casts_by_fly

something like that. At the time I was tying a lot, much of it was for steelhead on the great lakes. You should see the fluoroescent yarns I have sitting in the bottom of this tub. And then the beads, cone heads, and dubbing tubs. You never knew just what was going to turn on the fish on a given day (they saw a lot of flies) so I carried them ALL. Which meant I had to tie them all. Fortunately carrying a hundred different flies takes up a lot less space than a hundred different hardbaits.

So it turns out I have even more than I thought. I forgot just how much fly tying stuff I amassed over the years. I have a 20”x20”16” tote packed so full that the lid doesn’t shut tight. I was a bit of a collector when I liked something and had to have all of the colors. Flashabou and accents were one of those. Just pulling out the main envelopes it looks like 30 different ones. At a couple 4” strands per bait I guess I could accent every skirted lure on bass resource.

@A-Jay thanks. I have a TON of flashabou downstairs from when I use to tie flies. Between regular flashabou, the crinkle cut version, and some others, I bet I have 18-20 hanks of it. Now I've got a little side project until things thaw out. I needed to tie up some feather trebles anyway. Looks like a couple strands here or there in a skirt or two is coming. Do you use it as a bright accent on darker skirts (like above) or also on the brighter stuff (like a chartreuse/white)? I'm going to play with a couple options (I think black flashabou could be interesting and subtle) and see what I coem up with. Worst case, I can all always pull those strands off on the water.

Being a northern bum, I never put together that the Sabine is the river that feeds Toledo Bend. In my experience, usually full river systems (and their lakes/resevoirs) tend to be similarly productive (usually because of underlying nutrients or land practice surrounding them). How is it that Toledo Bend has such good quality fishing while the Sabine, well, isn't. Looking at Tournament results on the Sabine and hearing pros talk about it, its pretty clear that it isn't a hotbed of bass angling as much as its might be something different and enjoyable to watch for us couch anglers. What changes when you hit Toledo bend to make it the hot spot?

I mean, I guess those look like they could work… Is that flash a bou?

It went north of you. I guess when I first posted this I hadn’t truly checked the forecast for Pittsburgh where we were going to be. About 2 hours into the drive my wife said we were during into a winter weather advisory. A little later it was a warning. About an hour from home it really started sticking on the roads and got messy. The last mile or two were the worst on the back roads, but we made it with no issues. Ended up with about a foot overnight. So we dealt with 12-15” here for a couple days only to drive into another foot for the weekend.

small fish hit baits much bigger than they are also. Their eyes are bigger than their brains. We once had to rescue a smallmouth that was floating on the surface. It had eaten a crappie but it was stuck and couldn’t get it down. The smallie was maybe 14” and had gotten the crappie up to its dorsal fin but couldn’t get over the hump. The crappie was 12” long. and then there’s stuff like this: just throw them. Skinny, flexible lures are easy for even smaller bass to get in.

SHHHH! don’t tell anyone that rattle traps catch cold fish. For years growing up we’d fish the ponds at ice out with the original trap. Sometimes you’d throw it up on the ice and the fish would grab it as it dropped off. I’ve got a lipless tied on from my first trip until the grass is too much to throw it. that’s the only problem with these big jigs. You start with an ounce or an ounce and a half of lead and add another ounce of plastic. You’re getting into extra big rod territory to throw them.

Rod tubes.

I also throw heavy swim jigs in ‘normal’ sizes. Catt pictured one below (strike king tour with the swinging hook) that’s at 1/2 oz. Then I’ve got some siebert jigs up to an ounce.

About 20' on my spinning rods. I want the knot on the reel when landing a fish. Also gives plenty of cuts and reties.

yeah, last week was false spring here. A couple days of mid and upper 50's were great for getting things done around the house. It was too windy and cold to really fish comfortably but I made good use of the time in getting ahead of honey do's. We're above freezing, but with 15 mph wind and 40+ gusts it doesn't feel like it. And, its going to get colder before it gets warmer. At least we're away this weekend so won't get quite the cold as much (Pittsburgh isn't much better).

