SHIMANO TECHNIUM TROLLING ROD

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

Leave it to Shimano to come up with a new line of fishing rods designed specifically for the salmon/steelhead/sturgeon anglers. Why? Thousands of Great Lake anglers rely on (and swear by) their Talora trolling rods and wouldn’t trade them for anything.

When I picked up the new Technium Trolling Rod at the recent ICAST show I checked twice to see if the rod was in the wrong slot. It felt more like one of the latest carbon fiber rods than one of the Talora rods I’m used to handling. Actually, according to the Shimano rep I grabbed to explain the difference, there is a good “dose” of carbon fiber in these new rods as well as a Talora “legacy.” I don’t like to dive too deep in engineering in my reviews so let’s just leave it at the various models of Technium Rods are made from a fusion of the TC4 fiberglass (featured in the Talora line) and carbon fiber to make the rods lighter and slimmer than any salmon trolling rod I’d ever held – even the 9-footer moderate action rod I put to use as a braided-line diver rod.

Even if you mix your rod choices, the Technium will be a standout. Instead of the basic black rod blank, they’ve managed to imbue each rod with a holographic sort of blue sparkle reminiscent of waves or perhaps lightning. Pretty darned cool looking!

I used my 9-footer with a #1 (Medium) size Dipsey both with and without the ring. The bend in the rod at salmon trolling speeds was perfect. Most of the bend was concentrated in the top third of the rod when trolling, leaving plenty of backbone in the middle section to make the diver snap open at the strike of a fish and hold up to a tight drag when a big king or steelhead is latched on down below. That mid-rod strength also helped when the fish were pulled close to the stern, giving enough muscle to both steer the fish (as much as is possible) and keep the head of the fish up while it was pulled those last few feet in range of the landing net.

I wasn’t sure about the carbon fiber handle on the trolling model Techniums, but in use, I learned to love them. I didn’t have to “assist” many of my customers, helping them pull the rods out of the holders when a big fish was on the end of the line. The handle is hard and slick and will slip out of the rod holder with a minimum amount of effort. The reel seat tightens on the reel nicely and it has a second tightening “nut” on it that keeps the reel seat from loosening. Cool!

Speaking of reels, I paired the rod with a Shimano 600 Tekota A, line-counter reel to make a sweet combo able to handle the biggest fish in the lake with the sensitivity to have fun when pulling up cohos and “prince” salmon, those feeder-kings still a year or more from their potential size. I use 30-pound test Power Pro on my braid diver reels and the rod’s sensitivity shows when something is “goofy” down below – like having a shaker on the line or if the dodger or flasher isn’t rotating properly.

I don’t expect charter captains or avid recreational Great Lakes anglers to toss their Taloras overboard and switch to the Technium sticks, but when it comes time to get a new rod for one reason or another, take a look at the Technium Rods at https://fish.shimano.com/landing and buy them where ever Shimano rods and reels are sold.

MAD SCIENTIST TACKLE

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

When the guys at RLVNT Sunglasses sent me a pair of sunglasses to try, they slipped in a couple of spoons they thought I’d like to use. This line of tackle is ever-expanding but what they’ve done (and are doing ) is use the light-bending properties of the films and coatings they use in their lenses and apply them to their lures.

Depending on how much and at what angle the light strikes the finish on these lures, the color of the reflected light changes. You see it and the fish see it. So instead of seeing a traditional paint job which only varies whether the lure is in direct sunlight or shade, or a metallic finish that just reflects when sunbeams hit it, the lure changes color continuously.

The one I used shimmered from dark purple to pink to bright blue and regularly caught the attention of passing cohos. I loaned it to a friend to take to Lake Nipigon and he crushed the lake trout using it. Other films produce other hues and excel in conditions from stained or off-colored water to crystal clear. (And don’t think their casting spoon is only for casting. It trolls perfectly with a loose wobble.)

