fact that they have a well rounded snap face so that the action of the lure whether spoon or stick tends to be better than many of the other options I used to use (e.g. coast locks etc.). I guess the bottom line is whatever option you have faith in and what seems to work best for you is what you go with and personal preference is a factor in all this stuff

I think you're going to enjoy the change Esox