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For all you guys who think you have to spend a million bucks to catch a fish, here’s the specs on the 28-pounder caught on my boat yesterday.

The rod was a Diawa Wilderness 8-6 medium - cost about 18 bucks. The reel was a Penn 9M old enough to still have the reddish purple bakelite end caps. It’s been retro-fitted with Penn HT-100 carbon drag washers, probably has had the levelwind mechanism replaced once or twice and is kept lubed up. Never broke in the middle of a fight, never spooled by a big fish. Probably has caught a half million fish - or some fraction of that.

The line on the reel was Stren Golden Fluorescent with four feet of Berkley Vanish Fluorocarbon as a leader. I’ve been using Stren Gold since the early 90s. Line and leader were 20# test.

Silver J-Plug is my best king producer spring and fall (and no slouch in the summer, either). #3 in the spring and #4 in September. I bought this one on eBay since Luhr Jensen no longer makes the #3 Silver Bullet - the #3 chrome with red lips (still available) is probably just as good.

I bought my Walker Downriggers in 1989. At the time, they came with a lifetime warrantee. I’ll switch to some other brand whenever these stop working.

My downrigger weight was home made - 10 pounds of lead in a coke can. The downrigger release was a #16 rubbber band.

My point is, as a charter captain I have to use what works and keeps working. I can afford to buy the best and as the Associate Editor of Great Lakes Angler magazine, many companies will furnish me rods, reels, tow vehicles, boats, lures, fish jerky - just about anything for free. But to keep my customers happy, I have to use what works and what works easily and is nearly foolproof.