casts_by_fly

that has to be 26” long. Imagine if that fish carried its girth through its length.

Black, white, and bluegill and my three colors in that order. Dark conditions (night or grey days) for black, brighter conditions for white, and bright clear water bluegill lakes for bluegill. I’m throwing choppos.

We don't do anything big for valentines day. We go out to dinner enough that there's no reason to make a special thing of it unless it falls on a weekend anyway or if someone is doing a special menu we like the look of. We don't do gifts either, just a fun/funny card Definitely the easiest holiday here.

I forgot to mention, neither of the reels is a large capacity reel. The zillion is listed as 40-80m of 16 lb. The Met is 65m of 20#. I have 17 lb elite on my zillion which is 0.016". That's a bigger diameter line for the rating and I can get about 60 yards on it. With my big rod and a whopper plopper 110 I can just about cast the entire spool. That's not what that rods for, but it does work well for it. On my Met I have 16 lb supernatural which is only 0.013" and there is no problem with capacity. I'd wager I have nearly 100 yards on it. If I put 17# elite it would have a similar capacity to the Zillion. If you were thinking of putting anything bigger than 16 or 17 lb test on it, check the diameters of the line and plan accordingly for your needs.

That sounds like the description of the 6'9" ML zodias I have as well.

Ideally you'd find one in person. That wasn't an option for me, so I ordered from TW who has free returns. In case I was wrong on my impression (I wasn't in this case) I could return it for the other one. Alternatively, you could order both, feel them, and ship one back. Braid will break in a little if it was new braid you were using. Once its broken in light braid should help with casting distance.

Wouldn't fish in a basket become gator food pretty quickly down in florida? I know when I used to hold fish in a mesh net bag at scout camp (to get mesured the next day) the turtles and snakes were all over them. I ended up catching a 4'+ water snake with a bluegill in its gut. It made it into the net and couldnt' get back out with the bluegill in there. Then turtles ripped the other net apart.

@A-Jay- do you still have snow on the ground or did it melt off with the not so wintry temps you've had? You certainly had a lot of it to start with.

If worms also includes other plastics, then in plan this year I expanded my rage bugs to the 3" version, fish the finesse TRDs that I have more often, and I picked up a couple shaky heads to try out. I've got some zoom and zman straight worms for that. No major changes, just some light expansion of what I know works and one or two new things to put more time into.

So many things I miss catching since I moved to NJ. Back near Pittsburgh I loved catching carp in the small streams growing up. Every year the the big rivers would flood and all manner of fish would go WAY up the creeks. Carp and drum were prolific in every hole once the water came down a bit. I'd sneak through with a light spinning rod and some small worms and wash them through in the current. Youd catch all manner of things but carp and drum were so much fun on light tackle. You might catch a 12" carp or a 12# carp when it slid out of a root ball and sucked in your weightless worm. On the other side of the pond I miss grayling. I'd never heard of them before going there but they are the perfect flyrod fish. They don't mind when you're around them (they don't spook nearly as bad as trout), even in the clearest water. They readily eat if you can present it well, and if you can't they still don't spook so you get another shot. And they are beautiful. The first time fishing for them my wife's boss had invited us to fish for grayling on fall afternoon not long after we moved there. He and 2 buddies had reserved a stretch of water (on the River Test no less!). We showed up with Rachel in her pink wellington boots and a charcuterie pack/mini champagne bottles in the back of my filson fishing vest. You see, she was a very casual angler then. I had taken her fly fishing on our first date and I had built her a flyrod of her own. The mowed banks of the test which required no wading were just her speed. Having never seen a greyling before we all set off from the parking area and went our separate ways. I spent most of the morning guiding for Rachel since I could see them and the sand patches they were hanging on. I could watch her fly drift past either long or short and give her just enough instruction to adjust. When she couldn't quite get it right she'd give me the rod and say "you do it!" and usually on the first cast a greyling would come to hand. At lunch time we convened back at the cars with the usual "how'd you do". The boss has 6, the other guys had 6 more combined. Standing there in her pink wellies sipping some champagne, the casual angler had 24 at that point and I had another 12. She didn't fish much the afternoon, just sat on the benches in the sunshine mostly. I finished the day with 36 landed with the biggest around 2 lb and nearly 20" (which is HUGE for an english grayling). She still talks about the day that she caught more than her boss and all of his friends combined. Grayling are great fun.

I just picked up a Zodias which is similar spec'd to the expride across most of the models. I went with the 6'9" ML. I've had it on the water once and oogled it in the house while staring at snow a bunch of times. Mine is 1/8-7/16 rated. Throwing a 1/20 oz head and a finesse TRD you could cast it a LONG way on 10 lb 131 braid. That's more than enough for what I wanted the rod for. The tip is very light but it gets into power reasonably quickly. My dad has the 7' medium zodias (3/16-1/2) which I handled before I bought mine. It has more power down low but not quite as fast of an action to get there. My 6'9" feels like they took the light tip and heavier butt on his and compressed the rod down by 3" to make it faster yet. I didn't prefer his, but I really like mine. All that's to say that I don't think the light power would be enough for me for throwing neds and other spinning rod duty. I would look at the 7'2" Expride ML if you want a longer rod for neds.

Looking at the lake on google maps, it looks like it’s only 4 miles from the ramp to the bottom of the lake. Not sure where you were if if I have that right, but 4 miles in a kayak is no biggie. I’ll do that in about a 1 hour run. If you have a brushless high power motor on the back that’s a 40 minute run.

Huh. I never would have guessed that. I've never seen a fully painted lure be used as a bait float like that.

