TrophySeeker

Caught this guy last night. Thought it was a brown, but now I'm not sure. Sorry - I didn't get the tail in the picture.

What do you think? BTW - the fish was released unharmed (as is almost every fish I catch).

Salmonite,

Picked this one up jigging the shoreline drop-off that you see behind me. Orange / chartreuse jig with stinger and crawler. This was the only fish we caught in this area! Guess I was just at the right place at the right time. Almost all of the fish caught were caught drifting jigs or harnesses with crawlers (natural or Gulp) because the point that we fished faced west, and there was plenty of west wind.

I've since gotten some more information on this area, and think I may be able to put a trolling program together for the trip next year.

I think the guy AND the fish are real, but they photoshop'd a shirt on him!

Raider,

I bought a few of the Liberators this year as well. I have run them only twice, but haven't had either of the problems you noted. The have slid down my line when reaching the top rod eye with no issue. If this becomes a problem I will discontinue using them, as I fish alone often, so i can't rely on someone else to trip/remove it. I actually bought these so I could use 2 (or more?) fixed sliders when I am in search mode by myself. I have run 2 off the main line without issue so far. Regarding tangles, I use ball-bearing snap-swivels at each end of the leader, so that probably helps.

I have 6 of these for sale. Purchased last fall. They are in like-new condition. I made the mistake of buying 2 of the new Cannon Dual-Axis, and couldn't stand that they all didn't match. I was going to use these on my walleye boat, but they didn't work out. $65 each or all 6 for $375. I would prefer local pick-up (Rochester area), but will ship for a reasonable fee.

http://www.traxstech.com/store/rod_holders.htm

These items have been sold.

Trophy Seeker : Sun 6-14 Fishing Report

==============

TRIP OVERVIEW

==============

Date(s): 6-14

Time on Water: 5:30 -10 am

Temp/Weather: Sunny

Wind Speed/Direction: Light West

Waves: 1 foot or less

Surface Temp: 50-54

Location: Braddocks Point to Russel

LAT/LONG: (GPS Cords)

===============

FISHING RESULTS

===============

Total Hits: 3

Total Boated: 2

Species Breakdown: 2 Kings

Hot Lure: Hawg Wild A-TOM-MIC Spindoctor/Fly

Trolling Speed: 2-5 to 2.8

Down Speed: 1.8 to 2.1 Depth Raider

Boat Depth: 125 to 250 ft

Lure Depth: 30 to 50 ft

====================

SUMMARY & FURTHER DETAILS

====================

Left the dock at 5:30 AM. Might as well have been noon. Sun was high and bright by the time I reached the mouth of the river. Decided to run west to Braddocks Point as I had no clue on depth to fish. Out by myself, so only 2 rods. Set up in about 125 and headed out. Had a fish on DW SS Greasy Chicken Wing free slider on 48' rigger, but lost. At 210', picked up small king (2 pounds?) on same rig. Worked the area for a while, and finally had rip on wire, out 180 with Hawg Wild SD/Fly. Fish ran to 320 before turning. Landed a nice King. Didn't take time to weigh or photo, as I don't like to keep them out of the water for more than a minute or so. Fish was just over 36" (length of cooler), so I am guessing 18-20 lbs.? Seems like all the bigger kings this year are solid and fat! Trolled east to Russel with no action. Pulled lines and was back to the river by 10:00. The screen was sort of dead. Had the occasional hook near bottom, and the occasional hook checking out the deep spoon, but couldn't get them to go. Almost no bait on the screen to speak of.

Thanks. I couldn't make out what the heck it was.

I picked up a couple of the new Cannon Dual Axis holders for my wire dipseys. Awesome product!

I have an Accudepth 57 LCi in like new condition. $40. Shoot me a PM if interested.

Nice. Those TS riggers are sweet! What do you have mounted under the center rigger?

Spent a few days at Picton Bay, Ontario Canada last week. Arrived Tuesday and within about 20 minutes of fishing picked up this 30" 9.5 lber (my biggest ever).

Of course the fishing didn't continue at this pace, but we picked at them for the next couple days. This was my first trip to the Quinte area and it looks like we'll be heading back next year.

Just a quick update for those interested. These motors are rated for 60 watts, and draw around 5 amps. The 5 amp fuses proved to be a little too close, as I popped one bringing in a board in the 3 footers yesterday. You probably need 7-10 amp fuses.

Matt-

No problem. We had luck with the Crazy Beyatch SD/Fly combo after your tip. I like the looks of that Hawg Wild spinny though. I may have to pick up one.

BTW - nice job on the 27 lber!

Hey Matt,

The spinny shown looks like a Hawg Wild?

Tom,

Surface temps stayed in the 46-47 degree range. But that may change after the blow tomorrow.

Thanks for the report Tom. You followed us out of the river this morning. We started in about 50ft and worked out to 250. Best luck was in ~175. The screen was pretty much dead all day. Wound up 4 for 7 with 1 laker, 2 teenage kings and 1 shaker king. It got pretty snotty out deep. We pulled lines at about 10:30 and made the slow ride in. Here are pix of the kings:

Off to do some walleye fishing next week, so it was good to get out.

$8 to launch! Holy cow!

+1 for Steve's Custom Canvas. He did my hardtop enclosure last fall. This picture doesn't really do it justice.

O-k, here are some pictures and descriptions of how I upgraded my BigJon manual planer reels to electric. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures when I put these together, so the finished product pictures will have to do. This upgrade cost me around $50 each. Most of the cost was in the motors. I already had most of the other components including aluminum, SS u-bolts, and other misc. hardware.

Here is a picture of the finished product, starboard side.

