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Thanks for your help letting me know that I can't judge fishermen by their shirts! I always get confused by the shirts because I have only been fishing for 30 years. I am judging the shows by the content of the show. I didn't know that Crazyhook was the host of the show but now that I do I understand whats going on here....... At least I was judging the show from an unbiased viewpoint. Congrats to Crazyhook on getting the show. Its good to see a boardmember be sucsessful in this industry. I remember posting at the old forum 5 or 6 years ago re musky fishing at Pigeon Lake and Crazyhook sent me a PM with a ton of great info. He seemed like a knoledgable guy. As for the show, I stand by comments that it is not for me. I watched 4 or 5 episodes and can honestly say I didnt learn anything new. It was old tried and true fishing techniques and nothing new. I don't watch these shows to see someone catch a fish, I watch to see how they catch the fish. When the "how" is old news, it doesn't interest or help me. I think the show is not intended for my audience, rather it's target audience looks to be people how are new to fishing in urban areas and that is fine. Its good that we have shows like this to cater to different people. Like I said already, to each their own.

Haha, I didn't realize this post was still floating around. I think I was just in a bitter mood that the new shows hadn't started by the time I posted and I might have overreacted on my hate for some other shows. I can see how some people would like a show like Lunkerville. Personally I prefer shows with "expert" hosts that teach new techniques, fish habits and knowledge, etc., such as Linders vs. shows with an "average guy" host who hires a guide to help him catch fish like big city fishing. I just find I learn more from the shows with professionals. To each their own I guess. The good news is that freshwater Friday is back on WFN with new Episodes of Linders, Next Bite and Muskie Hunter.

Greg did you look at ebay? Some good CI4 deals there. Ci4 1000 I think you will like the CI4. It's a really good reel. Finesse does seem to be the "new" trend that the tackle companies are pushing. An ultra lite setup can be really fun to fish with, but I prefer the big baits for big fish mentality most the time.

No trademark can take your name away from you. He just can't use the name "G Loomis" See my post above about the Gary Loomis signiture series rods.

He has used his name. Northfork makes blanks for different rod companies including Kistler and Temple Fork. The Temple fork rod is called the "Gary Loomis signiture series". Tackle tour review of the Gary Loomis signiture seriers rod The Temple Fork rods apparently use the low modulus Northfork blank whereas the Kistler Z-bone rod uses the high modulus blank and has gotten much better reviews Kistler zbone review

I agree that consolidation has been happening in some form forever, but mergers and acquisitions in the 90s and 2000s are up 1000s of % over the 70s, 80s and earlier. The difference is the opening of the global economy. Most most major companies used to grow by internal growth and product development, now the majority of growth is threw consolidation. That is the point I was trying to make re the last 20 years.

Shimano bought G Loomis in 1997. They had a non-compete agreement with Gary Loomis so that he was not allowed to sell rods for 10 years. Now that the non-compete has expired they can no longer stop him from entering the rod business, hence Northfork rods. Gary cannot use the name "G Loomis" on his new rods since that brand name is owned by Shimano but they could never stop someone from using their full name on rod. No court order can steal your given name. As for why a company would produce a product to compete against its own product the reason is market share. Would you rather own 1 of 4 brands in a given market or 2 of 4? Also they can save costs by using the same technologies and factories. If both brands are popular like in this example then its a huge win for the parent company. Cross brand competition happens in almost every industry in the world but in most cases the consumer doesn't know or care that the brands are owned by the same ultimate parent company. Small companies have a hard time competing in the global economy. The distribution chain of the major players is too wide spread to compete against. Thus why you see the small "homegrown" brands like G Loomis being bought up by a major like Shimano. This is the direction the economy has been going for the last 20 years and it likely won't change anytime soon.

