NBR

I live in New Hampshire and I have heard that Charlie is a great guy. I have never heard anyone who is aquainted with Charlie at all say a bad word about him. He spends a lot of time helping youngsters get started in fishing etc. Frankly, I can't stand his program. If he is fishing a lake I fish I usually watch a part of the program with the sound muted. To me fishing is an quiet hobby and we might go the better part of a morning with only a few words. I do get a bit burnt with Charlie when he stands holding a fish by the lower jaw while he pontificates on and on!

Be sure you include the overhand knot with your slip knot when you tie the arbor knot. I can't remember ever having it pull out unles IO forgot to tie in the OH knot.

I lived in the Kalamazoo area for many years then moved to Fenton and fished from Lake MI to Lake St. Clair so I am pretty familiar with your area. I would look closely at a fiber glass bass boat. You might want to visit some boat shops that specialize in fishing. D&R Sports on the north side of M43 just west of Kalamazoo is one and just west of them is Leaders Marine. Both have new and used rigs. D&R is owned by Randy VanDam, KVD's brother, and is a great guy. D&R also has a very nice tackle store. So watch out for the bait monkey! Most new basic packages are spec'ed with a minimum sized motor to keep prices down but beware you won't be happy with being under powered in the long haul. Most bass boats have more than ample storage. My boat is nearly 20 years old and I have room for probably 20 rods and reels 3 or 4 tackle boxes and a bunch of other "stuff" all under cover in dry compartments. They also run very dry when you have learned to trim them out to suit conditions. My boat runs more comfortable,a lot dryer and at a much higher speed than my previous deep vee aluminum.

Likely, as said, it is the cable but you might not be getting the boat trimmed out properly at speed. My rig is similar but an 18' with a 150. Improperly trimmed it pulls a bit. Also your trim tab might need a slight adjustment.

Exactly as Jig Man said. I'm not aware of a need for a surge protector. Charge after each use.

I recently read in an old issue of Walleye Insider that 30 seconds was the limit to be sure the fish weren't harmed. This brings up a sore point to me. Why do the TV shows have to hold the fish out of water while they BS about their technique? In Fisherman is as bad or worse than any and one of their publications says 30 seconds.

What Jig Man says and your state DNR will most likely give you some information on what and how many to plant and just as important how much to harvest. From what I've seen private ponds suffer the most from not enough harvest and stunted, undersize fish.

I don't think you will find anyplace in your tow vehicles book that says don't tow with the cruise control set. It will say tow with the Tow/Haul engaged or not in overdrive. I have towed thousands and thousands of miles even through the mountains in cruise without any problem. Benefits are less fatigue in legs/feet from holding the accelerator pedal down. better gas mileage, better average speed. Issue is looking over to the right as you start down hill and seeing the jerk you passed going up hill besides you in the right lane. Most people including myself think/thought they drive at a very consistant speed. I did too and I drove 30,000 miles/year + as a sales guy. When I got my first car with cruise I was traveling an interstate I had been on many times when I came to a fairly sharp curve. I was certain the car had sped up but when I checked the speedo was right at 70mph. Without cruise I had automatically slowed as I went into that curve.

I have a few of everything and my Quantums are as good as any of the others. There is a lot of reaction from the Shimano Posse that makes one wonder as to why respond on a Quantum question. I feel that Shimano is over hyped and over priced. When they came out with the new version of Curado with what appeared to be a very modest redesign/improvement and a 67% price increase. I wrote them off my list. Now will the posse please be gentle in response!!!

You might be better off with one of the powered boat/trailer positioners. I think I have seen them in the Bass Pro catalog. Another option would be a hitch ball on the front bumper so you have better vision when putting the boat in place. I think with a winch you would have problems in directing the boat/trailer into the gargage.

When all else fails read the post again before you answer. My earlier post was a little correct. The outboard alternator just doesn't have enough output to keep the TM batteries charged up. My boat has a gizmo that is supposed to charge the cranking battery to full charge and then put the outboard alternator into the TM batteries. In my boat at least if you rely on this you need a set of jumper cables or a good paddle unless you charge the TM batteries every day.

Unless you run long distances the output of many or most outboards won't keep the cranking motor up day after day. I learned this the hard way on a weeks fishing trip and couldn't start the big engine after the third or fouth day. Better for battery life if you charge after every use. I put on a three bank charger and charge every time I come home or to the dock on longer trips.

Years ago I caught them on large poppers in a small Michigan lake. A friend catches smallies on streamers.

I find football heads a little better than any other in rocks except swim heads that you never let bounce along the bottom. Even with football heads you have to pay very close attention to your bait. A second or two of inattention usually results in a hang up.

Let me see; bluegills, perch, crappies, trout, pickeral, smallmouth, largemouth, pike and walleyes have all fallen to a jig on the end of my line. I haven't caught a musky on a jig but I'm sure that is because 99% of the time I'm fishing on a lake that doesn't have any muskies. When I fish a lake with muskies I don't target them but I'm sure they will go for some type of a jig. I have caught fish from a foot or so deep to over 70' deep when jigging for lake trout. Swim, jig, hop there is just no wrong way to fish a jig. I that was my bait shop I would never go there looking for information or maybe not go there at all.

