Sk8man

In reading this thread I have to chuckle a bit. As someone who can remember when all this technology was starting up for the sportfisherman it is a little humerous to see the change in focus from just being able to see marks representing fish and bait and the changing bottom features and being somewhat amazed by it to the current focus on having the latest greatest leading edge technology claiming to accurately measure a minnow's blowhole at 200 ft. as though it will solve everything if one has it. I guess carefully selecting a unit that will give you the basic information you need for the types of fishing you do in the least complex way (e.g. without having to go through a myriad of menu screens while fishing) is what to shoot for. The most important thing given the current quality of units is taking the time to fully learn to use the features of the unit selected and spending time refining the settings to do what you need it to do. If the adjustments are too complicated or hard to find quickly or the screen isn't fully visible in sunlight the unit will suck no matter which one is selected. By the way I had my first depth finder (a Vexilar portable flasher) before even having a boat. The reason or motivation for getting it was that when I went fishing on my buddy's boat (no depth finder) when we still fished I was the guy that had to keep throwing the anchor out which was marked off in 25 ft intervals to see how deep we were. After a few times of this I became real interested in getting a depth finder

To go along with this last week I was at the Chamber of Commerce launch and although the fishing didn't go well when we came back in there were literally millions of minnows and small fish of mostly undetermined species all over the launch area and outside it as well. I noted that there were a lot of small bass fry among them too. I don't remember in recent years seeing anywhere near this volume of minnows anywhere on Seneca and it reminded me of scenes from the old days where.it was common place nearly anywhere you went along the shoreline. A small sign of encouragement.

baystalker you have a PM (I sent his phone number)

Very good info right there.

I think I'd be thinking Sodus at this time of year because if it gets too rough in the lake you can still fish in the bay itself and during the Spring there can be browns and even an occasional salmon in there now especially near the channel. It is always nice to have a nearby backup plan

Unless they have put the docks in inthe last couple days you will be limited to the one handicapped dock. The waterlevel is up so noproblem there but kee yur eyes peeled for debris both in the launch and canal

Wow....gives a whole new meaning to fishing the edge of the mudline

Like a lot of things personal preference plays a huge role in this issue and there is no right or wrong way attached to it either. I respect your views and your thinking but I guess I'm pretty "old school" and I try to weed out things that don't work for me and don't usually change things until necessary and attend to details as well but after all these years of fishing and thousands of fish including many kings reeled in I have only had a couple break offs one of which probably cost me a derby but that was due to using a ball bearing swivel with a split ring which cut the line.and the other was a commercial fly that broke right at the fly so none were related to failure of the main line itself. Today we live in a throw away society and waste much that ends up in a landfill somewhere.I'm sure there is a lot of perfectly good mono in with that stuff.

Cool....good luck fishing.

I would worry more about the knot itself whether new line or used. Without abrasions or stress (e.g. stretched) points on the line the knot is the weakest link in most cases.

I have a 9.8 Tohatsu and have a direct injection Merc 135 Optimax and could go the route you are thinking but one of the main reasons for having the kicker is for emergency use. My thinking is although the t hook up is convenient. I like the idea of separating my gas for each motor in case of contamination (e.g. moisture clogged line etc). of the big motor. This way in an emergency I can either runthe kicker (3.1 gal tank) OR hook it up to the big motor (I know.....I'm kinda anal)

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Sometimes adhering to the old addage "If it ain't broke don't fix it" applies. There is a lot of "superstitious" behavior and fears of losing that monster of a lifetime that goes on in fishing and I am guilty of it as well but if you take a look at the line and it doesn't appear to have any obvious defects (visible weak spots) or abrasions why change it out after just one season. Sometimes OCD pays off in the fact that paying close attention to detail avoids potential problems but a lot of folks really get into overkill too. I think checking the condition of fluoro leaders and re-tying knots eliminates more of the potential for break-offs than changing line every year. "New" line isn't a guaranteee either because it may have been sitting near a heat source for months or near a showroom window for a year etc.