Leeches

[Hellbender]

I've never been around Leeches, but when we pulled out of the Elk Saturday, one dropped off one of the kayaks, and you couldn't pay me enough to use one. Nasty

[powerdivehome]

Not the same animal, HB. These are ribbon leeches, which live in clean water up north and live on carrion only (mainly dead fish). Cute little guys; completely harmless. A tiny toothless mouth at one end, a sucker pad for holding onto things at the other, and a whole lot of seductive swimming motion in between!

[coyotewhacker]

CW took advantage of being in what ReelXTC loosely describes as "God's country", and is traveling tomorrow with three pounds of the critters. One member of this esteemed group, maybe brighter than most, asked me to bring him some, so he will have plenty for the tourney.....these are lively critters, too. I had them in open ziplock backs supported in a cooler of ice water. Today they had made their bid for freedom and were out of the bags, but could not make it up the walls of the cooler. The Stockton walleyes are in for a feast. They are just too cute swimming around in the cold water....look like minature cotton mouths that we had down south. Lots easier to catch and hold than crawlers...speaking of which: I have long complained that there has to be a tool to make hooking crawlers so that they are not half on and half off the spinner rig....I found one. It allows you to literally thread the crawler over the hook and up onto the leader material behind the beads/spinner/etc. Looks like it has promise to save time and deal with squiggly crawlers.

[Tablerock]

Reel...Thanks for the tip...!!
PD... I wondered about the spinner. I did use a very small spinner but could not get bit. I was too busy netting fish for you know who. By the way, she's hooked really bad now. This could be good or it might not be good...

[Hellbender]

TR it sounds like you need to be real careful, because it sounds like you don't want to fish against her.

[lcostley]

CW...Use artificial crawlers for trolling. I need to pay my mortgage this month!!!!

[Tablerock]

HB...No, I wouldn't want to fish against her especially if it's a bottom bouncer / spinner / crawler bite. Her timing is exceptional.
She won't want to fish against me now. She just bought me a new sonar / GPS with her "cookie jar money"..... (and I thought we were broke, as usual).
MNwalleyeGUY, FIRELINE RULES...!!!

[powerdive]

Evidently this Norfork thing really screwed up my Stockton edge. I'm tempted to win this thing with Gulp instead, just to fix all you leechwhackers.

Ha!

[trackerteam6]

OK MNwalleyeGuy, I went out and bought Gulp, Fire Line and Power Pro line, that should help with the morgage.

[lcostley]

Trackerteam6....Thanks for the Gulp & FireLine....you can stick that power pro elsewhere, they are the enemy!!!

[Hellbender]

TT6, I suspect that when the smoke clears, you'll find you like that PP better than Fireline.
Sorry MN'eyeguy, but I've used both. Fireline is more billfold friendly however and TUFF ain't bad either, especialy the 4/15.

[trackerteam6]

OOOPS I thought Berkley made Power Pro, I'll take it back to Wal-Mart and get more Fireline--------Yea Right

[lcostley]

Hellbender, have you tried Spider Stealth? I am assuming that you like PP because it is round. Stealth blows PP out of the water.

PP feels slick, as it is coated in a wax. Once the wax wears off, which does not take long, this is a brutal line. Stealth is teflon impregnated, it stays slick and remains tightly bonded after continous use.

[trackerteam6]

MNwalleyeGuy, Didn't know such a thing existed. I'll have to give it a try. I am looking for something to put on my lite baitcasters instead of mono. I have a very lite reel that will throw a 1/4 oz lure almost as far a a spinning reel with six lb mono. Fireline digs into itself on a baitcaster. so you think Stealth will remedy that?

[Hellbender]

I might have to try that sometime MN Eye guy, but I'm loaded with PP and I haven't respooled in 2 years. Is Stealth a braid?
I use PP on my baitcasters TT6 and like it. I use 6/20 and 4/15. I prefer 6/20, but its to hard to break when I'm in my Kayak or canoe, so I use the 4/15 on those rods. I have a Falcon 3 power with a 100b Curado w/PP on it and it will throw 1/8th oz under most conditions.