dave524

What former Chicago Blackhawk Captain had a string of laundromats in Bill M's hometown ?

Wasn't the Gardiner Expressway either

Ditto, fished Haliburton lakers for a lot of years when my dad had a place there. Hands down the most effective rig off a rigger was a large Luhr Jensen " Dave Davis " gang troll with meat out the back. Get a baiting needle and a few dace or chubs, about 5 or 6 inchers, take 2 foot or so of 15 or 20 pound leader material with a good sized treble on the end, insert the needle just forward of the baits tail and out the mouth, draw the line so the hook is about flush with the tip of the tail, then the line out the mouth go down from the top of the mouth and out the bottom keeping the mouth closed, now adust so there is a slight bend in the body and when trolled will have a rolling action, tie to the back of the troll with a good swivel. We always had better luck on suspended fish just under the thermocline rather than the ones hanging out near bottom.

Billy Bob and I fish the same end of Erie, mostly suspended fish, Hot n Tot would dive about 10-12 feet when 75 foot back of a cannonball, good stealthy approach. Another lure that worked great eastern Erie was the metal lipped jointed Canadian Wiggler, often with a bit of worm on the front treble in fact it is all metal

The first plastic lipped lures I recall were the original Rapalas, late 50's, most lures that predate that were metal lipped, like Jitterbugs, Pikie Minnows, River Runts, probably cause there was no plastic when they were designed. Most of the metal lipped lures are old designs or based on old designs or so it seems to me

You've got a sound engine, I 'd be inclined to search for a nearly virgin "garage queen " of the vintage and style of craft you are looking for that needs a new engine, impellers and vro systems are not infallible or improper winterzation. Swap out the engines.

Saw a buddy have that problem with one of the early Crestliner weldeds, maybe 1990, started cracking immediately adjacent to the welds in several spots. Didn't get any satisfaction from the dealer, said he ran it too hard in rough water which was possibly true to some extent. Luckily he was a welder at a steel mill with lots of tickets and repaired it at work on weekend and sold it to a duck hunter with full disclosure of the problem. Since then welded boats scare me

For Erie and Ontario, Smokercraft has got a couple of models in their " West Coast Flavoured " American Angler Lineup, that to me would suit those lakes better than the usual multi species boats. Never seen one live but the layout looks hot for a Great Lakes angler. http://www.americananglerboats.com/boat-models.php?model=Osprey+162-172 http://www.americananglerboats.com/boat-models.php?model=Phantom+162-182-202

Lots of good info and stories about rebuilds on iboats.com, check out some relavent rebuild threads http://forums.iboats.com/forum.php

Just the wife and I here too, my bills are right in the same ballpark as Billy's when you look at the cost of the actual electric, gas and water used it's all the extra add on charges that drive it up

I agree with Skipper and Spough here, I've fished Erie and Ontario from everything from a 14 tinner with a 9.9 to a 40 foot Post Sportfish a charter buddy had, including my own 18 1/2 aluminum centre console with a v4 OMC and a 9.9 kicker for over 20 years. If I had your 3500lb tow restriction and budget I'd be looking at something like this rather than an open multi species boat. New listing and nicely equipped http://ontario.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-boats-watercraft-powerboats-motorboats-Awesome-Lake-Erie-Walleye-Boat-W0QQAdIdZ342872786

Not really worried about the braking but sway with the short wheel base, everything I've read seems to say that when you could get a bad case of tail wagging the dog .

2012 will be my 30th anniversary of towing a rig identical to what you are anticipating. 18 1/2 Sylvan aluminum, V4 OMC, built in gas tank , 9.9 kicker, riggers and other gear for a 2500 lb total. Started towing it with a 79 GMC 3/4 ton van and a 4 bbl. obviously no problem next were a pair of 4.3 L GM vortecs, a 88 Chevy full size pickup and a 97 GM Safari, both did admirally . Now I've just retired and down sized to a Jeep Liberty 3.7L. The Jeep is fine at this weight, it is rear wheel drive with a solid rear axle and the 2 speed tranfer case makes a slippery ramp a breeze, rated to tow 5000 lbs. That being said, I live a couple of hundred yards from my usual launch ramp here in Grimsby and only several times a years will go to Lake Erie at Port Colborne or Port Maitland and that is all regional roads at 80kph/50mph. What I will not do with this combo is go on 400 series highways at 120+ kph, personnally I don't like the idea of a short wheel base on a tow vehicle at high speeds, just saying edit: Oh that $30 thousand rig was less than $10,000 including taxes in 82

nice chrome, you could try some 6 lb mono

Think it is "finders keepers" we had one hit here a couple of years ago, the fields were abuzz with searchers. Biggest chunk took out the windshield of a car so it was and easy find, but wasn't identified till later. They found 13 pieces in total but up there where this one fell don't think they will get as lucky. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2010/pdf/2716.pdf

thanks for the Matt incredible guitar player too <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jLsye_LJ_Ks" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Another track from an the old CHCH 11 Hamilton " In Session " show, Canadian blues don't get any better than this <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6FEq9B1oOuo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

See in the Hamilton paper it is the aniversary of this show from back in 83, it is available on DVD <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bYbk777br_o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> It was recorded at the CHCH channel 11 studios in Hamilton

Hubert Sumlin passed yesterday, Honeyboy a couple of months ago. Pinetop Perkins in the spring. The last 3 of that era as far as I know. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1fKMQlYN_TQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

If at any time you want to put a kicker on it for trolling, I think you will appreciate the almost 100 pound weight advantage of the E-tec. Over 500lbs. for the Verado plus a kicker think you will find a 18 1/2 foot tinner too heavy at the stern. I'd go the E-tec and put the weight and I assume cost advantage into a 4 stroke kicker, electric start, alternator and something like a trollmaster of control king for speed adjustment. Just my 2 cents as a predominately Great Lakes troller who has got a stern maxxed out weight wise

Nice Aurora

Maybe ??? http://www.google.ca/search?q=love+lies+bleeding&hl=en&rlz=1T4GZGN_enCA451CA451&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=_hHZTszCJMbb0QHN-qzjDQ&ved=0CGMQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=878#hl=en&rlz=1T4GZGN_enCA451CA451&tbm=isch&q=love+lies+bleeding+flower&revid=1442388289&sa=X&ei=ChLZTuaUN4nr0gGtzbjqDQ&ved=0CDwQ1QIoAg&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=65bfae40614b2953&biw=1920&bih=878

Interesting colouration on that fish, if not for the place and time I would have guessed it was a Laker backcross Splake of 20 or so years ago on one of the Georgian Bay Tribs in the fall.

For sure, if I knew it would crack the 70 lb barrier, putting to rest all the controversey over fish by Louis Spray, Art Lawton and others, I would have kept it.

As far as I know the Seaforellen strain are not genetic mutants but simply a strain that remains in the lake an extra 2 years before making their initial spawning run. Same reason Chinooks grow larger than Cohos. Also those extra 2 years they did not undergo the rigours of a spawning run which makes them even larger than a same year class fish of the more coomon strain.