Spiel

I have the 200, amazing reel even at double the price I paid.

Well your weekend boss is also a great guy, I'm sure he'll give you time off when you need it.

Yep good things happen to good people. Congrats Cliff, though I expect that between the new job and the small engine repair your still going to find it tough to find "me time".

Indeed a very trying day Randy but you can be proud that you faced it with both compassion and courage! My condolences on the loss of your friend.

Did anyone say "stellar" Never having caught a grayling (yet) I think you'd have had a hard time tearing me and my 4 weight flyrod away from them. I will ask you Rob, did you catch fish in that muddy water stretches?

Yep, that's the knot to use.

Sex hormones tried in fight against lamprey 2nd year of research offers hope against parasite March 2, 2010 TINA LAM / www.freep.com The next phase of the decades-long fight against destructive sea lamprey in the Great Lakes was expected to begin Monday when researchers were to pump a man-made love potion into more streams after experiments from last spring showed it helped lure the lamprey into traps. The potent lamprey aroma -- a scent males emit from their gills -- worked so well, it drew both males and females into traps, a surprise. Now the unromantic-sounding 3-kPZS is being tested to see if lamprey can be drawn out of Lake Superior into two targeted streams, where it will be easier to kill them. But the battle scientists have waged against the sea lamprey since the 1950s is a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks Asian carp easily could be controlled if they colonized the Great Lakes. This newest weapon against lamprey has taken three decades to develop. Sexual scents, or pheromones, have been used to control insects, but not for fish or other animals until now, said Michigan researcher Nick Johnson. Scientists need three years of testing before determining how successful the potion will be at controlling the lamprey. Lamprey are vampire-like parasites that suck the life out of fish. One lamprey can kill 50 pounds of fish in less than two years. Lamprey love potion has taken decades In a heavy snowstorm last week in the Upper Peninsula, Johnson was out in the field at two aptly named streams: the Misery and Rock rivers. Johnson, a research ecologist with the Hammond Bay Biological Station in Michigan, was setting up equipment for a new chapter in the 50-year-old battle between humans and sea lamprey, an invasive species that reached the Great Lakes in the 1920s. A new experiment that was to start Monday will show whether scientists can use a man-made copy of a lamprey love potion to lure the creatures out of Lake Superior and into the rivers. If so, it could be a big leap forward in controlling lamprey behavior. The lamprey, which attack fish such as lake trout and whitefish and feed on their blood and guts, decimated native fish populations in the 1950s. A poison, TFM, was developed in 1958 to kill the eel-like creatures while they are still babies in streams. But it's expensive and doesn't work on adults. At last, the right bait Scientists have spent decades working to identify, copy and patent a lamprey love potion, called 3-kPZS, so they could lure adult lampreys into traps. They made it work in lab experiments; now they're making sure it works in nature. So far, it does. The seductive scent, or pheromone, produced by male lampreys draws lusty females from miles away toward the males' nests in streams. In their first field experiment last year, scientists were able to capture 30% more lampreys in traps baited with 3-kPZS than in traps without it. The pheromones were used last year in 10 Michigan streams and this year, the love potion will be pumped into the same state streams plus 10 in Canada during mating season to test it. But last year's results brought a surprise -- the scent drew male lamprey, too. It's possible that 3-kPZS is a pheromone that makes lampreys come together rather than a mating scent, Johnson said. That's even better news. "It means we can target both sexes" with the pheromone, he said. Now that scientists know 3-kPZS works like a charm within a stream to draw lampreys to a trap, they're trying it to see if they can lure the lampreys from Lake Superior into a targeted stream with the love potion. Starting this week and for the next three months, crews will dose the Misery and Rock rivers with the pheromone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If it works, lamprey will be drawn into the rivers and then stopped by existing barriers and traps, so they can't mate. Sea lamprey are born and spend their youth in streams, then move into the Great Lakes as adults to feed. They attach to native fish's soft flesh and suck out their innards, killing them. One sea lamprey can kill 50 pounds of fish in less than two years. They return to tributaries of the Great Lakes to spawn. "We have to use every weapon we can against the lamprey," Johnson said. "There is no silver bullet." The St. Marys River in the Upper Peninsula is too big to use poison in, so it's been especially difficult to control lamprey there and in neighboring Lake Huron, he said. Researchers need three years of data to make sure the pheromone works and isn't harmful to the environment. This is the second year. After that, the scientists can apply to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to register 3-kPZS, making it the first pheromone certified beyond the insect world. Carp project just starting Researchers elsewhere hope these results signal hope for controlling other invasive species. Experts have mentioned pheromones as a possible Asian carp control. The enormous fish probably have invaded Lake Michigan and could out-compete the Great Lakes' native species and endanger boaters and anglers because of their habit of leaping out of the water. But identifying, copying and testing pheromones for a species is a long process, if it can even be done. Johnson said scientists started working on the lamprey pheromone around 1980. Work on Asian carp pheromones is still in the early stages, he said. Mike Siefkes, sea lamprey program specialist with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, helped identify 3-kPZS as a graduate student at Michigan State University. "It was tedious," he said. Scientists also tried bubbles, lights and weird noises to keep sea lamprey out of streams -- methods also mentioned to control Asian carp -- but those didn't work, he said. After more than 50 years trying to control them, sea lamprey still wound too many fish in all the Great Lakes except Ontario and are not under control in Lake Huron. About 100 employees in the U.S. and Canada work on lamprey control, at a cost of millions of dollars each year, Siefkes said. But pheromones provide new hope. Scientists are working to find more lamprey pheromones. Adding those to 3-kPZS could make it an even more potent cocktail. "If these could work in a river like the St. Marys, it would be huge," Siefkes said. "We're encouraged."

