solopaddler

Well done sir, that was great! And the reality is you don't need any help from the likes of me. (Very familiar looking water though, I must say. )

Nice write up Rob, thoroughly enjoyed meeting and fishing with you. Obviously it was an exceptional day.

Planning on bringing the whole family up at some point. Where is the highwayman located? Seems like it's popular. We'll definitely be staying one night.

Unbelievable Simon just unbelievable. I don't think I've ever seen such an early ice out in my entire life. Very nice walleyes and a great start to the season for you!

You picked the right lodge. Of the 4 Red Pine is the best. If you're a walleye fisherman and know how to read water you'll have no problems there in June.

Excellent bud, glad to see you had the chance to get out and actually caught some. Your girl looks like a sweetheart.

Ironically enough I'm redoing the deck on my lund today with vinyl. You can get it from: Special Touch Marine Upholstery & Canvass 209 Brigade Drive, Hamilton, ON L9B 2G4 905-385-3409 He doesn't have it in stock but takes about 3 days to get. Cheers

What'd you do rob a bank? LOL! Sweet boat dude. I bought my cover from Cabelas, it was only $300 odd bucks. You don't need a snap down custom job. Even if it's sitting at the dock in the water and not on the trailer the run of the mill travel cover will do. It fits around the nose of the boat and over the motor. You should be able to secure it in a couple spots with bungees. If Cabelas doesn't have them check here: http://boatcovers.iboats.com/Semi-Custom_Covers/Bass_Boat/?session_id=551738487&cart_id=036828135

Should be sunny this aft. Get out there after lunch, you should do okay.

Two on the river, maybe a couple dozen off a certain pier. Over the course of my lifetime, I don't know, hundreds?,thousands? I do happen to enjoy fishing with a long light rod and a centrepin reel, that's obvious. Many times it's deadly because of the presentation. In many instances it's not and another tactic is superior. If you can't grasp that simple fact, and it's clear that you don't, you really do have a lot to learn. While you have zero problems imposing your odd thoughts on others it seems you get a bit touchy when someone contradicts you.

Well done guys, gotta get over there myself soon.

Well that was entertaining.

Well....I'd have to say you have a lot to learn as do the 95% of guys who strictly use a centrepin.

Dacron backing is only truly a necessity on the aerial style reels that have pins instead of a spool. On a regular centrepin with a spool you can use anything you want as backing, doesn't have to be dacron. Any heavier mono is fine like 14lb XT for example. The reason for backing is to fill up the spool as many of the reels have ridiculously huge deep spools with enormous line capacities. Another thing I've done is wind on a level 4wt fly line. It weighs absolutely nothing and acts as a simple arbour filling up the deep spool. There's very, very few instances where you'll need more than 150 or so yards of line to work with.

'Course you can bottom bounce with a pin. You can throw hardware as well. It's not the right tool for the job though. As Frankie said sometimes bottom bouncing is the way to go. The very best steelheaders I know started out as primarily bottom bouncers. To become good at it requires a level of skill and touch far beyond centrepinning. Regarding the spinning reel I can't agree that a pin will help you land fish better. It will in most instances allow a much better presentation. That said there's many instances especially in big water where I replace the pin on my float rod with a spinning reel when float fishing. Sometimes the pin is a hindrance. To be truly good versatility is the key. Master all the disciplines not just one.

Congrat's you must be stoked!

Fantastic. I'm thinking I might trailer the boat up for the day with the kids. Great stuff.

This deserved to be bumped up. I've watched the vid a couple times now buddy, just amazing. On a side note Eddie watched it last night and wants to head up there next winter. He was pretty impressed.

Actually the XST blanks are called "titanium chrome" by Batson. They're gorgeous blanks. John check your pm's.

Sweet, she's goona be a nice stick. In case anyone's wondering and I'm sure Spiel will agree, these Rainshadow XST blanks are unreal. Right on par with the most expensive Loomis blanks for lightness and sensitivity.

Nope he's definitely a witch.

I had forgotten that. We were calling the shots on a few of those fish. If anyone's wondering Justin is a witch.

If it was my rod I'm glad you decided to take a break. It's a wild day isn't it? Warm and breezy with thunder rumbling. Almost like June instead of early April.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Rob please Nope didn't get the pic's mixed up but I have caught him before. I trained him to hit my bait on demand. I call him Jeff.

Nice fish guys. You didn't tell me you went swimming though.