Thun

Catfish Creek is reasonable with older trailers and new cabins. They have docks or slips and it's only a couple hundred yards to the the lake.

http://www.catfishcreek.com/

From my Mag 10 manual.

Measuring the Natural Electrolysis and PIC Voltage on your Boat

"A voltmeter with a scale of zero to one volt will measure the natural electrolysis. Place the ground lead of the meter on the motor or the battery ground. Place the positive lead on the stainless steel downrigger cable while it is in the water. The downrigger must be unplugged. The voltage you measure on the volt meter is your boats natural electrolysis voltage."

I've never tested mine but maybe I will now. Cannon's PIC or Positive Ion Control is explained on page 19.

http://store.cannondownriggers.com/media/document/3397130rh_Magnum_Combined.pdf

About 20 years ago I took a bow hunter education course and the instructors spoke about a hunt out west somewhere (I forget the specifics). IIRC, a game warden watched a hunter shoot a sheep at 80 yards and thought that was an extremely long shot for a bow. Upon inspecting the hunters bow, he found the hunter also had a sight pin set for 100 yards. We were told that because of that incident, they tried to combine gun season with primitive arms season claiming that if you could shoot an animal at 100 yards, it's no longer a primitive arms. Just a thought.

Sorry to hear the bad news Devin. They advertise the Deep V's as "Big Water" boats and that was part of the reason I considered the 2011 Targa 18. Well that and the opinions of my sons who loved the boat. Perhaps you should let them know there's quite a few LOU members watching them now.

Smallboat's dead on IMO. That Coast Guard capacity plate will tell you exactly how much weight, as well as maximum horse power  your boat is rated for. Checking Starcraft's website, I see they have a 16.5 tin rated for 1100 lbs, not sure if your boat is similar but it wouldn't surprise me, if the boat is structurally sound. I have an 18' tin and it's rated for 1650 lbs with a 150 hp max. I worry about freeboard as well and am considering White Cap splash guards

http://www.whitecapmfg.com/

Beautiful fish! Cape Cod Bay was on fire this fall. We only made it out once this year and only caught shorts but I can't wait to fish it next summer and fall. The preferred method is to drive around at night until you see them on your sonar mixed in with huge bait balls, then shut dow and drift, casting just an eel on a hook tied to 30 power pro. The eels head right for the bottom where the big ones usually are.

My son didn't start until his junior year in high school and did pretty good that first year. Then he worked his butt off the following summer and placed 5th in the New England Championship finals his senior year. He really struggled in school so he went out to Mercyhurst North East Junior College in North East PA and found out he's just another average wrestler in that neck of the woods. I miss it.

My favorite wrestling t shirt reads, "there will come a time when winter will ask what you did this summer" Best sport ever!

if you don't have any luck finding what you need, send Tony Salerno an E Mail at Great Lakes Planers ([email protected]) or give him a call. I'm sure he can make what you're looking for. I recently ordered a RL and screwed up a base drilling holes. He sent me a new one and didn't charge me for it. I've never been treated better as a customer than I have by Tony. He makes an awesome product and stands by his work.

http://greatlakesplaners.com/store/products.asp?cat=13&pg=3

My mother raised my sister and I making 27 cents an hour and plus tips waiting tables because a dead beat husband wouldn't give her a dime.

Have you tried a good aluminum cleaner and polish? Sharkhide works great.

http://www.sharkhide.com/

Cisco makes a plate for Cannon's that might allow you to mount a rod holder.

http://www.ciscofishingsystemsltd.com/shop/cannon-downrigger-adapter-plate-7305

Well there you go, I just found out about that buoy, Les has been by it many times...wisdom! And funny you should say that, the instructor mentioned how often NOAA is wrong too. Thanks for the kind words Les. I'm still learning about what to do in different situations, whether I can do it is another question because my boat handling skills are awful.

