smbrule

Make sure your knot has not migrated to the kink of the hooks eye loop.

Learned that Gamakatsu has come out with a finesse heavy cover hook.

In some ways I feel that we were forced into EWG hooks as the straight shanked style of worm hooks did not have sufficient gape to insure that enough of the hook point would get thru the soft plastic for a hook-up. Especially true for six and seven inch senko type baits and for tubes. As pointed out by others an increased hook set will result from a non EWG hook. When I was fishing EWG hooks and missing fish I always was confident that a jig would result in a sure hookset. I do wish manufactures would produce a straight shanked hook with a wider gape, yet not have an increased shank length and was not a heavy wire hook like the Gammy/Trokar heavy flippin hooks.

I never texpose or skin hook straight shanked hooks, just EWG.

I much prefer a straight shanked worm hook, although I prefer the straight shanked hook without an offset. When fishing heavy cover with a straight shanked hook I bend down the barbs and then tie on a loop of wire to the hook in order to keep the plastic from sliding down. Much more effective than the tiny barbs. Also better than a straight shanked hook with an offset in preventing the plastic from sliding down on the hook When Trokar and Gamakatsua came out with their flippin heavy cover straight shanked worm hooks because of their very large gape I have almost stopped using EWG hooks. I went to heavy cover straight shanked worm hooks when fishing 4-5" tubes and just barely skin hook the the point inside the tube as they are much more "weedless) when fishing heavy cover pads or reeds.

This link will take you to Paulus Just Fishing site where there is a wealth of excellent information regarding plastic and non-stretch lines. The information I provided came from that site. In addition, if you will send him lines he will do line tests as indicated on his site. Postage with two line samples inside the an envelope from USA to Australia is a around $1.05 http://www.paulusjustfishing.com/4linetestingplastic.htm

Big Game 15# for spinner baits. It is a thick strong line and tests at about 22#. Its' average diameter is 0.397mm Stren Original for jigs, weighted and unweighted soft plastics. When I want a thinner line with high tensile strength and not fishing in heavy cover I go with Berkley Sensation. 14 # Sensation tests in at about 20# and its' ave diameter is 0.361mm To give a comparison Original Stren in 14# tests out at about 18# and its ave. diameter is 0.398 mm

I use lead in weights up to 1/4 oz. For 5/16 oz and up I prefer tungsten in order to keep the weight from being too large in diameter.

What I don't like on the 75 Merc Optimax is its weight. The 75 has the same weight as the 90 and 115. And on some of the smaller boats that are rated for a 75 maxmum the 75 is a lot of weight on the transom. When I had my 75 older two stroke which weighed in at 315# I got a lot more water over the transom at times. The 75 Optimax was not considered when I switched engines as it weighs in at 375#.

I thought that four strokes and the optimax give similar gas milage. This link provides some data on speed and gas milage for various Merc engines and boats. http://www.mercurymarine.com/engines/engine-tests/outboards/

A difficult decision. The 75 hp two stroke is the better match for all around performance. The decision comes down to what you expect, how many passengers you would usually have in the boat, the distance traveled, etc. I assume that the 75 is not an Optimax--if it was it would be a no brainer.. I have had experience with both the 75 hp Merc two stroke and a 60 hp Merc four stroke on my boat. My boat is a 16'5 foot older Crestliner that bare weighs in at 750 pounds. With the 60 four stroke merc, three batteries, trolling motor, 17 gallons of gas and tackle and misc gear the total weight is around 1300 pounds. Add another 50# for the 75 two stroke. Your boat initially weighs more. And, I would suggest a 24 v trolling motor. I've fished Lake of the Woods in Ontario one or two weeks each year ever since I had the boat. Initially I had a 60 hp two stroke merc tiller on the boat and after getting caught several times on the big water and high winds put a 75 hp merc two stroke and a console. It was just two darn hard to see over the bow when there were big waves and in the back with the tiller. Because I was fishing Woods went with the 75. After ten years the 75 needed work and as I fish idle only lakes about 50 days out of the year I decided to replace the motor with a 60 hp Merc four stroke. The 75 four stroke option was just too heavy. I've fished Woods with the 60 four stroke in the past four years totaling around 800 miles. Myself and a passenger add 350 pounds and a live well when full add another 100# . On its' best day the four stroke goes 34 mph while the 75 merc went 39 mph gps. The fourstroke does not get on plane as fast, but it still very acceptable and at low to midrange off plane it will climb the waves that were higher in the trough than the bow as well as the 75. Gas milage when running around 5000 rpm is better, at 6.5 mpg with the four stroke vs 3.5 with the 75. At gas $5-6 a gallon on Woods the four is especially cheaper to run. And of course instant start and no smoke. For me, I would never go back to a basic two stroke, but would consider a optimax type two stroke.

I don't know about long sleeves tee shirts--are they loose and light? Like others I wear long sleeve shirts made of light material ( cotton or artificial fiber with cotton) that is loose fitting so air ventilation can occur.

It is not just the weight of the bare spool that counts for casting light baits--it is the weight of the spool filled with line. For example: The Curado 200 e7 spool weighs 13.8 grams bare, filled with 14# mono it weighs 24.2 g. The Citica 200 spool by the way weighs 1 g. more The Curado 50e spool weighs 11.4 g. bare and 17.9 g filled with 14# mono. A significant difference in weight. Not asked, but for example of line weight differences (if one is picky) is: Chronarch 50 mg spool weighs 12.2 g. bare, with 14# mono 17.7g,, with 40 # power pro 16.6g. and with 10# Trilene XL 18.3 g. and with 10# Seaguar Invisix fluocarbon 21.8g. I've found the difference in spool weight to be significant in casting, and more importantly pitching lures weighing 1/4 oz. or less. For casting heavier lures my impression (I go back and forth on this) is that the Curado 200 e casts further than my 50e's. Perhaps because the spool ends up with less revolutions during the cast as the spool is wider.