The Mad Scientist lives in Minnesota – often called Walleye-sota – and firmly in the winter ice-belt. They produce a bevy of lures (all with their proprietary finishes) suitable for panfish or pike (salmon or trout) wherever they swim. Made in America, sold online at www.madscientist.technology, in retail stores and other online outlets.

STOWAWAY FILET SYSTEM BY TOADFISH

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

Many marinas or boat access sites don’t have fish cleaning facilities but many anglers want to clean their catch before heading home. If that’s you or that’s the place you launch, Toadfish’s Stowaway Filet System can save the day.

Toadfish, a company with an eclectic assortment of outdoor products, has produced a folding cutting board – the large size is 14X22 inches when it’s opened flat and it rolls up to the size of a 22-inch-long two-by-four (1.5 X 3.5 inches). Made of four hinged slats made from dishwasher safe high-density polyethylene, it has stainless steel hinges and built in magnets to hold it shut when not in use. When rolled open the bottom side has anti-skid material to keep if from sliding around when in use. One edge has a two-stage (carbide + ceramic) knife sharpener to keep your fillet knife razor sharp.

The cutting board is a great product on its own, but I’ve been wanting to get a quality folding fillet knife to add to my collection. That’s why I chose the Toadfish “system” that includes a high-quality folding fillet knife as well as tough neoprene sheath that contains the folded cutting board and features a snug pocket on the outside to hold the folded-up knife. I tested the extra-large size kit that matches the 22” board with the 8.5” knife.

Sadly, I’ve been in several fish cleaning stations that were just plain disgusting. Even in the nice ones, how well do you think the cutting boards or the surfaces designed to be used for cutting fish have been sanitized? Most get a quick squirt of a hose to remove obvious blood and gore, but what about the germs and bacteria festering there?

I’m not a germaphobe; but still, I always bring my own cutting board along that I know is clean and relatively germ free. Even in my pick-up, the compact size is welcome and ready to use.

Check out this and other Toadfish products at www.toadfish.com. Purchase them there, at some retailers and at numerous online sellers including Amazon.

NORTHLAKE TAILGATE BOARD

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

There are very few heated fish cleaning stations at marinas or access sites around the Great Lakes. Many marinas and access sites don’t even have a dedicated facility to clean fish.

My fishing season starts long before the cleaning station is open and I’ve seen and used plenty of innovative ways to clean the fish I catch before heading home. Over the winter I got a new one – a tailgate sized cutting board.

I’ve used the tailgate of my pick-up as a work bench many times and as a fish cleaning station a few times. It’s the perfect height, but the downside of using it as a fish cleaning location is the clean-up. Even when laying the largest sized cutting board I owned on the tailgate, there was always some blood or other, slimy fishy-stuff that drips off the board onto the tailgate.

Sure, that can be cleaned up, but doing so without spraying or sloshing water into the truck bed or onto the gear stowed in the bed is tedious. That’s why, when I saw the tailgate sized cutting board from North Lake Outdoors, I realized this two-foot by four-foot cutting board was the perfect answer.

When my fishing partner and I were back at the dock with our limit of cohos (including a bonus brown trout) in early March we lined up our fish on the board for a hero shot and then I went to work. By positioning the board with an inch or so overhanging the open tailgate the blood and slime just dripped off onto the asphalt. When finished, I leaned the board against the open tailgate, dipped a bucket of water from the lake and cleaned the blood, slime and scales off the cutting board, gave it a final rinse with bleach-water I’d brought from home and stowed it in the back of the truck for the next trip.

North Lake makes a slightly smaller 48” X 19” model and a “miniature” 16” X 32” board – all made in America, all made from food-grade polyethylene. Check them out and order one for yourself at www.northlakeoutdoors.com.

POWER PRO SUPER 8 SLICK V2 (MARINE BLUE)

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

Long ago, every fishing line company jumped into the race to produce their own version of braided line. Some of it was very good, some was very poor and history is littered with examples of both. One of the first brands to surge to the forefront was a brand called Power Pro. It’s early version dates back to 1997 and surged to the forefront in the fishing world.

