casts_by_fly

braid ideally (with the reel swap you noted) but if you also need that rod with fluoro for the day I wouldn’t worry about it. Both will be just fine.

The bayou is the right answer. I used the head turner for them and it can work with braid but I think you need just a little more backbone. The HT has a great tip for accurate casting and has plenty of backbone for a frog but not quite enough for me to drive a 7/0 or 8/0 home. The amistad does and if you’re making long overhead casts it’s not a bad option, but the amistad is too big and heavy for shorter and closer side arm casting. The eye crosser is right between the two. The bayou should be similar.

just saw your other thread before this one and I just recommended the eye crosser for toads. I think Derek and I could just swap rod collections for a day and feel right at home.

I went back and forth across my rods last year trying to find just the right combo of a light tip but plenty of backbone to drive that big hook through a heavy chunk of plastic. I’ve settled on the falcon cara eye crosser. 6’11” 1/2-1.5 and falcon 7-power. Light enough tip that a half ounce is no problem at all (might even do 3/8) but lots of backbone. I’ve got 17 mono on it right now but that’s because it’s my big spinner/chatterbait rod early season. It will get 50 braid in a month.

So far as I know, the Chronarch is a USDM only model if we're building a list.

Plenty of options depending what you want to ultimately do. If you're going to swap it often between the kayak and a boat then a box probably makes sense. Mine is velcro'd down and its down tight. I wouldn't want to remove and replace it all the time. In that case, (pun fully intended) a pelican imitation box and put some SAE plugs on the ends of everything. That's an easy solution with standard connections that are made to be removed often. Then you'll just need to add a bungee or something else to hold the case in the hatch. https://www.amazon.com/muyimu-Connector-Extension-Weatherproof-Generator/dp/B083R93SLW/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=2+pin+SAE+plugs&qid=1682086562&sr=8-8

when we moved into this house in sept 2019 the yard had been neglected for three summers at least. It was only cut so it wasn’t an eyesore. That fall I made a plan with the guy who had been maintaining it to eliminate weeds, get it nice, etc. He sold the business over the winter and the plan didn’t get passed along. Late spring I brought it up but it was too late to do anything. We picked up in the fall. The following spring they treated and did things but by June it was a mess again. They weren’t seeing the lawns actual problems and were treating it generically. Fall 2021 I decided to take all weed, feed, and seed matters into my own hands. Last year I spring seeded and summer treated (weeds). Feed in the fall with some more overseed. This year I’m starting from a good base finally and can work on enrichment in the two main yards. The side yards goals are more modest this year but by the fall I should be in a far less intensive place.

have you tried the facebook forums? There are lots of kayak pages where people have done this. I'm in a couple for old town and have seen them. Most of the time its a metal bracket mounted to the boat that sits the motor back and a pair of cables run through the hull to whatever you're using for steering. If you have a rudder and foot pedals that's the easiest bet. My kayak came with a trolling motor so I haven't had to rig like you need though.

We are days away from finishing our outdoor kitchen. We didn't do that work ourselves of course, but it makes a lot of work for me on the grass. Last spring my lawn was ~80% weed, most of it japanese stiltweed which dies and leaves dirt patches. Its hard to kill properly, so I spent all of last summer with intensive spraying to get it gone. I did some first pass leveling in the front which was severely rutted. This spring the grass has come up well and grown in pretty thick, so I just need to nurture it, kill some broadleaf weeks and overseed in the fall. the bigger project now is the 4k sqft that I just leveled and seeded which was bare dirt from construction. Last Thursday I leveled, seeded, fed, and put peat moss over it. Its all over but the crying now until it grows. today I did about 500 sqft of shade blend that died last year due to lack of water (broken sprinkler head). I've got another 150 sqft of yard that was bare dirt falling into a retaining wall that I fill the wall 3 weeks ago and have topsoiled and seeded over now. I've still got 1000 sqft of dug up yard that I might seed this afternoon now that the sprinkler is fixed. AND THEN after all of that I've got 500 sqft of a dirt patch right now that I couldn't see because we were using it as temporary dog enclosure during construction. I've got 4 different seed blends (5 if you could the clover on the dirt path) that I'm working with and a 20 line by 20 column excel file of a yard plan i built. Oh, and I have to redo mulch in the front beds and maybe recut the edges a little.

You don't need a box if you don't want it. My 30 AH is velcroed to the inside of the hull along with all of the fuses and wires. It hasn't moved in 2 years and doesn't show any signs of damage even though water does get inside the hull. I think the PDL is even more water tight too. Not sure if you've picked out a charger, but the genius series has interchangeable ends. Get a set of ring terminals and cut the rings off. The just wire the charger wires to the same clip as your fish finder wires. When you get home you don't take the battery out of the boat- just plug it in.

