leadcore troller

Rob, Excellent article on copper, i'm sold on it. You answered all my questions and more. Took a lot of leg work out of researching lines and gear, again Great Job.

Have run braided stainless in the past, seems like copper is the new wire on the block. If copper is the way to go what size or brand is the favored.

Guys thanks for the input, guess i'll go with the 30's, was originally leaning towards the 20's only because of the higher retrive.

Looking to upgrade my reels. Looking at the Okuma Cold Water Line Counter Reels, my question is what size would fit the bill best. Would I use the same size for mono on the planer boards, down rigging, also using wire.

Well I've narrowed down the search to 2 units, the Lowrance 7 Hook w/nav + or the Garmin 7" EchoMap I'm leaning towars the Lowrance. Plus I'll add the Fish Hawk X4, Thanks everyone for your help.

I think I will go with the X4D, for fish finder and GPS , I was looking at the Lowrance Hook 7 or the Garmin echo does anyone know if either of these units interfere with the fish hawk or visa versa

Looking to buy a Fish Hawk X4, not sure whats the difference from an X4 to X4D, or maybe some one knows who has the best price ?

Pick up from where ??

I guess I was lumping copper in as a wire, am I better off investing in copper instead of stranded stainless.

Running Wire With all the talk of running wire vs leadcore, I guess it has it"s advantages, my question is when running wire on rods , are there special rods a lot of you guys use or is it wise to change the guides to rollers ? Or can the regular tip tops and guides handle the abrasiveness of wire.

Guys thanks for the input, very helpfull, I was running too far back.

Downrigging I see alot of posts about what combo's work on down riggers, ie, FF, spoon/dreamweaver/ spin doctor ect, ect . . ., what I would like to know is there a general rule of thumb how far behind the ball to run baits ?

Are the abu 7000 made in sweden or china

Thanks for all the input, I went to sears and picked up the deep cycle marine batts, got the 31 group for the boat and the 27 group for the trolling motor.

Was just at the Gander Mt in Buffalo, they had BayRats almost 10 bucks apiece. No bargain there

Yes they filed Bankruptcy and are closing 26 stores.

Battery Advice I just purchased a 1990 18ft Smokercraft. It came with 2 car batteries. One for the electric bow mounted trolling motor that is onlky connected straight to the motor. The second was connected to the 90hp main motor and wired to the rest of the boat. It ran the main motor along with all the electronics and 4 cannon electric downriggers. I want to purchase the correct batteries, what size would or should they be, group 27 or larger or smaller ?

Thanks for the advice on the Lowrance. Does anyone have any input on any of Garmin's units.

pap I feel for ya, There isnt a store close to me but I was traveling once up to Buffalo so i stoped in the Cabelas there, no one could help me with gps/fish finders , the rods i wanted they didnt have in stock, nor the reels or tackle i wanted. I was amazed I walked out without spending a dam penny. Not to mention how pissed I was with the non talented sales people.

GPS/Chartplotter/fish finder Need some guidance on this subject. I just picked up a 19ft new to me boat and looking to purchase electronics. My last boat had a garmin 541s and a 400c , was very happy with both but they are out of date. I use a Helix5 on my small boat for reservior fishing and it dosen;t impress me. Seems too complicated and hard to tell exact depth of fish. Not sure if i want to try to find used garmins like I had or go with new equipment. I would want a seperate fish finder so i can keep that screen on all the time. I want easy to operate and simple to understand. Lowrance, Garmin, or Hummingbird ? not sure wich way to go. looking for units in the 500 $ range. Seasons comming so I have to pull the trigger soon. Any input would be welcome, Thanks

I saw that fishusa.com had the best prices on Rats. I also see that Cabelas carrys them also.

BayRats Last year all I heard about were BayRats , but were hard to get. This year I"m all set to drop some coin and I'm not seeing much chatter about them. Maybe it"s just a little early in the season yet. Hope so. I'm looking to target browns in either the Mexico or Sodus area. Any suggestions on color and size would be most helpfull.