casts_by_fly

I have the sea grass rye and also the bourbon from amaro and two other barrels. Both are great, but they are big for summer. Neat they are 57-59%. If you like your whiskey over a couple ice cubes then that’s okay as it needs some water anyway. The flavor profile on the rye is also pretty big. Lots of spice and complexity.

the cheap way will be to make a DIY solution. You'll need a blanking plate for the drive hole, a trolling motor of choice (with associated wiring and battery), and some hardware. I don't know if there is a plate on the market that already fits it. If not, a piece of starboard of appropriate thickness would be a good start. You can pick up a used transom mount trolling motor on marketplace relatively cheaply. With care, you can cut down the shaft to a very short length. Then you just need a way to tie the two together. Quite a few people have done it on various kayak forums. All in you're in for about $150 plus the battery of choice.

As above. Try throwing a frog and land it on shore first. Then ease it into the water.

with the same usage and treatment (i.e. charging them when run down, not running them to zero, etc) you won't get double the life from an AGM set. You're getting 4 years from a set now. You won't get 8 from AGMs under the same conditions.

Unless I was sure that there were either lots of fish or big fish hanging back in there, I'd probably just fish the edges and cuts. Fishing the edges and cuts would tell you if there are fish in it. If you want to proceed, then there are a couple options. You can try a frog or weightless worm on top, a spoon worked through it, or a texas rigged plastic punched through it. Its going to be a lot of work to get a lure in and out of it, and you'll want an extra heavy rod and 50+ lb braid for that type of pads. That's why I'd only do that if I was sure it was worth it. Just straight pads often don't produce on their own unless they are the only thing around. Straight flat mud bottom isn't going to attract much either under it. Gar tell me there is probably low oxygen in there. If it were me, I'd look at another area.

summer time, blue sky, no wind, makes for tougher conditions most of the time, especially if that lake gets a good bit of pressure. Typically that's not an active chasing bite. So to the other's point above, slowing down and really covering the cover is a good strategy. Fish it shallow to deep (or vice versa) until you figure out where they are setting up for that day. If there is wood and grass figure out if its thinner bushes, big laydowns, grass edges, or the intersection of two of those things. Then just work over those areas with a couple different things until you figure them out. Also, some days and times they just don't want to bite.

you're not going to beat that Daiwa for value at that price point.

@padlin As you are casting, I think you’re bringing the rod back slightly sideways. Instead of a straight forward and back motion, you’re cocking your wrist slightly. Nothing wrong with that. The problems happens in gripping the seat. You’re using a loose grip on the seat that allows the reel to spin the rod a little into your fingers on the back cast. Then on the forward cast you are gripping down tighter with the meat at the base of your hand, between the base of the pinkie/ring finger and the wrist. That’s why your hand is getting tired through the day and you have to change your grip. The barrel of the reel seat is too small in diameter for what your hand is able to grip down on easily. I imagine your hand is getting tired right at the base of the ring finger and then into the base of the pinking finger as you shift your grip. When you make the forward cast with the reel twisted around into your fingers, you’re really gripping down on the seat nut and the reel is then causing the seat barrel and rod to twist a little at the end of the cast. some Teflon tape on the seat threads will stop the nut from turning as much. But if I’m right about the root cause your hand is still going to get tired through the day. Instead, give your hand a little more to grip onto. Bicycle handle bar tape, tennis racquet grip tape, or any number of padded tapes should work. Wrap them over top of the reel foot and reel seat for a layer and see if it feels better. It should give you a bigger thing to grip as well as some padding for your hands. It also will prevent you from twisting the nut as you cast. You can try two layers of tape if it works and you want a little bigger.

when you cast, is it kinda sidearm? And/or does the rod kinda turn, aka does the reel seem to flip around a little? Or, when you bring the rod back to cast, is the reel in line with the motion of the rod or kinda off to the side of the plane the rod moves in?I think I see what’s happening based on what you’re showing.

Go lowland and young for scotch. Glengoyne is unpeated and crisp. Auchentoshen triple wood isn’t a bad choice. Further north, glenmorangie nectar d’or is a lighter one. also, Irish pot still is a great sipping choice as noted above.

Can you share a picture of how you hold it that causes this problem? I don’t see how it’s possible but clearly it must be if it’s happening to you.

Does he pump the primer ball hard to start the day? Merc motors need a hard primer ball for cold start. Pump as hard as you can and then give it one more. I assume he’s changed the plugs recently.

since they are sending new ones, I would check it with the battery as the current one is hooked up, but without running it anywhere and skip the cradle if that's possible. On my Hbird I can plug the cord right into the back of the unit. At least then you'll know you have a working set before you start wiring things around. That said, it doesn't make any sense that the cradle has power without the unit and the cradle and unit power up at the store. I'm with MNFisher on this one. I would reverse your wires at the battery and plug it in. I bet something is switched somewhere.

As BankC noted, IPX7 is 30 minutes at 1m. So if you flipped the kayak and couldn't right yourself for a half hour then you "might" be in trouble. Otherwise I wouldn't worry. I'm going to call hooey on this one unless you were in portugal photographing surfers in a big wave tournament. Then you might have had 20m waves on top of the 10m you were under. Otherwise, waves breaking on the surface will not impact the pressure at 10m. The force is distributed across the top meter or two before it ever gets down to 10m. I would wager that while the camera was rated for 30m, its not effectively designed for that. The most reliable underwater camera (sans housing) is the Olympus TG series which has proven its bonafides over the past 10 years or so. Its only rated to 15m. I think there is a coolpix from Nikon that is 30m rated, but I don't have experience with it. Any other camera without a housing that says 30m is spoofing the IPX testing and I wouldn't trust it. If you're talking about inside a housing then there are a lot more options, but housings come with their own complications and caveats.

