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Don Supon

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  1. Don Supon
    In a smaller sized boat, rod length is important. More so is the rod stiffness. Consider the length of a dipsey set-up. When fishing a spoon behind the dipsey, the length is considerably shorter than if a spin doctor and fly are behind, but still long. To this length, if the rod can bend to the equivilent of 90 degrees, how much room do you have to move the rod forward before hitting an obstruction? Assuming you reel the line in to the dipsey at rod-tip, you'll have about 8' of line out to the fish. When the rod bends a lot, that's 8' you have to reach with the net. A solo fisherman has to do this with one hand on the net. I have an 18' boat with bimini top and walk-thru windshield. When the top is up (almost always) the fisherman's fighting space is shortened and rod movement is restricted. With a limp 10'er rod, it is very difficult to get a fish close enough to a back corner to net, especially fishing solo. My solution was to change rods to 8'6 and heavy action Heartlands (to decrease rod bend). My wire rods are Blue Diamond rollers, 8'6 heavy. Also have a long handled landing net. With the heavy action rod I can position a fish for self-netting using only one hand on the net. With the longer and limper rods, the fish was too far away to reach the net with one hand. With another to net the fish, the longer, limper rods were useable.
  2. Don Supon
    Blowback happens. To reduce how far: increase ball weight, change shape to torpedoe or fish shape, troll slower, uncoated cable less than coated. For your post conditions, first thing I'd do is change the ball shape. Then increase the weight to your rigger's highest capacity. The faster you troll, the more weight you need to keep it down; so you may want to reduce boat speed some. Lake currents (this is where ball speed devices come into play) have an effect also. When blowback is excessive, try trolling in different direction to reduce amount (watch cable angle). Fine tune your transducer angle on stearn to enable seeing the ball tracking on the FF. Knowing where the fish are in relation to your cannonball weights will be a big help. IMO, this is the MOST IMPORTANT variable excepting lure speed.
  3. Don Supon
    Almost exclusively in a dual setting, but not side by side. When bottom fishing in deep water, I might use only one frequency, whichever shows the best.
  4. Don Supon
    Kuba is right. Waves have a big impact on the bow. That is probably why it functions well going with the waves, where they have less influence on boat direction. The fishermen typically fish with the waves when conditions are 2-21/2 footers. Not only is the ride much smoother, but you can hold course so much better. The drawback is that you have to pull all equipment to run back to refish an area or track. Give the motor enough throttle and the boat will track accurately on autopilot, but speed may be way off for fishing.
  5. Don Supon
    Being starter batteries, 12 V, they will run the equipment you list. However, running time and battery discharge will be issues. That type battery is not meant to be discharged considerably and then recharged, as a deep cycle battery is built for. Find a better use for them, you'll only ruin them in no time.
  6. Don Supon
    A dipsey can run on mono, braid or wire. A special rod is necessary. Wire is the best choice, but then you need a roller tip or twillie tip on the rod to prevent grooving the eye. Wire is best because it can be used year round, whereas the other two can be problematic when fleas are heavy. Copper and lead core won't damage the rod tip. Both are too soft. Both require a high capacity reel because they have a large diameter for fishing line. Line counters are not needed on these reels. Both lines are run down the chute or off planer boards to the side. Dipseys give you depth off to the side of the boat determined by the setting. Downriggers give depth straigh down. Copper and leadcore give depth and travel through the water with an undulating motion, rather that steady. Using side planers in conjunction with leadcore can give you undulating depth way off to the side. Copper and planer boards give an undulating depth off to the side. Digitroll downriggers can jig the ball automatically while you troll, but it can be done manually with a normal DR. All of these techniques are used to attempt to change the attraction of the lure and to make it different to the fish in what they see most comonly from fishermen. IMO they can also more accurately present a lure as a real bait fish to the gamefish targeted. On water time, practice, experience, knowledge of gamefish habits and preferences, local fish hangouts, etc. etc.etc. are all necessary to be a good fisherman. Especially to be a consistently successful one. All of these different presentations don't work all of the time. And there are minor variations with each method that individual fishermen use at different times that make them more successful than average.
