Richard

I think I would like to add a couple more of the Berts Ratcheting Rodholders. A couple of years ago I had found a good deal on a walleye tackle shop and have since lost the web site address. I have found them for $55 at Big Lake Outfitters but do not know if this is the best price out there. Does anyone know of a better deal for these rod holders? Thank you for all your help in this search. Richard

Also do not forget that the harminic vibrations from the wire sometimes atract fish. More times than not. Richard

As Billy noted you will get used to it. It took me some time as well. When raising, I usually stop it a foot above my intended depth and then drop it the foot after it has stopped. I do love the speed for the big lake. It is a little to fast for my home lakes (Cape Cod) when we only troll down 35 feet in the summer for the trout. Richard

Adam, I did not realize you were having all that work done. Hope you are happy with the outcome and are able to get into some fish this weekend. Good luck Richard

All Jax has stated is true. If they said a depth. that is the depth that they had on their rigger counter. Also concider, If you see a fish on your fish finder at 80 feet, do not figure your blow back and all other variables and drop your ball down 87 feet. More than likely you will not be right on your calculations and you could be below the fish. You always want your presentation to be above the fish. See fish at 80, put 80 feet of cable out. With all decent ball weights (8 to 16 pounds) you will be no more than say 8 feet above the fish. This distance is a small distance for a Great Lakes fish to travel to hit your presentation. I have seen kings on the bottom come up 30 feet on my ff to hit my flasher/flie Good luck and have fun out there. Richard

I do like the clear one, but I have done well on the green and the chartrouse (sp) one as well. For that matter my gold and orange ones have not done much for kings deep. I do suspect they would do well up high in the spring for the kings and the steelhead. Richard

Woody, It sounds like you have been doing just fine fishing. There is all kinds of new things to try. I try something new every two years or so. Richard

I run my flashers with flies off the riggers. Now dodgers will be run with flies or a spoon sometimes. With the spoon I will run longer leaders. Maybe up to four feet. Richard

That is how I start every day, I will modify as the day progresses. If the fish wseam to want spoons I will end up with three spoons and one flasher/flie, if the fish want flashers than I will have three of them and one spoon. It would have to be a very special day to comit completly to one presentation. Richard

Chaz, The area noted above is a good area to start. Sandy pond and the dunes are north of your launch site. I like it more out in front of the dunes. Flasher flie colors above are all geed, I have my best luck with green or a combo of green and white flashers. All flies with green in it seam to do good on my boat. The trench is very far north in the Henderson area where the St. Lawrence River leaves Lake Ontario. Good luck Richard

I run my flashers about 15 to 25 feet behind the ball depending what the fish want. My leader to the flie is 23" from hook bend to loop in the leader which is atteched to the flasher. That said, somedays is a spoon bite and some days it is a flasher bite. Let the fish tell you what they want. I always have a mix down there though. Richard

Green E-chip flasher with a green and whatever flie you like on the shelf. Also a white flasher and white flie has been working lately. For spoons I like the dolphin searies, Green dolphin, blue dolphin, etc. Other spoons of choice for a beginner would be the glow frog with white and silver back, and a whatermellon spoons. I know there are other spoons that work for me and others but these few always seam to catch fish and are always in the water at some point durring the day for me. Good luck Richard

I heard stories fron some Lake Michigan fishermen that tried it. They said that they had some success and that it might have its day, but that it would not replace the real thing in their book. This said I was going to try it as well if I was unable to get some of the real stuff. Richard

Fish, The tournie pay out was just for the the top three places. The prizes for fifth, tenth, fifteenth, and twentieth were donated prises by A-TOM-MIK, who just added them as bonus prizes for those positions. They were also added so that people that did not do as well as others would still weigh in their fish to obtain one of the bonus prizes. Even with this added gifts there were 20 teams that did not weigh in fish. Looking forward to next year Richard

Adam, not yet. I have been toying around with names and kind of liked that one but the wife does not! We will need to use it at Fair Haven for next year though. Yankee, We did not leave sight of the Fair Haven beach. We went maybe a mile east of port. Waterlogged, Congrats on your finish also. I was just looking to finish in the top half but was pleasently surprised. I thought we needed one more king to place at the top. Thanks guys. Richard

We did fish Saturday from right out in front along the beach to the first wash out hill to the east. 80 to 110 FOW, 35 to 70 feet down. Flasher/flies were the ticket for us in that zone. Richard AKA: Doolin Fish

1. Screemer 152.56 points 2. Lightning 152.19 points 3. Hat Trick 146.75 points 4. Liquid Plumber 142.94 points 5. Doolin Fish 140.94 points 6. Sunchaser 140.06 points 7. Lucky Enough 130.31 points 8. High Hook 130.00 points 9. Team Doubled up 129.88 points 10.Sparks/Chopper-Siggs 129.81 points 11.Porky 123.13 points 12.Fat Man 121.44 points 13.Fish Hawk 120.31 points 14.Silverseeker 118.44 points 15.Cold Water Affair 114.37 points 16.Twinkie Boy 106.18 points 17.Indulgence 105.06 points 18.Flash Five 104.31 points 19.More On 102.37 points 20.King Fin 100.94 points 21.Murphy's law 100.37 points 22.James Devos 96.31 points 23.Hot Tub 95.81 points 24.White Cap 87.87 points 25.Ugly Stick 87.43 points 26.Billy V /Siggs Rig 83.56 points 27.Popeye 81.63 points 28.Para 2 80.68 points 29.Finders Keepers 79.25 points 30.Bear Creek Bandit 76.50 points 31.Black Cloud 55.19 points 32.Storm Chaser 55.13 points 33.Fish Styx 50.56 points 34.Trophy Nuts 44.13 points 35.Coyotee 42.44 points 36.Fish Finder 19.81 points Sorry if there is a mistake anywhere. I would like to thank my son and father for all their help in our fifth place finish. It was our first tounie and I am sure it will not be our last. Richard

Not sure if this will completly help you, but this is what I have found on my boat. A #1 dipsy, 275 feet of line out will get me down about 90 to 100 feet trolling at about 2.7 mph GPS. Generaly it will be about a 3 to 1 ratio for the #1 dipsy. Tha mag. dipsy should get you deeper. Good luck Richard

are you saying that you are running a copper rig and a dipsy rig off the same side of the boat or the opposite sides from one another? Richard

http://www.glangler.com/swapmeet.html

Whan I was there a couple of years ago we had our boat at Four C's marina. They are about two hundred yards from the lake. http://www.4csmarina-lodging.com/index.html Good luck, I loved it out there. Richard

Does anyone have an online source to get bait heads for trolling hole bait? How about the hole bait as well? Thank you all, Good fishing. Richard

Rich, Glad to see you got Dad and friends into some fish. I forgot to tell you to say hi to him for me when we were fishing last weekend. So please tell him I was asking about him. Adam, How are things going? Are you going to be up for the Fair Haven Challenge? I should arrive late Thursday night. Pre-fish Friday and head home early Sunday. Maybe catch up with you then if you are there. Richard

Yankee, Be carefull next year if you are still using the same spool of line. I did the same as you but on the third year I started loosing more fish due to break offs on the leader. I put the treble on one of the rod holders and pulled, "snap" one treble and flie in the drink. Changed out the line and the break offs stopped. Good luck Richard

I second the Cannon crimps. I have been using them on two boats for the last eight years without a problem. I have been using up to 16 pound weights with them.