Dabluz

What is the best container for those Gulp Alive baits?

Water moccasins or cottonmouths are found in N.America.....in the southern U.S. Yes...they are poisonous. The snake on the dock may be a water snake but water snakes have a yellower belly and are brown with patterns on it's back....some have very nice patterns. This snake looks a lot like a black snake that have a white belly. Black snakes are quite agressive. In the area around Gananoqué near Kingston, there is a type of black snake called the Black Rat Snake that can get to 108 inches long....maybe more.

I've been picking worms since I was a kid. When picking worms, I pick up the ones that are a good way out of the earth. I then grab them near the hole because that way, they are not mortally wounded. I've kept 1/2 nightcrawlers for many weeks and all of them have even healed. Dipping your fingers in fine sawdust helps when grabbing those slippery critters. I guess the best stuff for keeping them is special soil for nightcrawlers and dead maple leaves. Lots of dead maple leaves and newspaper shreddings. Adding coffee grinds does make them vigourous. I've never tried worm food. I also add a lot of dead moss....the yellow stuff (green moss is too acidic) to the mix in order to have a good air circulation in the soil. I keep worms for long periods of time in an old fridge in the basement because I do a lot of icefishing. The fridge is adjusted to just below defrost. Metal containers are a "no no". Condensation inside the container makes the soil too wet and the worms suffocate. After a month or two, I have changed the soil. A good indication to change the soil is when the worms start to get long and thin. A good healthy dew worm is short, fat and dark in colour. That stuff that turns your nightcrawlers green.....stay away from it. These worms were popular up here in my area a few years ago but when people found that brook trout pretty well ignored those worms, they all went back to regular worms. That green stuff is no longer available in my area.

Go here if you want an answer to your question. http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/regions/central/p...rle/index_e.htm

Yes....as I mentioned earlier.....I much prefer clear monofilament when fishing with live bait or bait in general. It is still more effective than any other line of equal diameter. I'm surprised that 2 lb Stren is only .006 inches in diameter. Most of the other companies have the same size of mono except for a couple of companies like Tectan which have a finer monofilament. The diameter of Stren mono is usually larger than the other monos of equal rated strength. Notice that I used "rated strength" and not real breaking limit. Fluorocarbon line is stiffer than mono. It sinks quickly. It's very difficult to tie consistently strong knots in fluorocarbon line. It is said to have less stretch but the tests that I have done (hanging a weight on the line and measuring the stretch without weight and then with weight) have shown me that fluorocarbon stretches just as much as most of the monofilament lines on the market except maybe for Trilene XL which has more stretch than the others. I have also used 15 lb test Vanish fluorocarbon leader material as leader material for fishing through the ice. My 8 lb test monofilament was more resistant (snagged on the logs that littered the bottom of the river)......the fluorocarbon broke at the knot even though I took carefull attention in tying and lubricating my knots. As a main line, I tried 6 lb test Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon for brook trout. The stuff was horrible to cast and was not as resistant as my 4 lb test Sensithin monofilament. On top of that, I was shore fishing with just a baited hook and nothing else. The line quickly sank and hook ups on snags on the bottom were a constant problem. I tried 35 lb test Seaguar leader material on the end of my 10 lb test Fireline. Everytime I snagged on bottom, the fluorocarbon broke so I used 8 lb test mono. The mono was more resistant. Yes, fluorocarbon is clear and may even be invisible in the water but I can't depend on it. Yes....pros flaunt fluorocarbon but I don't trust everything a pro says. They are paid to say things by companies that make and or sell fluorocarbon. The strongest and the thinnest braid is Mason Tiger braid. Power Pro is a couple of classes lower in quality. Look at the article about resistance to abrasion and other information about lines on this site. It's very informative. http://www.sportfishingmag.com/article.jsp...;categoryID=262 Then there is this article about the strength of lines on this site : http://www.sportfishingmag.com/techniques/...ngth-53412.html

