Thun

Now that you mention it, I remember a seminar where a Captain talked about switching from mono and glass rods to spectra and graphite. He said he was amazed at the sensitivity and wondered how many haddock he had not even noticed with mono and glass. He spoke about how haddock kind of nibble as opposed to cod which hit hard. He also spoke about that stretch with mono that rolmops mentioned and said when you lift your rod as in a jigging motion, the rod tip moves feet but because of that stretch, a 16 oz jig may only move inches. Some good advice there rolmops.

What a wonderful thing you're doing and many thanks to all of our Veterans.

Nice, Those overnighters are fun and I'd be willing to bet you're going to see some monster cod. You guys may even catch a Halibut. I love Gloucester! http://www.angelfire.com/home/lake/earth/gloucester.html

As a kid, I used to go cod fishing here and there and always seemed to catch a few but I noticed that some were catching a lot of fish. It wasn't until a Captain told me that people think because we're anchored, we stay over the same ground and when they hit bottom they think their jig or bait stays on the bottom. He said there's 600' of rode out and the boat not only swings around the anchor but drags it also. He said it's only a matter of minutes before your jig which you thought was on the bottom, is 15 or 20' off of it. He told me to jig 5 times, then go back to the bottom and repeat. I started catching fish like the other guys who knew this already. You'll probably catch some haddock too using bait but they have a very soft bite unlike cod. Good luck.

Thank you Capt., will do! Since I put 15' of leader on, there's plenty of room to splice it in the middle and put a small swivel there.

I just spooled up a couple of 1 and 2 color 27# test leadcores between 20# test Big Game and 8# test STS Seaguar leaders using the Willis Knot on both ends. Not sure if I'm doing this correctly but had a heck of a time with the 8# test. It kept slipping out of the leadcore after I tied the knot so I doubled up the overhand knot and that solved the problem. Am I correct in thinking that swivels aren't needed with stickbaits since they don't spin like spoons?

Had one of four new ones break at the screw that secures it to the rigger.

Not sure if these 38" Great Lakes Mini Mast Planers are what you're looking for or if they're too tall for a hard top? http://greatlakesplaners.com/products.htm

Sk8man I'll keep you in my prayers. I'm among those who really appreciate your posts, thanks for sharing that wisdom with us.

8'3" down rigger Ugly Stiks...bought 3 rods 20 years ago for stripers and had good luck with them so I bought 5 more last year for salmon. Did have one of the new ones split while trying to free it from the release but with proof of purchase and a picture, I had a new rod within weeks. I love them!

Thank you Capt. I apologize too for hijacking the thread. Kevin's post actually got me going and motivated me to spool up my own rods. This will be our first early spring brown trip and your advice is greatly appreciated.

If you guys were going to spool up some short lead cores for the boards, would you spool up a set for each side, 2-1 color, 2-2 colors, 2-3 colors. Or should I start with a half color, a full color, 1 1/2 colors, etc?

I charged it every night after using it for a couple of hours so I don't know how long a charge will last. I think you'll be happy with the battery but you may want to consider a cheap smart charger with an indicator light to let you know when the battery is charged. It's tiny too, beats lugging a heavy 12 volt around.

I bought one of these and was happy with the battery. The charger doesn't indicate when full so it could overcharge and kill the battery but going on 3 years now and they still seem fine. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Boating/AutoBoat-Batteries-Chargers/Marine-Deep-Cycle-Batteries|/pc/104794380/c/104698080/sc/104446080/Cabelas-Rechargeable-12-Volt-Battery/700551.uts?destination=%2Fcategory%2FMarine-Deep-Cycle-Batteries%2F104446080.uts&WTz_l=DirectLoad%3Bcat104446080#BVRRWidgetID

I've used this on my graphite reels and wouldn't hesitate to use it on my boat or car. I'm impressed with it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K64DZOugUaE

Here's a study by the University of Queensland, Australia. If it's to be believed, about half the (tropical) fish studied can see UV and half can't. I found this interesting though. "UV sensitivity has also been shown for a variety of fish species. It was demonstrated with behavioural experiments in the goldfish (Neumeyer, 1985; Hawryshyn & Beauchamp, 1985), the rainbow trout (Hawryshyn, Arnold, Chaisson, & Martin, 1989; Browman, Novales Flamarique, & Hawryshyn, 1994), and the roach (Douglas, 1986). Measurements of the cone photopigments revealed the existence of UV sensitive photoreceptors in the dace, the carp and a series of other freshwater fishes (Avery, Bowmaker, Djamgoz, & Downing, 1982; Harosi & Hashimoto 1983; Hawryshyn & Harosi, 1991)" It's way over my head, I was an offensive lineman if you get my drift, but perhaps someone may get something out of it. http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0042698900002406/1-s2.0-S0042698900002406-main.pdf?_tid=46a74a3a-a666-11e3-a8e6-00000aab0f01&acdnat=1394244575_f4b8dbb3e1d099ab209560b66c722975