flyfisher

I recently started using tungsten and i must say it makes a difference. I feel more of hte botom and it must be because of the higher density. I also happened to be in Bass Pro this past weekend and they had their house brand tungsten all on sale for 20% off so i picked up a few packs. nope, never have and don't think i will when they are more costly and i can get weights and hooks and then mix and match to what i want to do and not be forced into what he manufacturer feels is the best hook & weight combination.

I have found that the jika rig comes through grass pretty well and in many cases better than a florida or texas rigged bait but the key I have found to any of the techniques is to slow down and not muscle through the stuff. let the bait work through the grass.

Braid doesn't apply such great amounts of force that a hook is going to be bent. I have been using braid on cranks for at least 3 years now and have never straightened a hook on a hookset. Trying to break from snags, absolutely but i would rather lose a hook than a crankbait. Replace the hooks and be done with it....

grass carp are really hard to catch since they most eat, well, grass. I have caught a few but common carp are "easier" to catch. And don't be surprised at all at a large growth rate as the ycan grow very large and do it in a short amount of time.

i used a PopX today from megabass for the first time today and was thoroughly impressed with the action and the hooks are strong and really sharp.

i am surprised it could even move the boat as they don't have a ton of torque.

No clue as i never used a RH retrieve reel of any type and yes, I am right handed. I do know that using a RH retrieve baitcaster feels strange to me but i can make it work

Was it an actual weed whacker or was it a mud motor? The guys on all those swamp shows have the mud motors to navigate shallow water.

yeah i would say it is a skitterwalk too....I am hoping to try and target them at some point this summer as well as they look like they are a blast to catch.

So i posted a little while back on how i was ordering from a site and it had some Yozuri line on sale and i picked it up. Well I finally got a chance to use it today and I am impressed. It was the 8lb test and i spooled it on my stradic 2500 FH matched up with my 7' 1" MF St Croix rage rod with the intention of using it to throw my megabasss popx that i received on the fishmas exchange this past christmas. Well i have to say I am impressed. it handled well and has to be stronger than the rating. It was pretty windy out and it blew one of my casts into a brush pile and while i was trying to pull it free, the branch snapped and it had no issues with bringing the branch and lure to hand. I ended up catching 7 bass, nothing bigger than 16" but it was definitely fun. The one huge difference for me being almost exclusively a braid guy was the stretch. I felt like it was a rubber band but after i caught a few and got used to it, it was no big deal. The other irritation was when spooling. To get it on my reel without twisting i had to flip the spool label side down and the line holder kept grabbing the line and flipping the spool over. While I am by no means ready to swap lines on my other rods as of yet, it will definitely be on the list when i replace line on some other reels to see how it handles different situations.

he got hit by something for sure, just not sure what. Goes to show how resilient the fish are...and people worry about the slime coats lol

Food was eaten faster than i could take pics...but i did get these at least

Good for you. The only thing stopping anyone from doing what they need to do is themselves and you are taking the right steps to make it happen. Keep it up!!

Well it has been a little over a month since I planted my garden and it is taking off nicely except for my yellow beets, i think some critters got to them. The corn in the pots is doing well and after this weekend I will have thinned out the tomatoes as I have probably 100 of them from seeds that fell last season. I am gonna give away as many of them as i can and the rest are gonna get tossed....to put it in perspective, I only planted ten tomatoes and they were in the bottom quadrant of the first pic....all the rest in all the other pics are rogue....

If you think smallies are fun, which they are, go after some of their green brothers and see what real fun is Nothing like a topwater bite in some lilly pads to put a bend in the long rod and make your heart race.

I fish a few smaller rivers and finding bigger fish is a challenge. For one, I know the forage base ins't conducive to having lots of larger fish and secondly there are not a ton of places for a large fish to hang out per se. I focus on all the big fish type spots like the ones mentioned above. I fish them very thoroughly with multiple types of presentations. Also another key is stealth. Big fish in smaller flows don't get big by being out in the open all the time. I find them to be way more spooky than the little guys. There is a river i fish that is not more than 50 feet across and most times much less, has yielded me a 2 smallies 18" and many in the 15-18" range. Now that i know the type of cover and structure they like, I search for those types of situations in other spots and have been rewarded with success.

I have had the same experience. Most cases for me though when I will be wading in a river it is my fly rod and all my reels are completely sealed so no worries about water getting in places it shouldn't.

I thought about going back to school for culinary arts actually but decided i would keep that as a very involved hobby instead

So as many of you know I have been working on my masters degree and teaching certification for about 18 months. Well, it is official, I am edumucated I got my diploma yesterday. My wife decided she wanted to throw me a surprise graduation party but being the incredibly smart woman that she is, she told me about it so i can do all the cooking. She knew i would be ticked if she got it catered. Well here's the menu... Shredded beef-1 spicy and one tame for the weak ones 4 racks of ribs Jalapeno poppers Dragon Claws (appetizer) Jalapeno creamed corn potato salad pasta salad baked beans i think some fruit and veggie trays burgers & hotdogs for the kids broccoli salad mac & cheese and of course, adult beverages Should be a good time and i think we have about 30-40 people coming. It is nice to have this as the culmination of all my hard work and to celebrate it with my family and friends who were there the entire time, helping me along either physically or emotionally. Anyways, just thought I would share.

I bet they love them more since their dinner and house rides on catching them. I do my best to not injure fish and hold them properly but some fish will die no matter what I do but trying to minimize it is the goal. Allegedly major tourney series have a pretty good mortality rate so it must not be a big a deal as we think.

what he said....i'll add to do so with different techniques as well as it can trigger the other fish around to bite. One exception is if i catch a large fish for the area i rarely pick up another without letting it rest for a few minutes.

I have no clue because the number of casts is semi-meaningless to me as certain techniques take longer than others. I do remember catching 8 bass in 8 casts on my fly rod when fishing a culvert one evening and then the next time out i caught 8 out of 10 in the same spot.

if you are going with a trolling motor, I don't see why you would need a rudder unless you are using the motor solely for propulsion and the rudder for steering. As far as without the motor, it is up to you. I don't have one and haven't really ever thought wow, i need a rudder. You also mentioned you are getting a super stable boat which to me says that it will track well right out of the box so less need for a rudder.

Most of the lakes I fish are shallow, up to 12-14' and I use mine often. And you might not fish directly under your kayak but that isn't what they are for as much as it is to indicate structure and depth contours etc and water temperature. the signal also isn't a straight beam that gives a small window view of the bottom. It is a cone and the deeper you are, the wider the cone but i will save that conversation but i recommend you do a little research and you may be surprised.I am still learning how to use my basic unit up to it's potential and it has really helped me in my fishing under different conditions. Not to mention it validates what i think I know in regards to the structure at the bottom of the lake.

I had one of my best mornings on a float where i exclusively targeted the sun/shade line with buzz baits. Caught well over 20 smallies and 4 were over 17". Didn't matter what else was around as long as i was fishing that line....haven't had that good of a day since but it is still very productive for me.