Boomstick

I picked up the Daiwa Tatula 7'4" H/F frog rod earlier this year, so if I'm throwing a frog right now, it's exclusively on that. I just lost the 7'1" H/F Jig rod which I used for frogs last year, and that would also see some use as a frog rod because I can carry it and switch from a jig to a frog while on the water but I lost that and the replacement arrived broken, but the frog rod works for all of the frogs I throw. The frog I throw more than any other is the LiveTarget 2 1/4" frog (the middle size) which is heavy at 5/8oz for a smaller sized frog, and the Tatula frog rod throws it great.

I picked up an EchoMap UHD 93sv for my kayak. It's a pretty solid unit and overall I'm very happy with it - very easy to use and requires minimal tweaking lake to lake and the imaging has gotten pretty good in the past couple iterations. The other unit I strongly considered was the Helix Chirp Mega SI GPS G3N, probably a Helix 8 due to its quality imaging. I ruled out the Lowrance HDS because it uses twice the battery power of the Hummingbird or Garmin units and I camp a lot so that's important but I gather the Lowrances aren't too far behind Garmins in usability.

I do that a lot on my 93sv but to be honest I fish a lot of smaller lakes so I will spend a lot of time in sonar and downvu split and sometimes in just sidevu as well - on a smaller lake (on a kayak), I often prefer sidevu full screen or the sonar/downvu split. At the end of the day though, they do have the same pixels so while the 93sv has more real estate, it will look sharper on the 73sv but it's just smaller. I have a Echomap UHD 93sv and I will say it's a great unit and very easy to pick up as it's my first fish finder and I don't have to spend a lot of time in settings, occasionally I will turn up the sensitivity in clearer water and that's it.

Yeah, the real UHD unit does say UHD on it, I have the 93sv which I bought brand new this year. It sounds like you got a Plus with an upgraded transducer, maybe not a bad buy depending on what you paid but the seller still should have been honest. It's kind of odd the software says UHD on the screen though.

I came here to recommend the same book. I learned so much from that book, most importantly about fishing structure but many other things.

A lot of fish will go deep, but it's rare I have a whole lot of success getting those largely lethargic fish to eat anything. What I would suggest is fishing alongside dropoffs near the deep spots they hole up at. The fish that will bite will move along such drop offs where they have access to deeper water but can move up shallow. Also note that fish don't swim straight down or up, they will follow structure to get to a shallower location.

Some people do prefer moderate rods for jigs - I'm not one of them. I would typically go with plain old H/F as a little bit of bend doesn't hurt, but I don't think an extra fast tip is going to be a deal breaker either. (Yes the MH rod I use for jigs has a extra fast tip, but it's really not all that extra fast and it's a med. heavy too so even if it was, the lighter power negates that imo). The one thing to keep in mind with an extra fast tip is that if you set the hook as soon as you see your line go tight you could risk pulling it out of their mouthes. I can attest that I've done this quite a few times, although it's generally not a problem fishing a jig for finicky fish anyway - many fish are lost when people set the hook after feeling the fish spit the lure so the opposite is more true if anything. Usually if I see my line go tight, a solid hookset gets me a fish, and if I see my line moving erratically in the water then I've got myself a fish.

Last week I was camping and the pond I was camping on had a large patch of dead floating weeds floating by the beach area. I saw several sunnies swimming right around the pile, and one massive bass swam right next to me and passed by the pile. There were a few other piles floating around, and I caught a fish not too far from one as well although I can't say that it came from under it. They definitely could affect the oxygen levels depending how big the piles are, and how close together they are.