For a while Power Pro was like Kleenex, in that when you ask someone for a Kleenex, you may get a Puffs, Ultra Soft or some other brand. Anglers often just called the braided line on their reel as Power Pro, even though it may have really been spooled with SpiderWire, Sufix or some other brand.

Most of the major line companies now offer several different versions of braided line, sometimes just to offer something new, but usually it’s to provide options that are created for special fishing conditions. Power Pro is no different; now offering versions designed for various conditions and in a variety of colors.

When I was respooling my reels with braided line this spring, when I got to the Shimano Tekota A that I use as my “braid” dipsey I immediately thought of the Power Pro Super Slick V2 I’d spotted at the ICAST show last summer. (Shimano has been making Power Pro since 2008 when they acquired the company that developed it originally.) This is the line that won the prestigious “Best New Product” award at the show.

I’ve been using braid on some of my diver set-ups for decades. Braided line is super thin and super strong and it has zero stretch. I can trip a diver (and so can a fish) whether there’s 20 feet of line between the rod tip and diver or 200 feet.

The Super Slick V2 is the smoothest (slick) eight-strand braided line I’ve found, so besides being thinner than most, the line passes through the water with less drag. I use 30-pound braid for diver trolling and I’m confident I’ll be getting the maximum depth with the minimum amount of line when using this Power Pro line.

Of course the color of the line makes no difference to the fish, but I like an easy-to-see line on my diver set-ups and the Marine Blue color fills that order quite nicely. Power Pro lines are available in a variety of spool sizes, colors and other options at retailers and online sources. Check them all out at www.powerpro.com

RAPALA GOLD MINERS

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

One of my most exciting finds at the 2024 ICAST show was at the Rapala booth when I spotted a new lure they call the Gold Miner. At first I thought it was another variation of the Rapala’s Deep Husky Jerk, Pradco’s deep diving Bandits and others of those types of lures, but then I noticed one thing that set them apart. The lip at the front of these lures are larger than most other deep divers and indeed they do dive deep. Like a miner digging deep to find gold nuggets or veins of ore, the Gold Miner easily dives to 30 feet to get down to walleye gold in Lake Erie and other deep lakes.

I was able to score some of the Gold Miners and put them to work during Lake Erie’s Fall Brawl in early November last year. The marks on our screen showed far more fish deeper than 30 feet than in the 20s. The only way to get our Bandits and other deep divers down to them was to go with the 50 + 2 method and even then we were putting out 100 feet of line after clipping on the Snap Weight.

Gold Miners haven’t yet been added to the Precision Trolling Data app, so we were deploying them the old fashioned way – trial and error. The first thing in the morning the Gold Miners started scoring with only 100 feet of line behind the planers. By mid-morning we were setting them back 120 and our final fish at high noon came on a chrome/blue Gold Miner set back 140 feet.

Check out the array of available colors at www.rapala.com. They will soon be available everywhere Rapala lures are sold (if they can keep them in stock.)

DUBRO TRAC-A-ROD FISHING ROD RACK

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

I edit a column for Great Lakes Angler Magazine called Basics and Beyond in each issue. The B&B column features tips about fishing and gear hacks submitted by readers that they use to make their life easier. Few of these tips are more frequent than the ways GLA readers have devised to store their fishing rods back home, on their boat or in their vehicles. Most of these tips feature rod storage designs made from everyday items usually used elsewhere including PVC pipe, clothespins, pool noodles, milk crates, five gallon buckets and other supplies. There are many ways to produce innovative projects to safely and compactly store fishing rods and reels.

Face it, there are plenty of people that don’t have the time or tools to complete DIY projects. Some don’t have the skills. Luckily, there are plenty of commercially made rod racks or other storage solutions. These vary from flimsy racks that I’d never recommend to pricey racks that I’d never advise anyone to purchase.

