muskiedreams

There likely will be a difference in the amount of current (and therefore wire gauge) required by the trolling motor than what is required by the anchor winch. So you must be aware of that in order that you don't compromise the trolling motor performance. Also, the longer the wire, the heavier the required wire gauge. You also need to be aware of the maximum current rating of the plug. Usually a 3 blade twist lock plug is used for trolling motors. I believe they are rated at a much higher maximum current than the one you show. And of course you need to be concerned about fusing and all connections being heavy duty enough for performance and fire safety. You don't want the wire or any connections to generate excessive heat. One thing that is good is that a 36v motor uses about 1/3 the amount of current that a 12v motor of the same thrust uses. You might want to switch to the twist lock plug for both devices and wire is as discussed above.

If the relay is clicking there must be a break in the circuit somewhere or the motor could be defective. test the motor by bypassing the power directly to the board. From the board pictures above, it looks like the main traces on the board that are used for the power to and from the relay contacts are on the component side of the board, for which the connections are under the body of the relay. There is a plating inside the hole through the board that makes contact from the bottom to the top of the board. The process of de-soldering and removing the old relay can damage that connection through the hole. That is why I talked about ( in above post) using the soldering iron to heat up the relay post, and break it free of any solder that will be left inside the hole between the post and the inside of the hole. The copper plating can break and cause there to no longer be a connection between the two sides of the board, so when the new relay is soldered on the bottom, the solder will not make a connection between the relay pin and the top of the board. You can check for that by using an ohm meter to measure for zero ohms between the top and bottom traces on the board. Disconnect power first. You may have to scrape paint off somewhere on the top trace to make contact with the meter probe. Check this for all of the relay pins. If you don't have zero ohms on any of them, you will have to solder in a piece of insulated wire to jump between the top and bottom of the board to repair the damage. The wire must be of sufficient gauge to carry the motor current. You may have to first scrape the paint off a spot to solder the wire to. Tin that spot and the end of the wire with solder before soldering the wire to the trace. Be careful to not damage the board or allow solder to bridge to another connection. Sorry if I provided too much detail. Hope this helps. From what you have described, those "hole plate-throughs" are most likely where the problem lies. Also, it looks like those two relays may be operating in conjunction to reverse power for up and down. If so, the problem could be related to either one or both relays.

I ran two Mag 10s for several years in the late 90s with 10 lb balls. light use recreational. Had very short fused cables. Each one directly to it's own deep cycle battery. The DC batteries were also used for 24v bow mount. Bought them used from a charter guy for $500 and sold them for same price after about 5 yrs. Never had a problem except for ripped switch boot. I think they have more problems with big balls, especially when power is compromised. These days they should be using solid state relays. But I think there would be about a 0.7v voltage drop so the motor needs to be ok with that. But if a SS relay goes bad, it will cost more, maybe $25.

Tesaro, You are definitely on the right path and congrats on removing the relays without damaging the boards. It is very tricky to remove larger components soldered onto a double sided board. If you heat up the board for too long of a period of time and/or apply too much heat to the board, the traces will de-bond from the board (including the plate through which is a copper sleeve inside the hole that connects through the board). It really takes practiced skill and proper tools to be successful without damaging the board. A soldering iron that is too small or too hot won't work or will damage the board. The soldering iron tip must be in good shape and well tinned with a little extra solder on it. You want to melt and remove the solder quick. Quality solder wick works best but sometimes a quality solder sucker helps. Sometimes it helps to add a little extra fresh solder to the connection first. One useful trick after removing the bulk of the solder is to put the tinned tip of the soldering iron (with a small amount of solder on it to conduct the heat) on the relay (or other component) lead and push with pressure to the side to break any solder loose from inside the through hole. You have to do this without touching the tip of the soldering iron to the board. As soon as the lead moves, it breaks the solder loose and you must immediately remove the soldering iron tip. This keeps the solder from reattaching inside the hole. You may also have to do it in the opposite direction. As far as what may be causing you to fry boards, there are several possible causes. 1) Poor connections anywhere between the battery and the motor such as: connectors, fuse holders, battery switches and other connections or connectors outside or inside the downrigger. We are talking about a fairly high current device and a bad connection is like putting a resistor in series with the motor. It causes a drop in voltage at the motor and that causes the motor to demand more current. When the motor draws more current, it will cause a bigger spark between the contacts of the relay. This will shorten the life of the relay. 2) Too much drag or strain on the motor. This can be caused by drag in the gears, pulleys etc. or using downrigger weights higher than what the unit is rated for. I think I have heard that the older Cannons are rated lower than the newer ones and other downrigger brands may be able to handle, I have to say it, bigger balls. The heavier the weight, the bigger the relay spark, the shorter the life of the relay. 3) Old or weak batteries. If the battery is weak or has a low charge and the voltage supplied to the downrigger is low, the motor will draw higher current, thus causing a bigger spark in the relay and shortening relay life, possibly popping fuses and possibly shortening the motor life. 4) Inadequate wire gauge between battery and downrigger. All wire has resistance. If the wire is too skinny or too long, there will be a reduction of voltage at the downrigger. There are guidelines for wire gauge vs length and device current rating, same as for bow mount trolling motors. The shorter the wire the better. 5) Extreme usage. Basically the more up and down cycles, or switch clicks, the sooner the relays will fail. Lastly: Use rated fuses inline with each rigger. If they are popping, something is wrong which is causing too much current draw. Replacing with a larger fuse may work in a pinch but correcting the cause of drawing too much current is the proper solution.

