Dabluz

Over the years, I have somehow gathered up a number of sonars and sonar accessories. Some of them....the screen does not work well while others....the transducer is missing. I have 2 Humminbird 3-D units (Vista 3-D and a View 3-D) but only one transducer....and I don't even know if that transducer works yet or even with which unit I can use this transducer. I have 2 Lowrance flasher units and only 1 transducer that can be used with either flasher unit. It sure would be nice to at least have a place where I could find out which transducer can be used with which display unit. I know that the transducer for a Humminbird Matrix X-47 is the same as the one for a Vista 3-D or a View 3-D but does a transducer from an Eagle Z-6000 can also be used for an Eagle Z-9000? It would also be nice to be able to buy connectors to put on the ends of transducer cables and power cables. Anyway, I would like to repair my old used sonars and then be able to give them or sell them real cheap to people who don't already own a sonar. I had an old Humminbird LCR 3004. The display never did work 100% but I toughed it out. I finally sent it for a repair estimate about 2 years ago. I got a note back a few weeks later telling me that I owed them 100 dollars for the repair. I told them to go to hell.....I only wanted an estimate. They kept the display and I now have a power cable, transducer, cover and support for a Humminbird LCR3004. I wonder if the power cable and transducer can be used on an other Humminbird display so that I can upgrade from the LCR3004 that I did have? I know that the LCR4-ID uses the same transducer. Are there any other display units that use the same transducer? Another thing I would like to know is which transducer or accessory can I buy to turn my transom mount transducer into a trolling motor transducer? There is simply not one place where a person can get the info he needs. Especially for discontinued sonar units. Those discontinued units are still very handy....especially in shallow water where they work better than the newer more powerful units whose powerful signals spook the fish. It would be wonderful to be able to visit just one place on the internet and be able to buy a transducer, power cable, after market connector or an accessory at a more reasonable price. There are lots of used sonars on Ebay and flea markets that are missing cables and can be bought real cheap. A place where a person could choose a transducer with a different cone angle for his old sonar. I know that the manufacturers try to keep a lot of the info away from public eyes and therefore be able to sell new sonars to customers. However, an after market company with generic parts would be a godsend.

If you look closely, even walleye have this extra set of bones going to the backbone. Like brook trout, these lateral bones are quite small and no one who I have met has yet to say that they exist when it comes time to eat whitefish.

Here in Quebec, vehicle insurance is way cheaper. For a snowmobile or ATV etc (without collision), it's about 50 dollars.

Fish with bad eyesight.

This is why high quality dry fly hooks are so expensive. I almost always use high quality dry fly hooks, even for nymphes on a sinking tip fly line. If the sink tip line slides along the bottom, the nymphe still rides a bit above bottom and rarely catches on anything. The fine hard wire and tiny barbs make hooking the fish much easier. Yes, care must be taken when removing the hook from the fish's mouth because the hooks can snap. They won't bend much because they are too hard but they can snap when twisted. High quality dry fly hooks have a much smaller eye and the eye is always nicely formed and not at such a right angle as the cheaper wet fly hooks.

This video should be shown more often on TV and every year on top of that. This is important information. In my area, there are quite a few drownings during the winter. The video has important information for those who witness someone going through the ice. There are no statistics on how many people go through the ice and are quickly rescued by friends or people nearby.

Actually "no". A well constructed classic style dry fly....the hook does not touch the water. The hackles at the tail and at the front rest on the water surface because there is a barrier called "surface tension" on the water. The length of the tail and the length of the front hackles must be just right so that the hook is barely above water. In fact, if part of the hook does pierce the surface tension, it actually acts similar to a straw and draws water toward the body of the dry fly therefore making the dry fly become a wet fly. From what I see for sale in most fly shops, the hook is usually too large on the classic style dry flies. Using a very fine dry fly hook will also make the dry fly lighter and the hackles will better support the hook off the water. Good dry fly hooks are expensive. I'm lucky, I've got a batch of some great Partridge ultra light hooks from Redditch England.

