padlin

GE killed the Housatonic in southern MA and probably into CT. The only good side to it is that as you aren't supposed to eat any of it's fish it's pretty much an undeclared catch and release river.

Type stropping compound on Amazon. I use white (fine), but there is course and super fine too.

Used go in the top shelf like you do. At home I toss the beat up ones and just leave the rest in the top shelf for next trip. I do leave the last used on the rods unless I decide to change something the night before the next trip.

I use 15 lb and have not experienced the line digging in, its also not unruly. I do use a backer of mono.

I've gone thru many techniques over the years, for chisels, planes, and knives, kitchen and carving. I settled on a glass plate with wet/dry sandpaper in the higher grits with oil as a lube. Also diamond plates, mainly for knives. Final finish is a strop. I'm fairly good at it. For bad damage or outdoor tools I use a slow speed grinding wheel and a file if needed. I sharpen the kitchen and pocket knives before the holidays and use a diamond rod before each use. Never had much luck with the ceramic.

Guess they make up for the lack of sales tax one way or another.

Just gave my 1300 to my grandson. Once I got my first Stradic the 1300 was relegated to the box of unused nut too good to toss tackle.

MA is half price 65-69, free after that.

Do you use a skillet of deep fryer?

After having to clean out my mothers house when she passed I became an anticollector. I think you'd call her a collection hoarder. I have none.

I can fry them fine, but any kind of batter or breading peals off and stays in the skillet. And yes, I can crack chicken farts.

Not sure what you mean by come out of the weeds but for the small shallow southern MA Berkshire ponds I noticed today the weed cover is shrinking, a lot of the surface slop has sunk. I didn't notice any difference in where I was catching bass, along and above submerged weeds, and the edges of lily pads. It is getting easier without all the floating stuff.

I'm probably the last person to ask. For me, it gets harder to catch LM once the surface starts to drop in temp, usually in early Oct. But... I've gotten all my biggest in Oct, so I stick it out till roughly mid month, which is when I get down to one or 2 fish and it's just not worth the time to me. I fish shallow ponds, average about 5', 10'ish at the deeper channels, deeper waters probably differ. I read 63-65 surface temp the other morning after a couple nights in the 40's, 3 small bass in 4-5 hrs. I believe the bite shuts down once the water drops below 60. Might try afternoons as opposed to early am.

I never had luck getting any type of coating to stick to fish or chicken when frying. I need to find a class somewhere that'll teach just what you want to learn.

I've used LL Bean's for years, never tried another brand so take it for what it's worth. On edit... Mine are flannel lined.

Pretty much the same here, but it's like this every year. It cools down at night and the bite goes with it. I did go out today after a couple warm days and nights and did better. In the next few weeks it'll drop to nothing, at least the LM part of it. Sometime in Oct I'll call it quits for the winter.

Think I'm going to try the FG, I like the lack of a tag on the leader, to me that's what catches both the guides and weeds. If I can see to tie it.

Thanks all for the info. Used the SD knot yesterday without any problems, I just use more line tying it. So the only thing is I need to use a longer leader as I retie a few times a day. I use a double uni now, going to have to find something that's a little smaller, I can feel the knots ticking thru a few of the guides. I use 15lb FC leader for the pickerel that inhabit 2 of the better ponds I frequent, works well stopping bite offs.

Not that I've tried it, but how about using P-tex like they fix gouges on skis. You melt it on then scrape off the excess. I imagine there are utubes on it.

I'll have to mess around more with this one, the few times I just tried it it slipped on mono when I tugged on the hook. I'll try it later on braid but I don't have issues working with that. Tried the San Diego which is almost the same, no slips, yet. I'll use/try them both tomorrow when I'm on the water and see how it goes. I noticed how the guy in the video hooked the hook onto the tackle box when tying, I just tryed that on mine and something so simple helped a lot. I'm sitting in a canoe where the box is right in front of me anyway.

I've been having problems tying knots this year, the actual act of tying, I suspect the problem is I'm getting older. Started using fluorocarbon for leaders to thwart the pickerel as opposed to straight braid in years past. I'm having problems seeing and manipulating it, I wear progressives, and the fingers are losing dexterity. I tie Palomar and Improved Clinch knots depending on the lure I'm using, both are pretty simple and I've used them for years, the use of leaders is new. There's not much I can do about the joints getting older but maybe I can improve seeing the leader. In general I'm finding braid and green mono are much easier to tie. I hate to give up the transparency but I think being able to tie good knots has to come first. Has anyone tried colored FC? I'm also thinking of going to a colored mono on my "finesse" reel as opposed to the clear 6 lb. Comments appreciated.

Welcome from the other end of the state where the fishing isn't bad.

Being from MA, past experience says root for both, still do, can't lose.

Sounds like Butyl tape, commonly used on rv's. It's a grey or black sticky putty like product that comes in a roll, it stays malleable. I'd not want a permanent bond as these boats tend to do like your dad's did. I've used butyl tape replacing windows and such on my old campers, I'd think it would work well for your project. There's a couple Facebook groups for these, might join and ask the question there.

For inline spinners like Mepps going lighter/smaller and adjusting the speed helps keep the lure up out of the weeds but they are still weed magnets. I use them in the clear spots, but then I'm not shore fishing. Sure is easier to find spots that are easier to fish with a boat of some sort. The most weedless lures I use are T rigged craws and worms, again lighter stay higher in the water although higher isn't always better for bigger bass. I like burying the knot in the plastic and use a small bullet weight with one of the sinker stops then slides over the line before you add the weight. Irregardless, you still get some weeds, kind of the nature of the beast. Where it's real weedy I might try weightless.