gnappi

I've had a smaller (~4 lb) SH take a wiggle tail swimbait but not larger ones. I read somewhere that they were genetically programmed to HATE frogs, I agree ?

Very cool little craft there! It looks like it would be a LOT of fun if it were kept on the shore side of a lake front house for sure but with a capacity of 1 person I'd call it a yak. At 170 lbs for one passenger I'd think it's going to be pretty heavy for one person to launch and stow in a truck bed without help? How do you manage loading it alone?

Well, the 1 to 2 pound fish are aggressively taking about everything I throw at them and the big ones are biting short pulling the tails and feet off of anything plastic. The weather is supposedly cooling but I can't prove it by the amount of sweat coming off me. The water is clear but I'm hoping the cooler weather and water to come will get them going.

Recently for the first time (55+years of fishing) ever I spooled with braided line, I've used Dacron in salt water but braided is completely new to me. I picked it (4 strand black Hercules 20 lb.) to start with because I've lost some whopper LMB, Peacocks and snakeheads using 8 and 12 pound hybrid Yozuri dragging fish through dense weeds. Not good. This is not a thread about the fish species but more about line durability and application. Hercules has worked real well so far on 4lb. (+/-) snakehead without a (which I'm not fond of using) leader. My Q's regarding braid are strand count, four or eight, weight 20 or 30 lb. using (or not) leaders, and knots. Watching online sales it seems as if 4 strand is generally sold out well before 8 strand in equal line weights and I'm wondering why? Price? (4 strand is less expensive), diameter (8 strand is thinner?), durability... are four larger individual strands tougher than 8 thinner strands. Online opinions seem to weigh a bit in favor of 4 strand in abrasion resistance, but 8 strand in "smoothness" ??? The twenty pound is pretty strong, I can't break it and even some of my nail clippers have a hard time cutting it, but its disadvantages are it takes a lot of line to spool some of my reels, and toothy fish are known to cut strong line so I'm wondering if just going to 30 pound without a leader would solve both problems. I don't like leaders because I like to snug my lures rather close to the tip, and leaders don't let me do that unless I pull the leaders through the rod eyes, also not good. I find knots (surgeon's and Improved clinch) are a pain to snug up, any secrets on tying knots with braid you all can share?

I get skunked, I catch small fish while much larger fish watch my lure(s) go by. I lose big fish, I lose small fish, and I catch some nice ones. Thoughts on fishing from my dad... There's no such thing as a bad cast till the lure is out of the water. It's not about how many or how big the fish you catch (or not) it's about being there and fishing, it's necessary for therapy. It's humbling to know that a fish with such a small brain can make me look like a fool, sometimes being humbled is good for the soul. If I bought fish for the table with all the money I spent on boats and gear I could feed all the poor in my state for a week. Fish don't care what you wear, or how much your gear cost. A bought fish never tastes as good as one you caught You can't catch fish if your line is out of the water. A bad day fishing if FAR better than a GREAT day at work RIP pop.

We use Google maps all the time, but oftentimes small waterways are obscured by trees growing on both sides of the canal and it looks like a dead end. It's GR8 for finding State, county and city boat ramps which you'd never find otherwise. Recently I started using my car GPS to find waterways to hand launch my tinny from roads, parking lots and industrial areas where there are no ramps. That's working out pretty darn good and the GPS shows the whole waterway without trees to obscure the water.

Run this "Starting to cool down" weather by me again? It was 90 while I was working on my tinny in the driveway today ? Oh well, I just have to be patient... when it finally cools down here I'll be happier. I think I sweat more gallons this summer than I did in the last 5 years.

A foot or two plus or minus of length in close quarters with trees around isn't going to keep your fly or rod out of the rough. I leave those areas to bait casters and spinning rigs. PS, after you get the hang of casting, you'll likely find it's the length of line you throw (meaning less is better) is more a factor than the length of rod. As a kid in upstate New York I fished some really tight streams with less than 20 ft of line.

Actually more than one. So you know, owners of full sized trucks just about ALWAYS back in because they can see both sides and the end of their truck not so if they pull straight in which has the right front bumper as a blind spot. I imagine people who back cars in do so for the same reason. Add to that if you back in and someone pulls in next to you with a large vehicle you can see the lot as you pull away not so if you pull STR8 in, I think they're pretty good drivers. So don't be too hard on us? Maybe ?

