casts_by_fly

Double pitzen if the reel is straight line (any of the three, most of the time). If it is a leader then I will tie a trilene knot which is a twice through the eye. A double pitzen uses too much of the leader material for my liking. Also, I have found every now and then that the double pitzen and I aren't getting along. I think it is how I cinch it and I've largely solved it but every now and then... In that case I just tie a trilene knot and be done.

Always tough to tell from a snippet like this, but you definitely have multiple points and flats to target. If that's the lake I think it is, looking at it on navionics now I can see why most people are fishing the bank- most all the main lake is lined with docks where the end of the dock is over about 12-15'. If you have a hard thermocline at 12' then that limits how far they are going to come off the bank. A whole bunch of that lake is deeper than 12' just a cast length from the bank. If you are going to try to put together something that isn't docks, I think you're going to struggle since almost the entire lake is ringed with them. There isn't a whole lot of area left that isn't docks. The off the bank areas are pretty flat, though there are points (some rounded, some a little steeper) that are worth fishing. Where the two creek arms meet in your upper right corner, the piece of bank in between them has deeper water pushing up pretty close to shore. With two sets of fresh water coming into the lake there and deep water nearby (plus the piles you've marked), I'd be looking at that. Certainly that's a prespawn staging area.

Sounds like the anti-reverse bearing. Odd for a 3 year old high end reel, but you never know. Working intermittently would tell me that there is a piece broken but still in there so sometimes it catches and sometimes not. I wouldn’t think the grease viscosity or the parts tolerances would do it from the heat, but I could be wrong there.

I think @Tennessee Boy and I think the same way. Bass fishing, work, board games, etc are all just a puzzle/problem to solve. So for me, any problem that needs to be solved needs a methodology or process of elimination. If you can definitively say that something isn’t true, then you can eliminate that possibility. In this case, prove that there is a thermocline- crank up the sensitivity on 2D and see that it is there. If so, then go onto your maps and do depth highlights. Highlight anything deeper than the thermocline in red and don’t bother with it. In the first 10 minutes on the water, you’ve eliminated a huge chunk of water. Now fix the sensitivity back to normal and just mosey around to see where there is ‘life’ in the water. It could be baitfish schools, it could be fish generally, or could be birds around. Note the depths and types of things they are around. You might find that they are roaming open water with bait. They might be hanging in 10-12’ right above the thermocline. They might be up shallow (I never ignore <2’ deep water even if it is 85+ degrees). If you want to learn the brushpiles deeper, then ride around and mark them on your mapping. Mark every one you see. Look for fish and if you see them great, but for now you just want to map them all. For now, just focus on the ones shallower than the thermocline (deeper ones could be more important other times of the year). Once you have them mapped, you now know what the playing field is. Down imaging and 2D side by side are what I find most useful for identifying fish. 2D is pretty obvious when you go over them. Down imaging will let you see where they are relative to the cover, how big, how many, etc. Start graphing over the ones you’ve marked and see what you find. Check the deeper ones and the shallow ones. If you can’t see fish, then just start fishing them. Drag a jig, run a crankbait through them, Carolina rig. Cover water until you find one or two. Then you can slow down with a drop shot or something else. Once you figure out something, now you have a map of brushpiles to go explore all mapped out. Use your depth highlights to show you which ones to focus more time on. If you catch a couple at 10’, then highlight 8-12’ and go have a closer look at those piles again on 2D/DI. Other things to note for the ones that have fish- are they around dropoffs, does the creek channel swing near them, is there a harder or softer bottom there? Flats vs steep? You said not much veg or rock, so if you find any in the right depth zone, fish that. And if there isn’t much rock then I’d guess it’s a softer bottom so anything with a harder/clean bottom (outside creek channel swings) is a good option. Now all that might help you filter down which ones to fish first, but you still have to fish them and put the time on the water.

What pat said, but just know that for the first week or so going from crystal clear to murky (either from mud or algal bloom) they get tough. It’s like someone turned the lights out for them and they don’t like it.

That is a ball of shad in the fall. The lumps on the bottom are rock piles where bass live. The bright white dot under the ball is a bass chasing the shad and eating everything he can, which if you’d like a closeup then look at pic #2. If you look at the scale on the side, the ball is 10’ tall and 20’ long (and 10’ in the direction you can’t see). Think about a 10’x20’x10’ garage just being full of tight packed bait.

