Ric66

Bringing back a painful experience I had on Sunday. Took the wife and my son out on Lake O. Hit some very strong currents and ended up getting downrigger cable into prop. Was using a pancake weight for the first time. Learned the hard way that they tend to wander. Ended up losing my Fish Hawk probe. Just ordered another one. And that wasn't the worst of it. Couldn't get the wire off the prop so couldn't use the big motor. No problem, had the kicker. Kicker would start but would continuously stall out.Never had a problem with it before. Ended up having to get towed back to launch. Waiting to see how much my insurance will cover. Worst experience I've ever had on the water. But then I think of those guys who had their boats burned on I-Bay on the fourth. Guess its not so bad after all.

Not looking for a Ttop but more of a hardtop replacement for a convertible top.

I did tend to put it towards the back of the pad. I use flea flicker line which is very slick. To keep if from slipping I'd have to put it deep in the pad. I'd also get false releases. Difficult to find a happy medium with that line and the release. But I also think pinch pads tend to damage line which you don't get with the black releases. There must be some reason why black releases seem to be very popular.

I gave up using pinch pad releases after losing too much gear. I now only use Black releases. I wet the rubber band before I attach to my line (there are some youtube videos to show you how) and then I put the rubber band in the Black release. Yes, pinch pads are easier to use and I guess you could also put the rubber band in the pinch pad.

Second on Keating and Kings. Only my second year fishing on Ontario but learned a lot from his books and videos.

Thanks Les. I'm going to look into this. I've been meaning to look into some side curtains anyway.

Les- that is a bit surprising since it's not enclosed. I wouldn't think the wind would have that much effect. My current top is a stand up and I've noticed this catches the wind more than my old canvas top. About how high did he have the T top? I think T tops tend to be higher than bimini tops? Not sure if that's true or not. If I were to build a hard top it would definitely be lower than a stand up top. My other lower top kept more of the sun off me and as I said before, the wind didn't catch it as much. I don't even think an engineer could help with this problem unless they had experience with boats. I wonder if there is anyone in this area that builds hard tops for boats. Actually, it's not necessarily a hard top that I'm looking for. I'd settle for a canvas cover if I could trailer it to and from the lake. I did that with my old boat because I knew I wouldn't be keeping the boat too long so if the canvas ripped, not a big deal. And it was ugly as sin🤢. Anyway, thanks for giving me something to think about. Bob

Very similar with what I was thinking. Yes, it can get pricey when you factor all the fittings.

I wanted to throw out a question to see what people thought. I am toying with the idea of making my own hardtop to replace my bimini. I would only be using it as shade, not for anything more strenuous. Basically I'm tired of putting up the top and snapping all the buttons. Weight is the biggest consideration as I know something top heavy could mean disaster. It would measure something like 4 foot by 6. I'd use aluminum tubing for the skeleton. My boat is 16.6 feet long, beam is 82 inches, and weight is a little below 1000lbs. I always wondered if they could make a canvas top for a car that can go 70 mph, why can't they have something like that for a boat? Well, I did see something like that on youtube- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAzpizN1YvQ I would love something like that without the mechanical part of it. No snaps, just lock it in place. Thoughts?

That is something to keep in mind. I remember days I thought I'd give up trolling because everything seemed to go wrong- dipsy screw would come lose and would go off on its own adventure. can't get the kicker started, hours of trolling with out a hit, etc. If there is one thing fishing teaches us is perseverance. As much pleasure as I get out of reeling in a fish, I'm really enjoying seeing other people reeling in fish on my boat.

Thanks. I've been trolling for many years on the Finger Lakes but Lake Ontario kings is a different ball game

Don't know if he'll ever take up the sport later, but at least I tried. Hard to get kids away for the computer screen these days.

Thanks. Great saying! I'll keep that in mind next time a fish takes my church board underwater with him!

Thanks. I need to teach my 11 year old son how to set lines and rearrange them when we have a fish on. Will get better at this.