This is what I got mine for in the first place. Side and down imaging are good, but seeing everything 'live' and being able to lock at a spot, see what it looks like, and then lock on the opposite side and do the same is really awesome. That looks like a couple hours of fun there. Great image.

For subsurface sure. Depends on your cover but for the most part you're in the ballpark. I fish 14 and 17 mono as my stock lines since I'm apt to throw a topwater on just about any rod and I prefer the suppleness of mono to the stiffer fluoro. I'll second this. I handled one in an academy and they definitely punch above their weight at that price point. If they were $100 it would still be a good rod and value (though with more competition at that price point)

That's what we did through the day to find fish. It was very specific where they were clustering- shallow water right next to deep where the flat banks met the steep banks. They would be within 25-30 yards of the transition. This was kinda my thinking on this one. I pulled her a solid 25 yards from where she was. If she then swam up to another 25 yards she could be where she started or 50 yards away. I probably am going back to that lake on Saturday morning and you can be sure I'm starting not too far away from that area.

what he said. I find ugly sticks to be pretty soft in overall action. Good for moving baits and trebles. A true fast action in either MH OR H (depending on the specific rod and your needs) for bottom contact and other single hook work is pretty necessary for me. Something around 7’-7’4” is about right.

Hi all, I am curious about bass behavior in all ways and wanted to think about a specific case that is timely. We all know when a bass misses a lure you can cast back in with either the same lure or different lure and it will hit. If you sting one on the hit the might or might not hit again. What about when you fully hook one and lose it at the boat? How long before it will hit a lure again? How far will it move? the pertinent timeliness is that on Monday I lost a PB right at the boat. I had it to the boat but my dad didn’t have the net ready so it dove. I worked it back and as it turned towards the net the hook popped. It was a solid 5-6# largemouth (later validated when I caught a 4-03 which was small in comparison). He’s caught plenty in the 6-8# bucket (a 6-03 smallie just last week) and we both thought it was well over 5 when it rolled. That stretch was one of two we caught fish Monday so every time we passed through I hoped that fish would hit again but realistically I knew it wouldn’t. But realistically, can that fish be caught the same day? Next day? With good isolated cover there’s a decent chance of it returning to the area, but just how much energy should you put in and how soon? for clarification/boundaries, I’m not talking about spawning fish on beds.

Took my dad out to one of our local lakes I like. Only caught 6 but one was this chunk at 4-03. I lost one at the boat that would have pushed 6 and been a new pb.

so how many miles did you get in 5 months? feels like she’s a good candidate for lifetime warranty brakes.

I do all the time with new lures or when I change something. Great to check the action on stuff. also, grab the pool skimmer pole and put it across the pool as low as it goes. Put a couple inflatable pool loungers around it but leave some gaps. Practice skipping.

You’re liking the feel of falcon rods lately so I’d say pick up an amistad. 7’3” and right in the weight range. I use my expert version for heavy pitching/light punching, Alabama rigs, big swim baits (7” keitech on a weighted hook), etc. all the things you’re talking about. The expert is rated 3/8-2 but I’d call it 1/2-2 for most things. I’ve fished it with nearly 3 oz and that’s pushing the limits a bit. I throw braid but that’s because I mostly use it for pitching grass.

not sure what profile you’re after, but on a finesse jig the rage Ned bug looks awesome. I picked some up with some siebert lil man jigs and that will be my finesse jig this year. The rage Ned cutr worm is also the perfect size and makes for a mini swim jig. https://siebertoutdoors.com/products/ols/products/rage-magnum-bug-rg-mgn-bug1

You mean hopping it off the bottom? I’m sure that might work but it’s not built for that. Slow roll it across the bottom, lift the rod tip to bring it up 3’, and then let it flutter down on a taut line might be what you read.

The autopilot does. There is a magnet in plastic molded into the boat next to the seat. There is a separate clip (that doubles as a prop wrench and prop pin storage) on a 4' lanyard with a clip on the end. The other is under the motor housing (two options depending on year). If the motor gets lifted out of place the kill switch disconnects so you don't have a prop flying around in the well.

You can do it. Slow rolling a big colorado on a heavy head is a thing. Its not my thing, but its a thing.

No iffyness on spotlock- if its an option then take it. If your friend doesn't have a kill switch then it was installed incorrectly. The autopilot has one built in (two in fact). Also, the remote still works if you fall out and the boat drifts away.

This one was about 8# and freight trained a spinnerbait I was throwing around docks for bass. We have them in a couple lakes around here and there are a couple guides that specialize in them. I think I’d prefer they weren’t here and that underlying forage base went to bass, but I’m not sure that how it would work. Seems to be enough to go around and it’s only 2-3 main lakes that I care about. They also keep the riffraff off the bass and make for an interesting bycatch sometimes.