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It's been awhile since I purchased any new braided lines. The last batch of lines was a bunch of Diawa J-Braid x8 and J-Braid Grand x8, a couple of Fireline Ultra 8, and Nanofil lines. On my list would be YGK G-Soul Upgrade X8 line and YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid line. Well, shopping cart, submitted. Well I ordered a few lines but I stayed with the small diameters again and keeping them under .200 mm for the most part. This will put it in the same frame as most of the other lines I've used in the past for ice fishing. So my impulsive line order came through and I ordered a variety of line tests. YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 14# at .131 mm 16# at .153 mm 22# at .171 mm 25# at .185 mm YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid 10# at .165 mm 14# at .185 mm All I can say is wow this line is thin. It feels significantly much thinner than anything I've felt. Even more thin than the J-Braid x8 Grand. Will have to give it some line break test and some side to side comparison later. The clear package spool is a great visual product. One can really see how nice the line is and how little room it takes. The appearance is so uniform and even as a braid, it looks like a single monofilament. Some preliminary line break test on the G-Soul Upgrade X-8 with all knot break failures. 14# listed with four trials: 6#15, 6#12, 7#0, 6#15 16# listed with four trials: 9#0, 9#15, 8#15, 8#15 22# listed with three trials: 13#10, 12#15, 12#10 YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid: 10# listed with three trials: knot break 9# 10, 9#1, 9#8 14# listed with three trials: knot break 10# 10, 9#15, 10#8 It's been a while since I've tied and manipulated the knot on thin PE lines. I can't remember what I did to achieve a higher strength. However, I'm glad to see a rather consistent breakage. It means two contributing factor. First I may be tying a rather consistent knot with how I'm tying. Second, the line is consistent in uniformity strength with the extrusion process. As much as I expected that I was not going to get the manufacture listed line break strength, after all that's not what I'm after. I'm after my real world use of the line and how the knot will hold for me. I tried looking for my 6# Diawa J-Braid to make a line to line comparison but couldn't find it at the moment. I did find some 10# J-Braid X8 and the 4# Berkley Nanofil line. The 14# G-Soul Upgrade looked thinner than 10# J-Braid while the 16# looked very much alike in diameter. The 4# Nanofil was just about equal in turns of line diameter thickness. The line is very pliable. Compare to Nanofil, it feels very much like it. The line feels so smooth and has a good body feel almost as if it is one single thread. There is also a self support and while holding about 4 to 5 inches horizontal of line material. That's quite amazing and almost feels like a levitation trick. Getting to about 6 to 7 inches it will be pull down by gravity and is no longer able to self support horizontally. Compressing the line by pinching and pushing together did not yield any strand separations. The weave is just too uniform and well packed. I was only able to see a sign of thread separation after multiple line break of the same sample. Even then I was not able separate the thread weave. Further note is that this time I did a really crude line test method. I kept using the same line even after the first break. Typically I expect that the sequent test should have yield less results. After all there were obvious signs of line damage even after the first line break test. I could see that the thread fluffed up where the fibers broke in multiple spots throughout the sample test line. Another telltale sign was how the line had contracted into a somewhat bunched deformity of random compressed doodle. This means that the fibers were stretched and rebounded. However it's odd that later test of the same sample would yield a higher break strength. This could hint that the line is still very strong even after some light stressed breakage. Similar line diameter .13mm comparison: 14# G-Soul Upgrade X-8 is within same break threshold and is below average. Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .13 mm 8# knot break 10# 12 oz. Berkley NanoFil 6# .13mm knot break 9# 14 oz. Berkley Fireline Original .13 mm 4# knot break 6# 12 oz. Similar line diameter .15mm comparison: 16# G-Soul Upgrade X-8 is within same break threshold and is just below average. Diawa J-Braid x8 .15 mm 10# knot break 13# Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .15 mm 10# knot break 16# 14 oz. Berkley Fireline Crystal .15 mm 6# knot break 8# 8 oz. Similar line diameter .171mm comparison: 22# G-Soul Upgrade X-8 is average break and slightly above. ASSO Sinking Braid .16mm 10# knot break 12# 5 oz. ASSO Sinking Braid .18mm 12# knot break 13# 10 oz. Berkley Fireline Original .18 mm 8# knot break 11# 6 oz.

