TOXIC

On the chain of lakes I fish in Wisconsin, trolling is illegal.

For the initial spooling, I use this box. It will hold up to the 3,000 yd wide spools. Reels stay on the rods both spinning and casting. For spinning, after I fill them, I go outside and walk off as much of the new line as possible and reel it in. That is the absolute best way of removing any line twist I have found.

While I would love a new boat and I could certainly afford one with the contacts I have developed over the years making it a little more affordable, my conservative mind just won’t let me spend that kind of cash on a hobby. Add I fish with a buddy who has to have the “latest and greatest” so I get the benefits of that as well and we take his boat and my truck on our trips to Florida and St Clair. Finally, my garage won’t fit either a 20 or 21 footer so my boat has to sit outside covered on an extension I had poured for it. I couldn’t do that to a new boat even though my current boat is no worse for the wear being outside. My buddy just upgraded his troller to a Power Pole Move and I am buying his Lowrance Ghost as an upgrade to my Fortrex. It’s hard enough shelling out $2,500 for the trolling motor swap. 😂

@WRB Tom I had to google it a couple of years ago because I also had never heard of it. Black-nose or black-stripe crappie are black crappie that have a recessive gene causing a black stripe from the dorsal fin down to the lips. The recessive gene may prove to be an evolutionary change, helping the crappie to see, as well as providing better camouflage when stalking prey.

Not a jinx by any means. We’ve had friends out there the last 2 weeks and they say the same thing. It’s the exact pattern we try to hit when we go to St Clair the end of May. In 20 years we have hit it perfect just 1 time and were catching 100 per day in the 3-5lb range. As for Headwaters, we are obviously going for trophy largemouths on the same pattern.

My only problem with the line spoilers both store and home versions is that you have to remove the reel. Yes, I know there are some that clamp onto the rod but those make me nervous. The problem with removing the reel every time is that I really crank down my reel seats. I try not to remove the reels any more than I have to which keeps me from cracking the seats. I’ve had too many reels come off or get loose.

The store spoilers are good for putting specific amounts of line and it’s a convenience. I can do it just as well at home. Doesn’t matter who spooled it, I’m going to open the bail and walk out as much as possible down the street or in my yard and respool it anyway. 😉

Well, we’re gonna find out soon enough. Heading to Headwaters this Friday and although it’s not a river, it is affected by the same cold fronts. Personal intel says they are moving up on the beds now. With the warm weather predicted for the entire week we are there, I’m giddy about the possibilities.

2 separate events within the same week. About 6 inches total. Mother Nature put it down, I’m gonna let her melt it.

5 days before we head to this place. Headwaters.

When I lived in Massachusetts they used cinders and here they use liquid brine, salt and sand.

Some of the new GM 4wd don’t have 4 low either. Let’s not mistake the settings within 4wd to engaging the 4wd. When I say “auto” I mean no outside hubs to lock not the auto setting once in 4wd.

Finesse Plastics. I can powerfish plastics but I am at my best finesse fishing them. I’m a true believer that big fish bite finesse baits. That being said, I’m on my way to Florida next week and I just rearranged and restocked my baits and I have every plastic from 2.5 inch Yamatanuki to 10 inch Ichi packed.

To me, the difference in bite detection is centered on the bait I am throwing. Obviously a bite on a Senko is not the same as on a crankbait. Line does play a part as does lead vs tungsten weights. That is why I try to keep everything spooled with mono or pure braid. When I use tungsten for dropshot weights, there is waaaay too much feedback through the line. Likewise I have to reset my brain when using braid dragging on St Clair due to the increased feedback. I know my gear and have become well versed on what a bite feels like depending on the whole setup.

Now I’m really confused.😂. My 2016 Silverado has the option of 4 Auto but no outside locking hubs and the general consensus is not to leave it in Auto mode all the time.

@Pat Brown I had to post that species up here to get the low down on them. Also some have a black speck on their lip. The SPRO crank I posted has that black stripe down the back.

I am calling everything other than having the locks on the front hubs “automatic” which is what most all 4wd vehicles are today. In my early jeep with manual hubs, if you didn’t lock them in at the wheels and tried to shift into 4wd inside the cab, you would not get 4wd. My reason for asking is that she was having problems in the snow getting her gooseneck trailer out of a field and when I asked her if she got out and locked her hubs in, she told me that the shop told her she had the first year that ford put the vacuum controlled “automatic” hubs in their trucks and that she did not have to lock them in at the wheels. She verified she is getting 4wd without locking them at the wheels but I wondered if there was any advantage to locking them at the wheels or if it was redundant.

