John E Powell

I'm available for both tournaments and have observed for this event in the past.

This may be against forum rules.

Just want to thank the volunteers who organize and run the Niagara Pro/Am. I think it needs to be noted again, volunteers. This year there was over $41,000 in additional prize money and over $10,000 in merchandise paid out above and beyond the entries collected. That money and merchandise doesn't just materialize from nowhere, it comes from a concerted effort over a long period of time by a few - what's that word again? - Oh yeah, volunteers. I'll be joining again next year. Oh and BTW, thank you to the 2nd weekend weigh-in hosts. Much easier weigh in with drive up cooler unloads and ample parking than Krull park. I'd enjoy having one weekend there again next year.

I'd also recommend a complete service and drag improvement on your Daiwas. Done right, they should be better than new. Spending money on convectors is a step sideways given your current Daiwas. If you want new reels then invest a bit more and get the Okuma Catalina 305-Da. It's the best wire reel going.

Anxiously awaiting the start of fishing so this thread can die.

I am no longer available.

I'm reliable, responsible, punctual, and experienced.

If you have the room, store with rod assembled and just reel the swivel up tight to the twili and keep tension on it.

I see both sides of the argument. I personally don't have a problem weighing three fish against anyone charter or no. At the same time, this event is advertised as a Pro/Am and there is actually no amateur division. For the good of the event and to encourage people to join in, I'd like to see either 1) A true Am only division where no member of the crew is a Pro or 2) A straight up 3, 7, and 12 fish event, with separate entries, open to all, and the team picks which event (or events) you want to compete in. For example, you want to concentrate on just a few big fish you sign up for 3 and/or 7 fish events, and if you want to concentrate more on numbers you sign up for the 7 and/or 12 events. Some teams will join all three. Frankly I wouldn't mind a "Pro" team entering the 3 fish event if they were also fishing the 7 and/or 12. Unless the fishing is really hot, that "Pro" team is going to have to spend some of the day filling out the 12 fish box and while the "Am" team can concentrate of just three heavies the entire day. In this kind of scenario I think any advantage a "Pro" team might have would be negated - they might even be at a disadvantage.

This won't help with your current problem, but you might want to consider this: http://www.boomerangretrievaldevices.com/

Good old school reel.

I have the setup you're describing and have not experienced anything like that. The depth readings are always very stable. My guess is that the transducer is losing contact with the bottom and it may be upping the auto gain and/or changing the pulse length in the background in an attempt to find bottom. When too much power is applied, the signal bounces back and forth between the bottom and the surface and may be getting picked up and interpreted as a deeper depth. What leads me to think this is the problem is the numbers you listed, they seem to be close to multiples of the 50' depth you describe. Random readings which are very close to multiples of your actual depth are an indicator that the unit is reading signals making multiple bounces between the bottom and the surface before finally getting read by the transducer. This is the same phenomena people see on their sounder when trolling offshore. At some point, what looks to be a very strong signal starts to appear at the top of the display and then begins to work down from the surface. Many people misinterpret this as some kind of temperature or PH break that is collecting microorganisms. This is not the case. If you go into the setup of your sounder display and alter the pulse length manually, the double reflection image will disappear because the time it takes to make two complete reflections between the bottom and surface no longer falls within the reception window as limited by the pulse length setting. If it was an actual anomaly in the water, changing the pulse length would not make it disappear because it is actually there. As to the Cannon system and it's controls, I'm not familiar enough with the background software programming of the automatic ranging, gain, and pulse length to offer a possible solution to the problem you're experiencing. However, I would encourage you to make sure the transducer is installed in an optimal manner on your particular hull.

