casts_by_fly

I have the zillion, met, bantam, and chronarch (and a bunch of abus). They are equally good reels in quality. The preference between braking systems and shape might drive you to one or the other. At the same price point there isn’t much to choose between. BUT as you say, for $200 you can get a zillion right now. Last I checked a met or bantam was $260 jdm if you can find one. And at usdm prices it’s a no brained to get a jdm zillion. You can practically get 2 jdm zillions for the price of a bantam and the aldebaran is even more expensive.

will there be a subsequent follow up post showing mega sized brown fish from this trip? Asking for a friend..

I'm just across the border in NJ and its a similar scenario. We had some hot weather a couple weeks ago that warmed things quickly in the shallows, but then we had overnight freezing temps a week or two later. The lakebed itself is still cold as is the water. Its early yet. Any fishing before April 1st this far north is bonus time. Sometimes you do alright, sometimes not. But it could be worse- there could still be ice on the water. Our forecast here is a couple days of chilly rain but then 65/50 and sunny for a few days. Assuming no more deep drops in overnight temps, this should get the water up over 50 soon and the fish will start turning on.

how fast were you moving? if you're truly stopped, then the screen will be 'stretched' lengthwise unless you also slowed down the scroll speed a ton. It's hard to judge size and type in that regard. Swapping to down imaging would give you a better view on size. In this case, the schooling pattern is the full water column and possibly close packed. Neither of which are going to imply bass. No cover so open water schooling. That says baitfish or trout to me. One of the big lakes here gets trout dumped in at a few spots and they stay schooled up as they roam around near the stocking point for a while. Also, you seem to have a good bit of interference on your unit (the vertical bars). Not sure what your setup is, but that would drive me nuts on mine.

forgot about that one. Did that two years ago. First trip of the year, blowing a gale, trying to throw an a-rig. My dad had given me a chronarch 200 and I spooled it up with some new 50 braid. It was a little more weight than the rod should have had and with the wind it was a bear to cast. Second or third cast I launched one and I guess the braid had dug in. It backlashed and ripped the rod out of my hands. Fortunately the air in the rod and reel was enough to float it long enough for me to get it.

Very nice. was it a catch weigh release style tournament series?

Year before last I was fishing with my dad and I’m still not sure how it happened. 12 # supernatural on an abu Garcia mgx. I was throwing a 90 plopper and must have reached for just a little more. Maybe I didn’t have anything set well enough. Maybe something got stuck in the brakes. Either way it went all the way to the spool and there was no saving it. I gave it 10 minutes before I started cutting and respooled with whatever he had in the boat.

im finding the same thing the more I’m using them. I’ve come to the point where instead of swapping to a crankbait I’ll just treat the jerkbait light a crankbait at times when they don’t want it jerked. It means more time with a lure in the water and less second guessing. Just fish it and keep varying the retrieve until you find what they are eating.

So this is a bit different of a situation than what most would think about this time of year. If its where I'm thinking of, the plant discharges warmer water than the lake would normally have. You're going to get into the spawning season sooner than the rest of the lakes in the area. The bass also get a longer growing season. If its the location I'm thinking, you're probably at 55-60 degree water right now, maybe a bit more. If its less than that, I'd be focusing on the slack water near the moving water sections. Baitfish will be congregated there. If its that warm or more, the bass will be up shallow on beds. I'd still look to the moving water, but a little further away from the outflows. The moving water keeps sediment from building up and washes fresh water over the beds.

I know it says 'likely above' for NJ, that doesn't indicate how far above. In our case, we're only looking at 60 degrees as the highest high over the next 10 days. The 'realistic' highs/lows for us are low 50's and high 30's for most of the next 10 days. And windy as anything during the days. As much as I love to fish April around here, that forecast isn't making it look nice.

The only reason to not go humminbird for the second one is if you're putting in live imaging and want to go with LVS34 (or 60). Otherwise, a networked set of humminbirds with an ulterra is the way to go. Then you just need to decide helix vs solix with the main difference being touch screen (and associated price). I'd go helix all day for the one in the front since you're not touching and adjusting it that much.

My first recommendation would be to buy a scale and tape measure. And I hesitated posting that as a suggestion because I don't want to sound like 'that internet guy'. However, I think there is benefit in undertanding the size of fish you're catching relative to the body of water you're in and the area you live in. There are no lakes in PA with an abundance of 10 lb bass. I'd go so far as to say there are no lakes in PA with an over abundance of 6+lb bass, and certainly not heavily pressured ones (I'm putting Erie smallies aside). Understanding the fish that are in the lake is the first step to understanding how to catch them. If in fact you're truly targetting 10 lb bass, you're looking at the biggest fish in the lake (and state- the state record is only 11-03). Those fish don't normally jump at the chance to chase down a school of 2" minnows. In that case, I'd be fishing at night, this time of year, with big baits. Early spring is the best chance of the year to catch the biggest fish in the lake when they are at their biggest for the year. Like Ajay noted above, fish when and what other people ain't. If there are 10 guys fishing the lake, the bass will have turned into a neutral or negative mood pretty quickly. They will turn back on after the pressure is off, but they will need some time. This time of year, I'd find the deepest water nearest to the shallows you can get. With the swingy weather, they'll take the chances offered to get up shallow and warm up, but the pressure will push them back down. That's the norm this time of year. A little shallower, a little deeper. Rinse and repeat. To minimize bass energy spent, they will pick the spots with shallow and deep as close as possible in that lake so their travel isn't as far.