I have been using handheld GPS devices for quite a while now. All the handheld GPS devices now are waterproof. Most can even take a good dumping. Some models even float. I find that the screens on any of the handheld units is large enough so that even on the dash of my vehicle, I can clearly see all the info. It's even possible to buy fishing sonars that allow you to hook up a handheld GPS unit and you can see the info and maps right on the sonar screen. Example; Garmin makes sonars that will take info from a handheld Garmin GPS. Same goes with Lowrance. I would not buy a combo sonar/gps unit because you increase the chance that the unit will break down. It's like buying a t.v. and CD reader in the same unit. With seperate units, you can use the GPS in your vehicle in order to search out where your launch point will be, plus roads, gas stations, city streets, adresses etc. There are lots of places where I go fishing and camping that my buddies could not find without having a GPS in their vehicles. There are lots of free programs on the internet that allow me to send my waypoints and tracks to other people over the internet. All they have to do is download everything to their handheld GPS units. When you get on the water, you continue to use the handheld unit whether or not you use the sonar. Having a GPS enabled sonar....you can only use it on the water. There are many other times and places when a GPS really comes in handy. For somebody who has the budget, having a GPS enabled sonar, a handheld GPS and a GPS in their vehicle would cover everything if they also buy the different software programs that must be bought to make these items fully operational. I don't have the budget for that.

I told no secrets. All this stuff I learned through reading before computers were available to the general public. I think my leader recipe was invented by a guy called Ritz. At first, it looks hard as to what the exact lengths of each segment of a 9 foot tapered leader (the most popular) should be but start out with the first segment at 48 inches and work from there....on paper. You will end up with a bunch of arithmique results to make different leaders. When tying the leaders and the segments get down to 8 or 10 inches....let the rest of the segments stay at that length until you get to the tippet. When you tippet wears down, just replace the tippet. That's where the economy really kicks in. I forgot to say that you join each segment with a blood knot. Make a nice variety of leaders, mark each according to it's length and tippet size then place them in small plastic bags or a leader wallet. Use a George Harvey knot to tie the flies to your tippet. Buy some grease type fly flottant like "Gink's". Apply the Gink's to the floating fly and to the leader.....starting at the nail knot all the way to the knot which attaches the tippet to the leader. Your fly will float for days. I often fish with a muddler minnow that I make with a body of deer hair tied parallel to the hook shank instead of the original recipe for the body . I cast it out and often let it sit there while I'm eating a sandwich. Keep one hand on the rod though. You are allowed to twitch it every now and then but if you do, grip the rod a bit harder otherwise you risk that a trout takes off with it.

I suggest a decent 9 foot, 2 piece, 7 to 8 weight rod and a 7 WF (weight forward) floating line. Buy the best line you can find. I like the Scientific Angler lines which are not too soft nor too stiff. Learn to make your own tapered leaders with real leader material. First of all, tie a very short piece of leader material using a nail knot to the end of the fly line. Then tie a perfection knot on the end of this short piece of leader material. You should end up with a loop that is about 2 inches from the end of your fly line. I like to make my tapered leaders this way; 20 lb test, then 15 lb test which is 60% shorter than the 20 lb test, then 10 lb test which is 60% shorter than the 15 lb test, then 10 lb test which is 60% shorter than the 15 lb test, then 6 lb test which is 60% shorter than the 10 lb test and then finish with a 4 lb tippet of 24 inches long. I tie a perfection loop to the large end of the fly leader. This way, you can join the leader to the fly line using the 2 loops. Push the loop from the fly line through the loop in the leader. Take the end of the tippet and push it through the loop at the end of the fly line. Pull the rest of the leader through the loop at the end of the fly line. Make more leaders of different lengths and strengths for different fly sizes and weather conditions. Leaders for dry flies vary from 7 feet to 18 feet long and from 10 lb test to 3/4 lb test. In calm conditions with small flies, I often use 14 foot leaders with tippets of 1 lb test. For fishing weighted nymphes or trolling large streamers, you can use leaders as short as 3 to 5 feet. When fishing deeper water, you can buy fly lines with sinking tips or fly lines that completely sink. You can even choose the sink rate of the sinking lines. For short distance work (streams or very small ponds), a double tapered line works great for the shorter casts. Weight forward lines start to work great when you have about 30 feet of fly line out past the rod tip. This is quite long when you already have your arm, a 9 foot rod, 30 feet of WF line and a 10 foot leader. Doing a bit of reading about fly fishing is an excellent idea. There is lots of free reading on the internet.

