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Boat
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We
spent a lot of time on this one - it needed to be safe, comfortable and
effective for our fishing techniques. The 2004 Koffler
Special won the competition hands down. This is where we spend our days,
we couldn't settle for anything less than best.
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Kicker
Motor
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Yamaha
8hp High Thrust - Just look at the boats on the river and it becomes pretty
obvious that this kicker is extremely popular. Run one and you will know
why. Yamaha has a real winner with this motor and most of the river guides
know it.
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| Landlocked
Salmon Gear |
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What
can we say? Sep has spent years catching trout, kokanee and landlocked salmon
in California lakes. His knowledge of this fishery is embodied in his lures,
dodgers and downrigger accessories. Troll slow, use his gear, and follow
his advice and you'll catch fish. |
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Depth
Finder
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More
than a depthfinder the top-of-the-line Humminbird 987c-SI is a complete
fishing system. The 987c SI delivers it all with breakthrough Side Imaging
sonar for picture-like images of the bottom, precision GPS Chartplotting,
and a no-compromise ultra wide, high resolution screen. The Side Imaging
sonar is one of the most useful fishing tools that we have encountered.
This unit gives picture like detail of the bottom including snags, rocks,
bottom topography, channels and drop offs. We've run this unit through holes
where we have caught countless salmon and found new holding structures that
we didn't even know existed. The 987c-SI is one fishing tool that no serious
angler should be without.
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Auto
Pilot
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We
always thought that autopilots were cute toys and that real guides backtrolled
manually. Then one day we were on a friend's boat with a TR-1 autopilot
and within a few hours, a "cute toy" became an essential piece
of fishing equipment.
The TR-1 Gold gives us control from anywhere in the boat instead of always
having to have a hand on the trolling motor. This allows us to move around,
fix rigs and help out a guest while the boat continues to fish seamlessly
for the rest of the guests.
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Sunglasses
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When
you spend as much time on the water as we do, you need good polarized sunglasses.
Costa Del Mar's patented Wave 580 lenses in colors that work well for our
river are the best fishing sunglasses that we have found. In side by side
tests with other premium brands, we have found that we see underwater objects
much more clearly with the Costa Del Mar sunglasses. The frames and lenses
provide full coverage and fit comfortably all day. You can find cheaper
sunglasses, but if you spend much time on the water, you will find investing
in a pair of Costa Del Mars is will worth it.
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Trout
& Salmon Rods
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Berkley's
new series of IM-7 graphite Tactix rods have found their way into our boat
for just about every application. These technique specific rods are light,
strong and sensitive and available in some hard to find actions.
The TXTS762UL is one of the most versatile trout and landlocked salmon rods
that we have found. At 7'6" and weighing almost nothing this ultralight
rod is as at home on the river drifting lures and bait for trout as it is
sitting in a downrigger on Shasta. These little rods are tough too. We've
brought 20 lb. salmon that inhaled our #50 Hot Shots to the boat with these
ultralight rods.
For pulling lures for striper and salmon, we chose the TXC862MH. With enough
backbone to set big treble hooks in hard jaws and a forgiving parabolic
action, these rods are tough to beat.
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Backtrolling
Reels
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There
are lots of choices in backtrolling reels and everyone has their favorites.
Since we run plugs for most of the salmon season, we need a reliable level
wind reel with a solid drag and line counter to keep the lines from tangling.
We've chosen the line counter member of Abu-Garcia®'s legendary Ambassadeur®
family of nearly indestructible reels. The highly accurate and easy-to-read
line counter displays how much line you have out in feet. The Carbon Matrix™
drag provides a wide range of settings with ultra-smooth drag performance.
You can pay a lot more for a reel, but the Ambassadeur® 5500LC is hard
to beat. |
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Side
Drifting
&
Boondogging
Rods
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Whether
boondogging roe for salmon or minnows for stripers, we found Fenwick's medium
weight steelhead rods to be the best. Guests need to cast and hold these
rods for hours at a time without tiring. When the strike comes, the rod
needs the backbone to set the hook and enough flex to make up for those
little "oops" when guests (and sometimes the guide!) don't keep
the line quite tight enough.
Some folks just use their trout rods, and that kind of works, but a longer
rod, made for the job works much better.
Again there are lots of choices in this category, and the prices can range
for somewhat reasonable to outrageous. Based on our experience, it is really
hard to beat Fenwick's 8'6" HMX spinning rod. Fenwick's IM-7 Graphite
construction and lightweight SS304 hard chromium plated stainless steel
guides make for a really tough, lightweight rod perfectly suited to any
drifting technique.
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Spinning
Reels
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Spinning
reels range in price from a few dollars (pure junk) to several hundred
dollars(compensating for the buyer's physical inadequacies:). In between
are the working reels. For
us, light weight, reliability, easy casting and most importantly, smooth
strong drags were the criteria.
We've tested
lots of spinning reels and standardized on Abu Garcia's Cardinal 700 series
(702 for trout and 704 for boondogging for salmon). As good as any spinning
reel for casting, smoothness, and weight, the Cardinal 704 series' "Stamina
Drag" sold us. The "Stamina Drag" system is 240% larger
than conventional spinning reel drags providing a really smooth, strong
drag that dissipates heat extremely well - important stuff with a 40 lb.
salmon on the end of the line.
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Main
Line
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We
use braid on all of our reels and have tested most of them. Strong, round,
and resistant to digging into the spool, Stren Super Braid is the best that
we have used. |
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Leader
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Fluorocarbon
line has come a long way in the last few years. Hailed as nearly invisible
in water, fluorocarbon will get you more bites, but historically, the
knot strength left a lot to be desired. While you still need to lubricate
the knots, Berkley's Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon - Professional Grade is
truly a next generation line. With good knot strength and low visibility
in water, Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon is the only leader that we use.
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