casts_by_fly

Definitely curly leaf pondweed. We get it in droves here. It is my least favorite weed to try and motor through in my autopilot because it clumps up on the front of my motor and I can't hardly get the motor high enough to clean it. team9nine is spot on with it being an early growth plant. By April its pretty full here, far faster than the milfoil. We also get broad leaf pondweed which has a 3" wide blade and a thicker stem. Around here, if you find where the pondweed, milfoil, and pads meet you find bass. Depending how thick things are (aka time of year) you can bring things through it, pitch to holes, punch it, or bring a frog over it. The pondweed doesn't matt on the surface like milfoil does but it does grow thick in the top inch of the water column. Topwater spoons and buzzbaits are a good choice because the pondweed doesn't have the thin strands of junk that gum them up. My favorite type/thickness on curly: my not so favorite on broad leaf. This was end of April and 50 degree water 8’ deep.

Depends on which ones you have. My bibs are the original frogg toggs material on the inside with a smooth technical material on the outside. I think they were called the convertible because the bib part zips off. They are absolutely waterproof. I pressure wash in them and stay fully dry. I have the pilot jacket. It’s a three layer laminate and a heavier weight. It’s a lot like my Patagonia fly fishing jacket in feel. I don’t use it in the summer unless it is truly downpours as it gets warm (the pants breathe better), but for 70 degrees and under you can layer with it. It too is fully waterproof.

I grabbed a pack of these on my last tw order to try. I don’t mind trebles at all for landing purposes, but I thought it might give me some options around grass. I tried that idea tonight and was very surprised. I swapped the hooks on a rapala dt-fat squarebill and ran it around the grass beds the same as I would a spinner bait (which I did later). About 8/10 casts would come back to the boat clean with just popping it when the bill caught some grass. 1/10 the bill would come back with some weeds on it and 1/10 the hook would have weeds on it. I rigged mine so the front hook was backwards (not the correct way) and the back one point up (correct way). Not sure how this would play for hooksets, but I’m going to give it another try. I’ll probably swap a jerkbait too as another option.

cranberry. I was going to fish the musky tonight but a guy was coming off when I got there and said they had just sprayed the weeds and they were dying off. Looking around you could see the dead strands and when this happened last year it really put the bass off for a month. So I bounced to cranberry which I swore off at the end of last year and proved myself right.

I think this is going to be the answer I needed. The big bite baits jerk minnow might be what I had in mind a little more, but the d-shad is what I need. The jerk minnow sinks just a touch quicker (I think because of what I love on the d-shad) and it walks the dog under water like I was looking for really well. The d-shad though has this crazy shimmy as it falls. The tail has the little flaps that give it a side to side shimmy as it slowly sinks down. I was fishing all of them with the owner weighted hooks that Dwight linked above and keeping them in the 3-4’ deep range easily. When you let the dshad fall, the tail arches up just slightly and then it does the wiggle that makes it look like it’s swimming down. Didn’t catch any bass, but this big crappie liked it. I spent a little time with the flappn shad too. I think it definitely is going to find a place, just not tonight. The flappn shad seemed to work better with slower longer pulls than twitches. It walked with twitches, but the tail didn’t do much. On slower straight pulls the tail flapped like it was swimming. I could see this working really well rigged like I had it but slowly pulled through grass and vegetation. Work it through just under the surface and then let it drop down into a hole. I could also see one working really well on a Texas or Tokyo rig and swum across the bottom.

I was thinking of this thread as I worked through this stuff. I pitched it with a beaver and threw a keel weighted d-shad around the edges and through the thinner pads. All of the suggestions above will fish through it, just have to find what they want. the pictures don’t do it justice. The pads were 12” off the water and higher than the side of the boat. The big field is also a quarter mile square (not shown in picture).

A medium power fast action is a useful rod for throwing things in the 1/4-3/8 bucket. If you fish finesse jigs or light swim jigs, open hook soft swimbaits on a jighead, unweighted plastics, or other similar things its a good rod to have. An unweighted fluke makes a lot of sense on one. You need to be thinking 10-12 lb test line type lures. Do you fish any of those things on a baitcaster and find you're limited by your MH/F now? You already have a M/M (I'm guessing small crankbait rod)- do you find it a useful rod power but want a little less bend in the rod to cast? Answer those two questions and that will tell you if a M/F is something you need.

Yes, you could slow down and punch through it. What's in the picture isn't even punching to me, that's just heavier pitching. Punching is when you need the weight to punch through the vegetation. In this picture you just need to pitch at the holes and bases of the stalks.

The head turner and the Amistad are two of falcon's most popular rods. They have them in all of their main rod series. They are both very versatile rods while also being really good at one particular thing. For me, the HT is a great rod for bladed jigs and spinnerbaits in the 3/8-1/2 range, but it also does a lot of other things well. Yesterday alone I fished mine with a chatterbait, a walking bait, a popper, and a weightless senko. Today it will have a soft jerkbait on it before I get to the water and who knows after. It was originally designed as a short range pitching rod and its great for that with pitching jigs and swim jigs. Its probably the best skipping rod I have. The amistad is a different rod but still super versatile for all the things I mentioned above. No surprise that you might see those two in a store that carries a decent selection of Falcon rods. Also, while I haven't felt the other lines of the amistad, I have compared other rods across falcon's series and they tend to be very similar across series. The pitching stick/head turner has the same overall feel, but when you go up a series it gets lighter, crisper, and more sensitive. if you can feel a lowrider amistad or a bucoo SR then the expert won't be too far off. Or you could just buy it and be done with it...

