bigmac1984

To learn/get good at 2 new techniques: 1. Flipping and Pitching 2. Topwater - gotta love those topwater strikes Also, I'd really like to learn how to use my sonar to its max potential to pinpoint key locations and find the good structure.

If he wasn't out after the first punch, he was out after the second.

I believe I saw an advertisement or a quick clip on a website saying that some new shows are starting Jan 5th. I think it was Facts of Fishing and Getting Schooled that I saw were starting new seasons. I'm not 100% positive, but i think I saw that.... If thats the case, I would bet that most shows are starting new seasons then also. I too am getting bored of the same old stuff. I PVR alot of them, and quickly delete them because they are always repeats.

I believe the spengler cup is Canada playing against European Elite League club teams in a tournament format. He is currently playing for HC Spartak Moscow in the KHL, which is who Canada played. Canada's next opponent is HC Davos out of the Swiss Elite league.

I was there.... it was a great seminar, and good book signing. Just getting to pick his brain for 2-3 minutes while he signs your book, you learn alot.... I don't have kids, but it was very impressive to see him interact with the young kids, you can tell he hopes to see them on the water one day.

Thanks Garry, I have a Medium Heavy, I'm not fishing overly thick - although summer time on Lake St. Clair can get some thick growth.... I may just try my Medium heavy for a year to get the technique down, and then go from there. I run 50lb braid on it which should do for most of the applications. Are floro leaders a good idea or no?

That is what I thought as well, and certainly seemed to experience that as well.

Thanks for all the suggestions.... Does everyone recommend Floro? Mike, I use braid now on all my baitcasters. Made the switch from Floro because i had trouble casting it. It seemed to birdnest and just didn't cast nicely. It seemed to be very stiff and didn't come off the reel nice. Couldn't get much distance, and when I tried, I got the birdnest. It may sound like I don't know how to cast a baitcaster, but I have no problems with braid or mono. Perhaps I just need to give Floro another shot, and get used to it before I rip it off and put braid on.

Thanks Garry, I have a 7' MH Fast as well in the MOJO line, but what worries me the most is all the shows I watch where they pitch/flip and they seem to be using some seriously heavy gear.... What is your opinion on line to use? I've tried floro before and I just can't seem to cast it on the baitcaster without a birdnest.... Perhaps the line brand isn't the best, I'm not sure. XPS 20lb floro

Hello Everyone, Already planning on trying to add a new technique to my fishing arsenal next year, flipping and pitching. I know this is a proven technique but have never tried it, so better late than never. I was thinking about buying something that is relatively multi-purpose. I am thinking about buying a St. Croix Mojo Bass Slop-n-Frog which is a 7' Heavy action fast tip and pair that up with a favorite reel of mine the Abu Garcia Revo S. What is everyone's opinion on this set up? Will it do the trick? Thanks in advance.

I have 5 Mojo's and love them. Never used the Skeet's but very happy with the Mojo's.

Thanks guys.... I'm so used to fishing more clear waters, but on Friday night for a few hours I was going to hit a local river that i've been told has turned very murky as the summer has gone on. Guess i'll have to wait and see.

Was curious to know what everyone uses for lure selection and technique for LMB and SMB in murky, shallow water (less than 6ft of water). Where I am going there is the possibility of finding approximately 10ft of water out from shore a bit, but then there is no structure. I don't know what the weather will be like and I know that would change some technique, but in general, curious what everyone uses. Thanks

I tried them for the first time last weekend experimenting with both. Im worried it may become an expensive experiment, but they both seemed fairly strong, other than my one screw up where i don't think i tied it correctly.

I had a post on here a while ago asking for advice on what type of knots to tie when tying floro to braid. Alof of good suggestions and i recently tried a few on the water. I had 1 break at the knot (likely my tying skills - or lack therof), but they all seemed to work once i felt comfortable tying them. My question this time is how beneficial is it to use some sort of glue to ensure the knot is very secure? does anyone do this with like an epoxy or something? If so, what brand/type do you recommend to put on the knot so I have real piece of mind that the bond is strong and won't break. Thanks again everyone.

To add to my previous reply, the lakers i catch trolling are good eating size, around 3-4 lbs. The bigger fish I get jigging are in the 8-10lb range on the good days.

I fish manitou quite a few times per year. I go out of Sandfield and head straight across to the far shoreline (to the right side) that is visible. You can troll along that entire shore for lake trout all day long if you have downriggers. If not, head up the shore about a mile to where it comes out to a bit of a point and there is a bit of a bay visible and you can use heavy jigs and jig off bottom for them while drifting. There will be alot of boats in close proximity to one another (mostly locals that know the lake) so the area where the fish are is usually no secret. I've had the most success trolling with the downriggers at 75-80 ft over 100-120 ft of water with orange coloured spoons with a bit of flash. Jigging seems to produce the bigger fish, however, trolling produces the most fish. I've heard there are some walleye in there, never caught any myself. The smallmouth bass start coming in to the same spot as the lakers along the shore around the long weekend in september and i've caught them there until thanksgiving, you may start getting some now, hard to say. I catch those as close to shore as I can get along the steep rock face. You can get within 20 ft of the shore and be in 40ft of water. Simple jig head and gulp tails are all you need to catch those, and gulp craws work extremely well also. You'll know they are there because your jig won't hit bottom before the fish hits. Hope this helps.

Barefoot, The rod was only a month old, however, used once. I will look at some other stores for sure, everyone here makes a good point about BPS. Thanks

I did unfortunately get it at BPS. Going to buy another one next week and just hope it was a fluke.

Thanks guys, I think i'll be taking the fun route of shopping for another. I really hope it was just a fluke, because I have 5 others and they have worked well.

By splintered i mean it wasn't a clean break where it broke. There are no cracks or anything beyond where the break is. I can't exchange it because it was past BPS 30 day warantee policy to exchange in store.

The title says it all. I have 5 1-piece rods from a company that will remain nameless because I think that my recent bad luck is just that. The rod has a warantee in which I have to mail the rod back to the company. The problem is they require $20 for return shipping for the new rod, plus then I have to pay for the freight myself (upwards of $40-$50), and then for piece of mind i'd have to insure the shipping. In total, i'd be looking at $100 to get this rod replaced which is the value of the rod itself. I'm writing this to see if anyone knows if the rod can be fixed where it broke. There are no eyes damaged, however, the break was splintered about half way up a 7'. If it can be fixed, would anyone know what the cost would be? would it be worth it to fix? would it reduce any kind of sensitivity or performance in the rod? If I can fix it cheaper than buying a new one that would be ideal, but for $100 to simply claim the warrantee, I would end up just going and getting another one. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks

I live in Toronto and that sounds to me to be the best way. Drifter is right, the Saturday traffic won't be too bad, and in my opinion it won't be bad enough to warrant spending $40.00 on the 407, won't save much time on a Saturday for a steep bill like that.

I also have an HDS-7 and it was well worth the money. It shows alot of detail and runs flawlessly. Just as aplumma said, take the time to learn the features so you can adjust the setting properly, thats critical. I don't have the structure scan on it, but I hope to add it soon, but I still am confident in what the HDS-7 shows me. If you can afford the upgrade from the HDS-5 to the 7, i think its worth the price. Good Luck

Its the XPS Bass Pro brand of Florocarbon.