Posts Tagged ‘Northwest Sportsman’s Show’
While we are planning some great Blackmouth fishing in December. We also are tying to get ready for off season projects to get the boat ready for Halibut in the spring and Tuna in the fall.
“Three Ladies” is a 2530 Parker powered by a 7.4 liter Volvo duo-prop. She is a great offshore boat. That said, we are running on 12 year old electronics. My Furuno radar and fish finder still work well and my old Garmin chart plotter can still find my favorite spots out there. But, I can’t get charts for the GPS, the old Furuno LS6000 fish finder is only a single frequency and doesn’t work well at trolling speed for tuna. The radar is the hardest upgrade to justify. I am telling myself it is a big box on the dash and the advent of HD radar makes it seem like a dinosaur.
My goal really is to replace all these things with a single unit solution. I have done a little shopping around at the Pacific Marine Expo in Seattle on November 18th and have narrowed my list down to two names. Furuno and Garmin.
First off all of them are made oversees. I couldn’t find anyone manufacturing marine electronics in the US and if any of you know of one let me know ASAP because I always like to give US companies an opportunity to earn my business. Furuno is made in Japan but they have a facility in Camas Washington which is relatively close and there is at least one guy on BloodyDecks that can help with customer service. Garmin is made in Taiwan but has a facility in Salem oregon and actually employes 3470 people in the US (as per last years annual report). J&G Marine is qualified to do warranty service for Garmin and if I have them install it they can double the warranty. I’m still shopping and expect to make a decision in January by the Boat Show.
I will also be redoing the brakes on the boat trailer. Comparatively this is much less complicated. I will go down to South Side brake and buy new brakes and backing plates for about $100 each and put them on the trailer.
I will be interested to hear who is doing what for winter upgrades. Please leave a comment here or drop me an E-Mail and let me know what your doing.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
I went to the Washington Sportsman’s Show in Puyallup today. This years show showed me way more substance this year than last. I fell in love with a Beautiful 29′ Wooldridge SS Pilothouse. This boat has a 9 foot beam, carries 150 gallons of gas and gets almost three miles to the gallon at cruise. Twin 150 hoarse Yamaha’s push it up to around 48 mph (32 on one engine). Fish boxes are huge and the transom box has an outlet that can be a washdown or an aerator for bait (think tuna). Add to all this a huge cabin with an enclosed head and a walk through door to the bow. This boat has everything all for around $150,000.
Boulton had this cool solar powered electric boat there. They said it would do 60 but we later learned it does about 10 mph and is great for lakes and other places where a big gas motor might be impractical. This is a great conversation piece and brought in a lot of people. But, like most green alternatives, it just isn’t practical.
I talked to several rod manufacturers. I was not able to find the 9′ ugly sticks I like but Sportco had some nice 9′ medium action Diawa steelhead rods for about $25. Fetha, Lamiglass and all the rest were there. Jim from X-Rods was there again but I wasn’t able to get in to chat. I did not see Northfork Composites, the new venture by Garry Loomis, and I could not find them on the map so I assume they were not there.
We went to one seminar put on by Micheal Jamboretz of Jambo Sport Fishing on Ocean Bottom fishing. He had some great information about how to properly use a spreader bar or California (slider) rig. He had a great idea for rigging scampy tails with a zip tie on the back hook to avoid ripping the back side out. I learned some cool modifications for my pipe jigs next year and a cool way to rig a herring with the middle portion of a squid called a George Washington.
Coho Killer Deal
Sorry for the bad picture. I will try to make one next spring for halibut prep.
Some of the best deals I found on tackle were at the Point Defiance Marina booth. One such deal was this special on Coho Killer spoons. These are great for winter blackmouth because they imitate sandlance which is what most of theseblackmouth are feeding on.
The other great tackle discovery was made by accident at the Brads booth in the magic tank. Anyone that has fished a few years knows what a Brads super bait is. These remarkable little rigs have been absolutely killer in the last couple years. The only real problem with them is the angle on the head is always the same so you can’t really change the spin rate like you can with a cut plug.
Solution: They are working on a head piece that can be slipped on top to with varying angles to adjust the spin. these will come in several angles for optimum spin in every situation. This is still in development and in the mean time some people have started running a spinner blade in front of the super bait. this effectively reduces the water flow over the leading edge of the lure slowing the spin rate beautifully.
And finally
I met a great many incredible people. I got advice on everything from Tuna to Internet marketing. I met a man that told me about a forum I need to get involved with called wafish.com. These guys are all about bass and walleye fishing, are you listening Tom, and they have a huge following.
And last but certainly not least. I was absolutely floored by the beautiful women of Sportco. These ladies are not just pretty faces but really are great at what they do. Make sure when you go by you tell them you saw it on gigharborfishing.com.
Good Fishin' To Ya'
Kerry W Allen
Gig Harbor Fly Shop
Gig Harbor.com