casts_by_fly

you can see the log just before he hits it and it doesn't look like its that big. Then again, who knows how much was under the water. It could have been a 24" oak trunk that was soaked through and just barely floating for all we know.

wow. I'm amazed that the boat didn't flip when it made the hard left afterwards. He was carrying enough speed that if the starboard side dipped just a little it should have rolled. It would be wild to have seen that from the bow looking backwards too. I can't fathom just how much force it would take to rip the powerhead off like that. My dad saw a guy lose a lower unit last year to a similar scenario (post flood, large lake, wide open throttle makin a run). Fortunately he was within trolling motor distance of a launch.

to remove the 'stopper' that the holds the spool in place. When you're casting, you're casting without it in place. Adjust your tension that way.

You’re talking about a half ounce. Any bait caster will take care of that with no problems from the cheapest Walmart plastic clamshell reel to the highest end of high end. The only thing you need to consider is size. If you’re throwing heavy mono and making long casts then you might want a little bigger reel (bigger being relative). For instance, my JDM Met is a 70 size. If I load it up with bigger diameter 17 lb mono I get around 65 yards of line on it. That’s fine for most uses and I’ve since switched to thin 16 lb line. But just consider your needs and set the price you want to spend.

Correct. A regular sd card doesn’t work. It has to be the zero lines card. I don’t think you need two though if they are networked. I would expect (but can’t say for sure) that the nav mapping from one should be shared to the other. And you don’t want to map from both units at the same time.

Ever use permagloss? I know we're talking about a solvent based finish now, but you definitely smell it... That's one you want a bit of ventilation for.

glad you're getting to the bottom of it. 43A seems a little high compared to a comparable cheap minn kota but not out of the realm of possibility. I'd check the spec on the motor to start. Then, as you say, work through the other components. A bad connector where you're not getting good contact could impede flow. You might see it show up as corrosion or darkening of the wires at the connection point. I still find it hard to believe that you got two bad breakers, but maybe so.

I don’t like a flask. I have one and have used it. If I want alcohol on the go I just use a yeti mug or similar. For what you’re describing, I just take the bottle. There are a couple guys in the neighborhood and we all do it. We end up with bottles at each others houses. We have an open bar policy so just pour what you want. Never know what you’re going to find any given night.

Dielectric grease on every electrical connection that is exposed to air.

I absolutely love good wings. For the 12 years years we were in the UK we couldn’t get good wings. It’s not a thing there. When we came home at Christmas we’d go to a place near my in laws house that has great wings. I’m still looking for something comparable here in jersey. Probably the best traditional wings around are at a bar and grill out in the sticks. They had a honey habanero sauce that was great but the wings themselves were done perfectly. I like a sticky sweet hot sauce on mine, thought smoky bbq is another good choice.

that was my first thought as well. get into the country before it goes into effect. That also gives you a buffer for travel delays (normally).

just a rough dish scrubbie (like a scotchbrite) should do it. I don't mess with mine most of the time but if I pull out an old one that's been in storage I might do that.

Mine are my secondary reels. My main three rods that I use have a zillion, a met, and a chronarch on them. I carry these three setups every trip. Then depending where I'm going and what I'm fishing, others will come along. The STXs are on rods that I usually take (heavy/frog rod and shortie spinnerbait/topwater rod). I have a 200E chronarch on my big flipping stick which often comes. The Revo's are on cranking rods which are more seasonal. The MGX is on my light topwater/jerkbait rod which is early season with the cranking rods. Would I love a full suite of chronarchs or mets? sure. I've toyed with it when the Yen is weak or a used one pops up. I seriously considered the one in the classifieds here. But I don't need it and I certainly don't need to spend $200 just to upgrade something that is fine.

I love my Gen 4 STX reels (I have 2). I bought one new and one used (here on forum) and a couple years in they are going strong. With 30 lb braid, it might be my longest casting reel (I've not done a head to lead with the same rod and reel, but I'm sure its close). Both are super smooth still with plenty of use. I wouldn't pay full retail ($199) for them, but at the prices I paid I am happy with them. The gen 4 Revo SX is also a pretty solid reel at a 25% discount or so. I have two of them and the 6:1 is my crankbait reel. They are a little heavier (about 8 oz) but are smooth and adjustable. Keep it lubed and you're ready to roll. They were about $100 at one time on sale and you couldn't be them at that price. I also like (but don't love) my gen 2 MGX. Its smooth and casts great, but isn't rigid enough for me. I love it on a light weight rod (total rod and reel weighs about 8 oz) and its a great total setup. That said, the reel flexes a little when I grip it firmly which is a no no for me.