Angler with Captain Peacock Bests World Record March 8, 2010 / www.great-lakes.org MANAUS, Brazil – The strike barely dimpled the water, but it sent waves hurtling throughout the freshwater fishing world by shattering a coveted world record that stood for 16 years. On Feb. 9, 2010, the sixth day of his first Amazon adventure, Bill Gassmann of Des Moines, Iowa, fished a clown-colored Luhr Jensen Big Game Woodchopper Slim topwater bait in a tributary of the Rio Negro in northern Brazil. The yellow, red and black spotted lure landed atop a monster speckled peacock bass, which sucked it under with hardly a ripple. “We were fishing in a wooded area of a little backwater off a main tributary,” said the 44-year-old chief executive officer of BGS Enterprises. “When the lure hit the water, it just disappeared. The fish went straight to the bottom and started spooling my line. Immediately, the guide with more than 12 years experience began jumping up and down and started yelling ‘Grande! Grande!’ I had no idea how big it was or that it might be a record. Then, the fish stuck its head out of the water and I realized how big it was.” Gassmann fought the river monster for approximately 12 minutes with his three-piece 6.9-foot G Loomis Escape model ETR81-3HC20 heavy rod attached to a Shimano Curado 300E reel. Finally bringing the beast to the boat, the Iowa bass angler grabbed its gill plates and snapped a Boga Grip on it. On the IGFA-certified Boga Grip, the fresh speckled or three-bar peacock (Cichla temensis) weighed more than 28 pounds, but Gassmann still did not realize the significance of his fish. As Gassmann handed the fish to Aldeni “Elvis” Fonseca, his guide, to release it, Elvis stopped him. Communicating in English, Elvis urged “We go boat now; we go boat now.” Prepared to fish an entire day, Gassmann didn’t want to head back to the Captain Peacock, a 95-foot luxury mothership yacht that accommodates anglers for such adventures. However, Elvis insisted adamantly. When Elvis and Gassmann finally reached the yacht, Leonardo Leão, co-owner and operator of the Captain Peacock who stays aboard for every operation, dropped the massive fish into the bait well to keep it alive until they could weigh it officially. The colorful hump-headed fish measured 37 inches long with a girth of 25 inches, more than enough to beat the existing 27-pound International Game Fish Association all-tackle world record caught by Gerald “Doc” Lawson on Dec. 4, 1994. Since Gassmann caught the lunker on 80-pound PowerPro braid, Leo also submitted the fish for a possible line class record and kept the fish on board the Captain Peacock to have it mounted as a reminder to future anglers that dreams can come true. “We are very happy with the opportunity to show the fishing world our exclusive concept combining mobility, safety and first-class service in order to create unique moments like that for every angler from the first-time peacock bass fisherman up to the most knowledgeable ones,” said Leonardo Leão and his partner Nasser Fraxe. “This is exciting news,” exclaimed Billy Chapman, Jr., owner and founder of Anglers Inn International and a 2009 inductee into the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame for pioneering peacock bass fishing in the 1980s. “I was in Brazil in 1994 when Doc Lawson caught the 27-pound peacock. If anyone wants to fish these record-breaking waters, we can make that happen together with the Captain Peacock.” Besides catching the possible all-tackle world record speckled peacock bass and his personal best fish of any species, Gassmann caught several bass over 10 pounds plus two 18-pounders, a 19-pounder and other fish on his seven-day adventure. In all, the anglers aboard the Captain Peacock caught more than 450 fish that week with many in double digits and three in the 20- to 23.5-pound range, Leão said. The Gassmanns will return to the Amazon soon. For catching the pending all-tackle world record aboard the Captain Peacock, Leão and Fraxe granted Gassmann lifetime fishing privileges on the 95-foot luxury yacht. “At Anglers Inn International, we care about our clients,” Chapman said. “Our clients are like family to us. I always want our guests to enjoy the best possible experience. With the yacht serving with such a unique concept, we can keep up with the best fishing on the river. Our partners on the Captain Peacock are the most professional and serious in the Amazon with a sterling reputation for catching trophy peacock bass -- as this fish indicates.” Leonardo and Nasser as well as their entire crew are waiting for another opportunity to provide you with a trip of a lifetime. To book a trip to the Amazon or any other Anglers Inn International destination, call 1-800-GOTA-FISH or e-mail to [email protected]. On line, see www.anglersinn.com.