IMO nearly 90% of the reel/rod/line/bait problems are created by the person with the rod in hand. Including those god awful professional overruns I get that look like an old fashioned backlash. I get these or similar when I try to cast into a gale or some other self imposed stupidity.

Lunkers0 If you would like whne you have a map of Namakan shoot me an email and I'll try to inform you of some June spots. You can fish the Ontario side but you must have a remote border pass and an Ontario liscense. The best map of both Kab and Namakan I got from the Minnesota state library. The are both large with a lot of detail and show the entire lake with hydrographic lines which some other maps don't. The draw back is that they are on blue print paper and you need to keep them dry. I kept them folded in a zip lock bag and they held up for years.

RM, Absolutely no offense felt. I really got a great laugh from your first post. Now if this winter would get over I would move into the gleeful months. I would not be surprised if ice out didn't come until May.

Reel Mechanic, Thank you, I got a real good out loud chuckle from your last post. Yes, I am in my 70's, 73 to be exact. And yes I know full well what a knuckle buster reel is. Sitting on a honored shelf in my office/tackle room is a Langley Streamlite knuckle buster. I can't remember when my dad bought me this reel but probably 1950 +/- a year or two. Also there is a Shakespeare Marhoff and another reel I think is a Shakespeare but it only says Master Built Model 300 so I am really not sure. Over in my rod rack there is a short probably 5' casting rod with a reel seat that has a torsion spring so you just lever the seat open put the reel in place and the torsion spring spring secured the reel. Why that torsion spring hasn't broken I don't understand. I bought the rod in about 1956. That rod has a Pflueger Supreme sitting on it that I bought in 1951 or 52. I was in high school and the $35.00 reel took a summer job pay check but I can't remember whether it was one week or two. I do know the reel made a family fishing trip from southern Illinois to Ely, MN. No I don't have any trouble standing to cast thirty yards, a little roll cast puts it right out there and usually into a coffee can sized spot. I don't have any trouble fishing all day but I am running out of partners so my 2 week trip to Canada this year will be alone for the first time. My wife is not happy about this since she thinks me going to a boat in lodge alone is not safe. Admittedly, I have become a comfort fisherman so if the weather is not comfortable I either head for the cabin or stay there. Rain suits have become what you wear while you get to shelter. Sorry this is so long but as a true Geezer I could not let your comments go unanswered. And when I started bait casting in 1947 or maybe 48 you were quite young. The reel was not the Langley but I don't remember what it was or where it went. When I see complaints about current tackle, I always think if they only knew what wonderful gear they have.

They are affective in NH so they must be OK in PA.

I fished adjoining Namakan for nearly 25 years until both my move to New Hampshire followed by the resort I stayed with closing. A long term pal from my days on Namakan has gone to Kab and stayed on the Ash River for at least 2 years. He claims that the smallmouth fishing on Kab is not nearly as good as Namakan. I can't comment on this since I have never fished Kab. If you are on the east end of Kab you can run into Namakan easily. The area around Wolf Pack Island has been productive. I was always on Namakan the first, second or third weeks of June. Some times for two weeks and I stayed on the east end on the Canadian side. If heaven is like Namakan in June I won't mind being there. During our trips small minnow baits, read Ralala's, Bomber long A's. surface poppers particuarly in white, jigs and grubs, tubes and in later years Senko's and their knockoffs. Spinner baits for some reason were not productive but them after the first few years I just never used a spinner bait. i.e. If it works don't fix it. If you go to www.fishingminnesota.com and scroll down to the local lakes section on Kabtogama, Namakan, Sand Point you will get more information than you'll ever need. The north side of Namakan in in Ontario and the south side in MN. MN has a C&R regulation in the fall to which I heartily suscribe. I wish I was still close enough but my last few trips were 1936 miles one way. With my towing mileage at around 13mpg I don't think I could afford the trip today.

Catt, You are right. I just went out in the back yard where I practice casting while I wait for the ice to get off the local lakes. My normal casting distance is in the range of 35 to 40 yards. When fishing I might throw a Crig much farther but hitting a bath tub sized target with a crig at distance is probably as good as I can do. At 75 yards a 3' diameter circle would be a challenging target. Although I've used a baitcaster for over 60 years I'm not even sure I can cast that far anymore. I did not intend to imply that a 3" circle at 75 yards was an easy matter. I just don't cast that far very often if at all.

As I have gotten older I have shortened my cast distances and increased my accuracy. No offense intended but I don't consider hitting a 3' diameter circle at the shorter distance accurate fishing casting. In cover, particuarly woody cover, I am often trying to hit a spot the size of a 1# coffee can or smaller at maybe 30 yards. If I don't get a bite I want to get the lure back to the boat and out again as quickly as possible. I go fishing. If I went to a casting contest I most likely wouldn't do so well.

When you compare Pflueger and BPS reels the similarities are so obvious I can't imagine that they aren't made by Pflueger. The die cast molds seem to be identical and it would be very costly for a company to duplicate the molds. Good for Pflueger, good for BPS and good for the fishermen.

I can't speak for NY but here in NH special stream areas are posted with signage on trees or posts. You might want to check before you make your case.