I grew up (literally) fly fishing but have not in several years though I can say these things are (IMO) depending on your ability to invest money and or time your main options. A. A Fly shop as mentioned above will definitely be your best source of real usable gear, help and information, and will likely be a lot more expensive than PBS. B. You may be better off with a "Starter rig" at a place like PBS, their stuff is a lot better than entry level used to be. More $ than Wal mart, but exponentially better. Whatever rig you buy at "A" above you may ultimately find that it's not right for you and you need to step up making choice "A" an expensive boo boo. The starter rig from PBS won't be a big investment if it need upgrading or winds up in a foyer closet for good and you go back to bass fishing. C. If OTOH you find that the starter rig was a great learning experience option "A" may be where you will wind up at. D. The web has LOTS of vids on the art of casting and knots. It's all about practice. Whatever you do, the worst sort is the guy that goes to a pro shop, takes all of that time and energy from the staff, and goes to "think about it" and then buys on line. Brick and mortar stores need clients, not to provide free schools. The fact is they cannot compete with online sellers. Saving a few dollars online guarantees the local resources are gone eventually. Anyway, after you get a rig, line, and flies, some of of the things beginners need to know / learn or do in order are... Find a grassy spot with plenty of room (maybe a disused ball field), pick a fly, remove the barb and practice casting what you see / learn online or from an instructor. Once you can lay the line and fly down on the grass reasonably elegantly, you're part way there. Trout and panfish are rather easily influenced to take a fly once the fly is in the water. Even if you hopelessly splash the water up stream, the fly will come down to where the fish are (yup and spook the ones in the splash vicinity) and as long as the loose line is retrieved, the fish are more influenced by the type of fly and how it sits on the water because the presentation at that point was meaningless. After they take the fly, setting the hook is a tactile thing that nobody can teach you, you just have to do it. I rarely "reeled" in fish, unless they were very large and took all of the slack I had dropped while hand retrieving loose line at my feet. Once they're close, land with a decent net or use a grassy bank, IMO NEVER drag fish on pebble or rock covered banks if you C&R. If you're gonna eat them, then land anywhere you can ? Finally, a hat with sheepskin swath on it to store flies for quick changes, and or decent fly vest, creel, and net are your best investments.

I find a simple solution is to ask and pay for "Adult Signature Required" If the package arrived destroyed refuse it.

I was saying that I was looking for and found a way to reduce the sizes of the videos. Mea culpa if that fact and that size reduction is used here was lost somehow ? Anyway, I was unaware that movavi will work satisfactorily but Win7 movie maker is already on many millions of computers. AFAIK, movavi used to have a free trial download which had a time limit before you had to buy. I'll give the free download a try to see if it's any better than Movie maker, thx for the heads up.

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Sdoolittle, I like your sig file. If you think you deserve something, you probably don't deserve anything. I can't STAND the plethora of commercials which use the term "Deserve" as if breathing entitles you to just about everything imaginable ? Quote

Do you have a Gopro? Hate the HUGE image size (both physical 1080 or 720) AND the filesize in GIGABYTES (over 1.2 gigs per segment) so, if you're not shooting @4k then try Windows (I know MS is the evil empire sorry) Movie Maker. I have to go from Linux mint back to Win7 to edit my movies but it's well worth it. Movie maker reduces recordings from 1080 which is HUGE (in every respect) and unmanageable to a 4x3 aspect ratio. My test file was well over one gig and the 4x4 conversion is just under 213 KILOBYTES... AND it didn't sacrifice my "usable" video quality. Here's two screenshots full size and reduced. Click on the image to see the actual size of the images

They're 12"x12" at the base by x8" tall. Here's a link. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Headwaters-12-in-x-8-in-x-12-in-Concrete-Patio-Pier-Block-PIERBLOCK/204230166

I bet this boater had a hard time getting the boat onto the trailer, and an even harder time getting it home without the winch snugged up. I'd like to see that one launched from a really steep ramp. Anyway it's for sale... maybe the owner just looked at it the next day and said, forget about boating, just stay home with the brew or go to a coast guard boating class and get a new boat.

"T he extra width makes a big difference. You might consider a 1648 also. I understand $900 is a lot of money, but every time you get in the boat, you’ll regret getting the narrower width" I regretted getting a Tracker 1032 and am delighted I replaced it with the Lowe 1040. Anyway, the Grizzly is available in 1548.

