Garry2Rs

What you have there looks good. All of those baits will catch Pike, and you already have more than what you will use. Don't waste your money buying on whim or speculation. Wait until you need to replace something, or until you see a bait, and know exactly where, why and how you will use it. We all have lures that never get in the water. We bought them to fill up space, instead of to fill a need.

There is some Chinese counterfit Power Pro going around. The boxes aren't very good. Here's some info from Shimano

I generally buy 300 yard spools when I find a line I like. Then I do basically the same thing. There's a little fiddling to get things set-up the first time but after that you can strip the old line and refill the spool by sight. A bonus with superline is that the inside line is still like new. At the end of the season, or when the outside line starts to show some wear, you can simply strip the old line off, and reverse the ends, to get a second season out of the same line. Holdfast; Are you closing the bail by hand? That is recommended with braid, and I see the Pro's on TV doing it with plastic line too. Garry2rs

Here's a site that will help you http://smalloutboards.com/shaft.htm

Nice post Thanks

What weight is the P-Line? What type of fishing are you doing with it? Are you using Spinning or Casting reels? What Knot or Knots are you using? What exactly are the problems you are haveing with the Floro-Clear P-Line?

Back in 2003 I interlocked two clevises to create a double bladed Bucktail. I liked the look, but I can't say they caught any extra fish. They did catch a couple of fishermen, but had to throw them back...wallets were to thin..hahaha

Hi Chris; Abu's are good reels and this is an upgraded model, so it should be even better. The 5500 series is the medium width spool and the 6500 series is the wider spool. Mechanically they are the same. The 5500's are easier to cast with, than the wide spool model, in my opinion. Also in my opinion, you don't need a super duty reel for Musky...The fish will fight hard but they aren't Salmon and won't turn and run for a mile. It's the baits that force you into heavier reels. Most Bass size reels aren't built to throw baits over about one ounce. Many of us started with Abu's and I recently bought three used ones to start Musky fishing again.

When I'm in the States I order more items on-line from Cabela's than BPS. BPS has tons of "House-brand" items that are often on sale. Cabela's has house brand items too, but they seem to have name brands on sale more often. Both store operate in Phoenix Arizona, and a trip to the big city, for me, means a visit to both stores...grin.

As Beans has pointed out, in the beginning, it is much more important that kids catch lots of fish and have fun than that they learn proper technique, or catch "good fish." Please let me add that if your taking your kids fishing, you should leave your gear at home and concentrate of showing the kids a good time. Soon they will be hooked, and you can start fishing again as they will want to do it all themselves. The little girl next door won a rod and reel last year that impressed me. It was a matching Zebco 33 rod and reel. This is a great looking outfit for a pan-fisher-person and capable of landing any fish in the lake. You might want to check it out for any youngster that has graduate from the Sponge Bob and Barbie gear...grin.

I think that Crappie come shallow after ice-out to feed-up and get ready to spawn. They then move out of the shallows and stage, around the first break line, until the water reaches about 55 or 60 degrees and the moon phase etc. are right. That triggers them to move back shallow and spawn...Either way if they are in the shallows on the 25th I will be happy...grin.

Did you see the Lunkerville episode where they had a bachelor party for the producer? First they're doing shots of Tequila, then they pile into small boats and go fishing... They have a couple of bikini clad girls driving another boat around passing out beer... I figured they would be off the air after that, but I guess not...HAHAHA

There are now many $20.00 Bass baits, and people are buying them. I think that from now on we will see more and more high-end baits. If we buy them the price won't come down... I believe Swimbaits were invented by west-coast Bass guys who were fishing for near world record size Large mouth in the San Diego reservoirs. Last year some Pros did well with them in clear water lakes like Lake Amistad at Del Rio Texas. However I seem to recall they were an all-or-nothing type bait. If you got bit it would be a big fish, but the more traditional bait guys were weighing in more fish. For non-tournament guys, maybe the question is; "Do you want to fish all day for one big fish?" I pretty well gave up Musky fishing because for me, the answer was "NO!" Another good question might be, "Will I catch more fish if I use a $20.00 bait?" I suspect that on highly pressured water you might. However we don't have a lot of heavily pressured water, at least not in my area. I have some near $20.00 crankbaits but my swimbaits are the cheaper hollow belly type. I'm going to have to see a lot more bites before I'll be giving up my Senko's for a big swimbait.

