txchaser

Kistler Heliums are $219 at their site. That's a lot of rod for that price.

At this point I'm convinced the coloration is basically a bass tan. The deeper the fish seems to live, the lighter it will be relative to the shallow fish in the same lake. The dirtier the water, the less coloration relative to average clarity, and VV. So a fish at 12' that spends most of its time at that depth, but in clear water, will look like a shallow fish in tannic water. I can't quite explain how a bass in the shade of weeds is getting a tan, probably just ambient light vs one out deep, just like me at the beach. Pretty sure they don't have the ability to actively or passively change color (or do they?). It is a pile of anecdotes, but I watch it now to get one more clue about what they are up to, particularly if I see light fish biting up shallow mixed in with regular color fish. Am I crazy/have I made this all up?

Eh, my brain said Smokin' Rooster, and my fingers typed Space Monkey.

Bait monkey said buy a pack of Keitech Fats and see what happens, and while you're at it, might as well get a pack of the x-zones too. And a bottle of mend-it, you'll need it. To your question - the Fat is a big wide swing at a low speed.

My Helix sometimes reads the grass tops as the depth. Pretty clear on the DI that it's not 2ft deep, it's 6ft, as an example. Mostly irritating when I'm trying to map an area with Autochart. Tried fiddling with sensitivity, clarity, etc, no change. Emailed Humminbird, they didn't really have much for me. Is this just how it is sometimes and I need to get over it?

In north texas, the last two weekends the water has been 50 and 55 degrees respectively. Different lakes, but we had some sunny days in between. Lots of grass still alive. Fish were mostly biting moving baits, and some jigs when it was 50. I kept thinking to slow down because the water temps dropped 10 degrees really fast. I was wrong. Edge went to reaction baits. Chatterbait, lipless, squarebills. Bottom bite almost nonexistent; when it was 60 it was the best bite. Sometimes a keitech with an underspin is working too. If you are on smaller water like me, the back third has been totally unproductive. Fish it last. If you are on bigger water, go look around 15-20, but still near a shallow spot with a ledge, and see if you see bait there. Esp go look if there's some wood. Most fish across the last month have been at the intersection of deeper water and shallow-ish feeding areas - 4-7ft. Creek channel mouth, around the edges if it is well defined. Ledges near shore, etc. Sometimes up on the flat but near the edge, sometimes in the deeper water but near the ledge/rise/whatever. Find that intersection, and try mid-column fast/slow, and bottom slow, and I bet you'll get on some fish. Try shallow casting out, deep casting in and see what they want. Offshore/deep fish doing different stuff altogether, and when I could find them they would bite a jig. Last thing - getting locked on a spot for an hour that 'should' have them has been totally unproductive. Covering lots of water and not stopping more that 10-15 minutes has been a win.

Not the favorite, but a good special use bait - the Space Monkey seems to have been discontinued.

I'll just point out a rookie move I made the other day. Mostly failure in attention to detail. The acetone goes in a jar in the water, not directly in the ultrasonic unit.

Best I've found so far, and I had some cold exposure years ago that left my hands, ears, and sometimes toes very sensitive to cold: NRS (kayak/paddling co) makes some very thin .5mm neoprene gloves. I really don't need insulation as much as I need the wind and water off my hands. They are great, but order a size larger - for me if they are too snug my fingers don't get good circulation. I thought I was going to have to cut the thumb out, but SV spools are like cheating, and the gloves were thin enough to be able to feather without a dead stop on the spool. Not perfect by any means, but good enough for now. I don't expect the neoprene will fray if I cut it. https://www.nrs.com/product/25014.03/nrs-mens-hydroskin-gloves Found them on sale somewhere for about $30.

Chatterbait bite was on a few weeks ago and one of these picked up an extra fish off the spot that didn't want the chatterbait.

Just from handling in person the Tatsu is much more limp at the same diameter. A total guess, but perhaps there's something about the same process that makes it more limp means impact strength is lower. I have the same "but why" question @A-Jay - I can build some convoluted story in my head about the stretch in tatsu allowing the material to take the stress of impact at some more gradual rate so it might have a different effect, but I'm way outside of my comfort zone with the physics of elasticity and elongation when combined with the rate the load was applied to a knot. Plus it's mostly some conjectural BS I made up. Probably some BS they made up too. My inside voice is telling me 'just test it, you have it all laying around' but that inside voice makes lots of projects that never move high enough on the list to get done.

I was curious to see what Seaguar had to say about Tatsu as a leader, so I sent them an email. Here's what they said: It isn't a super-precise response, but I thought it was worth sharing anyway.

