Golfisher

Hey express, I'll be up in that neck of the woods for the walleye opener. This is my first time in the area as well, but hopefully I'll be able to replicate some of the success that Terry has had; if I do half as well as he does, I'll be a very happy camper! I'll be back in TO on May 26th, and so I think I should be able to post a report before you head up.

Thanks guys for the input, particularly Tomcat for elaborating on the pixel difference. I think I'll get a 240 pixel finder for now though, since I'm looking for a portable finder that I can use on rented boats to find depth and bottom structure. But I'll remember your suggestion when I get my own boat.

So long as it does the trick, I'm cool; thanks for the reply.

Just as the topic description says, I'm wondering if 240 vetical pixel is good enough for most inland fishing purposes . I'm thinking of buying a portable finder (Eagle FishEasy 245ds Portable), but there is another one (Eagle FishMark 320 Portable) that offers 320 pixel--it also costs a hundred bucks more. Is it worth the extra money to get 80 more pixels?

For those who might be interested, here is a somewhat lengthy but fascinating story on this whole debate and its politics: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6052301305.html

Hard to believe, after all this bad publicity, that anyone would still leave an angry pitbull loose and unattended. Glad to hear that you got away, but others might not have been so fortunate.

Thanks guys for the input. I have a bunch of small lures that I purchased ages ago when I first began fishing. I bought them because I thought any lure bigger than 2 inches was just too big--I was a clueless newbie back then, and still am as you can see. Anyways, after having no success with these lures, I left them to collect dust along with all my fishing gear as I got sidetracked by golf. When I picked up fishing again a couple of years ago, I moved onto bigger lures, and by then I was biased against small lures, thinking that the bigger the lure was, the bigger the fish I was going to catch--they also cast a lot further. Then last year, a friend of mine caught a 5 lb bass on my long-neglected 2 inch Rapala floater off the dock, which was sorta eye-opening to me. But it was so frustrating to get any distance out of these light lures... and hence my question. Thanks again for the answers.

I'm looking for any tricks or tips on improving casting distance with small and light lures. I've tried adding some split shots, but this seems to ruin the lure's movement, especially when using a floater--say, a 2" Rapala Original Floater. Is an ultra-light setup the only answer for this type of application? If so, is it okay to match a Stradic 2500 on an ultra-light rod, or is the reel too heavy for this?

I didn't know that BPS did price matching. Thanks for the info.

Went there today to pick up a Stradic--sweet deal, btw--but ended up walking out with a load of lures as well, some of which I'm sure I'll try only a few times before letting them collect dust. Now I gotta find a place to hide my stash from my wife!

Hallelujah! The winter is almost over!

This might interest those concerned about safety issues. The article itself, as well as the full study, can be found here: Berkeley Lab Report You are almost twice more likely to die in a Cavalier and Escort than in a Civic or Corolla. In fact, Civic's fatality rate is actually lower than most SUVs and trucks. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised to find this out myself. I guess bigger doesn't necessary mean safer.

Two and half months for moi. I'll be kind to those fish and put in some good words for ya, Terry.

Cool, so I got at least another year's use left. Thanks for the replies.

For those of you using braided lines, do you guys change them every year as you would do with mono lines? I got three of my reels spooled with PowerPro last spring; wondering if I should get them replaced for the new season.

Now THAT is funny!

I'd imagine that duties, licensing, operating cots, volume discrepancy, etc are applicable to all companies, not just Shimano. What puzzles me is not that every reel is more expensive here than in the US, but that Shimano's pricing is exceptionally higher. I thought Curados were priced outrageously here; Basskicker's example of Chronarch is just insane. Sticking a price tag of $390 on the same reel that you can buy for $250... that's just not kosher.

Anyone know why Shimano reels are so much more expensive here in Canada than in the US? For example, Shimano Curado is sold for around $260 before tax and Symetre around $120 in Canada. If you were to order them from the US, they will only cost you around $200 for Curado and $90 for Symetre, including S&H charges. The strong loonie can't explain this since it's been nearly two years that the loonie has been flying high, and therefore any exchange-rate discrepancy should already have been reflected in pricing. What's more, Daiwa reels are priced similarly in both Canada and the US. So what gives? Are are being gouged here?

Thanks guys for replies and PMs; much appreciated.

For weeks, I've been oscillating between West Shining Tree Lake (in Shining Tree) and the Montreal River (between New Liskeard and Elk Lake) for my fishing trip this May, but for the life of me I can't decide. They both look great, but I haven't been to either place. I'm hoping some of you have been to one or both of these places and can offer some thoughts on your experience. I'm planning to arrive for Walleye opening and stay for a week targeting mostly pike and walleye. The two lodges I have in mind are the Bay Wolf Camp in Shining Tree, and the Twin Bears Resort in the Montreal River. My last year's trip to Gowganda was not as productive as I had hoped, though the lodge itself was just fine and I did have plenty of fun. This is basically my only fishing trip for the whole year, away from everything to be lost for a week, and so I'd like get the most out of this opportunity. Any and all input will be greatly appreciated; thanks in advance.

Dang, so I was daydreaming after all. It's a pity that all that info had to be chucked away. Thanks for that quick reply ccmt.

Anyone know if there is a way to access the old board to pull of some of the past threads? I wanted to see if I could find some information before posting my question. I thought I saw a link where I could access the old board, but perhaps I was just daydreaming--my mind gets foggy day by day.

If there is no fish in Heaven, I don't wanna go there.

That pretty much settles my indecision. Thanks to all for the input.