TOXIC

After some thought and fishing this weekend?, I realized I do use snaps in one application….Blade Baits. The multiple locations to tie off to and the unfinished metal of the blade make it a requirement.

When the hull hooked, it made the boat plow in the water which is what threw them out but it also made it fall off plane. There was obviously no hotfoot on the boat or it would have snapped back to idle speed. With the hand throttle still at running speed it just took the boat a while to get back up out of the water and plane out. It then circled because it’s what all boats do with no steering input. That’s due to the torque from the prop rotation.

Before SPRO was known for their crankbaits, their claim to fame was bucktails and both snaps and swivels. Industry leader for a number of years and still preferred by many.

When i was guiding it was obviously a requirement for pfds when the big motor was running. I always had the killswitch lanyard attached to me somewhere. When prefishing or if I was out by myself scouting I was a little lax. Then I had a dream. I had a dream one night that I was running my boat wot down the lake early in the morning and I hit a rogue wave that threw me out of the boat. I surfaced laughing and then saw my boat continuing down the lake at wot and I was wondering what it was going to hit. I woke up in a sweat. Have never started the big motor without the lanyard ever again. Side note: if you have a hotfoot at least it will drop back to idle even though it is in gear.

Reading back so many years on this thread one thing became very clear to me and it’s something I’ve always said in my seminars “There’s no wrong way to fish a Senko.” But here’s where against my better judgement due to my association with Yamamoto, I’m going to save y’all some money. If you are throwing a Senko on anything heavier than 8lb line and I’m inclined to add in all of the braid/leader combos as well, then save your money and buy the cheaper knockoffs. You are getting no benefit from the unique action of a Senko. It’s the same advise I give whenever you want to add weight to a Senko. Adding weight totally overpowers the action. Will all of rigging options catch fish………yes they will, but is it worth the premium price of the original? Not in my opinion.

The wrist action is how you “load the rod” with spinning and more with your arm on a baitcaster. Just starting out, I always say to buy one of those casting plugs and make sure it is a heavy one. Tighten your cast control down to the point you can’t throw it very far but you don’t backlash. As you get the feel for it, slowly back that cast control off and you will gradually get the feel for using a baitcaster. A normal setting when you get a little more confident is to depress the thumb bar and adjust your cast control so that your lure drops to the ground freely but does not backlash your spool when your lure hits the ground.

Depending on the weather, we will be heading back out there Saturday or possibly to the Rappahonock. Too much rain and the rap will be off limits.

And I wasn’t trying to be snarky. I certainly wasn’t trying for those fish when I caught them and it would have been much easier on the right gear. Good luck in your search.?

I won’t even mention the cost of the rods and reels that went overboard running across Okeechobee in rough water and the rod strap broke that was holding them on the back deck. The ones that got saved got tangled up with a rattletrap I had tied on in the group and they got drug until I noticed they were gone.

Since you asked?? Actually the cat fish was caught the rod you mentioned but 6# line. Probably not 40lbs but close. The Northern Snakehead was on 6lb test but a 7ft medium rod. It was 14.9lbs.

I’ve taught a lot of people how to cast when I was actively guiding. It wasn’t rare for someone to hire me just to take them out, help set up their gear and teach them how to cast. While the easiest, spinning requires a little technique beyond the basics and it also heavily depends on what kind of bait you are throwing. Arm position (sidearm, overhead and everything in between) is mainly situational to get your bait where you want it. The main difference between baitcasters and spinning is you wrist action. In spinning you snap your wrist and with a baitcaster you use more of your arm. That’s where when starting out, 90% of your backlashes will come from.

So I’m a little confused, are you looking to get into casting or are you going to continue bottom fishing? If you are bottom fishing, weight and cost are really not important. If you are getting back into casting (which you said you didn’t like) then there are a lot more considerations. Weight plays a part if you are making multiple casts all day, so does balance, so does quality. If I missed what type of fish you are aiming at then my bad but those 3 techniques (fresh gamefish, fresh bottom and salt) all require totally different gear and some on the fresh gamefish will as well. Walleye, Muskie, pike, bass, panfish all have different requirements.

Retail is $7.89 a bag so it is a savings. If you can get them on sale by all means go for it but I’d venture a guess that those are going to disappear over time. Yamamoto used to enforce a MAP price with an iron fist. If they caught a retailer price cutting, they would cut them off. There was a time where some shady sellers were putting cheap knockoffs in Yamamoto packaging and selling them at a premium. It’s a jungle out there. ?

Those of you who are Senko believers have asked over and over for bulk packaging. Yamamoto heard you and is now offering bulk Senkos in 50 or 100 packs. Although the color selection is a little limited, I feel they covered the most used colors. It is online only so you will have to go to the website if you want to order.

