Well done Jaximus.........you will go far in the arena.......a gladiator of renown.  up

mastertangler wrote on Mar 24^th, 2013 at 2:01am:

waaay ahead of you, she got a fancy dinner that night(before i told her about my new purchases).  suddenly all was well

Hmmmm.........it appears that I might be a bad influence on you Jax. As a proponent of "fair and balanced" let me offer some proactive advice that you may need if you continue your unabated forays into Gander land 

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Don't laugh.......its not meant as a joke.......(well maybe just a little  ). Yes yours truly has attended and it was a swell time, I would go again in a heartbeat. Never, ever resist if your wife suggests any sort of "marriage enrichment" (counseling included). This non compliance is fatal.......I went, had a great time and my woman couldn't "believe how much I had changed". Of course that was merely perception.......she believed what she wanted. I just went back to doing what I had always done.......BUT, the mere fact that I was willing to go was enough.

AND.......don't wait until your in crisis to go........preventative maintenance is always best!

Oh, and now you have to do something for her.......can't be selfish. Take her for a nice dinner.

And there you have it.........I get that it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission but you can't leave the tear unmended lest it get bigger. 

I like what you got BTW........sounds pretty sweet.

mastertangler wrote on Mar 22^nd, 2013 at 5:59pm:

oh yes... i got 'grounded' by the wife because of my 'kid in a candy store' mentality at gander mt yesterday. after running up quite the bill i came home with lots of new goodies. it took all of 15 minutes because i was out on the river trying out the new stuff! excellent!! i came home with a guide series 8' light action 'crappie' rod and new suffix seige 6lb test clear. the crappie rod might be my favorite purchase in quite some time! (even though i came home with a pile of the new for 2013 rapalas) i ended up tail hooking a 25lb carp with a tiny husky jerk and the rod was flawless. dealing with a fish of that size hooked in the worst way possible, the rod handled all the runs, all the current hastles, all 37 minutes worth. it loaded nice and even, it absorbed all the side to side shaking of the tail. i let the rod do all the work. it has a nice long handle that balances out the length of the rod and its surprisingly light. for being only a light action, it had a decent enough backbone i could actually see myself trolling with it up in the Q or elsewhere. plus, my favorite part is that the eyelets are nice and small so it stores like a baitcasters but handles like a spinning rod.

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plus i got a new clamshell box for my phone/wallet for fishing out on the river, new line, more rapalas, these really neat rubber coated wire tie down thingers, like a rubber coated twist tie, plus at fleet i got an anchor mounting pulley set for my new canoe anchor rig, 2 ft of chain for an anchor, a 16 foot retractable dog leash for an anchor rope, 1/8 inch diameter camo rope, and a set of those cheapo plastic cup holders for your car. with tin snips and velcro, they quickly became removable canoe cup holders for both a soda can and a nalgeen bottle size!! ill try to get some pictures posted of all the work ive done!!

Did you ever notice how when UPS or Fed EX goes on strike the public is usually on their side? Is it because they bring us goodies? I think so!

On first impression the first thing that stands out about the Tekota is, ugh, it's heavy. Yup......4 bearings, aluminum (not graphite)  etc. etc. You don't build something with premium components without weight. The other down side is it's pricey......as in "ouch"!

The upside is, well, it's pricey and heavy...........tight tolerances, good materials, exceptional drag. The size is perfecto for my intentions.......looks like 8lb will spool up quite nicely. Plus its gorgeous 

Not only did Fed Ex leave a box........they left a tube. It is extremely rare I pick up a rod without giving it a hefting but some subliminal message (the ad perhaps in the catalog  ) prompted me to pull the trigger........What a fantastic rod! Johnny Morris Carbon Light. Impressive.......Extremely light rod yet surprisingly beefy. Micro guides, no fore grip and hypalon rear grip. I like the concept of the micro guides as rod guides are a source of continual hassle when loading and unloading my boat......I thought the price was quite reasonable for a rod of this caliber. Hey, if you can't actually GO fishing then just buy some fishing stuff, works for me (at least till the bill comes due  ).

Gettin ready to get with it. Hoping to do a 2 or 3 week tour this summer and I look forward with great anticipation to employing this outfit. Life is good oui?

 

Another way to go: once you've got a hit and established how much line you want out you can always mark it with a bobber stop that will allow you to get your lure back where you want it and adjust as needed.

