casts_by_fly

Sounds like you're asking for an option that is NOT a st croix. If that's right, I'll always plug falcons. Not sure which price point you're at, but the Finesse jig (6'10", a light MH) is a great rod in that medium power bracket. Depending on the specific lineup, its either a 1/4-3/4 or a 3/16-5/8 rating. I have the expert with the 1/4-3/4 rating and I'd suggest to falcon to drop it to a 3/16-5/8 rating (which to me is a perfect medium power rating). Soft tip, modest backbone. Light wire single hooks or any trebles are perfect. Does fine with single hook moving baits of appropriate sizes. What price point and what are you going to fish with it?

what you want is your own preference. For me, up to a 3/8 or so is a spring crank bait in more open water or light grass. That’s a 7’ mh/mf in my set. I also fish a smaller straight medium rod if I know I am throwing the light stuff that day. It it’s summer and I’m throwing a bigger square bill in the half range around cover then I might even fish it on a fast action light heavy with heavy line. That’s also my chatter bait/spinner bait rod for fishing the same cover.

Rapala dt fat. Two depths, great size. Very buoyant and deflect well. Wider action so a warmer water lure for me.

this is the one I have. Apologies if it’s actually a 100. I thought it was a 70. The link doesn’t say. Either way it’s tiny in the hand. I compared it to the chronarch (which is lighter but longer) and the current jdm zillion (which is a little taller and wider) in another thread. The met is the most palmable to me. Definitely the smallest. The abu Garcia mgx gen 2 is close but no where near as structurally sound and rigid. https://www.digitaka.com/item/5/4/2/4969363041142

If I’m getting hits but just not quite hooking them or hooking them but just by the back hook then I’ll swap color. It tells me I had the right presentation and general lure to make them eat it but not ‘convincingly’.

mines from digitaka from the spring. I haven’t looked for one lately.

I don’t like glass for crank baits. You can get a much lighter rod with the same slow or moderate action in graphite.

I have used the prop and can comment with experience here. In my case it’s on a kayak with trolling motor as the primary propulsion. The autopilot I have is basically a 43 lb thrust power drive in a short motor and special mount on a 150 lb kayak (plus me and gear). The standard motor is the power prop mkp-2. That motor will get me around 3.8-4.0 mph on flat water and a fully charged lithium. The rc prop will get me to up to 4.3-4.4 in the same conditions. It’s a 10% bump or thereabouts. When you’re transiting across a large body of water with just the trolling motor it’s a nice bump. At top speed, it draws about the same power as the regular prop. It might be a little more or a little less in your situation, but it was about the same total wattage on mine. On the downside, the prop is incapacitated by weeds. Maybe because it doesn’t have the full housing, maybe because the blades are thin and long. I’m not sure. But the tiniest weed collection makes the prop unusable. Also, it’s far less robust than the standard prop. It has a lot less plastic to take the brunt of a hit on a rock or stump. The plastic is much thinner than a normal minn kota prop. Maybe because of the thickness, maybe the material but I find it loses its edge a lot faster and is more prone to chunks breaking out than the normal minn kota prop. in contrast, the weedless wedge prop (mkp-6 for me) loses 0.6-0.4 mph compared to the power prop (mkp-2). What it gains is a lot of low end torque and ability to blow through weeds. It literally blows them away when you turn the motor on rather than spinning up fast and wrapping around them. for me, I carry all three. Early season I put on the rc prop. The lakes don’t have weeds. I value the speed in my boat that is electric motor limited. I also use it this time of year on the lakes that don’t have weeds. Around April/ may I swap to the power prop. It’s still pretty quick and works okay in weeds. Come the end of may when the weeds get thick, I swap to the weedless wedge. It’s simply the best prop for the lakes I fish from may to October. I’ll give up the speed to ensure it will cut through as much of the weed growth as possible. all that said, I carry all three on the boat at once. One mounted, the other two ready. If I get somewhere and am surprised, then I can swap on the water with one nut. For the most part, I don’t need to do that. It’s only once or twice a year.

Back home again with my inlaws. My dad was away this weekend so I went on my own to the same lake we fished a couple weeks ago. Managed 7 bass for the morning. Not bad, but I was hoping for a few more. All on wire baits except this biggest one which inhaled a frog like it owed the bass some money.

Small and light kayaks that are easy enough for you to handle are easy enough for the wind to blow around easily. If you’re fishing a higher resistance bait like a crank bait or bladed bait then you’ll end up pulling yourself along at times. That’s actually pretty handy for going down the bank without having to paddle or motor at all. Different rod angles will make you go in different directions, so play with that. If you hook a fish it will pull you to it as you’re reeling it in. Just know that will happen. A small anchor is great if you’re working the same area. Like others said, an anchor wizard or equivalent will make it easier for you.

The shimano met 70 disappears in your hand.

It’s a buzz bait for me. If there’s no weeds then maybe a whopper plopper also. Throw it at every shallow piece of cover around. Eventually they will be hitting it and/or you’ll trigger a fish with it.

