gnappi

Jeez, after 60 odd years of using spinners just think how much fun I missed out on ? Seriously the danger of getting her a casting rig is as you said, it W-I-L-L look like a gift to yourself should she find it unusable and you wind up buying her a spinner anyway and "trading" her for the casting rig. You may have a nice new reel AND girlfriend then! ? Take the high road and go for a spinner. There's just too many decent rigs at a fair price but I like my sub $50 Daiwa and Shimano reels.

P K 29 5 or 80 91 29 5 ?

It goes the other way too... I'm 67 and regularly help young tyros out who can't tie knots, and have silly lures that some salesman sold them, or advise on other tackle issues. ? One kid last year had a backpack that was so overfull and heavy he could hardly negotiate the canal bank. I showed him how few lures and rigs I kept in my vest and he decided to travel lighter from then on.

I'm not at all concerned about battery power. Having a voltmeter to monitor all of your battery's state of charge is all you need to never run out of power. Ignoring the voltmeter and not using it at all will get you stranded. As far as smart phone monitoring goes, you can get used smart phones for nearly free that do NOT NEED a cell connection to monitor many apps. My GoPro cameras only need a WiFi connection which has nothing to do with the cell data. I have an old Android phone on my boat for the specific purpose of aiming my three cameras. You only need internet connectivity to a WiFi hot spot ONCE to download the app (talking Android here) and then apps run happy as a clam. My electrical / electronic stuff, DF, GPS, bilge pump, LED lighting, for the most part do not put much of a dent in my house battery, and at the end of the day, I'm supremely confident it has way more than enough capacity should my I run my TM batteries too low or have a battery failure. I think my electronics package is of little concern unless I ran into a typhoon at night ?

There have been sayings about capacity of various things like: "Use enough gun" for hunters which applies to boats too... Use enough battery. It's all about experience with your boat, experience tells you how to manage battery reserves. Too much battery capacity weighs more and can make load distribution dicey. Too little and well, you paddle. I run an all electric boat. It's 10' and I have three AGM deep cycle 35Ah batteries (72 lbs total), two for the TM, one for the "house" electronics. With a full load of gear and a passenger I get a solid 8 hours (4 hours each) on the TM batteries never dropping below 50% charge even though I can, and never touch the house battery I am able to use as a spare "tank". I wound up with this setup after running a year initially with a 95Ah battery with one 35Ah (63+24lbs at 87lb.) for the house, today my three batteries have more reserve power, with less weight which is more easily distributed. If I ever thought I'd need more capacity for a days fishing, I'd drop the 95Ah in the boat as my house battery. I'd suggest that at a retail price of $1295 for "the charge" that IMO it's far less expensive and easier to have a spare battery than to rely on some secret sauce gadget to get you home. https://www.power-pole.com/charge Oh, I continually monitor my all of batteries and their depth / state of charge, anyone who does not and runs a battery dead gets no sympathy (or tow as I only have a 50 lb TM) from me ?

Most of the fishermen I know of here in So. Flo pretty much follow the same routine below. I catch and release 100% of the LMB I catch I catch and release most of the Peacocks I land, though I'll eat one every year or two. I do not release any of the snakeheads I catch. They either get filleted and eaten by us or are given away (dead of course) to those in need. A few I feed to the vultures that sometimes watch us fish. The carcasses are used under my tropical fruit tree collection as fertilizer ?

Growing up in upstate New York you simply couldn't fish the narrow streams without wading. Down here in South East Florida most canals are deep right at the water's edge, and at lakes walking into a few feet of water doesn't get me anywhere a decent cast won't. Even my boat, we stick close to the shoreline as the fishing is best there for us. With my DF, I mark lots of fish in deeper water, but don't really fish there. Walking along a canal or lake you're just as likely to meet a snake or gator as wading, they never bother me, but my buddy was attacked by a huge otter once ?

L-O-N-G ago when I was a kid, my dad and I were on a section of a bridge close to the water in New York striper fishing. The line started to pull drag, dad set the hook, and for the next few hours he'd reel in a few yards, then lose it plus some more, till finally the reel was spooled and the fish wasn't going to give any more back. With one tug of its head the bakelite spool cracked, and the line parted. After all of these years I'm guessing it was either a shark, a big cow of a striper, or maybe a big piece of flotsam in the currents... ? Gads, I wish we could have at least seen whatever it was even for a few seconds.

