casts_by_fly

Falcon cara swim jig rod mostly. 7'2" MH/F. 30 lb 832 braid. Mine has a chronarch on it, but the reel is just personal preference. That's for swim jigs 1/4-3/8 mostly. If I'm throwing a heavier swim jig I'll throw it on the 7'4" Heavy Cover Jig, also in the cara lineup, and on 17 lb mono because that's what that rod has.

Shame I didn’t see this earlier. I have the rod you want here and would have cut you a deal on it. Falcon expert Hudson special. MH/MF 3/8-3/4 rating. Fantastic rod for 1/2 oz crankbaits. If you prefer a more moderate rod for chatterbaits it’s great (that’s not my preference). It would fish the smaller swim baits you mention well.

these two things are why mineral sunscreen isn’t right for most people. It’s a bigger to rub in and always leaves a film residue. That’s just how it works. It’s a physical barrier. If you can’t stand having that residue on your skin, then you won’t use it enough. also, if you don’t mind the heat, an spf 50 long sleeve hoodie is the same protection as mineral sunscreen and you can take it off when you get in the truck.

you can, but not for long. You’re drawing 0.8 and 2 amps respectively. So you’ll get about 3 hours from that battery. I’d be looking at a 30 ah minimum for a solid day of both.

I’m new into fishing jerkbait, but I think I know the rod action you’re looking for. Have a look at the falcon finesse jig/topwater in the expert line. 6’10”, medium heavy power so when you hook up you have enough to fight a fish. ‘Fast’ action but I’d put it on the border of moderate fast. It’s my current front runner in my setups for a jerkbait.

with braid, I’m going to say regular, not xh. 1.5 oz plus another chunk gets you nearly to 2 oz but the expert version will take it. If it was mono/fluoro I would say the xh. If you’re in very heavy vegetation then maybe the xh.

Can only know once you fish it. And if it’s priced like their other buzzbait at $16 I’ll never know.

this. If you have a half mile bank with one blow down tree on it, that’s where they will be. Bass like cover and if that’s the only cover around they will be there. They will roam away from it but if it’s the only cover around they will come back. Compare to a half mile by half mile grass bed and they can roam that whole area and still be in cover.

put them in and turn the aerator on.

I'm pretty sure you said this is your first baitcaster ever. In that case, I say put 12 lb big game on it to start. You're going to backlash. Everyone does when they are learning. You can buy a big spool of big game for dirt cheap such that the first time you backlash and can't pick it out, you're cutting it out without worries about the cost of the line. Also, I'd never use straight braid anywhere like that where you could get snagged on the bottom and not be able to break off at the snag.

mineral sunscreens are effective, but they don't rub in very well. A friend has to use them because he has sensitive skin. Oxybenzone is an endocrine disruptor which is the biggest safety issue. The cancer risk is related to the hormonal interference, primarily breast and thyroid tumors, not acute skin contact and skin cancer. And the risk of cancer from useage is far lower than the risk of skin cancer by the sun with non-usage.

they are fine. I still prefer gamakatsu across the board. The magic eye round bend treble is my standard replacement treble hook. The g-finesse are crazy sharp if you need a light wire hook. Learn to tie your own feathered trebles and save a bunch of money. Also you'll always have them available to you for any lure.

GReb, That's odd to me. I had an expert amistad that I broke on a hookset last year. It was going on 2 years old so not a manufacturing defect and I told them so. They said send them the chunk of blank with the label and a check for $25. I asked if we could upgrade to a Cara and they said make is $75. Dead simple.

I prefer smaller and lighter to a point. The rod has to balance and there needs to be enough room to actually grab things comfortably. I've got 1000 through 6000 sized spinning reels here in the house for different tools (not all bass). The answer depends partly on the specific rod and reel you're talking about. Case in point- I just bought a shorter zodias with a 1000 sized stradic. Total weight was great and it felt great in the hand, except that the rear grip on that rod is so light (carbon monocoque) that it was still tip heavy. I ended up with a 3000 sized reel to get good balance and it only weighs an extra ounce and a half. All feels great now. On my dad's 7' zodias he has a 4000 sized reel, but its a vanford which is even lighter than my 3000 size. The only issue for me on the 1000 sized reels is that you have to be careful of your knuckles. Every now and then if you leave your knuckle a little off the rod it gets rapped by the bail when it comes around. Otherwise a 1000 size is fine for bass if you like it. With braid, the smaller size and lower capacity spool is less of an issue and you can get plenty of drag on one.

