Junger

I might be able to get out Labor Day morning if you're around. It doesn't feel overly big, about the same size as the Tatula (not the CT). The DC system is on the handle side, so it doesn't really impact the palm side.

Pretty spot on review from my experience as well. I have the 7' HFB which I use for horny toads because it has a soft tip, but isn't a pool cue. Great rod for non-bottom contact for the price.

I didn't realize all the hate for the rock bass, I didn't keep any fish. Most definitely!

I hit Black Hills with my boys from 10AM-Noon and it was a zoo. Didn't do much fishing, as it was more like Frogger going between boats and yaks. I just love when I'm fishing a bank, pretty much stationary to let my boys practice casting to targets, and yaks are heading our way and you know they're going to try and cut through the bank and my boat...I actually had to ask several of them if they would PLEASE go around me. Ridic. Then I dropped them off for a sleep over around 4PM, and headed to Widewater. Looking down at the main river...it was coffee, with extra heavy cream. Heading to Mattawoman tomorrow and hope it's a little more clear in the back pads.

Unfortunately, my fishfinder battery was drained, thought it was charged but when I got out there it was not.

^^^^^^ I gained a lot more distance once I set the tension knob really lose, almost to the point it makes an ungodly noise, but go heavier on the Mag Brake dial, 14-16. Some wise information.

Hello fellow MD'er. I love fishing to NSH too. Where do you usually fish?

That's a hog! We've had some very nice days in the DMV these last few, and I'm finally getting out tomorrow to finally enjoy it.

On default settings my 93SV is great, I'll get some pics tomorrow while I'm out with my boys.

Is there any slack in your line when setting the hook? What angle are you setting the hook?

Maybe there's a middle ground. Offer to act as his agent to sell the boat, and take a 20% commission on the sale price over $5,500.

Budget? Asking because there may be better alternatives. But I have the 7' Team Daiwa zillion M/XF and love it for weightless plastics and light jigs. The 6'10 Tatula should be similar. I think it'll pass for jerkbaits if you need it to, but it really is a XF tip so the jerk may be more of a consistent moving of the lure, rather than a distinct jerk movement in the water.

Talk to NHBull, he will put you on the fish! I was amazed that we were the only boat there until about 9AM, granted it was a Wednesday, but the I expected some traffic in middle of summer in a vacation area.

I have SV TW's, a Zillion SV TW, and just got the Curado DC. Your topic is asking about skipping weightless lures, but your post is asking about distance casting for weightless senkos. For skipping weightless lures, I'd say the SV has the edge when set up correctly. I find it almost impossible to backlash the SV TW on a weightless senko when skipping with a moderate tension and brakes in the middle. For distance, I'd go with the DC. The DC system's advantage is spool correction on a long cast where there's enough time to adjust the magnets while rotating. When I'm loose with the tension knob with the DC, I can see my overruns correct themselves on long full casts.

I was fortunate to get a break from the in-laws with @NHBull for a nice morning of fishing on his local lake, while on vacation at Lake Winnipesaukee. It had rained all Sunday, and on and off Monday through Tuesday, and finally got a break on Wednesday. I promised my wife I'd be back by Noon, so we headed out early. NHBull has a very nice Lund with lots of bells and whistles, what a nice ride and a joy to fish out of. Squam was a totally different body of water than I'm used to, but topwater was on the menu and that's all I needed to hear. We pulled up to the first spot and I think I caught this little SMB on the second cast. Big smile on my face as I didn't expect to catch a fish on a popper in 15' of water. You can see my rod laid down on the bottom right...so while I was getting this picture taken, the popper was in the water and I hear a splash...another fish was on while the popper was deadsticking on the surface...amazing. But as soon as the sun came out of the clouds, the topwater bite seemed to shut down and we went to bottom contact baits. I put on a Trigged Senko and caught some 1-2lbers. At one point, I had to take a leak off the back of the boat and I thought we were spot locked so I put my rod down while the senko was out. Next thing I know I see the rod twitching hard so I'm thinking it's a giant and zip up and set the hook......into a rock. We're both laughing at how weird it would have been, especially after the morning popper double up. NHBull got me home by 11:30AM, and no worse for wear with my wife. I can't thank him enough for a great trip on an amazing lake.

