livin2fish

"Don't use braid on either." The way I stated this in a earlier post can be easily misconstrued. I meant, I do not use braid on either rod, but there is absolutely no reason you shouldn't use braid. Actually a softer rod, imo is a good match with braid, less likely to jerk the bait away from the fish, or tear the hooks out of their mouth.

All of the above is great advice when learning a baitcaster. Some get it right away. Others, it takes some time. Keep frustration out of it. Backlashes, professional overruns, whatever you want to call them are going to happen. If you "have to" catch fish, use a spinning rod or something you know. Otherwise, "practice" the baitcaster and if you catch a fish or a few, good on you.

Not pretending to be an expert on anything fishing related, but I have two BooCoo rods, a MH and a H that I throw about anything I want on them. Don't use braid on either. You are correct in they are a little light for the action, but that is what I like.

This time of year a Silver Buddy type bait seems to work "decent" when the lake is teeming with baby shad. Like blue said, smaller bass in the 1 to 2 lb range. May hook a very large catfish though.

Ah, if I could just afford one of each, a rocket bass boat, a pwc, a wake boat, and a toon boat, I could be the biggest pain in the you know what, that ever floated on water.

This is my time of year, from Labor Day to Memorial day. Few pwc's. Few rocket bass boats.

I don't particularly like having them buzzing around me while I'm fishing, but if I had one, I'd hop on it in a heartbeat for a flight around the lake. I'm 78 years young. Still enjoy speed.

Talked to a guy at the boat ramp a couple of years ago who had his decked out for fishing. He fishes locally and he and a buddy ride their's from Wilmington, NC to the Bahamas once a year.

Chance_Taker4 has a good suggestion. Keep it simple to start. Soon you will become much more experienced, then you can become great friends with the "Bait Monkey".

I particularly like to catch a nice jumping bass behind an idiot that has just cut in ahead of me and come up empty, while I am fishing a nice stretch of water in my boat. I just ignore him and go on about my business. I found nothing offensive with the OP's friendly wave when departing.

Blue. Just now learned of your ordeal. So glad Finn's recovery is progressing well. Scary stuff for the family and friends, especially when it is a youngster.

Have fished baitcasters about 15 years. Still sometimes notice small loops that have to be pulled out. Most times that this has happened I was not paying enough attention at the end of the cast as the thumb was allowing a tiny amount of looseness to occur in the next wraps on the spool. By feathering the spool with the thumb at the end of the cast, or pulling this looseness out before rewinding, long pull outs can be avoided. When fishing walking baits, I sometimes develop looseness on the spool. After a number of casts, I just make a long cast and do a fast straight retrieve, then go back to walking.

My comments may not be worth much, since in a previous post you mentioned that you prefer bait casters, but, I've used it and like it (Windtamer 15 lb is all I have tried). Have it on 5 spinning outfits and use a 8 lb or 12 lb mono or fluor leader. Started using it due to WRB's recommendation in a thread about a year ago. It is a round line, has excellent knot strength and line strength. It is particularly good with the FG knot with the Rizzuti(sp?) finish. All other knots work fine as well. Seems quiet in the guides. Seems to me better than most braids in the wind. I can think of no reason why it wouldn't work fine on baitcasters. Only time I use braid on a baitcaster is for frogging or A-rig. I don't pitch a lot of heavy cover. I use mono or fluor for my baitcasters, and that is personal preference, no other reason.

Taught my grandson to fish, age 4, with a Zebco 202, then a Zebco Omega. One day we were both fishing with plastic worms and he was out-fishing me from the back of the boat, in size of bass and numbers. Only difference, that I could figure, was that his retrieve speed was about 1/2 that of mine. That day the fish apparently were not in a chasing mood. For winter fishing, maybe I would catch more fish on a spincaster, since the bait would be in the strike zone longer. It is extremely difficult for me to slow down using baitcasting or spinning.

The FG for me, 2 half hitches are needed before the knot is pulled tight (initially pulling on the braid tag and braid mainline together). Then the Rizzuto knot. To finish the Rizzuto, hold the braid tag in teeth while cinching the Rizzuto down tight against the half hitches. Re. slick lines, the only one I have tried is Gliss 40 lb.. Slim beauty worked "for it". FG did not. If I cannot tie the knot strong enough using just my hands, I'll use a different knot. Doubtful if slim beauty works well with micro guides. One other thing, if braid line and leader do not have some tension on them while tying, it is difficult to end up with a good FG knot.