2 years ago, I bought a pair of snowmobile boots at Walmarts for 70 dollars. They are rated -74 F. I normally wear size 9 1/2 shoes so I bought size 12 boots. I took out the thick insulated inner boot and slipped a thick rubber (with large holes for air) and felt sole under the inner boot. There is even 2 layers of insulate stuck to the inside of the outer layer. These boots have 2 large straps that tighten around the ankle and calf of the leg. The boots must be about 18 to 20 inches high. The rubber sole of the boot is very thick with excellent deep thread design. The boots are excellent. I have diabetes so my circulation is not what it once was. However, I now never get cold feet when ice fishing. I do wear Ducks Unlimited socks over which I wear the best wool, super thick, insulating socks I could find....I think Wig Wams. Ok....this is not an outfit for jogging but, the straps do keep the boots on my feet when walking and I do get taller by a good 2 inches. Surprisingly enough, the rubber is real rubber and stays very flexible at -40.

Yes...that is a decent fly reel. There should be a number somewhere on it saying if it's for 4 to 5 weight line or 7 to 8 weight line etc. Very often the model number has the line size in it's number. Yes, some fly reels can get very expensive. The very expensive reels are expensive due to the materials they are made of (bearings, brakes, gears etc) (precision machined very strong and rigid alloy metals). These reels are usually made as light as possible yet as strong and rugged as possible with strong yet very smooth breaking systems that can take years of punishment from very strong, fast fish. An Atlantic salmon can actually burn up the brakes or seize the bearings on a cheap reel. Expensive fly reels often have a gear system that makes the spool turn 4 or 5 times faster than the handle is turned. This is great when the fish is zooming towards the angler and he has to quickly reel in a lot of loose line. Then there is the prestige of owning an expensive outfit.

It's a magneto.

If you want to fish exclusively very small ponds and average size streams. Not use any streamers over size 6 and never fish when it's a bit windy.....a 6 weight rod will do the trick. I only use a 7 to 8 weight rod. I live in brook trout country so I do a lot of fly fishing. There are no perch, crappies, sunfish or bass where I live. It's 90% wild brook trout. They are everywhere. Most of my fishing is in lakes. I use from size 24 to size 8 flies. I have buddies who come fishing with me. As usual, they bring their 5 and 6 weight outfits and then pass the day swearing at their outfits unless they happen to fish in optimal conditions. My choice would be the 8 weight outfit any day. I even make size 28 flies (mostly to give away to my buddies who can't believe how small they are) and I have fished with such a tiny fly on a 3/4 lb tippet. I do fish with size 24 on a 1 lb test tippet very often in the fall. I have no trouble fishing such a small fly with my 7 to 8 weight outfit and I can get the necessary distance to catch those large easily spooked brook trout that wander out in the middle of the lake. If you want to pitch large streamers, large floating bugs to pike and bass, get a 9 to 10 or even an 11 to 12 weight outfit. But if it's for trout....I would start out with a 7 to 8 weight outfit. If you eventually want to go lighter or a rod shorter than 9 feet later on....fine. BTW, those combos are a great way to start out. No headaches about what to buy, they are already well balanced out. For the occaisional user, they will last a lifetime.