Sufix 131 G-Core Braided Line This line is smooth, very smooth, as smooth as a baby's butt. Well not, but being a 12 strand weave around a GORE Performance Fiber core line, it's by far the smoothest line I've held in my possession. It is also one of the most expensive line I've purchased at just shy of $40 retail for 150 yards. I purchased two spools, the 6# and the 10# spools. According to Sufix listed diameters the 6# is at .14 mm and the 10# is at .20 mm. These match up with the same test # and diameters of both Sufix 832 Advance braid and the old Performance Braid. One of the things I like to do now is give it a line performance tensile test. I like to check it with a knot strength tied onto a Spro swivel #10 and after learning the FG line to line join knot I check the line strength on that as well too. I gave it three trials successively on the same line. Meaning if that I were to fish with such line on there and I break off, I want to know if the line will stay usable after I retie. The results for a knot strength test. Sufix 131 G-Core Braided Line 6# .14 mm: 9# 4 oz., 9# 9 oz., 9# 6 oz. Sufix 131 G-Core Braided Line 10# .20 mm: 12# 4 oz., 11# 9 oz., 11# 12 oz. For the FG knot line to line join I was looking for a good high yield result. Although I did have some weaker knot breaks results they were still higher than a knot to the swivel. Sufix 131 G-Core Braided Line 6# .14 mm: 11# 12 oz. Sufix 131 G-Core Braided Line 10# .20 mm: 17# 13 oz. Comparison to similar diameter of other lines and break strengths: Sufix 832 Ice Braid .10mm 4# knot break 9# 2 oz. (FG knot break 13# 7 oz.) Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .13 mm 8# knot break 10# 12 oz. Diawa J-Braid Grand x8 .15 mm 10# knot break 16# 14 oz. Diawa J-Braid x8 .06 mm 6# knot break 8# 4 oz. (FG knot break 9# 3 oz.) Diawa J-Braid x8 .15 mm 10# knot break 13# (FG knot break 17# 12 oz.) YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 .131 mm 14# listed knot break 6# 15 oz. (FG knot break 9# 14 oz.) YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 .153 mm 16# listed knot break 9# 7 oz. (FG knot break 14# 1 oz.) Sufix 832 Braid .20 mm 10/4 knot break 17# 5 oz. (FG knot break 20#) Diawa J-Braid x8 .19 mm 15# knot break 18# YGK G-Soul Upgrade X-8 .185 mm 25# listed knot break 14# 13 oz. (FG knot break 18# 14 oz.) In comparison to various other 8 strand braids their line strength is much higher overall but still within parameters. I suspect that the 12 strands + GORE fiber just being much thinner are giving out under stress a bit sooner. However the knot breaks has a consistency more so than any of the other 8 strand braids I've tested. That part on the product description holds validity. As so far, I haven't decided which reel to spool the line onto yet. I do plan on both spinning and casting reels. Looking forward to using this line.

https://www.outdoornews.com/2023/02/08/a-case-study-on-minnesota-crappies-looks-at-barotrauma-in-the-popular-fish/ Interesting study on barotrauma and crappies. Obviously a relatively small sample study but results were pretty eye opening to me. I for one am guilty of this but will definitely change my practice. I have already stopped walleye fishing deeper than 30'. Was a bit bummed to see that fizzing didn't work. I am not opposed to deep fishing like the article states, those times should be limited to strictly harvest. Everybody's thoughs?

I'm thinking about making a trip with my brother to the area to do some fishing. I would like to fish the smaller lakes, boat is electric powered, so I don't want to have high boat traffic and winds. If anyone can give some advice on a few good places that would be great. Plus some places to stay. Thanks in advance.

Looking for some trip advice. My dad and I are coming up to Minnesota for an ice camping trip between Jan 31-Feb 4. We have stayed in an ice castle on Mille Lacs the last few years and want to change it up. We have it narrowed down to Leech Lake and Red Lake. We fished Leech in the summer quite a few years ago with some success, but I am curious which lake people would recommend for an ice camping trip. Leech was intriguing for the potential perch bite as well, but I would love to hear some opinions. We are looking at going through a resort, so we can use their ice road access. Thanks for any help!

I like to prep early for ice so I do my shopping early before November at least. I've never had electronics for ice fishing before and I had been eyeing up the Garmin striker 4 ice fishing bundle and finally pulled the trigger yesterday. As a first time fish finder user any tips and tricks are appreciated. I also added a few Northland gill getters, Clam leech flutter spoons and Fiskas wolfram tungsten jigs (I'm a big panfish guy ). What are your staple panfish lures for ice fishing? Have you/ are you going to invest in any new gear for the upcoming season?

Good Evening, I'm spending more time this year fishing closer to home, which is wright county for me. I'm heading out to Buffalo lake for the first time. Going to walk out from the east ramp. Either going to fish the point just southwest or try and find a weed like in 10-13fow. Going to look for walleye and crappie in the weeds or crappies in a home. Let me know if I'm way off base. Thanks!

