Cudz

There are decent rods and reels to be had for sure. Here is what I would do. THere is a 6'6 spinning rod made by shakespeare for sale at Walmart. THis thing feels really good and it is $15.97. Do not buy an ugly stik. You work at ctc so there is a reel there called the Abu Garcia 501 or the 502. Very good reel and every year they go on sale for 50% off. They are a legit $70 reel and ctc sells them for $80 but on half price week they are $40. I have both sizes and they are solid. For under $60 you have a good combo and although the reel is better than the rod, you have only spent 16 bucks on the rod so you can upgrade it in a year and you will have a reel that matches.

And one more thing. Be careful when parking if there is a slope. IT was slippery today I could actually move my car by pushing it when it stopped . With all this snow we are getting right now, it will be glare ice covered by snow. If you are coming up this way tomorrow (Sunday) take care and be cautious.

Have you had the reel for 4 years or have you fished with it for 4 years? In your case there is a big difference. lol GBW buy a $3 ice reel from walmart for the trade in and you get and extra like $20 or $30 bucks back depending on the original price.

True I got off the ice at noon today and there was 3" of standing water everywhere. It is going to be messy but there is a good amount of ice out there. I think I measured about 13" tight lines

I have not been out as much as I would like to but I got out today despite the rain. Ice thickness was great but I would have been better off with skates on. I am very thankful for the recently purchased waterproof boots. No snow on the lake so it is like a rink out there. I only fished in the morning and only managed to land 2 fish. Both were big lakers. I marked tons of fish out there and they were very active. I lost 4 other fish and one was big. I also had about 3 more bites on top of that. All lakers. Fish were chasing like crazy today but they weren't commiting totally. I bet I had over 25 chasers today. The first pic of the laker is actually the big one of the day and it weighed in a hair under 10.5 pounds. The second fish was smaller and thinner and I actually used the rod as a reference. Nice fish and the rod is 28" long about the same as the fish. You will have to forgive pic quality as I was by myself and the lens kept fogging up and I was in a hurry as I released both fish. Pic quality is also crap because my camera takes bad pics (can't stand it. Olympus Stylus tough). Whitey pics are from last week or the weekend before. Can't remember. Anyway my buddy and I got out and managed a couple of nice whiteys. Bigger Laker. A real football Smaller laker Whitey

I got some. They aren't the best because I was by myself and the lens fogged up a bunch but I will post them later. Everything is drying out.

Just back from simcoe. Bad weather but lots of fish biting. Managed a 10.5 laker and an 8.8 pound laker. Lost another four fish and had another 3 bites on top of that. Only fished until non. Marking loads of fish and must have had at least 25 chasers today.

nice

Apology accepted. By the way I have done the same thing to dogs only I use my ear wax. Cats love it too. I know it is weird but hey, so am I. PS, I haven't done that to a dog or cat for years.

Congrats Ryan. Very cool My eldest daughter's middle name is Grace too.

I am talking abou tthe new flyer that came today. Sale starts on the 11th. Last year they had a gps finder unit as a door crasher for like $250 or something like that but hey did not have the numbers or something was messed up so they gave away HDS5s for that price!!!

I was hoping live target lures were going be on sale but alas it seems that is not to be.

Ha! I was going to write the same thing but you beat me to it.

Sale looks ok. With a reel trade in a new curado will run you as little as $149.97. Not bad.

Steve is sposored by livetargetand gets paid to tell me what bait to buy? I will have to check into that.

I just looked at this thread for the first time and it was 12:01 am. I was a minute late. Sorry Simon. Unless you are in a different time zone which is very possible. Will check now

Wow! Some real celebrity responses on this thread. If Dave, Mark and Steve all say these baits are the business then I will get some. Dave check your PMs I sent you a pretty funny one about my daughter and her obsession with you (weird kid) Hey Mark, I got out once more on simcoe in the fall after seeing you and it was a crazy cold windy white capped and nasty. Had the trolling motor on full and it lasted about 4 hours. Only lure that caught fish was your smoke blue coloured swim bait. I like it. When are you going to start selling those things?

nice shootin Simon!!

Drink enough Bud Lights and everyone looks like a supermodel

7' ugly stik. that rod makes every good combo a great combo

Pretty far, considering its fins are so small and the ice was so big. Through.....

Yes. worth it. You buy more and you eat more but generally the stuff is good. I buy gas there all the time and 3 cents a liter on regular ad I have seen it up to 7 cents per liter cheaper on premium. FOr me that is worth it. I also have the Amex card from there which counts as my membership and makes bbuying gas really easy. Only one card to swipe. I also collected like 50 bucks to be used at costco by using the amex card this year so it kind of pays for itself like exec membership. Plus when my kids get hungry we just go there and walk around and snack on all the samples. lol

Whether you need it or not.

I have 5 abu reels. I am glad they stand behind them. I would buy another now for sure. I wish I had the same result with the daiwa rod I broke about 3 years ago. I have since bought about 7 reels and rods and none of them have been daiwa because I got screwed over on a broken rod.

intense