The Rooster

Hooked a white duck while fishing in a pond. Casted a nightcrawler and it got too near the duck and it came charging after it so he got hooked right in the tongue. I had to reel him in, hold him by the neck and cut the hook off to pull it out before letting him go again. He put up quite a fight until I got hold of his neck and then he was quiet as a mouse and fought no more. He was glad to get loose when I was done with him though. Otherwise, I've caught a rock once in the same manner as others have said, had a small hole in the side and my hook hit it just right. I reeled in a log once. Was several feet long, hooked it solid but it was giving fairly easily so I pulled on it until it came into view and saw what it was. I was disappointed, I thought I might have had a monster fish on that was too big to swim fast. And of course, I've caught clothes before. Shirts, socks, shoes, swimsuits, panties......I don't think I've caught any pants yet though. ;D

Or more simply put, I guess I should just refer back to all the times I've fished up a piece of wood that's completely waterlogged so it won't float, covered with slime to indicate it's been down for a long time, but not a soft spot on it from decay. I guess if I'd have thought about this then I would have figured that out, but reading the articles here had me thinking they must be right on.

You got a real deal!!! I think the 40 size is just a bit large for my tastes but if you like it then you'll never beat it, wow I can't believe you only paid that little bit for the COMBO!!! Awesome!!!

Do you have any other rods and reels or is this the only one you'll have?? If it's the only one you'll have then I'd start out with a medium powered rod, they are good general rods that will work for a lot of baits. Not theee most ideal for crankbaits but I use one for 1/4 oz. cranks that dive to depths of 8 and 12 feet with good success. They're a good all purpose rod.

Incidentally, I got this information from this site while reading the articles. A few people who responded here though say that it's not accurate on the part concerning the wood rot and oxygen use in the water. What does that say about those articles?? Seriously?? I was planning to read them all to improve my bass fishing skills.

I expect a few snags. Most of these tree locations I'm refering to are in coves along the main lake. The mouths of them might be best since the creek channel might run along in front of it. I'll have to use the graph to see what the bottom looks like back in there though. I still need to learn how to do that also, I don't know enough about the one I bought this passed year to tell everything it's showing me all the time.

Based on the trees that are visible in the area I'd say they are oaks, poplars, maples, a few pines, stuff like that. There are a lot of areas that do have trees that are rotted off right at the water's surface or a foot above. But the bigger areas that I was mainly posting about here, they are still way over my head tall. 20 feet or more tall above the water. I'll try them out and see what happens. Never really have tried any of that stuff before. I just shoot right passed it going on up the lake.

You need at least 2 batteries to be safe. If one goes dead then you have the other one to start your engine with. If you go out with only one and it goes dead then you're stuck!! I run 2 myself, but one is on the trolling motor exclusively. You don't have a trolling motor but you still need that second battery as a fallback incase the first one doesn't last. Since you're running lights especially.

My lake has a lot of standing timber in several coves. I just now read that for a newly flooded reservoir that standing timber can be great for several years and then as time goes by the wood starts to rot and uses up a lot of oxygen in the water for doing it. How long does this take to happen?? The lake I fish was flooded in 1989 to 1991. Not totally sure exactly when but it's been well long enough for rot to start happening by now I would think. So should I avoid fishing these areas?? The water that these trees are in is usually 25 to 30 feet deep.

The old Medalist didn't have On / Off anti-reverse (Muddy can correct me if I am wrong). Same problem as the Infusion. They were very heavy, in my opinion they were made more for saltwater fishing than fresh. i did notice the weight difference. the larger presidents can be used for both accoring to thier website. ive never really understood the whole antireverse switch. ive never used it. wth is it for? :-? anyways , i may hit up sports authority this week and see if they have anymore president combos and just snag one up for a b-day/xmas present to myself. at under $60 a pop , they seem like a great deal imo. last time i went they only had the 6735 model. That 6735 would be the one I want!! Under $60 a pop?? I paid that for the REEL this passed spring!! I only use my antireverse switch when I accidentally reel the line up to far to make another cast. I flip it off momentarily and roll the line backwards a turn or so, then reengage it again and problem solved. Some people like Shaw Grigsby don't use antireverse at all, they just let the line play out backwards as a fish takes it and slow it's rotation with their hand as it goes. I saw him do that on his show once. I didn't like the idea at all though.