As I said in another post, my favorite crank color that I have caught hundreds of fish of different species on is a crappie pattern by SPRO called Cell Mate. It’s got more than bone and black colors, it’s got some green, a red chin and a slightly irradecent sheen to it.

I’m not being crass when I say this but how many “what’s the best reel for under $100” or “who makes the best Senko knockoff” or any one of a thousand topics @Glenn has cataloged in the archives, can you read before you get frustrated enough to step back? Not to say that new topics don’t come up and there’s always useful information but I like to use the site as a sounding board for things I don’t know or getting questions answered that are a little out of the norm. There’s a lot of experience here but you have to take the mundane with the interesting.

I’m no stranger to 4 wheel drive on vehicles. I have owned multiple trucks, 2 jeeps and I understand manual and vacuum hubs. My first jeep had manual hubs where I had to lock them in on each wheel. My 1993 Wrangler had auto hubs just like the rest of my trucks. My daughter has a 2001 Ford F-350 with the 7.3 diesel. It has the manual hubs but the shop she takes it to that is a diesel speciality repair shop told her that she has auto in addition to the locking hubs so she doesn’t have to manually lock them in. Something just doesn’t sound right about that. They told her 2001 was the first year ford offered the auto locking hubs. So my question is, does she still have to manually lock the hubs? Any advantage to doing so? I’ve never seen both manual and automatic on a truck.

I call Teri Cindric a personal friend. She has braved the abuse and stayed with a cottage full of guys on St Clair to fish smallmouth. She was Angler of the Year on the LBAA this year and fishes both bass boats and kayaks.

Good choice. I have 2 Cutco. I have filleted hundreds of fish with mine. I thought I lost my original and liked it so much, I bought another and then found it. 😂

Funny thing is, I never knew what a sunburn was until I was 16 years old. I tanned to a dark brown every year. Never used sunscreen even on trips to Mexico, Florida and the Bahamas and actually used sun accelerator. As I aged I could notice that my sun immunity started to fade. All through my 20’s, 30’s and 40”s, I had no concern for protection. From that time forward though I have “wised” up. I do make regular trips to the dermatologist and I have never had anything negative but I’m not a gambler, so it’s time to hedge my bets.

As the years have piled up in my fishing endeavors, I’d like to think I’ve grown a bit wiser as time has moved on. I was a guide for some odd 20 years and let me give you a rundown on how I dressed for every summer outing. I’m not going to talk about cold weather fishing because I didn’t pick that up until later and it’s a whole different ball of wax. Let’s go from head to toe. Always wore a hat but I started with visors for comfort. Regular off the shelf cheap sunglasses because I was always afraid of losing them. For a shirt, I always wore a short sleeved “fishing” shirt that was vented on the back. A tribute to the saltwater crowd. For pants, it was always cargo shorts and for shoes, normally sandals like Teva. By the end of summer I was very dark tanned. Then one day when I was getting a haircut, my barber commented that there was a spot on the top of my head that she didn’t like. It had been a couple of years since I had been to the dermatologist so I went in. He took that spot and a piece of my cheek to be biopsied. Luckily both were negative but I had a few stitches to heal up. It put me on high alert and I decided it was time to think about sun protection more seriously. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t an overnight change but here is where I’m at today. Still wear a hat but now it’s a full mesh. I’ve upgraded to prescription high quality sun glasses. Add in a buff to cover my neck, ears and face and for a shirt, I now wear moisture wicking, long sleeved specialty fishing shirts, preferably with a hood. As for pants I have transitioned to long legged fishing pants that are just as cool as shorts. My footwear is still a sandal style but rubberized for better traction and water resistance. Where does this all lead you ask? What’s left in my quest to complete my transition from sun damage? It’s summer fingerless fishing gloves. I have never been able to comfortably wear gloves (summer or winter). With GSM’s acquisition of Cuda and their specialized fishing fingerless gloves with a built in cooling patch, I’m finally finishing the final piece.

Great info. The station I was going to start using for my non ethanol (Royal Farms) has it as an option all on the same line from the same pump as the other fuels. The other station I saw that had it, the ethanol free was a separate pump that only had ethanol free in it and it wasn’t even on the island with the other pumps, it was a stand alone pump. Luckily the fill tank on the boat is on the same side as the truck so I could pump a couple gallons in the truck then switch to the boat but I wonder if it really makes a difference if you are pumping 15-20 gallons vs 1. I would assume so.