bilgerat

I got my crappy reputation the old way - I earned it. As the late, great Groucho Marx said "I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member"

I love a freight train reaction bite on a moving bait, followed by a nice fight where the drag gets a workout.

I've never owned an Okuma, but my first Pflueger (and still in use) was a Trion. It's been no trouble to me at all.

First, glad to hear she's ok. Second, as scary as the Honda looks, it appears it did what it was designed to do in an accident. The non passenger area (the front) looks to have absorbed the brunt of the crash leaving the seating area relatively intact. Humans aren't made to absorb that kind of energy, modern cars are. Had she been in a much older car, the result may have been much worse. Wishing her a speedy recovery.

Full load and full speed are two different animals But you are right on about idling. It's the worst thing you can do to any engine (I'm talking prolonged idle)

The best thing you can do for any engine is to run it at full load for a while, preferably on your way in from a trip. This gets the cylinders (pistons and rings) at their hottest. This will clear out the carbon deposits from the tops of the pistons and the rings. Engines that never see full load die a slow death

Good point. How many years can you watch crab pots being pulled without it going stale ? To be fair I haven't watched fishing shows in years for the same reason. I'd rather do it than watch it. Most of them don't tell you anything worthwhile anyhow.

It was better in it's infancy. Too much like a soap opera now.

I'm a Flyers fan also, but if they don't get their heads out of their arses (and get Pronger back into the lineup),they aint going anywhere.

Until I have to chase them with a bat and knock them out.... Just kidding. It depends. While we're on the subject of denim, I just got my first pair of overalls, a set of blue denim Carhartts. I don't care what I look like in 'em (actually I look quite good) they are as comfortable as heck and awesome to fish in. I got them mainly to do yard work but I fish in them more than I work in them.

Ok, it happens on my computer, which has Vista for an operating system. It does NOT happen when I use my daughter's laptop, which runs XP. Same house and internet connection. Don't know if that means anything or not, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Leave the holes plugged. The amount of water that will accumulate during a rainstorm is nothing compared to having the holes open. You could always carry a large sponge to soak up any little puddles that form.

Yep. Take that one step further. Use a skinny screwdriver or an awl and punch a hole through the ball. Now thread a shoelace or thin piece of cord through the ball and tie a knot at one end so it can't be pulled back through. Now it's easier to remove the plug. Make the cord long enough to tie it off somewhere on the yak so it never gets lost. Rangerphil - In case you don't know, scuppers are holes that go through the hull of the kayak. On the Perception there are two of them - one forward of the seat and one aft of the seat in the depression for a five gallon bucket. For lake fishing you want these holes plugged or the yak will take on water (it WILL NOT sink) For ocean use you want the scuppers open as they act as a self bailer. Don't buy the 'official' scupper plugs they probably sell where you will buy the kayak, the golf balls work much better.

Being I was only on one smallie lake over 20 years ago, take it for what it's worth. We crushed them for three days on 1/8 jigheads rigged with grubs and other smaller plastics. I remember it like it was yesterday watching them come up out of the rocks like torpedoes and nailing just about everything we threw at them.

I've caught them on inline spinners before. Last year I had a five pound cat crush a lipless crankbait. I was told it's a myth that they feed by smell only and they will pursue food.

Since the new format started, his are the only posts that do this. After his last line of text, there is a HUGE blank area that takes quite a bit of scrolling through to get to the bottom where the signature is. Also at times his text gets jumbled to the far left of his posts. Like I said, his are the only ones that act like this. Maybe it's time for a new computer, I don't know. What I do know is that the next one won't have Vista....

Why don't you ask some of the 46 trillion fish that got suckered by a white Mr. Twister grub ?

If you look closely in the background of the third pic (left side) that terminal and crimp look a little iffy. I see a lot of oxidation and broken wire strands. That may have caused that missing in line fuse to blow.

Nice avatar Miler. GET YOUR FOOT OFF THE BOAT!!!!

Try Texas rigging a thick walled tube weightless. Throw it out and twitch it. It will stay on top a while but will eventually take on water and start to sink painfully slooooow. Hold on....hold on.....BAM!!!!

If you are talking cranks under 2" long and under 1/4 oz in weight, you're in light to ultralight territory. My ul rod is 6' 8" and whips those types of baits very far. A soft tip helps with loading the bait. Your choice of line plays a big part also. I use 10 lb braid (4 lb mono dia. equivalent) and a mono leader. Most will tell you braid is a no no for cranks, but I have had no trouble hooking up with this setup. I think the rod plays a bigger part than the line, but I can't prove it, it just works for me. I can get a Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow out there pretty far and that's one of the smaller cranks out there, although it's no Yo Zuri Snap Bean. Now that's a tiny crank.

Yak fishing rules... Nice fish. I can't wait for topwater to turn on here. There is no such thing as a wrong way to fish. Rules are for work and ballgames.

I guess I'm lucky, I can have it both ways. I have places I can go hammer dinks all night and there's other places where I can fish for 6 hours and be lucky to get 1, but it's usually a nice one. I learn more fishing for the one than catching dinks. It makes me concentrate on what I'm doing vs feeding Yum Dingers to the little guys.

Nah, d*mn lake filled with piranhas....

This brings up an important point. You need to regularly inspect the backside of your wheels for blown wheel seals. Grease won't leak as bad as oil when a seal fails. Oil will soak brake linings in addition to the danger of wheel loss due to the loss of oil. Drain tip: A hair dryer on 'high' heat setting aimed at the hub helps speed up drain time. Even better is a heat gun, such as the ones used to shrink wraps. More people have access to a hair dryer though.