Marty

Here are a few reviews for you to ponder. http://www.paddling.net/Reviews/showReviews.html?prod=832 Mine's urging me to take them off!! (Actually, I don't use them. My canoe is wide and very stable by canoe standards).

Good luck. I bought a canoe three years ago and have no regrets. I have a couple of friends with boats and I get out with them fairly often, but still, it wasn't enough and it's great to have the ability to get out on the water when and where I want to, within the limitations of the canoe, of course. I have no motors, racks, or the like, so your experience will be different from mine.

I never thought it made a lot of difference. When you follow up after, say, a missed topwater strike, you've located a fish that's aggressive to some degree and I don't think they're that fussy whether it's a tube, worm, Senko, jerkbait or whatever. The most important thing, in my opinion, is getting something back into that spot ASAP.

Crankbaits are great fish attractors. I generally give them a shot just about any time and place where the cover will allow their use. The vast array of choices available can be intimidating. Just buy a few of a known brand and make sure they run to the depths you want to cover.

Rapala has a few. The original Floater, the Countdown, Shad Rap (original) and Fat Rap, to name a few. I have more confidence in Shad Raps than any other crank I've ever used.

I agree, all those outfits are fine. If I was using leaders I wouldn't trust any fiber, including fluoro; metal only.

Within the last few months I've received couple of PMs that I was notified about a long time after the messages were written. I didn't post about the problem because I couldn't be 100% sure of my facts. This time I'm sure. I generally visit this forum once a day and have been checking the message notification at the top of the page every day and have seen the same thing: No new messages. Today, January 26, it said I had one new message. It was dated 45 days earlier, December 12, a similar situation to what I thought I saw the previous two times. What is going on?

The Pro Bowl may be unwatchable to you and me, but it will remain as long as people buy tickets, ESPN pays TV rights fees, people watch and companies buy ads.

Wouldn't work for me because I'd eat it myself!! ;D

Like you, I only use corn and it's so convenient that I haven't really gotten interested in other baits. But there are a lot of baits. One that a lot of guys used when I fished for carp with a group was cereal. Something like Wheaties or Bran Flakes. They'd take a handful, immerse and squeeze out the extra water until it was the consistency they wanted. Some added flavor, such as powdered Jell-o. Lots of folks use doughballs. You'll get loads of hits if you search for carp baits or doughball recipes or something along those lines.

BASS-N, check your PMs.

Sorry, don't know the depth, but I have have used them and they're no more or less productive than many other cranks I've used, as best as I can determine. You can go ahead and throw it with confidence.

Really? Then how did Lucky Craft suceed? I think it's the difference between line and lures. Many of us think we can buy our way to more and bigger fish and there's a perception that a more expensive lure is a more productive lure. Line is important too, but doesn't play as big a role in attracting strikes.

I've used 10# Sensation on a Daiwa 2500-size reel and it performed well, not noticeably better or worse than other monos I've used, such as Stren and Trilene.

There's -0- doubt that they see the line. The unanswered question is whether or not the sight of the line deters them from striking. I've used superlines on inexpensive rods ($4050) and the guides haven't been affected.

Last I knew, Fireline was a fused superline, not a fluoro. Some people use leaders with superlines, some don't. I personally don't use a leader with my braid because I don't feel the braid's visibility deters strikes. You need to do whatever gives you more confidence. I'm unaware of any definitive evidence on the value (or lack of same) of using leaders.

This man is a jitterbug master! Thanks for the compliment!! The Jitterbug is my favorite lure by far and I've had some luck with it, but I'm afraid I'm not a master of anything, unfortunately.

I have more confidence in topwaters when the water is at least in the mid-50s. Good spring lures for me have been Chatterbait-style/spinnerbaits/shallow cranks.

If the lure name is the same, then the lure itself is the same. For example, a Bomber Fat Free is the same as Excalibur Fat Free and a Heddon Swim'n Image is the same lure as the Excalibur of the same name. Often when you see these baits at these attractive prices, it is a promotion using non-standard colors. But with me not placing huge importance on color, I think these are excellent buys. You're talking about $5-6 lures selling for $2-3.

I disagree. There's no one-size-fits-all anything in fishing. I know those who prefer the low ratios with cranks and others who'd rather use their 7:1 and slow down. Everyone does what they believe works for them.

I believe the basic theory is that the fish you caught on the search bait indicates (you hope) an area that holds multiple fish. I wouldn't change baits immediately, but after awhile you then switch to a slower bait, like a soft plastic, to cover the area thoroughly and get a bait into spots that perhaps the search bait couldn't access.

I do carry a nail clippers, but for braid, as was mentioned above, an inexpensive Fiskars kids scissors does very well.

$200 million reasons it will happen.

Yes, you should because depth varies with line diameter. I think I read where KVD said typically a one-size difference in line is worth approximately one foot of depth. Additionally, you can adjust depth by the angle at which your rod is held. I think Paul Elias famously won a tournament (maybe a Classic) by kneeling and having most of his rod in the water in order to get maximum depth from his crankbait.

Good luck in getting a new PB, but when you do your line still won't get down to the backing.