iceintheveins

It's been almost impossible to change anything in Colorado, which is a big government state, and it would be MUCH harder in California which is Colorado on steroids. It would take money and massive outreach programs to make any sort of difference at all.

Morons at every level, be it government or otherwise, have a way of ruining things for everyone else. Although most cities and agencies are largely immune from such law suits and they are rarely if ever successful, it's another reason they use to bar us from places they don't want us in the first place. It's terrible in Colorado with the environmentals and they are almost impossible to fight. In California and Washington it's just a lost cause. Too much big money.

I wish anglers would band together and use the ballot measure initiative to overturn reservoir restrictions, quarantines, and the like. You'd need a lot of money to do it so you could run ads to inform the general public of the truth though, considering all the enviros in California.

I just bought a Curado I. Too bad I didn't wait till now so I could have saved $40. I took the spool bearings out and cleaned them really good because they are greasy. My Curado 200e5 is my favorite baitcast reel, I wish they still made them.

The Halo Crankbait, 7'10" MH is a great choice I hear, and they even make an XH one for very big cranks.

I use spinning gear for flukes most of the time. I use a Pflueger President 6930 and a 7' MH Quantum Spinning Rod with 8 pound mono. You can throw flukes on a casting reel with 12 pound test and a MH 7' rod as well but not quite as far as the spinning setup.

I use hi vis yellow for my jigs and plastics as well because I'm a line watcher. I just use a fluorocarbon leader.

I've caught them as low as mid 50s on topwater. However once it hits 60 - 63 the topwater bite really turns on IMO.

Yeah you're right on the money.

There just isn't enough water to go around. The Southwest's largest river is the Colorado, which is more than twice the volume of the Sacramento River, about 15 times that of the Rio Grande, but only 1/4 that of the Columbia and 1/5 that of the Mississippi. It's already tapped out and most years does not make the ocean after the lower 90 miles downstream of Yuma are dried up. So unless we build new reservoirs AND desalinization plants, we are SCREWED here in the west for water.

We get about 8 - 10 inches of precip. in a normal year here in Western Colorado. Southern Cali is not much more than that along the coast, and WAY less than that once you cross the mountains into the Mojave. Lucky to see 2" per year in some of those areas.

The Tatula is probably the best reel in the $100 - 150 range.

Yep, oiling the brake drum takes care of the squeal or whine.

The veritas micro guide 2.0, or the ***. The ghost is good too. But I would go with the Veritas.

Had the same problem with one of my Pro Qualifiers in it's third season, it started to screech on the cast. I oiled the drum around the magnetic break, the side of the spool and also the centrifugal break very lightly. Took care of the problem.

For me, the X - Rap 10 is probably the best one I use, but the Dynamic Lures J - Spec and Travado are almost as good and sometimes better. Can't go wrong with LC Pointers in 78 and 100 sizes either.

Crazy how they close publically owned waters to fishing, thinking that public use contaminates raw water. Scientifically it's just not possible. And ban you from Casitas? WTH? For disagreeing with the stupid quarantine or something? Anglers have got to band together and defeat these municipal nuts who think they can unilaterally bar us from our own lakes.

The vast majority of the water used in California from the Colorado is diverted into the All American Canal, which has a flow of up to 26,000 cfs and a normal flow of over 15,000 cfs, greater than the normal discharge of the Sacramento River. The Palo Verde Valley upstream uses about 3000 cfs as well. The Colorado River aqueduct carries about 2000 cfs to Los Angeles and San Diego. You are correct about Colorado using a lot of water, but it's far less than California. Much of the water allotted to other states goes unused, so California uses it. Most of the volume of the Colorado comes into the river from Utah and New Mexico, as the river leaves Colorado with only 1/4 of it's total flow.

I am going to try a different fluorocarbon for deep cranking besides P - Line 100% fluoro last year, as the abrasion resistance wasn't all that good when cranking rip rap. I am thinking of either Seaguar Tatsu or Sunline. Is the Tatsu worth the extra cost? Of the two main sunline choices (sniper and shooter), which of the two has the better abrasion resistance?

BPS PQ

I recently acquired a weedless Hudd gill, and it swims on it's side. Is there any way I can tune this baby to run straight on a slow to medium retrieve?

We are in trouble too in Colorado in that regard. We were at about 60% of average for our snowpack until early march when a pair of BIG snowstorms bumped it up to about 85%. But a very warm, dry march depleted all that progress we made and we are down to 60% again. California, well, it got almost no snow in some areas. Colorado needs about 7 - 9 years of well above average snow to return to normal, and California probably twice that. Another drought year and we are all SCREWED!

Remember, almost 80% of all water consumed in California and here in the west is for irrigation. Municipal use is just spit in the bucket, although every little bit adds up. It would require less processing in a desalinization plant to render the water usable for crops than it would for municipal consumption. It's the only thing that will work unfortunately. The state already dries up the massive Colorado River, which has over twice the volume of the Sacramento River, for irrigation use in Imperial Valley. The valley uses 20,000 cfs alone for irrigation. But this drought is partly man caused, no doubt, because environmentalists control the state and most Western States period. They mandate insane flows in river for endangered fish that can never recover anyway. And they won't let new dams and reservoirs be constructed either.

Stevens, Goodwin, and Roesiger are good for smaller lakes. Stevens is probably the best of the three of for bigger fish, Goodwin probably the best for numbers. All three have largemouth and some pigs, especially Roesiger. For the two bigger lakes, Sammamish and Washington are great. Also the lower and middle Yakima River are great but that's a fairly decent drive.

I've heard that with the new Curados, the spool bearings are packed with grease when you get them. Should I just clean the bearings and the area around them and then re oil them? Is that all that probably needs done? I'll be getting one in a few days.