bare foot wader

those first two pics don't look like any bow I've caught....guessing a laker brown or landlocked atlantic maybe...beauty fish either way

solid report...and how do you like your wind warrior? 7/8wt? I have a few wind warriors but not spey yet...looking for a smaller/medium river all round steelie stick, any feedback would be great.

bondar - was all that stuff in your garage, basement or just all in one place in general?...sounds to me like somebody who knew what they were getting my buddy just went through the same thing but a lot smaller scale, the crap they took was not just laying around...nothing else was out of place, they knew right where to go...cops were telling my buddy that some crazy percentage of break ins are people that have either been in the house before or share a mutual friend and knew what and where to go.... I've had my car broken into twice...thankfully both times they didn't pop the truck, i keep a lot in there, could've been much worse.....most significant things i lost were a watch(which i got back by routinely checking the pawn shop in our small town) and my grandpa's jack knife

2 or maybe 3 summers ago I watched a grown man sit down at the dock and break down, tears, snotty nose, lots of cursing....ha turned out to be 2 american guys, pulling a bass boat with a hummer...got nailed on simcoe keeping a bunch of smallmouths, can't remember how many but way over the limit, open bottles of booze and a few dozen gobies on board being used as bait didn't stick around to find out the final details but was seeming like everything was being seized...that would be a good auction to be at....

here's a pic the 1st bow (pic being singular due to camera getting soaked and no more pics that day)....second bow was a few lbs bigger not bad for only 3rd or 4th experience downriggin... nice salmon bud, would've been nice to be home a week longer, sounds like everything is running solid right now

I was thinking the same thing, very white mouth on that guy....without a close up was looking like a steelie to me...

such is fishing, it happens... try going barbless, see if you notice a difference at all in losing any fish as compared to barbed.....

predatory fish pushing prey to the surface probably.....seen it happen with smallies before, followed the surface activity around and best 1 hr fishing of my life also possible is some sort of hatch rising to the surface and perch busting on it...happen to see any insect activity buzzing around?

this is where the fine print of your contract comes into play...once your account becomes delinquent and they sell your outstanding balance to a third party they are in fact authorized to collect payment from you...perhaps not in so many, clear cut words but it's in the fine print....say you owe GLFC $100, they sell it to a collection agency for say 10-15%....said collection agency will then try to maximize recovery of the debt, usually you can settle for much lower than your original balance but still adversely affects your rating check your pm's....

proper and safe preparation will be your biggest safety ticket...but failing all that, bear spray IS effective in a confrontation and will stop a charging bear in her tracks...for less than 50 bucks well worth having on your body IMO....also gives me peace of mind when tenting

BPS isnt' cheap on blades.....try a bulk order from cabelas or find a lure making catalogue I like to tinker around wtih my blades...I always keep a box of various blades and a package of split rings in my spinnerbait box...sounds like you just need to replace the split rings....fairly cheap

check out the distributors...only in Dubai and Saudi Arabia....do you think they're expensive???...ha

the rods that actually won E21 that award at icast never made it to production....shortly after duckett removed himself from the company because the rods he was fishing were not the same rods available to the public I wouldn't compare E21 to the reputation that Loomis carries...

lol....another awesome thread, grown men, stubborn prides/ego/"my opinion is always best" and way too much time on our hands....reminds me of that time in jr kindergarten when buddy said his gummy bears were better than my teenage mutant ninja turtle gummies....ha pretty sure buddy didn't attack spiel's workmanship anywhere throughout his posts...did i miss that somewhere? just because spiel makes great rods(and I'm sure you very well do) doesn't mean that NRX or any other high end rods are crap....sure you can customize all the crap you like, pick some nice pretty looking thread, etc......but IMO, at the end of the day the blank is still the most important part, the technology is mostly in the blank...."mostly" but not all...I get the fact that a custom rod builder can assure you of his attention to detail, quality craftsmanship, etc.....but I think my SC and Loomis is on par or better than some rod builders who claim their work is great, and a lot of anglers would agree with that very clear spiel has a loyal following on this forum and well deserved I'm sure....but it sounds to me like spiel is a bit bitter that he can't build on an NRX blank??? i mean if all you can criticize a rod for is some ugly thread...that's only cosmetic and not a biggie in my books seeing how it's a newly released blank, if the blank does eventually become available to custom builders and spiel builds one up and likes it, it'll be interesting to see how quick all of the followers change their opinions just as quick didn't the NRX win best in show at icast....to call it a crap rod because of "ugly" thread is pretty ridiculous guys.....

