stk44

Did you do the repair yourself?

Yes. Kind of sad. The snatch 75x is limited to 3 colors on TW.

My go to is a 6th sense snatch 75. I really liked the FRS -faint rattle system and the silent but they discontinued them. It may have been from QC issues as I had problems either them early on. I use the 5/8 oz in a crawfish color in early spring. After further inspection on TW and 6th sense website, It looks like a lot of the colors have gone away. Maybe it’s no longer cool. I like them and I’ve caught some good largemouth on them.

If it’s shallow, stake out pole attached to your anchor trolley. If it’s not shallow enough and you have ground to cover, try a drift sock with an anchor trolley. When you get to a high percentage spot and in deeper water, I anchor because my kayak is paddle only. I have a boat now so I can be picky on conditions to take my kayak out, so I try to pick days where the wind is less than 10 mph.

Well… back to the other species forum. Went out to the pond at lunch. It was windy,and much colder, but there was a little sun. Water droplets were freezing on the braid and guides on just about every cast. The water has cleared up some from my last visit, so I was able to use the jerkbait. I switched on an off between a keitech finesse jig. Only fish caught were trout and all on the jerkbait. These are all bonus fishing days in my book.

That’s pretty cool. I had no idea these were in Lake Erie. I bet that smallmouth (and steelhead) crush them on the way in and out of the streams. This has me pretty amped up to get out on Erie early in the season.

I take all of my reels apart once a year. I use abu Garcia and shimano oil and abu Garcia grease. I have not had issues so no need to change in my opinion. All bearings except the ARB gets put in acetone for about 2 minutes, agitated, dipped in hot water, and then dipped in rubbing alcohol. I then use an air compressor until they are dry. I apply 1-2 drops of oil per bearing. Most of the metal parts, drag washers, gears, plastic parts, etc get a bath in simply green and scrubbed down and rinsed with fresh water. I also take a q-tip and clean the ARB with some simply green as well. Once dry I add a couple drops of oil and swab it with a a-tip. Less is more with the ARB, as I royally screwed one up by messing with it too much.

I fish more frequently from the bank but usually only for a few hours max. I mostly take my kids bank fishing and for good reason. My last boat outing I took my girls to a friends and family tournament. I got hit in the head twice, hooked in the shirt once, and had numerous honorable mentions. It was an enjoyable and very hectic outing. It reminded me of the time when my grandfather took me fishing and I smacked him right in the head with a giant plastic bobber. He said, “Okay, you’re done.” …And that was the last time I was able to cast on my own that day. 😆

Yeah I’m surprised it took this long to catch them on the Ned. They love little jerkbaits and underspins at the pond though.

Ah, I see. I misread and thought you had two xplores on both ends of the boat and 1 helix at the console. It’s a shame you can’t at least share waypoints between helix and Xplore. I feel like there should be a workaround there. That’s more important to me than sharing transducers.

I have more reels than rods. Generally it’s in case I need to service a reel. I do have one bait caster that I change out depending if I want braid or flouro. I also have my once a year “Lake Chautauqua special” spinning combo setup. I switch out a 3000 size reel for a 4000 penn conflict reel for skipping docks on Lake C with a spinning rod. The rod is a 7 foot MF st croix LTB . The rod is severely overpowered for a medium and it has pulled many 5 lb+ bass from under docks and boat slips.

I have been monitoring the pond for the last few days. It had a thin coat of ice covering about 90% of the water last I checked. With the help of the aerators and some warmer days, the ice was almost completely gone when I went out this morning. My rods were setup with a jerkbait and a Ned rig. After looking at the muddy water, I cut off the jerkbait and went right to the mini bladed jig. I switched on and off between the bladed jig and the Ned for about 30 minutes. I finally hooked into something. I thought it was a bass at first, but after a few pulls and barrel rolls, I knew it was a trout. My fish fish of 2026. I have never caught one on a ned before. Nice. I had another 30 minutes and while I didn’t catch any other fish, I did hook into a nice little bundle of baits. Of the 5-6 baits, I was able to salvage a LC 1.5, rattle trap, and a mepps spinner. I guess my years of donating lures to this particular spot had finally paid off. I never expect much this time of year fishing the pond, so I’m glad that the water is finally open and that it was a beautiful morning. With some cooperation from the weather, I might be able to get out another time in February if it doesn’t freeze over again. I’m looking forward to it.

I would choose FFS. As cool as 360 is, I don’t want another pole hanging off my trolling motor shaft.

@Junger Nice! My ONLY gripe with the helix is one that you mention— how long it takes to label waypoints. Other than that it is a really solid unit. I feel like I have not got my moneys worth out of my helix’s yet since they are only 3 years old. But, I have done some thinking about adding an apex 13 to the bow, networked to my G4N at the console. Eventually I would add an XPLORE at the bow. But for the price, it might make more sense to get two XPLORE units all at once. What are you using the other helix for now?

I don’t think they know any better so I just let it go. I just hope they are more attentive at a crosswalk.

I think we could have a separate thread about recreational kayakers cutting between the shoreline (that I am actively fishing) and my boat/kayak. It’s happened more than a few times and I always scratch my head.

What’s the cigar looking bait in the top right corner?

@Jerkbait22 haha I hear you there. I’ve got a number of the jr sized lucky craft equivalents that should get me by until then. I’m taking baby steps here 😆.

KVD line conditioner is great and it will last you all season. I have the bigger bottle and I think I’m going on 3 years with it. For baitcasters, if I use any fluorocarbon other than invizx, I try to spray it on before each use. For spinning, ALL mono/flouro gets sprayed every time. This is a must for spinning in my opinion and why I choose braid for almost all spinning setups.

@KP Duty I am super excited to try them out. I finally need to see what all the hype is about. I’m really impressed with the paint scheme on the matte perch one on the bottom.

I’m hanging onto the helix’s for a bit too. This will be my 4th season with them and like you, I got them on my brand new boat. Don’t hesitate to get ML1. You can get a new one with really good discounts and they work really well. No it’s not close to ML2 but it’s still a pretty good tool for the money.

Have you tried the Keitech guard jigs? They are my go to finesse jig. So good. I like the mono’s too but I have broke the hooks a couple times.

Picked up a few more mini max’s to add to the collection. Also picked up my first ever batch of vision 110s. I told myself I would never do this, but here we are.

Grubs swim nice and all, but I would never seriously consider them for bass.

I am very sorry for your loss. She sounds like a wonderful Wife and a great Mom. I know nothing can ever fill the void but I hope that one day the good memories will outweigh the heartache. We will keep your family in our prayers.