Set up a wire diver on a reel that size. As to rigging here we go again Filling a wire reel: Step 1) Choose your type of wire. First decide if you’re going to use 7 or 19 strand wire. I like 19 strand, others prefer 7 strand which also can be a bit cheaper. 19-strand is softer than 7-strand. Softer wire is easier on rod guides. With wire, a kink and failure is something that sooner or later happens to everyone. With 7-strand, you don't get much warning that the failure is about to happen. However, the 19-strand gives you a little warning because some of the very fine wires around the outside will fail and form a small birds nest on the wire. Usually you will see this before it completely fails. This means you can repair it before you lose your diver, ball bearing swivels, flasher and fly, etc. 7-strand fails less frequently, but it's harder on rod guides and greater chance of losing all your gear. 19-strand fails slightly more frequently, but it's easier on rod guides and less of a chance of losing all your gear. Step 2) How to determine the amount of backing you will need so your reel will be full when you load on the 1000’ spool of wire: To prevent overfilling and having to cut the wire, or under filling, I wind the setup on backwards so the backing is on top. I add whatever amount of backing fills the reel, and then transfer it to a second reel. At each splice, I write down the line counter number so I can then duplicate it on other reels. Wire and super braids like Power-Pro will slip on a reel's metal spool. To prevent this from happening, guys do a number of things. Some people use electrical tape, but I don't like the idea of using something with a sticky adhesive on the reel spool, it's not necessary. I just use regular mono next to the spool for about three passes of the levelwind; mono doesn't slip on the spool either and it doesn't have an adhesive. To fill the reel backwards, I spool on all the wire, then splice 65lb power pro to the wire and fill the reel. The power pro will be your backing behind the wire when you're all done. I'll take the other reel and tie on 30lb big game with a spool knot. Wind on just enough 30lb to make three passes across the spool. Splice the Power Pro from the first reel to the Big game on the second reel and transfer all the backing and wire from the first reel to the second reel. When you get to the splice between the power pro and wire, note the line counter reading on the second reel. To fill more reels the same size, just put on three layers of 30lb, splice on power pro backing and load the PP to the same line counter reading you recorded from the previous reel and top with the full 1000' spool of wire. All your reels will be equally and fully filled. The final and important step that people tend to overlook is to run out over deep water to properly tension your new wire and backing on the reel. As mentioned above it's difficult to get this right when you initially wind on the wire. While trolling, let out all your wire and backing (down to the mono) with a 1lb weight or tripped diver (to give proper resistance), and then reel the entire rig back in. This will assure the backing and wire is properly tensioned on the spool. If you don't do this, you run the risk of the wire pulling below loosely-spooled wire on your reel and kinking your new wire. The final and important step that people tend to overlook is to run out over deep water to properly tension your new wire and backing on the reel. As mentioned above it's difficult to get this right when you initially wind on the wire. While trolling, let out all your wire and backing (down to the mono) with a 1lb weight or tripped diver (to give proper resistance), and then reel the entire rig back in. This will assure the backing and wire is properly tensioned on the spool. If you don't do this, you run the risk of the wire pulling below loosely-spooled wire on your reel and kinking your new wire. Copper reels can be filled the same way.

Ice has to melt first, it might be mid May before the boom comes out on Lake Erie... Sent from my iPad using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Actually, 36" compared to 24" is 50% more per turn, which helps make my point about torque. As retrieve rate goes up, torque goes down. As the reel's torque goes down the force the angler has to apply goes up. Somewhere in between too slow a retrieve and too fast a retrieve is a range of ideal retrieves where retrieve rate and applied torque are in balance. I'll agree with you that a high speed retrieve is nice for clearing rods. For me though, I'm more interested in how well it works for me fighting a fish and less so about clearing rods quickly. Working a reel is a lot like riding a bike. You and I can ride the same bike but because I'm old, fat, and lazy I need a lower gear than you. Now, while we may ride the same bike in different gears, one thing will be similar, when we ride the bike uphill, we'll shift to a lower gear. If we don't shift then we struggle to operate the bike in an efficient manner. So what I'm saying with a diver reel, compared to a rigger reel, is that given the weight of the wire and the tripped diver, that's like riding the bike uphill and a rigger reel is more like riding the bike on the flat. Now, we can all have our personal preferences, and if you like 36" of retrieve that's a personal preference that I certainly can't argue. I personally do not like that high of a retrieve rate. I know I don't because a friend that I fish with has that reel and I've actually fished with both reels ( and many more ). On my rigger rods I prefer faster retrieve rates because the load is lighter. On my diver, and inline planer copper and core rods, I prefer the 24-28" retrieves. For some, value is more important than features. So are they wrong for choosing a more budget conscious reel besides a Catalina, Tekota, or Saltist? Like what was posted above, when a question like this comes up (frequently) it helpful if we as respondents talk about what we like about what we're recommending. It shouldn't be a Ford vs Chevy discussion though unfortunately it often ends up being just that. When I post a reply to someone's question it's to help them decide what will work well for them. It's not to say that what someone else is doing is wrong. But sometimes, people's brand loyalty blinds them to possibilities. It's like a recent post on rod quality, durability, and value. I build rods, I repair rods, I have designed rods for a big mfg. yet because I don't recommend a person's favorite brand they'll argue with me that the quality is high when they've likely never built or repaired a rod and have no basis of knowledge other than their passion to brand loyalty no make such a claim. So, as reels go with respect to retrieve rate, gear ratios, handle geometry, all things being equal as the load on a rod goes up the more torque and less retrieve a reel should have and vice versa. Now, having said that, we all will have a range that works well for us. But that range may or may not be ideal for someone else. But one thing is mathematically clear. A reel that retrieves 24" of line per handle turn is more powerful than a reel that retrieves 36" of line (again, all other factors being equal).

