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Gator

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  1. Gator
    Although it seems like the fleas have only been bad for a week or two the past couple of years, we still use 20 lb Cortland Fleaflicker line on our main downrigger rods (with a FC leader). We've run this line successfully in heavy fleas, and there really isn't much blowback to it. However, the 30 lb doesn't handle nearly as well, knots and such are an issue, and the blowback is much more notable.
  2. Gator
    rolmops has it right. Don't try two full keels. And they pull much, much better with a keel and a half when you're towing copper.
  3. Gator
    I've never had an issue with bidding order...maybe it's "right" to sell to the first guy who contacts you, but there are shades of grey, and unless is was promised to you, you just got to suck it up. I've also had members send me extra stuff because they thought I could use it, or pick up the postage costs themselves. There's a definite sense of community. I know that I've given away some stuff that had been gathering dust at my place. In those cases, first one to show up at my door got it...after contacting me via pm, of course. Sometimes really good deals show up here, just because the members are stand-up guys, or looking to do a favor for a newbie. I'd sure be upset if I was that guy and got yelled at over a judgement call.
  4. Gator
    Don't worry, friends...not me Glad to hear everyone got out of the drink okay.
  5. Gator
    Yeah, Ginna...you and me both. We used to launch out of Bear Creek and make the run over to fish the discharge in February and March. It was nothing to have 50+ days. Steve actually put an icebreaker on the front of his little skiff. Something I don't have to worry about doing again in my lifetime BTW, I gotta talk to Scott, but my ankle isn't going to let me commit to a weekend anytime soon. 4 wk appt this PM and the doc gave me a thumbs-up, but today was the first time I've worn shoes in a month. Good luck up there!
  6. Gator
    Likewise, I have a pair of wooden automatic fishermen that are excellent for pike, but a pain in the butt to carry. I haven't used them too much...most of what I do is bass and walleye anymore, and they're overkill, but the few times I've had them out for pike they've been the bomb. They use a full size, 5 1/2 ft rod, and they have a "clapper" that bangs on itself and makes a great, godawful bloody racket when they trigger so you can hear the thing go off even in deep snow.
  7. Gator
    Crikes! Somebody take a pill...there's no need to go flexing those internet muscles And those rods do look like a sweet deal.
  8. Gator
    Yeah, you're telling me... I think that you'll like the camera.
  9. Gator
    And how easy is it to catch you off the water now
  10. Gator
    Welcome to the big leagues I saw the picture that you sent...what model did you end up with? Color or B&W? I love my color camera, but the resolution in dim light isn't nearly as crisp as the B&W model. Usually, I'm all about function over form, but in this case the color was too cool not to have...
  11. Gator
    This is the perfect trailerable setup. With a bow-mount, it will do everything up to and including the Niagara. Mark, moving to an 18' glass boat isn't necessarily a "downgrade"...what are you thinking? Ranger multi-species, by chance?
  12. Gator
    Just the thought of this brings me to tears. I don't know how we avoid these senseless tragedies. My heart goes out to the family and friends...I hope that you find strength in the support of your communities.
  13. Gator
    Thanks to all of the people from LOU who participated in or donated to the benefit for Taylor. It was a huge success, and I wanted to let you know how much everyone appreciates your effort. There was a good showing, and at the very least I know of two LOU members who donated prizes for the raffle...because we won them!! One was Scott Bensch from Silver Fox Charters...thank you, sir...and the other was Matt Zimmer (aka EatSleepTrout) from Magic Property Services. There were also steelhead flies/leaders from Coleman's fly shop; I'm not sure whether Carl frequents this board, but thank you, as well. I hope I'm not leaving someone out, the organizers did a fantastic job and there were literally over a hundred items for the raffles, etc...please feel free to post if you donated an item...but I wanted to call out props to these generous folks, as well as thank anyone who made a donation in Taylor's name. It's good to know that generosity still lives, in this era of posts and tweets. My best wishes to all for a Happy Holidays.
  14. Gator
    I'm looking forward to hearing what Dave has to say. I can't see any reason to change the format, which has been successful and accepted for the past twenty years or more. I don't really understand what's the big deal if a laker wins the whole thing. It adds an element of drama to the show. How many of us were thinking last fall, "Jeez, it looks like that laker will actually hold up... amazing." And if some guy wants to debase himself by chasing chickens, who are we to stop him?