If this is how you spooled the line on in the first place, then I would suggest going out to the lake, trailing it all out behind you (no lure) and paddle across the lake before reeling in. You might have something causing twist now, but I would suggest that the braid that’s on the spool is already twisted up.

In that case, look at the all terrain crocs. They come with an adjustable strap on the back so if you are going around and rough terrain to launch they stay put. The footbed on crocs is super comfortable to walk in. And if you hop in the water to launch or just cool off they drain and dry pretty quickly. I have two pairs that are a half size apart. One I wear with bare feet and the other fits a pair of thick wool socks for winter time. Most of the year I an in one of those two pairs or my plain black havianas for all of my casual ‘just need shoes’ requirements.

Big angus asks the right questions. Is it in good shape and does it have the right size/layout for what you want. If so, then putting a little bit of money into preventative maintenance and upgrades will be the better way. Also consider, you’ve owned a boat for 9 months now and didn’t know much about them before you got it. So you still have some learning to do- about boats in general, about what you like/need in a boat, etc. If you bought a new boat now, are you sure you know enough to get the ‘right’ one?

I use the zoom marker pen in chartreuse. Every now and then the bass around here just need a chartreuse tip on a worm. I think it’s because they are hyperfocused on bluegill and around here they have a yellow/tan tip of the tail. So a little chartreuse marker over a green pumpkin plastic makes it just right.

I love a hyper aggressive walking bait bite but I will go to bat for a buzz bait bite in the dark where you are just barely crawling it along and a five gallon bucket of a mouth just sucks it down. Nothing better.

When I was in the kayak it was either muck boots when it was cold or Havianas when warm. I moved to crocs with an all terrain strap because a lot of the launches were muddy and I stuck a couple flip flops that I had to retrieve.

I like the legs a little shorter for probably the same reason as you. When I started fishing the ‘rat’ back in the 90’s we fished them across mats and other places by hopping them across the tops of the mats. The original rat was the same body as the junior with a short tail out the back. It had some lead wire wrapping the hook shank right before it hit the tail/hole in the body, but otherwise was what you’d call a small frog or finesse frog. So I learned to fish a frog by straight line motion and popping the rod tip up. Sometimes that just what they want.

The pad crasher and the JR are my standard issue frogs. The way I look at it, JC is a big frog guy and catches a ton on it straight out of the box (that’s how he fishes them). That works for enough for me. I also trim the legs a little for easier walking when I want that, but I don’t boil them or bend the hooks. Just sharpen them out of the box and that’s it.

You’ve got the gist of it. What you already had on would be my starting point. Start on top and work your way down (because I prefer topwaters). A Texas rigged craw/bug/etc is always a good choice and you’re going to put one on. The other thing you might consider is a squarebill. Since the water is up, there shouldn’t be much grass so it is just tree/brush tops which a squarebill will roll right through. Great for covering water, and if it is dirty you can put a rattling version on for more noise.

@A-Jay ”more than two (trips)”? heck, the difference between year 1 and year two is a lot. And that’s with 35-40 trips in a year. Based on my own experiences (bank to kayak, kayak to boat), a solid year in the boat in all the conditions and then a break to reset has been a huge difference maker. Last year was the first in the boat and while I had been a back seater for a long while it is different when you have to do it all. I bet it was 10-15 trips before I was just comfortable and in a natural rhythm of operating the boat smoothly. Now, after a season of doing it and 2 trips to shake down in year two everything comes second nature. And that’s after having a kayak with spotlock and similar electronics (moving to a boat with the same). It’s a learning curve and there is no substitute for time.

I get that it is an additional ‘thing’ but if a neko rig is important to you, then just suck it up and get a crossover ring set for the worms you use and a set of the pliers. A regular trick worm is a size 5 (pretty sure) ring. There is a chart on TW. You can use the rings for wacky or neko rigging. I carry size 4/5/6 which is good for a roboworm/trick worm/senko size worms. Mostly I use a trickworm and at any given moment I might have half dozen on the floor of the boat because I’ve left the ring and the weight in place on the worm but just taken the hook out. I never break the worm itself. if anything, if I grab the wrong ring then on the next fish the ring will slip off the worm as I fight the fish and the worm/weight goes in the drink. If I get it right, then you’re talking about a bunch of fish before you lose the worm and weight.

