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I spent a day on the water this past weekend with a good friend of mine. We fish together quite a bit during the season.

With the weather here in New England turning colder each week, I always wrestle this time of year with the decision of when to put the boat away for the winter and go into hibernation mode. It’s never an easy decision.

Heading into this trip I had pretty much made up my mind that this would be the last trip of the year because I figured we’d freeze our butts off out there. One thing I forgot to factor into my decision, though, was the fact that I had some great new foul weather gear that I had bought back in February right before my trip to Lake Fork. I had brought it along just in case the wind kicked up and made it unbearable.

Sure enough, after a few hours the wind was starting to get the best of me. So [Read the rest of this entry…]

I’ve owned a lot of different reels over the years. Some of them have been great reels that lasted a long time, while others have been absolute trash… not worth the money I spent on them.

I’ve owned several different brands including Shimano, Quantum, Abu Garcia and some others that I don’t even remember.

I remember reading some reviews of the Quantum 1310MG about 20 years ago when it was a new item. the reel received rave reviews from a now-defunct magazine called Tackle Test. They put the reel through some pretty rigorous tests and it passed every one of them with flying colors!

I ultimately ended up owning this reel when a client that I was guiding on a night trip accidentally broke my windshield on my boat. He felt so bad that he gave me his rod and reel combo, which happened to be the 1310MG! The reel turned out to be a workhorse and I still own it today as a backup reel.

Ultimately, though, I did find a favorite reel. Over the years I bought a lot of Shimano reels. I liked their design, their quality and the overall prices of their various reel models.

For several years I refused to spend more than about $60 for a reel. I just had a hard time justifying it… especially in light of the fact that I had two daughters and they came first, before my fishing habits.

Now that the kids are married and away from home I can spend my money a bit differently though 🙂

A couple of years ago I took the plunge and bought a Shimano Curado 200E7. I have to admit that I had a hard time at first, dropping $179 on a reel, but once I spent some time on the water with this reel I was convinced that it was worth every penny of the price.

The Curado 200E7 has become my absolute favorite baitcasting reel. I have even bought two more of them over the past year 🙂

Somehow, during all of the economic turmoil of this past year, some Connecticut politicians got it in their heads that maybe they could skim a few extra bucks from non-resident anglers who fish in CT.

I don’t know all the background information yet, but sometime during the past few months the cost of a non-resident CT freshwater fishing license jumped from $40 to $80, a 100% price increase.

I don’t have proof yet to back up my opinion, but I’m more than willing to bet that this makes CT one of the most expensive states in the country to buy a non-resident fishing license. Heck, I’m even willing to bet that they’re THE most expensive state in the country.

Obviously, as an angler, I find this to be completely ridiculous, and even offensive.. Believe me… I fully understand that the state government needs to raise much-needed income, but to force a 100% price increase in license fees and try to squeeze it out of anglers is one of the most moronic things I’ve seen in a long time (except for Obama’s so-called healthcare reform. But that’s another story.)

I’ll be doing some research during the coming weeks to get more information on this. I’ll also be formulating a plan to combat this and make the voices of non-resident anglers heard in CT. This obviously slid through the greasy halls of lawmakers unopposed by anglers, apparently due to ignorance on the part of the anglers. Chalk up another sneaky, underhanded law on the part of our wonderful state legislators.

Stay tuned for more info on this subject during the coming weeks. I hope to be able to put together an effort that will, at the very least, give us a means of signing a petition that can be sent to CT lawmakers to express our opinion on this issue.