I live just over the Vermont border, and generally prefer less populated Vermont lakes, so I have been able to get some information on new lakes at https://vtfishandwildlife.com Sites like https://massachusettspaddler.com/ will often have some info on Massachusetts lakes. Sometimes you can find thick vegetation on google maps in the satellite view

People tend to think of chatterbaits and spinnerbaits as being interchangeable, but my experience is that this is rarely true. There are some areas where I'm fishing a spinnerbait with some success, but it also pulls out all the grass where a chatterbait is a little easier to shake grass off it and works just as well by popping it where once the grass wraps around the spinnerbait, it's hard to get it off. One thing I will note is that people in this thread talking spinnerbaits seem to be talking about double willow blades or willow/colorado blades (pretty much willow blades). Spinnerbaits with colorado blades can be fished just as slowly as chatterbaits. I generally reserve colorado blades for dirty water (which we don't have a lot of in the northeast) or early or late season use. I generally approach willow bladed spinnerbaits more like a crankbait - when bass are hitting moving baits at feeding times, spinnerbaits are generally effective. Just like crankbaits, spinnerbaits like docks and stumps, and if you're getting annoyed picking grass off your crankbait then try a spinnerbait. Sometimes on a cool summer night, the spinnerbait bite will start maybe a hour or so before the crankbait bite starts as well. At night, black colored colorado blades can be deadly, but during the day it's best to have some sunlight to light up the willow blades. If there is thick grass - grass you typically wouldn't consider throwing a crankbait in, I would look at throwing either a swim jig or a chatterbait. If the water is dirty or stained, start with a chatterbait but if it's clear, I'd start with a swim jig.

This year I have bought a 7'6" H/F flipping rod and I use it with either straight 65lb braid or 17lb fluorocarbon, depending on what I'm throwing it into. Now, I haven't got to fish it too much as I haven't fished heavy cover spots all too often this year and I think all of the jig fish I caught have been on other rods although I could be wrong on that, but I see no reason why I would have any issues with it. It's clearly not an extra fast rod and there is a little bend in the tip, roughly normal I'd say for a fast tip. If there aren't a lot of weeds, I will usually drag or pop a jig and I have no problem fishing a 3/8oz (occasionally 1/2oz) jig on my MH/XF rod with 17lb fluorocarbon. I have lost a few but for the most part my hookup to bite ratio is pretty good. I used to have the 7'1" Tatula H/F rod that I would use in the same situations and it cast beautifully as well, but a few weeks ago my kid lost that rod and the replacement arrived damaged so the past month or so has been on my MH/XF. As far as line, the new Tatulas have thin guides so braid to leader doesn't work out too well, but my take is that in thick weeds, the leader is only going to be a liability anyway so I prefer to use straight braid and if I'm not in weeds, I have a reel with 17lb flurorocarbon that I can use.

I never had any issues using 40lb braid and 15lb test, although I never tried with any thicker line than that.

I would say try a 703C or 733C and if you can swing it, maybe a Sierra. These are for finesse jigs, weightless or very lightly weighted soft plastics and square bills around grass, and can also throw a jerkbait or popper or whopper plopper pretty decently. It should pair well with a Curado DC as you'll be throwing a lot of light lures on it. My oldest son has a Sierra 703C, so I can recommend it with confidence.

I have bought about half my rods from Tackle Warehouse, and the other half from a vendor (I think it's SportsmansOutfitters) who sells on Amazon and Ebay, and I have never had an issue with either. I bought one other rod from the same vendor, and that rod came in a rod tube, so I don't know what the hell happened this time but it shouldn't have gone out packed how it was. Funny, last trip he got his jig stuck on a rock and had a birds nest. The wind picked up and the rod fell in, two seconds later he went in after it. Learned his lesson this time, but maybe that's because it was his rod - and the one he uses the most as well. Yeah if it was a cheaper rod I might see it the same way however I really like that rod. It's the rod I use for casting jigs and skipping jigs and it casts them very well.

Once you start questioning yourself, there is no end. My general rule of thumb is 12ft or less and I'll stick with 3/8oz, and above that generally 1/2oz unless I'm fishing both sides of a drop off. I rarely go heavier than 1/2oz for just depth for the same reason unless I'm targeting specifically the deep spot.

Usually I would go deeper during the day and shallow morning and night, but this past week I found fish holed up along a drop off near deeper water but they would not bite for the life of me so I targeted the shallows along the drop off and got a few. So it doesn't hurt to try both.

I'm in the same boat. The only real specialized setups is a frog rod (which is too stiff for a jig). Maybe my flipping rod fits in the same boat. As long as the rod has enough power and/or tip to set the hook, length hasn't really been a factor in getting a good hookset or not. I've gotten hooksets on jigs with large hooks on my 6'10" MH/F rod just fine.