Can anyone recommend some good shore fishing spot in the 30 minute range of the twin cities?

Looking for a good lake for a short fishing vacation. I know that it's a long drive, but I'm hoping to get my brother onto some nice panfish. We have been pretty successful here at our home lake. However, we are looking for recommendations t

Guys, I am looking to chase some Sunfish during the Labor Day weekend timeframe. Anyone have any hints besides Greenwood bay? I know there has to be places these fish are hiding. Any help would be appreciated. I am on the East Side by birch point. Although I am not against chasing to the other side of the lake if the winds aren't blowing stink.... Have a great day!

Well it was some late spring fishing. I was actually trying to target some white bass. I really wanted to get a feel for how this line would perform. Again it was only the 6# test listed and spooled on the Shimano Twinpower 1000D spinning reel. The rod was the Shimano Poison Adrena 6'10" UL/M spinning rod extra fast action. Most of the lures I used was just the 1/8th oz Kastmaster, 1/8th oz Bluefox Flash spinner, and a small 1/8th Rebel teeny popper. The line performed as expected like any other braids. However more notable is how much smoother the ease of casting was. Perhaps that may be in part with the equipment combination. One other thing I noticed was how much more buoyant this line was. It really floats on the surface easily. Maybe being just a new line or perhaps just how thin the line is that resists breaking the surface water. When hooked up with fish, it was solid and responsive. I had unfortunately foul hooked a few carps and that really gave the equipment a full hard test run. The line held and did not break off. The reel was very responsive in the drag control. The rod was just about overpowered by the larger fish but there was still a lot of user input control. There was some minimal line dig in on the spool after pulling in those big carps. It was easily cleared on the next cast or two, but it was present and felt on the next cast on lure flight. When I hooked up with smaller fish of white bass, crappie, or bullheads, the whole system felt just right with very good reel drag response and rod control. White bass tend to put up a good fight when hooked and this was perfect set up for this scenario. The knot formation on this line is very good. The knots looked far better than most other braids. My knot also held and no issues of unraveling thus far. I also did not see any signs of line wear as with most typical braids you see this on the first day of fishing. This is the same line I had used from ice fishing and it's still holding well. As so far, it feels as if this line has outperform all other braids I've used for initial quality consistency. This is a very expensive line and after this field test, I had opted to try more of it. So as of now I have obtained some 20# and 30# test listed and will decide what to do with it in the near future.

Going up to visit family at Mille lacs 4th of July weekend. Given the current fishing restrictions and the fact that I don’t have a boat, does anyone know any good shore/kayak fishing lakes in the Mille lacs area?

House was new in spring 2018. Spray foamed top to bottom. Extremely Light weight, all aluminum construction 1300-1400 pounds. You can easily pull with atv. with little tongue weight. Foldable and removable bunk, we used a cot for 2nd bed. -6 catch covers w/ sleeves -Nuway furnace, needs no electricity to operate manually, also hooked up to thermostat -12V low amp draw circulating fans -30A 115v to 12VDC power converter/battery charger with gen/power hookup -battery box with 12VDC-115v inverter, and battery meter (newer 31 battery negotiable) - LED hole light and beverage holder above every hole -LED interior and porch lights -Tv/dvd combo on swing wall mount -Pioneer stereo with 4 speakers -Loose spare tire (white steel rim) -Window Air Conditioner This house can go all weekend on a single battery without a generator. No exterior damage anywhere, tires great. Looking to possibly upgrade. Located 20 miles north of Rapids. Thanks!

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I am putting this out there if anyone wants to get together and fish around Princeton-Cambridge area I got a couple spots in mind. Let me know if you are interested as I will try to lock down an area with some active fish. Let me know what day would work. I do work during the week, so it will be on a weekend. Thanks, Monstermoose

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Hello, Former Minnesotan coming up to spend time with my folks the second week in June. We’re staying on TenMile Lake. I’ve been reading forums, looking at Social Map, LakeFinder, etc. it appears Ten Mile is a fairly unique lake, very deep and very clear. My first guess given the clarity would be a night bite, but I’m not sure I’d be up for night fishing in a strange lake with a strange boat. I’ve read that this lake warms up later than other local lakes, so should I be considering what might be recommend approaches for say late May? Obviously weather would affect that. Would Crappie still be spawning? Are there good cabbage patches? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Also feel free to message me. Obviously, time with my folks is the priority, but it would be nice to have a little fish fry since we are staying on the lake. Thanks Again, Clemmy

Hey guys gotta toss out the bat signal here. Received an in-line reel for Christmas, more specifically a clam straight drop, and well I’m just getting it set up on the rod I just picked up for it. The issue I’m having with the reel is rather dumbfounding but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to let the line out . Shouldn’t there be a button or something? I’m only finding the drag and that doesn’t appear to have a spool release built in to it. I would greatly appreciate any info anyone has on this reel guys, thanks!