I stay away from any kind of leader. Fluorocarbon has been a disaster for me and I won't touch that stuff again. However, I do use very fine braid or fusion line because, first of all, compare 20 lb braid against some 8 lb mono and you will see that the mono is smaller than the braid. It's not true that 10 lb braid is the size of 2 lb mono. I use 2 lb mono for brook trout and there is a huge difference. 4 lb test Fireline is about the size of 2 lb mono. When walleye fishing, I either use 4 or 6 lb mono if the bottom is clean and the water not very deep. Otherwise, I use 6 lb or 8 lb Fireline. 6 lb test Fireline is about the size of 4 lb mono yet breaks at over 12 lbs. I've often compared (with someone else in the same boat using the same lure or jig) similar sized mono to braid or fusion lines and there is no difference in the number of bites. However, there is a good difference between 4 lb mono and 8 lb mono when using jigs. All I can deduce by this is that size of the line matters but not the colour or the composition of the line. Yes, braid and fusion lines can snap when there is a sudden shock applied to them. This has happened only once......in mid-air during a cast and once when striking hard when there was slack in my line and my jig was jammed on a snag. But, since we should never strike when there is slack in the line (there should never be slack in the line anyway) and since we don't have to strike very hard with almost zero stretch line in order to get a good hook set, even the problem of snapping the line is eliminated. Yes, I bought 20 and 30 lb braid when they first came out. I regret that because I still have some on my reels. Braid and fusion lines break at about twice their rated strength. I now buy thin braid and fusion but still use thin mono for fishing with live baits for brook trout because braid and fusion sink which makes slow presentation of live baits difficult. The only time I use metal leaders is when I am fishing for pike. I make my own metal leaders with 49 and 54 strand steel leaders that are as fine as 4 or 6 lb mono. This stuff is very difficult to find and very expensive. I get mine from Europe.

John, if you have a store that sells Black Arrow equipement, give them a visit. I bought a life vest from one of their stores for 30 dollars a few weeks ago. Just like you, I was looking for an adjustable vest so that I can put it on over heavy clothing when fishing in early spring or late fall.....and even when icefishing when the ice is thin. I found a vest that was XXXL, yet can be adjusted to fit tight when just wearing a tee shirt. On top of that, it is a model that has a nice mesh for the shoulders instead of that thick floating material therefore is comfortable to wear. Other brand names sell similar models but at much higher prices. They even look like they are made by the same company...lol. The vest also has mesh pockets and 3 adjustable straps. I normally hate to wear any kind of life jacket, especially when sitting in my Sportspal canoe. With an ordinary life jacket, the floatation material pushes up against my neck, ears and chin.

This is definately a young animal....born in early spring. When they leave the family, they look for a new territory. Competition for territory is fierce and many never find a territory and die.....usually end up as roadkill. This is normal because in natural way of things, there is always a surplus of new animals every year. This is nature's way of coping with the occaisional disasters that occur with populations of animals. If the young fox does manage to survivre well, it will get the strength to be able to maybe eventually take over a territory. On top of that, foxes are very adaptable. If the food source runs out, it will go elsewhere.

I haven't used Gulp Alive baits yet but my buddy swears by them. I uses the small silver minnows. He tried these minnows for brook trout through the ice last spring and caught brook trout with them. He didn't even have to move the jig for the fish to bite. However, I caught just as many brookies using nightcrawlers. My buddy also had excellent walleye fishing with his Gulp Alive minnows but I got just as good results with just a night crawler on my jigs. So, it's pretty safe to say that the Gulp Alive baits are just as good as live nightcrawlers so I guess having one of the buckets of Gulp Alive baits is a good idea. I would most definately buy the Gulp Alive 3 inch silver minnows (smelt imitation) before buying leeches.

I don't have anywhere near the budget that most fishermen have but I do have over 20 rods and just as many good reels to go with them. Ok....I'm old and I do have rods that are over 10 years old. However, all of them are graphite rods. My last addition is a Fenwick HMX fly rod for no 9 line and a Fenwick Knighthawk reel to go with it. I won this outfit in a fishing contest this spring. I rarely buy any rods or reels unless they are really at a fantastic sale price. Example: Berkley Lightning Rod baitcaster for 20 dollars last year, new Shimano Calyx 100A for 30 dollars last year, new Shimano Cardif 101 for 50 bucks (delivered) from last year, some almost new Daiwa H103 Procaster Z and X reels for about 15 dollars each on Ebay, tow 7 foot 1 piece Team Daiwa Tierra baitcasting rod for 25 dollars each (delivered), new Okuma Stinson spinning reel that I won with a bunch of stuff in another contest last winter, a Shimano Symetre 2000 spinning reel on sale a few years ago, 2 brand new Berkley Salmon series 2 piece baitcasters 8 1/2 feet long for 20 dollars each at a liquidation store, etc etc. It's a question of just waiting until a bargain happens and then taking good care of the item after that.

Ops flashlights also come with an interrogator bezel instead of the glass breaker bezel. I wonder why, what and how that is used?

