So, What's a Blog Anyway and Fishing Line

When I give my blog address to my friends, I often get this look like......What's a Blog? Blog is a the contraction of the word Weblog shortened to blog, and is a website usually controlled by an individual providing a means to post thoughts, pictures, and other things relating to a subject, person, or event (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog). I originally wanted to create my own website about fishing however after seeing a few blogs created by my friends it seemed like a better way to present my ideas. Google's site http://www.blogspot.com/ was a great place to start. The easy part was getting registered and setting up the URL. Once the layout, colors, and other personal preferences were picked, I was ready to go, an official blogger. There are a lot of options available, however they take time to learn. The best places to learn are from other bloggers. Booking my December fishing trip in Jacksonville with Captain Dave, I noticed his fishing reports were published via a blog and he had some really interesting stuff on the side. You might have noticed that on the left side of my posts is a section called a side bar. There one can set up a bunch of "gadgets" like the weather, links, pictures, clocks, play lists, videos, counters, and many countless additions. Capt Dave's blog really got me thinking about how to make the Fishin' With Dave more interesting. The play list for instance took about a week to figure out. One sets up a play list online at http://www.playlist.com/ then link that list to your blog. I did a search on songs about fishing then created what you hear today. Ok, the last two songs are not fishing songs but I have included them for the benefit of my cousin Greg and I did add some spaghetti western music as well for Pete. Searching for a popular Wisconsin web cam, I ran across Neenahpetes blog. Being a blogger one learns to appreciate the different venues and layouts that other bloggers are doing. Neenahpete's Blog is quite interesting, has some really cool graphics and has very frequent posts as opposed to my once a week rambling. Besides being a fellow blogger, he is from Wisconsin, shares the same viewpoints in life, and is a fun read. His blog is an indication of the amount of time he spends. On the other end is What's Dewey Doin", another friend who's simple goal is to post occasionally keeping his friends up to date on his doings up north. One of my friends started Dale's Freighter Cruise which chronicled his around the world cruise on a ocean going freighter. Through his satellite phone, he would post every day and I would add pictures and keep it updated. The blog was a fabulous diary of a personal adventure that we lived through his posts. You can check these blogs out by clicking on the links located to the left, down the page a bit.

Blogs are meant to be an interactive site. If you look at the end of each post you will see comments and can be from 0 to the current count. These are for YOU and are meant to allow the reader to comment back to the blogger (in this case me!). Unfortunately few people comment. I have my comments set up so you can respond anonymously or if you have a google account, it can identify you. Please feel free to add your comments as I am always interested in hearing from you. Also you will see on the left a section called followers. Here you can follow my blog and it works very well if you have a google account. Feel free to join.

Next week I'll be relaxing at Brindley's on Leech Lake planning my strategy to regain the Team Walleye Trophy. Success on the water can depend on the proper preparation on shore. One of the most important things you can do to assure this success is to simply change the line on your reels. Lines come in 3 basic types; monofilament, braided super lines, and fluorocarbons. Mono's have been around for years and tend to be the most popular. They have moderate diameters, come in many different formula's, colors, and sizes. They have a tendency to stretch which can be a desired trait when fishing hard hitting species or when crankbaiting. Braided lines have been around for a while and are known for for their lack of stretch. Popular for muskie fishing, the new formulations like Spiderwire have become much more mainstream. Sharp zebra mussel shells in the Mississippi River have forced many of my friends to switch to braided lines avoiding cut offs while trolling. The third type are fluorocarbons. These lines are virtually disappear under water and make great leader material, especially when using braided lines. Fluorocarbons have really improved over the last few years with new formulations making them much more durable than the past. I have been a loyal Trilene XL user with 8 pound green being standard equipment on my reels. A couple of my rods have Spiderwire however it's performance has been less than stellar. The lack of stretch tends to rip the lures right out of the fish when I troll. Even in Alaska fishing silver salmon on the Kenai, they strike with such vengeance that I feel the lack of stretch is a negative. Casting for salmon, the fluorocarbon lines have a better hookup ratio. The braids do guarantee more snagged humpy's as the lack of stretch is excellent for driving home hooks into their hump. I also like braids for fishing red salmon, which requires a quick hard hook set. For walleye fishing, Stren MagnaThin had my attention for the last couple of years as it has a very thin diameter for the test weight. Last year while watching Bill Lundeen tie his world famous Mille Lacs Spinner Rigs I noticed how thin and supple his choice of line. He threw me the spool of 10# Triple Fish X Rated line. I was so impressed I had him order a spool of both 8 and 10#. This line is about 20% less diameter than Trilene XL and is much more supple without sacrificing strength. What's amazing about this line is you can buy it off their website (http://www.triplefishlines.com/) in a 4000 yard spool of 10# is less than $23.00. Stren MagnaThin is $9.99 for a 330 yard spool, almost 5 times the cost. If your reel count is close to mine, this can be a tremendous savings each year, for line that I feel is superior to the name brands in the market. I'll leave you with a picture from last years Leech Lake Opener, and the hope that this year will repeat itself.