wasabi_VA

What a coincidence. I take this phone on 100+ boat/kayak trips over the past 3 years and no problems. Today I do a little bank fishing and drop it off an overflow drain into 10' of water. Sonofabitch! I couldn't find it with my fishing magnet either. It was time to upgrade it anyway so I will be getting a replacement iPhone 8 I think.

Once in awhile I actually catch a fish worth taking a photograph. But this year I'm using my kayak more so I keep my iPhone in a little waterproof case like this in preparation for the inevitable wave, flip or drop into the water. I attach a retractable leash to it too. The touch screen part works, but not great, so it can be fiddly to get a picture taken with one hand while holding the fish with the other hand. I watch an angler lady on youtube who uses voice commands with hers but her's is an Android that takes the pictures and apparently an iPhone will open the camera app but still requires you to touch the button. Curious if any of you have a good system down that is quick and easy.

Had a great day on the water yesterday except for 2 or 3 braid issues that defied the laws of physics. Surely Satan invented braid. I know he's the one who made the wind blow so crazy.

Just finished almost 2 hours of futzing around with this new 2500D-XH. I removed the original line I spooled up as it was bunched at the top and was able to remove the little washer 7 and bearing 8 after a moderate amount of annoyance. I added one line lay washer but noted the inner diameter of the washer seemed a bit too tight for the shaft causing it to pucker up a bit and not lay perfectly flat. I respooled half way and it was still uneven, so repeat everything to get a second washer installed. This 2nd washer also fit tight and together both puckered washers wouldn’t allow the other washers/bearings to lay flat. I used a screwdriver to press down on them to eventually press them evenly flat. After 2 washers my line was spooling on flat. During this annoying exercise I noticed the drag seems really, really tight across most of the range of the drag knob. Something doesn’t feel right. I inspected the drag, all looks good, a tacky grease evenly applied to all the steel and felt washers.

I just called Daiwa. The guy seemed familiar with this issue and said to look at a parts schematic and remove parts 6, 7 and 8 and stack the extra washers on top of part 9. I haven't looked at a schematic yet. He did mention that part #7 is a bearing that can be hard to remove. It fits on a groove in the main shaft and to wiggle it back and forth to get it to come off. I asked if there was anything special to get that hard part back on and he said no, it should all go back together easily. OK - just looked at the schematic he said #7 was the bearing, but looking at the schematic he must have meant part #8 is the bearing

Over lunch I ran home to fill my new Fuego LT 2500D-XH reel with line in advance of a smallie trip tomorrow. Sure enough I filled about half my spool before I noticed the uneven line lay. ****. Man that is freaking annoying. I'll have to un-spool and figure this extra washer thing out.

This Daiwa rod does have a ceramic one at the tip

So what's the knock against them? What makes them cheap or otherwise not preferred? Is it that the metal is more susceptible to knicks, and thus could damage line?

Mine arrived today, haven’t filled the spool yet. Subscribing cuz I heard this was gonna be an issue... I need to to go re-watch this video but in it the guy talks about that weird metal clip and also line lay

I forgot what these style rod guides are called. They are on a Daiwa Magforce spinning rod that is a few years old. The reel seat says Fuji so usually I assume the guides on a rod are also Fuji when I see that although maybe not a safe assumption? So what’s the deal with these? Garbage? The rod was probably mid-range quality at best when I bought it and never saw much use. But it actually handles pretty good in the new kayak so will finally get some serious use this season.

As tight as you think your lure is gonna make it when you use it

You gotta go hold whichever ones you are considering. I loved my new Dobyns Fury until I then bought a Mojo Bass. Both are great but something about that Mojo Bass feels better to me.

1. I'd google up a store or two with a good selection and go look at them, preferably a place that specializes in paddle sports/equipment and not some big box store. Doing so will prevent buyers remorse when you invariably see or read about another kayak with some features that appeal to you but you didn't know existed when you made your initial purchase decision. I went to a paddle store recently and was amazed at the neat features or unique way some of these manufacturers build these kayaks - things that didn't occur to me but I was envious when I saw it. 2. Some kayaks and/or manufacturers look designed by hard-core fishermen. Where others might build an equally good kayak but it is for all kinds of paddle activities and might lack some fishing features. If you go to a paddle sports store I think the difference will become obvious to you if you are a hardcore fisherman and might help guide your purchase. See these different boats might give you some ideas that you can buy cheaper boat XYZ that is still a good kayak and then add aftermarket parts to achieve the same fishing platform but at a lower cost. 3. Think of this as your first kayak. Get a good quality one that can last but don't tick away the spring and summer trying to make the most optimal purchasing decision. There will always be better designed kayaks next year or 3 years and you may feel better dumping more money into a better kayak if your enthusiasm for kayak fishing holds up. Your first kayak should be able to fetch a decent price used if you give it just a tiny bit of care. 4. Still go head and treat yourself and get you what you find. Be a spendthrift on bills and other things that you have to pay to get by in life but recognize what brings you joy and drop the money on it. I bought my first kayak back in 2008? A good, solid fishermans kayak - Wilderness Systems Ride 135. At the time it was popular for being stable to stand in to fish, and stable in general for venturing out into open water. They still offer it today but the modern version has quite a few cool upgrades. The kayak accessory industry exploded the past decade so the new kayaks come with a lot of cool features that my bare-bones one did not. I stopped using my kayak after a few years as I was doing more boat fishing, but cabin fever this year and access to some new smaller waters made me pull out the old Ride 135. I was getting ready to retrofit a number of cool accessories to it when I decided to simply purchase a new kayak that came with all that stuff, and the new kayak also had a far improved seat to help my weak back endure more time on the water. So I bought a Pelican Catch 100 which had all the desired features including less weight and 3.5' shorter which should make it more maneuverable on my smaller waters and easier to transport. I've used the Catch 100 a couple times and really do like it...but...I can't quite put my finger on it but lets just say I have a new appreciation for many qualities of my original Ride 135. I guess I am admitting to myself I didn't shop around like I suggested in #2 above and just bought this Catch 100 after seeing it somewhere and it occurred to me it pushed a lot of buttons for me. But then after buying it I stopped into a paddle sports store and saw some slightly more expensive but serious fishing kayaks and started wondering if maybe the sweet spot for me is a 12'.... But whatever, I'm still happy and can fish in the small one when it suits me and the bigger one when it suits me. And I can sell either or both at any time and go get the next 'the one' when I find it. Sorry for the rambling....hope it helps.

