ekbelt

If I have no information I will start as shallow as I dare and head west. We call them 'scouting trips'. We've done real well doing this and it's an easy way to figure out where fish are at. We also will run rods at all depths and then switch things up as we start picking up fish.

Anyone ever see this? Pretty cool. I looked up their website and they cost like $200 bucks a piece. Way too spendy for me but still pretty cool.

I like my depth raider. Works great, going on 4th season.

I've even 'flipped' the line around. Spool the line off and then put it back on backwards so the stuff in the indside is now on the outside, its like brand new again.

sweet!

I feel like I get way more bang for my buck on my fishing license than my hunting licenses. Either way both are super cheap at the moment. Sheesh... I think I get my money's worth on the fishing license after 1 big lake trip now that I think about it.

Nice article!

Agreed-- I read an article recently that climate has less to do with it than you think. Precipitation levels are up and the lake keeps dropping.

ya, I have a problem with that.... I hear you Aaron.

One thing to note on the hunters paying and other interest groups not... If we are the ones paying, our voice is heard much louder than theirs. Think of this scenario... we make the bird watchers, bikers, hikers pay a fee to use the state land. Then they all start using it and they get weirded out that there are hunters with guns on this property too. They raise a stink and all of a sudden we can't even hunt there anymore!

Alot of "what if's...." but if you look at the facts, Michigan is 48th rank out of 50 states when it comes to hunting and fishing licenses. 1 being most expensive, 50 being cheapest. Fishing-- they're getting rid of the all species/general license and replacing it with a $25 fishing license. Thats a price drop for us big lake guys. Hunting-- biggest effect will be deer hunting. Currently a single tag costs $15 bucks, if this passes it will be $30 bucks. Over all its not that bad... an extra $15 bucks? People will surely complain, but thats only like 3 gallons of gas! My hope is the extra money will go to biologists who will take better care of our natural resources! The glass is half full!

Long over due... Really hope this passes. The license is the cheapest part of the deal when it comes to hunting and fishing.

Interesting article/blog post on lake levels and precipitation levels... http://m.woodtv.com/blog/142/52129/

I like to customize things, and have had a hard time finding the new UV tapes that are on all the spoons and flashers. I emailed WTP today and they gave me the top 3 tapes the lure manufactures have been buying like crazy. He said they have not updated the website with the part numbers yet, but if you order the 3"x12" sheets and note in the 'notes' section when you buy them then part#'s you want you can get them. "We sell a tape we call Super Pearl, most of the manufacturers call it UV, the color numbers are #948 (transparent) #949 (white backed solid) and 948C (transparent crushed). These are all great tapes and currently our best sellers." Part#'s DLR72SI948 DLR72SI949 DLR72SI948C I've also been eyeing www.identi-tape.com, specifically the transparent clear iridecent in this link: http://www.identi-tape.com/deco-holo.html Kinda pricy, but it might be worth a try.

Took a ride through the boat launch and state park in Holland tonight. Nice to check it out again.... even nicer to see that the lake is wide open past the pier heads. Hopefully we don't get any super cold weather between now and March and we should be fishing in 4-5 weeks!

http://vimeo.com/59139265

Sterling State Park is nice... Love fishing over there, always catch a lot of fish too.

March can't come soon enough.... hopefully Feb is nice and mild and nothing locks up too tight, I wanna get out fishing

Anyone own a chamber style vacuum sealer? I've been eyeing the Vacmaster VP112. Look it up on youtube, they sell it on Cabelas website too. Getting sick of crappy seals on my foodsaver and the bags are too expensive too. I guess bags for a chamber style are 10x less, you can vacuum seal liquid. Sounds like it would do a much better job with fish. Looks nice...

Some people have probably seen these videos before, I found a few I haven't seen yet tonight and thought I would pass it on. There is some great information in the seminar videos. http://vimeo.com/channels/kingseeker

Best Chance Too talked about it in a Steelheaders seminar a few years back.... said they put it on all the lures on one side of the boat and not on the other side. The side they sprayed caught way more fish than the other side. It was alot of work, and need to be re-applied often, but it is a main reason they run alot of UV lures now. So their opinion was that it worked, was a bit of effort, had to be re-applied often. Must not be a game changer since they don't keep using it.

http://vimeo.com/58082186

Sounds excellent... I do something very similar and add sesame oil as well.

Thanks

Yes I belive so, try to look at all the videos in their vimeo site. When I get a chance I'll see if I can find a link. I agree... Gets me all pumped up watching these too.