finsntins

welcome aboard tom.i have fished many different waters in my life,but lake o is the best.lots of great guys here on lou.

i wouldnt count on the river being open by then,not much thawing going on.it is going to be warm the next couple days,but not sure if it will be enough to open things up.i left a message with beth today,when she calls me back ill ask.

ice fisherman still driving their trucks on the lake.

6 below and still 2 feet on the ground here.

there has been alot of discussion lately on gear,plenty of info already out there,but my 2 cents are i have run okuma magdas for the last 2 years.i had one fail,but for what they cost,oh well.going with convectors this year.i tried the saltists last year and did not like them.line counter on the side of the reel digs in your wrist,very uncomfortable and i didnt like the high speed gear ratio.

one other thing to consider is your rigger weight,make sure the rigger you buy is going to handle the weight you are looking to use.

x2 what tim said

you know,its a reel kick in the pants that this just came up about the penn reels.just last week i gave some 209's and 309's away that i have had kicking around in the basement from my salt water years.gave them to a guy in n.h.never thought to post them here,cause i never heard of anyone using them on the lake.sorry,wish this conversation would have come up sooner!!!

had to go back and reed the original post,i guess for rigger reels you could get away without line counters,not setting them back to far,i guess you could count,i like to know exactly what the set back is for repetion,i have never been on a boat that doesnt have them,but to each his own. and high speed would be good for rigger reels,i didnt like them for pulling in dipsies,i could have tried them for the riggers,but i hated the location of the linecounter.

WOW!!!!thats different,dont need line counters,man i have wasted alot of money the past couple of years.would love to see what happens counting the levelwinder in 6 footers!!!!!better be tethered to the boat and have taken your dramamine!!!!but like he said,when the fish are biting,the fish are biting!?!?!?!?

threw it out,for the price of them,just go buy a new one.tried the saltists last year for wire,they lasted 2 weekends,couldnt stand them.the line counter digs in your wrist and dont like the high gear ratio,its like pulling in a 20 lb laker with just the tripped dipsey.

welcome aboard jc,i started with that same boat on lake o a few years ago.be prepared,after your first king,its all over!!!!!you will see what i mean.lots to learn from here on lou.you can send me a pm with any questions and i will try to answer them as best as i can.good luck and be safe,she can get nasty in a hurry!!!!

start off by going through posts here on lou.fishing reports,tackle and techniques,ect.if you are fishing the east end of the lake and are looking for salmon,you have lots of time to do your research.dan keating has some books and dvd's that are good.also,like was stated above,jump on a charter,post here in the trade a seat section that you would like to go out with someone to learn or sign up to be an observer for one of the many tournaments across the lake.once you start learning,you will be able to ask more detailed questions that can be answered by the great fisherman on this site.you can pm me and i would be happy to answer questions as best as i can.