13owhunter

You should be able to run a lot of stuff at 1.5mph. If Im focusing on lakers Ill usually have a couple of boards out as they really dont get in the way at all. We used to catch quite a few kings laker fishing pulling flat lined deep diving cranks slowly in deep water back in the day. Most deep diving crank baits run great at slow speeds. Most spoons should run fine as well but towing the line of the slow end of things is where a fishhawk really helps. A bit of current and you could be pulling something that wont produce. Id still rather have an extra rod or two out either way. Cant hurt!

I asked myself the same question and went with 2 of the new saltists. They are real nice but I havent used them yet. FWIW the new (bluish) ones have the line counter in the "normal" spot so hurting your wrist like the old models shouldnt be an issue. I also have 2 of the new tekotas I use for rigger reels. I got the non line counter reels but wish i went with the line counters as i think that they would be useful for using on a rigger and provide added flexibility should i plan on using them for something else (like snap weights)

Two years ago I ran mag dipsies with a 6 foot lead with limited success. Last season i switched to slide divers with a mag ring and 35 foot lead and my success increased by a huge margin. Was like night and day for me. FWIW: Im running black slide divers with a clear mag ring, 30' of 40# mono tied to 5' of either 20 or 25# flouro on wire. I am not running the heavier weights in mine. Mag glow green alewife spoon was hot for me for the first half of last season on this setup. I plan on running a high/low slide diver setup this year as they out produced my riggers 10:1. Maybe more than that....

24v Terrova (newest iPilot) here on a 18.5 foot aluminum with 2 lithium batteries. I have a kicker with throttle control and this setup works amazing for me. I can run all day if im careful to use the TM on lowest i can get away with. Trolling for browns in the spring on a calm day I can get 6 hours just using the TM (going slow) Pretty sure I got more bites because of a little more stealth on a few occasions. (less than 10 FOW) I am really impressed with how well itll steer in some wind and chop. If its so choppy it pulls the motor out of the water its too rough for me anyways. (get the longest shaft you can) I do all my steering with the remote with the ipilot set to "point it and forget it" mode. Whatever way you point it, itll continue to correct and go that direction indefinitely. This has saved many arguments with my dad and wife when i complain they arent keeping it straight when im setting gear. Really a game changer for me. I get to sit and relax a bit when Im fishing and not constantly worry about boat control. If you have a Minn Kota with iPilot and the auto pilot seems to be correcting too aggressively, you probably have it in the wrong mode. You have to put it in the "dumb" mode which will correct itself more gradually. I think the advanced mode is more for following contours in smaller waters. I run garmin electronics so I dont have the follow the countour option. Would be nice to have even though i dont think id use it too much.

Im surprised that there is this much talk about the need to charge TM batteries. With the amount of electronics most of us are running, the main house battery should be a bigger concern especially because that starts your main engine. I have two house batteries in my rig and theyll get under 12v without the kicker charging them in only a few hours if im running everything (2x graphs and 'ducers, radio, fishhawk, charging phone etc) If you have a 12v battery for the TM, get another. 2x lithium batteries should last a real long time if you have a kicker and use the TM for steering. Really not much different than a 24v TM other than the 24v likely has a bigger motor and more thrust. Descent lithium batteries are under $250 for 100ah these days. -My 2 cents

I leave mine in until we get a warmish day in December. Then I start both my main and kicker and run them until they are up to temp. At that point I yank the batteries and leave them inside for the rest of the winter. I like the idea of cutting down on the time my engines arent used an Im guaranteed to start the season without any surprises. This also forces me to inspect everything and make sure there are no issues with mice, water etc.

I'm running 2 Weize LiFePO4 100ah batteries from amazon for my terrova and couldnt be happier. They are down to $239 each and have great reviews. Charging with a 10x2 noco. Trolling slowly for 6 hours straight for BT in the spring they came home with about 20% juice left. No problem trolling all day using for auto pilot in conjunction with my kicker. They allegedly have a 10 year warranty which Im not sure I would trust long term. I do, however, trust Amazon to make it right should I receive a dud. A good 100ah AGM battery is $200 so it was a no brainer to me (and i paid $300 each) My boat is a bit imbalanced and I move them around often so weight savings was also important to me. IMO lead acid batteries will be obsolete sooner rather than later. They are better in almost all circumstances especially when the price keeps coming down.

Using a camera has been eye opening for me as shown in the video above. From my own experience, calibrating your fish hawk with a camera is the only way to guarantee your lures are running the way you want them to. Last time I was out I couldn't believe how my spoon was running when surface speed and fish hawk said I was trolling just over 2mph. Video suggested I was running on the fast end of things. Slightly faster and I think I would have lost effectiveness. Makes you wonder how many spoons you have that don't run effectively within the full speed range..... Wouldn't take much of a bend to impact speed range. Great info on this discussion...

While color can be important it is not the most important variable. I try making turns if I'm marking and not getting bit as you are both speeding up and slowing down your presentations at the same time. Outside rod gets bit and I'll bump up the speed and vice versa. Problem is that there are too many variables in this game to fully control. Control as many as you can and don't over think it. I don't change lures very frequently unless I'm seeing lots of streakers and no bites personally. I ran 2 of the same spoons every time out up until recently. Checking lines frequently to make sure they are running correctly is something you can control. My 2 cents..

Wanted to buy - Okuma Clarion reels. Looking for size 453 and potentially interested in other sizes as well. Must be in good shape. Whatcha got? Shoot me a PM. Thanks!