I don't believe a ratio of 4.2:1 is a liability. More important than ratio is retrieve rate which takes into account the ratio and spool diameter. Also, there is an ideal balance of handle length, gearing torque, and retrieve rate for diver reels that's different for rigger/planer reels. There's really not much similar between the 305 and a Tekota 600 as reels go, they're very different animals, each being just as different as the Saltist also mentioned. When you take into account these factors, the oversize gear drive, secondary tension spool control drag system, and auto engage of main drag and top counter, you get a lot more for you're extra initial cost vs the 600. There's less cost difference if you change out the 600s drags, though they're better than the 700/800 drags. Sent from my iPad using Lake Ontario United mobile app

I think the Okuma Catalina 305-Da is the perfect wire line reel. Line counter on top where it should be, and it has a secondary drag in freespool so you can let a diver creep out under tension without having to adjust your main drag setting. Fish hits on the way out, just pick up the rod and turn the handle and main drag auto engages - you don't have to flip the lever. Drags are butter smooth right out of the box.

At the terminal end of things, the LOTSA knot... http://www.lotsa.org/Wire%20Line%20Knot.htm For wire to backing, use the Albright knot. You could also use a small spro swivel, but it's not really necessary to have a swivel 1000' into the reel.

In addition to the Blood Run and other good 7-strand wires out there, a lot of guys like the Torpedo 19-strand wire. 19-strand is softer than 7-strand. Softer wire is easier on rod guides. With wire, a kink and failure is something that sooner or later happens to everyone. With 7-strand, you don't get much warning that the failure is about to happen. However, the 19-strand gives you a little warning because some of the very fine wires around the outside will fail and form a small birdsnest on the wire. Usually you will see this before it completely fails. This means you can repair it before you lose your diver, ball bearing swivels, flasher and fly, etc. 7-strand fails less frequently, but it's harder on rod guides and greater chance of losing all your gear. 19-strand fails slightly more frequently, but it's easier on rod guides and less of a chance of losing all your gear. For reels, I am using Okuma Catalina CT-305Da. To prevent overfilling and having to cut the wire, or underfilling, I wind the setup on backwards so the backing is on top. I add whatever amount of backing fills the reel, then transfer it to a second reel. At each splice, I write down the line counter number so I can then duplicate it on other reels. Wire and super braids like Power-Pro will slip on a reel's metal spool. To prevent this from happening, guys do a number of things. Rob mentions in the above post using electrical tape, but I don't like the idea of using something with an adhesive, it's not necessary. I just use regular mono next to the spool for about three passes of the levelwind; mono doesn't slip on the spool either and it doesn't have an adhesive. To fill the reel backwards, I spool on all the wire, then splice 65lb power pro to the wire and fill the reel. I'll take the other reel and tie on 30lb big game with a spool knot. Wind on just enough 30lb to make three passes across the spool. splice the Power Pro from the first reel to the Big game on the second reel and transfer all the backing and wire from the first reel to the second reel. When you get to the splice between the power pro and wire, note the line counter reading on the second reel. To fill more reels the same size, just put on three layers of 30lb, splice on power pro backing and load the PP to the same line counter reading you recorded from the previous reel and top with the full 1000' spool of wire. All your reels will be equally and fully filled. The final and important step that people tend to overlook is to run out over deep water to properly tension your new wire and backing on the reel. As mentioned above it's difficult to get this right when you initially wind on the wire. While trolling, let out all your wire and backing (down to the mono) with a 1lb weight or tripped diver (to give proper resistance), and then reel the entire rig back in. This will assure the backing and wire is properly tensioned on the spool. If you don't do this, you run the risk of the wire pulling below loosely-spooled wire on your reel and kinking your new wire.

I don't run rigs much like that anymore. Fishing solo, it makes netting unnecessarily challenging. My regular crew cant get to the dock before 7, and they all look the other way on copper hits so like I said there is a time and a place for everything. The OP asked a question and I shared what has worked for me in the past. I'm certainly not recommending it to everyone as the next SWR... If I ran something like what I described and experienced a big tangle, I'd just set it aside and rig another rod. I wouldn't really lose any time. Now if I didn't have extra rods ready for a quick replacement then I surely would be more hesitant to try something like what I described.