  15. Gator
    Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on your perspective, there will never be teachers who CCW here. Over half the people that I've spoken to have said they'd pull their kids out of school if teachers had guns. Others indicated that the presence of weapons in some schools would itself be an incite to violence. In this society, with this many people, there's a certain amount of craziness that's going to result...mental illness, pharmaceuticals, video games, whatever is to blame...and there are just no precautions that will absolutely prevent the cost to society. It's particularly painful when that cost is borne by those who have no say yet.
  16. Gator
    Hey Gambler, I hear that they're going to eliminate the Lake Trout division from the Shootout Sorry, couldn't resist. Anyway, that would affect Yankee more so than you, if you consider past results, right? Again, couldn't resist. You know we love you guys. It sucks that they're eliminating lakers from the Fall LOC. If they want to preserve those big breeders, Dave would be better off removing them from the target list for the Spring derby, when there are so many 20 lb+ fish concentrated at the bar...not that we know anything about that The Shootout is on the calendar. And that great big "X" is still on Jason's back...
  17. Gator
    Chad, You do a fantastic job here! I'm sure that whatever changes you make will be well-considered and will only add to the LOU experience. I'll keep fingers crossed that launch day gremlins are few Gator
  18. Gator
    Sometimes I dream about doing something useful that people might actually be interested in purchasing a raffle ticket for...I don't suppose anybody wants their personal genome sequenced? Seriously, though, I'm glad to hear that there's support out there for Taylor and her family, and I look forward to seeing everyone this afternoon!
  19. Gator
    Yup.
  20. Gator
    We have the same layout on out boat, 8.5 ft beam, and we've not tangled yet, fingers crossed. We run 12 lb torpedos on the side riggers and try to keep them above the rear riggers. This past spring I put a pair of cable planers on the side riggers...they hook between the downrigger cable and the weight and are supposed to plane to the side...but they pulled so much that they kept blowing the fuses. And the additional pull, combined with the 5' arms, created enough torque that I worried about the mount, even on 48" tracks. I'm always trying to build a better mousetrap, but I think that those things were a failed experiment for us. Honestly, between divers and copper, we rarely run all four downriggers at the same time. Stealth presentations seem to work better with clear water, anyway. I know that Gambell took his fourth rigger off the boat entirely and just runs one down the chute, but he has an I/O.
  21. Gator
    This is just to remind all of our friends on LOU that the event to benefit Jeff's daughter Taylor will be held this Saturday, as per Keith's post above. I really hope that we can have a good showing!
  22. Gator
    Yeah, give us some details! I've been Mr. Mom the past week and I need a vicarious fix. Big dogs like that don't come easy, especially a week into season.
  23. Gator
    I ran the tips this past season on a pair of Talora rods, and I'm going back to Twili Tips next season. In our experience, we found that we needed to be really careful when putting the wire dipsys into the water. The Torpedo tips have two sections that are attached via a screw at the main roller. The first part has a mini line guide and the roller itself, which are in-line with the blank. The second, top part has a tip top that rotates 45 degrees right and left to accommodate quick runs near the boat and can also collapse 180 degrees. For example, when you store the rod with the swivel attached to a guide, the tip top is facing the reel. We found that both rod and roller tip position were crucial when deploying the rig. When we deployed the Dipsy without making sure that the tip top was in line with the other guides on the rod and fully extended, the line wouldn't flow off the reel, and the force of the Dipsy as it entered the water combined with the 180 degree bend in the wire would cause it to break. We lost several rigs that way. If we paid really close attention I'm sure we could have avoided this issue, but none of us on the boat are newbies and we all decided that in the midst of chaos simplicity rules. Hence, back to twilis. In all fairness, this issue may be unavoidable, and may be associated with roller tips in general, so it's not a knock on Torpedo, although I can conceive of a design fix... BTW, if anyone wants to try the Torpedos, I'll have a pair of them for sale cheap on here in a couple months
  24. Gator
    Happy Days Are Here Again!!
  25. Gator
    I prefer the Rapala corded model, but it does heat up when cleaning 150 perch. Hasn't burnt out the motor, though.
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