Tim Kelly

A couple of friends have the self contained clamp on tiller trolling motors. Don't know the model numbers. They work fine, but they are LOUD!

A narrow spooled reel will give different results to a wide spooled reel of the same diameter as the line level will drop a lot lower on the narrow spooled reel at the end of a long cast than it would on a wide spooled reel. There are so many variables that it's not worth getting caught up in the maths of it all. Once you have a reel from a manufacturer you soon know how it fishes. You can easily judge what difference going for a similar sized reel with a different gear ratio will be.

If throwing an A-rig is too much like hard work NEVER go muskie fishing! LOL

As you've proven. The usual recommendation is between 3-5mph with the chart speed set at 3-5. Clearly it's possible to get great images at slow speeds if you know how to set it up.

Your images are outstanding! Not sure how they're possible at extremely slow speeds as the screen displays a history, rather than a picture, so you need to be moving to show new info at the top of the screen. Can't argue with your screen shots though!

Are there and Peacock bass in the keys? Would be a nice bonus to have a chance at catching one on my Keys trip next April.

Your image will be very strange unless you are moving, so you need to be moving at 3-5mph ideally and the nature of paddling a kayak, where the hull is prone to rock and swing side to side a bit will probably mean you're not going to get images as good as you might in a boat a lot of the time.

I've a rod made on that blank and use it a great deal. Very nice.

Fireline is always noisy when it's new. After a few hours it softens a bit, but is still loud. FX2 is a pretty coarse weave. I think this possibly helps when you're fishing pads as it adds to the sawing effect cutting through the vegetation. 8 strand braids are generally quieter, but if you use those horrible recoil guides anything sounds super noisy! I find 8 strands too soft and limp generally. 832 isn't a bad compromise, but my fav at the moment is Sunline Superbraid, which is a 4 strand, but relatively soft and quiet while still having the increased toughness of a 4 strand. It's like an improved version of original power pro.

Take a picture of the reel on the rod with the line strung up. A close up of the front of the reel with the line coming out of the levelwind. Hard to imagine how the line contacts that part of the reel unless something is wrong.

Do you reel in with your thumb over the line or something? Unless the levelwind is out of position the line should never be that low that it contacts that part of the reel as DVT said.

Almost a total waste of time painting/coating jig heads. Makes no difference to the fish, just makes them look more appealing to the fisherman. I make 90% of my jig heads and never paint them.

Sounds like a winner to me.

Go in a bar, go up to each woman and ask them "Spinning or baitcasting?". Eventually you'll get a proper answer, that's your starting point.

This guy found 50lbb Super slick to be very weak to abrasion, even by braid standards.

Did you ever figure out what the problem was?

In Europe I would guess that about 80% of baitcasting reels sold for freshwater use are left side crank. Nearly everyone fishes spinning reels left side crank and so the right hand is used to doing the casting and working, it's also stronger. When I watch anglers swapping hands, especially when pitching, it just seems so inefficient. That most of the bass pros do it must mean that it doesn't matter much in reality, but guys like Denny Brauer seem to cast with the left hand, so they don't need to swap hands. Maybe they're left handed or maybe they just want to be more efficient so taught themselves to cast left handed back when there were so few left crank reels on the market. You'd certainly be waiting a long time trying to sell a curado 200 in the UK, but a 201 would go in an instant!

I have no idea on home defense stuff, but I used to use a pump for hunting and while it is theoretically reliable it is possible to short stroke the action, especially in times of stress, causing a jam. I would have a semi auto in preference to a pump for that reason.

Went out yesterday and tried the moving the rod to the side tip instead of my usual lifting the rod and it worked much better. I think I was subconsciously tending to lift the rod before the lure had touched down, causing the over run problems. By sweeping to the side I was waiting until the lure had touched down as it is such a different motion.

Are you mixing metric and imperial measurements there?

Thanks guys. Sounds like there's no magic answer, just a bit more practice. I expect the times when it all goes a bit fuzzy are where I start raising the rod and feeding out line before the jig has actually touched down. A bit more patience and thumb as I pull off the slack would be the answer. More time on the water required.

When you're fishing a deeper grass edge, where the weeds stop in about 12ft, how do you put enough slack into the line to allow the bait to fall freely? I try lifting the rod tip as the jig touches down and feeding out slack at that point, but often I manage to contrive an over run by doing that. Is it just a matter of more practice, or is there a cunning trick I haven't worked out?

I use a 7ft high mod MHX popping blank spiral wrapped with microguides. I think it's rated something like 1/16 to 3/8. Throws pretty much anything light pretty well with my avail spooled morrum. Not a huge amount of backbone, but how much power do you want in a rod used with 6lb line? The rod weighs next to nothing and does a very good job. Pretty sure it didn't cost more than $200 to build and it's a much much more sensitive and pleasurable rod to use than the Volkey BFS that many people buy for this application.

I like the 2506. No need for miles of line for bass fishing, so no need for miles of pointless backing. Regarding the balance, depends entirely how you hold the rod. 3 or 4 fingers in front of the reel stem it will make a big difference between a heavy and light reel. Two fingers either side of the reel stem and it won't make any significant difference. I hold with 2 fingers either side and like a light reel. If the outfit needs balancing then I put some lead in the end of the handle.

Mudhole?