rolmops

I have patched the steel with a combination of 3 barrel crimps, hay twists in between and heat shrink (3/32) covering it all. It still goes through the levelwind guide easily. With 1/8 heat shrink it tends to start hanging up.

Did the mall security people come to take you away?

knots in steel wire I did some experimenting with the 19 strand wire and how to connect it to other line. The first thing I did with a new 1000 foot 19 strand roll was a line test. I took a big empty reel and while reeling the wire from one reel to the other I let it run between my fingers. That was a smart thing to do because I found three damaged sections on a brand new $43 roll of 19 strand line. I cut them out and retied the line. I knotted it back together with tiny spro 50 pound test swivels using a mix between a palomar and a hay twist covered with 3/64 heat shrink tubing to prevent the twists from untwisting. So far so good. Although I am not at all happy with the poor quality control on the 19 strand wire.Next I connected the 19 strand to the weighted steel line ,using an 80 pound barrel swivel that will easily go through the guides. First I tried the knot with the heat shrink tubing that Torpedo has on its website,but although the knot is strong and holds well it has a problem going through the levelwind guide on my penn 345 levelwind. So I just used some barrel crimps (three in a row) with twisted wire in between and covered these with 3/32 heat shrink tubing. It holds well and goes easily through the guides. That is as far as I got. I'll inform you guys how it holds up with a salmon on the other end.

That is exactly what I thought, but between the weight and the very thin diameter of the 19 strand it does exactly that.

The torpedo weighted steel line comes in either 200 foot or 300 foot rolls. the 200 foot goes down 40 feet and the 300 is 60. If you use 19 strand 30 pound wire behind it, the sinking rate will remain the same. So 200 feet of weighted steel plus 200 feet of 19 strand will get you down to 80 feet and so on. Four hundred feet of copper is usually quite a job to reel back in, but this setup is lighter and easier to reel in. On the other hand,the fish will fight harder because they don't have to fight the heavier copper.

In the end I put 400 feet of 80 pound test powerpro ,300 feet of 19 strand and 300 feet of weighted steel on a Penn 345 levelwind. I used Sammygee's suggestion to use heat shrink tubing on the 19 strand wire. Now I have one wire rod for each side with the possibility to go from 300 to 600 feet. According to Matthew of Torpedo wires, the 19 strand wire has the same characteristics as 27 pound leadcore and has the same sink rate. I will set up a reel with 300feet of 19 strand with color coded markers every thirty feet and use it instead of a leadcore. I can run it of the boards at whatever color/length I want. If it works I will sell a bunch of rods with Penn levelwinds and leadcore.

I decided to freeze my fat old rear end a bit and reloaded my copper rod with 400 feet of 80# power pro,300 feet of 19 strand torpedo wire and 300 feet of weighted steel wire. I measured out a hundred foot distance in my backyard and marked the 19 strand with 3/64 heat shrink tubing every fifty feet and than as a surprise, I found out that the 300 feet of weighted steel wire is not 300 feet but 350 feet. Now the 400 power pro ,300 19strand and 300 weighted steel fit very nicely on my Penn 345 levelwind. All that I have left to do there is finding the proper knot to connect the weighted steel wire to the 19 strand.

Thanks for the understanding. It usually goes away when first the snow bells and then the crocuses bloom. At first opportunity I start up the old rototiller and till all the mulch into the ground in my garden. A good day will find me in my garden thinking about what to plant where. Then there is the climbing in the boat, crawling under the tarp, resisting the urge to start the engines because the hoses are disconnected and I'd ruin the new impeller, but turning on the radio ,the GPS and the fish finder is ok. It usually leaves my wife shaking her head and wondering out loud if I have taken leave of what's left of my common sense.But I just sit in my captains chair staring at lures and moving rods around , mostly thinking about being out there again and dreaming about catching that first brown and trying to figure out a way to catch fish while combat fishing 40 feet away from shore. I never could do that. I even sharpened the keels on my otter boats so it will cut their rigger line not mine Please forgive my whining. I'll go to the kitchen now and have some cheese.

It has just began. It started a week ago. Cabin fever was quietly eating away at me and even though I had promised myself not to fall into its doldrums it hit me like a ton of ... well not quite bricks. Restless and nervous I hopped into the car and drove off to the Niagara Expo and on the way, crossing the bridge over to Grand Island wondering whether it is before or after the falls. Entering the expo, I made my way to the lecture that Marlowe gave about currents and how to deal with them and that is when it hit. It started with buying two 8 foot Talora rods, next 300 feet of weighted steel wire, then a clip on line counter, a 1000 feet of 19 strand torpedo wire, different 3/64 heat shrink tubing to mark distances now I am considering if maybe a line counter magda pro or a convector would be the better choice. Cabin fever expressed itself in a buying binge of stuff that I do not really need. Now buyers regret is rearing its ugly head. Please let spring start so I can go fishing and stop spending money on gear,using it instead for gas.

There is a fair chance that they will not survive the big meat grinder of the Niagara falls. Ground up and killed they will probably increase the nutrient flow into Lake Ontario.

Read your specs again . The 20 hp is 20 pounds heavier than the 9.9. Still,116 pounds is light for a 20 horse

Mexico Bay is the best Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

If they are the same weight,go for it

Mine is on port side. My kicker is a 9.9. 20 horse is serious overkill for a 19 footer. I know people who use a 20 horse as the main engine on their 18 and 19 footers.

Torpedo 19 strand wire has the exact same sinking character as lead core, but it weighs much less. Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Nothing exceptional about skunks in January. It's their breeding time and the young males do stupid things . Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

Multi purposing is exactly what I am doing. One copper rod instead of 3 for each side. The same with leadcore. Right now I have 8 in the cuddy, but with 30 or 40 feet of mono between sets of colors (3-5-8-10) I can do with four if I want to run 2 on each side. This means decluttering my cuddy and less maintenance overall. The wire instead of copper means no more clusterf...s and bird's nests to unravel. My ultimate goal is less clutter,fewer F.. ups and more effective fishing time to enjoy. Heck, maybe I'll even catch more fish.

Mainly because that was the test material that the torpedo people used. They explained to me that the very thin diameter of 30 pound test wire ( 0.015 inch) reduces the water resistance to the point where the heavy line will keep on sinking like copper. Also because I will be able to use it instead of 300 ,400,500 and even 600 copper and still have plenty of backing. But maybe there is some overkill in this amount of backing. I also wonder about using braid instead of wire., it has a very small diameter but it does not add any weight at all where wire line does have weight.