Dabluz

I guess I'm a lot older than you guys then. I remember my dad's steel baitcaster and Ronson level wind reel. Then the solid glass rods came out. They were heavy but you could make a pretty good bow to shoot arrows with those things....lol. However, they were unbreakable. You could bend the tip right down to the handle. Then there were the hollow fiberglass rods which really made rods light....for that period. However, if you bent them too much....the hollow glass collapsed and the rod would break. Rods today are way lighter but way more fragile. Put a slight ding in them and it's goodby. You can get a 7 foot medium heavy 1 piece rod that weighs like a feather these days and for a decent price too. My most expensive rod was a Berkley "Curt Gowdy" fiberglass spinning rod that I paid 80 dollars for in 1978. I think that was close to a week's pay. Today for 80 dollars (if you wait for a rod at a special price) you can get a very nice rod.

From what I have read on other fishing sites, BPS reels and Cabela's reels....at least some of them....it is hard to find someone who will repair them. However, some of those reels are made by companies who also make brand name reels like Quantum, Pflueger, etc and very often the reels are almost exactly the same and many parts are interchangeable.

Ok....it's a co-polymer line. I used a co-polymer line a long time ago when they first came out and didn't like it. If I want a hard line, I use Berkley XT. I cut my lines with my teeth....up to 20 lb test. Been doing that for as long as I can remember. I can tell if a line is soft or hard and even if it's abrasion resistant. I can't cut Fireline nor braided line....lol. However, a pike still can. Especially those 3 to 6 lb pike.

Be careful with penetrating oil like WD-40. Do not leave any in the chamber because this stuff will penetrate into the shell and even soak into the powder over time. 3 in One oil is for sewing machines. Use a high grade gun oil. If you want a light oil for the action of your pump gun or semi-auto, use Rem-Oil and remove the oil with a dry cloth before going hunting. Yes, the oil does penetrate between the molecules of the metal to prevent rusting however you cannot leave the gun "dry-lubed" for a long length of time. When hunting, I clean my firearms at the end of every day. I apply a thin coat of oil and then dry cloth before going out again. At the hunting camp, I leave the guns outside in a dry place....this way, there is no condensation. If a person does not like to take apart and clean a firearm, there are single shot guns and rifles that are easier to take apart. Or....bring along a person like me who likes to do that sort of thing.

Sorry, it was bismuth that I wanted to say. For some reason, I had tungsten on the brain. A slip of the tung....lol.

Great job but wouldn't it have been easier to just buy another Jitter Bug?

I suggest that you take 4 feet of 15 lb test fluorocarbon P-Line and stretch between your arms and then do the same with some Berkley XL. You will find that they are very similar in elasticity. XL is very elastic. The reason that fluorocarbon line is not as shock resistant is the fact that it is not as strong as mono and the knot strength is terrible. Quit believing what the companies that sell the stuff say. If they were selling cars, they would be in jail. I'm actually surprised that no one has ever taken some of these companies to court. Sure....with 15 lb test line....you might find that it is strong but when you go down to 6 lb test and compare it to 4 lb mono....you will quickly find out that 4 lb mono is better than 6 lb test fluorocarbon. Try some simple tests at home....on the kitchen table. Compare 15 lb test fluorocarbon against 10 lb test mono.

Last year I bought a Shimano Cardiff 101A (also a round baitcaster) for 60 dollars on sale from 160 dollars (in Canada). Very nice reel. From what I have heard, the problem with BPS or Quantum reels is the lack of spare parts....especially the bearings.

The CiticaE is just as good and costs 100 dollars less.

