Fat Fish Guide Service
Patrick Sheahan
680 Reserve Lane
Phelps, WI 54554
| (E-mail: [email protected]) |
| Proper Equipment |
Proper equipment is seriously covered in our Instructional Outings. A cheap rod and reel will bring many heartaches. They also soon give out, unable to withstand the constant punishment of muskie fishing. Cheap rods also have cheap eyes. It will not take long for the line to begin wearing grooves in it. These fray your line and weaken it. Rods with proper eyes will eventually do the same, but it will take a far longer time. Even so, you should check the eyes now and then to make sure there are no nicks or grooves forming.
Reels should have certain features that will help you. Free running spools are great and they should also have an audible click feature. A drag easily reached for quick adjustment is a must. The more line the reel holds, the better - to a certain extent. A reel that is too heavy for you can make the day miserable. This goes for the rod, too. Don't go overboard and choose a rod and reel that is more than you can comfortably handle all day.
Some people purchase excellent equipment, then buy cheap line. You get what you pay for and such a person soon regrets it. Others use the same line year after year, then howl when a muskie breaks it. Purchase good quality line at the start of every season. If you fish muskies all season, replace your line for the last half of the season.
Monofilament line does not store well. It gradually begins to weaken and, if you keep it on your reel all winter, its memory will have you casting more curls than a home perm. When you are in a store to buy line at the beginning of the season, do not grab the first box on the hanger. Generally, stores do not completely sell all their line by the end of the season. These are the first ones they are going to push out the door next season. You don't want this line.
Look the hanger over and compare the first boxes with the ones on the back of the hanger. Manufacturers often change their boxes the next year. Sometimes the changes are subtle and sometimes the whole box color and layout has changed. If there is a difference between the boxes in the front and the back, the ones in the back are fresh. If there is no difference at all, look at the other hangers of different test-pounds of the same manufacturer. Do you see some with different boxes hanging in the back? If so, these are the fresh ones and your whole hanger is last year's.
There may have been no change in the box. If the box color is brighter on the ones in the back, those are fresh ones. The other boxes may have faded slightly from hanging all winter. However, the brighter ones may have simply laid in the storeroom all winter. The best way is to look for a change on the box, often it is only the printing.
If you have a store put the line on with a line-winder, be sure they are using fresh line.
There is a lot to know about muskie equipment and Fat Fish wants you to learn as much as possible about this important aspect.
Call or E-mail now for an Instructional Outing!
E-mail:[email protected]