casts_by_fly

While braid scissors are great for tying and rigging, I am completely against using them to cut off a snag unless you can get very close to the lure. There is nothing worst than coming across where someone snagged a lure on braid and left 50' of braid trailing because that's as close as they could get. Its a killer for trolling motor props (and I'd guess outboard props too) and if the trailing braid snags into something a new snagging hazzard for someone else. Two years ago I was fishing down a bank and thought I was fishing down a branch of a tree as my lure kept veering right. On the third cast I thought a fish hit it as it stopped vibrating so I set the hook. It ended up being a piece of ~50 lb braid that someone had snagged a lure right at the bank in brush and the tail end was in brush 20' out. It was a beautiful little cut to cast into and I wasn't the first person to snag on the braid. I must have spent 5 minutes pulling line out of that snarl, braid and mono alike. For this specific case, running 10-15 lb braid for neds will mean that you straighten any hooks before you snap the braid. If you're running a 4-8 lb leader then you'll snap the hook knot first. For heavier braid I'll move the boat in to get a snag, but if its deeper than 5' or so then I wrap the line around a pair of pliers and start pulling. With 50lb braid you can straighten an EWG hook.

Man, twelve days of carrying a bucket up and down that hill. Must have felt like sisyphus. looks good!

I picked up the Zodias 6’9” medium light fast action and love it. I used to use a 7’ light power like you described. Too whippy for me. I wanted a faster action with a little more power down low, but the same light tip to throw 1/16 and 1/32 oz heads at times (with 2-3” soft plastics) while mostly fishing 1/8 oz jig heads with plastic. I think you’re going to find that a true light power is going to be a little light for swim jigs. A medium light has a lot more power in the bottom and middle of the rod.

7’ light model https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Shimano_Expride_B_Spinning_Rods/descpage-SXX.html

I don’t know that answer but I bet @A-Jay is salivating at that color if he doesn’t already have it. rick

yeah, I've considered just buying the pole first and using it like a stakeout pole. My challenge there is that I have no good place to put it. My rods are horizontal on my left from 3' behind to 3' in front of the seat area. I use the right side to land fish and for my helix. The rear mount location is perfect for it from that perspective.

Off the rack, the St Croix panfish rods are great. Lots of options for length and power to suit you. That said, given your want to have something to truly enjoy I would suggest a conversation with DVT about a custom rod. It probably won't cost as much as a GLX (it certainly doesn't need to) and it will be exact to your specifications.

This is me. Mine hang over the side of the kayak when I'm on the water and get sprayed every time I run spot to spot. They dry off in the truck on the way home. I do have one 'lure' that's too pretty to fish though. Its a traditional atlantic salmon fly that was tied for me by a competition tyer 20-odd years ago. Its in a plastic case and doesn't leave it.

I subscribe to the A-jay theory on leaders. I want a couple wraps on the reel spool when the fish is boatside. That means 2 rod lengths plus a couple wraps (another 2'). Then I add a couple more feet to allow for tying and retying a couple trips. On my spinning rod that means I've got about 20' of leader on the rod to start. I'll take it down to 15 or so before I retie (which is pretty soon).

I have spotlock which is great. I use it when I'm picking apart spots as you note. I can jog around a dock or laydown and pitch every piece of it. Where I've considered the pole is when I'm in a grass bed so the motor doesn't get bunged up with grass trying to move around or when I'm in <3' of water. The first is more common than the second. I can see that I would use it occasionally, but its hard to justify the price. If it was half the price I would have done it already, but $700 is a lot for something I'm going to use occasionally. At 20% off? I'd probably just do it.

Hi gents, has anyone ever seen the micro power pole on sale? I’d like to have one for my kayak but it’s a good chunk of money. I’ve watched for what feels like forever and I’ve never seen them discounted anywhere. It’s $600 plus another $109 for the pole. I’m sure there is a new customer 10% off somewhere maybe. Or TW does their 10-15% off gift cards at the holidays. But otherwise there is no competitive pricing on them. Anyone know of anything? thanks rick

832 is my go to braid and I fish it in 10/30/50. I have 10# yozuri on one reel and it’s okay. I think it’s a 4 carrier braid. I put 10# 131 suffix on my new spinning rod and I am liking it. It’s a little stiffer than 832 (and more expensive) and doesn’t feel like sewing thread when you’re using it. It lays a little better on a spinning spool than 832 because of the stiffness. I still need a lot more time with it but so far so good.

30# 832 is a fantastic all around braid for bass. Supple, strong, fishes easy but tough enough to go into heavy stuff. I go to 50 for frogs but 30 is great. Also not crazy expensive.

If you’re bank fishing you’ll struggle more because the trees are generally laying away from you and you’re pulling into the crotches. If from a boat it’s easier. Fish along the branches and not across as noted. Heavier hard mono helps as opposed to braid. You have to get the feel for sliding a jig up and over the branches and not setting into them. Also spread your weed guard and mash it down closer to the hook. It should look like a fan and not a stick. Also, you will loose jigs. You can’t catch them if you don’t put your lures where they live.