20 gauge is great for small game. Not many people know but 28 gauge to 10 gauge....they all have the same power. Meaning that the shot from each gauge goes the same speed and the same distance. Even the chokes are the same....meaning that at full choke, a 28 gauge will put 70% of the shot inside a 30 inch circle just the same a 12 gauge or a 10 gauge will do. Most of the cartridges sold for shotguns have the maximum amount of powder for their gauge. Magnum cartridges....only the amount of shot is increased therefore, shot from a magnum cartridge actually goes a bit slower.....however, there is more shot in the pattern. This means that if you shoot a rabbit with a 28 gauge or a 12 gauge, the only difference will be the number of pellets that will hit it. Therefore, somebody using a 20 gauge full choke could actually end up with more pellets in a rabbit when compared to someone using a 12 gauge improved cylinder.....if they are using the same size of pellets. I've found that the best size of pellets for grouse is 7 1/2. At a reasonable distance, this size shot does zero damage to the breast meat of grouse. Whoever, the neck, head, legs will get a lot of damage. If a grouse is flying directly away from you, the 7 1/2 pellets have no trouble puncturing the thin back of the grouse....along with damaging the wing bones, the neck and head of the grouse. If your 20 gauge shotgun is full choke, I would ask the gunsmith to cut back the barrel so that you would end up with a modified or improved cylinder choke. In my opinion, full choke is only useful for waterfowl or for shooting grouse at very close range....grouse that are on the ground and you have time to aim high in order to just hit them in the head. Modern good quality shotgun cartridges have far better patterns than the old cartridges of 40 years ago. The pellets stay grouped much better. The only shotgun that has a terrible pattern is the .410. Cartridges for the .410 are still made the same as they were 50 years ago. I love the 28 gauge but the cartridges for this gauge are getting harder and harder to find and they are getting expensive too. I have a Remington single shot in 28 gauge that I just love. I cut back the barrel and tapped the front bead myself. I cut back a good 6 inches of the barrel and it is perfect for rabbits and grouse here in my area of Quebec. Yes....the gun is registered with the cut barrel. I can sling the gun over my shoulder and not have the end of the barrel catching on branches. I also have a Winchester M59 in 12 gauge. This is a super light semi-auto with an aluminum receiver and a fiberglass barrel....made in 1959. However, it's full choke. Since I cannot use steel shot for waterfowl with this barrel, I am hoping that I can find a way to cut back the barrel so that I could use it for small game. Otherwise, I will have to use tungsten shot when waterfowling and forget about using it for small game except pheasant. However, no pheasant in my region. Very expensive stuff and almost impossible to find in Canada.

That's an old trick that everybody should use. For oiling a firearm, I buy natural oil (cedar, spruce, etc) extract that is sold in drugstores. It's great for oiling the outside of a firearm.

I have also tried different scents on my offerings...vanilla extract, mint extract, the first stuff that Berkley had for sale a long time ago, greasy lipstick style sticks, anis (that's french for anise), Dr Juice "walleye", etc etc. After 30 years....I'm still experimenting and I still don't know if any of that stuff does make a difference. I know for one thing that when fishing with nightcrawlers, changing the bait after 30 minutes does help and the same goes for frozen smelt. Cut bait must be changed much more frequently. I know that some companies do experiments (in an aquarium) with different scents....usually for bass and they do say that the scents work. But, can I trust their findings? They sure have a way with twisting the wording on some of their products so that they look better than they actually are. Descriptions for their fishing lines are very deceiving.

I have used a handful of GPS's over the years. I started with a Garmin 45. I say that the best GPS is still the Garmin Legend. You can make a 12 volt power cable for about 5 dollars for it. You can download free topo maps on the internet for it. Yes, it only has 4 megs of memory but that is lots of memory for outdoor use. You copy what you need from your home computer towards the GPS. On top of that, there are a bunch of free mapping programs on the internet so that you can store all of your outings on your home computer. Sure, the old Legend is still black and white screen but is colour really necessary? As for the newer more sensitive chips.....they do not do very much. I now have an old 1994 Lowrance IPro that I paid 80 dollars (with maps, power cable, suction support, holster, external antenna) and it is faster than a Garmin 60CSX or a Colorado and just as accurate. The problem with the more sensitive chips is the fact that they also pick up signals that have been reflected by the mountains or buildings. These signals induce position errors (due to the additional distances that these signals add). One day while attending a Geocaching reunion, my old Lowrance got a fix while I was in the middle of a classroom that had only 2 small windows. Everybody else had fancy new Garmins and nobody could get a fix. I think that one person had a Garmin Etrex and they also got a fix. If you want to get a speed reading while trolling, make sure your GPS will take a reading at very slow speed. Some GPS's will only give a speed reading if you are going more than 4 mph.

