Drift Wading Sandals from Orvis

Looking for fishing sandals for the soon to begin season?

For $49.99, Orvis has an affordable solution for your warm weather wading needs. When accompanied by a pair of shorts or swimming trunks, these nice fishing sandals allow fishermen to get that much closer to hotspots without all of the hassles involved with wearing waders.

Likewise, these sandals have a couple of pluses that make them a better choice than an old pair of sneakers.

For starters, shoes are apt to get filled with small pebbles, and the only way to get rid of them is to remove the shoe every five minutes or so. Also, the sandals have a slip-resistant felt/lug sole.

The open foot/felt sole combination makes the Drift Wading Sandal a great choice for all wading conditions, whether it be slippery rocks, silt, or river gravel, and they were a welcomed addition to my gear last summer.



One particular hole on one of the local creeks is pretty wide, and there is a submerged boulder on the opposite side of the creek. I like to fish this spot with night crawlers and no weight, so many casts fell well short of my target. I can honestly say that wading into the stream allowed me to catch several nice-sized smallmouth bass, and I have the sandals to thank for my good luck!

AND after a day on the stream, they cleaned up nicely and were easily stored under the car seat.

The Orvis Drift Wading Sandal is available in men's full sizes 7-12 and are now on sale for 29.99 at www.orvis.com.

Overall I would rate this product as a keeper!

Berkley Reel Spooling Station Review

Berkley Portable Line Spooling Station

I love everything about fishing…almost. One of the few exceptions is replacing old line at the beginning of the season. It would be great to have a line winder like those at Dick’s or Cabela’s…

“Would you like us to put line on your new reel?”

“SURE!!!”

Naturally, you can’t buy a new reel every spring just for the fresh line, and expensive motorized devices aren’t for everybody. Thankfully, there is a moderately priced item that will allow you to fill several reels in a matter of minutes.

For $26.99 the "Berkley Portable Line Spooling Station" will get the fishing season off to a great start, and by-and-large I am very impressed with the product. Here are some pros and cons…

PROS

The line support shaft is equipped with tensioning cones that allow for moderate pressure on the spool. Thus, the line is evenly distributed on the reel and doesn’t twist.

The spooling station is both lightweight and easy to use. Once it was assembled, I was spooling fishing line on four reels in about ten minutes.

All parts are self-contained within the frame.

It comes with a battery operated tool that strips the old line off of all types of freshwater reels.

CONS

The reel seat is too large for use with the smallest of ultralight reels. For example, my Okuma Inspira IA-10 was too small for the seat. The Berkley line winder, while lightweight, isn’t of the most solid construction. I wouldn’t let it roam freely in the back of a pickup truck on the way to the fishing hole.

OVERALL, this is a very effective and helpful tool for most anglers and is well worth the price. Putting line on a fishing reel can be a difficult one man task, and the Berkley line winder is even better than having an extra pair of hands available.

How to use a bait-casting reel!

In the past, baitcasting reels were synonymous with backlashes, but magnetic brakes and clutch adjustment knobs have made the baitcaster easier to use for fishermen of all skill levels. I'm not saying that these reels are as easy to use as a spinning or spincasting reel, but the potential pros greatly outweigh the cons.

Take a look at any fishing magazine, and you'll see that the top fishermen ALL use a baitcasting reel. Why? The free-spinning spool allows for longer casts, and the direct crank-to-spool retrieve makes the "caster" a better, stronger choice for fighting large fish. Okay, they do backlash, and this can ruin a fishing trip in a split second, but there are a couple simple ways of eliminating this problem.

The first thing to do is to match the flow of the spool to the lure (or bait) that you are using. If there isn't enough tension on the spool, the reel's rpm's will be greater than than the speed of the lure as it slows toward the end of the cast. This will cause a backlash. If there is too much tension, the reel will not cast...at all!

Here's how you fix that: put the reel on a rod and and run the line through the eyelets; tie on your lure; wind the lure to within six inches of the rod tip; turn the clutch adjustment knob clockwise (it should be tight and the spool will not spin); release the spool by pushing the casting button; and, finally, turn the clutch adjustment knob counter-clockwise until the lure slowly falls toward the ground. Let's say that if you hold the rod straight out the lure should take 3-4 seconds to hit terra firma. Perfect!

Besides overcasting, there is another way of backlashing these reels. When you see that the lure is about ready to hit the water, stop the spool with your thumb. Otherwise, the lure will stop as it hits the water, but the centrifugal force being placed on the spool will cause it to spin for an instant after the lure (or weight) stops upon impact. That's a recipe for disaster. This can be a problem when night fishing because often you will not be able to see when the lure is going to hit the water. Use your best judgment and stop the spool before it's too late. One good way of doing this is to time your casts when fishing in the daytime. If you can count to three before stopping the spool in daylight, stop the spool after a three count at night. This will eliminate the necessity of sight casting your reel.

None of this was quite so simple in the old days, but baitcasting technology has come a long way. These techniques are good for heave-hoe casts, but before long you'll be comfortable enough to make short backhand or underhand flip casts. A good baitcaster is a superior piece of equipment when compared to spinning and spincasting reels, and once you have mastered the art of casting, you'll never go back to other reel types, especially when fishing for big fish in big water.

There are a lot of baitcasting reels gathering dust in corners because the fisherman is impatient or intimidated, but with a little bit of practice, these are must-have, everyday reels!