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sherman brown

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Everything posted by sherman brown

  1. I am a firm believer that anyone starting out fishing Erie should take at least 1 day out on a charter using the style of fishing they are planning to use. I had trolled the western basin for a few years just flatlining cranks and catching plenty of fish. but when we moved to the central basin we were totally lost. so, we took a charter out that used dipsy divers to get down to the fish. I had never seen a dipsy used and had no idea what to do. i didn't choose a charter using them but it just turned out our charter used divers. I went out on a charter a few yrs later that ran inline boards but I liked using divers much better. on the 1st day, we had started setting our own lines with 6 lines out. on the second day of the charter, we were running everything but driving the boat. by the end of day 2, we were able to fish with 6 lines on our own. now we did still make mistakes the biggest being setting the rigs out on the wrong side of the boat. but to be really honest it would have taken us at least 10 yrs on our own to be able to learn what we did in 2 days on the charter. most people will never learn to run 6 divers unless someone teaches them. and we still did and still do need to learn. the biggest thing was getting to know how much line to let out to reach the fish. if you want to be a fair fisherman in Erie I highly recommend using a good charter like the one here or ask for recommended charters in the area you plan to fish the most.
  2. I haven't used any Garmin units but have read many positive reports on them and I believe with the right transducer the 93sv is a good unit for the money. Garmin has better units with great bells & whistles but you pay for those. I have all Lowrance HDS units that does everything I need for fishing and getting back to the dock. the 93sv should cover all your basic needs to find fish and show them on your screen. but it all depends on what you want out of a unit. but Garmin is a quality product. just my 2 cents worth. before you buy if your buying new check the prices on eBay and amazon before you buy. eBay has pretty good prices on the 93sv echomap units
  3. where are all the walleye fishermen on the LEU site. this would be a great place to share your experiences on Lake Erie. i haven't got anything to post about Erie at this time of year but will be glad to offer what little I know if someone asks for Erie info on here. I am getting old and only fish 1 week in July each year but I enjoyed many trips each year starting back in the late 70s on the western basin but moved to the central basin some years ago.
  4. nope, but we have taken them out with us. but just maybe thats why we have such a hard time catching fish, LOL. maybe someone important slipped on a banana peel and started saying they were bad luck, and it grew from there, LOL.
  5. hey guys i'm guilty of not posting enough on this site. i have been a member for some time with very few posts. we have plenty of members that fish Erie. but not only do we like hearing about Erie but any type fishing you want to post. you can even post about things non fishing related. let's get this site up and running so we have a place to come to for whatever. lake erie has been my fishing grounds for about 45 yrs now. we got started in the western basin and went about every weekend from memorial weekend until the middle or late july. the way we got started was by following some friends up that fished there. these guys told us how to fish and what weight forwards spinners to have. we followed them out from collie canal and went past the intake about half way to west sister and shut down. we were using all spinning gear and let out line until we thought was enough. then we set our rods against the gunnel and just let the boat drift. we usually had our limits by noon each day fishing this way. after a few yrs. the zebra mussel cleared the water, and the fish numbers went down and the fish were more scattered, so we started trolling. we were still using spinning gear. we used the 2" hot n tot and the wiggle wart as our go to bait. but we tried any deep diving plug at one time or the other. we just let baits out enough we thought it would catch fish and it did. a few yrs. later we moved to the central basin because they were getting bigger fish. but it was a whole new ball game. i bought all new line counter reels and rods. but i didn't know squat about how to fish it. so we took a charter out 2 days that used dipsy divers. on the 1st day we started helping him set lines and reset them after we got a fish. by the 2nd day we did all thew work and the caption just watched over us. by the time we went on our own we were able to run 3 divers per side plus 1 downrigger per side. we did get a few tangles but that got much better as we learned more about fishing with divers. our biggest thing we still needed to find fish and how far out our divers needed to be to get down to the fish. then i changed divers to the cannon deeper divers that dixdn't use rings that kept coming off on the dipsy. but later i gave the lite bite slide diver. and i use then like a dipsy and don't use the slide part but love the lite bite feature because to me it's priceless. i will never switch back to the standard diver. good luck next season and start posting.
