Sk8man

Here is another thing to think about ....all of the above depends on your motor running once that is not the case you are pretty much screwed no matter the size of boat and at the mercy of Lake Ontario and Mother Nature both of whom can be merciless and unforgiving of mistakes or foolhardiness. There are times out there when even having a kicker is not necessarily going to save you either.

Size of boat can become irrelevant. For years I fished out in the 600-700 ft area in my 13 ft. Boston Whaler but it was all dependent on conditions and there were times when the weather report suggested it would be good only to find when i got there to the lake....impossible conditions to go out at all. One particular time I was out in the deep stuff and a storm came out of nowhere from the west with lightening and huge waves building and raining like hell. It had been beautiful all morning too. When I finally reached the channel all the big boats were struggling to get back in the 12 ft. waves. The people on the Sodus Point pier were clapping and cheering me on as it probably looked to them that I was in someones dingy I had about 8 inches of water in the boat from the rain but I made it in (white knuckles and all) but it was a huge lesson to me as even the 32 ft or larger boats were in just as much trouble as me getting back in. You have to choose your conditions no matter what sized boat but keep in mind regardless that the weather out there comes with no guarantee and can change quickly.

Nice work Anthony That new rig looks great too!

Yep mine was a factory install too. Wish I had had the option of having it done myself. But the top itself is a really good one....just the location

The one thing to mention is that because of the positioning of them in relation to my bimini mount. I can't use the bimini and rod holders at same time. The other 30 degree mounts (I have four inset on the boat are used for the riggers so that I can also use four downriggers if I wish and not run the dipsies etc.. I have electrical connections for each of the four positions.

Mine are 30 degree gimbals

Clark this is what I went to: a combination of Cannon gimbal with short section of track and three per side Cannon rod holders. Two of the rod holders are the dual axis toward the front of the boat on each side allowing flexibility in angling the rods when running multiples and the lat ones are single axis which seem better for dipsies as they are a bit sturdier.I generally run two dipsies per side and use the third for boards and thus far they work fine with no problems after a few years use. One of the beauties of it is I have no holes in my boat (other than one in the top of the dash for the depthfinder wires) and everything comes off for storage etc. It then becomes a recreational boat when others want to go for a ride.

Ditto on the 83/200 transom mount. I know there are more sophisticated transducers but for just trolling it work fine and I can mark fish up to about 30 mph and bottom into the low forties. I seldom use the structure scan function during routine trolling for trout or salmon. if in deeper water e..g. over 100 I switch to 83 and for marking the riggers better. The key thing is playing with the adjustment in the right location til you get what you want.

Good to see you getting back into action Clark Good luck when you get out there.

Cool thread Kevin

Nice going Bill

Sometimes it seems much easier to look at the black and white than shades of grey.

Ditto on thanks for the info.

You missed my point....I give up For many species the temperature tolerances have already been exceeded. It could be that decreased body mass is more adaptive in adjusting to this primary problem going on and is an initial response to it (i.e. increasing global temps). Earlier maturation may also be related to the same phenomenon (an attempt to maintain the species when under pressure and stress).

The main problem here is the myopic way we are looking at the picture. The Earth as we know it is radically changing. It is headed at least in the short run for a much warmer climate possibly followed by another ice age as has been the case multiple times before. If you step back and look at the larger picture - many things are disappearing from the earth including billions of fish, birds, insects, mammals, reptiles etc. For many species the temperature tolerances have already been exceeded.The total picture is much greater than just the size of fish decreasing. The planet itself is on the way out in terms of the way things have been in our lifetime and man's activities may have increased the rate of change; but not the process itself as it appears to be an evolutionary process of the Earth itself. A lot of folks just don't want to look at the reality of this stuff.

Very cool Brian.....that is what it's all about and it all begins with exposure

Sweet! Those are the fish that memories are made Of