Bob's Outdoors

That will work as long as your fish never get too big.

Yeah, the GMT-400 was a great little gadget and cheap too. have no idea why but it is no longer available from anywhere I have been able to find. I had one and for some reason failed to clip it to the line BEFORE dropping it in the water.

I will be at the following shows: Northeastern Sport Show, Syracuse (NY) January 25-27, 2008 MI-OH Sportfishing Expo Monroe (MI) County Expo Center, February 9-10, 2008 Mid-Michigan Steelheaders Swap Meet, Lansing (MI) February 16-17, 2008 Madison (WI) Fishing Expo, Alliant Center, February 22-24, 2008 Flint (MI) River Valley Steelheaders, Birch Run Expo Center, February 29-March 2nd, 2008 Ultimate Sport Show Grand Rapids (MI), Devos Place, March 13-16, 2008

Yeah, if you get them for $55 you are doing really well.

The reason that tournaments do the "no more than x salmon" thing is they don't want to spend the rest of their lives debating species identification at weigh in. It's just easier to count Salmon v trout. Another reason for Michigan to just go to 5 fish limit and be done with it.

I agree about not pumping the rod. I put lead core in a rod holder and just crank until I get to the leader. What kind of rods do you use? I have a buddy who likes using dipsy rods with the action of a pool cue. Fine for dipsys but on lead core it offers no shock absorber qualities at all.

I tie a leader to the bead chain about 6" long so that I can use my regular swivel but the plug can still work its way up. or I use a Lyman plug and not have to deal with that stuff at all.

Unless you are trolling at the far end of the spectrum, either way over 3 mph or way under 1.5 mph, I don't think that hook weight is going to make all that much difference. For one thing, the Center of Gravity of a single 3/0 or 4/0 hook is further back from the spoon than a 1/0 treble, so a lighter single will have the same dampening effect on a spoon as a heavier treble. Sorry, my engineering degree just leaked out. On a more practical note, I have been messing around with spoons this summer with both single and treble hooks. I realy can't see the difference in a Raider Spoon in action or fish catching ability with either. Maybe with some lighter blades it might be a bigger difference. I would put some together and put them in the water and look at the action. better yet, fish them with difference size hooks and let the fish vote. The painful, for me anyway. fact is that you can't be comercially successful selling a spoon in Michigan with a single hook. Wisconsin and New York, yes, Michigan no. In my opinion, both hook designs work just fine. I fished for years exclusively with trebles, now for the past few years mostly with singles and I have heard all the arguments on both sides. What it comes down to is a personal preference, but mine is for single hooks, mostly because when the bite is on, getting that hook out of the fish and the net and the lure back in the water is much faster/easier with single hooks.

If you are using Spin Doctors, Hootchies Inticers and such you want to shorten your bait rigs. I use the Kingfishers with bait rigs, the full 3 twinkie rig was designed for this flasher. I had a lot of luck this year with Gulp 6" bait Swimmers, the secret with them is to ignore all other advice and bury one of your trebles in the "fish" and pull it tight so it puts a good bend in the bait and it will spin nice.

If anyone who recieved a gift certificate from me as a prize in an outing is having any trouble with redeeming it, sorry, they "upgraded" my software and disabled the existing certificates. They should work now, or you can always email me or call me with the number. My gift certificates NEVER expire (until used, of course) and are good for any merchandise, including sales. You do NOT have to mail me the certificate.

I used to put down up to 3 just like that when I fished alone and it was 2 rods I had 4 riggers and I would put down the out down between the inside and the dipsy, and I would do the other side. I figured I was out there next to battle wagons with 15 spoons in the water and how the heck were the fish supposed to find my two little spoons. I think it did some good.

It would be real nice if real issues got discussed by serious people and well thought out reasonable solutions to the real problems were worked out reasonably. Instead you have alarmists, greedy bureaucrats and spineless politicians running the show. There are some real issues. DNR land is entirely paid for by fees, yet all citizens can use it. You do have to balance an increase against the number of licenses you will lose with an increase. At some point an increase will lose you money. I have a problem with the whole "pay as you go" idea. Sounds good, but the world is much more complex. A charter in Ludington brings in an average of over $700 spent in the community, NOT INCLUDING THE CHARTER AND THE LICENSES. So the whole rest of the economy benefits from that charter. I know a significant amount of my money has been spent in Ludington and South Haven outside of the marina and tackle stores. So every single person in Ludington, (even your card carrying vegan PETA youknowwhat) benefits from Salmon stocking. On the other hand, it is pretty clear something has to be done. Someone has to step up to the issues. MUCC came out supporting an increase and was immediately trashed for it, with whole clubs threatening to resign. I spoke out on my website and received a couple of nasty emails. It's not like I like the idea of lifting another couple of bucks out of your wallet (you could be buying tackle with that money) but I think the reality is some increase must take place or some programs we need will be cut. I don't like it, or even agree that is the way things should work, but that is the reality.

I had to do that a couple of years ago with my 15 year old lab. Went through basicly all the same things you are going through now. Crying like a baby when I did it, reaching down to pet a dog that was not there for days. You did the right thing doing it your self. All I can say is look at what a great life that "pound dog" ended up with, right up until the last day. I waited a year before I bought a pup. She is smarter, better behaved and an infinitely better hunter, but I still miss the old guy. Good luck.

This stuff about colors comes up periodically, and is pretty interesting. Fortunately the fish don't read this stuff and still hit red baits 90 feet down.

I do the same, if I remember $15 for a heater/fan at Walgreens plugs in the ac from the shore power.

:cpox: Nice Smilies BTW I guess you get jerks in any sport or activity. "Ride Beggar" is a new one on me. The funny thing about the internet is, if they don't like it, they don't have to go to your site, so what's the problem? And don't worry, if you get a boat there will always be someone who wants to look down on you if it's not a Tiara or if you are not a Charter or a pro or didn't win this or that tournament or whatever. I figure guys like that are just trying to compensate for a certain "smallness" in their life. It makes them easier to take. Worry about the 95% of guys out there who aren't like that, who are looking to learn from anybody and just want to get out there and catch a few fish. Personally, I am almost always in need of another guy or two to go fishing, so if any "currently without a boat" (I like that better) fishermen ever need a ride in Ludington they can let me know. If they can teach me something even better.