TyeeTanic

I agree meat works best in June onwards.

I've had the same braid on my salt water rods (Florida) for 4 years. Just caught a 30 lb Amberjack with those rods in August. Braid lasts a long time. I agree I look for color change and cut off if I need to.

Torpedo has the smallest blowback. I learned the hard way. I wouldn't use less than 12 pounds.

Nuclear power is actually one of the cheapest forms of energy out there. However it can't compete with burning natural gas to make power. But burning natural gas contributes to green house gases. So the real cost of burning natural gas is on the health of our planet.

Yes, fall is the best time. I have been told acidic compounds can be present in the old oil, and it's best to change the oil, run the engine a bit to get the parts coated up and then winterize.

I would definitely consider 1 rigger rod with a slider and one dipsy rod. Dipsy's catch about 3 to 4 times more fish for me than the leadcore or copper. If fish are up high (top 30ft) then running a core might be a good idea, perhaps first thing in the morning. But as fish go deeper, then I'd definitely trade the core for a dipsey. One way to keep core in the mix is to make up a SWR rod. This is a downrigger rod with 2 colors of core on it, and a 15 ft fluoro leader. The core gets the lure below the rigger weight wake. However, with a SWR you cannot use a slider, as it will stop on the knots and tangle.

No it doesn't. The rigger release is on the main line that comes from the rod. The slider is connected to the rod line by hooking a swivel through it (I use the smallest ball bearing swivels you can find for this one). To let it out, I normally set my downrigger line up to the depth I want. When the downrigger rod is all setup (as if you were normally fishing with this rod), I attach the slider line to the rod line, and then throw the spoon into the water off to one side. It basically trails back behind the main rod line, and then grips from drag and slides down the line. It stops around 1/3 to 1/2 way down (depending on how much blowback you have on the rod line). The rod line isn't straight down to the clip, it actually has a "C" shape from rod tip, out due to drag, and then back in to the clip. So the free slider goes to the furthest point out in the "C" shape, and then no more (if it went further down, the line would have to beat drag, which it can't). When a fish hits, it might not release right away, but you'll see the rod bouncing. The fish will pull the slider line down the main line. At this stage I pop the release and reel FAST! Take up all the slack quick and when that swivel hits the main line lure, it stops and you have full tension on the line. You bring in the fish and there are no tangles. The swivel is close to the main lure, and the fish is trailing that on the slider lure. I catch a lot of fish using free sliders.

Sad state of affairs.

It's a technique. Free slider is take a 6 ft fluoro leader with a spoon on it. Put a snap swivel around your downrigger rod line. If a fish hits that line it will slide down to your bottom lure and you have the fish on. You need to reel really fast if a fish hits the slider to take the slack off.

3 rods in the USA, 2 rods on Canadian side (if you have the permits). You can use a free/fixed slider to get an "extra" line in the water, without breaking the rules.

I had lake insight with my old HDS 5. Contours were every 3ft which was good. The new Gen 2's and Gen 3's have 1 ft contours on the Navionics maps. I'm talking about Lake Ontario, but I'm sure it's the same for all great lakes. Can you look at the unit, power it up and have a look at the maps?

Mike, what speed are you running? I assume 2.5 mph? I changed my walleye boards for TX44's. I can pull anything with those boards (wire, copper, mono, whatever). I don't think I'd be too worried about the angle of the walleye board though, as long as they were getting my lines way off to the side. With 150' of large diameter line, I would be suprised you are only getting 45 to 50' down. You're not going to hit 70' down until you get about 250' of line out. Generally works on a 3:1 ratio, but does plane out. A #1 dipsey probably planes out at 300' or so, but it is dependent on line diameter and density (drag and boyancy). If you do go to wire lines, twillie tips work great. I've used them in the past. I think they are more forgiving then roller tips. I've used the torpedo roller tips - they are pretty good quality (at about $35 a tip). Wire is definitely the way to go. Have fun.

Beckman. Awesome net. Got a used one for like $100. It has lasted years. Very strong, extends to 10' long! Would easily replace it in a heart beat.

I had my bottom sandblasted but it's a fibreglass boat. It worked pretty good.

Don't use mono for dipseys. Too much stretch and you will either lose fish due to poor hook set or find it difficult to pop and retrieve when you want to change bait. Rather use braid or even better 7 strand wireline. Braid will collect fleas in mid summer. You should get a book called Precision Trolling, it has a lot of data on depth vs. line out. J plugs are okay late season (and sometimes early season), but spoons and spin doctor/fly combos take by far the most fish. Meat also takes a few fish. Plugs are basically the last thing I resort to, and normally only in late August.

I just use plano boxes, and move the compartments to fit the bait. Carry about 5 of them in a tackle bag (others contain spoons, flies, artificial meet, and terminal tackle). I just find that puts everything at my fingertips.

I would say Walker Divers or Torpedo Deep Sea Diver. Both are solid. The torpedo one is interesting as you can add a drop weight to help it dive steeper. I have a few Dipsey Divers, and I really don't like the ring - it gets loose and is just something that can break over time. I would just get black for now. I have 100 different colors and now resort to 2, black, and frog pattern (green with black dots). I wouln't have a problem using clear as well.

We have sucessfully released staging kings in the past. It takes a while to "revive" them. What we do is lock them on a boca grip, which is tied to a rope. We then put the fish in the water with about 8 ft of rope out and the rope secured to a cleet on the boat. Let it ride in the wake for about 5 to 10 minutes. You'll see them eventually start fighting the line. Just pull in the boca grip and open to release the fish. They normally shoot right down with lots of energy. The other good thing about it is you don't need to hang off the back of the boat to revive the fish. You put it in the water (takes 1 minute) and then get onto putting your rods back in the water and cleaning up the boat. It's very efficient.

I agree no boards. You will be in shallow water, and tight over fish. Boards will make it complicated. I know some run them, but the salmon are only biting now out of aggression, so the whole stealth thing isn't as good of a game plan as putting some brite colors with lots of movement in front of them. Having said that, for sure running paddles and flies, j-plugs, etc. is a good idea. Big paddles, bright colors, lots of agitation. Oh, and believe it or not, sometimes less is more. My biggest salmon came on when we only have 2 lines in the water (was actually pulling lines to go inshore). We had to lines out going in a fairly tight circle, and a big one hit. Admittedly that was on a weighted mono line with a Gator Spoon. But the tight circles over fish is what triggered the bite, it was definitely out of aggression.

Have they replaced the star wheel for drag adjustment with metal or is it still plastic? What about the reel spool itself is it still plastic?

The magda I know is a lower end reel, with many plastic components that probably should be metal. I wouldn't use them under the strain of a dipsey, if I had a choice. I rather use them on the riggers.

Although I don't know what happened, I can state that there was significant debate about this on Spoonpullers. The incident was apparently investigated by spoonpuller moderators and it was the Captain's clients that did this, not the Captain. The Captain did apologize. It was suggested that his autopilot was on and he wasn't paying attention - his fault. The behaviour that followed, was from the clients onboard. He isn't in control of that. Although I don't condone what happened, there is always two sides to the story. And for sure, respect and courtesy are definitely a must in this community. Just don't hang the wrong person. For those interested in a follow up post in Spoonpullers, here it is: http://www.spoonpullers.com/forums/index.php/topic,24973.msg149402.html#msg149402 gen-st, please don't take offence, but I've seen too many people burned at the stake because people got emotional, didn't fully understand the situation, stories turned into rumours, and then the accusations quickly fly. I agree with you, the guys that did that to you are idiots - but be careful who you blame, as someone's livelyhood is on the line.

Where are you located?