DanielG

Fishing has been horrible for a couple of weeks. I've been deep, I've been shallow, I've been in weeds, in rocks, at stream mouths. I know the fish are there someplace. Heck, I caught enough this summer and put them all back. They are just gone. They don't even show up on the fish finder. Today, I took the boat out for the season. Figured I'd troll to the ramp. I thought... 'please, just one more for the road'. A 7 inch yellow perch one a 4 inch crank... go figure.

I live in Maine. Ice on the lake I live on gets 3-4 ft thick. I don't ice fish. Something about pulling a fish up through a hole in the ice on a string at 0 degrees. Not for me. Anyway...I do have a nice woodworking shop that's heated. Make a vertical, floor standing rod holder for my...many, ah... 4 rods. Get down out of the attic and refurb an old family Shakespeare casting reel that I last use when I was about 10 yrs old, in the 60's, just for the fun of it. Make some crankbaits. I've been watching 'marling baits' on youtube. A very interesting guy. Makes great baits. Shows the process from A-Z and has an interesting to watch personality. Anyway, I'm going to give it a whirl. Hit the Y every other day. Been doing that all year. I feel much better with it. Organize fishing stuff and collect some baits I've been wanting to try. Patriots.... nuff said.

Since unemployment is at an historically low level, in fact it's at a level where the percentage is basically people moving from job to job or in between jobs, and everyone is working, I don't think that LAZY would explain it. A contractor told me the other day that he can't find workers, people don't want to work. I told him that they are working, just not for you. You either have to pay more or make the job better. They don't need you.

Well, took the wife and did one last fishing round on an unusual 80 degree fall day in Maine. The paper says this is a record temp for this day. We trolled the boat to the boat ramp but took the looong way around. Fishing has been horrible the past few weeks after a great summer for me. I thought....Maybe one last fish before it ends. And I did, sort of. I had a large crankbait that I was trolling. I got a hit and pulled up maybe a 7" yellow perch on a yellow perch lure. I haven't caught a perch here in a very, very long time. Anyway, boat's in the driveway now for the year. The lake will be lowered for dam work on October 1st. But.... looking at google maps I followed the river that drains my lake, Mousam lake, hence Mousam river to a wide area of rushing water and large flat platform rocks. It's off a bridge on the road. I remember going there as a very young kid with my family and pulling up sunfish (flatties as we called them) with worms in pools. I think I'm going to give it a try....

At the lake I fish exclusively, I find that in early and mid summer I can troll in 50 ft of water with a crankbait diving to about 5 ft. Unlike the OP it's my goto lure. I have lots of different ones but a medium sized one that has yellow perch colorings is the one that I always go back to. Cranks and paddle swimbaits seem to be my comfort zone for being confident of them working. Keep in Mind, here in Maine we have glacially made lakes. They are deep and often have steep sides. You can go from 6 ft to 30 ft in the span of traveling 20 ft on a lake.

I don't think the tariff thing is working. Here is the breakdown of what's happening. Right after this information was made public by the departments that measure such stuff the President ordered companies to come back to the US. Of course he can't do that and they probably won't. It's all about capitalism, stockholders, and the bottom line. I don't think stuff made in the USA meets that requirement. Sucks..... "About 41% of American companies are considering moving factories from China because of the trade war, or have already done so, but fewer than 6% are heading to the U.S., the American Chamber of Commerce in China said in a recent survey. Companies are largely eyeing Southeast Asia and Mexico."

I love to cast. Sometime just for the fun of it. Getting distance is.. well, fun to do. Okay, at the risk of sounding 'naive' maybe.... I've put some braid on a Curado DC. I've got this new Dobyn's 7.3 mh glass. I put the brake dial on 2 (as recommended). I adjust the tension so that the lure just barely drops on it's own instead of following the Shimano directions of tightening till the reel doesn't shake. I cast and it goes so far compared to what I'm used to with my spinning reel. If I put a large heavy crankbait on and adjust the tension for it or put an unweighted small plastic with the tension adjusted for it, it goes roughly the same distance. When I'm not on the boat I go down to the pier and just fan cast (even if no fish) just to watch where the bait lands and makes rings. It never goes much further or closer (unless I release at the wrong time) Always the same with all my baits. Of course better with the wind. I've never had a setup like this. I find myself casting often just to see it land. I must say that this distance increased a lot when I went from fluoro to 40 lb super pro slick 8 braid. I sometimes set my trolling motor to slowly pass by the shore. I cast inshore, covering the area. I have to now be careful to be far enough out. When I first started doing this with this setup I was hitting the shoreline rocks and trees. Or I could just cast with less force. Another note. Even though I had been using my thumb with the Shimano adjustment directions. With the way I tension the line now I never use my thumb unless I cast upwind in a stiff breeze, but then again, only just in case. I kid you not. Signed, in Awe in Maine