Assuming the performance is there and the rod gets the job done, I don't have too much preference on looks. I don't like foam- much prefer cork. I fish a 70/30 mix of split cork and full cork. I think I prefer the full cork, but its mostly all the same (unless I'm power casting all day, then I want full cork). I don't want a split seat. Give me a straight ECS or equivalent. Monday I fished my dad's crucial IM10s since we were in the small car to travel and I couldn't bring mine. Foam grips, split seats, not my cup of tea. The performance was there though and we caught a bunch of fish. But if I was designing for myself then that wouldn't be it. When I was building a ton of rods (mostly fly rods), my build style was complementary thread/blank colors with a contrasting accent wrap. I don't want color preserved thread- I want the thread to go translucent and the accent wrap to be metallic usually. Grey matte blanks are a blank slate and you can do just about anything on them. I love maroon blanks (old Pac Bay IM6 was a good one) with dark cherry red wraps and either gold or silver trims (depending on the reel seat trim). The older powell rods that were dark blue with a darker navy wrap were very sleek. The older rainshadow green blanks are a great looking blank but limited what you could do color wise on them. One of my favorite individual color sets was the brown SC2 St Croix blank with (I think) brown thread, teal blue trim band, and a pearl foiled 3 line inset wrap. Very cool color set on that blank. Another that I did for my (now) wife was purple/grey/smoke on the mate grey rainshadow. If I were building my own bass rods right now, I'd be in similar color sets on whatever blank I chose for the power/action.

could be a dud, but the chances of the old one and the new one both being bad is low I think. I'm wondering if you burned out some of the brushes in the motor when you were trying to chop through the grass. I would have said grass/line on the prop shaft would do it, but you say that's been cleaned.

Keep trying. At first I could only skip in the pool with an old Chronarch and a 1.5oz soft swimbait. The Zillion SV spool helped and works well of course, but randomly one day I was throwing a pegged texas rigged flipping tube on a new Chronarch MGL and suddenly it was skipping. Same for the met and a jig one day. It just suddenly worked so those days when its working I just keep practicing it and building the muscle memory. Then there are other days where I can't skip a think so I stop rather than practice wrong.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to say that the powerdrive was the right motor. Just that the features on mine (which happens to be a powerdrive based kayak motor) seem to be what he's looking for and use. I've heard the powerdrives are so-so in the regular trolling motors. I like mine just plenty. I would like the steering motor to be faster and quieter, but so be it. Maybe its a motorguide thing then on the GPS. On my minn kota, the spot lock holds the 5' radius really well in spot lock. While on navigation/cruise it holds the straight line really well. The only exception is if the wind is blowing harder than the speed I want to go and is crosswise to me. Then I have to play the wind a bit more to keep the line. Sometimes that means turning around and fishing into it (which is usually the better choice anyway). Does motorguide offer a heading puck that improves the GPS? The puck for minn kota doesn't help with GPS accuracy but does add which direction the boat is pointing so it helps with straight line tracking and also allow for jogging in spot lock (which is great for pitching structure). ?‍♂️ For $35, just do it.

Not while I’m on the water. Motorized kayak means a DUI if you’re over the limit here. I’ve not been checked but it only takes once. Plus all of the other reasons about one making me tired afterwards. I can wait until I’m home. sitting in the surf? I only do it with a cooler full. Mostly that’s just sitting on the beach with a buddy drinking beer and occasionally doing some casting practice.

I’ve fished a couple different reel profiles on my head turner including a gen 4 revo sx, gen 4 revo stx, the newest chronarch, a new zillion, and a shimano met (jdm). I love the met on it. It’s the smallest of them physically and is very light but the right balance. The zillion is also great and more of a form factor preference compared to the met. I prefer the met of the two but ymmv. A revo gen 4 sits very nice on the rod as well and what if fished on it forever until I put the met on it.

my kayak has a link enabled power drive minn kota and I only have a remote for it. Every time I try to fish a cable motor I struggle. It sure if yours has the feature, but my motor has heading and cruise control. If you’re fishing down the bank you set the direction (straight line) and speed (in 0.1 mph increments) and let it go. It manages all that while you fish. Every now and then I’ll bump the direction so I’m closer or further away but it’s a great feature if your fishing trolling motor on and covering water. I wouldn’t put a trolling motor on a boat without spotlock and all of these features.

I too bought a ton of them two years ago when they were on sale. Both sizes. I’ve caught one fish using one as a jig trailer. The small ones look great on a bitsy jig or similar. I’m sure the big ones will catch fish, but for some reason I gravitate to a palmetto bug instead. Probably the elaztech and fishing it through grass and not cutting up baits. Maybe next trip I’ll prerig one and choose to fish it. @Siebert Outdoors and others who fish them a lot- do you find they need a little less weight for a Texas rig compared to a comparable bait for the same fall rate? I normally throw a 3/8 oz tungsten with a palmetto bug in moderate grass, but my brain thinks the dbomb probably needs a little less for the same uses. thanks rick

that was in fact the idea. We lived in the Uk for 12 years so that was a long time of us not hunting or fishing together after doing it most every weekend for the preceding 15 years. They are a 6 hour drive from us, but I try to get back and fish his waters at least once a year and he the same to me. We both have the ‘guide’ gene and like putting others on fish so being able to call someone else’s shot is a lot of fun for both of us. Never know how much longer we have (he’ll be 70 next year) so make the most of it. thanks. It was a good day for fishing and being out. Like I said above to bob, you never know how much time you have left and certainly there is more behind you than ahead of you. Case in point my MIL, who probably won’t ever come home from the hospital. She’s been not well for a long time but unfortunately we’re nearer the end than the beginning.

yep. Also pretty good for squarebills around cover, bigger paddle tails like a keitech 4.3 sif, and does a pretty good job with a frog on braid in moderate cover. If you had a lineup of head turners, amistads, and swim jigs you could fish basically anything anywhere.

another head turner?