fishindoc: Looks like you had an awesome day out there. Way to go. Hope to join you over there in December. Say, what Lund model do you have? I bought an open model Lund 1650 Renegade back in 2011. It has been such a nice boat. I use it here on the Columbia near Longview as well as on any of the local lakes I choose to go on near here. I had a top made for it this year and will be sure to have it up with the heater on when we come over next month too. Anyway. Thanks for the pictures and great report.

Denny

What an awesome fish! It's almost surreal when you're the only ones out and the fishing is that good. Great couple of days of fishing for you guys? Thanks for the report. -Dave

What a beauty! Thanks for the pics and report.

Now thats what you call a carryover, what a beauty, good going men.

That's a hog!! Nice thing about cold, sunny, but calm days, you get natural warmth in addition to the heater. Thanks for the report. :-)

Denny, I got the 18 ft Lund Angler earlier this year and love it. It has nearly twice the cockpit space my old 17 ft Lund had.

After trying to get the top on in the cold we thought about putting it on the day before. Does anyone have experience towing with canvas on or advice?

By the way thanks Dave for getting a rush order of Kekeda flies to us last week. What great service!

Jim

fishindoc - What a beauty! We just love Roosevelt in the winter. I tow with my top up and have had no problems. The secret, according to the man who made my top, to quote him "either all up or all down". It is VERY difficult to put up in the cold as you discovered. I put mine up in the fall and leave it on all winter. I am fortunate to have a door high enough on the barn to get it inside.
I also have a full width mud flap that attaches to the hitch to help keep the winter crud off the boat; makes a huge difference. Hope that helps - Alan
PS 60-65 is fast enough!

fishindoc(Jim)
Hi. I just looked at the 18 foot Lund Angler. That is one sweet boat. Sounds like you love yours too. As far as towing it with the top up I can tell you from my own experience with my Lund that I haven't had ant problem while towing it in the up position. I have towed it like that several times last summer to a lake that is about 50 miles from me and it does just fine. I never go more than 60 mph tho.I do have square tubing in mine which is supposed to be a little stouter than one with a round tube frame. As far as putting it on in the cold is concerned I would try to do it sometime in the late afternoon after the sun has warmed things up a little. Then it will stretch alot easier to get things snapped in place. Also you can spray on some silicone lubricant or furniture wax on the snaps to make them work easier. Just some thoughts. Tight lines to ya. Hope to see a few of you fellow Roosevelt fishermen over there in December.
Denny

fishindoc that is a great report, makes me want to head for Roosevelt. We used to fish it a lot, camping at Spring Canyon, and fishing the areas you described, such fun.

I tow with the top down, less wind resistance. In the winter, the side curtains and the drop curtain ride with me in the truck and get nice and warm by the time we get to the launch. There is a tool available to help snap and unsnap your boat canvas. It's called the Snapper, once you have used one, you will go and get one for yourself. With this tool, you can install your canvas from inside the boat, it truly rocks. I did a product review for it on the site, here is the link: http://www.washingtonlakes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=5771&p=61887&hilit=snapper#p61887

I follow downriggeral's process too, put the top on during a late summer/early fall day when it's still warm and leave it on until spring. G-Man offers a great suggestion, I second and highly recommend the snap tool - get one and never fight snaps, on or off, ever again. :-)

My wallet doesn't know what hit it anyway when I tow stuff with the 460-- V-8 for power in my pickup.. The camper I have weighs 3800 pounds dry with two slides and is way up there in height so it brakes the wind for my Lund boat really well that is hopefully still attached behind somewhere when I get to the lake. I think it gets around 7.8 mpg on a good day with no headwind. So I can tow the boat with the top up or down-it makes no difference other than I won't be freezing my hands off trying to snap on the top at the lake. Some say I'm nuts to go out fishing when it's freezing outside. I say that's ok. I'll just wear a warm hat with fur flaps, scarf around my neck, long johns, sweatshirts, warm gloves, turn up the heater, and wait for the next bite.
Denny

Yahoooooo......Denny. Those 460's are great for power; and boy do they love gas! When it's really cold we have the discussion as to who is going to go outside and get the fish.....now let's see, I got the last one. Nuts, crazy you bet - Alan

downriggeral:
Ya, I hear ya. One of us will have to be sitting outside manning the tiller handle as we troll along. So I will have a heater there as well as another one inside the boat with the top all snapped and zipped up. We'l be taking turns being inside and outside and hopefully catching fish like crazy. That's the plan anyway. I remember fishing Sprague Lake about 4 years ago in late October. It was 18 degrees at daylight. We managed to fish till 5:30 pm each day, but boy it was nippy in the early day light hours. We had a great time and the fishing was awesome. I would go back and do it again in a moment. In fact we might do it this year if it hasn't froze over by the time we get over there. Tight Lines.
Denny

FYI to all,
I have the Sport Angler as well with the top, I was just out Friday using the top and heater, and Yes it is quite nice once you get it up.
But..... I have had the top actually pull the glass out of the frame on the bottom from the top being too tight. I just had the top cinched down tight and and was out fishing Chelan and some wind came up and best I can guess, from the boat flexing in the waves caused the glass to pull out. I was able to get it home and cautiously remove the glass and reinstall it without breaking it. Quite the chore though! After that I was curious and priced out what new glass would cost. Ha! Choke Sputter $%$$$?*! It was 1500.00 just for the Right side! ( No NOT THE WHOLE WINDSHEILD, JUST THE RIGHT SIDE!! NOT EVEN THE LITTLE WING PART BY THE SHIFTER! JUST THE ONE PEICE ON THE RIGHT SIDE! ) You are looking at well over $3000.00 for a new windshield if you leave it up while transporting and the top pulls it out and destroys it.
Dan Allen with Valley Marine Strongly suggests taking the top down before transporting, and I see why! I wasn't even transporting and the top pulled the glass out on mine. If you are going 60MPH and you pass a semi going 60 MPH the other way, you are looking at some extreme extreme winds, and that is why I don't transport with mine up, too I have the round braces though.

Food For Thought!

Nice fish and thanks for the report!