Raf

http://www.hockeyforum.com/

deep, clear, pressured. lakers and pike will likely already be deep that time of year. i've never tried but i'd say shore opportunities are limited.

nice pics but who's the hairy, geeky guy with glasses?

yep stamina has 'em

sweet looking rig, just needs a #3 sticker.

my question is off-ramp speed limits.. ie. those off the 400 series hwys. Are they mere suggestions or the rule of law?

you must drive on 69 a lot.

watching fishing shows would cut into my prime fishing time. don't think i've seen a fishing show for several years. i'm a fan of our own homemade reality series.

The pic in its original form did not come out very well. A combo of low light, high zoom, a moving boat and no tripod made it poor. So I thought I'd play around with it in PS. Strip the colour, except for the duck and utilize a boatload of unsharpen mask on everthing but the duck.

these censors are outta control! PõS

why didntya lip the shark nice pics. that looks & sounds like a lot of fun

steelheaders are flamers?

what are you going to do this wknd Bennie? the boat'll be loaded with Daiwa reels!

what about the other half?

coca-cola works on chrome bike parts should do the trick on tools too

do you use firefox? well you should. get a plug-in called adblock plus for it. if you get tired of seeing a signature picture, right click on it and you'll have an option for "adblock image". there's probably an option in your user cp here to disable signature too.

This is a question that seems to come up quite often, especially this time of year: New to muskie fishing, which rod/reel should I buy? Thought I would post this. If one person uses the search and finds this helpful it'll be worthwhile. I'm a lefty and wrote it with lefties in mind - there are far more reel options for right-handers (ie. calcutta 400, pete maina reels, etc.), though the 6500 C3 is never a bad choice. Muskie combos with a lefty slant I'm going to describe popular combinations and some of their uses. There are many opinions and variables out there. More seasoned anglers tailor their gear to their needs. I am 6' tall and this is what works for me. In the case of the 6500 series C3s it has been working for decades. By no means is this the end-all but, I think it is a good starting point for someone new to muskie fishing. Most muskie rod manufacturers offer comparable rods. The reels however, being a southpaw, there are far less options. I don't mean to sound like an Abu infomercial but, if all you have are 6501 C3s, great! Loud clickers, good drags, simple yet fairly tough, and a reasonable price tag. Other than the 7000s, I would not consider any of the other Abu offerings as they are bass/pike reels at best. The other manufacturers are somewhat behind when it comes to lefty muskie reels. Ok, here's the pic. From left to right: 6'9" St. Croix Premiere H (1-5oz) & Quantum Cabo CBC31pts - Specialty jerkbait, glider rod. Short length, heavy, fast action allows you to easily impart the desired action on these baits. The Cabo is a light "low-profile" baitcaster that allows you to "palm" the reel, something many prefer. It has a quick 5.7:1 ratio that picks up slack easily. 80-100lb braid. 7' Shimano Compre M (1-3oz) & Abu 6501 C3 - This is a back-up rod for me and I wasn't going to include it. However, if you are going to buy one combo only, it's not a bad choice. It will throw & troll most baits effectively. I use this mostly for jigging, plastics, smaller cranks, heavy pike fishing or even pulling LM Bass out of thick cover. For this purpose I spool the reel with 65lb test. 7'6" St. Croix Premiere MH (3/4-3oz) & Abu 6501 C3 - Anyone who wants to try their hand at muskie fishing and get one combo, this is it. The 7'6" will handle most lures and is a great "all-around" rod. Good length, good power and not overly expensive, it will cast or troll well. The reel pictured above has an aftermarket handle. It is my workhorse. I will throw spinnerbaits, cranks, you name it with it. 80-100lb test. 8'6" Okuma EVx XH (4-12oz), 8'6" St. Croix Premiere (not pictured, 4-10oz) & Abu 7001 - A bit of a specialty combo, made to handle the largest/heaviest lures. Rod is rated for 4-12oz with a bit of a slower action than most muskie rods. Big Bulldawgs, Huge Bootails/Spinnerbaits, large cranks are things you would throw with this. It will also troll nicely. The extra length is nice for manhandling the lures and figure-8s. The 7000 series Abus can take the beating of these huge baits. They also have a slower retrieve ratio at 4.1:1. This makes retrieving those huge lures a little easier in terms of fatigue. However, they also have large spools which offset the slow ratio in terms of feet of line retrieved per crank. 100lb test. 8' St. Croix Premiere MH (3/4-3oz) & Quantum Cabo CBC31pts - Bootail & Topwater rod. Great for inlines, straight retrieve topwaters (ie. TopRaiders). You'll launch the bait a mile if you want. The extra length makes figures-8s less of a back breaking affair. Works great as a trolling rod too though, I'd put on a different reel (the CABO clicker is craptacular). 80-100lb test. 8' St. Croix Premiere Glass Trolling (1-8oz) & Okuma CV30DLX - Trolling combo. When I bought the reel it was one of the few lefty linecounters available. There may be more options now. The Great Lakes guys use these reels for their screamin' salmon, they work well for muskie fishing too. You can run wire or braid. The LC is nice, you don't have to count "pulls" to achieve repeatability in terms of lure running depth. The rod has a good length, softer tip and will troll everything from a super shad rap to pounding, deep running custom baits.

get the 6501. difference? bigger (stronger) gears, drag washers, etc.

water test them.

cmopared to europe, we drive 5x as much.

yup, even on my Jeep I believe the recommended max is 60 or so pounds. Now I've had a 80-90 lb ice shack up there with no ill effects but I also run with scissors.

check the weight capacity of your factory roof rack. most will not support much more than 50lbs, which is not very much.

i hear what you are saying.. they seem to have no problem closing it on Nov 15th in the Kawarthas every year!

it certainly is a rude awakening Wayne. Have fun guys.

i'd be surprised if i was on the receiving end too!