MN Fisher

I didn't flip or even get swamped...but no, they just kept on going.

I just use the Plano Pro-Latch and put a few silica-gel packs in one of the compartments...works well for me and very inexpensive.

When I had my canoe, that second one happened to me more often than I can count...though it was wake boats on an inland lake.

Once you go YZH, you'll never go back.

Dude, if I didn't have the ponytail, I'd have just about nothing myself.

He doesn't have enough hair to make it worthwhile.

This is much less a problem now-days with the shielding they do....but it's still a good idea.

A bit after sunrise at the other 45th parallel... Wanna send some of that snow our way, Andy....we could use it.

I do spinning, I also love cranking, so here's my setup. 1 7'0"-7'4" Med/Fast spinning, 2500 reel - finesse, shaky, wacky, underspins, soft swimbaits 1 7'2"-7'4" Heavy/Fast casting, 7.1:1-7.5:1 reel - frogs, football jigs, pitching 1 7'0"-7'4" Med-Heavy/Moderate casting, 6.0:1-6.5:1 reel - cranks, cranks, and more cranks. 1 7'1"-7'4" Med-Heavy/Fast casting, 7.1:1-7.5:1 reel - everything else

Put a well fitting cover on it and the chances are negligible...I leave mine out all 'soft-water' season, making sure the cover is on correctly, and never had an issue with 'critters'. Well fitting, of course, means the edges where the cover and boat meet.

this is the stuff I use for backing on spinning reels. Quarter pound spools can be had for $7.49 and the spool of 4# test is 3000yds of line

I'm going to be testing Revolve on my light finesse rig this year. I'd go with 832 for now.

Depends on how it looks - sometimes it's just cut the leader off at the knot and retie, sometimes it's a foot or so.

If you're going with mainly finesse tactics - then switch to the Medium. It'll handle Neds to light-medium Shakey-Heads...and everything in between.

I think those prices are more than fair, and a couple caught my eye Hudson or even River Falls would be a good meet-place for me if it comes to that. Take care pal, and know that we're in your corner.

I do minor servicing on every new reel - some of them are okay out of the box, some are dry and some are overloaded with grease.

65 here and still in decent shape...if only this ankle would heal up. If you have morbid curiosity, here's the latest pic I have of it - I will warn you that it's not pretty... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1utnT2axOxdrU5nQYiDZ3mNo5zZdx6ym2/view?usp=sharing I count myself lucky that other than loss of depth perception from the missing eye, I'm not subjected to a lot of the things other my age are. I hope to continue this trend for at least a few more years.

On my Medium-Heavy spinning rig, I run 20# Smackdown braid to 10# InvizX leader. It's used for skipping lures under docks/overhanging trees and finesse jigs.

I tried Red Label once...didn't even keep it for leader material - tossed the remainder of the spool in the 'circular file'.

Uni knot is alright - I prefer the MK as it puts two bights of line through the eye giving it more strength there and it's a little easier to tie as you're not trying to feed the tag end through a loop multiple times, just once at the end. I do use the double uni - to attach my main line to my backing....but that's the only time I use it.

Whether it's mono, braid or FC, the MK knot has yet to let me down.

My guess is this is the problem. How often did the line run across the posts/pilings/floats the docks were supported on? - those things can collect zebra mussels, rust spots, splinters and a host of other line-damaging things. When I'm pitching docks I inspect my leader often and replace it frequently.

"I am a firm believer that a fisherman should hold the rod with their dominant hand and reel with their non-dominant hand." Let me fix that "I am a firm believer that a fisherman should hold the rod with which ever hand is more comfortable for them and reel with the other hand."

You're a Coastie - comes with the territory

If you get kinks in the line you've weakened it. If it's spooled too tightly, you can compress part of it - weakening it. If it's nicked (check your guides) it's weakened. If it's left in the sun or in a hot compartment too long, it's weakened. I've used InvizX without an issue, it's one of my favorite lines - but it's a bit finicky to environmental stress, far more than mono.