This is the link to the motors I purchased and a pic from their site. I used Microsoft Live Cashback when I purchased, which was at 15% at the time. I chose the cheaper shipping and received in 2 days!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0367360046

These are the planer reel parts dis-assembled. The BigJon assembly is really just a 1/2-20 (fine thread) bolt with a 3/16 hole in it for a pin that the clutch assembly rides on. You can see how the clutch plate fits over the pin in the bottom of this photo.

So the bolts I purchased are 1/2-20 x 3" bolts from Lowes. Home Depot did not have them. I didn't want to destroy the original parts in case this didn't work out. To fasten the new bolt to the shaft of the motor, I drilled a 25/64" hole (didn't have a 10mm drill bit) through the center of the head of the bolt down through the shaft of bolt. This would be easier on a lathe, but I don't have one, so I used my drill press. It is very important that the hole be centered! I center punched and started with a 1/8" bit and moved up from there. You have to drill pretty deep, probably about an inch. After test fitting I drilled and tapped the side of the head of the bolt for a 1/4-20 setscrew. I had these. If I had to buy I would have tapped for 1/4-28. I also used a 3/16" drill to "dimple" the flat of the motor shaft so the setscrew would bite and not allow the new shaft to fall off (that would suck). You should be able to see what I am talking about in the picture below:

The other thing you will notice from my pictures is that the motor is all black, unlike the picture on e-bay. When I received the motors I removed the access cover for the worm gear and sealed with caulk. I also sealed around the motor body and around the wiring. Then I painted the motor with Plasti-Dip spray paint in hopes to completely waterproof. Time will tell. There are 2 holes in the bottom of the motor which I left open. Here is a picture of the backside of the starboard and port reels showing the sealed and painted motors:

I used a piece of 1/2" x 3/4" x 4" piece of aluminum to mount the line guide. I don't have many metal working tools, but you would be surprised that you can work with aluminum with woodworking tools if you go slow and are cautious. This piece was cut out of a much larger piece on my radial arm saw in multiple passes. The 4" wide aluminum that the motor is mounted to was cut on my table saw. carbide tipped blades really help. PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

You can also see that there is a left/right hand version. Since the motors are the same you will notice some differences in mounting. Also, the motors run in opposite directions to retrieve. This is one of the reasons I selected this motor. The wiring was pretty simple. I only use the motor for retrieve, and just loosen the clutch to let line out. This was part of the design so that if this didn't work out for some reason I could still use in manual. The mounting plates I used have a right angle bend in them, so I mounted the switches there. I bought (2) 2" x 4" x 1" deep plastic boxes at Radio Shack along with switches for under $10. You can see the wiring in the picture below. I have each of these fused at 5 amps.

All in all I'm pretty happy with these. They don't slow down at all retrieving my Otter Boats. I'm sure they would handle double skis without a problem. Not sure about those triples in the last GLA magazine though - but there is always manual retrieve.

This was a pretty easy project that most anyone can do. I hope this helps if you ever thought about buying electrics. For me it is just the convenience of the power retrieve, as I fish alone often and that frees me up to set lines, etc.

Feel free to ask questions.

O-k, I will take some pictures this week and create a new topic.

Not sure what you are looking to do with them or what size you need, but based on what I use my line counters for I would recommend these in this order:

1. Shimano Tekota 600LC ~$150 Retail, but you can do a little better buying new on eBay using Microsoft Live Cashback. This is a GREAT reel for wire.

http://pages.ebay.com/cashbackoffer/terms.html

2. Daiwa Sealine 47LC ~$100 Retail. I know you said you had bad experience with Daiwa, but this is a good reel.

3. Daiwa AccuDepth Plus 47LC ~$50-$60 Retail. Probably 80% as good as the Sealine but 1/2 the price.

I can't really recommend any others as I haven't used others that I would recommend. I won't recommend the early Daiwa Accudepth reels, as they had awful drags, as well as other issues.

Hope that helps.

If anyone is interested I could post how I upgraded my (2) BigJon Planer Reels to Electric retrieve for ~$50 each.

Let me know.

Here you go:

http://www.fishdoctorcharters.com/videos/video3W.html#

Just to clarify, the message posted above from Kell Labs was from 2007. I don't believe there has been any progress on an adjustable Depth Raider. I've gotten used to mine now. One nice thing about NOT being adjustable (calibrated to GPS, etc.) is that you can compare your down speed to others with Depth Raiders. This is not true for FishHawk and Sub-Troll, as they both can be calibrated.

This is the response I received when I asked Curtis Kell about the speed reading of the Depth Raider:

The original intent was to design the Depth Raider to match existing speed & temp units such as the Sub Troll and the Cannon SNT – which it does nicely. However, all three brands track about .4-.5mph slower than GPS. Also, there is a general feeling in the electronics industry that GPS at slow speeds is not very accurate. Say below 3 mph. One indicator is that even on a calm day GPS will bounce around by .5mph and it really shouldn’t on a calm day. Yet another variable is the Fish Hawk. This unit displays speed lower than GPS but higher than Depth Raider, Sub Troll, and Cannon SNT.

The big picture is that there is no calibrated instrument manufacturers can purchase and use to calibrate to water speed. We also now believe that even if we could provide a product with a guaranteed highly accurate speed, if it didn’t match other speed indicators on the boat some folks would still question the accuracy. The only real solution is to provide a means for users to calibrate speed to whatever other speed source on their boat they would like. You’ll probably see this upgrade available next season from Depth Raider.

Curt

Kell Labs

Mick - PM returned.

Well that makes sense then. The "April 19th" in the title led me to believe it was your report from Sunday. That would have been pretty impressive to have been comfortable shirtless in that weather yesterday.