everybody of course has their preferences and opinions but i'm a firm power pro guy, never had problems with it....if you are i'd suggest making sure the line is sitting properly on the bail roller after every cast.....how old is the reel, maybe it needs some maintenance? not making proper wraps on the spool? braid doesn't always sit perfect on the spool of a reel straight out of the box...most reels come with a few spacers...if you're line is spooled top ended, inverted cone, then try sliding on 2 spacers and a long troll and respool and see if the line sits better...

if you have your heart set on a new outboard, then so be it.... but as mentioned maybe try and find a good used setup....from your posts I've gathered you fish a lot around lindsey, omeemee, kawarthas in general?....went to school there myself and was always sweet deals popping up all the time as for casting deck in a 12' boat, i don't think it would make it dangerous...i added one and just trimmed a piece of plywood to shape(front bench forward), cut out two small holes on teh back of the bench seat, wing nutted the deck in place(with a few supports underneath) and essentially a floating casting deck, easy to remove or install when you want it there and minimal weight.....wasn't anything highly elaborate or permanent, which was how we wanted it, but if you're adding a lot of weight with your casting deck maybe something to consider, you don't seem like a man of petite stature and if your fishing buddies aren't either than you will absolutely be cursing a 6hp if you're moving spots or trying to cover some water

you don't want a weight at the end of your line because then you have a fixed point that will prevent your line from losing its twist...or depending on the lure will add more twist....you want to troll with just your line and as it passes through the water the friction will pull the twist out of your line

do you fish a lot of spinners, spoons, etc, lures that put twist in your line? do you reel against the drag when fighting a fish? take jedi's advice to remove twist from your line....braided lines are very limp, get in the habit of manually closing the bail(better for the reel as well) and setting your line properly into the bail roller....sounds like a pain but becomes second nature and takes a fraction of a second after every cast once it's instilled in your brain also, make sure the braid is spooled properly from the get go too...sounding like maybe you've spooled it a little on the loose side

I'd double check your knots, sensation has been a great line for me

carp on a fly rod is tough game...and on a 4wt bet that was a good fight too

every river is different and every season is different....no set rule in stone. few cold nights and some rain is all it takes, be surprised what shows up in the rivers....focus on a few rivers and get some legwork in on a weekly basis....once you get a particular river dialed in and learn the run and get the timing right all the legwork becomes worth it....

BPS tends to have popular, high turnover products a bit cheaper than most and they advertise it and get a lot of people in the door that way....ie most lures, some rods and reels, etc....really price check on teh big ticket items tho...my buddy's tent was over 100 cheaper at lebarons, regular price... btw, how old was the rod that you broke?

+1 on deeper water.....secondary points, drop offs, ledges, humps, deeper weed edges....find some deeper water and look for structure....deep water is where an electronic unit is worth it's weight in gold try a heavy (3/4-1 oz) single blade spinner bait..swap the huge blade for a smaller colorado so you can still feel the thumping on the retrieve and work it deep lipless crankbaits, deep diving crankbaits, tube jigs and heavy flipping jigs for weed edges....all worked well for me in deep water

hmmm, just noticed your previous reels were lefties....how are you liking the transition to RH retrieve?.... I couldn't do it personally, only for trolling or still fishing, couldn't adjust quick enough to set the hook just as hard, imparting good action in my bait,workin a jig through snags, etc but mostly pitchin with my left arm was horrible....never understood the pros who pitch with their right hand and then swap hands immediately to begin the retrieve with their right hand...and then missing a fish as soon as it hits the water....never made sense to me there...

hahaha....when you sit at a desk playing with a calculator all day, looking at gear/fish pics gets ya through the day...lol