mr 580

Rich s, my thought process when I went to 12lb torpedo was exactly same as yours. What's a couple more pounds going to do. I had rigged boat so my probe was on an old slow mag 10. Initially I ran 10lb as I had on my old boat for years. When I didn't like blow back I used homemade 11lb fish shaped weight I had kicking around which was a little better so I figured 12lb will be what I want. I was only fishing weekends then and had the issue the same season I moved to the 12lb weight. Figured I'd share as two risks to me- first you'll likely loose your gear when it goes and if that includes probe, weight, and release equals big $$$. Then unless you can find used parts you'll turn a working rigger into some used parts. I was lucky when mine failed and saved gear. I'd had rigger for 20+ years so they didn't owe me anything so I got a couple new ones.

I'll pass along my experience of running 12lb weights on early Mag 10A's. Never tripped a breaker, but started getting some problems coming up like rigger was skipping. Eventually rigger failed completely and free wheeled in both directions. Took rigger apart and electric motor ran fine in both directions. What had failed were three white plastic pucks inside the sealed right angle drive at the end of the motor. Believe they were designed to absorb shock of stopping/starting weight. The heavier weight crushed the plastic and those motors or parts for them aren't supplied by Cannon anymore. When my rigger blew it was probe rigger and I was lucky and caught it. Jammed a screwdriver in to hold rigger-was no fun hand winding the rigger up. After that I've updated to newer models with higher weight rating.

I have two Penn 320GT2 LC line counter reels for $110 plus shipping or local p/u. Would work for riggers, flat lines, short leadcore. Pics are in post- reels are in good shape.

Sounds like your Trollmaster is acting up. Might be going into max throttle mode by itself. When it acts up, try putting it into idle mode or shutting it off. If your motor drops back to idle then you'll know it's not the kicker. I've had Trollmaster Pro 2 for over 5 years and never had that issue. I've sealed mine with silicone after having it get wet fishing in the rain. Mine is velcro'd to a rigger so it sits in the weather. You might want to contact Trollmaster.

After losing a weight a few years ago, I started using Amish Outfitter ball snubbers on my high speed Cannons. Haven't had an issue since. I do check my probe rigger terminal frequently and change it when I see any issue on cable.

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Either 1 or 2 should get you close enough to get some numbers working for your spread. With variables like with ring or without, and linecounter/reels makes using someone's number a starting point to get you in the park.

Boom diameter is the same so your old boom will fit into the 5ST. Also use the ball hook arrangement from the 5 ST on the old boom. You can run your old style boom end if you don't want to adapt over to the new end piece. Simple swap.

The diameter of the boom is the same so you can swap booms. I have swapped booms between 5ST, Mag 10HS and Mag 10A. New style boom end is smaller but pieces from adjustable long arm fix that.

The thought behind a "Secret Weapon Rig" is to get the signature of the short section of leadcore below the turbulence of the rigger ball and back further in the spread. SWR's can be deadly at certain times. If you are new to leadcore, you might want to start with working a 10 color and a 5 color off a board presentation and get comfortable with that first.

I had external antenna issue's with an LGC2000 antenna. Wouldn't track satellites. I'd check that on the 525. I think I went through several antennas before Lowrance got an updated version that took care of the issue.

You don't need to remove spool to change cable- just unwind old cable then cut and use a couple cable crimps to attach new to old. When you wind on new cable keep it tight-have someone help makes it easier as you want to lay it on smoothly. Not sure what you mean by "reverse motor switch"-likely the battery feeds are reversed. Take the side cover off and switch them - motor should work switch up to come up then switch down to go down. Fish 307 is a good source of info-parts breakdown is on line.

I have a Panther steering kit to connect my kicker to main motor. Works fine-only issue was that it vibrated a bit. Fixed that by sliding a piece of hydraulic hose over the exposed shaft.

I have a Hewitt lift for my 17 ft Lund. I got it used from a guy who had gone from a 17 ft glass boat to a 21 ft small cuddy. I was told he'd had issue's fitting boat on lift so he bought a bigger lift. Hewitt has been a good lift my boat. I think the bigger lifts have more hull support than the smaller ones and maybe different cable ratios to handle more weight? In the end it worked for me as I got the lift pretty reasonable at the of the season.

Use a Walker Terminator/Release. This release combines a klincher cable attachment and a blacks release. Drill out the stock rivet holding the swivel so you can use a machine screw to attach wire end for signal cable. Coat with liquid electrical tape. Release will be above probe, breakaway and weight.

On my wire slide divers, I put a short section of 50lb braid to the wire first. Then double uniknot braid to mono. Makes it easy to change out mono as it tends to wear more from the SD. I use 30lb for the mono. Then I add leader to FF or spoon. I use SD as high diver and a dipsey as my low diver in a two diver set. If fleas are bad, sometimes see some where wire and braid are tied but no problem coming through guides.

Bandrus, you wouldn't need to run your ETEC through the on board storage mode when you aren't going to use the motor for a short period of time. What that mode does is automatically "fog" the engine for corrosion protection. You should just be sure water has drained from the motor when you put boat on trailer for freeze protection.

My guess with a 5.7 that you have a Chevy 350 i/o or outboard. With that combination in a trolling application 1200 hours on a properly maintained engine is no problem. You probably would be surprised how high the percentage of hours are at idle or low speed trolling. I had a 5.7 that had over 2500 hours when I sold it that had never used any oil or been torn down. As the boat had gotten older I had added a kicker and the hours on the main dropped drastically. Keeping fuel clean and maintaining cooling system are bigger issue's to me than wear from use-especially if you limit your running at WOT. If reliability and hours are a big concern add a kicker.

On my wire SD's I run the diver on 30lb mono so it can slide easier. I also add a leader so diver is away from the fish. They work fine- take a little getting used to.