Electric knives are gimmicks. You never see a butcher use them. I have been filleting fish since I was a little kid. I much prefer using my old Rapalas that I keep razor sharp and I even remove the extra tiny bones from the walleye fillets. There is not only the rib cage that has bones on trout and walleye. There are tiny bones that stick out at about 90 degrees from the vertebrae. They are very evident on large salmon. Most chefs pull those very small bones with large tweezers after the fillet has been cut off the fish. Most of the work I do is with the tip of my fillet knife. I feel for the bones with the tip so most of my fillet work is with a very short fillet knife. The only time a long fillet knife is used is when I remove the skin from a very large fillet. My filleting technique is quite unique. I do not start on the back of the fish. I start out by gutting the fish (I do not want the fish's innards contaminating my filets), removing the lower fins and cutting off the head with a stout knife. My first 2 cuts with the fillet knife are from each side of the anus in order to leave the anal fin attached to the vertebrae. I then slip the point of the fillet knife from one of those 2 cuts and push the blade until it exits the dorsal part of the fish. The knife is angled towards the dorsal fin. I can feel the tip of the blade bump up against the vertebrae when it is travelling towards the dorsal part of the fish. When the tip of the blade extends past the back, I just cut back towards the tail. I do this on the other side of the fish. Now with the fish on it's back (actually it's on it's side but I want to stress that I start at the underside of the fish), I slip the point of the knife under the rib cage. I can see the blade of the knife through the rib cage as the tip of the knife is moving towards the head of the fish. I disengage the rib cage from the fillet. Now, I use the fillet knife on the dorsal part of the fish by continuing the dorsal cut through the skin on either side of the dorsal fin all the way to the head. Then it is a simple procedure to cut down to the short bones that stick out 90 degrees from the vertebrae, slip the knife over the bones and back towards the vertebrae and to where the rib cage is attached to the vertebrae. I now have 2 complete fillets and absolutely no meat on the carcass of the fish. I hate to waste any meat. An electric knife would not allow me such finesse. I guess an electric knife would be great at just cutting off the head of the fish. But, most of my filleting is done before I leave my fishing spot to go home or at my campsite. I would have to buy a generator...lol. I then remove the cheeks on the walleyes and pike. I don't think an electric knife can accomplish this job. Anybody who has to buy an electric knife is mostly due to the fact that he doesn't keep his knives sharp enough. The 6 inch blade on my large 40 year old Rapala filleting knife is now too narrow from so much sharpening. This has changed the angle of the cutting edge and is now difficult to sharpen with my sharpening stones. I will have to take it to a butcher shop to make the blade thinner on their belt sharpener. There are much better fillet knives than the Rapala and they cost about the same or just a bit more, depending on the quality. Next year, I will put that on my Christmas list.

No matter what setup you have, you can never recharge a deep cycle trolling motor battery by using any kind of set up in a boat. If your charger gives you 6 amps for 1 hour, that means 6 amp/hour. That's enough energy to run a trolling motor that uses about that much amperage for 1 hour.....meaning a small 10 lb thrust motor at half speed. Way to little to move a large boat fast enough to troll. A large electric motor uses about 15 to 30 amps per hour on the average to move a 17 foot boat. A 6 amp/hour battery charger is ok for topping up a starter battery if the motor runs for a good 30 minutes or more.....just like an automobile. I would just forget about trying to charge the trolling motor battery at all. It's a no win situation. A trolling motor battery with 200 minutes of reserve capacity will make a 50 lb thrust electric motor work for about 4 hours. When you get home, it will take about 20 hours to completely recharge the trolling motor battery with a 6 to 10 amp battery charger.

I got 11 out of 20 I can't complain, even perch are rare where I live and fish and using minnows of any kind is illegal.

I'm still fishing from shore for brook trout in the Saguenay river. Went pike and walleye fishing a few weeks ago. I doubt that the lakes I fish are free of ice now. There is a good 12 inches of snow on the ground up here where I live. For the next month, it's about the slowest part of the year for fishing. Right after Christmas, the ice fishing season is in full swing and I get out as often as possible.

Don't forget to insert a small piece from an old broken rod before gluing the end of the handle back on with epoxy. Every time I come across a piece of rod or a broken rod, I keep it in order to salvage parts when friends come to me with their broken rods to be repaired. When I have enough broken rods, I make some short ice fishing rods for fishing trout, pike and even saltwater fish like cod and halibut in up to 600 feet of water.

Nice to see that some guys are still using Canadian Wigglers. They are still awesome. Their erratic swimming motion still puts them at the top of my arsenal for walleye and pike. I've been using Canadian Wigglers for well over 40 years.

For the past 10 or 15 years, I've been using 2 rods for pike. Both rods are exactly the same. They are 8 1/2 foot Berkley Steelhead Rods. However, one was broken about 10 inches from the tip. They have both been great so far. I've just bought a MH fast action Team Daiwa 7 foot one piece rod that looks and feels fantastic but I have yet to use it. To me, the rod I choose is more due to the type of lure and technique I am using than what sort of fish I am targeting.