I’d be on the SC train also. Just prettier country for living purposes. Close to the mountains if you want.

Falcon expert head turner.

Nothing sinister going on. The way TW’s merchant processing works is that they charge the card twice more or less and to the card it looks like a subscription. The card denies it as a form of fraud protection.

The Cara amistad would be a good choice for that and that’s largely what I use it for. I used to have the expert and 3/8 plus a 4” beaver was about the lower limit. The Cara fishes that weight well. If you are 50/50 between those two weights then go amistad. If you’re more 3/8 then the heavy cover jig is a good choice as is the head turner.

What gimruis said. A helix can do depth offset easily.

so I made a brief comment above, but figure I should expand on it. For me, I have 3 main rods that I use as swim jig rods depending on the cover and depth. The lightest is the falcon swim jig rod. Its 7'2" and a fast action. I fish it with braid. Its a MH with a nice light tip. This is my general purpose swim jig rod for anything 3/8 and under which mostly means 3/8 oz. This is for intermittent grass/pads, docks, light bushes, etc. This rod either has a swim jig or a light texas rig tied on it 95% of the time. Then I've got the Head turner at 6'10", heavy/fast. Its a lighter Falcon Heavy (6-power). If I'm throwing at a lot of docks or general grass/pads and a chatterbait/spinnerbait isn't the answer then this rod has a swim jig. Its a 3/8-1/2 swim jig rod with a fast tip. I fish it with mono. The shorter length is nice for tighter spots. This rod is my go to rod for most trips and usually has a spinnerbait or chatterbait on it. But its also a good swim jig rod. The last is the falcon heavy cover jig. Also a 6-power and fast action, but at 7'4" and rated to 1 oz is a big more of a rod than the HT. Also loaded with mono, but heavier than the HT. This is a great rod for a full 1/2 oz swim jig with a 4.3" keitech on the back (or even a 4.8"). That's a pretty good sized swim jig. I'll throw this in heavier cover yet. In all cases, I've found all three setups to be more than forgiving on a fish taking the bait. I don't much straight reel. I'm usually shaking, hopping and droping. I'll shake it over the top of grass and then drop it into a hole. Cast it up to the dock and let it hit the bottom, give it a couple hops and shake it back. I've found most of the fish will hit it on the drop or as soon as it hits the bottom.

Columbia craw and mick hit all of the information. The best way to think about it practically is that for a given power the action largely is where the rod bends when you’re casting and working a lure. The power of a rod comes into play when you’re fighting a fish. let’s just use a 7’, medium heavy and fast action (both per common cents measurements) as the example. The fast action means when you’re casting a lure within the rated/measured range, the tip will bend roughly in the top 25-30% of the rod. That’s pretty tippy. There isn’t really any power associated with that part of the rod and that much of the rod will basically straighten out when you fight a fish. How big of a fish determines how far it will bend down into the power of the bottom half of the rod. As you point out, upping the power and slowing the action will change how it feels. On casting, it will feel like more of the rod is bending because it is. Again, keeping within the lure rating for the rod (which will probably be a little higher given the power change) a true moderate action is going to bend down to the 30-40% mark. When fighting a fish, it’s also going to bend down further faster but have more power overall. going the other direction, an extra fast on a medium is going to have a very light and quick tip. Casting it you’re barely going to bend to that 25% mark if you even get there. With very light loads (aka smaller fish) it is going to bend down into the rod because there isn’t a lot of power up the rod to support it. the hard parts of all of this is that there is no industry standard that the manufacturers actually use. Some rate a little lighter and some a little heavier. Some are slower and and some are faster. Using lure rating is usually pretty good to get you in the ballpark. Comparing against something you know is another good idea. Forget about line rating, it’s pretty meaningless. For me, I’ve settled into falcon rods and I know how they rate them. I know that they have two different levels of ‘heavy’ and what power that corresponds to. I know their actions pretty well now and could pick out rods based on the spec. Some guys here can do that for loomis or st croix. Find what you like and the adapt from there.

probably the best in falcons lineup.

different styles, but I think the cara is a better rod.

A swim jig is still a jig, right? Use a jig rod.

You didn't answer how deep you mean for a crankbait. There's a big difference in the rod required for a 20' diver vs a 10' diver. If you say its a 10' crankbait you're looking at then I'm going to tell you that you can do it with a spinning rod for both presentations. Also, for a baitcaster (which I still would suggest you learn) a 20' crankbait is going to require a 'H' rated rod while a 10' only needs a M or MH. If you want a baitcaster for $120 to do modest crankbaits then the Falcon deep runner in the Bucoo SR series ($99) would be a good choice. It will throw a DT6 up to a DT14 or so. And, its a pretty solid rod for other moving baits (spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, buzzbaits, etc). If you don't mind it being $129 then you can bump to the Lowrider series and get a little better blank and full cork. The 7'3" bladed jig rod would be a good one as would the 7'6" cranker II.