Thanks Folks I know she is happy with the results. And what the heck, my hands will heal in time for the Crappie opener...grin. Tinbanger: I spent the Winter in Yuma Arizona. Yes, I wish I was there now! Addikted2fishing: Strangely there is no window in the kitchen. I think the mirror was to brighten up the sink area. We removed some cupboards so that it wasn't such a cave and added more lights that could be aimed. Joey: You call Hometown Handyman I'm officially retired...hahaha. Hometown Albert: A couple more rooms and you'll have those casting lessons worked off...(snicker - snicker)

At the end of February my daughter bought an older house and like a good Daddy I hurried home from Sunny Arizona to Freezing Hammertown to help with the renovations. I'm not the handiest guy around, but I can paint. I know how to install simple things like toilets and dishwashers and I can make lights and ceiling fans work. On this job I picked up a little dry-wall experience and resprayed a textured ceiling... This project involved a lot more than that, so at this point I would like to say a very big and public Thank You to my friend Albert, aka The Hometown Handyman. He stepped in to help with the installation of new laminate floors and he installed the new kitchen cupboards. He also managed to work some "Had-to-be-seen-to-be-believed" magic with the trim. Albert...Thanks again buddy...without you I might still be there! So here are the Before and After shots... Living room: Dining Room: Kitchen: Bathroom: Bedrooms: There aren't any before pictures of the bedrooms...they were just empty spaces. We painted, removed old carpet, installed laminate floors, trimmed and changed the light fixtures. Here's how they turned out... There's a new fence and new doors but those jobs I had nothing to do with. Anyway thanks to the Hometown Handyman the jobs all got done before the fishing season started...grin.

I was told that there are still musky in the Crowe River above the lake.

DouG, Tony is Marty's brother. Mikeo was also from Pennsylvania, but not related. I still hear from him once in awhile. His oldest boy joined the Army and just left for Iran.

Where is mikeo when we really need him? At Lakeaire #1 in 2002 he brought a good supply of Rock Bass fillets to the fish fry. It might have been TJ's Fish-Crisp, but no one complained...

In any tournament I've been in you can only have five fish in the boat. Two guys aren't allowed to carry 8 fish and cull later, you have to cull when you catch #6. If you are talking about a Pro-Am type tournament where two guys are each fishing for their own limit, I think that culling to make one good limit would be considered cheating.

You can buy tails of every colour on-line. There's an outfit here in Ontario but I used to order from a company called Stamina in the States. Water testing your baits is the only way to know for sure whether the blades are going to work or not. One point...I have never seen a commercially made Willow Leaf Bucktail...There might be a reason! In the Fall go to see the Butcher who processes most of the deer in your area. Ask him to save you some tails. Most guys don't mind saving the tails IF you remember to come back and pick them up fairly often. No one wants a bag of bloody tail hanging around their work place for very long. I buy replacement choke cables from CTC. then throw the cable and knob away. I cut the spiral-wound outer cover into 2" sections. These sections are covered with a layer of old Power Pro and then the hair is tied on top of that. I tie seven collars of hair on each bait. Each collar is neatly finished just like the head. The next collar starts about 1/4 inch in front of the last. The head cement will hold the bait together, so I try to use as little thread as possible, while still covering all the cut ends of hair. Think about the guides on your heaviest fishing rod. There's a single, neat winding of thread holding those guides on. The key to making a professional looking bait is to be able to tie a small neat head. I've already mentioned the thread, now I'll give you one more clue. Don't use big clumps of hair! My hooks are on split rings so they can be replaced easily. Since the bait is made of components, if it gets too badly damaged, I can recycle everything by replacing the wire. I hope this helps. Garry

If you let the spinner blade lay on the dressing you can sometimes have a problem getting the blade turning. Water pressure will pin the blade to the hair, feathers etc. I try to tie my baits with enough beads etc. to keep the blade away from the hair.

I used the grey minnows on a drop shot. Smallies and Rockbass liked them..

About three years ago a buddy of mine, who is a amateur gourmet chef, bought a ceramic charcoal grill called "The Big Green Egg" It is an odd looking thing, that uses very little charcoal to quickly reach high temperatures. There are ducts and flues to control the air flow, thus the heat. When he closes all these vents, the fire is choked out. The unburnt fuel can be used next time. This is a high end product lined with fire brick and he swears by it.

I used those clear plastic floats years ago with some success. You could pull them open to let water inside for casting weight. Mono is for choice as a leader on dry flies, because it floats. Fluoro on wet flies and nymphs because it sinks. You can buy tapered leaders of various tip strengths and lengths in the fly fishing section of places like BPS. The line to the reel could be either mono or braid since both float. This is more of a pond or slow stream technique because the hardest part of the deal is mending the line, or keeping it off the water, to eliminate drag. I suppose that's why the centre pin reel boys use such long rods...

I have a '97 5.2 (the old 318) with over 250,000K. It's still runs like new. I would order heavy-duty brakes next time, the Bass boat is heavier than the boat I had when I bought it...Other than that it's been a good truck. I changed a water pump last year and a power steering pump about four years ago. I have an oil cooler and a transmission cooler because I am always towing...It has a huge gas tank and makes about 600 klm between fill ups. I think it works out to about 16 MPG empty and about 12 miles to the US gallon with the boat gassed and loaded, but it will haul it up any mountain in North America without complaining. The 5.7 (the old 383) sounds like the Hemi to me. If so, I believe it is, or can be, set up to run on 4 cylinders when not under load. The gas mileage should be okay if your not on the loud pedal all the time. 2009's have an option of storage boxes in the box side rails on some models. I liked the idea of being able to store rods out of sight... The Fords and Chevy's are more popular and bring more at trade-in, but I will have mine until the wheels fall off so I'm not concerned.