killerbe20

I'm very happy running 15lb cannon ball style weights. minimum blow back above 100' and Not too much blow back down past 200'

if you are worried about the safety of eating the fish i think you are just fine. The lake is so clean now we are worried about the alewives surviving. Salmon only live in the lake for 2 maybe 3 years. Browns and steelhead a bit longer. Lake trout do live much longer but they are not sitting at the power plants sucking on the discharge. If we were in California than it may be a different story and every fish caught would come with a warning "This product contains chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer." That is my non-scientific opinion!

if you only use them twice a year a Okuma Convector will be just fine. If you want a little better reel then an Okuma Cold Water. The Shimano Tekotas are very popular and a great reel but you are looking at $60-100 for the Okumas vs over $200 for the Tekotas. I run Cold Waters on my charter boat. They are very smooth and stand up very well to day in and day out use.

looking for Okuma Solterra reels. Redesigned for 2016 and looking for older style also looking for ugly stik cal1101 7' med/heavy rods. discontinued model and looking for a few more thanks!

agreed, and many of us have switched to 45 series Okumas or larger Tekotas for a better retrieve rate on a larger full spool. Definitely want to use some mono backing. you should never see the bottom of the reel so the connection is not as important as with other set ups. I just do an overhand knot with the wire and a uni knot with the mono

I am, that was what the move was for. left the Caledonia fire dept for the Chicago fire department. First summer was spent in the fire academy for six months then a home build disaster occupied the next year including last summer. Throw in a three year old and running charters...... All good now and back to normal-ish!

Been a long hiatus from the site. Moved from Racine to Chicago back in 2014 and the life changes have keep me from a keyboard. Never stopped fishing Lake Michigan just slowed my troll on the internet the last year and a half. Life is all settled down now and plan on being around on a regular basis again. Looking forward to talking with old friends and meeting new ones!