Last month, it was the Berkley Lightning rod "Shock" that was on sale for 30 dollars. I bought a 7 foot 2 piece model and went jigging for walleye with it. Great rod too. As for the garantee....I've never had any problems getting a broken Berkley rod replaced. One rod broke because I twisted it. It was quite old and Berkley sent me a newer model. After 3 years, I sent it back saying that I hated it. They turned around and sent me a Lightning Rod. This was the year that Berkley put the first Lightning rod on the market. The second rod was a Series One 8 foot baitcasting rod that I bought at a fire sale. When I got home, I noticed that the tip was cracked. I sent the tip to Berkley and asked to buy a replacement. They sent me a new rod plus the old tip for free. Now I have an 8 foot rod and a 7 1/2 foot rod...lol. I have only broken 2 rods while fishing....in my whole life. I've been fishing for close to 60 years. The first rod was over 35 years ago and the other one was last year. It was a Walmart "Renegade" 7 foot spinning rod that I paid 15 dollars (liquidation). However, it was a great rod. I had just lent it to a newbie and I suspect he cracked it on the gunwale of my boat. The only Shimano "Izumi" rod that the Canadian Tire store in my city had on sale was the 5 1/2 foot Ultra Light. Way too whippy to my liking.

I'm sure that when GPS systems become standard for every vehicle, insurance companies will find a way to use statistics to attract more customers while keeping up with profits.

I live in a region that is littered with small lakes. Yes, when a lake is good, the word does get around and the fishing pressure increases. However, after a while, the fishing is not so good and the lake is no longer as popular and the fish in the lake are left alone for a few years. Then, the fishing gets good again. It's impossible to catch all the fish in a lake. My best fishing spots are close to town. They are usually hard to fish and maybe the number of fish is low but the fish are much larger on the average. Sure, there are people who see me fishing in one of these lakes and this attracts fishermen but then there is always the fact that 10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish. Keeping a spot really secret means that no one....not even your best buddy or brother or anyone else in the family knows where you are fishing. That's pretty hard to do.

I think I remember that there are even some GPS's that do not indicate low speeds very well. Some even don't indicate speed below 3 mph. However, that's easy to find out real quick by just taking the unit outdoors, waiting for the GPS to acquire a position and then you just start walking around a little.

Yes....the colour red is the first colour is the first colour to "disappear" underwater. However, it does quite the opposite to disappear....it's the first colour to turn black at about the 20 foot mark. The last colour to turn black is blue which is at the other end of the spectrum. As you can see, the companies who make red line are not really telling a great big lie....they are just using other words to show how easily some people can be duped.

Check out the Shimano "Bob Izumi" series rod at Canadian Tire....they are on sale too.

Any GPS will give you your speed. Even an old Garmin 45 or an old Lowrance GlobNav 200 gives you all you want. However, you can't see a map on these GPS's. But they sure can tell you everything else. You can find one of these old GPS's for about 20 dollars on Ebay or better yet, go to Geocaching.com and ask anyone on this huge site if anyone has one to give away...lol. Some of these old GPS's have neat stuff too. The old Garmin 45 could tell you the times for sunrise and sunset anywhere on the planet on any given date. Great for planning a long portage to some remote lake for early next summer. It is as accurate as any one of the new GPS's on the market today. It even had a detachable antenna that I could attach to my baseball cap while walking in the woods. The Garmin 45 would be stowed away inside my jacket. My old Lowrance GlobalNav 200 could track from the back seat of my Suzuki Sidekick and get it's position through my basement window. Yes, it was a bit faster than the Garmin 45 that used an 8 channel sequential receiver because it had a 12 channel parallel receiver. Anyway, if you want a GPS that tells you where you are, how to get back to where you started and tell you everything else in between plus have the capablities to hook up to your home computer so that you can record your outings in detail, you only have to spend about 20 dollars. The only difference between the old GPS's and the brand new ones is the fact that the newer ones have colour screens with more pixels, have mapping capabilities and are more sensitive. However, the added sensitivity also means that they also pick up reflected wavelengths (weak messages from the satellites that are reflected by mountains and buildings etc) and this means that there are more induced errors. With my very old Garmin 45, I was almost consitently within 5 to 45 feet.

