Sk8man

Hope you've had a great birthday Bob. Keep at those great recipes of yours too! Best wishes for many happy returns! Les

Hey Zimm I see you live in Canandaigua. I'd be glad to meet with you and can help you out with all of it if you wish. I'll PM you.

I would think the quality of the cable might be the deciding factor rather than color itself. I have brown on one of mine and silver on the other and have never noted any difference in the amount of fish action....more related to how they are run and what is on them.

Welcome to LOU Mike. I'm sure you'll enjoy this website as much as all of us do. It is a great place to learn things as well as contribute to the group. There are a lot of very knowledgeable generous people here and it is a neat place to hang out no matter what stage of fishing or life you are at for that matter. Chad does a wonderful job of development and maintenance on this website and that is why many of us try to support his efforts by contributing via the 'Professional" membership. The term does not exclusively mean we're all pro fishermen....it means that there are additional resources available to folks at that level of membership as well as the absence of advertisements. Best of luck with your fishing!

Has Been - Most of the info I post is geared toward the many inexperienced or novice fishermen who frequent the website looking for basic information I certainly don't intend to "talk down" to anyone here regardless of experience level.

I think Tim's example is a good one. One of the factors about drag settings is that for most of the commonly used reels the maximum drag setting is about 15 - 20 lbs. This assumes that the drag is functioning properly and is probably figured on new drag disks. How many times have you ever actually applied the maximum drag to a fish to try to stop him ? I'm betting for most of us it would be never. The reason is that many experienced fishermen set the drag and leave it at the desired setting which is usually by "feel" and they think that they don't want to "chance" breaking the line. A lot of folks feel that when fighting a fish the drag shouldn't be messed with. I do just the opposite... I constantly manipulate the drag setting according to how the fish is fighting and as he starts to go with the line I gradually increase the tension on him and over the years I have lost very few fish. This year it was one big king and that was because he broke the 40 lb. fluoro right at the fly on his fifth jump (since that I've gone back to 40lb. mono on my flies so they will "give"). When you start to approach the max capacity the fish is actually pulling against the boat itself and when I had my13ft Whaler in the old days a big king would actually pull the boat for short distances so I knew it was just a matter of time...Rather than put the boat in idle I just lowered the speed to the lowest trolling speed I could get...making the fish really work against the boat ....again another advantage to a small boat where you can get better control sometimes. I know this process may be quite different for the charter guys because they have more unknowns and usually more equipment out (e.g. novice anglers, unfamiliar with the equipment and it's limitations etc.).

I hear you on the throwing the hook issue. You really have to have very good boat control to do it right because of the "slack" problem and whoever is driving the boat has to be totally focused as well as experienced. Slack line (even momentary) is the number one enemy of the fisherman.

I would imagine that unlike the Lake O fish that have probably seen every possible color combination of lures and attractors those chinooks may have never seen any lure before given the great expanses of the water they inhabit. Great video and Dire Straits was a good choice for the music

I think if I were out in the woods I'd be wearing some "heavy duty" (canvas like Carhartts) for pants and sealing off the bottoms at the boots and then rubbing on a light coat of kerosene on the boots and low part of the pants (e.g. up to the knees) and let dry before putting on. I'm pretty sure like most parasites like fleas and lice they would be repelled by it and as long as there isn't skin contact with it it should be safer than some of the pesticides or insecticides. (I wouldn't be smoking near it before drying though...but then again I don't smoke anyway Have to stay downwind though.

I think I would be trying some of the hottest tobasco sauce I could find on those apples. As long as he has a viable and predictable food source he will keep coming back and therein lies the potential danger to people or domestic animals (they become more bold). Most black bears are skiddish by nature around humans but not all and certainly not in all circumstances (e.g. advanced hunger state or with cubs or if "cornered" or blocked from getting their food). If it were me I'd round up all the apples from the tree (s) and remove them and then spray a few saved with the hot sauce and place them far away from the house and next year place a few with the hot sauce distant from the house...their sense of smell is excellent and I think if they believe they are "contaminated" they may start staying away and look for another food source....just an idea...

Probably for seals too....

Tim's method is a good one and "flexible" too. As far as the "getting spooled" issue - If drags are set right (and operating properly) you should never get spooled....I've never even come close to it even using 12 lb test on 30 lb kings... you make the fish work against the boat and if necessary with large aggressive kings you pull up lines and use the boat against them by going after them. As long as you remain connected they lose. But it does entail patience and not "horsing" the fish like you see on some of the videos. The charter guys may be in more of a hurry (time is money) and may not feel it practical to "pull" lines and "chase down" big fish (and it sure is easier with smaller boats) but the objective is: once hooked to get them in the boat by staying connected to them. If they can do it with several hundred pound sharks on 10-15 pound test line and light tackle it certainly can be done with kings etc. When you think about the fact that 200 yds is the distance of two football fields...much of the time the "high capacity" issue is more in the minds of the fishermen than in reality.

If it is Lake O fishing (in late Spring through early Fall) 30 lb Big Game mono would be a good choice and about 240 yds will fit the 47. The main reason for using that lb test is because of the fleas (i.e. larger diameter harder for them to cling to). I have the 30 lb Sea Flee (275 yds fits on them) on two of my 47H's and although it sheds the fleas great it has way too much stretch to it for any use but on downriggers (can"t even release a small dipsey with it because stretch is so severe). I have some dedicated 47H reels as well with just 12 lb test Big Game for non-flea parts of the season on Lake O and the Finger Lakes and bodies of water without fleas as well as for early Spring browns on Lake O and they hold about 450 yds of 12 lb Big Game each. You can get about 280 yds or so of 20 lb test on them but it doesn't do as well as 30 for the fleas at least in my experience. For non flea bodies of water I'd go with the lightest line you can get away with for the species you are fishing for.