IMO this is a clever marketing tactic - spots are so good you can't have your phone on etc etc. Creates mystique and exclusiveness. Sure some people will be turned off, but others will be even more excited.

As the title says, I'm looking for the best resource for learning DI/SI interpretation. I see lots of stuff that I have a hunch about what I'm looking at, but am not really sure. And often the 2d sonar and the DI are telling me pretty different things, usually the 2d missing what look like schools of fish hanging on the bottom. Fiddling with the gain never got them to pop up. Anyway, I have some ideas that I picked up along the way, like bass don't stack vertically, that's probably crappie. And if you see a bunch of fish relating to the bottom that are not stacked more than one or two deep, and spread out, it is probably bass. Questions like this: What does a catfish look like? Do they ever school? How do I tell them apart from bass? What does a big school of bluegill look like, and do they ever relate to the bottom? When I see a return on SI that's probably a fish, any way to tell any more than that like what size or type it might be? On the plus side, time on the water with the unit has helped me notice more and more, like @WRB's great advice on quickly figuring out the depth of the bait and the life zone in general, is helping me eliminate a lot of water.

Makes a good case to upgrade the line before you upgrade the rod and see how much different it is. Line will still be on the spool if you upgrade the rod. ___ The more I think about it, I think this is all pretty presentation specific. At first I was in the 2/3 rod 1/3 reel, assuming you were hitting the 100 reel price point at a minimum. But then I realized I have at least one presentation where the sensitivity of the rod is a far lower priority to me than the reel or the line - open hook swimming presentation. I like a really specific action on this presentation (something like a mod fast) and fish it with braid. It is something like 20% of my casts if not more (I fish a lot of grass flats and edges) and distance matters, as well as smoothness, because it's a lot of reeling and a lot of casting. If I don't count what is in transit, my most expensive reel is on this rod, and it actually cost more than the rod. Almost inverted on my jig rod though, I don't really care much what reel is on it as long as it's good enough, but I care a lot about the rod and the line. And everything in the middle I'm probably in the 60 rod/40 reel to 50/50. But on nearly every one of these combos the (not bulk) spool of line cost like 20% of the reel. Net net save $50 of the 500 and buy really nice line. And if you are at the $250 price point stop at $100 on the reel and put the rest into the rod. The difference between $100 rod and $150 rod is pretty noticable, at least to me.

I think much more so for casting than for spinning. Queue up the haters, but the difference between my stradic and my okuma epixors is there, but it's tiny. If I had to do it all over again I'd just put better drag in the okuma and be done with it - startup is a little slow/tough vs the stradic.

@WRBTom - is the black/purple/brown arranged in any particular way like black on the bottom or top, or just mixed in with each other.

☝️Trashmaster or Fintech Title Shot ? Raw Rigged

Z-bones are ~$350...

At what point do you just crack the head unit open and wire up HDMI to your own monitor? If I recall correctly MEGA has more data/resolution that even the 1080p res on the APEX, but definitely more than the 1200x800 nonsense. Of course this sounds like a project I'd never do, but I sure would watch the video of someone figuring it out

Tatula Elite 7'2" Howell. It has Daiwa's "regular" tip, which is pretty soft vs a fast or XF. For the way I like them, it is perfect for moving single hook baits. It'll cast and fish all the other stuff just fine too, and is pretty forgiving with that tip. Kistler's FNR "all purpose" is a similar action, with a bit higher quality, but it is another $100 over the TAEL.

I have the Fenwick HMG in spinning and casting. Both come with two different tips. Nothing to complain about, and plenty sensitive. I'd buy them again, and if I had to buy something else it would be the Daiwa, I think it is an Ardito.

2019 regularly paid off for getting up at I don't understand o'clock. 2020 kept delivering mediocre results so I stopped doing it - too many days with no fish until 10am. I usually go until last light no matter what time I get there, so it made the long summer days a little less brutal. Every now and then I 'know' it'll be worth it and get up early anyway. Works about half the time. Sure is pretty early morning, but I don't usually fall asleep until 1:30 or 2am, so 5:30 is rough.

Irod Genesis II is 150 normally and got great reviews here. I have the magic stick for a frog rod and it exceeded my expectations. I don't see many complaints about the Tatula Elite rods at 175, or the AGS at 279, and from personal experience customer service is pretty good. For the applications I bought them for I'd buy again. There are Kistler H3's in the flea market for $180, on a decent sale they are 250-280, normal like 350. Great rods. Bought one and just kept buying them. IMO going to the flea market and picking up used rods that retail in the 250+ range is a big win, if you have the patience for it.