Mark K

How do the guages work?

Clever name. The one I looked at was brown. Compared to new Fireline, it was considerably lighter. Maybe it was a bum batch. It may match certain backgrounds anyway. Seems like darker blends in better wherver I am fishing.

I looked at in the store. It's kind of a light color to begin with.

http://daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=425390

I tried reel magic on Fireline in an effort to help it hold color. Don't think it did anything.

Got to fish it tonight. I hope this reel isn't afflicted with SBD (Shimano Binding Disease, not to be confused with your partners case of SBD, silent but deadly) cause so far I like it a lot. It's on the heavy side, but it has a nice positive feel and it doesn't feel too delicate. It takes some force to close the bail, which I consider to be a good thing. I hate reels that have a bail so easy to trip that they snap shut as you cast. Ever have that happen? I call it "Premature Snapulation" or PS. Actually a lot of other reels are afflicted with PS. This reel is a winner so far and I'm happy about that cause I love Shimano Products (bike and fishing) and it would be nice to be won back to their spinning reels.

So I loaded my ultralight up with 4lb Excel. It fishes really nice. It's very limp and i see no advantage in using Trilene XL over it. It might even be better than XL. The stuff is filthy cheap 10 bucks for 1500 yards. I'm going to try the 8lb stuff in Lake Michigan. If you ae a mono guy, this stuff is worth a go around.

Sure it was a Rainbow and not a King Trout?

I do that too. Triflow works good. Take the spool off and drip it on the shaft while cranking.

A year and a half later... I was in the same store. The reel was still there. Marked down heavily. 27 bucks out the door. I could not resist. Filled it with 10 lb Suffix.

The Daiwa SS will never gum up. Mine works exactly the same way as the day I bought it. Clunky, by today's standards but it will never let you down. It also has one of the best drags ever made and it's way lighter, almost an ounce than most comparable reels. I heard they are made in Malasia now. The old ones were made in Japan. Not sure if there is a difference.

Amen. Could not have said it better myself.

Handy too, when your wife finds out that you spent 300 dollars on a fishing rod and she breaks it over your head. The secret is to have so many that she loses count. HA!

I would go with a G Loomis SJR782 or the slightly lighter SJR781. The IMX blank is your best bet for the money. http://products.gloomis.com/gl/products/al...D=1215086117361 Notice the handle. The grip screws downward, resulting in a shorter rear grip so effectively your rod is lengthened. line up the reel seats next to say an avid and the 6 1/2 foot Loomis. No bulky rear grip-great for fishing topwaters and Flukes. The blank is really light, so I never had any balance issues with the short rear grip. I have St Croix Avids and IMX. I like the IMX rods much more. So much that I am thinking of throwing them on Ebay just to trade up to an IMX. One of the two that I mentioned. The bronzebacks and GL3s are nice rods but not as light or fast actioned as the IMXs. To me they feel like an Avid. I like Loomis's Expeditor program too-if hey still offer it. Break a rod? Call them up, they charge a new rod to your credit card and send it to you second day. When the new rod arrives take the old one and throw it in the tube ship it back to Loomis. When they get it, they credit you account for everything but 70 bucks. That goes back a few years so it's probably more now. But thats a darn nice progam. I once broke a bunch of rods on a plane on the way to Florida. They were St. Croixs. If they were Loomis rods, I would have been fishing two days later.

Just curious. Very little discussion on livebait techniques. Am I the only one using them? I really like float fishing live bait. I've been really fond of live helgies, but lately I'm really impressed with what a good old fashioned crawler will do. I have been keeping them in an old insulated lunch bag with an ice pack. Buying several dozen at a time ( at BPS) and rebaiting frequently. Light line, light bobbers, quality swivels and fine (not too fine) wire hooks. Matt Mullady talked about using conditioned crawlers in his seminars. It was pretty interesting. I am always open to livebaiting technique, but in particular suing "native " baits such as helgies, mollies (or madtoms), chubs etc.... also rigging technique...rods lines etc.

Neoprene booties work pretty well for wet wading as a cushioned liner and they will keep those damn pointy snail shells out too. Make sure you get one that does not have seem up the middle- blisters from hell. Orvis makes a really nice pair of wet wading boots. I have had mine for several years now.

That was a joke...right?

Korkers felt soles with steel studs are the best combo I found.

Great! I'll do my best to be there!

Counterpoint #2: These fish were introduced in "lake x" a hundred years ago. They're a native now. A fish might be "naturalized" and begin reproducing in a given location, but that doesn't mean they've stopped causing problems. Evolution and adaptation can begin right away, but they operate over very long time periods. One hundred years is barely a tick on the clock and no human introductions in recent history have resulted in "native" fish in any real sense of the word. Do smallmouth in the Boundry Waters of northern Minnesota and Quetico in Canada fall under this catagory? I think smallmouth were not native- stocked in the early 1900's. Now the area is crawling with smallmouth. Other species aren't extinct, but their numbers probably suffer as a result of competion with smallmouth. Right? So, am I gathering correctly? The smallmouth don't belong there. Therefore everything should be done to reduce their numbers. Every legal fish caught killed in an effort to reduce numbers?. Or just don't be afraid to have your fill of smallie shore lunches so as to reduce numbers to a level where competition with other specioes wouldn't be an issue? Is there a grey area? Or is this a black and white issue? If it were possible- do you think it would benefit to set the "way, way back machine" to 1800 ish"? If it weren't for smallmouth I probably would have never even heard of Quetico or the Boundry Waters.

Tim- That is an excellent blog. I am highly impressed. I book marked it and will check on it regularly. Mark

Amen. I'll eat bluegill over walleye anyday. In fact I like catching 'em more too. That 2 wt must be fun. I've been using a popper called a Booglebug. It's a really nice popper I got at One More Cast. They are 5 bucks each but I've caught a plenty of gills on them. Hooks are razor sharp and the paint looks like new. Kind of like a "Sammy" of poppers. The popper is small enough that a bluegill can take it and big enough to attract a bass. I've been using a nice 6 wt Loomis with Clouser line on a Bastock Battenkill that is very light. The whole outfit is lightweight, so even thogh it's a 6 wt a good bluegill puts up a struggle. I can cast pretty far with it too which is a plus.

thank you. that said... there was always thought on placement of the signs so as not to disturb the "aura" (groovy, man) I prefer the word "aesthetic" of the place. Always stuck to "aura-free zones" like parking lots, boat ramps etc, areas that see a lot of traffic. Tried to avoid actually putting them on the river, particullarly in scenic areas. Also we (Eric Moller and I) did considerable lengths of the Dupage around Shorewood and Channahon with consideration not to increase pressure in certain stretches.

That is totally cool that you have the ball rolling still on this John. I am committed to another worthy cause that weekend (Multiple Sclerosis Bike Tour) or I would certainly help you the day before and come out to plant. I have organized these events before John and the most hectic part is everything the day before. John assisted me with a few things and it was ENORMOUSLY helpful. New members would certainly benefit from participating. The planting part goes fast and the commradery is great. You will probably learn more about fishing than you would at an outting. great job and hope it goes well.

Mike or maybe Tim- Has there been anything done to establish the quality of the watershed as it is right now-pre dairy? Kind of like a standard set? I'm thinking of that program the DNR had a few years ago where people sampled invertabrates. By the type and number, one could guage the water quilty. I can't remember the name of the program.