casts_by_fly

@Darth-Baiter I think you specified further up that it was 'how many to own' not necessarily how many to bring on the water. To me, that makes me think about how many rods and which ones I use throughout the year and then which of those could be eliminated to minimal concession. I think for me, I could probably whittle things down to 5 or so. - medium heavy casting rod, fast action (my 7'2" Falcon swim jig). Great rod for swim jigs but also buzzbaits, lipless cranks, light texas rigs, etc. - lighter side of heavy casting rod (falcon head turner). My go to rod for any single hook moving baits, also a great short pitching rod and overall to anything rod - heavier casting rod (model TBD). Always rigged with a jig, texas rig, or similar. Both the Amistad and Heavy cover jig do this job now in different ways/situations. This might be the toughest choice of which one, but I think I could get it to one - heavy frog rod (falcon eye crosser)- I like fishing a frog/toad too much not to have one. This could also maybe do the heavier casting job above, but I prefer a shorter rod for frogs and longer for pitching. - ML Fast spinning rod- I rarely fish it now, but in this scenario I couldn't just eliminate it entirely from the lineup. It would also have to do double duty for springtime crankbaits. If I think about the rods that come in the boat each trip through the year (I normally carry 5), these are the ones that usually make the cut. Early season I'll drop out the frog rod and throw in a crankbait specific rod. I don't usually carry a spinning rod so #5 is usually 'both' to the heavier casting rod. Depending on the lake and season I'll grab a topwater specific rod and leave two heavies at home.

Penn fierce 2. I have one and it’s a great setup for the price and for what you want. Pick the size to match what you’re throwing. I have the 4k plus 9’ rod up to 4oz.

If your budget allows it, there are a lot of 13’ blanks out that will throw that weight and a heck of a lot of line. With 2-4 oz that’s very much surf rod territory. Not sure your line but 17 lb mono and 4oz is a 100 yard cast on surf equipment.

I have the chronarch 150 mgl and agree that it doesn’t take much to get a bunch of different lures to zing off of it. I have a metanium mgl (jdm) which I think is a 70 size. Similarly light level of force and maybe even better to fling stuff, but the small spook limits casting distance on the whole. Out to 35 yards or so is no difference. At that point there isn’t a ton of line left on the spool (I’m using 16 lb sunline). The new zillion (also jdm) is similar to the met for casting, maybe a little bigger spool. Mine has 17 mono. All three will do about the same for total distance with normal setups. If you want the best for light flicks and most distance then the met will give you 25 yards with the least effort. If you are banging out 40 yards with crank baits then they are all three about the same. The longest casting reel will in my arsenal is actually an Abu stx gen 4 with well used 30 lb braid. It takes a little more effort to get it to 30+ yards but the lure just keeps going beyond that. 50 yards with a red eye shad is normal for me with that reel on a 7’ rod.

I’ll you’ll be fine with side imaging. The helix transducer (especially the 7” and smaller models) is tiny and tucks into the factory mount just fine. Don’t waste money on what you don’t need. Flip the transducer mount upside down before mounting.

What line are you fishing? if its mono/fluoro mainline and you're making long casts with light power rods then maybe give a little more oomph. If its braid then maybe not.

agreed on the buzzbait. Plus you can throw it in places that you can't throw a plopper. The single hook (I also use a trailer hook) lets you slink it across the tops and sides of pads and wood. It hooks up with less grass that's just floating on the surface too. You can't stop it like a plopper and you have to be quick about getting it moving before it even hits the water at the end of the cast but fish one slow with that slow "blop, blop" and the squeal of the blade against the rivet and you're going to pull up some bass that weren't otherwise planning to eat.

I'm an inveterate topwater fisher as the first thing cast every morning from May to september. I love a good topwater bite and if there is one around I'm searching for it. No doubt my favorite way/thing to fish. Katy's got it right above and my observations concur for largemouth. largemouth have big eyes and don't like bright light (generalization). Anything that reduces like like darkness, clouds, fog, shade, chop, etc (all things katy mentioned) are positive factors for largemouth looking up. Then its a case of what they want to eat, aka how aggressive they will be. That +/- 1 hours around sunrise is my favorite time. Bass have been adjusted to the dark all night and are on the feed. The birds aren't out. The bait is sleeping, the frogs are moving. And usually the lake is quiet and to myself. Smallies seem a bit more sight oriented as hunters and don't seem to mind sun as much.

Good luck with the new one and the sale. Keep us posted on both.

If you're running the fish finder at the same time as the motor there is a possibility that you'll have interference. It depends on the motor and the specific unit and there's no way to predict it. If its a problem then grab a small house battery later.