I'm looking at the Promariner brand Protournament 240 and 360 and Prosport 20 three bank chargers. Does anyone have / use these? Comments? I have no need for a high charge rate, so it seems like for between 1/2 and 1/3 the price the Prosport 20 is a tough act to follow. So unless I'm missing something in the specs the prosport is a must have ? Anyway the main differences between the two models is below and for those of you with split / multiple battery systems I have a screencap for 12 / 24 and 36 volt system wiring diagrams below : Prosport "100% Water proof" (I called the factory they told me they are rated IP67) 20a max charge rate "4 digitally selectable charge profiles" The PDF document has "Will illuminate red for standard Flooded (lead-acid)/AGM and green for GEL." these are preset at the factory and are most important to me. Protournament 240 and 360 "Waterproof" (No IP rating in the specs) 240 model 24A max charge rate 360 model 36A max charge rate Easy to read charge status / indicator "3 selectable charge profiles" but lead acid, sealed lead acid, gel cell and AGM are quoted in the PDF

Welcome! It's good to see so many Floridians in here.

I joined about a year ago and just lurked watching for the acidic replies typical on other sites and since I had found few to none so I decided to get active. This site has much more light than heat, which I like. That said, I'm a mature fisherman and I literally grew up fishing in some of the best trout streams (in Ulster county) in the United States. We had a home in New York's watershed / reservoir system and I have fished from Suffolk, Queens, and through Westchester counties in the south to Herkimer county / Glens Falls, The Glen, and North Creek areas in the Adirondaks where the Hudson river is but a stream. Any Waaayyy up northerners in here? I almost forgot... I think I ate more trout than anyone on the planet, the "stockies" didn't last long and the wary natives were challenging, but they all fell to a well placed home tied fly. Back then, there was no size minimum or maximum size, or IIRC even a catch limit but we never took immature fish, or very large ones and limited our catch of rainbows, and brownies to one or two 12" or so fish per day. My friends dad was the local game warden and we didn't dare to run afowl of him or the single sheriff in our town which had no traffic lights, three (or was it four?) stop signs and only three blocks of "town" In 1977 I moved to south Florida for good. It was area code 305 from Miami to Orlando, lots of change since then. Anyway, nowadays I spend much of my retirement fishing for what appears to be dwindling stocks of LMB and even the fairly new residents the beautiful Peacock bass. To help the Native LMB and "naturalized" Peacocks get a better chance at keeping their tenuous toehold at survival my fishing bud (and hundreds more) and I kill as many snakeheads (SH) as we can. We fish all electric 10' and 12' tin (aluminum) boats in narrow mostly un-fished hydrilla / eel grass choked canals (love those 3 bladed Kipawa props) and we can sneak right up to where the wary SH lie and take them away. This is a really well done site, I admire the acidic comment restraint, and overall helpful nature of it. Thanks.

I have several rear drag Shimano reels from the cheapo Catana, Sienna, Sahara, to a Stradic Ci4+ and the Stradic is a disappointment. The Ci4+ has had a problem from day one with the line getting caught under the spools (all spooled the same with Yozuri 12lb. as all my other reels and they are spooled correctly) and Shimano won't even talk to me about a warranty spool or reel repair / replacement because the RD Ci4+ is available only outside of the U.S (I got mine from a dealer in Mexico). So, whatever you buy make sure it's a domestic model wherever you live. Oh, the Catana, Sienna and Sahara are all GR8 reels which perform way beyond their meager price. I use them all regularly while the Ci4+ sits around waiting for me to diddle with it.

Down here the squalls don't worry me about getting wet, and we can get several inches of rain in an hour. A rain suit with hood fixes that but the d**n winds blow my tinny all over the place and into the shoreline brush. If the bilge pump fails, then I guess the brush isn't as bad an option? ? Note to self: Put the rain suit into the carry on sea bag AND put the sea bag on the pre-float list!

At going on 67 I learn one thing every time I go out... 1. Read my prefloat checklist Numbers 2,3,4,5 on up... Read my prefloat checklist Oh, I have to add to the list, to put the TM on the boat. I forgot that at zero dark thirty a few days ago, and had to go home to get it.