NBR

I have used XL for years and XT before that but last year I tried some BPS XPS and like it just fine. I tried it because I tried and liked the BPS fluorocarbon which is also fine.

The Curado is a good reel but so are many others I have Daiwa's, a Curado, a Pfueger, Quantum's and 2 or 3 BPS reels and frankly I like them all. If possible see which reel fits your rod and hand best.

You should be fine. I garage my boat and leave the deck open above the charger, When I'm on a trip I just stick a cushion under the deck cover to allow the heat to get out and minimize water entry in case it rains. My Dual Pro is over 15 years old annd still works fine.

Why T's get so much bad publisity! A few make the many look like jerks.

I use Gammy 3/0 EWG for Trigs and circle hooks for whacky. I catch ore on Trig but then I fish it a lot more . Going to increase whacky this year.

Nope, Spring I have a Senko, a tube, a suspending jerk bail, a jig and trailer and a spinner bait it there is a breeze. Summer I put on a crank bait for the suspending jerk bait and might replace thr Senko with a Crig.

My memory says the plastic worm. If I really wanted to know I'd go to B.A.S.S. and ask there.

While the Shimano suggestions are probably the best there are many combo's available at BPS or Cabela's in the $125 to $150 that will do an adequate job. If you don't practice it doen't matter what you have you are going to backlash and probably hate bait castingt. A dear friend bought a medium level outfit and didn't practice so he hated it. He knew he wanted to use a bait caster so he bought a Curado wen the new ones were $200 and an up scale St. Croix rod. He didn't practice with that rig either. We have fished together a total of 28 days since he bought the latest and I bet he hasn't used the Curado/St. Croix rig a total of 2 hours. If you are not willing to put in the time stick with your spinning gear. If you put n the time I'll bet you are shortly using the bait caster more than the spining gear.

If I remember correctly the best price I've seen was from Case Plastics.

I use 12# BPS Fluoro for most soft plastic applictions. When I want yo go deeper and faster I push a finishing nail into the bait.

My gut feel is that the Ranger is the right choice. See if the guy will tak you for a ride. You are putting youself in a relativly high performance boat and he could help you with the launch, ride and rec overy. Also is your town vehicule capable of pulling the weight? Good luck.

I have used 90%+ barbless for at least 25 years and never noticed any greater number of fish come unhooked than before I went to barbless. I just pinch the barb(s) down.

Mine is a "Leading Edge" which is aluminium and it helps hole shot. I'm in total agreement with Way2slow that properly trimmed out there is absolutely no loss in top end speed.

Its the nature of the material. The same nature makes them pretty indistructable and float. I admit they are a problem and I haven't solved my issue using them on shakey rigs yet but I like the product. I use it often on crigs so the bait stays of the bottom and out of the grass.

What acar555 said and regardless of how slow you are going what you see on your sounder is 5 or more feet behind the boat. If your sounder has a tutorial you can look at it off the water. The west coast guy who is a finesse guru wrote a book and has a video on depth sounders. His first name is Don but I can't recall his last name. Maybe someone else can post it. Having said all of that TOTW (time on the water) is what counts.

I have an amber pair for low light days and times and a gray pair for when it is bright.

I've only fished St Clair 4 or 5 times and always on the Canadian side. I would suggest a guide for your first time if you and your buddies can swing it. It is a huge lake and you can just get blown away by the options. I think St. Clair ranks in the top lakes in the country and maybe number 1. Think about all of the species and except for the trout & salmon it would rank in the top 5 in the country.

The In-Fisherman method works very well even better with barbless hooks. There is also a gadget called a "Barb-It" that has a cutter blade and magnets to retrieve the hook pieces.

I agree with Road Warrior. Years ago I attended a talk given by Joe Foss. He said it took 5 days of filming to produce a 30 minute program

No doubt Dale Hollow is a big smallmouth lake but it is my understanding from friends who fish there reguarly that it becomes a night time fishery as best as I can recall around June maybe earlier. Erie ans Champlain are both great smally lakes but if the wind blows they can be anthing from uncomfortable to dangerous. I have fished the border lakes or Canada for close to 30 straight years and if I was going to break new ground it would be to Rainy Lake, Lake of the Woods or Lac La Croix. All are border lakes but the US(MN) side of LaCroix is in the BWCA and motor power is restricted and there are no resorts. LOW is huge with Rainy smaller but still large. LOW, Rainy and LacLaCroix are huge lakes but they have many many islands so you can duck for cover if you want to get out of the wind. Zup's Resort and Campbell's are on the Canadian side of LacLaCroix.The US(MN) side is in the BWCA and no motors are allowed nor are there any resorts. You can boat into Zup's but I think Campbell's is a fly-in. We have usually stayed at a boat-in lodge which gets you away from day trippers. Rainy and LOW have thousands of US acres of water. Do a search or plug in www.fishingminnesota.com or sunsetcountry for more info. If you want shoot me a PM and I will elaborate and/or answer questions.

I have used Berkley XT, XL and Sensation, Stren, BPS XPS, and probably a few others and have not had a troublesome memory problem with any of them. Generally I use from 8 to17# test so we are in the same range. While KVD line conditioner might help I suspect there is something else going on here.

So much depends on where you fish. Heavy cover and stained water call for a much different approach than very clear water and little cover. My home fishing is in very clear water with few if any weeds and little or no wood. So at home I fish lighter fluorocarbons and soft mono's usually in the 10 to 14# sizes for bait casters and down to 4 to 6# for my spinning gear. If I make a trip to areas with a lot of weeds and wood I would respool to 17# minimum and probably include braid in the 50# range.

I have several rods and reels and only one reel has had aproblem which BPS fixed at once. I am very satisfied with their tackle in general. The Sticko's work just fine although I still prefet the Yamamoto's.

I use an electric sharpener when I'm on the lake for a fast touch up and a manual sharpener when at home. You guys must have a lot more money and time than I do to replace a hook every time it dulls. Our New Hampshire rocks are not very forgiving to hook points.

I chime in with Raul on the durability. I have a Pflueger Supreme dating back to 1952 that I used exclusively until about 1978. This reel had bushings in lieu of bearings and still works as it did when I retired it. This reel is not as smooth as my newer reels but it has certainly been durable. The reason it was retired is no free spool so the crank windmilled, no drag-drag came from your thumb and most important clearances were such that you couldn't use mono in reasonable pound tests because it would get under the sides of the spool and wind around the shaft.. Cast contol was little more than your thumb and unless the thumb was well educated you spent a lot of time picking. The good old days were not so good when considering fishing tackle.