I see what you mean about the head shape. It seems more rounded than it should be.

They are all incredibly well done. I have seen most of them in person. I was most impressed with the work of Hans The Carver. You really have to see his work in person and see the detail of every scale to fully appreciate it. Only then will you understand the cost.

It might not be effective for the state to provide trash services. Using state employees to pick up trash at all the state ramps, boat access sites and fishing access sites would probably not be cost effective with all the travel. They could however, have agreements or provisions with local counties, municipalities or citizen organizations to provide receptacles and clean up and remove trash at those sites on a regular basis. But it must be coordinated by someone at the state level with locals for each site.

At Conesus, old men like us can launch for free on weekdays except for holiday weekdays by just scanning your drivers license. Weekends you have to pay. I am not sure what age it starts at, maybe 62. Same for all state launches and state parks.

Congrats to Ch 70. I thought they were all Ch70 but I wasn't sure about Jeremy. But even without him, it sounds like they won.

Any final determination on which chapter won the Chapter Challenge?

Real nice fish. Has left pectoral fin clipped. How was the water level in the canal?

If you are trailering it like that, there might be a lot of stress on it from bouncing while going over bumps and dips in the road. I have an Evinrude 15hp 4 stroke on a Garelick heavy duty aluminum kicker bracket on an aluminum boat. When I had it installed, they put in an extra brace on the inside of the boat's transom to reinforce the transom at that point. Also, my boat has the tie down "U" bolt mounted to the inside of the kicker motor. So I use a ratchet strap from that tie down wrapped around the motor shaft to the cleat on the rear deck. That keeps the whole setup rigid so there is no bouncing on the road. Any bouncing is like a constant hammering on the bolts.

It is within anybody's right to keep a legal fish. Posting it on the internet is the main concern here. It can become a promotion, for everyone not familiar with the reasons for catch and release, to keep their legal size muskies. That could be bad for the future of many musky populations especially in NYS. That is why the reasons for catch and release must be mentioned here. It is not an attack on you BassMrs.ster for keeping the fish. It is just a concern that this thread can turn into a promotion for keeping all muskies which is something that most musky anglers understand would be bad for the sustainability of most musky fisheries. The main point that has to be made here is that muskies can easily become an endangered species, at least in NY. Due greatly to the internet, more people are fishing for muskies. Musky communities simply cannot be sustained without catch and release and/or massive stocking programs. Based on all the conservation reasons already mentioned here, most musky anglers understand the need to, and practice, catch and release for muskies in particular. They cannot be compared to any other fresh water fish,aside from sturgeon, when discussing keep or release. There are not many waters, at least in New York, that hold muskies. Muskies in NY waters of the Great Lakes, which are currently sustained only by natural reproduction, are already in decline for a variety of reasons. Catch and release is the main reason we have the opportunity to catch large muskies in those waters and all waters in NY. As for tigers, aside from a few very small central and northern NY lakes and a few small tributaries, Otisco is the only other lake that Tiger Muskies have done well in. If most anglers practice catch and release there, there is a great potential for mid and upper forties tigers to become fairly common in the future. Since there are more and more anglers in NY fishing for muskies, and so few waters that hold them, it is important to do all we can to protect the muskies that we do have and at the same time, work to show the DEC that there is a growing interest in musky fishing so that they will consider expanding management and stocking of muskies and tiger muskies in other waters in the state. A lot of what the DEC does in fisheries management is based on angler utilization and the commerce it generates. That is one of the important reasons for angler participation in the angler diary studies. This is also one of the most important reasons for the existence of Muskies Inc. Chapters 69 and 70 and all other chapters throughout the musky range as well as Muskies Canada. This helps the DEC to justify expansion of the stocking program to the legislation in Albany (there always has to be a money component for action in Albany). So hopefully, we will eventually have more musky fishing opportunities in NY. More and more people are taking up fishing and that generates commerce. But there are limited numbers of fish. Healthy communities of fish and diversity of species are very important for the health of a body of water. The same is true for plant and other life in and around the water. All of us who use it have a certain amount of responsibility to do our part to help insure the health of our waters and the life within them for the future of mankind and the earth. If we want to enjoy those resources and take from them we also must give back.