I forget which trailer they are showing there (Ike did a smilar video) but I picked up one of the smaller sized ones and plan to put a ~5" swimbait on the back of it. Even at that its still smaller than a shad or the various swimbaits that people are throwing. It will be comparable to a magdraft with a little bit of a skirt. I see it as a magnum swim jig or a weedless swimbait. rick

The cold the past couple days has skimmed everything over that was open and the water temps are frigid still, but the upcoming week isn't the worst way to be exiting February. Maybe next wednesday if the wind forecast holds as planned (<5 mph).

that was the consensus of his testing on the FG. Only once did it break inside the knot itself and looking at the video I'm not sure that the braid caused the break in the first place. I think the weak spot in the fluoro leader was just inside the knot. All of the rest of that test the leader broke outside fo the knot. The double pitzen is faster for me now. I used to tie the palomar (or the trilene knot for open eyed lures like R-bend spinnerbaits) and I can tie one pretty fast. But the slowest part of a palomar is tightening it down and making sure the loop doesn't roll over the knot. Tighten too fast and you can heat the line or get the loop out of place as you said. Do either and when you test the knot it will pop. With the double pitzen you can still have those problems, but you're pulling a doubled line through a doubled line and also you're pulling most of the knot with no tension on the standing line (that goes back to your reel). So the likelihood of burning it is much less. It also seems to slide easier, maybe because of the doubled line. The only thing that slows me down aon a double pitzen is if I get stingy with the loop in the first place and leave too tiny of a loop to feed back into at the end. Then it can be tough to get a loop through the loop. That's on me, not the knot. Compared to an improved clinch, basic clinch, or a bunch of other knots then sure. Its not the worst knot in the world. But there are better still. Whether you need it for what you're doing is up to you. I still tie an imrpoved clinch knot at times, though not for bass or anything I'm putting any real pressure on. Its maybe the fastest knot to tie for a #10 single hook for trout.

And when you stock them before opening day every bucket sitter is making every cast at one they can when they see them. They stick out like a sore thumb to everything around. There was a stream 5 minutes from the house growing up that was stocked in the spring. Usually the big goldens were put in the holes near the road and we'd go for a drive after they stocked to see them.

For anyone not a subscriber, Ty Berger just did a big series on knots on his youtube channel. I've seen braid and fluoro tied to the hook and braid to fluoro connection knots. Not sure if he did a mono to hook video. He uses a range of knots and a couple different diameters of line, all tied a couple times and averaged. He uses a digital scale to measure the breaking force for a given knot on a straight pull. I forget the exact results, but the palomar didn't fare so well for line to lure. The SD Jam I think tested out the highest. For leader knots, the FG came in pretty well ahead, but the Alberto wasn't too bad. The double unit didn't fare well. That marries with my own experience. I'll tie an FG at home and feel good about it but if I need to tie one on the water the alberto is easier and more reliable and just about as good. I've also gone to the double pitizen this past year. dead simple to tie and tie reliably on the water. easier to tie on a big bait like a spinnerbait or long 3-trebled jerkbait than a palomar and getting that loop over the whole thing cleanly.

Blues don't normally get stocked. They are so rare in the PA hatcheries that when they find one as a found trout they pull them for the various visitors tanks they maintain. Last time I was at the one by Pymatuning (must be 25-30 years ago?) there were a dozen in there. I've never caught a bowfin. They mostly don't exist in the waters that I've fished though they catch them in the lower delaware tribs (along with snakeheads) and I want to do a trip down there this summer. Also fully agree on there being other trout with better visuals. These were always a favorite growing up in western PA and with a cabin in north central PA.