Actually, all the new lines are made of the same substance. It's either called "dyneema" or "spectra"....depending on who manufactures the stuff. Sometimes the stuff is twisted and braided together to make "braid". Other times it's forced together with a bit of heat and is called "fusion". Fusion is a thinner than equivalent strength braid. That's normal because the braiding process does make tiny gaps in the material thus making it a bit larger but less prone to fraying. Braiding also does increase elasticity a tiny bit too. There is one line that I use that uses both processes.....braided line with a core of parallel fibers. The line is called Mason Tiger braid. I like it a lot. It's a tiny bit thinner, considered to be the strongest of the braided lines and the best abrasion resistance of the braided lines. However, tying knots in the stuff is real tricky. When the knot is cinched real tight, the outer braid sometimes gets cut and exposes the core. Fireline, which is a fusion type line is by far the strongest line but it does fray easily. I reversed the first batch of 8 lb test Fireline on one of my reels last year after about 8 or 10 years of use. I have some Power Pro on one baitcaster but I found that Mason Tiger Braid is limper and casts a bit further. There are 3 types of Tuff Line. Tuff Line XP, Tuff Line Plus and Tuff Line. The best one is Tuff Line because it does not have any additives like mono coating to make it a bit stiffer and smoother. Most of the braided lines do have a very thin cover of mono. Some are even covered with so much mono that they are very smooth. However, the mono does make these lines a bit stiffer. None of the new lines float. If they do float it's due to the fact that these lines do not absorb water and their is a resistance at the surface of the water that pushes against all objects. Mono floats because it's specific gravity is lighter than water. But mono absorbs water...about 15 to 20% of it's weight in water and this decreases the floatability of the line. If you want your braided line to float longer, I guess rubbing some silicone on the line every once in a while would be the best trick.

Even mono can cut grooves into rod guides and reel guides. I remember changing the reel guides on my Mitchell 300 every year because my 4 lb test mono would cut grooves into them. The reel guides did not even turn....had no bearings on these reels. The 4 lb test mono would also cut into the rod guides too. This was real noticeable when you changed line size. One time I put on 8 lb mono and the grooves cut by the 4 lb mono really sliced my 8 lb mono. After that incident, is when I started to regularly inspect my line guides. I haven't run across any line guides getting cut in many years except in one incident. My wife's uncle insists on using very cheap reels. He does a lot of bottom fishing in the Saguenay river. Since he is always getting stuck on bottom, I told him to use one of the new braided lines. A couple of days later he told me that the line was useless and broke easily. Not long after, I noticed that he was using a very cheap reel. One of those reels that you could buy about 20 years ago for 3.98. The line guide had long ago disapeared and the line was rubbing against the bottom of the deep bend at the start of the guide where the reel guide used to fit. There was a good sized groove in the metal that was fraying the braided line.

I guess I'm lucky here in Chicoutimi. I am a fan of Tim Horton's and all the Tim Horton's in town have coffee and food 24 hours. I guess the reason is the fact that last call in the bars is 3 a.m. and closing time is 4 a.m. so there are lots of customers who wander in at around that time. Breakfasts are very popular here in my region. So popular that many restaurants are only open for breakfast and midday meal. The busiest time for breakfast is from 6 a.m. till 8:30 a.m. so these places must be ready before 6 a.m. Most (those that are not open 24 hours) open at around 4 or 5 a.m. I have yet to see an empty Tim Horton's up here in my region. I often go fishing at 3 or 4 a.m. It starts to get light around 3:30 a.m. during the summer. I never had any problems getting fresh coffee and food.

A fully charged battery that is in good condition will not freeze.....that is in any inhabited area of Canada but a weak battery can freeze and warpage of the plates can occur. However, a battery that has frozen up is usually easy to spot.

I'm also very orientated towards natural colours. Most of my swim baits look like the minnows that inhabit the water. In any event, I have way too many swim baits and among them are a few having very wierd colours. Most of those weird ones.....I have yet to use.

CT has a sale on Fireline this week. I'm positive that you will be very satisfied with 8 lb Fireline. It breaks at over 16 lbs yet is very quiet and supple. The reason I say that it breaks at about 16 lbs is the fact that there was an independant test done on lines a couple of years ago using a bunch of 20 lb test mono, fusion and braided lines. The 20 lb test Fireline breaking test averaged out at 47 lbs.

I live about 2 1/2 hours north of Quebec City. Trout fishing is great up here however, I'm not very familiar with the trout fishing near Quebec City. Your best bet would be to go fishing in the "Parc des Laurentides". You can reserve an outing in this park which is about 1 hour from Quebec City. In any event, you will have to consider driving 1 hour from Quebec City before getting into any brook trout fishing. If you can read and write in French, I suggest that you visit the following fishing forum. You will get lots of help and even some invitations to go fishing in the Quebec City area. http://pecheenville.com/Forum/index.php

It's hard to say what fish actually see. I'm most certain that through evolution, some colours are more important to fish than other colours. But, bait fish through the evolutionary process also use colours to protect themselves. Wounded baitfish or wounded and sick fish quickly change in colour and are easy for everyone to spot. They also swim differently. However, you never see sickly looking artificial baits that have a bad "limp" when pulled through the water....lol. From my experience...pike like yellow a lot. Walleye like gold and orange lures and black jigs while landlocked salmon like silver.