Is this twitter?

What are things like in the SLR with the border lock down? Have they been strict about the border line? I have heard that they are being very strict in the Niagara River. I understand that fishing is not allowed across the border (either direction) even with a fishing license and passport or enhanced driver's license. I,m not sure but I think they are allowing boaters to cross the line if it is needed to navigate safely between points. But there could be an issue if you stop on the other side of the line or maybe even drift or slightly cross while fishing. I would think that in some areas in the islands, it might be even more of a headache.

Yea, they are harder to hook because of their bony mouths. If you have a rod that has a lot of bend and stretchy line, and or your hooks are not as sharp as they can be, it is hard to get a good hook set. And of course bite offs can happen without a leader.

From what I have read and experienced, they tend to be in the weed beds and in open pockets in weeds. Similar to Largemouth bass. Prety much all the finger lakes have more extensive weed beds at the north and south ends but there can be good weed beds in coves as well. So you can use maps to identify likely locations but if you are restricted to shore fishing you will also be limited by shore access. And I believe wading (and swimming) is not allowed in those lakes without waders.

Many years ago there used to be some big pickerel in Canandaigua Lake. In the mid 80s I got a 4 lb casting from the Canandaigua City pier.

First off, BassMrs.ster, I am not trying to bash you or anything like that. Us musky anglers are just concerned about muskies and tiger muskies being kept because there are so few waters in NY that hold them, and there is an increasing amount of angling pressure on them. This makes it increasingly important to do what we can to minimize their mortality. The point is that tigers are stocked and maintained in that lake as a sport fish. The size limit was recently raised in order to discourage keeping them and to help the lake become a trophy tiger musky lake. It also helps relieve the angling pressure on the few waters in NY that support purebred muskies because they take a much longer time to reach trophy size. Anglers come to Otisco lake for the experience of catching those fish and that helps justify the cost and effort of stocking them in the lake, because they spend money locally while they are there. That helps support the local businesses as well as the local tax base which in turn helps the residents. Fortunately, the greater majority of anglers who fish for them take great care not to harm them or cause excessive stress and do their best to release them unharmed so they live to grow and provide another great experience for another angler. Many of those anglers are youths who will have a very memorable experience. I know it is completely within your rights to keep and eat a legal size fish. But it looks like you also are thrilled and proud to catch such a large fish since you posted a picture of it on this board. And it is true that there are a lot of them in the lake but not so many of that size or larger. And I bet you would be even more thrilled if one day you catch one that is 48 inches. That is a big reason why most musky anglers release all their muskies. There are a lot of walleye in that lake which are stocked by the state in much greater numbers and they grow to legal size faster than tiger muskies. Walleye, as I am sure you know, is a better eating fish and it is a primary reason why they are stocked and people fish for them. So could you please consider trying not to keep tiger muskies for food if you are able to catch enough walleye to feed your family? Then someday, who knows, you may get that 48 incher and post a picture of it here and a release photo is even more satisfying. Also, if you need to increase your success with walleye, I am sure Justin or others on this board or the Otisco or walleye boards can give you some tips.

Too bad it will never make it to 40" or greater.