Billy V

Most of the orders for these new Spinnys will be placed at the Triple S show later this week and should be available in the coming weeks. As for when it ends....I've been buying tackle for most of my 40 years and I can't see it ever letting up!

I just heard from Shane at DW that the super glow frog I have posted will be in the lineup for 2008. I guess they're going to replace an older frog spoon with that one, so it's technically not a new design. That thing was a great spoon for us last season.

The accommodations are pretty nice at Anchor. They have everything from a bunk house to several cottages to a full B&B. Anchor's grounds are almost park-like...it's a very nice place to spend time after a long day on the water. There's fuel at the dock, and the people who run the place are some of the nicest folks you'll ever meet. As far as the fishing goes, the browns should definitely be around at that time of the year. And we catch a few salmon at that time of the year too. We're in slip #11 there. Feel free to stop over and say Hi.

They're a 2008 item and likely haven't been ordered yet. The big distributor trade show (Triple S) is late this week and lots of the local shops will be placing their orders for them then. I imagine you'll be seeing them on shelves this spring. It was a fantastic spoon for us last year and I already have myself in line for a bunch of them for next year!

Tim, Isn't that on Sunday, February 24th? I'm gonna try and come...sounds like a great event you have planned there!

I thought you guys might like a sneak peak at what Dreamweaver has planned new for 2008. We had fantastic luck with the Orange Slurpee spoon on the steelhead last year, and we just killed the Kings on the Magnum sized Green Eye Glow Ghost. That and a Super Glow Frog that I'm still trying to convince them to bring to market were two of our best spoons all fall. Oh, and some of those new Spinnys really caught my eye too....I can't wait for spring!!

I don't have any Habanero's on copper blanks, but Northern King will be coming out with a new Gold Series of NBK's in '08 that I think look a lot like the above spoon. We used these VERY successfully late last season.

Sure do wish I could've joined you Eric! All this darned skiing is getting in the way of my fishing opportunities. Glad you guys had a good time.

Go West young man! Olcott, Wilson, and the Bar should all be rockin' at that time of year.

Erin, I've seen the Garmin charts and they are very nice. I can't speak for the unit itself though. Just be sure that the charts you get with it cover the waters you'll be fishing. Hope this helps. Bill

Thanks for your input guys. I still haven't made a decision. I'm waiting to see what the pricing is like on the new Furuno MFD8. From what I've read and seen so far, the new NavNet 3D that they've come out with is gonna be incredible.

The problem isn't necessarily the diameter of the line with the braid. It's the fact that braid is just that...a braid. Mono is much smoother and the little buggers don't stick to it very well after you reach a certain diameter. We use 30# Big Game with good results. But braid isn't as smooth as mono and the fleas stick to it better.

True, true! But we run 'em a lot smaller for browns!

It all depends on what you want to target. For Salmon, look to the West end of the lake in May. The Niagara Bar area kicks butt for kings in May. If you want browns, try the East end in April & May. Fair Haven, Oswego, Mexico and others are fantastic places to get out early in the year after trout. As far as tackle goes, your standard flasher/fly setups and spoons will take Kings all spring in the West end. For browns in the East you'll want to look into some stickbaits like KA-BOOM shiners, Rapala's, Smithwick's, etc as well as spoons. They're two totally different styles of fishing, so just plan which you're going to target and then put together the tackle that you'll need.

Ask Jax...he was out yesterday and dug a nice steelie out of the cold water! Got any pics for us Jax????

The superbraids won't whine, that's true. But the problem with braids on your riggers is that they attract fleas like there's no tomorrow. The main reason that Cannon came out with the Stainless spools was so that guys could run heavy mono on their riggers. Mono will stretch and when it gets cold it'll constrict so much that it'll break a non-metallic spool. I personally like the while of the cables. It sounds like home to me.

Henchen's is in Henderson Harbor.

SOLD SOLD SOLD

With the thread being over a month old at this point, I guess its safe to declare Oak Orchard as the winner of the poll with Oswego coming in a strong second. Thanks to all who participated.

I'd love to see a store that has: 1. Information on what's hot and a willingness to share that information. 2. All the hot spoon patterns out of that particular port. NOT some old dusty lures that were hot for one particular day back in 1997. A selection from more than one manufacturer would be nice....NK, Stinger, DW, R&R... 3. The hot flys out of that particular port. Sigg's Rigs, ATOMMIK, Action Fly...whatever it is. 4. A complete selection of flashers, dodgers, etc. from all the major manufacturers. Again, what's hot out of that port is of primary importance to me. 5. A complete selection of quality trolling rods & reels from the major manufacturers. 6. Electronics. GPS, Chartplotters, Fish Finders, Speed & temp probes. 7. Terminal tackle. Hooks, snaps, swivels...the good stuff...Gammy, SPRO, Sampo... 8. A complete selection of line.....mono, copper, wire, leadcore, fluoro...again, the good stuff that we use out on the lake. 9. Downriggers & accessories, Planer Boards, releases, replacement parts, etc. 10. Dipsy Divers in Black or clear. Snubbers in Black or clear. I won't buy cracked metallic purple frog glow-puke dipsys unless I'm desperate and have a can of flat black paint on hand. 11. Coffee, snacks, soda, ice.

Fitz, It looks like a nice boat from the pictures! The easiest way to ensure that you're getting a quality boat that won't leave you flat-busted trying to fix it is to hire a qualified marine surveyor and have them perform a survey on the boat. They'll uncover just about every issue the boat has and then you'll know exactly what you're getting into. I imagine that the marina that has the boat listed can help you with the names of a few good surveyors. I learned a ton of info about my boat from the survey before I bought it. Best of luck.

I ski 3 or 4 days a week from Dec 1st until the end of March!

Cannon came out with the new High Speed riggers in 2007 for sure. I have the new Mag 10HS on my boat and they absolutely fly. The Mag 5 HS is the exact same downrigger as the Mag 10 HS, but without the swivel base and the telescoping boom. You can typically find the Mag 5 HS for around $350. The Mag 10 HS typically goes for around $490. Captain Gary's has them online for about that price. That price you were quoted both with and without the swivel is about right. New swivel bases go for around $80. http://www.captgarys.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/37

I just got this in my email inbox: SUB-TROLL 900 PARTS SALE STOP BY AND SEE US AT THE UPCOMING SHOWS · GRAND RAPIDS, MI MARCH 13 – 16 · DETROIT, MI JAN 10 - 13 ORDER $100 IN PARTS AND GET A FREE POCKETKNIFE !! PROBE REG. PRICE $ 172.50 SALE PRICE $140.00 REGULAR PRICE SALE PRICE · 05-042-000 DOWN RIGGER CABLE (200 FT @ 150lb) $ 27.50 $ 22.00 · 05-042-003 DOWN RIGGER CABLE (300 FT @ 150lb) $ 41.00 $ 32.80 · 05-042-210 DOWN RIGGER CABLE (300 FT @ 210lb) $ 52.00 $ 41.60 · 10-188-040 25’ EXTENSION CABLE FOR ANT. $ 22.50 $ 18.00 · 14-888-031 TAPE #130C 30ft ROLL, FOR SUB-TROLL $ 19.50 $ 15.60 · 38-321-150 “Oâ€Â

Sure thing....remember that copper is very soft. Keep tension on it when you're reeling it in. It twists and kinks very easily. You'll want to make sure that you keep it far, far away from your riggers and your dipsy divers. Biggest wad-up I've ever had was when an inline board had tripped and I didn't get on it right away and instead let the copper swing back behind the boat and it crossed over one of my dipsys..made a huge mess and I lost several hundred feet of copper.