That’s a golden rainbow. Originally bred in West Virginia by state biologists I believe. Often called a palomino (accurate) or albino (not accurate). I’ve never heard the term lightning trout thought. edit: found the history link I was thinking of. https://wvdnr.gov/west-virginia-gold-rush-a-history-of-the-golden-rainbow-trout/ also look up the blue trout (strain of rainbows) if you want some cool colors.

And we have a winner. They are 12g baits. I'm sure someone did the conversion correctly and said it was 0.42 ounce. Then marketing said, "eh, close enough to 1/2 oz and the americans will understand better".

0-20' for me generically speaking. I've never really learned how to fish deep water but its something I'd like to learn and on my list for maybe this year. Ordinarily I'm a down the bank type angler. 10' is about where livescope starts to give a big enough field and be useful I think. Maybe more, maybe less, but that's a decent guide for me. Most of the time when I'm using it while 'just fishing' I have it turned 45 degrees to the bank so I can see what's there before I get there. I'll be fishing perpendicular to the bank but live imaging is looking ahead for me. If I see a fish I'll stop the boat and fish for that fish specifically but that's not the norm.

Well aware the Helix 7 doesn't support live imaging. Been there, done that. I got a good 2 years out of my helix 7 and I had no intentions of upgrading it. It was maybe a little small for split screening, but it is a great form factor for a kayak- not too big and not too small. I never intended to get live imaging but I had the opportunity so I took it. my thought process and advice to anyone building a kayak is to first understand what your needs and wants are. If you're only ever going to drop it into puddle ponds for 2 hours as a time, aka just enough to get off the bank with no intention to ever upgrade, then you don't need to spend for an autopilot or pro angler. If you want to fish big water, tournaments, or do anything odd then you need to be thinking about that ahead of time. If you don't know what you need or want at the start, then do things in an upgradable way. Any idea what her setup is that gets to $20k? I imagine that has to be a pro angler with a torqueedo/bixby (or similar) on the back and an Xi3 on the front. Then a pair of solix level graphs with 360 and live imaging. I think that might get you close. There will be $1500-$2k worth of lithiums supporting all of that.

noco genius 10 single bank runs $100. The genius 5x1 is about $70. If you need to charge two at a time, then it’s $140 for the genius 5x2.

for sure. With anything new there is a learning curve. The pros make the look easy but they have been doing it 5 days a week for 4 years now. I’ve spent a few outings when the fish weren’t cooperating or maybe I wasn’t motivated to figure them out to play with the electronics and figure IT out. Some trips I turn it on and forget about it to focus on the fish. I thought about that. I had a helix 7that I thought about keeping for side imaging and mapping to dedicate the helix 9 to live imaging. There was no point. The helix 9 has three presets. Mine are set to live, side plus nav, and side/di/2d. The rest are a couple button presses away. I never need to see live imaging with anything other than navigation (which is only occasionally). I don’t use live while motoring full speed. That’s what side is for. I don’t have a scenario where I need two things on two different units at the same time. also, if you pull in two units plus live imaging you now also need a black box or networking hub of some type. The helix 7 won’t take live imaging. Not sure which model you have or if it’s an ‘n’ model. If not then you can’t network them. If you’re not going to network them, then you’re running a double setup. Not impossible just more complicated.

I am. Helix 9 and mega live. I put it in a year ago so I’m still learning. I’m comfortable with it but not an expert yet. I don’t fish tournaments, I just fish for fun. I like it. I wouldn’t say it’s changed my life yet, but I do use it. I think as I learn more I’ll use it better and more. Most of last year I used it to see a live image of the cover and structure below and in front of me. A few times I used it to target fish I could see on the screen (which mostly ended up being perch). hummingbird had a rebate going at the time, but your numbers are roughly right for me. If you want to go lvs32 and a 93uhd I think you could get away at $2k all in. I had a really great bonus (the first in my professional life like that) so I splurged on myself. I also sold my helix 7 for a couple hundred bucks to recoup some cash. Like Daubs said in his post about “buying the boat now”, I bought the ‘boat’ now.