Sk8man

Nice going Guff. They were in that arm big time during the ice fishing there and we nailed a few on the light tackle and they were fun. Many were very skinny though for their size and had empty stomachs then.

Fires are terrible Andy and thankfully it sounds as though everyone is safe and that is the main thing. Really sorry to hear that you lost so much. It also sounds as though you have a positive attitude towards a new start and that is very important as well. You'll get back in gear it will just take time and gradually putting things together in time. Keep your chin up. Sometimes new starts can produce very positive things that were unanticipated and new opportunities as well. I'm sure you have a lot of folks here squeezing for you.

I have the X4D. There are no silver bullets out there that guarantee fish but it is a VERY useful tool that enables you to add some important pieces to the catching puzzle by providing useful information in making decisions about trolling, boat and lure speed, identification of potentially productive sections of water, and offers information about how fast your lure may be going down below. It also helps sort out to a degree current direction and intensity,and a closer approxlmation of lure depth which may differ considerably from the downrigger counter because of current strength and direction and blowback or water resistance to the downrigger weight. All of this information still depends on your skill as a fisherman in interpretation of it in conjunction with your depth finder information, your ability to process other cues (such as angle of lines and downrigger wire etc.as well as what the water temperature information may mean for the given target species. Actual experience with these "tools" is the best tool of all in increasing skill and increasing success rates.

x2 on the 124 mm (sometimes referred to by the number 5) Deeper Diver for the reasons dawg indicated. I have a bunch of the others but don't use them often anymore

No longer in business. Sometimes there are some of the spoons sold right here on LOU....just have to keep an eye out for, them. I think there were some posted fairly recently so might want to look through the postings.

When fishing for walleyes lure speed and depth run can be critical to success. On Erie you are not always fishing them shallow as you might be in someplace like Honeoye where the max. depth of the lake is about 30 ft. I know we tend to think of making fishing easier with the autopilot but it offers little in the way of information about actually catching the fish....it is basically nice to have and especially if fishing solo The ones geared to electric trolling motors do offer a special ability if you can hover over fish and stay on spot while jigging . On big lakes like Erie the walleye suspend a lot in some deeper water than other shallower lakes. In the summer months especially, temperature and lure speed can become very important in catching them. Although the autopilot can be helpful in navigating to specific spots and also returning to port from distant spots, the Fishawk X4D combined with a good fishfinder can become invaluable or crucial in locating and targeting active fish. Personal opinion take it for what it is worth...

Have 7 roller rods 4 for wire dipsys (2) 6 1/2 ft and (2) 8 1/2 ft) and 3 for Seth Green rigs and love every one of them. Oh! and another 5 Seth Greens.....almost forgot about them

Part of the problem in any of these situations is that fish vision is different than ours in that their eyes are placed differently on their head (sides) such that they don't have the same ability we do for binocular vision which is required for true depth perception.

Doubletap Rob's post on the coppers is one of the best on LOU. It will give you a great grounding in copper setups..

Don I'm not sure that you want a 5 lb breaking strength for most of the usual setups something about 3 -3 1/2 lbs is usually about right. Otherwise you can carry around small fish without realizing it. When I use rubber bands I use the very small ones that girls use on their hair that can be found in most department stores such as Joann Fabrics, Walmart, Big Lots and possibly even someplace like Dollar Tree. They usually have them in fluorescent colors as well as black and I mainly use the fluporescent ones as they are easy to see etc. You just half hitch loop one end on your line and place the other end in the release arm. With that said if the release tension is set right on the Blacks release the need for rubber bands is avioded. To check the release pressure get one of those inexpensive scales used for weighing luggage at Walmart etc.(less than $10)