Back when I was young and ambitious I would tie a loop in the mainline. The loop might be 15 ft up the line. I would then tie a loop in the end of a leader that might be 12 ft in length. The leader loop would connect to the mainline loop and both would pass through the guides. I'd rig a diving plug like a hot-n-tot on the shorter line and a flutter spoon on the longer and set this out on a planer (mono and/or leadcore). The two lures would run a good 5-6 foot apart and when netting the loops would just go through the guides and levelwind onto the reel. If the fish was on the plug, the spoon would just trail the fish by 3 foot or so. If the spoon had the fish, I just had to be careful not to get the plug in the net. I never really had any tangles with it and yeah over the years I had a few doubles, sometimes resulting in two smaller fish in the net, other times maybe one of the fish would be lost to a pulled hook. I also ran this rig a lot off riggers and it functioned similarly to a fixed cheater. Usually two spoons. I have run 10 dodgers/squids on five rods on five riggers at a dead slow troll at times with exceptional results using this method. On a hit, minor tangles were expected, but I rarely had anything that needed more than 20-30 seconds to untangle. I'd make lure changes by raising the rigger and hand lining the dodgers in instead of popping the lines. I'd never do something like this with a spinner though for obvious reasons. Like everything else there's a time and place for this kind of untraditional stuff. You just need to be thoughtful in deciding how, when, where and why.

With PayPal, in most cases you will eventually get your money back. Sometimes it's quick, other times there are buyer/seller agreements that specify time for parties to respond and that can drag out. One of the more creative frauds perpetrated at values under $200-250 is called a triangle fraud. It can be very difficult to straighten out. How a triangle fraud works is a seller will advertise an item for sale, like a Tekota 800LC and advertise it as near new. They'll post some photos of a new reel they get off the web. They'll give a story like they're getting out of fishing or maybe a hard luck angle like losing their job. They ask an attractive but reasonable price that will look to a buyer to be a good deal. You contact them about their $135 nearly brand new Tekota 800LC and paypal them the money. The seller then goes online to a company like Bass Pro or Cabelas and makes an online purchase for the reel to send to you. They fill in your address as the delivery address, and use a stolen credit card number to pay for the purchase. You receive a brand new Tekota 800LC in the mail and think, "wow that's great, he sent me a new reel". You might be suspicious, but you have a brand new reel at a great price. So a month goes by and the person whose credit card was used gets their bill. They may pay it off without noticing the fraudulent purchase and the seller gets away with the crime. If they do notice the charge they didn't make, they call Cabelas to ask what the charge is about. and the Fraud department takes over. Now, keep in mind that the seller has probably done the exact same thing to ten other people with ten other stolen card numbers and made a single purchase from different retailers. None of the fraud amounts are over the $200-$250 required to trigger an in-depth investigation as most retailers set a minimum fraud amount and frauds below this amount just routinely get written off as a cost of doing business. This is a problem for you because Cabelas isn't really interested in digging into this when the seller contacts their credit card company for help and credit card company contacts Cabelas on behalf of their customer. All cabelas will tell the credit card company was they processed a sale to your shipping address with the stolen card number. Now the credit card company is contacting you instead of the seller. You have to now try to get PayPal on your side to act upon your behalf. This is very difficult because from PayPal's point of view, a reel was ordered and a reel was delivered. It's hearsay as to just what happened. So now you realize your in possession of a reel which technically belongs to Cabelas and you have paid money. You can't return the reel to Cabelas because they will then credit the card holder and you don;t get your money back. You can't hold on to the reel cause its stolen. Believe it or not, the only way you can get your money back through PayPal is to return the reel to the seller who never actually paid for the reel in the first place. The seller ends up with the reel and you've just spent weeks trying to deal with PayPal, Cabelas, and a seller who is adamant that you're just trying to back out of a deal and they did nothing wrong. The reason why this works is because Cabelas fraud department won't actually ever talk to Paypal's fraud department because it breaks confidentiality rules so the crook gets away with it. This happens a lot with Ebay purchases - this is even more complex because now another big factor is Ebay and their rules which state they can't share fraud info. Ebay and PayPal don't even share fraud info between themselves unless you can convince a top level supervisor in both companies to get on the phone with one another. Over the years, I've dealt with this exact kind of situation twice. In both instances I did the honorable thing and returned the item to the retailer so the person's whose stolen credit card was used could get their refund. On one of the two occasions the seller wasn't too bright and slipped up in dealing with Paypal and I got my money back. On the second occasion, I was unable to recover my money for the purchase.

if you do that, be aware that paypal considers your transfer of money as a gift and not a business transaction. if you have a problem with something you purchase and you paid that person as a friend or relative you won't be able to ask PayPal to intervene on your behalf or ask for a refund.

Patriot, if you go back to my first reply, second paragraph, I answered your initial question that most every reel we use, including the Daiwa, uses similar sized and shaped feet. So, as the last poster noted, they will hold them all about the same. Most people are fine with how they hold. You may or may not be happy with how they fit. You stated you noticed a problem so that's why I later suggested you try them for yourself instead of relying upon people who are likely to report they haven't experienced any problems.