Fishing Industry Snapshot March 8, 2010 / www.great-lakes.org Southwick Associates has announced the brands and products anglers preferred most in 2009. This list has been compiled from the 34,185 internet-based surveys completed by anglers. In 2009 the top fishing Industry brands included: • Top rod brand: Shakespeare Ugly Stik (16.4% of all purchases) • Top reel brand: Shimano (23.0% of all purchases) • Top rod and reel combo brand: Shakespeare (25.7% of all purchases) • Top fishing line producer: Pure Fishing's Berkley line (Trilene, Fireline, Big Game, Vanish) (42.6% of all purchases) • Top hard bait brand: Rapala (30.6% of all purchases) • Top soft bait brand: Zoom (16.8% of all purchases) • Top spinner bait brand: Strike King (16.6% of all purchases) • Top hook brand: Eagle Claw (34.5% of all purchases) • Top sinker brand: Bullet Weight (19.0% of all purchases) • Top fly rod brand: Sage (16.7% of all purchases) • Top fly reels brand: Orvis (11.1% of all purchases) • Top fly combo brand: St. Croix (18.0% of all purchases) • Top fly line brand: Scientific Angler (28.8% of all purchases) • Top fly brand: Orvis and Cabelas tied (11.0% of all purchases, each) • Top fly leader brand: Rio (28.4% of all purchases) • Top fly tying material brand: White River (60.5% of all purchases) • Top fish finder or sonar brand: Humminbird (42.9% of all purchases) • Top tackle box brand: Plano (55.8% of all purchases) • Top landing net brand: Frabill (20.2% of all purchases) • Top fishing knife brand: Rapala (22.6% of all purchases) * 48% of all fishing tackle purchases involve terminal tackle (hooks, sinkers, swivels, etc.) * Largemouth bass remain the number one targeted species of freshwater fish, with nearly 60% of fishing activity targeting largemouth bass. * Saltwater anglers were more varied, with 25% of trips targeting any fish that bites, followed by striped bass (23%), flounder (21%), red drum (20%) and sea trout (20%). Please note these refer to species targeted on trips and not the number of fish actually caught.

Rumour has it everything you do is premature.

This sort of thing always floors me. Do the naysayers think thier homes, jobs, cars and lifestyles came without any affect on this planet? Truth is the outdoorsmen (women) are more in tune with what effects their natural suroundings than those who live in glass houses! Christ I loathe these uninformed stone throwers!

You know it's warm when you go outside for a smoke (yes I smoke outside) and you set your beer down on the BBQ and you have to swat away one hornet (yellow jacket) and two houseflies! It's still March right? Sure wish I was sitting on Simcoe targeting whities with Fish Farmer.

Indeed well done, in fact it's spectacular! Great job on that one as well Dave. Man I'd love to hit a river that big some day! Wait till it's all mush Mike, your gonna wonder if it was ever any better, I think.....

I've had a number of tanks in the past, nothing over 35 gallons. Had the usual guests, piranha, oscars and assorted tropicals. I currently have a 175 gal. bow front awaiting setup in my unfinished rec room and will likely put in largemouth and assorted panfish or maybe brookies. I'd like a few brookies but I'll need to investigate a water cooling system.

LOL....That's funny, cause it sounds a lot like me....

Your a smart one Mike, pull cast and or modified Wallis cast is how I learned and all I do. In fact as I learned them so many years back I had know idea that there was a name for it. As for only a 100 meters of line, never even been close to getting spooled.

Everyone has a preference and so do I. For me 6lb Maxima Ultra Green, 100 meter spool and no backing.

Well then an 8' to 9' moderate action should suit you fine.

Nice! Congrats my friend, you've earned it. See how it pays off to be in the right company....

All these Simcoe posts are killing me. Good job on washing away the "skunk" Joey, that'll make for some fine eating.

What type of bait fishing, still fishing or drifting?. And the target species, bass, walleye, cats?

I'll add acouple more things here. First those blades definitely look to be in need of sharpening, if you do it yourself be sure to only sharpen from the top side off the blade, never the bottom. Shims need to be placed between the auger head and the blade on the cutting edge side of the bolts to steepen the angle of attack. Also note that the offset handle auger requires rotation with both arms as seen in this video. Hope this helps.

I have the same auger and I can assure you they were not upside down in the first picture, they are however upside down now.

I've no doubt it's a wonderful feeling Lew. I'm happy for you and Diane.