Not to derail (PM me if you want) but which BFS spool did you put on it? I have a spare Revo SX which should be the same spool that I wouldn't mind converting. Brett's daddy- it looks like Bass pro has them for $60. At that price I'd say you can't go wrong. I have quite a few Abu reels in the previous generation (not the current ones) and at full retail they aren't worth it but you can always get them on a good sale when they become worth it. For instance, the STX Gen 4 retails at $199 and its not worth that (there are better options) but when they were on sale for $120-$150 they are much better value.

Then the amistad is what you want. I have the expert and its a great rod. I understand the Cara is also fantastic with a touch lighter tip but I haven't handled it.

those aren't too bad in your picture. 50 lb braid and you can work weedless topwaters through it. A weedless floating worm will work through it. A heavy weedguard swim jig will get through that. You can fish anything on the edges of it. You can also pitch into it with 1/2-3/4 oz weight in most places. We get those around here. That said, I don't find that the fish relate to a lot of it if its only those type of pads. If you've got other weeds around it then you're golden and concentrate there.

not sure which specific lake you're talking about, but if you're in BBA I see where the June 25th tournament is (and its up your way). I posted it in another thread but its been an odd period after the spawn (which lasted more than a month over here) and the water temp just stayed at early May temps until the middle of June. Its been slow for a lot of people the past couple weeks. The good news is that there are thunderstorms forecast for the next week and right through your tournament. I always find that the storms and low light get the fish out of their funk and they start doing different things. That's not great if you're on a good pattern, but right now the pattern is crap so let's change it up.

This idea popped into my mind because on one of the specialist hunting forums I'm on there is a 'live from the saddle' thread during the season. When people get in and set up they drop a picture and blurb into the thread. Its cool to see who's out and doing what if you check into the forum during daylight hours. Also cool in that case because the specific forum is about tree saddles and saddle hunting and you get to see other guys setups (of which is there is a lot more variety than seeing fishing rod setups on the water!).

Yeah don't do that. The table rock is a moderate action. I don't know why they did that in the expert series when all of the other 7' 6 power rods in all of the other series are fast action. The table rock is a damp noodle in comparison. I have one in the basement thinking it was the Expert version of the Bucoo I already had (didn't read the labels) and was sorely disappointed. Now, if someone likes a moderate action for chatterbaits then this is what I'd suggest over fiberglass/composite rods. Are you fishing braid or mono/fluoro and how heavy of cover? Also, you're saying cast. That's telling me more casting and working than pitching to cover? On the basis of casting jigs, the 7'4" heavy cover jig is a great rod. I have the Cara series (6-power H/F 1/2 -1 oz), I think it comes in the lowrider also. Mine has 17 lb mono on it and that's a good combination for it. I use it for pitching jigs, casting bigger swim jigs, throwing a 6" soft swim bait and even bigger buzzbaits. Most of those are secondary though as I have a jig or t-rig tied on it most of the time. This rod was designed for dragging jigs though deep brush piles. The other is the Amistad. 7'3" 7-power 3/8-2 oz H/F in the expert series (which I have). I use mine for a pitching stick with 50 lb braid and 3/8 and up weight plus plastic. I think it fishes best (pitching) with 1/2 plus plastic in this setup. Its got a lot of backbone but isn't a pool cue. In addition to pitching plastics I use it early season for A-rigs and big spinnerbaits (though those are moving to the eye crosser now) and throughout the year for really big keitechs (like a 6.8 plus 3/8 weight). CBump mentioned the eyecrosser/bayou. I have the Eye crosser and like he said its a heavier head turner. The power of the amistad in a head turner package. Great rod overall if you are target casting bigger baits. Mine is my frog rod primarily but I also use it for 3/4 oz spinnerbaits/chatterbaits, it fishes a 1 oz soft swimbait well, and is great for close quarters pitching. I think you have a head turner, so picture that but a full rod rating heavier.

enjoy. Bring up a clump and get pictures of the stems, where and how the frills branch out from the stems, and any roots you can pull up.

you're getting better, so you've diagnosed the issue. Now you have to play with your own speed vs scroll speed for your unit. It looks like you were going 0 MPH for these pictures. If that's true, then that's why you're not getting a good visual and would cause those lines. In the bottom it looks like there is a break half way across the screen where you stopped moving maybe? Much better to the right (moving) and bad to the left (stopped). You'll need to start playing with your contrast and sensitivity now also. It might just be your color pallet, but the colors look a little 'hot'. I'd turn both down halfway from where they are now towards 0.

Yes

If it makes you feel better, mine have chartreuse or chartreuse/green tips.