Thanks!

I'm interested in finally attempting the gb putty mount method for inside the hull of my Bass Hunter. @Choporoz - when you mounted your transducer (mine is a Lowrance Elite 4-HDI) did you put down a thin bed of putty before putting down the transducer or did you simply surround the outside edges of the transducer with putty to hold it in place? I ask as interweb is full of folks anguishing over air bubbles between the transducer and hull, but many putty installs just seem to bank the putty around it leaving the transducer with some apparent air between it and the hull.

Well done! Looks factory.

A lot depends on the waters you will fish. If smaller waters consider the Pelican Catch 100. Built for fishing, nice and stable, only 55 pounds so easy to transport. Just bought mine today for $580 from Dicks/Field&Stream

Joining in here. I need a kayak unit like the op. Generally fishing 20’ or less, don’t use gps, want in-hull mount. Have a Lowrance Elite-4 HDI on another small boat and friggin hate it. Focusing on a Humminbird or Garmin for a change of pace.

Yes, I see that now! Sorry, I guess the first time I read your post I couldn’t really follow it as I couldn’t visualize the parts. Now I can for sure ! ? any recommendations for a glue? All my super glue is dried up (I tried to,glue it tonight) so will have to buy some new stuff in the morning.

This is what I get for keeping 30 year old reels in service. Mike at Delaware Valley Tackle has kindly pointed me in the right direction. Upon inspection I believe my magforce magnet has come unglued from the adjusting gear it uses. I can see that my gear rotates but the magnet stays in the same location. I am going to get some fresh super glue in the morning and reattach it.

I know it doesn’t sound right, and still didn’t sound right today while fishing so kept switching back and forth between 1 and 10 and frankly it was obvious which was high and low brake setting. So maybe I do have something screwy inside. My Fuego has a lot of cast control between 0 and 20 so easy to check when I forget.

I fish with both a new Daiwa Fuego and also an older Daiwa Magforce MA10G. The Magforce dial on the Fuego goes from 0 to 20, with max brake at setting 20. The dial on the MA10G goes from 0 to 10, with max brake at 0. When did Daiwa decide to reverse the min/max??? I keep getting them mixed up ?

This is a new reel I had just filled , although doesn't really matter. I don't like the knot being near the bottom of the casting distance. When I started the post I thought I was going to be closer to the knot, but after converting the stated line capacity of 14/120 to the 10 lb. line I preferred, (10/163 yards) and estimating I lost half my line... that suggests I have around 80 yards to respool on top of the remaining 80 yards on the spool. Since I'm only casting half or less of that distance I don't think that knot will be appearing while casting for awhile.

I got my Daiwa Magforce dial direction screwed up in my head, cranked it to basically zero braking rather than the max I wanted to test, then whipped out a strong cast and produced the most wicked birdsnest I've every had. I had to cut it out and was left with half a spool of line remaining. When I look at the spool the line is still relatively even with the line guide and looks like it would cast/feed out just fine if I didn't respool right away. I estimate I lost 50% of my line, which suggests I have about 87 yards of the 175 yards of 10 lb. mono remaining. Guess I'm asking if a baitcaster is as sensitive to spooled line level as a spinning reel? If it casts fine I'm inclined to fish with awhile, then respool the whole spool. I don't want to be bothered by that line splice knot.

No, I bought mine in the store. I was on the website and saw their $20/ off $100 promotion and saved the "View In-Store Coupon." I think I saved a screenshot as an image in my phone and showed it to them during checkout. I do see the exclusion of St. Croix rods listed on their website so am not sure why my in-store purchaser went through. Either the computer didn't flag it or maybe because it was a 'St. Croix Mojo' line or maybe the cashier forced it through. I do know their cashiers have fairly wide latitude to help with discounts/coupons. And if they can't they often call over a manager to help. At least that has been my experience. I only see a couple of the Mojo Bass rods on their website, not all the ones that my store had in stock. I bought a 6' 8" one, I think MH/F. Good luck. That coupon expires today if you were thinking of still trying to get it applied.