J Francho

Eh....just rent All the Right Moves, and you'll feel better, LOL.

Nice review, Uncle Leo. I may give this a try as mainline for float fishing for winter steelhead. Hi vis line really helps when there other anglers fishing the same hole and drift. The business end is usually fluoro or copoly, so abrasion isn't a huge issue.

In theory, flechero would be correct. On the water, its more what bronzefly states. Boca Orange Seal are the best, though the ABEC 5 Ceramics from Smooth Drags are very good, and much more economical. One thing to note, you almost always sacrifice smooth feel for speed. For casting performance, you only need to upgraded the spool bearings. FWIW, I think a Carbontex drag washer upgrade is a way better initial upgrade than bearings, and much less expensive.

Most of the guys I see flat lining around here fail. Their baits don't get down deep enough. Then when the reel in to check their baits, they are fouled with weeds. Its not as simple as just dragging your line behind you. Only fishing basins, and not structure? Huh? Use your graph and work each depth contour thoroughly. Points are what you should be attracted to when trolling. The best know how to turbo troll a point in order to fish it wityh their baits in the zone the longest. This involves a speed increase, a turn, an idle period, then a turn and goose of the throttle and return to normal trolling speed. You will get a strike on the pause, and after the goose. Lure action behind is delayed through mono stretch. Ripping? I don't have much more or less foul hooked bass, by manipulating bait speed via rod input or throttle. Its no different than working a rip bait, like an X-rap. I'm not going to try and pretend I'm an expert, as there are much better trollers than I, though they are probably after other species. But this was how I fished the big lake for many years, and successfully. I've recently begun to add this technique to my kayak fishing as well. It hasn't been nearly as successful, but there's some adjustments. Anyway, get out there, and start watching your graph, and holding a depth. You'll want to going less than 2 mph, more like 1.5 mph. Pick a bait that runs close to that depth, and pay out enough line for it to get there. If that is too much, just troll an Original Rapala through the shallows outside or inside the weedline. That WILL get bit, and only requires navigating via visual cues, like shoreline and weedline. Good luck!

Yes!!!! Its like the attack of wiki-anglers. Guys, I don't know what the heck bass hang at 75-90' deep, but around here on the great lakes, trolling DIVING cranks, with snap weights or Dipsies in 20-40 FOW is very effective at finding pods of smallmouth in the vast openness of the lake. As far as planers and down riggers go, planers get your baits away from the boat, they do not add depth. Down riggers are used by many walleye, smallmouth, trout and salmon fisherman. They allow precise depth presentation along with distance behind the boat, anywhere from 5' to 60'+ below the boat. Most guys that flatline do a lot of trolling, and no catching, through there are times when this can work. I've used all methods over the years, my uncle being a charter captain, and could go on and on about some different techniques. Suffice it to say, it only takes some simple tackle, and as Catt said, if they are shallow, use something shallow.

More like finding a chair and a rope.... ;D

OK, I was able to watch my usual 150+ Yankees games this year, and I really don't see what all the hoopla is about. They were SUPPOSED to sweep the Twinkies. Now, I really didn't think the Sox would be swept, especially after putting Martinaez in to slow the halos running game down, but it still surprising how the Angels dispatched a good team that split with us this year. As usual, the AL East is the dominant division in all of baseball. had we been out, and the Sox in, I'd be rooting for the Sox. I'm a dier hard Yankees fan, and the competitiveness of the AL East is what makes these teams so good. Too bad for the Sox, I would have much rather seen an all AL East ALCS, but its not to be. We take the Halos in 5, go on to see the Phillies.

Just saw it. Looks its the update to Transition. There's three reviews on the Cabela's site. Nothing there that would make want to switch from what I currently use.

I fish for steelhead all winter up here. I used to be a die hard Real Magic fan. Even then, I had to use Chapstick on the guides to keep them from freezing. What I tried this past winter was heavily pretreating the line, blank and guides with KVD. While Ice built up after some time on the line and guides, it beaded before it froze. A sharp rap to the butt of the rod and the to the reel knocked almost all the ice free. I kept treating the line and rod this way after every trip, and it worked better than anything else I've used.

I too will echo the Buck Perry recommendations. I did quite a bit of trolling for smallmouth in Lake Ontario with great success. We used snap on weights or Dipsy-Divers for added depth. High capacity reels and lots of line out are a must, for added depth. Rebel D74 Big Craw cranks were our go to bait. They ran true at various speeds. By using a single bait, we were able to adjust for depth quite easily.

I use a Flambeau backpack. Its held up for three years. It gets beat on pretty bad in the winter, trout fishing in small streams.

I've been using FF for years. Wiki works fine for me. Uninstall, and reinstall, check for updates.

Its an A1C killer, LOL. Its like a soft cookie, but its cake.

Color with GPS, without a doubt. Split screen with your waypoints zoomed in on one side and graph on the other is a VERY useful tool for structure fishing.

I realize that. Its about the only thing closely sounding like Orra that I could think of. How he can say the images of the Orra on TW look like a round reel is beyond me, LOL. Clearly a lo pro reel.

Thanks. Sounds like a good deal for Rob. One more outlet for a great product.

So, its three ponds, and they are all shallow and clear? Get a pair of polarized sunglasses and site fish. No weeds either? Any finesse plastic will do. If there are weeds, then t-rig plastic and jigs. If its weed choked, then hollow frog/rat baits.

I love the old line about Newfies that the only reason to own one is if you have small children and an open body of water nearby. Ours was named Barge. He was great. If we wanted to swim in the lake, we had to lock him up, LOL. He'd "rescue" anyone in the water.

Make what simple and effective as possible?

If you are letting the reports rule your fishing, you're missing the boat. Its the "should've been here yesterday" syndrome. Look in the reports for something deeper, and more meaningful to improve your fishing right now, not duplicate someone's results from yesterday. I am talking about phrases like, "I threw the jig to the laydown, and after the tenth pitch, she bit." Ten shots at a single laydown? Yep. It means slow down. That's what you should look for in a report.

Owner ST-36 Stinger are hard to beat. VMC are a fine hook, and the Daiichi sharpened ones from Lucky Craft (not the same as the VMC packaged hooks) are very good as well. But the Owners are tops.

A used Twin in usable condition will be $500 to $700. If its cheaper, its gonna need help. The Crates are from the mid 90s, so you'll have to search for a used one. Mine was used, about $275 + whatever my guy charged for biasing and new tubes. I added casters to it as well, heavy as hell for such a little amp. Awesome little amp. Probably a lot cheaper now. In my short 5 year stint as a guitarist (I'm primarily a drummer, but play everything) it served me well, and always got great comments about tone. I used a Les Paul gold top reissue, a Godin LGX, and a Mexican Tele. The only effects I had was a Tsunami chorus and Big Muff.

He's thinking of the Morrum.

Crate Vintage Club. I had a 30 watt model. All tubes. Loaded it with Sovteks, and with the clean channel blasting, the absolute best distortion ever.

I was speaking about health issues, not temperament. i agree, and in the case of GSD, their positive upbringing must start right at weaning, and usually continues up until they are about 2 years old. They do not mature both physically and mentally until then. After that, if you've done it right, they are pretty much on auto pilot, and by then the dog has trained the owner just as much. Again, it all comes down to what you want in a dog, too. I like a dog that I can walk with, watch TV with, pet, play frisbee and fetch, bark when someone comes to the door, and will rip a person's face off should they try to break in. I currently don't have a dog, and probably won't for a while. My busy lifestyle wouldn't be fair to a dog, but I have had the pleasure of three GSDs and a Newfie. The Newf was something special, but a lot of work.