Ogandrews

I’m a plumber and I did some work for an old guy that lives on the water there. He told me that right when the reservoir was made that you could walk across it with how many perch sunnies and crappies there were. He said he and his sons made a couple trips to the Mississippi and brought back as many northern as they could and put them in there. Really cool to talk to the guy about how the place was right when they flooded it and he was the only one there.

I do a lot of kayak fishing and use musky rods up to 9’3” with no issues, with most of my bass rods being in the 7’3-7’10” range. Never really understood using short rods in a kayak, always found them more of a disadvantage than an advantage.

I don’t really have any recent experience with rods in that price range but I’ve heard some great things about the aird-x rods from Daiwa.

Now I generally like longer rods but For what your talking about I’d probably stay in the 7’ range, still gives enough length for good hooksets and flipping but gives you clearance for stuff on the shore. If I had to bring only one rod to do everything with I’d probably grab my dobyns champion 734. It’s a 7’3” medium heavyish and half way between moderate fast and fast, also comes in a 7’ version. I’d pair it with a curado, or whatever reel you like, and 40lbs maxcuatro braid and tie on whatever pound mono leader you want for that bait. This rod also comes in the Sierra line which is cheaper, might also come in the fury I’m not sure. If you have a little more to spend, then the rod that can throw the absolute most different kinds of baits I’ve ever seen is a G loomis MBR series. I really like the IMX pro line which is mid 300’s, such a high quality rod. It also comes in the e6x line which is low 200’s but I think a dobyns champion is way better, and a Sierra is pretty much just as good so I wouldn’t buy one of those. The mbr rods have a very soft tip and a really strong backbone so you can get away with throwing pretty much any bait you own on it, super universal taper. I’d get the 843, 7’ medium heavy, or the 804, 7’ heavy, depending on what kinds of baits you want to throw more often.

Mine is a strike king fat baby finesse worm, or if I’m really trying to go small then the regular finesse worm. Pretty much all finesse worms work, but I really like the strike king ones because the end of the tail has what looks like a spoon on it, catches a lot of water when you shake it and has great action. Other ones I like are the flick shake, Yamamoto neko senko, and 4 and 7” power worms.

Never seen one of those but if it actually works like it’s supposed to in that add then that would be pretty nice

Not sure if you read my posts or not but I do use suffix advance on spinning rods in the winter because braid freezes up so bad. It’s the best mono I’ve tried, but it’s still really far from braid when it comes to sensitivity, castability, and all the other benefits I’ve talked about when it comes to braid to leader. For a mono/Coply advance is awesome, like it a lot as leader material for finesse applications instead of using floro.

For spinning setups I’ll usually use 8 or 10lbs suffix 832, I like it a little bit better than normal powerpro for anything over 20lbs I’ll go to powerpro maxcuatro, I think it is the best braid on the market. Casts better and is thinner than powerpro or 832. 65lbs maxcuatro is actually a little thinner than 50lbs normal powerpro. Stay away from super slick, I tried my best to like it but that is honestly one of the worst braids for a casting setup I’ve ever used. Had issues with leader connection knots sticking together with it too, never have an issue with 832 or maxcuatro, or regular powerpro when I have used it for that matter. the one thing I always do when I’m tying a lure straight to braid is double loop around the line tie, then just tie your knot however you would have. Never have line slips doing that.

It was on a bait caster, floro on a spinning reel is torture to try to fish. In the middle of the winter here I’ll switch from braid to suffix advanced mono to help with the reel and rod eyes freezing up. Not a huge fan of it for leaders but advanced is as good as a main line as you can get for mono imo, super low stretch and quite sensitive. I’m not saying that fishing straight floro or mono is bad, only reason I tried floro was due to people I fish with using it and really liking it. With the stretch of floro being one of the things I dislike so much about it I really doubt I’d like mono much better. I’ve never tried suffix advance on a casting rod because I rarely bring them out when it’s really cold out, but on a spinning rod that stuff isn’t too bad when it’s too cold to fish braid. With as much confidence as i have with braid to a leader I’m not going to switch over any of my other setups. I am going to get some line conditioner and keep trying the floro setup I have because I shouldn’t make up my mind after only 2 trips. The difference in sensitivity between floro and braid to a mono leader is astounding though, couldn’t feel a fraction of the stuff on floro that I could with braid to a leader.