I love buzzbaits. I start fishing them in April or may and stop when I put the rods down. You can fish any color you want as long as it’s black. The only tricky thing is that black split tail trailers are harder to come by than white and other colors.

Some days you go fishing for a quiet place and maybe a few fish. Some days you pick a place because it’s convenient. And then there are those days when you have all of the time in the world and want to catch numbers, size, or both. That was my hope for today. I had all the time in the world for once, so I picked the biggest and best of the lakes around that I like to fish. It’s 1200 acres or so and is a Great Lake. It’s a mixed largemouth and smallmouth lake and I’ve done well here before. It’s the same lake I took my dad this spring and lost a 5/6+ lb largemouth and landed one at 4.5. It’s been an odd early summer for temperatures and weather, but I figured I’d be in a good place today and had high hopes for some early topwater and hopefully some decent fish. it was not to be. last year this lake bottomed out at 25’ low and it stayed that way well into the winter. I’d read in another local lakes management guide that in order for winter drawdowns to be effective at killing weeds, it has to be low enough to freeze the seeds dry. That must have happened in the Christmas freeze this year as the lake was entirely devoid of all aquatic vegetation. The tullies survived in a couple places where they live but otherwise all milfoil, pond weed, pads, etc were gone. That threw me for a loop for sure. There was a lot more wood in the water which I actually prefer, though a lot of it was <3’ of water and with nothing around it (and most of it was not holding fish for whatever reason). My plan was to cover some water with top waters or chatterbaits until I found a couple fish and then slow down and poke around the grass nearby that I expected to be there. When the water was low last year I took a ride around the lake to learn the structure. I found some old roads, mid lake humps (that have cover on them you wouldn’t know was there), steep banks, etc. Last year (pre drought) a lot of those areas had grass across them and held fish. If the bank wasn’t doing it, the plan was to use my electronics and see what was on them. If none of THAT was happening, I had the full day to keep working at it and I figured I would pitch grass beds with plastics and find a couple that way. Of course the grass not being there flipped a lot of that on its head. I beat the bank in the usual spots and fished the shade side when I could. I pulled up a couple fish to a sexy dog but none hit it enough to get a hook. I had a jig ready as a follow up bait and eventually one of them grabbed it (about a 1.75-2# fish). I thought maybe I was onto something but that’s when they stopped coming up for a dog. Since I was throwing to cover and pockets, I swapped to a popper and the first cast had a 10” fish swipe at it. I thought I might be onto something, but it was just a lucky cast. Given where I was on the lake (and not having the ability to jump around a ton in the kayak), I figured I would switch to some of the offshore stuff. I checked out a bunch of places where I knew decent structure, and there were fish on some of them, it nothing was eating. I could watch fish with mega live and spent a lot of time locating and positioning on them. I was mostly using a sonar minnow or similar but the fish didn’t want it. after spending a bunch of time with mega live, I decided to do another lap of a normally productive area and see what I could find. After fishing one particular tree/bush, I motored up to it just to see if I was wasting my time fishing it and similar ones. There was a ~15” largemouth on it that slunk away. That at least told me there were fish, even if they weren’t hungry. At that point I did the thing I hate and tied on a wacky yum dinger. Since it was bright hot sun and no grass, the bluegills, carp, and that one bass were all holding as tight as they could to any wood that was giving shade. I decided to jump from tree to tree that had at least a foot of water and a speck of shade. That turned into two small bass that grabbed the dinger and made a break for open water. At this point I was tired (10 hours into an 85 degree day) so called it. What I could have done differently. By 8AM I recognized it was going to be a tough day. But I’m stubborn and stuck with the moving baits and hard baits until at least 10 or 11. I should have cut my losses and moved finesse sooner. The wind also wouldn’t have been up like it got a little later and I could have finessed better in more places. I spent a lot of time with mega live. That’s not the worst thing since I’m still learning it a bit, but I spent a lot of time messing with fish that wouldn’t eat. In hindsight, I should have thrown a few different lures and worked the structure a little more thoroughly and not just cast to visible fish. In one spot in particular, I think the fish were circling the mid lake hump (hence why I lost them so much on mega live). A Carolina rig would have helped me cover more water more thoroughly than either a crank bait or the sonar minnow. Even a Texas rig or wobble head would have been a good choice. I considered a football jig but I just wasn’t in the mood to drag bottom. I say it all the time, but I should fish a senko more. I tried it last time and couldn’t get into it and didn’t give it much time. This time with a better setup it was better to fish. I think I need to rig up one rod for it and leave it rigged.

Made it home, final tally three bass. Learned a few things. Once I grab a bite to eat I’ll type out my thoughts.

Fished hard all the things I hate to fish and managed to pick two dinks on a wacky weedless dinger. I know where one more is hiding so let’s see if he’ll eat.

Finding some fish on the electronics but nothing is eating. A chase or two but that’s about it. On to the next area.

Hit a mid lake hump that has a couple stumps on it that I found when the lake was 20’ low. Fish were on it when I got there (confirmed in live view) but they promptly left. My initial thinking was that since the water hadn’t warmed much after post spawn that the fish might have just stayed shallow. I think that was probably wrong so I’m checking out the off shore structure now.