Hello Folks, I have never posted on a fishing forum before. Looking for advice from folks who have visited the nicer resorts from Mille Lacs and up. . . Not interested in the house boat concept. MOSTLY, looking for good chance of fish catching SUCCESS during period from mid-July through August. Looking for actual resort names and Lake names. If info on definite places on Lakes, better yet. Probably a one time trip with brothers from Colorado, Iowa, and Illinois. . . One with limited experience. Have at it! thanks in advance.

My first field test of the Sufix 131 G-Core Braided line in 6# spooled onto Shimano Twin Power 1000FD spinning reel paired onto Thorne Bros Perch Sweetheart 32" cutom. This would be one of the most expensive set up, both in reel and line. I was really trying to test it out on crappies, but it just happen to be walleyes that were hooked up today. While hooked up with fish, the combination was very high performance, it seem a bit too easy. The one piece handle has a solid transfer of power and feedback. The drag worked very well, smooth and sturdy, no start up pressure build or drop. The ability of the reel to line lay on the spool had more precision that I had expected, no bulge spots or dips. Perhaps it has something to do with the Sufix 131 G-Core braid being well rounded as well. The braid line at first showed very little line bubble on the sonar, but quickly vanish. I did had on moment that while setting the combo aside and using it again, I got the dreaded micro bubbles on the line and it showed it on the flasher. Again it vanished quickly after some use. In comparison Sufix 832 is more limp, but does have a subtle texture feel when feeling the Gore fiber. For the 131 the Gore Fiber is the core so it is an even smooth uniform feel. Not once did I feel like the braid hang up on itself on the underlying lines on the spool. It could've been attributed to the Twin Power spinning reel. Every lure drop was a very smooth line flow off the spool. As with any braid and hole hopping the ice up was terrible. Although the windy conditions also meant that regular monolines were also freezing within a moment. I will note that typically I am a bait casting reel in preference, I will say that the Shimano Twin Power has a performance merit in itself. It reminds me of both the Stella and the Stradic Ci4+ reel in a package. Eventually I would like to get this line on a bait casting reel and see how it's performance merits are.

