mr 580

Getting some nice eyes this year- got 7 on 6/28 with 2 at 24" and 2 at 22". Using crawler harness's along weed edge. Seems like the muskies get all the attention and the walleye fishing gets overlooked on Chautauqua. Have a good population with multiple year classes available. Lots of forage for them so they grow fast-can make the bite tough at times.

I think you’ll find that boat builders use products that might appear to be fiberglass but are actually lighter weight composites to save weight aloft vs fiberglass. I know my Proline uses a lighter weight product in the hardtop cover. Adding too much weight high can effect stability.

Tough deciding what to do with a boat you have had for years from new. You are doing the right thing by taking your time deciding whether to attempt repairing. IMO based on boat age, hours, and value that putting money toward a complete repair is not wise. I’d get it useable with minimal fixes I could do myself and fish it this season. In the meantime, I’d be thinking/looking for a replacement. Might be some boats around in the fall to start some new memories with.

Can’t tell from your photo’s but your Princecraft might have slotted rails that would allow brackets to mount tracks on. Check with your dealer or someone like Traxstech. This would save you from drilling gunnels and putting backer to support the tracks. The brackets I’m referring to are sometimes called “t brackets” and vary between manufacturers of the boat.

Blood Run Walleye copper 20lb rated probably a better choice for eyes. I run 250 ft on Daiwa 57’s at 2.0 to get down about 55’ for late August/September. The smaller diameter walleye copper fits smaller reels than the 45lb you need to get down at faster salmon speeds.

With the warmer water, seeing a pretty decent daytime bite this last week. Nice class of fish in 17 to 19" size with some mid 20's in the mix. In and along the weeds early am the best.

I’m not able to do a Willis with the Tufline Microlead. I use black to back uniknot. I’m using Saltist 50’s on my 10 colors as I like the high speed. Using the Tufline Microlead gives me more backer on the 50’s. The Stealth core works good with Willis which I prefer on my other lead core rods. I have been running these combinations a few years.

I prefer to run heavier lead core so I use 27lb Tufline Microlead for 10 colors and 27lb Stealth Core for all my shorter cores. Suffix 832 only offered in 18lb. I’ve run some 18lb years ago and didn’t seem to get down or catch as many fish for me so I stick with heavier weight rating.

When I started using dipseys over 30 years ago, the charts provided by Luhr Jensen were about as accurate as the ones from Slide Diver. Back in those days we were using mono so it was a real trial and error mess. For me I figure out what works for me and how I fish without paying much attention to printed dive curves. A lot of that stuff is just a starting point to apply to your own situation based on all the variables. I also agree with Les that there is a place in the “tool box” for different types/brands of divers based on application without saying one is better than the others. I try to help people with Slide Divers as the learning curve seems steeper with them. I’ve seen quite a few guys give up on them without giving them a chance.

Original poster last visited this site on Sept 1, 2020 after making 2 posts.

I believe that Slide Diver discontinued the original heavy weight kit with the 2oz and 4 oz several years ago. They now offer what they call the “Ultimate Weight “ Kit which is a 7 oz weight with a new disc bottom for the larger weight and a big ring. This dives pretty close to 2 to 1. I used to like that 4 oz weight and tried to find more of them but couldn’t - even spoke to SD rep. Been using the Ultimate Kit now late season for a few years.