They had japanese domestic model daiwas at basspro? I would agree that the OP should consider Daiwas. The Fuego spinning reel is a really nice reel and cost and weight should be similar to the CI4 X2 - The CI4 is are really great reel IMO. There are some really good deals on Ebay for Shimanos. I have bought 5 shimanos on ebay in the past 2 years and have probably saved around $800 over MRSP. I would suggest the OP to take a look at "reelsmarttackle" on ebay. I have never tried the Patriarch brand so I cannot comment from experience but I have seen some online posts and reviews and it seems like a lot of people like these reels. Personally I would stick with a shimano.

I think the Zillion would handle heavier baits better than the other two. Its a more sturdy reel and I think it has brass gearing which should improve smoothness under heavier loads. The fuego probably handles lighter weights the best of the three. I am not a daiwa expert though so I could be wrong. You should check out the forum at tackletour.com. Lots of daiwa guys on there that know these reels inside out.

This is very similar to what I would have suggested. Great collection of reels you have there btw! The Sol makes sense for finesse fishing because the the Mag-V breaking and shallower spool. My only issue with that reel is the 5.8:1 gear ratio is to slow for me, even for finesse apps. The viento is a no brainer for bottom bounching techs. What rods do you have paired with this great reel collection?

I should also note that the older Calais reels do not have HEG gearing, so they are not as powerful as the gearing in the new curados, CL200DC and most new shimano reels. Its not really an issue if you are using it to fish reaction baits, but if you are planning to fish bottom baits in heavy cover then you might want a reel with HEG instead.

Is is the CL200-5? If so then its a great reel. I have the CL200 version and the only difference between the two is the CL200 is a 6.2:1 ratio where the CL200-5 is a 5.0:1 ratio. The CL200-5 would be great for fishing deep diving crankbaits. Overall the Calais reels are the smothest reels you can buy. I have had the CL200, the CL200DC(Digital version) as well as a steez and 2 different cores and the both the calais are hands down the smothest reels. The only downside to these reels are the weight. The CL200-5 is amost 9 oz. However a reel that weight will balance perfect on a 7 foot + glass crankbait rod. Hope this helps

Does anyone know when the new seasons of fishing shows will start to air on WFN. I know that shows like Musky Hunter and Linders Edge are starting new seasons on other US networks starting Jan 1, but they dont show up on my guide program for WFN. I am getting really tired of watching crappy shows like Big City Fishing and Lunkerville. Bring on the new seasons of good shows already!!

Wow what a fish!! I love hearing about fish like this being released. Great job!

Amazing videos! Thanks for sharing Marc!

Wow! Fish of a lifetime for sure! It's a shame the angler keep two 50" class fish. Regardless if they were legal size or not that's selfish if you ask me.

Sweet ski. Thanks for the report.

Yeah the guys at jbs take good care of their customers.

Two weeks ago my Calcutta 300 te broke down. I think the issue was with the pinion gear or maybe a ceased bearing. This reel has been my main musky reel for 4 years now and had > 100 muskys on it plus some saltwater fishing in panama and Mexico. I called Stephen at JB's fishing depot and he told me he would send it in to shimano for me to get fixed. Today I got the call from stephen to pick up the reel and to my surprise shimano sent me a brand new reel! I just wanted to give a kudos to both JBs fishing depot and shimano. Fantastic customer service plus fantastic products!

I don't want to hijack the post but does anyone know where to get large 10+ inch suckers for misky fishing?

You weren't the only one that couldn't find muskies on Pigeon on Saturday. I got muskie skunked for the first time since August. Unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to bring walleye or bass gear with me

Wow that musky has shoulders! Congrats! I need to get me a 50 inch fish!!

Wow! What an awesome report! Looks like you had a great year. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks. I agree that one fish is decent but I have been fishing Pigeon for musky for the last 4 years now and I am not satisfied with one fish days, especially this time of year. One fish in the summer is a good day but in the fall I consider 1 fish a disappointment especially after how well I did last fall. This year I just can't seem to have a breakout day.

I think it looks more white because of the carmera flash and the way the fish is angled. It looked like a regular looking colouration for pigeon. Water temps where between 53-55. I am not sure if the lake has fully turned over yet.