Hey Redear, Your comment above " when you run into them on the lake you notice that they have nary a bit of new fancy equipment", reminds me of asking Red of his preferred 4# test line for jigging -"don't know, whatever is on at the time!"
Or with the new fancy outfits of today -years ago, I fished with a legendary light tackle muskie angler, Len Hartman, who held ALL spinning line test world records (including an 18#er on 2# test,39# on 4, 46# on 6, up to a 67#12 oz on 12#test).Hartman was an always on-the-water (18 hours every day!) guy like Red. Len DID show up at my house one time with brand NEW equipment for our 2 week muskie trip to his ole stomping grounds on the St Lawrence river - he had two $12 no-name brand spinning reels (as long as the front drag was decent,said Len),purchased from K-mart on the way to my place, and 2 medium action ,fiberglass 7' rods that cost even less!Len used the cheap,but functional stuff HARD for a trip,then threw it away or gave it away (I still have those rods!).Modern muskie 'masters' would cringe,since one of their huge plugs cost more than Hartman's entire tackle selection (of course, these days, the only successful muskie guy I know is Red, who catches more of the big pike by accident with his tiny jigs, than most who hunt them with "shark gear" on purpose!).
