Thun

Thanks guys! I'll send that deposit today.

I'm considering fishing the 2nd week in September in Mexico Bay and am wondering if that's too late to troll for Kings out on the lake?

My Mag 10 manual states The use of vinyl coated lead weights is recommended Use the trolling weight insulators supplied with your downrigger. This insulates your weight from the positive charge on the cable. This will also ensure that the trolling weight will stop at water level when retrieved. The cable on your downrigger should be replaced every two years. Etching of the cable can weaken it physically and electrically. In salt water, make sure the sacrificial zincs anodes are replaced when half dissolved. This ensures that the boat will run with a neutral or slightly positive charge. Clean zincs on a regular basis with a non corrosive brush. Always make sure the boat is properly grounded to the water. This will help ensure proper PIC voltage on the cable and that the short stop will function properly. Good Luck

Hi all, sorry for not responding earlier, I just returned from a week of fishing out of Oak Orchard Creek last week. I think I resolved the issue as the Fish Hawk X4D performed flawlessly. Initially, I installed the triducer as per the instructions but because I had to tilt the Fish Finder transducer down or forward a bit to get the diagonal lines representing fish to turn into those upside down bananas or hooks that we see on our Fish Finders, I figured I should tilt that FH triducer in the same way. I'm not sure but I think with 20 or more feet of blowback, the probe was out of the triducer's range. So before I launched, I tilted it back to where it was when we installed it and it seemed to work fine. Now if I had just followed the instructions to begin with,....Dummy! About a month ago, we fished the same area and I bought a FH TD, found 50 degrees up high, fished it and caught a few small Kings. Went out the next day, attached it to the ball and then watched the cable break and our brand new TD, a 14 lb ball, brand new Chamberlain Release and the Cannon Short Stop sink to the bottom. I went back to Narby's and bought the FH X4D. Yesterday, my son pulled his IPhone out of his pocket, fumbled it and dropped it overboard. Fishing was tough last week but we caught a few and a nice 10 lb Brown brought a smile to his face after losing his phone. Thank you all for helping...I love this place!

Great advice nhbait, thanks.

I just installed a Fish Hawk triducer and because I have a kicker, I had to mount it on the same side as my FF transducer. It worked great until I hit deeper water and lowered the probe, then the readings were all screwed up. I'm thinking that perhaps the angle of the triducer is wrong and blowback is causing the probe to be too far back and out of range for the triducer to read? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Alan Tani has tutorials for most reels and he's a great guy. I serviced 8 Penn 320 GTi's with new carbon fiber drags greased with Cal's drag grease, cleaned the bearings with carburetor cleaner, and installed new dogs, dog springs and clickers. It was easier than I imagined. http://alantani.com/

Yes it does and thank you very much.

I'm not sure if the Rescue 21 system is operational on LO yet, but I'm considering a DSC or Digital Selective Calling VHF Radio. http://a0701408.uscgaux.info/pages/Articles/DSC-VHF.htm

John You say that you fill the reel in reverse then take it off. Can I leave the reversed line on the reel and transfer it from that reel to another?

Thanks to your detailed fishing reports, we caught some nice Chautauqua Musky. You're The Best! Thanks again Captain.

We caught 3 kings last week, all small but on Tuesday, my son caught a 14lb, 11oz King that fought like a 40lb'er, down 37' on a spoon back about 60'. All the fish we caught were up top on an east to west troll in 150' of water.

I hope people don't mix bleach with ammonia, the fumes are toxic.

I've read good things about the older Convector CV 30L's. Most of the internal parts are stainless steel which will last forever. But they do sneak in two of four cheaper, non carbon fiber drag washers which doesn't make sense to me since they upgraded most of the reel from brass to stainless.

I really worry about losing a bearing on the highway so I bought a spare hub with bearings installed, mounted it on the spare tire and now if I lose a bearing, it's as simple as changing a tire. And I didn't realize you could overfill a bearing...thanks for that info, I'll keep an eye on that center disk from now on.

Although I'm planning on using short, one color leadcores between 20 and 8 lb test on boards, this article called "Keep it Super Stealthy" by Bill Ruth should be helpful. http://www.lakeontariounited.com/fishing-hunting/topic/7723-brown-trout-trolling/

Another thing to remember is to keep that line guide in sync with the line as it's rolling on or off the spool. Should the line guide end up on the right end of the spool but the line is coming off the spool from the left, a tremendous amount of stress is put on that tiny pawl that rides in the worm gear. Typically, this happens when the line is reeled completely through the guide and onto the reel. A few cranks of the handle and you're out of sync. If it's a 309M, here's the replacement part, should you need one. http://store.scottsbt.com/46-309-Line-Guide-P2405C234.aspx#

whaler1 What a great story. Everything is so expensive today. I think I'd invest in some un-plated 22 oz jigs on ebay ($6.50 ea). The 16 oz are $4.75 ea. Sometimes the currents are ripping and you need something heavy to get down there. http://www.ebay.com/itm/22-oz-Cod-Jig-Lure-Unplated-/200735815461?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2ebcc97725

rolmops Kayman Charters website has mentioned stories about some guys having 1000 lb days. Perhaps your glow stick method was a factor and I wouldn't hesitate to use them cod fishing. We tape them to the tip of our surfcasters so we can see them fishing stripers at night from the surf. The last time I went out, I noticed the haddock were being caught with a 1/2 turn of the reel off the bottom and cod with a couple of turns off the bottom. Does a couple of inches matter? I can't say for sure but that's what we were doing that day. You guys have me drooling...cod fish cakes, cod fish chowder and fish and chips, mmm.