Your math sounds right to me but the one thing you aren't taking into account is torque. The tip of the rod would be moving a little bit faster on a longer rod.

So three weeks ago I was on a week long camping trip with my kids and we took the kayaks out. I had loaned my 7'1" H/F Daiwa Tatula jig rod and Tatula 150 to my youngest son so he could fish a frog and he got a couple of hits but didn't land any fish but was having fun with it. Since it was a hot day, we decided to anchor our boats by the beach and take a swim break. When we got back in our kayaks, he frantically came across the lake panicked because he only had three rods and started with four. Apparently, he had left the rod on the front off his kayak when we anchored and somehow it must have been knocked off - I don't think anybody could have swiped it because there wasn't anyone there to steal it. I searched the area he had anchored his kayak but to no avail. To add insult to injury, I came home and ordered a replacement and the ETA was in time for my next trip (last week). The reel arrived on Thursday, but the rod arrived packaged poorly - the package was bent into a C shape and sure enough the tip of the rod was broken - I didn't even bother to check the rest I just sealed it up and sent it back. I checked my history and I did buy another rod from the same seller and had no problems. So I sent the rod back on the Saturday before I left for my last trip, as of 7/30 it was out for delivery but did not get delivered. A week goes by and now they are saying the package is damaged and it will be returned to the sender on 8/11, so I assume they're sending it back to me, yet the package was completely trashed when I got it. At this point, I'm not sure I am going to ever get my money back. Lesson learned - be careful who you buy your rods from I guess. Fortunately I do have a pretty decent lineup or rods and I have been doing most of my fishing in small lakes and ponds that don't have an excessive amount of weeds, so I'm comfortable fishing up to a 1/2oz pitching style jig on my medium heavy (although I really like the H/F for the 1/2oz jigs) and I do have my 7'6" flipping rod for heavier cover, but what a bummer.

I didn't get any early in the year, but until I got the kayaks I didn't get to do a lot of fishing. Many of our shore areas were completely packed due to everyone fishing due to covid and others were not fishable because the water level was abnormally low, and these areas are low to begin with (I usually get them on a shallow jerkbait or a popper). Once I did get my kayaks and finally get my trailer registered (what a runaround that was!), it still took me a while to get fish. Then as you said, the bite died off post spawn. This is somewhat normal, and with the exception of last year which was largely the same I usually can manage at least one decent fish. I'm not sure if last year was worse. I got a few early in the season and around the same time I didn't get too many either. But at least that streak ended with a bite like I've never seen which may result in me misremembering.

I feel like my longest skunk steak was probably earlier this year. I finally got a couple of bass in early June, a couple of dinks, and then I did not get another until the end of July. I did get a few on my camping trip last week though.

The Boomerang is the best line cutter I have as a pure line cutter, but if I'm just fishing mono or fluoro I usually carry a Rapala line cutter in my PFD because they are small and if i lose if they only cost $3 and I can buy them at Walmart. So best is relative.

The longest casting reels I have personal experience with are two of my kids. My oldest son has a Shimano Curado 200k, and that thing casts a mile. My other son has a Pflueger Supreme XT, and that casts about as far.

It's all about the rate of fall. Sometimes you want that bait to fall a little faster so it can get to the bottom quickly, and a faster fall at times can trigger more bites. 1/2oz jigs are a pretty good all around jig as they fall faster in deeper water but don't fall too fast in areas that aren't so deep, but on the flipside 3/8oz jig will keep your lure in front of the fish for a little longer. I do a lot of pond and small lake fishing and sometimes the ponds are 20ft+ deep, but sometimes the max depth is around 10, and a 3/8oz jig is very good for the shallower areas, so that's generally my goto.

Well up in the northern parts of the country, square bills can be deadly at hotspots on a cool morning or night when fish move in shallow to feed, especially a cool day after a long heatwave. I've gotten on bites were I was getting a fish every single cast. During the day, you're better off with a T-Rig, jig, dropshot, deep diver or even a spinnerbait (the flash and water commotion can drive fish up that are willing to chase). In many lakes, the weeds become a problem as well.