bulldog1935

Certainly not to offend or detract, but... When the topic came up on TKF, everybody lauded the toughness of inflatable boats for abrasion and even oyster shell. However, the two boats that popped, both were sitting in the summer sun, rigged and waiting to be floated. The sun and heat did it before the boats could get wet.

It's almost embarrassing to talk about my frog reel, which I targeted those half-ounce-rated frogs, and can keep loading this to a full ounce. (6' rod) Will have to add my vote to the Daiwa brake guys. I built it to function like a Daiwa brake, and ended up with a reel that will cast 3 g to 30 g without backlash or even an adjustment - nothing to adjust, except internal at initial set-up. Skip-casts. It will cast the half-oz frog beyond 100', probably 3 times what I need where I use it from a kayak. Centrifugal brakes work best against start-up backlash (duplicated in Daiwa brake by Magforce/SV moving rotor), and linear mag does its best solving mid-cast wind backlash.

The whole brass gear thing is overrated. If anything needs brass gears, it's spinning reels, where the long spindle multiplies gear contract stress with added bending load. Nobody wants to add the weight to their spinning reel - everybody wants Vanford. Why add cantilevered weight that's going to twist your hand on your nice casting reel.

Air Kayaks and Advanced Elements both have a pretty good reputation - I know of people who paddle them around oyster shell. https://www.airkayaks.com/ https://www.advancedelements.com/ Nesting wood boats - check this article https://smallboatsmonthly.com/article/nesting-boats/ My 10' boat is a Heritage Redfish 10 bought for my daughter when she was ready for her first kayak, 11-y-o. In fact, I used an Advanced Elements skeg to give this boat wind control in coast wind. Here, she's 15, athletic, and it was all I could do to chase her in my T160 (until I upgraded to my Werner paddle and got my edge back). here up high on Boerne City Lake - good photo of the skeg. The skeg has the effect of lengthening the keel and moving your torso - a sail - to the center of rotation for neutral handling in big wind. Most 10' boats and the inflatable kayaks I mentioned first really need a skeg. 44 llbs, it's become my river boat now that she's grown and degreed. Even for my size, 6'3", 215 lbs, it's surprisingly fast, stable, both tracks and spins very well - designed by Paul Cronyn, the naval architect, who sold Wilderness before he started this company. Keep in mind about shopping craigslist for good old boats. Polyethylene is here to stay. My kayaking buddy Josh, owner of TKF forum and the best inshore fisherman I know, used to rig kayaks at JerryB's in Corpus while attending TAMU-Corpus. He's also kept up with the industry better than anyone else I know, and maintains this spreadsheet on kayak models - it's all there.

Dead lift really has nothing to do with it. If you check YoZuri International website, they list the actual IGFA breaking load test for 6-lb YZ Hybrid at 11 lbs. Shock loading can be a factor, which multiplies stress in the line by 4x (the exact reason you set your drag at 1/4 of your weakest link). But I'm going with the abrasion guys on this one. Big fish on light tackle has always been my thing, such as 8-lb brute rainbow on 3-lb tippet - the risk here wasn't breaking tippet as much as tearing the tiny size 22 hook from his mouth - and goes back to a 6-1/2-lb largemouth I landed at 19yo on Daiwa Minicast. I'll also beat the guys to the lactic acid argument. The way you land huge fish on light tackle is don't announce yourself early. Apply enough pressure just to keep them under control and confused. Let them wind themselves a bit before you frighten them, and the final fight will be short.

The SV TW is more versatile for wide weight range, especially at the light end, with lighter spool/rotor, stronger brake magnets. The HD is Mag-Z, heavier spool and rotor, and better suited for heavy weights, The two above are 34-mm dia spool. The HLC is the same Mag-Z brake and with larger 36-mm dia spool. If you're throwing big swim baits, I would go for one of the big H reels for lures over an ounce. Check JapanTackle listings for good descriptions of all 3. https://japantackle.com/casting-reels/daiwa.html

1016 capacity on '21 Zillion is just right for 15-lb mono - right at 100 yds. When I bought mine, went for the 8.5, partly because I already had the longer Avail handle I wanted to swap in.