  7. Don Supon
    Surface temps don't mean much to me. But I do pay attention to them in early spring fishing as slight changes of <1 degree can concentrate the fish in specific areas near shore. Also, during the rest of the year, it's good to know when the lake flips over (surface temp changes from say 65 to 43 overnight-fish could be anywhere in the water column and are likely scattered everywhere). The probe temp is critical at all times of the year. Depending upon species, I want to know at what depth the desired temperature is at. Simply stated, I want to know the depth of 50 degree water. Knowing this, when the hooks I see on the FF at in this depth, they are likely to be actively feeding and chasing. I might also want to know how deep before it is too cold for active fish (40 degree or less-not likely to hit a lure). That would give me my maximum fishing depth. With a temperature depth range that is known (let's say 50-80) for holding fish, I put my lures in this water area and begin the trolling. Heavy boat traffic prevents repeated, rapid passes over a particular spot, but this is effective when few or no other boats are working the same area. For steelhead I target water near 50 degrees near the top of water column (40 ft and up), but for salmon I prefer it colder, low 40's-mid levels to deep. Lake trout I want 39-42 water near/on bottom. Browns want 50 degree temps meeting the bottom. There is a lot of water out there, so finding these conditions in a specific area tells me when to put the lures out and where the fish are most likely to be. Hope this explains it.
  8. Don Supon
    The "fixed" is very simple. Sk8man detailed description was a little confusing to me in some instances. I use about 5' of fishing line with a swivel at each end. One swivel attaches to the lure and the other to the main fishing line (not downrigger cable). Set the main line with lure attached and drop down a desired height for the slider position desired (15 ft. ?). Attach a rubber band to the main line (#16 is what I use) near the rod tip. Take the free swivel from the slider line and clip through the rubber band and around the main line. The slider is now "fixed" at your desired height above the ball by the rubber band. Lower the entire set-up to the desired fishing depth and load-up your rod in the rod-holder. Your main lure will be traveling at the selected depth with a slider lure 15 ft. above. That 15 ft. difference always remains the same no matter how much you raise or lower the ball. When a fish takes the slider bait it snaps the rubber band and allows the swivel to slide down along the main line to the main line lure. A "shaker" fish may not cause the main line to release from it's clip, but you know he's there because your rod tip bounces. Pop the main line free, reel real fast until the slider has slid all the way down to main-line lure. At this point you are fighting the fish with your rod. A bigger fish will break the rubber band and release the main line from it's clip in one swipe (reel fast until you feel the fish or SEE THE LURE-slack line allows a fish to spit the lure)). When netting your catch, the main line lure will come in first with the slider lure 5 ft. behind. If the fish is on the slider, be careful you don't tangle the hooks of the main line in your net before you net the fish that is on the slider. Tangling those hooks in the net typically causes a released fish on the slider.
  9. Don Supon
    Sounds like a wire problem of some sort. A 1991 boat is 22 years of vibration and corrosion old. Could be in the switch mounts also. I'd start with cleaning all grounds and connections, then check for cracked or broken wiring. Replace any wire with cracked insulation.
  10. Don Supon
    Relocate the compass, especially since you have it for back-up duty. HummimBird installation instructions warn of this problem, so I don't think there is a way to defeat the problem and mount them that close. Perhaps a ram mount for the FF (or compass) will give you the needed seperation.
  11. Don Supon
    Sounds good.
  12. Don Supon
    I hope it works out. The purpose is a good one. If approved, I'd like to purchase. Send me a PM
  13. Don Supon
    I wouldn't worry about the difference. IMO it is irrelevant. If you were to lose 100 ft. off your DR cable spool, it's diameter size would decrease and make your DR counter reading off anyways. Just rely on what your FF screen shows you. Place the cannonball in the same water column area it is showing you fish are in. That's all you need to catch a fish. Recently fishing bottom in 95FOW for lakers, I had to lower the ball to 95 on one rigger while a second rigger only read 85. Both balls were tracking just off bottom, exactly where I wanted them to be. The FF had to be closely monitored in this fishing situation to avoid bottom hangups. The DR counters are only a tool, they are inaccurate, and they can only be used to "ball park" a depth. In combination with a FF depth reading (it's accuracy is also uncertain IMO), visual representation of fish and of lure placement are the factors to pay attention to. Counters are useful for duplicating a previous presentation, but should not be solely relied upon for initial presentations.