With 8 lb. hybrid it was at its worst, moving up to 12 helped a bit but it always failed out on my boat, and I had to use my spare rod. I never thought I'd be carrying a $40-$50 reel as a spare for a $200+ model, but as it is I need two setups on my boat so I can't rely on the Stradic. Funny I have other far less expensive Shimano reels (Sahara, Sienna and a Sedona) that do not hiccup a bit. The lesson if there is one do not buy reels made by Shimano made for distribution out of the country you reside in, they refuse to stand by them.

I remember a time in Hawk's channel (the Fla keys) when we heard this loud Ffffzzzzz noise for several seconds while on plane and later found my anchor missing. It had fallen overboard and the Ffffzzzzz sound was the 100 yards of line being stripped over the fiberglass. good thing that line wasn't attached to a cleat!

Nope I have two spools and even with the spools run down half way after removing the bird's nest under the spool they STILL will catch the line onto the spindle. I have well over a dozen other reels from Shimano, Penn, and Daiwa and never had this issue.

Yup 100% spot on, balance be damned. I fish out of a 10' tinny from the bench seat, and a L-O-N-G handle clanks and whacks my vest and bench seat. I can deal with a bit tip heavy, not a long handle. Unfortunately, rod builders today don't generally make rods with short grips, the rare exception is my 6' GX2 heavy rod. I play guitar with my left hand on the neck, and am left handed, convenient for me as my strong hand is also my playing and casting hand.

I use three 6' heavy GX2 (spinning) rods with cheap Daiwa RD reels, 20 lb 4 strand braid with large frogs, and it's become my fave combo. No matter what takes the frog, bass, peacock, or snakehead there's more than enough stiffness to pull what's on the end of the line out of weeds.

My father in law Nick (RIP) was reaching over the side, scooping water up and flinging it back at me. Over and over he did it till I finally steered toward the BIG wake of a big displacement hull boat, throttled back and let my bow dive into the wake. It S-O-A-K-E-D Nick, but got so much water in my 16' glass tri hull my little 55 horse Johnson would barely move the boat! I had to drop Nick and Mother in law off on a sandy beach, pull the plug and let the motor suck the water out of the boat. When it was empty, I put the plug back in, and picked Nick and my Mother in law up. He never wet me again, and I never dove into the wake of a big boat again ?

I got lots of hits on hollow frogs but not as many hookups as Ribbit types which get me just as many hits and more hookups. Ribbits are heavier and cast better and further in stiff breezes also.

It's funny, last summer was the first time I hooked gators, and three at that! All were small around 3' or so and they got themselves off of the hook.

Egads, talk about derailing a post.

My GF lives in Delray, and they're definitely north of there, and especially west Delray (west of 441) Lots of walkable places there. I think any place you find peas you should be able to get snakeheads.

PS, I never caught a SH in the rain, though I've tried, nor after a full moon. There's so little known about SH there's no telling if they feed at night, but based on my experiences they may also be night feeders. Regarding time of day fishing. I have caught them at or near dawn in the winter (a big surprise) but not as yet at dusk. The rest is sort of scattered fishing throughout the day. Our last outing was 10 fish in the boat (one escaped the cooler and leaped back in the water) three or four lost fish in some six hours. They were just under 10 lbs on down. The carcasses make GREAT fertilizer! And do not EVER grab one by the lip like a bass, you will not hold on to them.