I was at Lake Winnipesauke from 8/10 through 8/17 for a family vacation. I had never been to NH so I didn't know what to expect, so I packed 3 rods: 6' light rod for panfish tackle, 6'8 ML for poppers, 7'5 M/F for bottom contact. The first day I roamed the beach area and right of it toward the channel rocks and point. It was basically unfishable due to all the boat traffic. The next day after doing some more walking around the boardwalk, I saw the docks by the Mt. Washington cruise boat and walked down there. No signs that disallowed fishing, and then I saw some other people fishing at the end of the docks. I got some local intel that the cruise boat propellers would wash up sediment and debris and the result was a huge crater right next to the docks. So I started fishing the dock and the crater at various times during the day. In all, I caught a 2.6lb LMB, hundreds of rock bass, 4 white perch, and real nice black crappie, and over a dozen SMB. I found that the rock bass would bite the Z-man ned worm all day long. I caught most of the SMB on a senko cast out really far out past the crater to a shallow flat. But when the cruise ship was moving and churning up water during the late afternoon/evening was when the magic really happened. That's when I caught the perch, crappie, the LMB, and everything else. Weirs Beach was a lot of fun and I hope to be back soon. The kids loved fishing the Ned rigs as it was non-stop action.

Switch the 10lb mono to 30-40lb braid and you should be able to deal with heavy cover. You're pretty far from the spots I fish, but if you have a yak, all the Potomac/Pax tributaries would be prime spots to check out. Not sure how far Mattawoman is, but you can park here: https://goo.gl/maps/PunhspDyJsT2 and put in at the bridge and paddle downstream to the main creek. There you'll find lots of spatterdock and pickle grass. If you're in a yak, you can easily get back deep into the pads around high tide and fish hollow body frogs, horny toads. During low tide, look for grass edges and fish poppers, or weightless soft jerkbaits just letting them flutter down the edge, or chatterbaits along the spatterdock edges, or pitching jigs into them.

Best way I found to dial it in was to set the tension knob tight enough that when you drop a lure from a fixed position it doesn't backlash, then reduce it from there until you're happy. I was casting a 3/8oz weighted EWG with a Keitech ridiculously far on a 7'5 EMTF on fluoro. Dial set at 3, tension knob set just a tad looser than I described above and I'd guestimate over 90 yards. There is a section at Widewater C&O Canal, where I usually cast and it doesn't reach the other bank, but I hit the trees on the other side on a cast. I hope TW has a Labor Day sale, I'm getting another one.

Do you mean lighter line?

I have the Tatula SV TW, and Zillion SV TW. It is difficult to backlash the Tatula SV TW unless the tension knob is really lose, or have little to no brakes. I backlash a little more with the Zillion SV TW, maybe because it has a lighter spool. I do like the Daiwa's because all the adjustments are external and I can adjust based on the conditions or how I'm fishing (full casts, pitching, backhand, etc) on the fly. I just got the Curado DC, so I can't compare to the Shimano, but the build quality is also impressive.

I think it's because on newer boats, those brands integrate with other specific engines and trolling motors seamlessly. Just a guess though as I have an older 1986 boat and the Yamaha 2 stroke and Motorguide TM integrate with nothing.

Is there a general idea of where you want to stay in, or are you willing to drive 2-3 hours? What do you want to target, LMB, SH, crappie, perch, anything? Some more details will probably help people help you. But if you're in a kayak, you get to go into the heavy cover where boats don't go and that's a huge advantage.

That's awesome to hear, heck I even had great customer service from them from their Twitter account when I couldn't figure out why my 128GB microSD card wasn't working (32GB max).

I wonder if my poppers feel like this when they get swiped at.

Yep, thew off a frog with 30lb braid a couple weeks ago on a backlash. The braid was probably on its last legs after 2 summers of heavy use though.