  14. Don Supon
    IMO you get what you pay for. A survey for a $3000 boat/motor is going to be a waste of cash. I also think a $3000 boat/motor is a waste of cash unless it is going to be a winter boat that will take a beating from ice. In this case, a ride on the water will let you know.
  15. Don Supon
    That's what I have on mine (18 ft). Never have to worry about low juice. Just keep them charged with the onboard charger and get lots of years on them.
  16. Don Supon
    3M tape. Sold for stair tread. Lowes sells it also. Likely to find in any home improvement store.
  17. Don Supon
    You could use a product named "liquid tape" to coat any metal surfaces that might contact the aluminum panel if it is determined that is the problem. Just paint it on.
  18. Don Supon
    Just a guess. The aluminum panel is the problem and is sending current. Isolate each gauge and switch installed into the aluminum panel with a gasket of rubber, etc. to be sure the panel itself is not transmitting from one gauge to others through the panel. Don't forget the screws holding the gauge/switch to the panel. Another source to check is the wiring to each gauge and switch to see if connectors are touching each other or if somehow two wires to different gauges/switches are pinched together. Try to seperate any touching wires.
  19. Don Supon
    When the board is hit, you have to let the board travel toward behind the boat until you have cleared the wire, before bringing the fish in (keep tension on the board) . Did this yesterday with a 300 copper on the board. To redeploy the board, from center of stearn you let out the lure lead-attach the board-let out enough lead to the board to get back into outside position (say 100 ft.) and engage the reel to make the board start to pull. Put the rod into rod holder and wait until the board travels back to outside position. Catch the next one.
  20. Don Supon
    Calibrating the Sensors-Screen # 4 To set the parameters, use the SET button. Press the Set button until the sensor reading flashes for the sensor you want to adjust. They are from top down: surface temp, surface speed, probe temp, and probe speed. Once that sensor reading flashes press the UP or DOWN button to adjust. Please note that the factory calibrated values are denoted for each sensor by a missing decimal point. If you wish to go back to the factory settings press the UP or DOWN arrow until the reading flashes without a decimal point. The factory default value is always in the middle of the adjustment range. Once the reading flashes without a decimal point, press the SET button and the factory default will be restored.
  21. Don Supon
    The antenna cable connector (male) that plugs into the radio could be a problem. Sometimes the cable itself is not making good contact with the connector. Some are crimp-on while others have been soldered-on. Soldered are far better.
  22. Don Supon
    A 3' antenna is likely the culprit. It will work for a near-by boat, but will have difficulty the further away that boat is. Most use an 8'er to get height (antenna tip to water surface). A 3'er on top of a flying bridge works because of the bridge height it is mounted to. One thing to check is the HI/LOW power range. Use HIGH for best reception/transmission. My 18' boat can talk with a boat 12 miles away (Niagara Dropoff to Wilson) with an 8' antenna.
  23. Don Supon
    That situation doesn't sound good to me. You will need to find some means of tilting further or raising the transom height in the attachment area. Lower unit draging in the water is going to cause damage eventually. Maybe a kicker mounting bracket on the transom to give more height. This might require a modification to the connector link between motors if that is how you have been steering the kicker. But the additional height of the kicker may make your kicker shaft too short. If this is the case, someone must make a bracket that pivots up and down. I'm guessing that you will need to see a boat dealer for ideas.
  24. Don Supon
    I've never seen or heard of anyone with a kicker that leaves the kicker in the water during a run with the big motor. To do so would cause significant drag which will reduce mpg and speed, not to mention probable damage to the kicker. My 9.9 Honda kicker is tilted up during runs with the big motor. It is in neutral, and the prop doesn't spin. If you are more comfortable, place the kicker in gear for the run to keep the prop from spinning. But don't leave the kicker down when running, in or out of gear.
  25. Don Supon
    Outdoors card is good for 3 years. Sportsman license gives full limit, conservation 1/2 limit. Not sure on the zone number question. Don't forget the phone-in customs requirement to fish Canadian water.
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