Wayne P.

It's too early to be retrospective, there are 18 more days left in '07.

I carry a few Daiwa Goldcast reels for the inexperienced anglers that may fish with me. Good drags, higher gear ratio than the 33, and tangle free. I change the line to 14# braid also. The line pin also rotates to limit line abraison.

I fished yesterday on a lake in Va.. The air temp was 51 in the morning and 78 in the afternoon. The water temp during the day went from 48 to 54 degrees depending on wind direction. I started off trying the usual cold water presentations using jigs and Silver Buddys presented to fish I saw on my LCR. They did not work so I started using summer tactics with wacky rigged finesse worm, crankbaits, and hula grubs. All of those worked in depths of 8' to 22'. I just had to stay on creek channel edges or steep drops close to the channels.

Ethanol gas. Lots places in the country only have E-10 gasoline and it may or may be posted on the pump. I did some web searching and found these products that may be better or equal to the marine Stabil. http://www.mdramazon.com/

For fishing when it's tough or easy::

Stabil has a new Marine Formula to preserve the ethanol blends which attract water.

That "engineering" just might make the nominations for the Darwin Awards.

There is a transducer made for shoot thru in aluminum boats. It is called Alumaducer and marketed by Vexilar. http://www.vexilar.com/pages/accessories/accy_transducers_au.html

Recoil guides are made of the same metal that the Terminator T-1 spinnerbait wire is. NO THANKS

The hot side is also known as the private side, there are no public launches.

You cannot get to the hot side from the cold side by boat. There are three dikes separating them. You can fish some warmer water on the cold side at dike three which is the water outlet to the main lake, near the dam. The only craft I can think of that may be able to cross over is an airboat or float plane.

These gloves work well while fishing with spinning gear, and somewhat functional for baitcasting. http://www.rei.com/product/743106

You can do it cheaply also. Some of my rods have balancers that I made. I got some plastic chair leg tips from Lowe's that were close to the diameter of my rod butts. I then bought some lead egg sinkers in 3/4 oz,1 oz and 1 1/2 oz. I put the sinkers on a concrete floor with the hole verticle and whacked them with a hammer until they were the diameter of the inside of the chair leg tips. Then I inserted one of the weights into the chair leg tips and slipped it on the rod butt to check for balance. Most of the time the 1 oz. was the correct size. A wrap of tennis racket handle tape keeps them in place.

Dodgeguy, tennis elbow is why I started balancing my rods also.

The idea of balancing your outfit is for two purposes. First is to prevent the muscle fatigue in you arm that occurs trying to hold up the weight of the rod ahead of the reel. Second the weightless feeling of a well balanced rod helps detect light bites as even the slightest resistance of a fish can be felt as your arm muscles are not tensed trying to overcome the rod tip weight. I balance my rods so that the rod tip rises when held lightly. Even though you add weight to the overall rig, it feels lighter when done properly.

Get some PVC that will fit over your fishing seat pedistals (short folding seat type) along with two 90 degree fittings and one Tee. Cut two lengths to the height above the deck that your cover will allow. Install the two pedistals, place the two pieces of pipe over them. Then install the 90 degree fittings on the two pieces. Measure the distance between the two and cut a length of PVC to that length. Then cut that lenght in half. Put those two pieces together with the Tee and place that assembly into the two 90 degree fittings. Then cut a length of PVC to go from the Tee to the floor of the boat. Do all this without glueing any parts together. You can glue some of the parts together later if you want to. What you will have is a frame with center support to handle just about any weight and won't have any sharp edges to damage your cover.

Here are two choices for heated gloves---- http://cozywinters.com/heated-gloves.html?source=go&gclid=CKi03-G99o8CFReQGgodxEXrlQ http://www.schooluniforms.com/heated-gloves.html

It sounds like you do not have the transducer mounted properly in/on your boat. Solve your improper installation and you won't need another unit for depth readings.

Once I got rid of the crappy Vanish and started using the BPS XPS Fluorocarbon, I don't need to search for another brand.

If I could find some larger ones, I'd use them. I don't like for the bait to take up a lot of the hook bend. I have some of the 5.5 size and the 5/0 is not big enough for those in my opinion. I use the 5/0 for a Super Fluke and sometimes I use the 5/0 Superline hook when I am fishing a lake with a potential for a 10# + bass. After all I am fishing for LARGEmouth bass so a large hook is appropriate.

The video at this site utilizes a non weighted hook---http://www.lftlures.com/ For a weedless/weightless presentation, I recommend the Gamakatsu G-Lock in 5/0. That hook has a large enough bend that the bulk of the bait will not overcome it's hooking ability and the shorter hook shank fits within the limited length of the bait head. I am assuming you are referring to the Lake Fork Live Magic Shad. The previous mentioned hooks with the weight and spring or spike attachment are a little too long for the bait head. Falcon has a weighted version of the G-Lock, but insertion is a bit tricky to limit damage during the process. I install that hook before I tie the line on by pushing the eye into the bait first. http://www.fishingworld.com/FalconLures/Details.tmpl?ID=1028423419896244&Cart=119577428420269327&SKU=55%20G-LOCK

I use the Stren Super Braid in the gold color and the Spiderwire Stealth in the yellow color for wacky worming in all water conditions. I also use a fluorocarbon leader with each to make them sink.

This is the hook for that bait.

Next KVD, don't worry about having gasoline smell on your hands. According to the "experts", the fish can not smell it.

It's no big deal. The earth has had global warming cycles between ice ages long before humans supposedly made an impact on the climate.