I'm a recent convert to braid from a lifetime of mono and brief bout with fluoro. I use 30 on spinning and 40 on casting. I don't think I'll go back. Definitely not to fluoro. I'm still toying with the need for a clear leader though. I like not having one but still wonder if it's necessary or not. Verdict out for me on this.

Hi, Dan from Acton (near Sanford). I'm on Mousam lake.... Welcome aboard. Tons of stuff here. It can get you loopy just looking at all the comments and advice.

This looks like a good knot. I like the doubled up part at the swivel eyelet. A hedge against wearing at that point.

I still see 99% of the stuff in stores made in asian countries. You still have to hunt hard for American made and most items just aren't. I wonder just how much has really chaned.

Hmm.... I'll bet you guys can actually see the baby's elbow in those ultrasounds too. I look at these picts and see jagged lines. The brush pile maybe, but the rest is just lines to me.

I've got a fury med on my spinning outfit. I recently got a champion mh glass for my casting reel. I like them both but the solid feel of the arc when I've got a fish on the line with the glass has made me a convert. I don't have a lot of rod experiences but I am really liking this rod. Hard to explain, It's like the fish and rod have an evenly balance tug of war; like the rod is fighting back.

I use the improved clinch knot for just about everything, always have. It's to the point that I have to really think about how to tie anything else. It always holds with mono/fluoro and braid.

Here I catch mainly crappie and bass. The crappie all tend to be in one ally of my lake. I've not caught any any place else on the lake. When I take off on my morning troll, the first leg of it, about a thousand feet will yield three or four crappie. Later in the summer they are the size of dinner plates. Anyway, what I wanted to say isn't about catching them, it's about reeling them in. Bass, any bass will put up a pretty good tussle most of the time. Crappie, here anyway, without fail, hit the lure, tug a couple of times, then they will float to the surface and look like you're pulling in a frisby on it's side. They don't move again till you get them in the boat. Later in the season when they're big it's like pulling in a frisby on it's side that's filled with clay. A strange fish indeed. I'd rename them possum fish.

My Nephew recently had both done, one month apart. He swears that he has knees that are better than the originals when they were working at their best. Everyone I know who has it done swears by it. So, I think you'll be alright. Just do those exercises they want you to do so you'll have the range and flexibility back.

I got a Curado DC awhile back and wrote about my experiences here. I too had the frustrations you've had. I figured out the way it really needs to be adjusted. This really works and I don't know why Shimano doesn't explain it this way. I learned it by researching other curado dc owners online who have written about it. With braided (I have it too) put it on the #2 setting. Each time you put a different bait on you'll have to do a simple adjustment. Forget about the side to side play adjustment in the instructions that came with it. Put your bait on and reel it to the tip of the pole. Loosen the tension knob slowly until it begins to drop slowly. Do this again but this time slightly tighten the tension knob so that you have to shake the pole a little to get it to drop some each time you shake it. Cast and you won't have a backlash... probably at all. The only time I might is if I cast into a stiff wind but I keep my thumb handy when I do that. For fun, put on a heavy bait. I have a larger crankbait I use. Cast and watch it go a mile especially if cast with the wind. It's astonishing to see just how far it will cast when you do this. I'm still learning but getting there slow but sure. Good luck.

I've always used mono. Recently I spooled up some fluorocarbon. It was okay but I just didn't like it. It was like mono but with a bad feel to it. I put some braided super pro slick on my spinning reel, #30 and immediately loved it. A couple of weeks ago I've put some braided, #40, on my caster and I equally love it. I'm not using leaders but feel like I probably should. Not looking forward to that. I guess I can use up what's left of the fluorocarbon for that next season. BTW, on another note. I have a Curado DC reel. It was great with mono and fluoro as far as nesting was concerned. Didn't happen much, or bad. Since I've spooled up the braided I find it's very difficult to get it to tangle. If I use it along with a little thumb, I expect I may never have to pick out a nest. Watch that statement make me a liar tomorrow!