I thought I replied to this thread but I think I got distracted and never submitted it. first, get on the Facebook autopilot group. It’s a pretty big group now and guys have experienced most everything possible with the autopilots now. second, you won’t find anything from mine kota on that motor because it was sold by old town. Even though they are the same company, you have to go through old town for everything. That motor isn’t a retail item, what you bought was a kayak that just happened to come with a minn kota motor. third, that’s a shim for the shaft from inside the ball. You should be able to just put it back. I’m pretty sure it comes as a two piece item in the first place so that it can be put in after everything else is assembled and so it is replaceable. Give old town a call or email and they will help with instructions, but you should still be in good shape with the part you have. If the ball is loose that makes sense. There are two screws on the ball to clamp it tighter. Put the shim in place and tighten it all back up. It’s a common problem on some assemblies.

If I were fishing tomorrow morning here in western PA, And d be in <2’ of water for the first 4 hours of daylight. Then pull back to 10’ weed edges.

Gudebrod size a as standard for me. I love garnet. I think there was another similar dark red I can’t remember the name on. Both are great on a lot of rod blank colors. The dark emerald is a nice one also though a little more limited.

I like it better after being used for a season or two. It softens up a little more and gets very limp.

Dremmel tool with a wire brush if you have one.

I'm going to make a couple assumptions which may or may not be right. You're talking a 'soft' rod which I take to mean slower action. You're also talking about a 5' rod which I'm going to say is reasonably light power. To me, that means a relatively small reel, max size around a 2500 but possibly a 500 too. Also, as a 5' rod you're not making a distance casting machine. For me, I'd probably end up with a high frame 20, a 12 in the same frame, and then running guides to the tip as needed. I'd guess 5 guides in total but it depends on the rod. I'd keep them light-- you're talking about an older floppy rod in the first place so don't burden it with much other weight. From there I'd cast it and load test it to see how it runs.

Generically I'm 2 on 2 off for my shimano MGLs, but for any new reel that I don't already have one I give it a good clean of heavy grease first (shimano doesn't usually have much), turn all of the brakes on, dial (if there is one) to the middle setting, and loosen the spool tension to a bit tighter than no side to side play. That's all really tight for actual usage, but its going to change in a couple minutes anyway. From there, I'll start casting around the yard and slowly loosen things up, first spool tension and then brakes. For the most part, the final solution is brakes about half way to 3/4 and spool tension negligible. If I know a given system then I might go straight there. Also, on my shimanos I tend to run with 3 on but then back the dial down to 1-2 (out of 6 I think). That's usually about right but lets me turn it up if its windy. At 2/2 I'm usually around a 4 out of 6 and sometimes I want to crank it up a little more.

@Darth-Baiter It can be. The purpose is to cover water with it so what better way to do that then long casts.

The FG will work at that size if you can tie it. I can't unless I'm sitting at home. The alberto has been far better for me and I don't think I've had one pop on me. I had a lot of problems with a double uni. One day I sat here at my desk and must have tied it 10 times and every time it broke on a hard pull. Needless to say it didn't get to the water. I've been successful with the double uni before, but its hit or miss. The alberto has become my go to.

I'm using a stone like most and its fine. Anyone remember the battery powered sharpeners where you put the entire hook point into a small tube on the end (not unlike a nose hair trimmer) and hit the button? I think they had a could sets of files inside to hit all sides of the hook at the same time. I haven't seen one on the market in a long while but would like to try one.

ha! I love Ajay's solution. I concur. In the case that you don't, this is your winter project. Pull the U-bolts and the upright off the trailer. hit it with a wire wheel to get all of the rust and then prime it with rust proof primer and paint. That should stop the rust and problems. Then again, if you're going to that effort, you might as well paint the whole trailer, right? Then its all the same color and matches like new. But if you're going to all that effort, you might as well just trade it in for a new boat...

I'd actually say no on that one assuming you're talking the SV TW. Similar scenario on line capacity for me as the Met. The Zillion is the reel that I actually still have 17 mono on. I've had a few times fishing both whopper ploppers and big chatterbaits where I've made a long cast and been able to see the spool through the 2-3 layers of mono still on it. I'm not normally throwing that far with that rod so its fine once or twice, but if I were fishing like that all the time I wouldn't use that reel (or maybe line). I think with a good effort I could probably cast the full spool off with 17 lb mono. For reference, I'm talking about Suffix Elite 17 lb which is .016"/.401mm. The Zillion JDM lists a capacity for 16 lb as 40-80m. Japanese 16 lb mono (something like a sunline) is .013/.330 and my guess for their upper limit. 'American' 16 lb is going to be close to the Elite 17 lb which I assume is where they got their lower limit for capacity. Practically speaking, I bet its ~50 yards of 17 elite that I can get on it which to me isn't enough for long casts with a carolina rig.

I think for most reels it probably doesn't matter. It would only matter if there is some lateral interference or touching between the spool/shaft/assembly and the thumb bar/release mechanism. Then again, its easy enough to do it that way so why not.