solopaddler

Brian I'm not a fan of the BPS brand of waders. If you buy any kind of "house brand" I'd go with Cabelas. If it's something you're contemplating ordering soon I've shipped a bunch of stuff to a friend in Ohio. You're more than welcome to do the same. I'll be meeting with him to pick up my stuff sometime in late March. I do agree with stocking foot waders and wading boots as opposed to bootfoot, at least for the bulk of your fishing. Bootfoot waders are unbeatable though for winter steelheading as they'll keep your feet 10X warmer than stocking foot waders when standing in ice water for hours. As far as backing goes I believe it's only truly necessary if the reel's spool is super deep. You don't have to fill a float reel right to the lip. In fact it may perform better if slightly underfilled. Less issues with line running amok in windy conditions. Recently I've been constructing arbors out of thin adhesive backed cork for some of my reels. It's a fantastic alternative to filling up your reel with heavy dacron. As far as mainline goes I'm not a fan of fluorescent lines. Probably the best all around value that's readily available is Raven Mainline in dark green. I use 12lb regularly (it's very thin line), but 10 would be okay too. On a side note I mailed you a package last week, havn't you received it yet?

Thank goodness. I thought you were being serious about the dog thing.

The Suffix 832 rocks. If it stands up as well as Power Pro it'll definitely be my go to braid.

They're tried and true that's for sure. A friend of mine is an absolute wizard when it comes to throwing hardware for steelhead. He uses US Reels Supercasters, the 230 and 240SX models. That guy was consistently throwing further than me by a mile with my typical long tapered spool reels last season. The drag on those reels is unreal as well, the washers are just so huge. I don't think there's another reel on the market that will cast as far. Best part is they're cheap. You can pick them up on ebay for usually between 50 and 60 bucks these days. On a side note Phil, next weekend is looking prime if you and your bro want to hit steelhead alley. (weekend of the 12-13th)

Tony just bring your broken Avid to Fishing World, they'll take care of you! I agree that's a decent stick for a factory rod. As it happens Wiser is selling one in the OFC classifieds for $125 http://www.ofncommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51346

I'm glad some of you guys see the humour. (I'm hoping Bill won't kill me. )

Some of my best memories as a child come from spending hours catching leopard frogs for bait. Well, that and crayfish. That was always a big part of our annual trip up north to the cottage. I think I had more fun catching them, and boy did they work. I'm hoping to show the art of catching and fishing frogs both of my kids. (if my back can take it ). As far as Italo goes, I don't have much use for him or his show.

You should have dove in after it. That would've topped Bill Dance's bloopers any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Nice to see you chime in Jim. It was pretty obvious you were pissed.

Unreal, that's kind of maddening Ryan! Most importantly everyone is fine including your new arrival. Huge congratulations to you and the missus! Thanks for posting.

But....no one knew you were trying to be funny.

or britneyspeers take your pick.

Bill's angry uncle Joe: His depressed cousin Guiseppe back in the home country: His crazy half cousin Lenny: It's hereditary

No, by incongruous I think he means the two trains of thought don't jive. You can't on one hand promote a product then get your hackles up when criticised. I have no problem with anybody btw. I've never watched Daves show, but he comes across as being pretty genuine and I'm sure he's a great guy. You can't fake that.

Exactly. Like an antelope running away from an angry cheetah with an inner ear infection.

Now there's an idea! Bill, are you listening?

Yeah well...I can still outrun you and your giant eyebrows and that's all that matters.

Yes please. But only if they currently look like two giant black rabbit strip leaches. It'd be too distracting trying to take good fish pictures with those bushy monstrosities in the way.

Solo guided young William to those fine browns. In fact the big colourful one was caught on my bait right in front of me. After I had drifted the same spot for 30 minutes. No jealousy here.

HAHAHA!

Hamburgler

Or you could shear them off and knit a nice warm fluffy pair of socks.

This particular paint is an automotive black chrome finish made by Duplicolor. It's a two step spray system: the translucent black followed by a clear coat. People use it to paint their chrome bumpers. If you scuffed it up the scratches would be noticeable 'cause it's translucent. I had thought about getting really creative with some wild colour patterns and in that case you'd need to scuff them up and prime. All I really wanted was a black spoon at this point. Maybe next year. Tinkering is fun.

I pretty much agree. I like Burke and what he's doing, Wilson, not so much.

Have a good one Joe.