No

I guess everyone has more knives than they really think they have or even need. Unless I am moose hunting, I never carry a sheath knife. I have 2 Russel Boat Knives but they stay in the drawer in the kitchen...along with a couple of other knives. My Optimal folding knife is always in my larger soft tackle bag along with my Victorinox multiblade folding knife. Along with those 2 knives, there is almost always a small Rapala fillet knife. They are useful. There is a tiny Victorinox pocket knife with scissors on my key chain and I always have my thin Victorinox 2 bladed pocket knife in my pocket. I sometimes fillet my walleye for shore lunch with this small pocket knife. When I get home, I use a 6 or 7 inch butcher knife to cut the heads off my walleyes and then switch to a filet knife for the delicate work.

I love Fireline. Been using it since it came out about 10 years ago. I am still using my first spool of the stuff but I did change it "end for end" last year due to the fraying. However, one day I bought some 20 lb test Fireline and yes....it's like fishing with a very long slinky. It casts ok but is very noisy. I now use it on a large baitcaster when I am bottom fishing in over 200 feet of water. Even the 14 lb test Fireline has a bit too much memory for my tastes. But when you know that 10 lb test Fireline breaks at over 20 lbs....why buy Fireline that is over 10 lb test. The 10 lb test Fireline is great. It's about the size of high quality 6 lb mono or cheap 4 lb mono. Fireline is still the strongest line for it's size on the market. I've had very few problems with fraying. Yes....I often tie a small swivel to the end of my Fireline and then add a mono leader when I'm jigging for walleyes but in water full of snags, I will use the 6 lb Fireline tied directly to the jig. I've even tested with other people if 6 lb test Fireline will catch as many walleye as a high quality 6 lb mono. So far, there has been no difference at all except for the fact that I loose far fewer jigs with the Fireline. A lot of my walleye fishing is in the Peribonka River which was the last river in Quebec that was used to float logs. The bottom of the river is littered with logs. The 6 lb test Fireline is strong enough to straighten the lightwire hooks on my jigs. 6 lb Fireline is as quiet as mono.....anyway, I haven't noticed any noise. Yes...8 and 10 lb Fireline does have a bit of noise.....but about the same as using Mason Tiger Braid or Power Pro. I use a double palomar knot when using light Fireline. The double palomar knot.....you go twice through the granny knot before putting the lure through the loop. My next purchase will be 4 lb test Fireline. Since it breaks at around 8 lbs it is strong enough for me for most situations. However, it sure is thin....lol. When fishing with mono, I always use 2 to 6 lb high quality mono. I haven't used 8 ou 10 lb mono in over 40 years.

To really test a battery, you have to put the battery under work conditions (under load) and monitor it's output after a certain length of time. When in the military, I used to work in a lead-acid battery shop. As an aircraft electrician, my training consisted of frequently changing jobs in order to cover all aspects of my trade. When a certain profiency level was obtained, the whole sequence was repeated but at a higher level...with more responsibilities. The only way we could see if a battery was in good condition was how quickly it would recharge without it heating up too much, liquid levels in all cells being equal in quantity and specific gravity etc etc. When recharging many batteries, it was easy to spot the batteries that were below par. When testing a battery during an investigation....the battery was put under load and monitored until it was dead. However, this made the battery unsafe for further use on an aircraft.

If I had a choice and the money to buy a larger boat, I would most definately get a boat with a console and if I want to fish for walleye, I would use the electric bowmount for any of my bottom bouncing style fishing. Using a tiller for bottom bouncing means that you either have to back troll or use a very small motor and both methods take a lot more boat handling than really necessary. Having a tiller boat that can go faster than 30 mph is something I don't want unless it's absolutely necessary. I may be missing something here but having a large powerful and fast tiller boat seems kind of stupid to me. I see no advantages at all. For someone on a budget, owning a 16 foot aluminum boat with a 20 or 30 hp tiller engine, an electric bowmount plus a 2 or 3 hp trolling motor is a great but I don't see why a person would want a 90 hp tiller. I'm sure that I am not the only one who thinks this way because I have yet to see a 90 hp tiller. I've seen some large tiller boats on TV but those were fishermen who fished using nets or traps and need an uncluttered boat.

Wouldn't it be great if someone came up with a windshield for a tiller boat. Maybe something along the lines of a snowmobile windshield that can be quickly added in front of the fisherman at the tiller. When not in use, it could be stored in a compartement under the front of the boat, or just moved to the bow of the boat.