One I’ve found that does pass my muster is the Trac-A-Rod system from Dubro. I call it a system because it comes in two-foot lengths which will hold six rod and reel combos so it’s easy to customize it to most any space you have available. If you have a large space available and lots of rods to store, they also come in four-foot lengths. I’ve put two of the four-footers to put on the pole barn wall where I store my boat.

When I say, “any space” it’s because the Trak a Rod systems will fit on ceilings, walls (either vertically or horizontal) and on any kind of surface. The actual hangers fit into an aluminum track so they are adjustable to fit combos of any size.

If they are going in a storage area, the color of the tracks or hangers isn’t an issue most of the time, but in a den, man-cave or more public area, choose from silver track/white holder, silver/black, black/black or my favorite (as a Purdue grad) the gold track/black holders. Trac-A-Rod Fishing Rod Racks are available direct from www.dubrofishing.com, at retail outlets and many online sources including Amazon.com.

SILVER HORDE GLOW PLUGS

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

Silver Hoard was one of the originators of the “cut-plug” design of artificial lures made of plastic. The original plugs Silver Horde plugs were modelled after hand-carved, hand painted salmon lures. In the 1950, the founder of Silver Horde lures was the first company to make lures of this shape from plastic. Hand painting the lures at home made the company into a family business.

Still a family run business, the Silver Horde Company still offers their original Ace Hi plug and the slightly fatter Silver Horde plug along with spoons, dodgers, flashers, trolling flies and other tackle. One of their most popular colors in both their spoons, plugs and dodgers was one of their original colors – green spatter.

The Green Splatter pattern is still available, still a favorite on the Great Lakes and out west, but it’s now painted with what they call Double Glow pigment. This color as well as a large number of other permutations of Double Glow have proven to be absolute king killers in August and September on the Great Lakes when some of the best action occurs in the dark or at the “dawn’s early light. (They are no slouch in the daylight, either.)

Some of these new colors are also made with clear plastic with the painted colors and UV activated mylar inserted or painted inside to give the plugs a unique 3-D looking finish. Silver Hordes are offered in both rattling and non-rattling versions. If you want to add some storied, productive plugs to your line-up this fall, give a second or third look to the Silver Hordes in both the traditional and new color schemes. Check out all the Silver Horde products at www.silverhorde.com which also lists places to purchase them in your area.

Hint: In late summer and fall, I use the 4 ¾-inch versions. In the spring to mid-summer, I use the 4-inchers to catch kings, cohos, steelhead, browns and lakers.

BERKLEY DEEP HIT STICKS

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

On my first trip to Lake Erie last spring the walleyes were acting more like the fish I normally encounter in early to mid-autumn trips. They were deep. Whether it was the water temperature, the waves or where they were finding the baitfish I don’t know, but my usual deep divers that worked with 60 to 80 feet of line out behind the planers weren’t getting into the zone.

We compensated by letting out more line – much more line to get our lures 20 feet or deeper to get to the level the fish were showing on the sonar and where we were getting the bites. How much more line? With some of the lures, twice as much line was needed to get them in the zone.

If we had been fishing areas where we could troll a few miles without needing to turn, the extra line wouldn’t have been a big deal, but on the calm days we found the most active fish near the Bass Islands where islands were creating currents where the active fish were holding. On the windy days, we used the islands as a lee area where we could fish away from the whitecaps.

Long lines behind planer boards aren’t conducive to whipping around in tight turns without tangling one lure with their neighbors. It started to feel normal to reel in a fish hooked fish on one lure along with the lure that had been running in an adjacent position. It also caused more lost fish since the longer it takes to reel in a lightly hooked walleye, the better the chance for it to pop loose before getting it to the net.

Waddayagonnadoo? A part of fishing is coping with the weather conditions and the moods of the fish.