  6. I can't really help you on jig fishing the western basin because when I fished it we didn't start until memorial weekend for our season. but have made a few trips around the middle of may and did good trolling cranks. I have only been jig fishing 1 time with a friend that fished it. but the fishing can be hot early jig fishing, but some guy's troll cranks at certain places and do well. are you set up to troll with rod holders? when we started trolling, we just flat lined and used 2 down riggers and 2 outriggers. we ran 2 9' rods straight out the side 2 straight back off each corner 2 16' outriggers straight out the sides 2 downriggers at a 45-degree angle back and set at different depths depending on the fish. our hot baits were hot n tots and wiggle warts and any diving crank we had. but now I think bandit and husky jerks are used by most. but they didnt have those cranks back then, plus we caught fish using the hot n tots and wiggle warts. welcome to Lake Erie and a hobby that can run into a lot of money. oh, yea when we trolled, we just used spinning gear.
  7. just wanted everyone to feel the spirit of Christmas and didn't know where to post it. so may your Christmas be merry, and may the new year bring you guys the happiest days fishing you could ask for. most wanted is more members with more walleye stories on Lake Erie united. last year on Erie wasn't anything to talk about. we got a new used 26' boat for Erie and was still rigging her the morning we left. the 1st day my oldest son said it was too rough and turned around and took us back in. the second day he wouldn't listen to me when I said we needed to go farther out after a friend that charters out of Geneve gave me a starting point. so, he shuts down early and starts fishing. we caught a few keepers, but most were small shorts. on our next day I finally got him to agree to go on out. but about 60' of water and the boat not running right he stopped and shut down to check the carb but when he tried to get it started it would not even turn over. but it was overheating when idling but cooled down when running mid range. so, we used the kicker to troll in shallow water then used it to get back in. after that he just gave up and didn't even try to fix it. he hasn't touched the boat since to find the problem. I am 71 and have trouble getting around or up in the boat but I did find both batteries are shot. next year we will have time to get things fixed and water test it before taking it to Erie in July. so, next year I may have things to report. but i believe it will be a much better year if i can just get my son on the right page.
  8. copper does get you deep, but it is also less manageable than single strand ss wire. I like using 15# best if and when I use it. for running harnesses in warmer weather, late June through summer the best speeds I've run is 1.8 to 2.0, but I have had good luck at 1.6 when faster just wasn't getting it. but for spoons or cranks speeds of 2.7 to 3.0 have been good to me. but I've read some guys catch fish with spoons with speeds up to 3.5. the only time I run over 3.0 is when trolling with the wind and the waves push us faster than 3.0, be sure and try faster with spoons and cranks and then post how it worked for you.
  9. sounds like you pretty much already know what you're doing. you wouldn't want to run to many dipsies when running a full set of inline boards. but 1 or maybe 2 would work. I like my lite bite divers much better than boards. I run 3 out each side and 2 riggers. I suppose I could add a board to the mix, but I just don't care that much for boards. I think wire with big boards is the best way to put fish in the boat, but it gets old reeling in so much line. at times it's best to run 300' of 15# wire plus 50' of backing plus another 50' out to the release. then start reeling fish in 400' can be more like work. I like to enjoy my fishing, so I'll settle for taking longer to get my fish. when we used dipsies and brought our lines in there was so many times, we had small fish on them. but now with the lite bites we have eliminated most of that. a small white perch will usually trip the diver if the lite bite tension is set very loose.
