sherman brown

if the accudepth are in good condition your asking about half of new. somebody should grab them up.

16 hours ago, Tyrrell said:

The first picture is right over my knees the second is held out.I know it is hard to tell from pictures. I decided to release the fish before measuring to reduce handling. I am glad I got it back in quickly but being my biggest fish I would love to have known.

   I caught it out of a 12 foot Kayak that has a lot of room to move and walk around. But I wasn't comfotable with laying this fish on my bump board. Being able to easily get measurements has kept me out of tournaments I would like to fish. Any suggestions would be great!

all I can say is WOW that is a beautiful fish.

fishusa.com had them a while back. if you don't find some used ones then you can start hunting on the web.

sherman

no more than riggers are used while fishing they should not effect the battery at all if your running your main motor. I use 2 big jon pro tournament riggers I use on erie and never even noticed and change in my battery.

I don't know about the cannons but big jon can be made short or long with the sectional booms. I seen a couple of nice used big jons on ebay a couple of days ago. I just checked and there still there. its 2 riggers for 500.00 but will take offers.

to drop 3000.00 on the price is a big chunk of change. if I had 4500.00 to spend i'd buy it and store it until my boat dies. how much would you knock off if you kept all the electrical, downriggers and any other things you might be able to sell. I have the old lowrance 38c hd that I would mount on the boat. and I have 2 big jon pro tournament riggers that hasn't been used a dozen times yet.

is it a long shaft? 20" is a long shaft.

you need to adjust the ez steer connecting arm to shorten the travel to the right an adjust to get more travel to the left.

I cranked those manual riggers for over 35 yrs. but I was watching ebay when these 2 suppliers got in a price war per say. I picked up one new pro tournament riggers for 525.00 then I contacted the other one and he let me have one for the same price. but I ended up with getting four of them for that price. but 4 with 6 lite bite slide divers was just to much work. so I sold 2 of them. the only regret was that I hadn't bought electric riggers much sooner. I fish the central basin for eyes. the electric riggers saves my old broken down body.

I fished by myself. I started going with the waves and tied a 6 volt light to the steering wheel to keep it from turning on its own. worked good but not as good as auto pilot. but it did hold course good enough to set rods and get my limit in short order.

if I was in the market for a boat I would jump on this one with both feet. or if I had 3000.00 extra cash I would buy it and park my old boat and use this one. just hang on to it someone will understand what a deal they are getting.

I used a 10' diver rod to run my lite bite divers. but it was a little cumbersome. now I use a 7' in the back, then an 8' in the middle, and a 9' in front. this way it keeps my lines apart.

On 3/7/2019 at 10:26 PM, youp50 said:

Try a 20 dollar cabelas whooping stick.  

I use the whooping stick for riggers and they work great for downriggersl. I was using the 9' med action for saltwater fishing. but they don't have it anymore. so I went with the 8' and couldn't be happier. when hooked to a nice redfish or black drum i've had them bend the rods down to the water. its rated for 4# to 20# line. but I was using 30# braid on them. I've not had one break even with what I put them through.

I had a couple of black beauty rods I got off ebay that were good rigger rods.

you have them priced to sale. if I was even thinking about riggers I would have bought them. but I already have 2 big jon riggers for my boat.

I take it you have a kicker motor for trolling. it might cost a little more money. why not get auto pilot for your kicker motor. then that would solve your problem. the reason I went without a kicker is my brother bought the auto pilot for my mercruiser. it didnt cost me anything. at the time I didnt have the money to buy a kicker motor.

2 hours ago, Chas0218 said:

Do you have any experience with the Si-tex autopilot drive? Would it be able to turn the wheel while the engine is off? I run a kicker and wouldn't have the main (I/O) running.

no I don't think any steering wheel auto pilot unit will turn without hydraulic steering. I just use my big engine to troll with use trolling bags to get my speed down.

to do it right you need hydraulic steering. but if you don't want to pay for it you can get one like I have. mine fits below the steering wheel. it isn't as good as one using the hydraulic steering system. it makes it harder to turn when your not trolling. also it is noisy and doesn't keep a straight line when trolling. but it does work good enough. mine is from raymarine. I have about 3000,00 invested in mine. but that was for the unit plus I added the positioning sensor to mine foe better control. then I had calumet marine do the installation for me. the thing is I kinda like not going in a straight line while trolling. good luck with a new autopilot. you'll like having it for trolling.

I bought a helix 7 for my small boat. but I didnt have room on the dash. I tried and tried to mount it out of the way but still be able to watch for fish. so I bought a universal ram mount from bass  pro I think. I mounted the base to my dash then mover it up and away to the left of the steering wheel. its still close to the wheel but I have enough room that the wheel is clear of the unit.

I lost a complete wheel fender and light on I-75 down in ky about 150 miles from home. used boatus to get trailer towed in. they had a old trailer that they would sell for 500.00 and put my boat on the trailer. the trailer didnt have any cap on it. I towed it home without any cap on it. the grease inside the bearing is what lubes the bearings. yrs ago trailers didnt have bearings. they just packed the bearings and put dust caps on to keep things out of the bearings clean. a missing bearing buddy shouldn't have been a problem.

try replacing the pvc valve. its a cheap try. if the motor has lots of hours on it and burns some oil it probably has some blow by its putting oil through the pvc valve.

have you tried checking on galeforcetackle.com. or the stinger web site.

• yes that is a pvc line. it should be checked to see if its still working. if it not working right the pvc valve should be replaced.

I would get daiwa wilderness trolling rods from fishusa.com. get them in med/light weight. they do seem a little light. but they are awesome rods.  a lot of people don't think med/light are to light for trolling. but I can tell more about when something is on with them instead of a broom stick..

you can get the cannon ratcheting rod holder at hodgesmarine.com for them for 74.00 each plus the tracks. you will want to  get tracks a little longer than you think you need. I got a 24" but it wasnt long enough for me. so I just added another 24".now when im trolling its easy to set them up with lite bite slid divers. but other rod holders will do the job. but the cannon can be set with one hand. then when you bring a rod in just grab the rod and lift and they will ratchet to the upright position. no more leaning over the s the side of the boat to get a rod. you just lift the rod out of the holder.

you need a mono backing so the braid doesn't slip on the spool. I didnt use any backing when I first started using braid. went out trolling and had 3 reels that kept giving me trouble. sent them to tuna tom to get then repaired. he drilled a hole in the reel spool to put a pin in and sent them back to me and let me know that the braid was slipping. now I use 150' of 17# mono as a backer for my braid. braid is to costly to use as backing.