You can buy the shim sleeve on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/T-best-Installation-Adapter-Baitcasting-Accessories/dp/B07FCK9DFC

We began UL tackle for kidfish in creeks, slip bobbers and grasshoppers from the back yard in a plastic coke bottle. My younger daughter was not quite 3 when she caught her first fish. Began with Zebco UL-1 and Eagle Claw FeatherLight. Of course added fly rod when the girls were big enough to get in the creek. We added sunset dock fishing for nursery seatrout as a ritual for every coast kayak trip with the girls, and honed this to 40 fish in the hour after sunset. . We added reach to the edge of the lights with long Japanese XUL rockfish rods. When I tried sight-fishing big fish over summer canal lights, discovered this light tackle would land them just fine. It's made us into winter-into-spring assassins for big fish, the times they're sipping tiny bait. With the light tackle, we're not limited to casting heavy tandem rigs made from 2" swim jigs. .

@Bluebasser86 Roro-X spool on a Steez or Zillion SV TW. Rorolure.com is OOS, but JapanTackle has this one. https://japantackle.com/tuning-parts/spools-casting-reels/daiwa/tu001753.html Also swap the palm plate spool bearing with a Roro or other 1034 Air bearing. JT also has the 3x10x4 Roro ball bearing sold as a single. https://japantackle.com/tuning-parts/ball-bearings-pin-remover/tug0000244.html I can cast 2 g to 130' on my 8'2 Yamaga Blanks Blue Current III shore rod - also doesn't foul plug hooks on line. My comparable spinning rod won't quite get there and fouls plug hooks more times than not. You'd find the long rod feels more like a fly rod than a bass rod. Also will cast it to 110' on my 6'7" Valleyhill Odessa BFS This rod feels like a fast bass rod. If there's a point, the rod choice may be more flexible than setting up the reel right. PureFishing (Abu) Japan makes some very cost-effective BFS rods. You're more likely to find a range of rod choices in Japan. @Bluebasser86 adding this ps - reading Jun Sonada's Tackle Topics is what got me started on all of this - he's the smartest baitcaster guy in the world.

It's simply a question of what you get into. I can think of places where a 6 or 6-1/2' glass fly rod is an advantage, and only glass works in these short lengths. For one thing, you can make an underhand cast under cypress overhang. The fly rod version of skipping. The place I'm thinking of makes this overhang look simple, but big bass are there that no one else has ever presented to before.

@Bluebasser86 if the BFS rod is as long and light as the spinning rod, the BFS reel can be set up to out-distance comparable spinning tackle. I have enough experience in tide passes with both to prove that. I'm fishing bass in-close from a kayak, and definitely skipping under overhang. Nothing lighter than 1/8 oz for this glass rod, which the short-rod combo handles with aplomb. 100' no problem, and the reel is 100% backlash-proof. I built it that way for 3 g. My target was 1/2 oz, and when I cast 3 g for giggles, it surprised me enough that's where I set my mag brake.

Here's what @Eric 26 is talking about, on a sinking freshwater trout plug (Duo Ryuki S), I swap hooks from small trebles to larger gap plug singles, and use in the salt for speckled trout, redfish and snook, imitating winter glass minnows. If you're ready to take up fly rod, Round Dinty is about the best bluegill lure ever. I've found sliders more effective for bass than poppers, essentially, a fly rod wake bait. Here's a sinking Japanese finesse plug, MagBite Mimiq, that would probably do your crawfish imitation, and beside it, my very effective fly pattern. All finesee plugs, going down from Mimiq, Rodio Craft RC Cicada wakebait lower two are Smith Gunship floater/diver