That PowerPro depth counter line looks interesting for those of us who don't use depth finders or depth counter reels.

I like PowerPro even though it lacks the stretch of a mono. I figure if I set drag right with my trolling rod of choice, a 7' medium action Ugly Stik, I can run the fine line between breaking off on  a snag or hard strike by a big fish. So far, so good.

Quote:


I do that more often times than not. I'll use a 3 way swivel with a snag less type weight and troll the shallow diver or even a floating type minnow.
With the snag less weight I don't worry about hanging up and can get some depth with a little practice.

A floating minnow runs on an angle with surprising action. Remove all but the rear treble and maybe replace that with weedless treble or one of those NeverSnag trebles I like, and you can almost forget about hanging up and enjoy your paddle.

Line counters? Depth finders? I know If I want to catch fish in canoe country I can do without either of these items. And I know through many years of trial and error (much like db's admonition of "know your tools") about how far back to throw stuff..........(Oh, and db's right again, if you toss your lure back to begin a troll you risk a snafu).......

But here's where I'm coming from with the combo use of line counter and depth finder.........

I know some folk think like I do........fishing is a hassle.......there I said it! Yup MT thinks fishing can be a royal pain in the keister. I silently mock those bumper stickers that talk about the worst day of fishing being better than the best day of work.......baloney! Tangles, snags, endless knots, biting flies, equipment malfunctions, having to "deal" with fish etc. etc. all add up to a layer of complexity that can detract from what would otherwise be a peaceful day of being on the water. Sort of like that saying they have in golf......"A good walk spoiled".....

But I love it......actually OCD about it. When I'm paddling and solo there is a 90% chance I'm running a line (when your with others the parameters change in accordance to what is the accepted norm......"when in Rome do as the Romans" but I digress). So, if your going to make any progress whatsoever you absolutely cannot be hanging up all the time. So you run something that doesn't run real deep (I ran the old discontinued style balsa Husky Rapala on the Hunters Island trip).

Enter in the Line counter. How sweet to know my lure is running at 28ft. Yes, you can get that precise because at 26ft you tap bottom. Here is the big difference for me since I like to run a line pretty much all day........I can now be proactive instead of reactive. Instead of waiting for my lure to clang on that rock pile and react ("Oh crap") I can be proactive>>> look at my depth finder and say "whoops-se-daisy.....up we go" and crank in a wee bit before the hassle starts. And not only that I can fine tune my lure to run over the top of that rockpile, maybe even tick a few of the bigger boulders.

So for me the line counter is probably a bit less about catching fish and a bit more about being able to paddle efficiently from point A to point B in a more relaxing manner. Trolling near the bottom while paddling all day can actually be accomplished without pulling your hair out. The 10 days I spent mostly trolling on Basswood this past summer taught me the value of the LC........quality time, less hassle.

FWIW.......not into depth finders or line counters? Want to still maybe bang a meal or two for when you roll into that evening camp? You can do much as I did on my Hunters Island trip and do it without much hassle.......Pick a "minnow" type lure of at least 4" and let it trail behind. The minnow type lures sport a small lip and typically only dive some 5'.......Very little effort to pull these types of lures and you will catch some fish without much effort or bother. I caught something everyday. On Kawanipi I wasn't able to go very far without hooking up......didn't get real far that day until I decided to stow my rod and take advantage of the calm. The only caveat is I would strongly suggest a rod holder........remember MT's motto, "no hassle".........rod holders let you forget that you are even running a line.   

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This seems like pretty neat stuff too, similar result just a different method to getting there. i know some of you guys dont like braid and prefer mono for trolling so it doesnt really work for you. ive rigged one of my baitcasters with 8lb suffix seige and one is suffix 832 15lb test. ive been trolling around the river in town and i kinda like how the mono works.

i think my next purchase will be one of those real long crappie rods to use for jigging walleyes, light rods are lots of fun

I have a linecounter on my dedicated laker rod...which I sometimes leave at home depending on the trip.  It doesn't come on grueling trips but basecamp trips are a different matter. 

Most of the time I'm fishing medium to light spinning rods to make it a bit more sporting.  When I troll with these, I use db's method.  Count the paddlestrokes while letting out line and duplicate it when you connect.