I just put a humminbird helix5 SI gps on my boat and love it. It was the cheapest unit I could find that had side imaging, ability to load maps, and down imaging plus the regular sonar and charting. It’s not a big screen obviously but I’ll take a smaller graph with good side imaging any day over a larger screen without it. Got mine for 499, definitely worth the money imo.

So the boat I currently have is a roller trailer. All my previous bot launching experience has been with bunk trailers, and I’m completely comfortable solo loading with a bunk. I haven’t yet taken this boat out by myself and am planning on it this weekend. Launching isn’t going to be hard at all, but I am not as sure about loading. With a bunk I’d just drive the boat up to the point where it is supposed to be and it would sit pretty close, then crank if I needed it a bit farther. With it being a roller I won’t really be able to do it that way. You guys have any advice? Not sure if I just put the trailer in the water farther than usual so I can get the bow closer to the front to hook it up, or if there is some other way that is easier. Some advice would be appreciated, I’m probably just overthinking it but I’d rather be somewhat prepared before I do it instead of fumbling around like an idiot.

Yesterday I had a braid leader setup with me that I was fishing on and off along with the straight floro and it was unbelievable. I know I’m biased toward braid to leader but it felt like 5x more sensitive to me, with a similar rod.

I’ve never really gotten the appeal of Roman made stuff when there are so many good glides on the market. I was doing a little research on the bait and I stumbled across this. This has to be one of the funniest descriptions for a bait I’ve ever seen. https://carolinafishingtackle.com/products/roman-made-mother-chaser-swimbait

River2sea bullywa2 65 size walks super well. Pad crashers walk well but have too lite wire hooks for me and tear up way too easily. Popping frogs in general walk super easily, I’ve always been a van of the terminator popping frog, almost as easy to walk as a spook.

The smallie smasher is one of my top dropshot baits, incredible action great profile and good colors. I know a lot of my walleye friends use their stuff too with really good success.

I’ve got probably 20 packs of sungill keitechs in my garage in various sizes, by a long shot my favorite color. Also my favorite color for flukes. I can’t seem to find that same pattern in bigger swimbaits, biggest one keitech makes is the 4.8. I’ve contacted them multiple times to see if I could custom order some 6.8 and 7.8’s in sungill but never heard back. Anyone have any recommendations for bigger swimbaits in that color? I’ve thrown the mega bass mag draft freestyle in the perch color and caught fish but the action of the bait just isn’t there compared to a keitech. Let me know what you guys have tried, always looking for new baits to try

Update 2- threw squarebills for a couple hours today on floro for the first time and was definitely not a fan. Couldn’t feel when the bait was in grass nearly as well, harder to clear the grass off the bait, felt like I couldn’t control the fish as well and didn’t get the same casting distance. Not going to give it up yet but really doubt I’ll be spooling any more rods up with it.

Well I gave it a try for 2 hours at a pond a couple minutes from my house. Really weedy especially by shore so all I was able to throw was a shakey head by the edges and a senko. Really terrible conditions, 30 degrees colder than yesterday, bluebird skies and 20-30mph gusts. Had a couple bites that I missed, felt so weird trying to set the hook. Felt like I couldn’t get a good hook set because of all the stretch, but that could easily be because I wasn’t reeling down enough and getting it tight. It will take some getting used to but I’m going to try it some more. I think I’d probably like it a lot better for moving baits like a crank. Personally it felt like a big step down in sensitivity, felt like I couldn’t tell what my bait was in and couldn’t tell a fish had picked it up until way after I would have noticed with braid to leader. Can’t make my mind up on it from one short outing so I’ll give it an honest shot. I will say it did cast better than I expected, still wasn’t nearly as far as I would usually but it wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.

Thanks for the reply’s. Honestly not really sure why I said I’d be throwing topwater on it as I never do that even with just a floro leader, wrote this thread first thing when I woke up wasn’t really thinking. I’m going to go with assassin as that’s what I have always liked the best for leaders, who knows I might like it and keep it on that rod.