Scienids are the largest family of inshore fishes over the world. Here, they're whiting, croaker, drum (black drum, redfish), west coast is corbina. Speckled trout is a primary piscivore, built to chase and eat fish. They have canines for grabbing bait. In the northeast, they're called weakfish, because their jaw membrane tears easily when hooked. They range from surf to river tidal boundaries. Inshore in Atlantic and Gulf estuaries, they are the apex piscivore. Also just about the best eats that come from the coast. A fish larger than the 17-23" slot has the highest probability of being female. The slot has the highest probability of being adult male, and I can only remember one slot fish I filleted that was female. Smaller than that are nursery trout with a 50% chance of being female. The adult females stake a breeding turf in the estuary that can support the fry they produce. Nursery trout live where you catch them. The adult males school together and chase bait. Both males and females will travel 20 mi/day to feed. E.g., tide passes and natural phenomena that concentrate baitfish. We take advantage of schoolie males chasing bait on new moons every winter. Arroyo Colorado barge channel in far S. Texas - one side is lined with houses and dock lights. They sweep the lights all night, and we get limits every night. __________________________________________ Trout heaven, Lower Laguna Madre

Most people fly fish by sight, and want their fly rod balance right at their index finger. I mostly fish by feel with sinking lines, and slightly tip-heavy, balancing a couple of inches in front of the cork, improves fishing feel, and also improves casting. Slide from my talk on white bass fishing about bottom-bouncing a fly rod to stationary pods.

no worries about me watching the video, but I like you catching gator photo.

This is one of the more accurate observations on the thread. When you get to long BFS rods and extreme light lures, it makes fly fishing obsolete for all but moving water. Throwing a 3 g plug to 130' exceeds the distance capability of a fly rod, presents just as soft with much less effort. Fighting fish on the long, light, progressive rod is Just Like fighting fish on a fly rod. No winch on super heavy gear is involved. @Koz I think you provided a venue for lovers of light spinning tackle to backlash against the onslaught of BFS on BR.

on deep reservoirs, they'll stack up on the cool side of the thermocline, and watch the bait that are darting back and forth from the hot water to the cold water to get a breath. See the same thing where a cold spring creek confluence joins a hot river. On the deep reservoirs, all those creek arms you fish in the spring with be shallow and hot, and the fish will be on the slope between the shallower creek arm and the deeper main body.

The traditional American UL is a short para taper. It has a fast tip, flexy through the mid and butt, and narrow lure weight range. The longer rods they're making now are progressive taper, with more fish-turning power in the butt, softer tip, and if you can find one with a fast mid, will get the widest lure weight range and longest cast distance with light lures. Been doing this for awhile, fishing Japanese Rockfish rods more than a decade.

We were drifting an 18-kt wind on a 1-1/2' flat. Rather than lift my drift sock and let the wind blow me away, I staked the boat and went after the fish.

I think you guys were wading in the wrong place.

We fish inshore fall to spring - between the barrier islands along the TX coast, there's 15,000 sq-mi less than 2' deep. @TnRiver46 no, this is a speckled trout Here's a post I made this morning on TKF to a guy who's new to the area, been out 4 times, and been shut out 4 times.

I'm afraid you had this backwards. Mono/fluoro will stretch under tension. On the BFS spool, it can relax and crush the spool - keeping context specifically for you, it's the same as mono blowing out the sideplates on fly reel spools. Braid, on the other hand, can be loaded under tension and it doesn't stretch or crush spools. Best finesse mono/fluoro I've used down to 3-lb include Kamikaze copolymer from Oz, and currently Toray ExThread fluoro.

@schplurg In Britain, our spinning reel is a fixed-spool reel, our baitcaster is an American-style spinning reel, and their spinning reel looks like this, but it's really a baitcaster. Probably why Scotch is a drink and not a person, who is Scot. Oh, and Edinburg is pronounced Edinborough.

I went through a series of casting trials with 3 different reels, 3 different spools, and 3 different bearings. It's summarized on this post @Jrob78 The HLC spools are not near as fast as a Roro-X, and compare favorably with Ray's Studio SV honeycomb spool. Certainly not wild and uncontrollable, and very easy to modulate with SV brake system. I've fished faster Roro-X on Steez for a year and a season now, and without a backlash on fine braid. The trick is set the mag brake for the lightest thing you plan to throw - SV takes care of the heavies and you add up to 2 more notches of mag for wind with the light lures.