I'll mentally make a guess on videos, but I'm not bothered about how accurate it is. Camera angles, distances, and lens focal lengths all will distort how big a bass looks. The ones I do care about my guesses a little more are when I'm watching the pro tournaments that they are weighing them live. After a couple weighed fish I'm usually within 3-4 ounces. The comment about DC above is correct. Wheeler was also really good about getting it within an ounce or two, especially when they are catching schools of a given year class. My own caught fish are usually pretty close. It takes weighing a few to get your eye in, but after that I'm within 4-6 ounces most of the time. I'm better at estimating length so I start there and that defaults to a given weight that's usually close enough.

Old Town Autopilot 120 kayak here. pros: * spot lock and related features are awesome. I’ll never not have it on any future craft * like zcoker, it’s small enough that with some effort I can launch it anywhere from a kart. I can take it into really skinny water with the motor down and even less if I pop up the motor and paddle board style paddle. And if you use the motor and the rudder you can spin it 360 degrees in a 12’6” wide canal to turn around so I don’t worry about getting it stuck anywhere. * It’s stable. We’re talking on the kayak scale but for a kayak it’s a 100% stand and fish boat for me. I can motor full speed while standing up. Cons * it’s slow. Better than paddling or peddling but at 4 mph you have to plan your course. You’re not going to run and gun by any stretch. I tend to go down the bank so that’s fine by me mostly but if you’re fishing a 500 acre lake or bigger you have to plan ahead. * it’s heavy. Stability comes with a price. Bare boat is 125lb. The battery and seat are another 25 or so. That’s 150# to get in and out of the truck then 25# for the motor before I get to load fishing gear. I’ve considered a trailer but hit the gym instead. * negligible dry storage. Fish in the rain? You’re drying out all of your gear when you get home. Want to bring rain gear for ‘just in case’ weather days? You’re either wearing it or it’s in the exposed rear well. On a related note, you also have to load and unload everything every trip. With a boat, you launch and your gear is in the boat already. With the kayak I have to drop the boat in the water, get all of my gear out of the truck and into the boat, then park.

An eighth ounce head on a finesse trd gets you well over 1/4 ounce. A true medium power will get you there just fine. A medium light might have enough power for a 1/2 ounce jig but it would depend on the hook. If you’re fishing the heavier jigs more I’d go a medium/fast. The Cara finesse jig would get you there. 6’10” 1/4-5/8. Fast action.

Have a look at the zodias 7’2” ml/F. I have the 6’9” version and it will do what you’re asking. I imagine the 7’2” would also. Negligible hardware above the reel, no exposed threads.

Two head units take up a good bit of space, especially in a kayak. Not saying it isn’t doable, but it has to be planned for.

No. It’s not the ‘F’ lake. I’m further north than that. Lake number two is spruce run. Some big pike in there. Rick

You asked about process. I’m into my fourth season on my autopilot now. My process was have a target in mind what I want to do and how I fish. Then aim toward that. Anything I might want to upgrade in the future gets either a semi permanent mount or a mount that can be used on future upgrades. First season I added a helix 7, a pair of single rod omega holders, and I think that was that to start. Over the season the omegas changed into horizontal holders. I added nav light strips. And that was my setup for two years. Last year I upgraded to a helix 9 and live imaging. Sold the helix 7 and used the same mounts. The only real upgrade left is a power pole which I want, but don’t want to spend full retail on.

close. I’m saying that consumers won’t accept a price increase (or much of one) on something they’ve been buying for years at a given price. So if you want your products to be higher priced then you have to bring out new ones and have something flashy about them to justify the price.

What reel and toxic said. Also consider that that bait is a plastic molded bait. It’s been on the market for 20 years or so I think. That means from the manufacturers perspective the molds are paid for, the process is optimized, and they have taken every bit of manufacturing cost out of the process. They limit the number of colors to keep cost down. also, because it was introduced ages ago, it’s much harder to increase prices in an existing product than it is to just introduce a new and improved one for more money.

I don’t know what the various website say (sometimes there are discrepancies) but certainly the expert version in the current lineup is a fast action regardless of the label. I have one and I fish it for what you are asking. It’s very quick on the tip for casting and gets into the power quickly in a hookset. It doesn’t have a ton of power for bigger single hooks but finesse singles and all travels are great.

There is an older gent on youtube that talks about FFS for humminbird and bass fishing. I found his channel when I got mine last year. At one point as he's dialing in settings, he sees a fish along a bluff wall that's just lazing around. After a little tweaking, you can make out the paddle and fins clearly on the screen. Pretty wild to see.

Long casts and fish grabbing it lightly. The hook point catches a hard spot in the mouth just right and they don’t get stuck because of the stretch in the line. If you watched the BPT there were a lot of guys on Toledo where the hook was falling out at the boat as soon as they let slack into it. Just make sure your hooks are sharp.

About a 5-5.5# from me as well. The size of the mouth in the first picture looks about 3.5" across given the size of the chatterbait. In the last picture the length is about 6x as long as the mouth width, which would estimate the fish around 20-21" long which doesn't look far off unless you're 6'8" or 4'8" tall. A 20" largemouth around here with full summer weight is going to push high 4#. That fish is maybe a little longer (figure 0.5# per half inch at that size with normal proportions) and looks 'full' so I'd give you a solid 5+, but without any measurements I'm going to say not 6.