Reel Bucks

I bet that 16 pound king was an awesome surprise!

What tape color is on that mtw dew spinny? We have had good luck with the white blade, mtw dew tape on one side and crushed glow on the other. Just wondering if your setup is an actual mtw dew colored blade with different tape on it. Thanks.

The alleged cheating incident in Ludington would have been avoided if the rules allowed for the culling of fish. Take a look at a 333TV episode from up north (no cull tourney) and watch how slow some teams are to get the net when they know they have a small fish on. I saw one episode where the team held the fish at the back of the boat while one guy walked over, got a net, walked back, and then scooped it. That is cheating in my opinion. That is not as most tournament rules state, "Every effort made to catch the fish." They did this with a camera on boat, imagine what happens when nobody is looking. No cull equals cheating. Plus, it also takes a lot of skill out of the equation. We need an observer for every boat! Where there is money, there is greed and cons. No cull gives these people one easy area to cheat in.

fishsniffer - Absolutely no harm, I was just wondering what your take on the issue was. I like the cull system and just wanted to hear your reasoning. I know on our boat, the fish we do release we try not to net them and unhook them off the back and right back into the water and do not touch them. But in a tournament like St. Joe where it is DNR rules, we had five people on the boat so we could legally keep 25 fish and we only threw back a few. As far as rules go for Pro and AM, it makes sense to me that the two divisions would have different rules and that the rules for the Pro division would be tougher. South Haven this weekend, all three divisions have the same rules. That just doesn't make sense. Why charge different entry fees and payout more when all three divisions are exactly the same?? That's why I like the cull for AM and no cull for Pro. I will move this topic to a different page, but I just wanted to hear your opinion.

Just wondering why you would like to see a no cull.

Were the fleas bad on your lines?

Nice fishsniffer!! I agree, I won't stop eating lake trout, and will continue to drink, smoke, and chew (and date the girls that do) but I thought it was interesting and wondered what tournaments and charter captains might think.

This might not be the best place to put this forum, but it will be seen by the most people here. The State of Michigan has changed their guidelines on how often to eat lake trout. It is now recommended to NEVER eat lake trout. Check out the chart on page 30 of the attached link. http://www.michigan.gov/documents/FishAdvisory03_67354_7.pdf Since this is a fish that our state says should not be eaten, are tournaments going to continue to count lake trout in tournament weigh-ins? Essentially people would be catching them to weigh in, and then just grinding them at the fish cleaning station. I would be surprised if tournament committees will keep and donate lake trout fillets to food banks if the state says to never eat them. I know everyone won't stop eating them, but I am sure a lot will. What do you think?