I have both (as well as a Bantam and Chronarch). All JDM except the Chronarch. They are both high quality reels. They have very different form factors for your hand. The Met is a tiny reel. My hand engulfs it on a rod. The Daiwa is a little bigger and 'poofier'. The zillion has the daiwa braking system and the SV spool which are idiot proof. The Shimano takes a little more getting used to, but once you know shimano or centrifugal braking its largely all the same. I have the MGL spool on all of my shimanos and they all behave the same. I like both and both are excellent reels. If you prefer the Daiwa form factor then get the zillion. If you prefer a shimano form factor get the Met. That said, the JDM zillion is about $50 cheaper than the JDM met or bantam right now. I've been very tempted. Zillion on the left in the first picture.

i just finished here a little bit ago. I've cleared twice and it was 6-8" each time, so 12-14" all in. Its warmed up a little bit here so the snow's falling off the trees now and the snow on the ground is wet and compressing. Its going to be around a while as we've got nothing in the forecast to melt it anytime soon. Good luck to anyone who didn't already clear their driveways. This melting is making it super heavy snow and 14" of wetness is a rough shoveling day.

it’s no different at the dock or while fishing. You have to get used to the little bit of wobble when you shift your weight. It doesn’t take much to get used to it.

that would be alright once. I'm not dragging it back up the hill though!

If you want to see them in action, jacob wheeler did a video series on a bunch of those in the pool. He did it a couple months ago and you can see the wobble/pitch/roll as it comes through the pool. He then also took them onto the water and checked actual diving depth on livescope.

My dad has an older 162 (maybe 165?) which is more or less the same boat and he puts it in a storage unit for the winter. Same deal- 20 hp, trimmed all the way down and turned hard one direction, boat angled fully, tongue folded- just barely fits in a 20' unit.

I stand to fish basically 100% of the time. I use the rudders when I am sitting and running a distance. I'll point the motor head at something on the bank where I'm aiming, lock heading, and then use the rudders to steer straight. That lets me tie on a bait or send a text message while keeping on track. Otherwise, I don't use the pedals when I'm fishing. I have the remote around my neck and I'm standing like in any other boat. The app is good for backup, but not good enough to fish with on the water. If having a backup is critical to you for staying on the water then get the mini remote. For me, if my remote dies I'm going home and the app will get me there. If you're sitting to fish, what most guys seem to do it mount the remote in a fixed position, either clamped to the seat or the side handle of the boat. Then its at arms reach when you want it, but not hanging on your neck. Give it a couple trips and you'll have the buttons memorized by feel. On/off is easy- its the round one under your thumb in the middle. Up/down/left/right are right there also. Spotlock is the only other one you'll need to find blind and that will come from muscle memory. Navigation (classic mode, not advanced) is super useful for fishing down the bank, even if you're only using the motor on momentary. It keeps the motor head pointed in the right direction for you, so you don't have to think about where its steering when you kick it on and off. and I wouldn't bet on that neural link. They haven't put Ipilot link on it yet and that's known technology..

I was afraid I was going to have to siphon the gas out of the snow blower to store it for the summer. I don't think I have to worry about that now. We're in the 8-10 swatch and not far from the 10-15 swatch. Like the last time, a little change to the south and we could see a lot. As it is its going to be a lot to sort out first thing in the morning tomorrow.

An expert amistad is going to struggle with only 3/8 oz. If that’s 3/8 plus plastic then you’re in with a chance. A 3.5” sized beaver plus 3/8 weight is no problem. It might be better if you’re only using 14lb line (my amistad gets heavier) but straight 3/8 is going to push the limits even with the zillion. given the other rods in your list, I think the amistad is too heavy for what you’re talking. You’re needing a 1/4-1 type rod or so. In the falcon lineup, the Cara swim jig rod, any of the head turners, or the Cara dragger 1 would all do it. The heavy cover jig might but I haven’t tried to throw 3/8 unweighted work with it (sounds like you’re talking a 5” senko?).

if you look at the transom of the z17 it is flat across the back. The bobcat has the motor inset about 8” from the rear most of the transom. Also, the z17 fold in the trailer is still 6-8” in front of the nose of the boat. I think the bobcat trailer hinge is right under the nose.

What do you want to achieve with it and how much is your budget? What type of water do you fish? I’ve seen everything from a little piranha unit up to a pair of solix 12s on a kayak. for me, I fish a lot of natural lakes with a lot of grass and moderate depths plus a few man made reservoirs with less grass and a bit more depth. I use side imaging a lot when motoring between spots. I’ll occasionally use down and 2d if I want to go back over something. I have had mega live for a year and that’s what’s on display while I’m casting. I use humminbird. I think they have the best imaging quality for non live imaging. I started with a 7” helix. If you’re using side imaging but not splitting the screen for side and down or nav then 7” is a good size. In humminbird, it’s a big jump from 7” to 8” in both screen size, weight, and the bigger transducer. I don’t think they offer an 8” SI unit right now. I upgraded to a 9” a year ago when I put live imaging in and that’s a big unit. For side imaging you get a heck of a picture with it. On a kayak I think 9” is the practical upper limit unless you’re really going for something specific.

Do you have 10’ wide garage doors? I’m in the same position. I’ve got a three car garage but the doors are 8’ wide (94” inside the trim work) and then I’ve got 19’7” inside practically speaking. If you have wide doors you can **** it at an angle to get a foot or so. If you have 8’ doors you’re going to be very limited as most of the glass boats I looked up have 8’ wide axles. a bass cat bobcat will be close. It’s 19’11” and a 90” beam.