I throw tungsten for everything, probably for different reasons than others. I didn't want to deal with the extra space lead takes up in the kayak. So i picked up a set of tungsten from 1/8-3/4 that fit into a 3x5x1/2" plastic box and tuck neatly into a side cutout in the boat which they never leave. I don't have to carry them in my bag or take them out of the boat. For weight, most of the time I'm throwing a 3/8 because I'm pitching a beaver into weeds and pads. Its like punching 'light' most of the time. Occasionally I'll need to up to a half for that. If I'm just throwing a light texas rigged bait then I'm mostly throwing 1/4, sometimes 1/8. A 1/4 oz tungsten is more than enough to fish 15' on light braid (which is what I'm throwing) for that.

yeah, you're doing the right thing and just trying them. I've said it elsewhere but if you're new to kayaks generally or new to fishing from a kayak then the best way to figure it out up front is to use a reputable store and try a couple if you can. See what the different stabilities look like (primary, secondary, etc) for different boat types. See what propulsion feels right for you. There are a lot of options out there so if you're going to spend the money you should spend the time up front to get it right. Its a different way than buying the cheapest thing to get you on the water to see if kayak fishing is for you. Both can work but both have caveats. Glad you like the hobies. Now you've tried the stairstepper drive, try a pedal type. If you ride a bicycle then it might be a lot more natural to you. That said, to flyfisher's point, if you're going to spend nearly $6k on a PA14 360, I would seriously consider a motorized at that point. An AP 136 will be more or less the same stability (different style but still super stable) but have the spotlock motor built in. Add a battery and you're at $5500 for a motorized/spotlock kayak to do what you want. You can even tow your son to spots and then both fish from there. If tight areas are a thing for you the AP will turn 360 degrees on the spot. The 136 would need about a 14' wide creek/cove to spin 360. Hard rudder one way and spin the motor. Its super cool. Then again if tight is your thing, a 14' boat isn't it.

Very nice. That looks awesome.

Enjoy! I have one myself and like it a lot. However its very different in feel when swapping between that one and the rest of my set. The metanium and chronarch are quite similar to each other aside from size (70 vs 150). The older Chronarch and my STXs are quite similar to each other and fairly similar to the bigger Chronarch in use (not smoothness, but things like size of the handles/grips). The JDM Zillion though feels different. The handle is a little shorter and the grips are a little smaller. I think the grips are a little smoother in finish (maybe a touch more slippery) if my memory serves. Also, casting the daiwa system vs a shimano SVS is a little different. You'll see after you've been fishing both side by side for a while. It takes a cast or two after swapping rods to be really dialed in again. Either way though its an awesome reel so enjoy it.

ah, so he does. I read the words, but then I was just looking at the pictures and thought it said terrova.

That's a nice clean setup. I think that's going to be perfect for how you fish. The helix units are awesome and the image quality is second to none so far as I've seen. For me going from a G37 to a G4n9 was a huge jump. The size for one but also the transducer is twice as powerful on the 9 vs 7. I'm sure you had the bigger transducer already, but the big new helixes really do have a lot packed into them. And, once you understand the humminbird menu layout and adjustments you can really fine tune them to get what you're looking for. And if you decide to add Megalive in the future you can. I assume you're networked since you have 360, two units, and two transducers. Do you have the talons and terrova connected in as well? My Helix 9 draws about 2-2.5 amps. If its daylight then I have it on max brightness and I'm recording autochart. That's all going to be the highest total draw for the head unit and right in line with the 2.4A that humminbird quotes for it. They quote 2.7A for the 10" so you can do the math from there. I'm not sure what 360 pulls.

Unless you've built some kind of rigid outrigger setup, those aren't going to help with stability or buoyancy. They barely float on their own as it is. My suggestion would be to leave everything home but the boat, PFD, and the paddle for a bit. Just paddle around and get used to the boat before you try to fish from it. There is a learning curve in being in a kayak and learning how to use it correctly, especially for a paddle version and especially for a boat that isn't designed to be the most stable in the world. Then don't complain that the manufacturer is awful and has no customer service policy. If there was truly a problem with the boat like a bad seam then I'm sure they would have fixed that. 'Because you don't like it' isn't a good enough reason for the manufacturer to take it back. Maybe the retailer, but not the manufacturer. The manufacturer hasn't done anything wrong here.

once you’ve drilled holes, it’s yours. What stabilizers do you have on it? They could be slowing you down. Paddling closer to the hull will help you track straighter. If you want more speed, you have to work on paddling technique. Leaning forward, putting the blade in the water, and then pulling the boat to the blade is the way to think about it.

Holes as in directly in the hull like it got shot with a shotgun? Do you have a picture? yes, paddling with the paddle nearly vertical and the shaft basically touching the boat as you pull will be the most efficient stroke for power/speed/effort. The further the blade is away from the boat the more you will torque the boat left and right.

What exactly is the problem that you're trying to get them to fix? Also, just take it back to Dick's. You're inside the 60 day warranty.