I agree. I've ordered a 12 volt computer cooling fan that I'm going to wire in parallel with the rheostat. I'm mounting it in a plastic electrical box and the air from fan will run from one side of the box to a vent out the other side over the circuit board. I see multiple types that are of the ebay one in your link on Amazon. I chose this one because of the more favorable reviews of it compared to the type of the one in the link you sent. It may mean nothing but we'll see. I would have put a fan on any unit I chose. I did get the unit the other day and hooked it up with a battery charger in the shop. The thing works so I guess it's a go to put on when I take the boat out of the water this weekend. We'll see. Thanks for the reply.

I live where JBMaine does... 38 degrees this morning... it's gonna hit 80 in three days. Three days of anomalous warm weather then it's cold again. The days are nice though 50's-60's. Makes for working outside nice. Still shorts and t-shirt at those temps. We linger with summer and act as if winter isn't here yet. If you're still in your shorts it's still summer. JB, I haven't figured out how to handle temperature fishing patterns. The fish simply disappear. Not even many on my Garmin. I think I need to fish the shallow areas with weeds in the southern end of the lake. Haven't done that yet. Maybe they are there? Anyway, a drawdown on the lake beginning Oct 1. All boats out to work on the dam this fall. Short season.

I can't offer any advice on the fishing state but I will say this. My wife and I have a small camper and have not only traveled to but toured all 48 continental states on multiple trips over the years (except North Dakota, I saw SD and thought that was enough). Anyway, being in Maine we originally thought that we'd drive south in winter to find summer for awhile each year. Each time we did it we found that it's nearly as cold in most southern states as it is in New England. We've awakened to temperatures in the 20's in Mississippi and the Carolinas and places in between. We've found that the polar air bellies down the center of the country to the gulf. The only areas that seem to stay warmest are the corners like Florida and the southwest, Arizona, NM, etc. The rest of the country has it's own version of cold to some extent. Maybe the cold time is shorter in southern areas but it's still there.

I was posting on a 'tariffs' thread just now and wondered if anyone makes or finds alternatives to expensive accessory fishing gear. There are already forum topics on things like lure making and such. I'm thinking the other stuff. Like pole sleeves, or tackle box alternatives, pole holders, just to name a few obvious ones. So, do you make your own accessories? Do you find less expensive alternatives to accessories costing a lot because they are labeled "for fishing"? i.e. I use surprisingly well made multiple compartment sewing thread boxes to keep my crankbaits. Side by side they cost half as much as those labeled for fishing and seem remarkably the same. I also make my own rod sleeves out of sharkskin cloth. Really inexpensive, easy, and they are super protective. Rod holders out of PVC pipe. Etc....

Sort of related. To avoid some of the prices you can sometimes substitute. You can't get by fishing lures/poles/reels much but I try to purchase other stuff differently. For instance. I find that sewing thread plastic boxes are often great tackle boxes. You know, the ones that are milky colored with multiple dividers in them. But side by side one is double or triple the price because it holds lures instead of thread spools. I purchase sharkskin cloth and have my sister with the sewing machine sew up the edge of a long section of it to make rod sleeves. A yard of cloth will make a bunch of them. You've seen it. It's the stuff that you often see zippered cased laptops in. It feels like wetsuit material. Tough, a bit rigid, light, and doesn't snag on the rod. If I needed a tackle bag I'm sure I could find one suitable for the job, just not from a tackle store. It would probably be half the price. I'll bet you guys/gals have lots of your own examples too. What a great idea for a thread....

The lake I'm on is fixing the dam this year. The water level will be dropped enough so the boat launch is unusable. A sign says "All boats need to be removed by October 1st. The water level will be lowered for dam repair". My boat is a one lake boat. Suffice to say it's unusual. Launches in the spring and out in the fall to store. It's impractical to take it anyplace else. Usually I might get some October even early November fishing in. Looks like it's pier casting next month.

Yes, that describes it exactly. This unit handles 60 amps and my motor draws max about 40. I have a second motor that I use only on full so it's a battery switch that turns it on. Yes, two electric motors gets me around the lake. I'm putting a dpdt switch in the mix to add reverse. You can get these units with a reverse switch built in but I couldn't find one that had as good ratings as this one. I'm going to place it in a lexan box with a small dc computer fan to keep it cool and mount it inside the console with just the control knob showing. Right now I've got a remote console mounted 5 speed switch like the ones you find in the handle. But it's been acting up lately after a few years. So, instead of changing it out I'll give this a try for a change. Fingers crossed.