One of the ways to cope is to examine the “tools” at your disposal. Mostly we’d been using Bandit Walleye Deep Divers and #11 Flicker Minnows let out 140 feet and 120 feet respectively, to get them over 20 feet deep according to the Precision Trolling Data app. One of my friends opened his tackle box and showed a few Berkley #12 Deep Hit Sticks he’d picked up on sale at FishUSA (www.fishusa.com). “Want to try some of these?” he asked.

The colors looked good. “Check the Precision Trolling Data chart to see how much line we’ll need,” I said.

I was shocked to learn we could hit our minimum trolling depth with only 88 feet of line. I wasn’t surprised when the next fish was hooked with the Clown pattern Hit Stick he’d just put out. We added another Hit Stick (Blue Chrome) and in the next couple of days, these two Deep Hit Sticks became our go-to baits. Early in the day the FireTiger pattern was particularly hot, as well.

Hit Sticks come in 20 color patterns (check them out at www.berkley-fishing.com) but color is only one these lures’ enticements. They have a great tail-wagging action and there was nothing subtle about the internal rattles. The walleyes loved them. Though we started using them primarily because they had a much steeper dive curve, we appreciated that they were also fisherman-friendly. Each of the half-dozen “sticks” my friend purchased ran perfectly, straight out of the box.

FISH HAWK LITHIUM PROBES

Reviewed by: CAPT. MIKE SCHOONVELD

Me along with countless other anglers have always had a love/hate relationship with their Fish Hawk Electronics X4 models or the X2 model speed and temp measuring systems. We love them because of the many times the information shown on the display is what puts us on fish or keeps us on fish. I’ve had days when it’s meant the difference between a fish in the cooler and limits of fish in the cooler.

For me (at least) I hate them because of the battery operated probe that goes down to the depths and measures the speed of the lures at that depth and the water temperature. When it’s working properly, when the batteries are fresh enough, when I can get the cap off the probe without tools or when the O-ring on the cap isn’t leaking water inside – it’s an okay tool. I’ve never thought of any of these examples to be a certainty. Not every time, but often enough, it’s not working, the batteries are unexplainedly exhausted, there is water or at least dampness inside the probe.

Though the battery-operated probe is smaller than similar electronics I’ve used in the past, it’s still quite large. It’s large enough to create blowback on the downrigger cable used to take it into the depths. Blowback is cumulative. At 20 feet it’s negligible. At 50 feet (on your downrigger’s counter) the actual depth is probably off by 10 percent or so, depending on trolling speed. At 100 feet, it’s almost a wild-azz guess about the actual depth (not to mention the angle it’s being pulled through the water which affects the speed at depth reading.

Still, the Fish Hawk unit is one of the best available and widely used in every Great Lake. That doesn’t mean it can’t be improved and Fish Hawk Electronics has made it better with the introduction of their Lithium Probes. One model is the Ultra Probe, compatible with their X4D Bluetooth System, their Pro Probe, compatible with X4 and X2 Systems.

Lithium battery technology is changing almost every kind of electronic tools, eliminating the need for traditional AA, AAA or other types of batteries, they are longer lasting, they recharge more quickly and, important for the Fish Hawk probes, allowing battery powered devices to be made more compact. Fish Hawk says the Lithium Probes are 40% smaller than the battery operated probes. It looks smaller than that – and because the case is more hydrodynamic, it doesn’t create the drag when trolled through the water it acts smaller. That increases underwater accuracy.

I recharge the one I’ve been using all season after every few trips. FHE says it will recharge in two to four hours and the unit will operate 50 hours or more. A quick, 20 minute charge will give you about 8 hours of use. I charge mine indoors since the probe has to sit on end on a charging pad. On a docked or stable boat, the charging pad will plug into anything with a USB port.

I now have a mostly “love it,” hardly ever “detest it” relationship with my Fish Hawk X4 unit. I can say the same thing about most every electronic device I use on my boat. The probes are available at www.fishhawkelectronics.com, as some retailers and plenty of online sellers including Amazon.com.