Goose52

I keep 5 or 6 "princess" combos inside the house - all the rest of my stuff is in my unheated, but insulated, garage. The coldest I have seen in the garage is 34 degrees - no subfreezing temps. No problems with any of my gear so far...

Yup - Red Eye Shad in "Orange Belly Craw" - a good winter color. That bass was 8.4lbs and caught on New Years Eve 2011 in 46 degree water. OTOH - the bass in my avatar is my 9.5 PB and was caught in August in 82 degree water with a blue over chrome lipless crank. Lipless cranks work year-round...

My introduction to bass fishing was by catching a "brim." My Dad gave me a little cane pole and some bread and showed me how to catch brim (bluegill mostly). One day he says "go catch me a brim." I do and bring him a little brim. He sticks a big hook throught the back of the brim, tosses it out in the canal with his Ambassadeur 5000, and says "now, I'm going to show you how to catch a bass..."

My favorite, and most used, hard bait. They work...

State- Tennessee Water Depth- ~7ft Lure/Technique- lipless crank Structure/Cover- fish was caught from the bank casting into open water and retrieving parallel to an earthen dam Weight and/or Length- 9.54lb, 25.75in The story of the catch is here: New Lmb PB - 9.54lb - Not A DD...but Close!

Very cool indeed!

I often wondered how much distance I was REALLY getting when tossing 5/8oz lipless cranks. So, I measured out 100ft and 150ft distances using a 50ft tape measure in order to determine the "practical IPT" of the reel. I hooked the lipless crank to a peg at the "0" line, hit the clutch bar on the BC reel, walked out to the 100ft marker, then counted crank revolutions back to the 0 line. The reel (a 26" IPT rated / 6.4:1 ratio) took 47.75 revs - a "practical IPT" at 100 ft of 25.13 inches. Then walked back to 150 ft and reeled in - 75.3 revs - a 23.9" practical IPT at 150. This is with 10lb test line (a higher test line [larger diameter] will somewhat lower the practical IPT). Then on the water while fishing - I count the revs to retrieve the bait. In still air, a very good cast is about 70 revs. My max cast is 75-76 cranks - right at 150 feet OF LINE OUT. Since you have a bow in the line as the bait splashes down, the actual linear distance is somewhat less - from 10 to 20 feet less. So, my best effort, max cast, with a lipless crank is from 130 to 140 feet. Of course, you still have to get a hookset when you get out this far... Obviously, casting on land at known distances will give you the best measure of your actual distance - but calculating the "practical" IPT of your reel/line combination at your max casting range allows you to determine how far you're getting out while in a fishing situation.

Thanks - but car-topping is still working for me...

Jim - that wasn't my build, I just remembered the thread. I car-top my canoe....however, if I ever trailer, I will also start with that Harbor Freight kit. I fish 11 lakes, the farthest only 6 miles from my house, with a 30 mph speed limit, so I don't need much in the way of a trailer. If I was going to trailer a long way, I might be concerned about those little 10" wheels in the Harbor Freight kit and might be thinking of upgrading those...

Built on that Harbor Freight trailer kit: Canoe Trailer Build

I echo all the comments above. Good serviceable rods - not the lightest, not uber-sensitive, no bling; just good fishing performance. My most used baitcasting rod is the 7' mf Premier; I use it as my main lipless crank rod. As already mentioned above, the actual rod power is heavier than it's rating - it's about half-way between an M and an MH. The lure weight rating on this rod is 1/4 to 3/4 (rather than the 5/8 rating most "M" rods have). A good, versatile rod. Do Premiers work? Here's a couple pics featuring that 7' mf Premier...

My PFD requires replacement of the cartridge and bobbin every three years. I just re-armed my PFD and posted about it here: PFD Re-Arm PFD Re-arm kit: I did discharge my PFD...but not by jumping in the water (too cold for that)...so I used the manual pull-tab. Fired right off. I also tested the old bobbin in water - disolved like an alka-selzer... Inflated PFD after firing it off:

Nifty reel for sure - very cool ! However, I think the posse would rejoice "more" if there was an equivalent USDM model with parts support. I wonder what Shimano will show at ICAST? Hopefully, some of this kind of stuff. Almost 36 inches !

