MN Fisher

Okay, did the mod and here's what it looks like. Tare the scale with the 'empty' grip clipped it, then once the fish is gripped, click it into the carabiner. You'll know the scale is set when it shows a negative without the grip clipped in.

For me, if it's not Braid - it gets KVD without fail...YZH particularly benefits from it.

Based on his question, I think that's exactly what he's looking for. I just pinged you as our resident reel expert...

All my cranks get 'pulled' on this.

Well, this is changing. I'm actually pulling a couple rigs out of 'retirement'. Pflueger 640 - did maintenance on it this morning and it's still as smooth as almost-new. Going to mount that on a Diawa 1312 - 6'6" Medium-Light/Fast 2piece...this thing is almost as old as the 640, but only needed a little cleanup and a coat of UB-40 on the handle. Cardinal 562 - that's next in line for the maintenance. Haven't decided between the 6'0" M/F 2pc Ugly Stick or the 6'0" L/M 2pc Berkley Enforcer In any case, the Avocet is re-designated for the canoe arsenal - giving me 9 rigs there. The 640 and 562 are going to be my shore-fishing rigs. For a guy who only had 3 rigs three years ago - now I'll have 11 rigs...where will it end?

@Delaware Valley Tackle - Mike, you got any idea?

Ya, we got dumped with about 4" today. Then we get this Tuesday Night Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming clear, with a low around -4. Wind chill values as low as -17. Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph. Wednesday Sunny, with a high near 8. Wind chill values as low as -14. Northwest wind around 5 mph. Wednesday Night Mostly clear, with a low around -10. Northwest wind around 5 mph. Then the weekend comes around Saturday Mostly sunny, with a high near 36. South southwest wind around 10 mph. Saturday Night Partly cloudy, with a low around 20. South southwest wind around 5 mph becoming west after midnight. Sunday Mostly sunny, with a high near 36. West wind around 5 mph. Sunday Night Mostly cloudy, with a low around 23. South wind around 5 mph. Monday A slight chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 38. That's been the story of the last few weeks - near or above freezing temps on the weekend, short bouts of near or below zero mid-week. Rinse and repeat.

Minor mod to the setup I have - remove the hook, replace with a carabiner. Once the fish is in the grip, ring on the grip goes in the carabiner...no flopping off. Darn that sounds good...something more to do before open water.

My Eyes!! My Eyes!!

No problems - but a couple 'incidents'. 1) Stationed at Offutt AFB, Omaha, Ne. Friend and I head out to one of the fishing holes west of town. Walking in from parking, there's a snake across the path. He's afraid of even garden snakes, so I hand him my pole and box, go up and quick grab it, sliding one hand up behind the head. Now that I have control, he approaches while I double check my memory for identity. "So what is it?" he asked. I look up at him and say, "Copperhead." He's instantly six feet further away. I look at the snake with a 'why'd you scare him like that?', walk a ways off into the brush and gently drop it to the ground. Then go back, get my stuff and we proceed to go fishing. I lucked out that I was able to get the head controlled before it turned and bit me...but maybe it was surprised by my 'boldness' (read idiocy). 2) Walking to a shore spot on Minnetonka - big old common watersnake in the path. He rose up and hissed at me - they try to imitate timber rattlers, which do exist in MN, but their coloration is darker. I just nudged it with the toe of my boot until he moved off into the undergrowth. He was probably close to 3' long.

I use this scale................With this grip. $30 Tare the scale to the grip and you're set to go Yes, the scale came with a grip, but I hate the style...so went with the Rapala

I don't have any issues with dig-in using braid on my BCs - and I'm using Power Pro 4 carrier...50#on my flip/pitch/punch rig and 20# on my spinner/chatter/buzz/jig rig. You just have to make sure you lay it on properly and at the right tightness when spooling up. I also pull-off and re-lay it after every trip - not replacing the line, just re-tensioning it on the reel.

Ya...I got some of those too...see how they work beside a Ned.

Basic rule of thumb. Shorter rods for more accuracy. Longer rods for more distance. St Croix Triumph also has 6' ML and L rods at $100

The one thing I miss about living in MA/RI - fresh seafood.

Oh good - maybe I'll see the last two items from my Black Friday order sometime soon.

What I would do is ignore the 'names' given and concentrate on the actual numbers. Rods are rated for a lure-weight range, and do their best casting of lures close to the middle of that range, do well in the middle third, and well-usable for the two 'end' thirds. A rod rated 1/8oz to 1/2oz (Diawa Aird-X 701MLFS/Dobyns 702SF (Medium-Light)) shines at about 5/16oz and does well from 3/16 to 3/8. A rod rated 1/4oz to 1oz (Diawa Aird-X 701MHFB (Medium-Heavy)/Dobyns Fury 704C (Heavy)) shines at about 5/8oz and does well from 3/8 to 3/4. Note on that second example - one manufacturer calls it a Medium-Heavy, the other calls it a Heavy - but the lure ratings are the same. That's why the words don't matter as much as the actual numbers. Remember that for things like bladed jigs (Spinners/Chatters/Buzzbaits) the weight listed is only for the head...add the hook, skirt, blades and any trailer to that. A 1/2oz Spinner will end up weighing 5/8 or a bit more when all is said-and-done. So, ignore the 'words' and concentrate on the actual numbers.

Just a sneak peak of something I'm doing...VIDEOS This is just a short test, but it directly involves work on the canoe modifications.

It's an evil, electronic device that thinks for itself and gets together with it's friends over the link called 'The Internet' to plan how to take over the world.

Sorry about that - closed garage (it was COLD out there yesterday) and bad lighting. The phone doesn't take great pics in that environment. Once everything is done, I'll be doing a vid detailing all the work...once it's warmer and I can roll the canoe outside.

If we allow 'them' to ban one thing about fishing - where will it stop?

Every time I even THINK about getting into larger swimbaits, I can hear my bank account screaming in pain.

Another reason to stick to Android - even my 'ancient' Galaxy S-4 displays all the info. Hey...it still works and does everything I need it to...why upgrade?

I wish - currently, 4-5 hours is the longest I get to fish. And that's only once a week if the weather is canoe-tolerable on the scheduled day.

Front and mid seats done. I've temporarily located the clamp-mount for the tablet and the base for the Hook-2. A little experimenting and my camera will mount to the tablet arm using the bicycle clamp that came with the camera - you can see it poking over the top of the tablet spot. Now the rear seat - I'm going to rout out the spot where the seat base sits so that it's inset into the wood and the top of it is flush.