jimalbert

Im no guide. But I have been around the block for a long time (mostly fishing Bass tournaments) from the Thousand Islands to Florida and have used a bunch of different sonars from multiple manufacturers. Now I troll in the Finger Lakes and on Ontario. I can honestly say from a pure performance and customer service standpoint that I would seriously consider the Garmin products. The service from Lowrance is sub-par and any time I called Garmin for support they were over the top helpful. I purchased a Garmin 73dv (it has traditional sonar as well as Down Imaging) for my helm and I love it. I then purchased a small Striker unit with DV for the bow of my boat when I bass fish occasionally. When I received the Striker one of the pins of the power cable were damaged and they shipped one to me overnight free of charge. Just my .02 Jim

I wish I could. The area in the back of my FishMaster isn't deep enough to put a size 31 back there. I put the biggest battery in that I could fit.

Thanks Mac. I troll with my I/O and trolling bags as I can get low enough speeds with it but the same principal applies. a 9.9 or 15 is in my near future though. Always nice to have a backup out there. Jim

Separate Battery for Downriggers I just picked up some Walker Tournament Electric Riggers and want to get them mounted to the boat and wired up before its time to actually use them. Do you guys run them off of a separate battery? I currently have a size 24 or 27 for the cranking battery (Motor, electronics, bilge, lights, radio etc) are connected to this battery. I also have (2) size 27's for my bow mount Powerdrive. I was thinking about installing a bigger alternator and running another set of leads off the alternator to a 4th battery for the downriggers. Do you guys think its necessary to do this or is running them to the deep cycle good enough? If I do throw another battery in there I will need to relocate my on board charger. Thanks, Jim

Fish Hawk Probe How are you guys attaching your weights to the fish hawk probe? I use 12lb torpedo weights and using the the break away chain seems a bit sketchy. Any ideas? What are you guys doing? THanks, Jim

FishHawk Anyone selling a FishHawk? Im looking for speed/temp probe. Thanks, Jim

Hey Guys... Merry Christmas. I am thinking about buying either remote wireless steering or an autopilot for the boat. She is a Starcraft Fishmaster 196 with a Mercruiser I/O. This boat is fairly light and in rough lake conditions is thrown off course quite easily which prompted me to rethink an autopilot and lean toward a remote wireless steering system such as the intellisteer unit. The other benefit of the intellisteer is that an autopilot controller can be added later if I choose to decide that is in my best interest. Anyone have any experience with the Intellisteer products? Thanks, Jim

Thanks Everyone... I am purchasing two from bottom-feeder. Thanks Again. Jim

Anyone have any electric downriggers for sale? Thanks, Jim

This isn't necessarily when I'm trolling but when I occasionally go bass fishing or I'm just out hanging with the family. I'll look into the spacer. Sent from my SM-G900V using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Before I go too far let me start by saying that my father in law is probably the best Merc/Mercruiser mechanic in Pennsylvania. He rebuilt and re-painted my carb, changed the distributor cap, plugs, and wires. We also changed the fuel filter at the end of last year. I have a problem where I get to the lake, start the boat (starts perfectly) run to my spot (runs fine WOT and at idle). However, when i get to an area and shut the boat off and try to restart it I have to advance the throttle and crank her over a few times to get it started. Were certain there is nothing wrong with the fuel delivery system and there are no leaks. I am thinking its a vapor lock issue because it gets so damn hot in that engine compartment. I am faulty of not using the blower when I run and shut off, and i typically dont let it idle for a few minutes when I get to an area before shutting it off. This thing has a metal fuel line that runs along the starboard side of the engine up diagonally to the top and across the top to the carb on the port side of the engine. You can buy a replacement rubber hose so I may do that. Father in law suggested (because he thinks its vapor lock as well) wrapping fuel line to deflect heat. I bought a piece of heat shield wrap to see if that circumvents the problem. here is the wrap: http://www.autozone.com/ignition/heat-shield-sleeve/thermo-tec-1-2-to-1-in-x-3-ft-express-sleeve/379541_0_0/?checkfit=true Above and beyond that, I am trying to find a way to get it cooler in the compartment. Run with the lid open, put a vent in the front and side of the dog house, etc. I wish I could somehow do a cold air intake but would have no easy way to get a flexible duct from the front to the back of the boat. I even thought about putting a fan on the front of the dog box that i could run off of my trolling batteries that i could run while running on the lake to get cooler air in there. Other things to mention: I run non-ethanol gas, use a fuel treatment, and it does seem like the starting issue is less when it is cooler out. Just curious if anyone else has this issue with a mercruiser and what you have done to help the situation. Thanks, Jim

Just wanted to share this story. I ordered a bunch of trolling flies from Minion Last Friday and received them today. My wife called me and said did you order trolling flies? Yup, I did. She then goes on to tell me they arrived in a Postal Envelope that said "We're sorry for your inconvenience on the back. Rut Ro Shaggy. I messaged Minion to find out if this ever happened before and he said no and asked if I could send him a picture. I sent him a picture and he got back to me shortly that he was going to replace all of the damaged flies with new ones. He didn't have to do it as it was a postal problem, but he did and I thank him for it. Top notch guy to deal with if anyone needs flies. Thanks again Minion. Jim

Go get em Ed!

How many of you guys run a rod length of heavy Mono between your wire an your dipsy diver? I read somewhere here on LOU where someone mentioned they do it that way and it allows you to break the rod down for storage without kinking the wire and also provides some shock absorption on the hard strikes. Thanks, Jim

Thanks Rob. I guess it doesn't become backing until a king tears off 1000' of wire... before that its filler.. hahaha..

OK.. I thought I read somewhere that 1000' of wire fit perfectly on the magda 30's so I only assumed the 45 would need some backing to fill the spool so the counter works properly. Thanks Les.