Actually, Fireline is thinner than braided line. Braiding a line introduces very tiny pockets between the fibers. The ponytail thing is because the hairs are not held together when not braided. However, grasp unbraided hair and then grasp the same hair after it has been braided, the diameter of the braided hair is larger. The proof of that is the fact that the hair length is shorter after it is braided. If it is shorter....where did the volume of hair go? The volume of the hair has not changed. If it is shorter....it has to be larger. I use Fireline and have been using it since it has been available. I also use and used quite a few different braided lines too. 20 lb test Fireline breaks at about 47 lbs. 20 lb test braid breaks between 35 and 40 lbs. Yes, Fireline does get frayed and looks horrible...lol. The 20 lb test Fireline is quite stiff compared to 20 lb braid. There is one line that is a compromise. It's called Mason Tiger Braid. It's a tad thinner than other braids due to the fact that it's made in 2 parts. There is an inner core of parallel fibers surrounded by a layer of braid. The big problem is making knots with this stuff. Since the outer layer is braided, it slips over the inner core and when cinching the knot, the braid is not as slippery as a line like Fireline that has parallel fibers. When tying knots, care must be made to not cut the outer braid when cinching the knot. I use a simple Palomar knot. I tried the double Palomar knot like I use for Fireline but, most of the time, I would damage the outer braid of the Mason Tiger Braid. The knot has to be carefully inspected after tying and every once in a while when fishing. Maybe a uni-knot would work good....haven't tried that yet with my Mason Tiger braid.

Those larger series of reels usually have more line capacity and a heavier spool. You will get better results using a smaller reel with a smaller lighter reel spool. Even with these reels, you can easily get 100 yards or 150 yards of 20 lb test braid and a bunch of backing below that. The really light reels are quite expensive. For a better explication and some great reading, see FishingElbow's site. He's a buddy of mine and lives in the province of Quebec. We communicate almost every day. I'm hoping to meet him some day and see him in action. http://pages.videotron.com/fishing/

The answer is yes. I started fishing when spinning reels did not exist. I got my first spinning reel when I was about 16. Before that, I was using the old type baitcasting reel with revolving handles. Using your thumb was always necessary. In those days, the lines were either silk or the newer type braided nylon. However, using your thumb with the newer, almost no stretch braided lines, my thumb does loosen the line on the spool of the reel. Every once in a while, I must be careful to let out a bit more line and then respool it so that there is no looseness on the spool in order to reduce the chance of any backlash. When you do get a nasty backlash and it will not come undone, the best thing to do is to put aside that rod and reel combination for a while and let the line on the spool dry. This does not take long since braided line does not absorb water. Yes...it will carry water inside the tiny pockets made during the braiding process but it does not absorb any water. When the line is dry, use a toothpick to work out the tangle. I have yet to be forced to cut off any line in order to untangle a bird's nest. 90% of the backlashes occur when your force your cast. Forcing the cast over your limit rarely gives you extra casting distance anyway. If you want more casting distance, you can use a longer rod, a more flexible rod (but there is a limit to that), a faster harder backcast during the cast, special pendulum cast etc in order to increase the lure and rod tip speed. Using a rod too supple, will actually decrease rod tip speed and lure speed. Some rods are made especially for crankbaits. They have a supple tip and lots of backbone. Unlike the rods used for ripping lures through weeds, they toss crankbaits further and even help out when the fish hits the lure. Their softer more forgiving tip prevents the lure from being jerked out of the fish's mouth. Crankbaits usually have smaller hooks that penetrate very well into the fish's mouth while those large hooks on buzzbaits, some large floating baits, large single hooks on large rubber baits and jigs need a faster harder strike to make them penetrate past the barb.

Yes....tossing those lighter lures....those below 1/4 ounce is a pain. Only a very light spool will be able to achieve that initial high speed quickly. That's why companies make reel spools full of holes and or very light materials. Another trick is to remove most of the line capacity by making a filler of cork before putting on your layers of line. 75 yards of line is quite ample for most situations. 20 lb test braid is about the size of 12 lb mono (even though the companies say it's the size of 6 or 8 lb mono). Even the braided lines are not equal in size. The thinnest braided line I have found is Mason Tiger braid. It has no added wax or plastic to make it stiffer and more manageable. Most braided lines have this stuff to reduce rod tip wrap. It is also thinner due to the fact that the inside core of fibers is not braided. However, it's elasticity is reduced to 3% instead of the 4% that the other braids have. And, tying knots in this line is very tricky. It's best to use a magnifying glass to check the knot after tying and verifying the knot every once in a while because the outer core can get stripped back thus reducing the strength of the line. But, its very supple nature makes for more casting distance and since it's thinner, you can use a larger core of cork on the spool before tying on the 75 yards of line. With a 150 yard spool, you can fill 2 reels and save money. Check fishingelbow's site on details to do this. http://pages.videotron.com/fishing/