muddler

I don't usually get invovled with discussions about what is the best line,rod,reel or other equipment. Trial and error usually is the best teacher, but there area lot of myths out there too. Many years ago (35 I think) Al Linder wrote an article about light lines and landing large pike, bass and walleye for a magazine called Fishing Facts (still in publication). He described a demonstartion that I tried at home. Take a 16 OZ can of beans or something which will weigh about 1 pound or close too it. Tie it to your line and then try and lift it with your rod. I had a couple of old broken fiberglass rods that the top few inches were broken off that I had repaired. Each broke lifting a pound weight. The line didn't break, the rods broke. So why was I using 12+ lb test line? Soon I learned the mechanics of using the spring of the rod and the stretch of the line to land some big fish on 4 lb test. Even then I would loose a few due to line/knot breakage. I found that good knots and properly seated knots were a key. The line had to be cared for and checked before each outing. The guides on the rod I was using had to be checked for nicks and dirt too. I still use my bulk 8lb mono that is stored in a cool dark place in the basment to respool my spinning rods. These bulk spool are over 15 years old. I build, rebuild and repair my old rods as I need to before each season. Technique for landing a fish is very important too. I use the heaviest tackle I can get away with for river fising as I often will find nicks on the lend of my line. The heavier lines are more forgiving for abuse that the lighter stuff. Now having said all this, what I often see happen to most of those that have breakoff problems, is not checking their tackle regularly on the stream. When everything is brand spanking new there isn't too much of a problem. After a couple of outing lots can go wrong. Hese's a few. 1. Gear stored in the trunk for weeks on end as the tempertaure gets real high...heat kills mono lines. 2. Scored guides. Yes they wear out. braided lines can realy damage lowere quality guides on a long run from a good fish in no time. 3. I got a great deal on ______ rod. Yes but the guides are poorer quality. You pay for what you get. 4. Poor knots. Check and retie the knots after every hit. 5. Horsing in a large fish BEYOND the capabilities of your tackle. 6. Using spring floats. These will damage your line. Use surgical tubing 7. Heat dissapation of the guides when a strong fish makes that long run. Heat generated from friction on the guides can ruin a line in seconds. It doesn't matter too much what you use as long as you know HOW to use it. The best float fisherman I ever saw wa a guy on the Notty years ago. He used an Ambassador Baitcasting real with 10lb mainline in freespool on a 10.5 cstom made baitcasting rod. Actually it was a fly rod with a baitcasting handle. His presentaion was great, but once he hooked a fish his technique was great. He landed the fish quickly by minimizing the length of the line that was out and keeping his rod low when possible. He was always checkig his line ANY time his float went down, for any reason. Yes, trial and error will teach you how to fish more effectively. There are NO easy answers. Muddler

Well I'd go a bitt heavier with the line weight. You could still land them on 8LB test line though. From your decription of loosing fish because of a broken line, ther's a few thing I'd be checking out. 1. If the line is breaking at or very near the knot, then your knot may not be of the best strenght..Try a different knot. Orvis knot is my choice for 10 lb and less, Palmar Knot for 12 lb and more. 2. If the line is breaking somwhere in the middle then check your guides. Run a piece of panyhose (explain that to your wife/girl freind first) through each guide and chech if it snag on anything in the guide. If so it may be cracked or scored (replace it). It also may just need to be cleaned (soap and water and a q-tip) 3. Then there's always the zebra mussel. If your line rubbed the botton of the lake, you may have nicked the line on a zebra mussel. They're like razor blade. Not too much you can do about it. 4. Bad batch of line. It happens, try a different brand. Good luck...muddler

Like the old saying ; "Ignorance can be fixed, but stupid is forever." still holds true. On the waterways, highways, in the supermarket, in the rivers, it goes on and on. Sometimes I just wonder how some of these people have lived this long. The law of averages should catch up to them sooner or later. Wher I live the road that has a very sharp turn in front of my house. The speed limit is 40 KMH. every winter at least a dozen cars slide off the road because of speeding. When they knock on the door and ask for help, I'm glad to call a tow truck and watch them pay for thier stupidity. What goes a round, comes around. muddler

Check out this Orvis Site. http://www.orvis.com/orvis_assets/files/index.html I use the Orvis Tippet knot to join my mainline to a florocarbon leader and the The Orvis Hook knot for my hooks. I always step down about 2 lbs per knot. That means that if my mainline is 10 lb test and I want to use a 6lb leader, I'll tie a short 8 lb to my mainline , then the 6lb to the short piece.Tried virtually all the knot I could find years ago and these two knots come out on top. I still break off once in a while because I'm too lazy to retie after landing a fish. You can't go wrong with these two. Muddler

Haven't seen that in a long time. Sometimes it's neccessary.

Well there is a way to download the video. First got to http://www.benjaminstrahs.com/ and download and install Ares Tube. Read the instructionc carefully on the webpage. Select Zippy Videos when you launch Ares tube. In the seach box enter Fishin with family & freinds' (NO quotes). I just copied the name of the video and then pasted it in the search box. Maximize the Ares tube window. Click on the video you want to download. Ares tube is still active, click on the green + sign to add this video for downloading. In options tab at the bottom set the output folder and file type. Click on DOWNLOAD. When I did it id downloaded as a FLV (Flash) file. I use a free FLV palyer to play it back. Cheers......muddler

My Favourite. Ignorance can be fixed, but stupidity is forever.