Here are my thoughts.

I ended up buying an amazon gift card with mine and put the balance on my amazon account. I order enough from amazon for it to be worth it. Also, JDM zillions are $200 there so just do that.

One resource not noted yet is serious eats and the food lab. Kenji is no longer there but they have kept his articles up. Everything he’s written is gold. A few of the others on staff have good stuff. Read through it to learn the ‘why’. https://www.seriouseats.com/the-food-lab-5118015 as to general approach, trial and error. Pick some recipes, learn some techniques, master some basics per a recipe. Then experiment. Making a vinaigrette salad dressing? Try lemon juice, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, and rice wine vinegar. You’ll see the differences between the flavors and learn what you like. Want to make a great sauce? Pick a ‘mother’ sauce that you like the flavor of and make it. Then try a variation next time.

Now you’ve come full circle. The autopilot is a great kayak. Maybe the best you can buy at retail. In the “three things” thread, the clear limitation is speed to get somewhere. If you fish 10k acre reservoirs and like to spot hop, this ain’t the boat. I find that a practical max for running around a lake a little, big enough to not get bored fishing the same bank, small enough to fish all the good stuff is about 300-500 acres depending on the layout. A great 150 acre lake all to yourself is fantastic. I fish a 1200 acre lake and you have to plan ahead but you can fish a lot of it in a day depending how you’re fishing. The 2k+ sized lakes here are tough and you have to pick your areas. On a 12 hour day of going down the bank I can cover about half of the 2700 acre lake fishing the docks. I have thought about a 2-6hp gas motor. That would do about 8-10mph and open things up. It’s also a lot more faff to deal with. Since it would really only help with two places I’m not doing it. like you’re finding, there are places for kayaks and places for boats. If you have the facilities for a boat and the lakes that need them, that’s the right answer. If you want to fish small, then a kayak can be great.

even in my kayak I have two spare props. I’ve got the weedless prop, the standard prop, and the rc plane prop which is a speed prop. If I guessed wrong on the conditions I’ll swap props on the water. That’s less critical for someone motoring around with a gas motor, but it’s a two minute job and makes a big difference to me. and if you shear a prop 10 miles from the ramp, private property or not I’m finding a safe place to put it on the shore to change it. If someone’s in their yard I’d ask to use their dock or yard but otherwise a stranded boat has to be given some leeway.

I use mostly mono (specialist braid applications). I like limp line and slick line. Supernatural moss green is just that for me. The 16# is my main moving baits line. I fish 12 for crank baits and jerk baits then 14# for top waters. It’s not the most abrasion resistant but I haven’t found that a limiting factor mostly. In heavier mono I fish 17# suffix elite for big moving baits and bottom lures. Then I have 20# big game on my big rod. BG is the hardest and slickest of the three. Elite the softest.

What you’re asking for is target lock from humminbird. Won’t work for lowrance but I think there is an aftermarket company that makes it. here it is.

what didn't you like about the dragger? I have the bucoo sr version and it’s a great rod for what you’re saying. The Cara should be a lighter and crisper version. The expert version is a slower action and a good big crank bait rod or chatterbait rod for weirdos who like a moderate action for one.

you’ll get plenty of line on the reel with 25 lb PP. if you go to thicker mono then less so. I run 17 lb elite and there is just enough capacity.

also any steeper roads you turn on to to go up a hill. The hill I lived on as a kid had a couple cross streets so as you went up the hill you’d hit a level cross street and then go up again. Kinda like a bench. If you trimmed down a bigger motor you’d drag the skeg. As it was with the 150 on a motor toter you had to go slow.