Nice catch’s. I’m sure you already know that peacocks and Oscars (also in your waters) are African Cichlids which might explain their difference in action. One of my bucket list trips is to go to the Amazon on a Peacock excursion.

Here’s what I do to increase accuracy, I make multiple waypoints. If for example it’s a brush pile, I will mark 3 or 4 waypoints around the outside of it. A rock pile or ledge 3 or 4 along the edge. On St Clair, we have multiple wrecks and the are marked bow, midship and stern. Much more accurate that way.

I’m not sure we are still offering this kit but you might be able to source it on tackle warehouse or some other sites if it’s not available through GYCB website at www.baits.com

That’s why we have electronics. If I can’t mark them deep, move shallow. Takes most all of the guesswork out.

If you want to get ambitious get a couple of Sammy’s and learn the “walk the dog” top water technique. It’s almost the most fun you can have fishing.

I have 3 acres. 2 3/4 are in the forest. My house is on a cliff. I used to manicure the forest and it looked like a park with 2 streams and a small pond. Took me 2 years to clear it. My daughter grew up wading in the streams and we have an abundance of wildlife. My side yard is where my septic drain field is and when we moved in we had it seeded. My front yard is small and was designed by an landscaper. When we moved in, we had all of the shrubbery removed, the ground graded to keep runoff from hitting the foundation of the house and had it sodded with mesh underneath but in doing so, the grading made the front a wash that in short order scalped all of the sod and left the mesh. Then the trunk you see in the front is a sugar maple that I was told by another landscaper drinks about 150 gallons of water a day and as long as that tree is in the yard, I will have a very hard time growing grass. I have pretty much given up on the perfect yard and settled for no weeds and scarce vegetation. You need to be aware that pines will kill most anything planted underneath them due to the needles falling off.

I didn’t know what a sunburn was until I was 20 years old. I never took any sun precautions and got a very, very, dark tan. Avid water skier and spent a lot of time outdoors. My years guiding I never took any precautions and actually wore short sleeved shirts or tshirts and visors instead of hats. Hated sunscreen and never used it. As I aged it seemed like every other year the sun would give me a slight burn but never anything bad. I went to the dermatologist every year and he said that as long as my skin was tanning the way it was, I was at a low risk for any kind of skin cancer but he still wanted me to use sunscreen. Then I was getting my hair cut one day and the lady that cuts my hair noticed a black spot on the top of my head. Back to the dermatologist I went and he cut it out and it came back negative. It did scare me a little so I changed from a visor to a ball cap. Then I moved to Florida for 2 years. It taught me a lesson and I now wear long sleeved sun shirts long legged pants most of the time and buffs. I haven’t done the gloves yet but those may be on the list.

Glad you had a good trip. I’ve been on the beach in Florida for a week, then spent some time in Savannah on our trip back to Virginia.

My method it doesn’t matter. ? When loading a spinning rod I have backing that makes it pretty easy to load the amount of mono I want on my spinning reel. That’s usually about 2.5 cast lengths. I load from a spooling box with the partitions and small holes on the bottom for feeding lines. The line comes off the bottom of the spools if that matters. When finished, I prop the rod securely upright, open the bail and walk all of the new line out to the backing either in my yard or down the street. I actually prefer the street because it lets the line lie flat. I then go back, close the bail and pinch the line while winding it back on the spool. I guarantee you it will have no twist if you do it right. I also spray a little line conditioner on as I reel it in. Not a lot, just in a few spots. One thing I never do is the old Bill Dance tip of soaking the line in warm water as you spool it. While that may eliminate twist, it is guaranteed to add memory.

Personally, I don’t cut them down. If I want either more or less bulk in a weightless application that the Senko lineup (regular/slim/pro) can’t satisfy, I go with the kut tail, Cali Roll or Ika series and sizes. I feel like in a weightless application, cutting them affects the action. Put a weight on any of them and cut to whatever size you want.

I’m going to join the minority and in my 40 years of fishing and guiding, I have tried the braid/leader combo and I just don’t like it. There are a few reasons. Some technical, some just preference. I’m in no way discounting the technique since it seems to be the norm nowadays. First, I like the stretch of mono. It helps fighting bigger fish on lighter line. Second, braid ruins my style of line watching. I watch 2 points of the line when fishing weightless plastics. Where the bait goes in the water and where the line leaves the water closest to my reel. It also alters the way a weightless bait falls. Finally, I am a staunch believer in not adding failure points to my setup. Braid to leader adds another possible failure point. That’s why I also don’t use snaps or swivels on anything ever. But that’s just me.??