garrymny

Took the Grady out for the first time this year. Had to check the water pump replacement first. That was ok, not much of a stream out the telltale hole, but as I recall it never did. Ran around full throttle for a awhile, and had no overtemp warnings, so all is well. Both Motors ran perfect. Trolled for two hours from 10 feet out to 100. Very muddy water, 37 degrees. Not a bite. Saw quite a few fish on my screens though, at all depths. Found out my new HDS 7 GEN 3 does not show depth reliably in shallow water. Disappointed with that. Kept losing the depth reading. Also need to learn how to program/calibrate my itroll. Probably 10 rigs in the lot.

My hoop system (see first posts) worked perfectly all year. Could not be happier.

My tohatsu 9.8 doesn't even have an alternator. I troll from 630 am to noon with no problems. I have two deep cell batteries connected in parallel. I have everything: fish hawk, autopilot, lowrance FF, electric riggers. So far no problem with power.

Just goes to show me that I should not put the boat away in the fall if the weather is nice. A crappy spring can shorten your season. Our winters are too long, summers too short as it is.

I just got the large yellow bird, 12 inches. Plan to use it for 10 colors of lead. My smaller boards are not adequate. Sent from my XT1030 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I don't have a trax system. So i made my own rod holders out of steel chain link fence rail. welded them up. I stick them in the boats existing holes/rodholder on the gunwhales. Later I had to modify them to make it easier to get the rod out.

try the sams pro release from anglers avenue pro shop. He has a video on his site. solves the problem.

Just flew over lake erie into BUF airport on friday morning Apr 13. Looked like quite a bit of ice still.

I got an Amish outfitters box for harnesses, and Michael's photo storage box for flies. The Michael box was $26 today. Was 50 but had 40% discount. Sent from my XT1030 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I experimented with running attractors right behind the ball, yakima triangles 6 inches behind the ball. I would run a clean spoon right above, 6 to 10 feet back. Worked well at times.

I wonder if the charge on the cable of the cannon downrigger will work the same way as the black box? I like the auto stop feature of my cannon downrigger, so I guess the black box will have to wait.

The Lowrance ouboard AP I got last summer works fantastic. Definitely not a toy as far as capability on my boat. Now, I do not know about reliability. I was going o get the garmin AP, but, the fine print said it may not control the boat at slow speeds, which is exactly what I need it for; trolling. So I went with Lowrance, which required me to buy an HDS unit to control it. I have heard Lowrance service-repair is non existant, so I would be wary of going the lowrance route again. but the units work great so far, down to 1 mph.

I was running full throttle when I began smelling smoke. looked back and saw transom area fully engulfed in smoke and sparking fire. A 3 gallon fuel tank was nearby. I shut down, grabbed fire extinguisher and emptied it. then I had to take dikes and start cutting wires at the battery, until i got the shorted wire, everything continued melting and burning. Most heavy starter cables are NOT fused at the battery, and connect direct to the battery. My kicker cable to the starter on the kicker, became frayed and shorted to the ground wire. Mine now are, and I also installed a master cut out switch. I can kill power instantly by turning the switch now. The embarrassing part is that I was an Avionics Technician in the Air Force and then in the Civilian world since 1985. Now I am an Aviation Safety Inspector-Avionics, for the FAA for the last 8 years. It can happen even to those who know better. The only wire I didn't have fused was the Starter, and I did not have a master cut off near the battery.

yes my kit came with a daytime signal, a flag as I recall. I will check when I open the boat.

No I keep my boat at home in Clarence. I do fish Erie out of the CATT though. My autopilot is a lowrance.