Have had great FG knots recently with 15 lb Fins Windtamer braid to 8 lb and 12 lb copoly, and also with KastKing 15 lb 4 strand braid to 8 lb and 12 lb copoly. The Rizzuto finish saved me from scrapping the FG knot. One thing that goes against most everything I have seen, is making a really strong knot by making fewer wraps, not more wraps. When making up to 20 wraps I found that only the first 1/4 of the wraps cinched up really tight. The remainder served no purpose. Settling on 12 wraps up and down makes for me the strongest knot and the one least likely to unravel and/or pull loose. Grandson caught a 30 lb. catfish on the Fins 15 lb to 12 lb copoly with the FG knot

North Carolina has a law now that everyone who operates a boat or jetski must pass a operating safety course and must be 16 or older. Old guys like me were grandfathered in. Only problem, there are not nearly enough wild life officers to enforce the law. Kinda like our highways. Ever notice the idiots that you deal with every time on the road. Not all, but most are also licensed.

Put them on my boat after reading the other thread because my aluminum bass boat with a 40 hp. motor was seriously under-powered and difficult to get on plane. Love them! Motor may actually last longer. Don't recall seeing them on any of the "rocket ships" that have maximum power. Merry Christmas to all.

No indication if @Rick Howard made a purchase, but I did. Purchased, installed, and extremely pleased with the Nauticus Smart Tabs. 17.5 ft aluminum Skeeter (yr 2000) under powered with a 40 hp motor. Three batteries, Tools, 20 gal. gas tank, large live well, motor, all behind the seats. Motor screamed when trying to get on plane. Boat ran nose up even on plane. Now, on plane with no effort. Now nose down, can see where I am going. Based on where the live well intake and exit is located the 7 x 8 inch tabs were the largest that would fit. Only had to re-position the fish finder transducer for installation of the tabs. My packet had two screw sizes. The larger 4 screws were for the top of the actuators and the 6 smaller screws were for the tabs. Only word of caution that I would offer is, check the screw sizes with the drill bit you are going to use. I did not and had one hole in the boat that was too big for the first screw. I know, this is elementary for all drilling, but this old feller just read the instructions. 3/16 inch bit was the wrong size for both screws. That was the only hiccup of the installation. Thanks to @Catt and @NHBull for their comments that helped me choose the, right for me, installation.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year Mike. Thanks for your sage advice.

Rolo's suggestion is a good one. My first question would be, did the break occur at the lure connection, or at the knot connecting the two two lines? Based on your saying that you use a Palomar knot, my assumption is the knot is breaking at the lure connection. If you have used the Palomar for 30 years without problems you obviously know how to tie it and if your setup, rod, line, and leader is the same as you have used successfully in the past for jerk bait fishing, either the leader material has gone bad, or you have gotten into some larger (stronger) fish than normal. My second question would be, did you have your drag locked down? With 10# fluor and two knots, some adjustment of the drag may be needed, to compensate for the crushing strikes you have been getting. Just my 2 cents. My bad, Viper beat me and answered my first question.

I liked it! You did a good thing.

I also was having the problem with the FG knot coming unraveled after several hours of use. Sometimes the half hitches would even separate from the finger trap portion of the knot. After watching the video, and learning the Rizutto finish to the knot, it appears the problem is solved. On my spinning reels they are all spooled with 12# Nanofil or 15# Fins Windtamer, with an 8# copolymer leader or a 8# fluor leader. About half my time is spent fishing out of a boat and the other half from the bank. The spinning gear is mostly used from the bank. As to why a leader is used. For me it is simple. To keep from breaking off long sections of braid. Float fishing one day in the river, I snagged a long piece of lost braid. Had a hold on it with my hand trying to get it out of the river but had to let go as it was cutting my hand. Later another fisherman found it, with the prop of his motor. There was so much wrapped around his prop shaft that it stopped his motor. Appeared that his day was done until he could get on land and remove the prop. I do not fish tournaments, so a lost fish is one that was going right back in the water anyway. If it breaks off, let it be the leader, so he is dragging a 2 to 5 foot leader, not 20 to 30 feet of braid. Seems like most of my fish are on the early release system, they don't have to bother to break anything.

My plan. My boat is a fairly high sided aluminum bass boat. There is a iPilot hand held device for my Terrova. This floats. It is attached to my life vest, and can be used to bring the boat back to me if I have fallen into the water while the trolling motor is deployed (possibly the trolling motor can be deployed from the hand held with the newer TM's). This can be a life saver if the boat is blowing away from you. Next for getting back into the boat is a heavy rope (about 1 inch or a little larger) with a large foot loop tied to the hand rail on the port side of the boat. 76 years and never having learned to swim, the life vest is always on while cruising or fishing.

For me, spinning reel handles are switched left to right when right hand/arm gets tired of casting. for bait casting, have tried left hand reeling, but balance of the reel feels awkward. Also, palming the reel in the right hand doesn't come natural. Casting a bait caster works with either hand. This type of thread is always fun. All kinds of ways to present the bait.