So I’ve been 100% braid to leader for the last 3 or 4 seasons now and love it. I recommend it to everyone I talk to pretty much because of the benefits I see to it. I have a 6’8” m xf jerkbait rod with a curado 70 on it that has no line at the moment. I have decided I’m going to give straight floro a shot one more time, can’t even remember how it feels to fish that way. Doubt I’ll like it more than braid to leader but it’s always good to try all my options. The 2 lines I am trying to decide between are Sunline sniper and Sunline assassin as those are the two I have had the most success with as leaders and can buy both locally. Planning on using 12lbs, pretty light rod that I’m putting it on. Most likely will be using it for shaky heads, and maybe throw a jerkbait, topwater, or smaller squarebill on it as well. Which of those two lines do you guys like better? And do you guys have any other recommendations to make the switch easier? If you have read any of my previous posts you know how much of a fan I am or braid to leader, I pretty much want to try this so I can make a better comparison between the two different ways of fishing. Going to keep my mind open when I try it, so many people swear by straight floro it can’t be all that bad.

Happened to me over Memorial Day, got a 47” on 8lbs braid to 8lbs leader on a medium light while walleye fishing. Good 15-20min fight

If you really want that ultra lite feel I’d switch to 5 or 8lbs braid. I run 8lbs 832 on my spinning rods and love it, I know powerpro comes in 5 if you look online. It can make the difference when casting really small stuff like 1/16th oz hair jigs. When I’m throwing a hair jig I’ll go down to a 8 or even 6lbs mono leader, helps a good amount too.

I fish 100% braid to leader on casting and spinning rods, outside of frogging and punching where I’ll go straight braid. The benefits for me are- way better hooksets due to the lack of stretch far superior sensitivity, especially on bottom contact baits farther casting distance better lure reaction again due to lack of stretch, jerking a jerkbait, pausing and starting back up a crank, flukes, blade baits/bottom hopping a lipless, twitching a glide bait, even top waters like spooks and poppers are more reactive the ability to carry one versatile rod and switch leader line out depending on what lure I’m throwing, say I’m using my dobyns 733 which can throw a huge range of baits. I can have 12lbs mono on it and throw a top water, switch to 10lbs floro and throw a jerkbait more effectively, switch to 17lbs mono and throw a t rigged senko around heavier cover, go back to 12lbs mono and throw a shakey head, ect. better diving depth on cranks due to the mainline being so thin better control over the fish seems like everyone that doesn’t throw braid to a leader is so worried about having an extra knot. I have never once broken off at the leader knot while fighting a fish, and I don’t have issues with it hindering my casts even with using 10-15ft leaders and reeling the knot onto the reel. I’m not trying to tell you that my way of fishing is better than yours because everyone’s got their own way of doing things, but I know that I get a great benefit from throwing braid to a leader and I won’t go back to straight mono/floro.

The three I’m referring to are the cannon, zumbro, and root river systems. All of them are great river systems with their own positives, wouldn’t really say one is the best out of the three. All of them have great smallmouth, trout, walleye, cats ect. Roots got the most trout for sure, and I’ve seen a handful of 30” browns come out of its watershed including one this spring March or April that was super fat, I’ll post a pic if I can find it. Cannon is a little different as it has a bunch of lakes connecting to it, and I’d say it has the best population of walleye. The upper lakes that are connected to it have some awesome bass fishing, the previous state record largemouth was from one of them. Zumbro is the hardest to fish imo due to super steep shorelines, lack of access, and it is the fastest if the 3 in my opinion. Zumbro has a bad rep around here because it flows through the city of Rochester and is completely rerouted by development in town, just looks like a silty slow carp river. Once you get downstream from the lake north of Rochester it is one of the most beautiful places in Minnesota outside of the Canadian Shield. Zumbro is my favorite as you can probably tell by my signature, very unforgiving fishery but I’ve been fishing it for the last 15 years and have it a little bit figured out at least. Not going to give up any of my spots on the mighty zumb but if anyone was interested in some trout spots on the root system let me know I’ll steer you in the right direction.

Would not be surprised at all if they make a new model of the curado in the next year or two with K being around for awhile. I’d like to see a revamped version of the tranx 500 although it is still an incredible reel, it is getting up in age also. With them phasing out the curado 70 I could see them making a new 50 size like the aldebaren. Who knows what it will be, as long as it’s not in the $500 range I’ll probably be buying one.