Aw yeeah!! I called that one!!

Your sad Sunday was better than mine.....I didn't go fishing at all! :'( ;D

I'm expecting them to be $80 to $90 by how they're made. Just like the Medalist of 2008, 10 bearings and aluminum frame with rubber grip. I like the way they look, maroon color and all. Don't really need one, but if I'm gonna get another spinning reel this coming year (and I am, just the wife doesn't know yet, haha) then I'd consider this new President XT.......but I really wish they made it in a 35 size. I may just have to get another "regular" President, the blue one that is.

I think those are called chines. Not sure myself. I'm aware of what an aluminum trailer will cost. I'm thinking somewhere around $1700. I was on loadrite.com also looking at them and found a dealer in this area who sells them using their "find a dealer" link. I'll check them out. Thanks for the info.

Interesting that Pflueger's blue President reel will now become red at just about the time that the United States' "red" president (republican) will now become "blue" (democrat). Not trying to get a politics war started, I'm only just making a joke. I have a blue President reel that my wife refers to as "Hillary".

And would that be because newer vehicles have aluminum engine blocks and deposits on them would cut the efficiency of the cooling system and risk an overheat situation, maybe even engine failure from a cracked block??

Well I have a 16' deep V-hull rated for a 90 HP outboard (and it has 88 horses on it!). The boat is in like new condition since I overhauled it this passed spring. You'd think it was brand new to look at it in the water even though it's a 93 model. But the trailer is pretty rough looking. It's rusted up pretty severely where the crossbeams meet the main frame of it. And anywhere they made a hole from the factory and installed a rubber grommet to run wires through, those points are pretty much gone too. The rust is so bad that it's flaking off of the trailer and the metal is thin in places. I'm afraid it will actually break in half on me one day!! And this passed year the supports for the boat to sit on it needed some attention too. I fixed it as best I could (knowing it would be temporary at best) using replacement trailer parts and a roller wheel for the keel to sit on that I got from a marine shop. Originally the trailer did not have a part like this, it had just a plastic coated metal plate for the keel to hit on. The plastic broke from all the years of it hitting and it was metal to metal contact with the hull and the trailer. CAN'T HAVE THAT!! I replaced it with a keel roller and bracket. Even with the new parts on though the hardware to install it with is now bent from the weight of the boat and the impact of it hitting it each time it's trailered again after having it on the water. Hard to explain but due to the way the crossbeam is made I had to use a 3/4" stack of washers on each attaching bolt to make a spacer so the bracket that holds the keel roller on could sit straight. Otherwise it would not have fit at all. But because it's extended away from the crossbeam, the impact of the boat hitting it each time has allowed it to bend down. So I know this won't last forever. So I was wanting to replace the whole trailer with an aluminum trailer to avoid future issues of rust happening. That way I'd have all brand new EVERYTHING on the trailer and no more worries. I'm unsure of how to measure for a new one though. Should the dealer who sells a new trailer know how to do it, or do I have to know what I need in advance??

Wonder what it's price will be?? If it's aluminum then it's going to be mostly just like the old Medalist before it got it's new upgrade. Guessing maybe $80 like the Medalist was before it based on that assumption. I like the maroon color but I don't like that they don't offer it in a 35 size. They should offer it in all sizes if they are going to the trouble to make it.

Anybody ever replace a boat trailer before?? What was your experience from it??

There's a Pflueger fan here.......but also a Shimano fan when it comes to rods. I doubt we'll see a support forum though. It would need someone who works for the company to head it up I would think. Or someone who is a total geek about Pflueger reels....which I'm close to being but not quite there. ;D It's great that we have the Shimano forum though, I got some answers about the rods I was interested in pretty fast. Helped me to understand what it was I wanted to know a little better. Thanks Bantam1!!!