I understand what you're asking and if 4 blocks on and a 1 on the dial gives you all of the distance you can ever want without backlashes then go for it. You can then dial it up with the dial to fine tune if you get an odd bait. I've done the same on a couple of my reels and it works fine. I know I'm leaving a little casting distance on the table and occasionally I'll pop the reel open and adjust a block/brake/pin to prove it. The only time absolute max distance matters for me is crankbaits.

I guess I've gotten lucky. I've never had a pickerel bite me off. Caught plenty the past couple years and they are usually what save me from a skunk. Even this one didn't bite me off: In terms of what to use to target them, spinnerbaits are the biggie for me. They won't leave them alone. Small willow blades and bring them across the edges of weeds. Smaller wide wobble crankbaits are the other. Above is a bomber, others have been on DTs, DT Fat's, and lipless crankbaits.

As a baseline, you have a 60+ year old boat and a 50 year old motor, both on the smaller side. With the trailer, you're looking at $1500-$2k for that. You've got functional electronics and trolling motor, but nothing special that will entice a buyer. The rest of the equipment are all hygiene factors that any buyer would expect to find in a boat. I'd say its probably $2k-$2500 that you'll get out of it. With the right buyer maybe $3k. If you're in an area with not a lot of used boats and plenty of demand then $3k. Its a good fishing setup for someone, you just need to find that someone.

I just tried the double pitzen this past weekend for the first time. I hated tying a palomar with braid onto a spinnerbait or buzzbait. I was also having some palomar knot issues with one of my lines (weirdly, just that one line). After two practice runs and then two rods tied up at home, It was dead simple on the water. Its faster than a trilene knot and stronger. Same speed as the palomar and stronger. And its fine for every line type. I'm sold.

If I wasn't using braid I would be using Sunline supernatural. Very small diameter for the rating, minimal memory, good coating and knots. I use it for my 12/14/16 lb baitcasters right now. 8 ln supernatural would be like 4-5 lb Trilene.

I don’t care about me in the picture. Phone in right hand, fish in left. I’ve found a reverse grip with the head side of the fish towards my wrist instead of away from my wrist. Then I’m not breaking their jaw to get the right angle.

For me, the darker the sky the darker the bait (almost exclusively). At night and early mornings it’s black for me. Sunshine days it’s bone and chrome or if it’s gin clear I go naturals. About the only exception for me is full moon nights and I start at white. Last weekend under a 3/4 moon they still wanted black. If you have to ask, fish black and fish it fast.

If you have a stiff tip the trick is shorter and crisper movements. My frog rod is like that. If I walk it on my lighter pitching rod it’s very different and you have more leeway.

Next time, try working the frog a half dozen twitches or more without reeling at all. That will help you get the feel for how much slack you should have in the line. If you're just lightly twitching it, the frog will only move 8-12" in that time which is a negligible amount of slack. Having enough slack in your line is key for any walking bait.

half the time a 'frog' isn't imitating a frog on the water. Its just a random thing a bass can eat on the surface of the water. I've never seen a glitter ball frog, but the clear/grey/silver 'frog' lures work at imitating shad. Also, walking helps keep the lure in the strike zone because you can just about walk one in place without the 'plop' of a popping frog. Sometimes the fish just want quiet and subtle (like this time of year).

take out some of that play. Tighten it until the spool just barely moves (with the thumb-bar down) and give it tiny bit more. Then you can play from there. I go a little looser for general applications and a little tighter for heavy lures so I don’t need as much thumb.

definitely not legit. Seller has 6 ratings and is based in china.

I haven’t gone up to wayway yet. It’s on my list but it’s a solid hour for me and I haven’t had a long Saturday to get up there. I’ve done monksville and swartswood (60 and 45 minutes respectively). But I’ve got 7 others at 30 minutes or less to work through which are perfect for evenings.

You can keep split rock. 150lb of kayak, a handful of rods, a 30 lb tackle bag and that hill from the lot to the ramp don’t play well. Plenty of other good lakes in the area to not deal with that. I’ll grant you it’s maybe the most secluded lake up here.

You're not looking at a hard drop number per se, you're looking at how they compare to each other. How much it drops will depend on the battery itself (capacity, health, etc) but since they are roughly the same battery if one drops a lot more than the other then you know that one is struggling. And you don't need to leave the motor on long. With the motor off, the battery will be resting state voltage. It will drop immediately in turning the motor on. You don't say what capacity of batteries you're using now, but if it is two group 27's in parallel then instead of buying two new ones you can just get one lithium and not worry about the weight anymore. For $400 (cost of two lead acid wet cells) you can probably get the same total capacity as two 27's.