FishingFool34

We had good looking screens all morning in 160-180. Getting them to do something more than streak thru the gear was the hard part. Went 3/5 Twinkie rig with Socco bait strip (we forgot the real stuff in the fridge) took 2 fish down 80, other came on a 10 color with NBK stingray. Bugs were annoying but not terrible, thermacell in the cockpit helped a little I think.

I have 1 color of lead with flouro leader on my leader spool with a micro swivel on one end and a snap swivel on the other. I'll usually run it on one of my full mono BT setups. I'll tie the mono directly to the swivel, reel it on top of the mono and attach my lure to the snap. Simple and I don't have to have a reel dedicated to it, anything 3 colors or more I have dedicated reels for.

Depends on the reel you're using... easy way to check. Measure off 100ft in your lawn and walk it off and see what your line counter says at the 100ft mark. If it reads higher than 100 it means you need backing.

8' ML Shimano TDR

If by combo you mean sonar/gps then yes it is.

$250 + Shipping

sorry I mis-read it.

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Lowrance elite 7 hdi, comes with headunit, mount, transducer, power cable... it is missing 1 knob to attach the headunit to the mount (you can get replacement knobs for $15 on Amazon). This comes with the standard 2d transom mount transducer but has capability for down imaging if you purchase the proper transducer. It does have GPS built in, everything worked fine when I removed it. Can get pics for anyone interested, pick up in Utica/Rome area or Mexico. $300 + shipping

I have an extra Yamaha bracket kit if you're interested. I bought the wrong one initially for my kicker and couldn't return it because I opened it. Its the 120-1080-00 kit and it was never used, could be a good starting point to build your own from. Shoot me a PM if you're interested.

I ran 8hp Tohatsu for 5yrs no issues. Tohatsu makes all Nissan and merc motors 15hp and under I believe.

I use blacks and like to replace them every year. With a $300 probe hanging off a $10 release, seemed like a small price to pay for a little extra confidence of it being a new release.

I had an ipilot link TM connected to a Helix on my last boat. You will need a Link compatible Lakemaster map card for your Helix as well, if you want the Link features. I enjoyed the heading arrow displayed on my maps when in AP mode and the follow a contour feature with my link. If you're gonna have a Link TM and looking for a new sonar, you may as well go with a Helix unit.

I can't help you with April fishing up there, as I've only been up there fishing in the fall. But the trench is basically the area between the mainland (R.W. State park area) and Stoney island.

I have almost all coldwater reels at this point minus a couple convectors for setups I don't use regularly... had some accudepths at one point and would compare them closer to the convector model from Okuma rather than the Coldwaters. I would say CW are more comparable to the sealine model from Diawa imo. I used to have trouble with adjusting the drag on my CW reels, that issue was solved by a reel repair guy out of Rochester/Buffalo area (I can't remember his name). You had to flip some washers and replace another plastic washer (theres a big post on here someplace about it). But since then my CW reels have worked flawless and I believe the issue has been resolved by Okuma in newer CW reels. That said I would buy CW over the accudepths personally.

No, I have the TR1 gold without the throttle actuator and it works perfect.

Depending on what brand of rigger you have, switching from wire to braid can affect some functions of your downrigger. Specifically Cannon down riggers with the auto/short stop feature. Changing to braid will disable this feature, just something to keep in mind.