It's another ice fishing field test for a few items: The only fish I caught were a few crappies ranging from 6" to 10" and a perch at 9" in length. 13 Fishing Omen Ice Casting rod Medium power. The rod is paired with Shimano Curado 70HG and spooled with Stroft GTM 7.9# line. The lure I specifically chosen was Major Craft Jigpara Blade 3/16th oz. I would say the rod overall is pretty impressive at it's price point. While just holding it in hand empty it doesn't have any outstanding wow factor. However after putting a lure on and actually getting fish to strike at your lures and hooking up and fighting them in, I got a good feel for what it's performance merits are. The white painted tip section allows for a good contrast visual. The lure jigging allowed the vibration of the lure to come through. Even light fish strikes were felt, allowing me to put the hook set on. The rod performed within the range of what a medium powered rod should do. There is enough tip flex sensitivity and rod backbone. Shimano Curado BFS casting reel. I have two of them. One is spooled with 14# YGK G-Soul Upgrade and 10# YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid, both with a leader of Stroft GTM 7.9# line. The rods are Thorne Bros. Custom Panfish and Perch Sweetheart rods to 32" in length. I fished the YGK Upgrade line last season on a spinning reel set up so I basically had a good feel for that mono like line. It worked well in the BFS reel and on that one I was using Major Craft Jigpara tailspin 1/4 oz. lure. One thing I will note that even with the cross carbon drag on this reel, it felt like it was more so on the low end of drag force. I normally don't expect crappies to pull drag a lot, but the drag clicks very easily. Even at close to max setting the drag can still be pulled easily. YGK G-Soul SS112 Sinking Braid. The other Curado BFS with the SS112 Sinking Braid was attached a Flu Flu jig. I can't remember if it was 1/64th oz. or 1/80th oz. weight. It's basically the jig that I have to peel line off the spinning reel to get it sink. So doing the same with any other reel tells me how fast a sink rate this lure gets. Well to my surprise this is the fastest sink rate I've experienced. So the sinking braid line does aid in the sink rate, or rather it doesn't offer resistance to sinking on a vertical drop. Even when I peel enough line to lay on the water surface, it is pulled down with a good rate. While I was expecting the textured line to create some line buzz I wasn't feeling it. While hooked up to fish the Curado BFS drag was clicking so again I couldn't tell if there were any line buzz. Overall it's performed as an ice fishing line in the warmed up shack was phenomenal. It was a bit too windy and snow pellets was hailing down so I did not do any hole hopping, so no freeze check on the line was evaluated. The Eskimo 250XD was getting some high winds test today for sure. The worst thing imaginable happens as the wind changed direction 180 degrees. It was sudeenly full force blowing directly at the wide door side. I did not have the stakes on the skirt on the door nor on the one remaining hub tie down. I went out the door to secure it, and the shelter was about to blow away. Had to fight the wind and hold the door down. I merely only secure the hub strap tie down and went back inside before the wind really kicked up. I looked at the closed door and the blown in side effects of it. In a way it's good to have the two stabilizing poles there which helped a lot with the wind pressure. I stayed pretty much cooped up until the winds died down some. It was windy enough that ice pellets packed up the air vents and the window sides of the reflective overlap. On the pack up it was still windy, and I had struggled to put the shelter away as the wind whipped the shelter like an inverted umbrella. I was afraid the the shelter poles would snap or bust off one of the hubs but managed to secure it and finally flipped a twisted shelter back into order after some effort. This was probably the worst occurrence dealt with the shelter take down I had ever encounter. Simms Challenger insulated bibs and jacket: I wear a Large jacket and medium bibs. This is a serious upgrade for me, considering I've been wearing a Columbia jacket and snowpants that was purchased back in 1993. Of which last year after wearing it while treading through the ice storm and getting drenched, I was a very miserable. That day the ice fishing ordeal I experienced was wet and cold all day long. So this time with the Simms it is thinner and less bulky as in comparison as I dress under with just a normal sweat pants and a sweat shirt and a compression long sleeve shirt. Normally I would also add to another fleece jacket under and also another layer of usually compression pants. I was expecting to get cold but I never felt that way. Of course dragging the sled and sweating did not bother me at all. The suit must have done a very good job at preventing condensation build up. Temps was 14F and with quite a wind in my face easily at 15+mph. I am very impressed at the performance overall. Ryobi 18V Clamp Fan: I used it while I had the Big Buddy Heater on low. The fan was too powerful even on the low setting and I just got colder with it on. I will not use it in the future.

Shimano Poison Adrena Spinning Rod: PAD2610ULMA This is a 6'10" rod with an Ultralight tip section transition into a Medium backbone rod. It is listed with an Extra-Fast action tip. In a way that make sense. I bought the rod on an impulse just because I was sort of wanting an Ultralight power rod. After using the Zodias rods for sometime and I found them to be well performing rods I just really got curious about a higher dollar value rod in the same likeness. In a way I am repeating the same thing I found in St. Croix Rods years ago when I purchased my first Premiere spinning rod and then jumped on the chance of a Legend Elite spinning rod. The Poison Adrena being an impulse buy partially due to Thanksgiving Black Friday deal has a lot to do with it. I think the best feature of this rod is the full Carbon Monocoque handle design shaped to likeness of a split grip silhouette style. So that leaves the locking nut on the top side as the fore grip. The locking nut being machined aluminum is a contrast in feel and material for that function. There are some ported hole integrated into the forward reel set assembly. The rod has 8 line guides plus tip guide of SiC rings and the tip being a titanium frame with SiC ring insert. There is no traditional hook keeper on the rod. The entire handle is measured to about 12 1/4" and the rear handle length is about 8 1/4" long. I set onto the rod with a Shimano Twinpower 1000FD reel to check for balance and it seems to match very well. There is however some spacing between the reel seat on the lock position that detracts from the overall reel seat. In part it has something to do with the slightly larger reel foot of this reel. I went to double check the fit with a different reel I had lying around with a significantly smaller reel foot and it was fully lined up on the close position. Actually this reel has an extra small foot so it actually was still loose. So back to the Twinpower reel. I thread the line through the line guides and gave it my typical line pull flex load to see how the rod bends. It feels a bit more like an UL+ tip as in part to the Extra-Fast action and that Medium power backbone. In a way I think this rod should finesse a bit better than the Zodias rod in Light power. I gave the rod a few backyard practice casts with a 1/4 practice plug and the rod feels like a shorter rod feeling. It does not give off the 7' rod feeling at all. Wish I could feel the lure contact open water. So it will be a long wait till next spring to give it whirl field test.