VolFan

Unless the air is warmer for a few days the water wont warm from the air. A warm rain from cloudy skies can change that a little. Hours of sunshine will warm shallow water and there will be some activity. Usually craws then minnows then the fish you want. Slow shallow water near winter haunts in the afternoons on sunny days.

It’s too cold if it’s crystalline. Otherwise, I’m saying there’s a chance… In reality, water below 50 becomes way less fun.

I still have a couple 200Ds that I use for 1-3 oz swimbaits. It’s almost the same reel. It is a great, failsafe platform. Absolute tanks.

These are just BEAUTIFUL fish! You sir are on the GRIND!! You need 7 fish in 20 days - you can do it!

I have both a kayak and a small boat, and I appreciate the zen that you’re talking about, and how far off the original topic we are… Maybe if you’re looking for that zen, don’t fish tournaments and take some of the stress out of all of this? But to the original point - I have autopilot on my boat and wouldn’t think of using that to put it on the trailer. Should it reliably work? Yes. But the consequences and swimming of the time(s) it failed far outweigh the benefits.

Drop me in the ‘almost never.’ I think bigger trailers take some of the vibration away from the skirt, inhibiting the skirt’s action/pulsation, which is where the money is. Slow rolling a big pulser slow? Ribbon tail worm.

I actually really like We Three Kings done by Bare Naked Ladies w/Sarah McLaughlin (spelling not guaranteed). The BNL Christmas album is good writ large.

CL8 Mighty Mouse is a fantastic wake bait. And you can cast it a mile.

It’s an obscure song that maybe many of you have never heard but my fav is the classic banger ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ by Mariah Carey…. 😀😀😀😀

I have actually really enjoyed Suffix ProMix in 8 and 12 lb test. I have never heard anyone else even mention it. It is pretty inexpensive. YMMV

You can probably sprinkle cayenne heavily around whatever active trees they’re working, or mix cayenne into a spray bottle/sprayer and spray trees. The coyote/predator urine around where they’re active may work. The results of the above vary. DNRs will usually trap and relocate so that’s probably the best solution unless you want to deal with beaver carcasses, I hear the tail meat is a delicacy.

Counter Culture Hologram is my daily driver of roasts. Roast date is on the bag so you always know when and where it got roasted. We also do Cometeer pods. They are aluminum pods so they are recyclable, and the coffee in them is absolutely fantastic. They are cheaper than a cup of Starbucks, but not cheap as pods go. They’re worth it for me, especially for hockey road trips where access to good coffee can be questionable.

What size pliers did you get?

Just to close this loop - I ended up with a Echomap 63sv for close to $600 on sale. It is perfect for what I want to do. If I ever want a bigger screen I’ll throw a Striker up on the bow. Thanks everyone for the input!

I don’t see the problem…

The main one I remember is setting the hook on a a jig on a snakehead that ate right at my feet. The hook missed its mark and the jig came back at me and right through the rod between the second and third guides. I wanted to throw up. It was my favorite rod, an older Diawa Cielo back when they had same blank as the Steez.

Nobody on this thread said anything about 20 yds of casting distance. I would agree with you on that - 20 yd difference in casting means something was wrong with the reel or the user. Proper clean and lube (and putting it back together with good alignment) makes the reel cast and retrieve better. Drag service makes the drag smooth and consistent. Supertuning makes all of the above even better, but isn’t needed or necessary for all reels. I would suggest send a couple of you have the means to - it really opens your eyes to what a properly cleaned and set up reel feels like.

So it was a significantly noticeable difference?

No matter what - you HAVE to love a snow game in Buffalo!

@A-Jay Big snow making you paranoid already ???

@TOXIC Are you sure it wasn’t an Anatolian Shepherd? Much different dog than an Aussie Shepherd and more what you described.

So question - if you get more than 24” of snow will your blower still clear it or does it bog down if it’s higher than the blower? Also - that’s a silly amount of snow.

Somehow I keep thinking this is just the football universe diabolically chaosing (totally a word) my Vols out of the playoffs.

The early slate has been some good games so far!

What he said. I’ve had everything from basic service up to the ‘supertune’ options. His basic service makes the reels literally better than brand new and the supertune made the reel better than me.