Tim Kelly

LOL They're European perch. The five is 5lb 4oz. The UK record is only 6lb 2oz I believe, so it was a big one! In northern Europe (Holland , Sweden, Denmark I believe they can get as big as 7-8lb. I'd like one of those!

So are four pounders. And even fiver pounders.... Not yellow perch, but close.

Just watching the MLF extended cast and wondered if anyone knows what the turquoise cranking rods Brent Chapman was using were?

I caught this one a couple of years ago on Oneida, it looked like it had been dipped in JJ's! Amazing green/blue/chartreuse colour to it. The picture doesn't really do it justice!

What is the sound of bass feeding on shad?

Sounds like the main shaft is bent.

Tim Kelly, on 01 Nov 2014 - 08:58, said: Is there proof that this works? Exactly, it's very hard to be sure about anything in fishing.

Does scent on bait work? Very hard to prove anything satisfactorily. Seeing as some people turn off their sonar and trolling motors to approach fish as stealthily as possible it's hard to imagine another noise making device would be helpful if the noise made by the other things is harmful, but then again it is hard to prove that noise scares the fish. Logically you'd think it would, but empirically, who knows!

I won't use titanium either. It just breaks and you can't tell when it's going to break. A steel leader looks worn, but titanium, unless you put a bend in it, looks the same until it fails. The problem with titanium seems to be worse if you use baits that vibrate a lot. Trolling crankbaits will kill a TI leader pretty quickly. I believe TI gets stress fractures from the vibrations. If you're using TI leaders on lures that don't vibrate much and aren't too heavy, they can last quite well, but eventually they are prone to failure.

I got the magazine regularly for about six months, then it stopped. Rang them and they apologized. Said they'd get the magazines sent out and extend my membership for another year. Never seen a magazine since. A bit hopeless really!

May be coming over next July John. Anyone for English lessons? LOL

That's pretty cool. A couple of times when I've stayed at Sterling Lodge on the Rideau lakes chain there has been a woman who fishes out of an Alumacraft. She's properly hardcore and is out there at dawn and fishing through. Her husband goes up with her, but he's not as bothered about the fishing. He sometimes joins her later in the day. I always refer to her as "The next Mrs Kelly" when referring to her with the guys that go up there.

I've got one and it's very nice. Would suit you well for your application. The stock drag isn't super powerful, but nice and smooth. I haven't tried carbontex but doubt it would add massively to the drag pressure as the drag stack is the one washer design Daiwa use, rather than the three or four washer system in the Steez, which would probably show a bigger gain by adding carbontex.

Don't "lip 'em" Here in the UK we fish for pike a lot. Steel leaders are pretty much mandatory. As we tend to be trying for larger fish (20lb +) we tend to use larger lures and heavier tackle, much more like musky tackle than bass tackle, but most pike I've seen in the US and Canada have been fairly small, less than 10lb. If that's what you have in your lakes then 4" spoons, larger bass type spinnerbaits, 6" swimbaits like storm wildeyes, larger suspending jerkbaits and that sort of thing will probably catch them for you. Fish 30-50lb braid and a stiffer rod as you need to set the hooks in their boney mouths, unlike bass which will get hooked on the most masked hook point.

OK, thanks. Can you get shore access to the canals or ponds with them in easily?

My dog. He's a pain in the ass and is very good at telling me where the fish were, but he makes me laugh and he's more intense about watching the line than I am!

I've had those Matzuo drop shot sickle hooks snap, usually at the tight bend. Not very impressed really and they don't seem to hook any better than my usual Gami worm 39 DS hooks.

It's supposed to touch the levelwind, that's how the line keeps in the groove. Shouldn't cause any wear issues on your line. Not sure how you hold your rod/reel/line when you fish a trick worm, but if you hold the line with your fingers you might be lifting the line out of the levelwind grove and causing the unevenness?

Best way to get better is to fish with someone better than you. Your learning curve will rise sharply!

Cardboard box with notches cut in it as a rod holder and a fly tying bobbin to hold the thread. That and a sharp blade will get your rods built. You just need some time when you've expoxied the whippings to turn the rod every few minuted for the first couple of hours. Perfectly doable, made plenty of rods like that before.

A couple of friends have the self contained clamp on tiller trolling motors. Don't know the model numbers. They work fine, but they are LOUD!

A narrow spooled reel will give different results to a wide spooled reel of the same diameter as the line level will drop a lot lower on the narrow spooled reel at the end of a long cast than it would on a wide spooled reel. There are so many variables that it's not worth getting caught up in the maths of it all. Once you have a reel from a manufacturer you soon know how it fishes. You can easily judge what difference going for a similar sized reel with a different gear ratio will be.

If throwing an A-rig is too much like hard work NEVER go muskie fishing! LOL

As you've proven. The usual recommendation is between 3-5mph with the chart speed set at 3-5. Clearly it's possible to get great images at slow speeds if you know how to set it up.

Your images are outstanding! Not sure how they're possible at extremely slow speeds as the screen displays a history, rather than a picture, so you need to be moving to show new info at the top of the screen. Can't argue with your screen shots though!