You're welcome Steve. My son wants to fish Cape Cod Bay for stripers at night and to be honest, I'm a little nervous. Fog and his respect or (lack of) for big water concern me. We've come out of the chutes a few times in the past and turned around, only cause I was at the helm, he wanted to fish. I didn't want to put the two year old boat in the salt either but it sat all summer so...I agreed, pending a boaters safety course and radar. The last class was about weather, cloud formations, the barometer and how with practice, one can predict with accuracy, conditions for fog. He'll be launching in the canal and fishing out in front of it and I don't want to worry about him wanderig out in front blind in a fog. I took the course 15 yrs ago or so with the coastal navigation course, but forgot a lot. This is a refresher for me but my son is learning about respecting that big water. Ya know, discussing fishing techniques and such can be about debatable and differing techniques and such but when it comes to safety, I always refer to the experts, the lives of our loved ones are too important to not know what's up. When it comes to fishing, I always defer to the experts out here, guys like Les, just an encyclopedia of wisdom and knowledge! The pro's discussing some concerns on another thread are inspiring me to dig a little deeper. I'm learning so much out here. And some of those guys have a flair for writing. Thank you Gentlemen for sharing that wisdom!

They gave us this link last class and it's pretty neat cause the buoy measures wave height and reports it. Those 1 to 3's  and 2 to 4's are averages and the waves could be twice those numbers. When in doubt, don't go out kind thing.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=44013

I should have posted the link for LO, here's one 20 nm off Rochester. At 12:50 pm this afternoon, the wave height is reported at 5'6". Save the link to your phone and from your phones desktop you can see the latest reports and what the waves are doing 20nm off Rochester. It's another tool you can use to determine weather conditions for an informed decision before you go out. (not that you're going that far out but it can be an indication of what's whipping around out there)

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=45012

Hi guys, I love these kinds of threads because I always learn something from them. When in doubt, search... so I found these NY State Nav rules on pg 8 of 14 in the following pdf file.

Regarding the legality of using lights other than those required, this states, "No other lights that may be mistaken for required navigation lights may be used."

And when anchored at night, this..."All vessels are required to display a white light visable in all directions whenever they are moored or anchored outside a designated mooring area between sunset and sunrise."

It's also important to know that anytime your vessel is moving, even with engines off and drifting, your vessel is "Making Way" and the required nav lights must be on.

https://www.boat-ed.com/abc/abc_specific_images/pdfs/ny_law.pdf

Wow those drums are pretty and look powerful. And I know quite a few people who would love to cook up that octopus. Great pics!

 One thing that's always worked for me is taping pencils or pens on each section of rod near the connection point for a better grip. Just be careful not to crush the rods when you grip each section. A bag of frozen vegetables over the joint for 10 mins or so helps also.

The stand on vessel maintains course and speed so that the give way vessel can predict what the stand on vessel will do.

Fourteenth Edition, Boating Skills and Seamanship, USCGA

Thank you Gill-T, I'll keep that in mind.

Because a mind is a terrible thing

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/17/salmon-weed-infused-latest-cannabis-cusine

Thank you FLXTrolling, I may just give it a shot.

One of my riggers needs cable but I can only find 200' and 400' replacement spools. I read somewhere that if you put more or less than the 150' that came with the rigger, that it would effect the rigger cable counter. Will braid effect the counter?

I just added a second fuse panel, a Blue Seas with ignition protection for gas powered boats, for all those things I use with the kicker running and the main engine not charging the cranking battery while trolling. I ran 6 guage wire rated for 125 amps, which needs to be fused at or near the battery to prevent the wire from burning so I added a Blue Seas terminal post fuse holder with a 100 amp fuse to the positive battery post. Just be careful not to hook up any 12 volt electronics to a 24 volt trolling motor battery system.

My little tin is starting to get there...now maybe I can save a little to actually put her in the water and fish!

I also use only one of my two 12 volt trolling motor batteries wired in series for 24 volts to run four riggers, FF, FH, VHF and TrollMaster. That way I can run 12 volt electronics and get only 12 volts to them from a 24 volt system. I have the four riggers fused at the battery with terminal fuse holders and ran 6 guage wire, also fused terminally with a 100 amp fuse, to a separate fuse panel I just installed, exclusively for those things drawing electricty when trolling and not charging the cranking battery. I hope I did it right and it's still a work in progress as I'm waiting for my S-i-L to crimp the battery lugs to the cable. I also took a wire brush and some dialectric grease to all the connections. Then I just plug the onboard charger in when I get home and don't have to worry about the boat starting after a long day trolling. I think I got it right but any and all suggestions are always welcome.