  10. I agree that you need info on the area you plan to fish. the western basin can be as simple as using different diving cranks. back when i fished the western basin our hot baits were hot n tots in standard sizes, and wiggle warts in standard size also. but at times we used deep diving mudbugs and other times the hot bait was the wee warts. but mostly the hot n tot and wiggle wart was what we used. now they have bandit deep divers, husky jerks, reef runners, and many other new deep divers that catch fish. blue chrome, sunspot, perch, are just a few hot bandits that work well. but the old cranks still catch fish. and the make clip on weights to add to cranks to get them deeper. there are other ways to get down to the fish. bottom bouncers, diving weights that i think are called tad poles, divers like true trips, and even dipsy type divers are used as you fish deeper water. the central basin is a whole new ball game. i fish out of Geneva Ohio when I fish now. during the warmer months the fish move to deeper water. then you need divers, inline weights up to 3 oz or more, heavy clip-on weights, up to 300' of wire line, inline boards are used to spread lines and get more lines in the water. some guys use big boards with wire line and run a gazillion rods. but I started with dipsies, but the rings kept coming off, so I switched to Dreamweaver divers that are the same size without a ring, but then i tried the lite bite slide diver. which has 2 adjustments one that adjusts the rod tension just like the others but then it has a second one. the lite bite tension can be set to trip when a fish hits which should be set as loose as possible so it will trip on very small fish so you're not just dragging them around. I use them like a dipsy with about a 7' 20# Fluro leader and don't use the slide part of the diver. when I moved from the western basin, I had no clue about divers. so, I went out on a charter with friends for 2 days of going to school. we had a great teacher. in those 2 days we learned more than we could have learned in yrs. on our own. we could run 3 divers per side on our own after just 2 days of going to school. we are still learning new things even now after yrs. of fishing divers. we did have some tangled lines for some time. our biggest thing that tangled lines was letting out lines on the wrong side of the boat. you set the divers to run left or right. we sometimes let left divers out on the right side. you can mark the rods to each side. what I did and do now is use different reels for left and right. I recommend that if you are new to fishing Erie's central basin a trip on a charter is well worth the little investment. you want to make sure the caption knows it is a learning charter. but if you want to use divers don't charter an inline board charter. they have small charters for 3 people or less usually in smaller boats. but they have charters for 6 people also. another thing you can do is watch for open seats or even post a thread for open seat wanted for the type fishing you plan to start with. usually, a charter caption has many yrs. of fishing Erie under his belt and can teach you so much more than the casual fisherman. I think a guy has a better chance of catching fish in the western basin without going out on a charter than the central basin. but still, it wouldn't hurt to learn what's going on from a charter caption. and you may even make a new friend that will help you out once you are on your own by giving you a starting point. i have an old friend at Geneva that I made before he started running a charter. a couple of days before we go up, he tells me what depth and the gps lines he uses to get fish. this really helps so much for a starting point. even though he uses big boards and wire he uses a couple of dipsies also. so sorry for the book version on advice without something to help you catch fish.
  11. W.O.W. what a boat! it really looks awesome! welcome to the site. if you fish walleye on Erie there is another great forum for sharing info. but i don't know if I can post it or not. so, I'll just send you a pm and you can check them out if you're not already a member.
  12. hey harborcraft are we going to do this? just give me a total with shipping and i can do friends with pay pal or i can mail you a postal money order.
  13. i would like the gun and case. but it would be illegal to ship the flares. if it wasn't for that i would love to have the flares as well.
  14. hey buddy if you will ship the case to me i will buy it and pay for shipping. but I can only pay by pay pal or mail you a check. it will probably be just as cheap to mail it priority mail as to use 1st class. but you can just ask the cheapest way to ship it as I'm in no big hurry to get it. i just thought i would get it to put my expired flairs in and use the one i have now for the light. i live in Muncie IN 47302.
  15. hey, I went back and seen i had only looked at battle of the blades, so I looked at the rest of them. but I do like ladder backs with purple with pink or black ladder backs. I did put a few in my cart but there is a couple more I'm thinking about. I see a few that looks good but a have enough of those type spoons. now I'm looking mere for blends of pink or purple. i realize i may just be too particular and miss out on a lot of fish catching harnesses. but I can't buy or use so many rigs ar a time. I'll be back on your site later to finish my order. have you ever thought about adding a few small and large spoons to your site?
  16. I checked out your site but didn't get caught by all the pretty harnesses. after all lures are designed to catch fishermen not fish. and if they do catch fish, it's just a bonus. but i am looking more for harnesses with pinks and purples mixed in them. I liked a few of your designs but I didn't like the colors. and your prices for double blades is great. but I will keep check your harnesses and if i find a few I like I will buy off you.
  17. are you wanting help on the big water or inland lakes and rivers. i have fished Erie for about 45 yrs. and still haven't learned much. but I have drifted and trolled the western basin but troll the central basin now. it is almost imposable to be of much help without knowing more on where you need help and what you need help with.
  18. i don't have a clue where Westfield is. i do a lot of fishing out of Geneva Ohio the end of July. by this time most of the fish are in their summer pattern. unless someone gives me numbers, I'm going out blind. I'll go straight out to 72 feet of water and fish north unless i have a north wind. then I'll go out close to the border and fish south. i use large spoons on divers to get me down. then I'll run bandit cranks on my 2 downriggers.