Although a little out of date I'm not aware of any better reviews of fluorocarbon compared to Trilene Xl tha done by tackle our. Here are the links to the original tests and the sequel: http://www.tackletour.com/reviewfluorocarbontest.html http://www.tackletour.com/reviewfluorocarbon2.html

I've typically used epoxy to secure eyes on jigs and spinnerbaits. I have a bunch of spinnerbaits to paint.. Am not into lure making enough to use powder paint so use spray on enamels with the final coat being clear enamel which also covers the eyes. Has any one any experience with the durability of the enamel securing the eyes? Also, when I've used Devcon epoxy on white spinner-bait heads and found it yellows in time. I've a bunch of rod building epoxy and am considering using that if the clear enamel is not an effective eye bonding hoping that it does not nave a yellowing effect. Any comments?

When fishing 4-5" tubes I almost always use a weight inside the tube to get a more pronounced circular fall. Texpose the tube with a 4/0 wide gap hook. Prefer to use Gary Yamamoto tube weights because they cost about $1.50 for a package of 8-10 depending on size--1/8, 3/16, and 1/4 oz.

You could also look at the Peg-it system. I've used the Peg-It 2 system for a couple of years before going to the bobber stops. The Peg-it 2 is smaller than the Peg-it and works better with typical lead bullet sinkers or others that have a smaller opening. I found the Peg-it system more cumbersome when needing to change sinkers. Threading the "stop" into the sinker and out the top requires more dexterity than a simple tooth pick system suggested above.

Eagle Claw or Danielson bobber stops. See pic. They came in line pound test ratings of 2-4, 4-8, 8-12 and 12-20. This is for mono/copoly lines. I use a lower pound bobber stop rating than my line size. For example for Trilene XL 10# I use the 2-4. For 17# Original Stren I use 8-12. If you don't drop down in pound rating for these bobber stops they don't do a good job of holding the sinker next to the hook on a hook set. Experiment as line sizes are different in same pound rating. When you put the line thru the loop grab both end of the line and pull hard to cause a kink in the mono, then spit on the bobber stop and line and slowly pull the bobber stop onto the line. The big advantage of a bobber stop is that if you have to re-rig you don't have to peg your sinker. Sometimes I will place a bobber stop above and below the sinker thus permitting moving the sinker up the line to keep the bait off the bottom.

Winter storage, the canoe has not seen water for several decades.

Sharing a home made rod rack. Mine is mounted on canoe thwarts. For the rod handle used five "Utility Organizers" taped to a thwart. The U.O. does have screw holes for mounting overhead or on a wall. The individual rings in the U.O. are removable. For the rod tips I used open hooks screwed into a wood rod that is taped to a thwart. The U.O. costs less than 3$ each. Eye hooks probably less than a dollar. Total cost around $16. Bob

Will Wetline said--smbrule, you commented that you "have a lifetime supply of blades." Why not purchase the rest of the stuff from one of several component suppliers and assemble your own?" That is exactly what I'm been going to do. Have been making spinnerbaits and jigs for the past thirty years and so have all the materials. Have been in contact with Northstar Custom Baits as they have the hidden weight heads. Will give me something to do until the ice goes off the lakes.

Thanks for the Northstar link. I've some spinner baits are weighted like the hidden weight ones from Northstar. and like them. Don't have any in 1/4 oz and have not been to find any "hidden" weight ones in that size. There compact series is particularly interesting. And also that the heads only are available as I have a lifetime supply of spinner bait blades.

What is your favorite brand of spinner bait for smallies? Not interested in in-line spinners. Also, are there spinnerbaits available there are more compact than typical spinnerbaits in 3/8 and1/2 oz sizes? And, are some available that have a hook size smaller than typical?

I tow a 16' aluminum boat that ready to fish on the trailer weighs in at 1950# (scale weight). Have over 20,000 miles of towing with a 2003 Honda van with a max towing capacity of 3500#. Van has a transmission and power steering cooler. Over half of the towing mileage has been from Iowa to Canada. I'm comfortable with the van towing my rigs weight but would not want to go 500# more. Most of the time I've only two adults in the van, one time with four adults and a child plus all the extra luggage for the fishing trip I was uncomfortable with the handling of the van, probably partly because of the extra weight in the back of the van. No matter how many people I have in the van I tow almost all the time 65 mph or less. I'm cognizant of stopping distance with the van but do believe it has better stopping distance when towing than my ten+ year old F150 pickup that put less rubber on the road and did not have rear disc brakes.

My comments pertain to the use of Original Stren mono. Have been using Original Stren for decades. I'm a line junky and keep trying to find a mono that has all around qualities of flexibility, tensile strength, abrasion resistance and shock strength on short line cross their eyes hook sets. Have not found one better than Stren. Only use it on baitcasting reels in the 12-17 pound range. I go with Trilene XL in 10 # test and lighter when I want flexibility and go with Sensation when I want a high tensile strength line. The only time I've ever had a problem with line breakage on a hook set was when I was careless and let the knot get in the "open" area of the hook eye. It does not take too many hook sets before the line breaks.