After reading that last post I'd say I'm a Mook with reels. ;D I probably have no business replying to this thread until I have more experience but I will anyway . I haven't fished with ANY of these rods, the Shimano Clarus, Compre, and Crucial rods that is, but I will be fishing two Compres this coming season and then I'll find out even more on this. But in the stores, just picking them up I could tell some significant differences from one to the other and that made me take a pretty long time to decide which ones I wanted. The Clarus felt better than what I was used to for the most part but I do have maybe 2 rods here already that would be about equal to them (Quest LS-7 rods from Dick's) and the rest are below that line. One that is well below that line is an Ugly Stik Lite Pro [hangs head in shame now]. Otherwise the Clarus would be a slight step up from most rods I've owned in the past. The Compre is worlds better than I've ever had before and I could tell a difference in it vs. the Clarus too, light weightness and overall feel I mean. Nothing else to compare them to yet since I haven't fished them. I compared the Compre and the Clarus (same ratings on both rods) by holding one of each in each hand, mildly shaking them, mock jigging them, mock casting them, feeling for which one was lighter weight, swapping them back and forth between hands to see if that made a difference, just letting each one impress me however it would. Each time I felt as if I would be able to tell them apart if blindfolded, they felt that much different from one another. I even closed my eyes and did all this and there literally was a big difference in them. Not sure if it was more, less, or equal to $30 worth cause I don't have enough experience yet to make that call, but it was enough to me that I was easily willing to lay down $100 for the Compre over the $70 they wanted for the Clarus. Then I picked up the Crucial and there was a significant difference again, enough that I was wishing I had enough money for 2 of those over 2 Compres instead. They are super light and their overall feel was just about more than I could have imagined. I even debated just trying to get by with one rod so I could get the Crucial instead of 2 Compres but in the end I wanted 2 very nice rods more than I wanted just one super nice rod. Man that sucks!! Those Crucials are NICE!! Always before this I never allowed myself to look at rods that costed more than $60. That's where I drew the line when buying rods until this passed fall and I finally decided to make a jump up to some nicer stuff. Now that I am looking at them I can tell some serious differences in the higher end rods just by picking them up and feeling them in the store compared to the type and pricerange of rods I've always fished in the past. I'm hoping that means I have the "sensitive hands" Flechero was talking about cause this coming spring I'm planning to jump into a bunch of T-rig and jig fishing with these new Compres.

Some things are on sale right now at great prices but they're in the Christmas catalog only. You have to order over the phone or online (I couldn't seem to make the sale prices work online so I just called in my multiple orders ).

I'd brush that snow off the top of your boat cover to get the weight off. I once had one rip wide open on me cause the snow came down on it. Next morning I found it busted wide open and all that snow down in my boat. Tee Peeing the cover helps, it's about the only thing you can do if you don't have a shelter to park it under, but it's not enough sometimes as I found out. Now I just buy tarps instead cause if it's gonna happen at least they're cheaper to buy than a fitted boat cover. ;D

Is there a certain type of water you must add?? Sink tap water OK or do I need distilled water?? I once added just spring water from a bottle to a battery and I never even got one more trip from it, it just died. No idea why either, but it did though and I always thought that was the reason. The water wasn't cold either, just room temperature only added to a battery that was warm from being outside during warm weather.

OK. I just didn't know whether the cold would hurt the motor seals or not. It's just me stressing over it costing so much to replace it is all. I used to keep my batteries inside as well but my charger went out on me and instead of buying another portable I just invested the money in an onboard charger instead. It made it MASSIVELY easier to charge them up after each trip cause I just back the boat up next to the house where I keep it anyway and the receptacle to plug up to is right there. Before that I was taking them both in the house after each trip to recharge them. That's like lifting two 100 pound weight sets when you have two large deep cycle batteries like that. They probably weigh less but it feels like it. So this year was a snap on charging them but now that it's cold outside I was just wondering if it would be alright to leave them there plugged up.