  19. i grew up around guns, i hunted squirrels and rabbits all alone from the time i was about 8. i never had a dad to teach me anything about guns or hunting. asi grew up i was safety minded. but joined the marine corps at 21 yrs old and learned so much more about gun safety. but i have took it a step farther with safety. when i started deer hunting with my boys and my brother i hounded them about gun safety. and the last thing i asked them before heading into the woods was what's the most important thing you take with you. they would reply gun safety. we sometimes hunted with a friend that took his 17 or 18 yr old son with us (my nephew) one day i had walked out of the woods and was waiting on my brother when he walked up and started talking. but every time i looked over he had his muzzleloader pointing at my head. i asked him to move it a few times and he did, but after a few minutes it would be pointed at my head again. I got grumpy and told him to move over to my other side. i said don't you know you never point a gun towards anyone. after he moved i noticed his hammer was all the way down on the cap (we were using cap locks) and not on half cock which was the safety on these type guns. i come unglued on him. i raised he** about him not having his gun on safe. he asked what safe, muzzleloaders didn't have a safety. i told him about the half cock being the safety. i asked didn't your dad teach you these things. his dad had hunted all his life. but a few times rabbit hunting i caught the barrel of his shotgun pointing at me. but anyway, the boy answered no his dad just handed him the gun and said go get a deer. so, the age of the hunter isn't near as important as them being taught gun safety. his dad was an unsafe hunter which in turn made his son an unsafe hunter.
  20. when i took my 10 yr old sons in the deer woods here in indiana they were a heck of a lot safer than most adult hunters out there. however, they were accompanied by me until they were 14. we only hunted with shotguns and muzzleloaders. but they had safety pounded in them from the time they were 6. but everyone doesn't stress safety like i did. at 12 they should be allowed to hunt if accompanied by an adult hunter. but this is just my opinion.
  21. willows are more speed tolerant than Colorado blades. but i troll at 1.6 to 2.2 and have had great luck using double Colorado harnesses. i start fishing at 1.8 to 2.0 then if i know i'm on fish but not catching them i slow down to 1.6 if that doesn't work i'll speed up to 2.0 to 2.2. but i started out using double willow blades. but as time went on i was doing better with Colorado blades. i was buying all my harnesses from bait shops with a high mark up on price. then i bought a few off eBay that turned out to be gale force tackle when they were just getting started. but now i buy all my harnesses from 2 places, galeforcetackle.com and challengerlures.com and get the 3D worm harness in nuclear green. the gft i love the jawbreaker, but dr death is a close 2nd then reverse muffin has been good but so have several other colors. a lot of my large spoons have came from gft. i troll them around 2.6 to 3.0.
  22. you already have some great suggestions. now just go on the web and type in which one you want to look at first. then check out the recommended sights until you find the best deal. like others i am a diehard Lowrance guy. I've been using the lcx 38c hd for over 20 yrs and it still gets me back home and shows me the fish. I've bought 2 spares off eBay so if mine pukes i'll replace it with the same one. but if i was buying now i would be looking at a hds7. but keep your eyes open for one to pop up for sale on fishing forums where guys upgrade to larger units. buying a hds 7 or bigger you need to find a used one for sale, they are expensive. I just went on line and a refurbished one was still 1099.00
  23. i had geico boat insurance and boat us for towing and trailer assist. i had a outdrive crash and needed a tow at geneva oh. it costed 600.00 and all i did was call boat us and they did the rest, i didnt pay anything. my trailer lost a wheel a few miles south of cincy on I-75 and had road work going on. it was about 10:00 pm and in the middle of nowhere and i didnt know what to do. but then i thought about boatus and called them and it wasnt long until a flatbed wrecker showed up and towed us to there shop. boatus paid for everything. a couple of weeks ago i backed my boat into the pole barn with the brand new tol leaning back on the 2 back posts where on my old top it would lay all the way down. the top hit the pole barn door bending the top beyond use, it tore the connectors out of the boat and the top came around and bent the side window frame and busted the side glass. the adjuster came out and totaled the boat. i received payment about a week later. they gave me the option to buy the boat back for 675.00 and i did. no hassle at all with them. i recommend them both.
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