I often fish with 2, 3 and 4 lb mono and at the end of my line, there is only a small no 10 ou no 8 baited hook. I cast out and leave the bail open while the baited hook very slowly drops to the bottom. I often get a loop or two sticking out of my spool after having reeled in my line. This is because, I should lift my rod tip just as I am closing the bail on my reel so that all the loose line between the reel and the first line guide gets picked up tighter. Don't worry about it. Everybody gets these small loops. Yes....stiffer lines, larger lines, over filled spool, twisted line, wind, etc will also cause loops on the spool.

I don't like those heavy rubber landing nets. They are ok if you built like Arnold Shwartzenegger or have a buddy you can trust to use the net. I prefer those rubberized fine meshed nets that I can operate with one arm. I like the nets that are rather deep yet have a flat bottom. The fish don't panic so much in them because those real deep cone shaped nets.....the fish gets almost folded in two and they don't seem to like that very much.

Yes.....medium heavy fast action rod would be the way to go. There is a slight difference between the Lightning Rod and the Shock series of Lightning Rod. To start out...."superlines" is the name for the lines made of spectra or dyneema. Power Pro, Tuff Line, etc etc and lines like Fireline. These are rather recent. The big difference with these lines is the fact that they have very little elasticity or stretch (approx 3 to 4 %). Monofilament and fluorocarbon lines have a lot of stretch....sometimes close to 30%. This means that with the newer lines, you don't have to really haul back hard when striking the fish. However, these newer lines with very little stretch also have a fault....they break if you snap them hard. The trick is to feel the fish load up on the rod and then haul back hard. The "Shock" series of Berkley Lightning rod has a slightly more flexible tip but the strong part of the rod comes into use real quick. It's still a rather fast action rod with lots of backbone. I love fast action rods but my budget is very slow action....lol. I bought a "Shock" 7 foot spinning rod, medium action for 15 to 30 lb Fireline or 4 to 12 lb mono the other day for jigging walleye with Fireline. I broke my main rod for this type of fishing last year on a pike. I was using a medium light Shimano Stimula 6 1/2 feet and I was missing walleye every now and then. With the "Shock" 7 foot rod.....no more missed walleye.....anyway, not like when I was using the Stimula. Anyway, you should be able to find a "Shock" rod for about 30 to 50 dollars. I paid 30 for mine at Canadian Tire. They may still be on sale. However, a medium heavy rod is a bit light for musky. Same goes for the reel.

One excellent lure can be found at a Dollarama store. It's a large banana type lure. However, if you want to use 50 lb test line and for really big pike, I don't trust the lure to be tough enough. The hooks should be replaced before using this lure. It doesn't dive very deep but the action is beautiful. I use this lure when I don't want to bother with a wire leader. If I lose the lure....I don't mind. Any of my hooks that I use for fishing are worth more than what Dollarama sells the banana lure.....lol.

A couple of years ago, I was pike fishing in a lake right outside of Quebec City. This lake gets a lot of fishing pressure. I saw an old guy fishing with a huge flourescent orange Suick about 16 inches long. I found that was quite weird for a lake with such fishing pressure but he told me that he has a cottage nearby and it was the only way to consistently catch big pike in that lake. I didn't see him catch any pike but I'm sure what he told me was right. I remember when I was a kid that guys who specialized in catching really big pike used large suckers as bait. If they were using frozen suckers up to 3 or 4 lbs in weight, they would step on the sucker in order to push all the air out of the sucker so that it would sink. They used big floats on the ends of hand lines to keep the sucker off the bottom. I often saw them with 20 to 45 lb pike. Most of these fishermen were Polish immigrants in Northern Quebec and a few owned a butcher shop. I'm sure that they sold the pike they caught to other immigrants. This was over 50 years ago. For us Quebecers, we were not interested in catching pike, we fished for walleye. The big pike we caught were accidental catches.