My farthest lake that I fish is a whopping 6 miles from my house...but I still make sure my wife knows which lake, where I'm going to lauch, and my ETA home. I wear my PFD 100% of the time when on the water. I have a whistle in the boat and another in a pouch on my PFD. I pay attention to the 120 combined air/water temp rule and avoid the bigger lakes or being too far offshore if that number is very much below 120. I fish alone and tend to perhaps be more cautious than others might be that have a fishing partner in the boat. Another thing on safety, especially for us old guys, is have you planned for how you're going to get back in your boat if you fall overboard? As one ages, upper body strengh starts to go and you might not be able to pull yourself back into the boat. Give it some thought before you get wet... Thanks to Sam and A-Jay for some valuable advice. I don't think safety is a very popular topic. A-Jay was the only one that responded to a thread I started about assuring that inflatable PFDs are periodically serviced per manufacturers recommendations. Good idea about the "Shimano is bogus" thread title...

3" caught on a 3/8 oz roostertail.

The word "best" is too broad - best at what? So, here's several "bests" (left-to-right): Best caster (and most technologically advanced) - Calais DC Best made (subjective, but it's just like a little Swiss watch) - Conquest 50 Best value (and, arguably, most satisfying to use) - ProLite

Humminbird includes a sealed 12 volt, 8 amp-hour battery like this one with their portable units: 12v 8AH battery Light, rechargeable, and most importantly sealed so it won't leak if it rolls over...

We have the same canoe and I run outriggers on mine. As Darren said, there are lots of ways to make these yourself if you want to go that route. Mine are store-bought (Spring Creek Outfitters). The crossbar for my outriggers forms the foundation (one-stop shopping so to speak) for not only the floats, but also the motor mount, rod rack, and anchor mount. Clamp on the crossbar, plug in the floats, and you've got all 4 of those features in place in about 2 minutes rigging time. On location of the outriggers - if you are going to paddle, you have to experiment with finding a location that doesn't interfere with your paddling stroke. I motor about 98% of the time so for me, the logical location was aft. This is not only best for motoring, but with the floats behind me, I don't have anything in front of me that would interfere with fighting/landing a fish. Another consideration is height of the floats. Some people rig these to touch the water. That gives you LOTS of primary stability, but also LOTS of drag. I set my float height so they are several inches above the water when you have the boat trimmed on the roll axis. When motoring, neither float touches the water. When you want to stand up, just lean a bit one way or the other to get a float on the water (in essence, secondary stability) and you're good to go. They look funky, and canoe purists hate them, but with my outriggers I can stand nearly the whole time I'm on the water and only sit down when making a run to another spot, landing fish, and eating lunch...

I've been using a specialized fishing thermometer for several years now; it is protected by an aluminum tube so it won't break while storing, carrying, or using it. It is similar to these models: BPS Cabelas

Thanks. Yep - Radisson 12' (11'6" actual) - 34 pounds.

Different blank material, different actions, different guides, different grips, etc. The Blades are a bread-and-butter model line of both spinning and casting rods with a range of lengths, powers, and actions. The Crankin' Sticks are only casting rods, optimized for cranking. This shot was taken a while back when I had only four Sticks...

BPS Crankin' Stick - on sale right now for $60 ($20 off regular retail). Here's the link to check them out: Crankin' Stick Ignore the "Fast" action rating, these are true cranking rods and not a traditional fast action. I have five Crankin' Sticks - a great value for the money. Search this forum and you'll find lots of positive comments on this rod. 6' Medium Action: Fast Line Weight: 8-17 lbs. Lure Weight: 1/4 - 5/8 oz. Pieces: 1 Handle: A Model: CS602MT Regular Price: $79.99 SALE Price: $59.97 In Stock

Yanqui bass raiders score! GREAT trip and congrats on the new PB !

I think this is about right. I initially said 10-12 feet...but thinking back, when I was bringing back grass on the diving bill of the crank at 12 foot depths...I probably had two feet of grass on the bottom.

Yep - same with me. You have to keep turning the handle to get to the next "click" on the AR mechanism and the line is tight. Now, there will usually be a bow in the rod and you have to pull out line against the drag to let the rod straighten out but still have enough tension on the line to keep the bait in the keeper.