Are you using rapala crossover rings? I can fish a trickworm for a lot of fish without wearing it out.

Got out this morning early to the lake I was catching all the smallies on earlier in the year. I figured with all the largemouth in it, there must be a morning dark time topwater bite. Nope. Not today at least. After a whole lot of “not even a sniff” on top, I swapped plans and started just covering water with whatever subsurface bait fit the cover. I caught two largemouth that were a little shy of 5# (by that I mean they are 3# shy of 5#). I wasn’t feeling that so I started with the electronics and had lots of lookers but only one taker and I didn’t even see her until she came off the bottom for my minnow as I was burning it back for another cast. She was pushing 20” and 3-08. Love catching them, but just wish I could get a little more consistency there with them.

Get used to the boat, the boat handling, the fish finder, etc all without worrying too much about the fishing. Once it becomes second nature, the boat is just a tool to get you and your stuff into other places. The same thing applies going from boat to kayak. Also, while you’re getting the hang of the boat,treat your trips like shore trips. Fish the same areas as you would have from shore, just do it going the opposite direction.

@MyKeyBe - I'm not Big Swimbait, so not sure what he's using. But I have the 6-17 bucoo (as well as the Expert 6-17 "Buzzbait") and while I loved that rod for 1/2 oz moving baits, it's a little light for me for a frog rod. With braid and light to moderate cover it would be okay, but it isn't the rod I'd be making 40 yard casts across mats with. I've always wanted to check out the 7-17 in hand. I have the eye crosser and amistad in the 7-power series and both are great rods.I don't think I need the 7-17 but I'd love to have it on the water for a day to play with.

I love my eye crosser for frogs and other slop baits. It is a 7-power falcon which is truly a heavy but it has more than enough tip to throw a 1/2 oz pad crasher on 50 lb braid more than 40 yards. I know this because my braid was starting to run low on that rod and I was casting 10 yards of mono backing on top of the 40 yards of braid that was still on the reel (I was trying to milk it). I have since topped up the braid and it still throws it an incredible distance. The rod is also a 1/2- 1.5 oz rated and I’ll throw a 6” swimbait (like a magdraft) on it as well as 3/4-1 oz bladed baits. I prefer a shorter rod for moving blade baits as well as frogs so the 6’11” is just right for me. The eye crosser is in the Cara series which has just gone up ($300) to well over your budget. But they offer it in the Expert as the Bayou model and it’s $250. Still over, but if it also gives you added utility it might be worth it.

What Gim said. Anything around cover and I’m putting the beans to it as much as I can to get it out. If it is open water smallies over 40’ of open water? I’m going to give him pressure but I’m not afraid to let the drag out either. i catch a fair few channel cats in the same conditions (open water, 20-40’ deep, 6-8lb line) so I have a pretty good feel for how much pressure I can put on one. With smallies you just have to absorb the lightning turns and runs they will put in at the boat.

You asked about if they hit in self defense and the answer is no. However, they will react to a bait that is nearby that triggers them. A fast moving squarebill or lipless or burning a spinnerbait will draw reaction strikes when the fish aren’t eating anything else. A buzzbait or bladed jig will do the same. If they think it is a baitfish that is struggling or getting away sometimes they can’t help but give chase and of course a bass is faster than any lure you’re reeling in.

An 8” swimbait is a huge step up in weight from a 6” (like 1.25 oz to 4 oz) but if you set a realistic upper max at a 6” magdraft and a realistic lower end at 3/8 total (1/8-1/4 oz plus plastic) then you’re talking about a ‘big’ medium heavy or a lighter heavy. I know the falcon lineup and that would be a 6-power rod like the head turner or heavy cover jig. A St croix MH like the 7’4” MH/F would be another. The expert head turner would be great for what you want, but it’s in the $250 range now (used to be $200). I don’t know the lowrider version enough to say for sure but I’m pretty sure it would be a good choice. If you like a longer rod, ignore the lure rating and look at the lowrider swim jig at 7’2” MH/F. It has plenty of grunt to throw an ounce swimbait but a light enough tip to throw 1/8 plus a trick worm. I agree on the 150 size over the 200. I throw a 100 size for most things myself.