Here's my take on So. Flo SH fishing, going into my third year targeting SH it works for me. It's not definitive by any stretch but it's a start for a newbie. I teach every angler I can what I know of how I fish for them. A while back a young guy complained to me how he's had some 20 on the line last summer and not one out of the water, they'd always spit the hook. After the tips below (from my experiences, others may have experiences that work well also) he caught his first one within 30 minutes of my field lesson 1. They like shallow warm water most. Cast in skinny water up or down shore, keeping the frog in 1'-2' (or less) of water. Alternately if possible cast directly onto the grassy, rocky, or sandy opposite bank. Let the frog plop into the shallow water and wait a bit, then retrieve. I've seldomly had a SH take a lure in water deeper than ~3'. Rarely one will race from shallow water, but then "generally" when I was in a boat or casting so the fish could not see me on the shore and it was swimming away from me. My fishing buddy has let tree stuck frogs dip in and out of the water and SH have done him the favor of getting the line out of the tree! 2. Pull your frog with the rod tip up high, or if casting along the shore leave the rod tip away (not toward) from the cast (see #3). Retrieve speed medium to fast, alternate till you get one to take it. Leave the frog on the surface. The only time I've had one take one below the surface she was guarding her fry. Slow / stop retrieves have done nothing for me unless over a fish with a brood. Then I think it's from anger or protection more than hunger. 3. When they take the frog, drop the tip down (or push it forward to slacken the line if casting along the shore) and let them have the frog for 2 to 5 seconds. This is VERY counter intuitive for a bass fisherman, it took me more than a few lost fish to get the hang of it. 4. After waiting, set the hook as if you were caught on a log... REALLY HARD. My fishing buddy changes the direction of my tinny when he sets the hook, it does not tear their lips off. 5. SH spook easily fishing from shore, it's uncanny. Unless they're in a hole, under some weeds or facing away from you they will be gone as soon as they see you. Coincidentally in an all electric tin boat, we have caught them in a ~15' wide canal directly abeam of our boat not 5 or 6 feet from us, go figure. 6. On rare occasions casting back to a bank area you recently walked past can yield some fish. Just the other day I got a 5 pounder this way. 7. A Boga grip from shore, or a net in a boat are absolutely necessary tools to have. When SH Are out of the water they go completely insaneo, and leaving them in the water for a net, or in 2" of water for a lip grip is going to get you more fish. Oh, I've used aluminum lip grips, SH tear them up doing their freak out dance once out of the water. The Boga will not be destroyed by a SH and they have a scale built into the handle, a big plus. The Boga has a spinning tip, clone stainless fish lip holders may not, and the only thing you can do is let them flop around while you hold the lanyard. I bought a Suaoki grip and it does not have an independent spinning lip, the lanyard gripped my wrist so hard on a 3 pound fish I relegated it to a spare. Boga is worth the money. 8. All this is not effective at all with a light rod, A medium or medium heavy rod isn't much better. A heavy rod with decent braided line (I use black 20 pound 4 strand, but I may move up to 30 soon) I don't use a leader, most SH fishermen do. 9. Once hooked never let slack in the line. In the water or on shore they can and will find a way to spit the hook if you do. On shore without a hook or lip grip they thrash about violently trying to get back into the water when they do they're like trying to catch a running chicken, if you remember that scene from the movie Rocky 10. I recently went to Gamagatsu offset EWG hooks because I recently lost my first big fish hell driven to get off my line who was dancing like a sail fish to a bent Eagle claw hook. It's too early to tell for sure but others have not had bent Gamagatsu hooks so I'm hopeful. I've caught a whole lot of SH on Eagle claws it's only the biggest fish that I now worry about. It's a PITA to get a hookup on a big fish to lose it for a hook. 11. Line. I lost fish with hybrid mono Fluoro. Maybe stretch? Dunno, I went to black 20 lb braid without leader and so far up to 10 pound fish I've not lost anything. I have a spool of 30 but I'm in the extreme minority most use FAR heavier line with an even heavier leader. It's been said SH will hit anything and line doesn't matter, and that's probably true, but heavy black or dark green line can't hurt. 12. Bait... frogs, setup weedless. I've also had fish take lizards (zoom) and crawfish when my fishing buddy was in a down / or lull cycle using frogs. ? Snakeheads will take wiggle baits, I've had them take them while fishing for LMB or Peacocks but for me it's rare. Any color frog (I use Ribbit types) will work but if something doesn't work, change colors. I'm finding that there's no "right" color for a SH frog. The reward for catching them are: They are a fighting machine much like a saltwater game fish well worthy of targeting them, and they are delicious table fare if caught in clean water. The added bonus is if a larger bass is in the area, they will take your frog also. I also have a "feed the poor" policy where the fish are VERY well received. If you feel they're a threat to other species, you're on your own as to what you do with them. I know a LOT of things that do not work for me, but I try not to teach peeps how to fail!

Find public water in Coral Springs and you'll see them.

In Broward to have best luck with targeting LMB try finding areas that do not have snakeheads. Look for land locked lakes, and ponds for best success. I have lots of luck with plastic wiggle tail shad in all colors on LMB and Peacock bass. Frogs are GR8 for big fish, and if you use them jerk / rest / swim / rest even if there are snakekeads they'll likely avoid it. In my experience they generally avoid slow baits unless you drag it over their brood. PS, look for a MH Ugly Stik, they're great rods, they're the only rods I use nowadays.

I tossed my Ci4+ in my spare reel bucket after it kept getting line wrapped under the two spools onto the spindle. Shimano wouldn't do anything for me because it's a rear drag and not intended for sale in the U.S. My $35 Daiwas work all the time.

These look interesting, does anyone here have one they use for fishing?

Well, I'm in Broward also, maybe we'll see you at the next snakehead roundup! I'll be the only guy with a 10' tinny in the bed of a pickup truck! Oh I NEVER get a sore wrist, I play guitar "right handed" which means my casting arm (the left hand on the neck) is ultra strong. Playing a git for 3+ hours a day makes a reel and rod child's play.