casts_by_fly

It sounds like you've nailed down a few specifics- 18+, some rougher water, comfortable for bass and multispecies. Storage is flexible. Budget is as stated. Now, you need to decide between v-bottom and semi V. A v-bottom will give more stability if it gets rocking and rolling. It also has higher sides, so standing on the deck will have a little bit more gunwale above the level of your feet. A semi-V has a higher deck and a flatter bottom. Depending which route you want to take, that will push you to different boats. Once you've decided on shape that fits your need, then you can start picking out models and makers. I just did this exercise last winter and ended up in a crestliner. My biggest limitations were garage storage and horsepower restrictions on my lakes. I ended up in a semi V with a high deck because that's what I like and that's what worked best with a 10 hp motor. After a year, I'm happy with my crestliner and would look at another in a different circumstance. Also considered were Lund and Tracker. I bought new (floor model) because I was specific in what I wanted on the boat and the used market here is slim. I did search the used market. If you're shopping the used market, then you have what you have. If you are shopping new, then pick out the brands of interest and see what dealers are around within an hour or so. That will be what you can pick from more or less.

SV spools dont' cast quite as long as MGL spools which don't cast quite as long as a Revo spool. Braid is a little longer/better than mono but it really depends on the diameter. 30 lb 832 vs 16 lb supernatural is close to a wash I think, bumping to 50 lb 832 lost a little distance vs 30#. If you really want to cast a long way, use some 8 lb supernatural on a revo with the brakes as loose as you can tolerate it. And in all the combinations above they were all casting 40 yards +/- 3 yards or so (if my memory is right) which is going to be much further that nearly everyone needs in a bass fishing scenario. And that was with an underpowered rod and a not so aerodynamic lure (frog with a fluffy tail). If you have a specific need (bombing crankbaits or heaving a big bottom rig) then you can set up for that and you'll get a lot more than 40 yards but for plain old bass fshing any of the combinations were more than sufficient. Not sure if you know all those things but that confirmed what I knew.

Basically dedicated with spares/extras of both in the basement. I might swap reels from two rods for a trip because I want to have the ‘other’ line on that rod for a specific purpose. That might mean putting braid on a rod that normally has mono because I’m bombing top waters and that’s the setup I need. But mostly not.

just remember to set your brakes with the weight you're really going to be casting and the setup/combo you're going to be putting it on. It's all well and good to test and try different things in the yard. I did a test last summer looking at braid vs mono, heavy vs light braid, MGL vs SV vs Abu. Great to get a feel for the variables, but it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know. And since I was using a 7' MH MF and throwing a 1/2 oz frog as the lure, it told me nothing about the real world since I'd never throw that combo ever. If a half ounce plus 5" bait is what you're throwing a bunch (that's around 7/8 oz total weight) then put it on your heavy rod and go to town. Play with the brakes, find what works for you.

35# braid, on a spinning rod? Why so heavy?

ah. I don't think you mentioned ordering into europe before. That changes the cost part of the equation as to what is 'worth' getting for a given price point. I can't much help there since I don't know what your costs are. Here in the US, JDM is far cheaper than the US MSRP so it makes a lot of sense.

What they all said. 9 year old AGM? You got the usage from them. Start saving for replacements and depending on how critical having a not sluggish motor is decide when to pull the trigger. For $300 you can have a 24V50AH lithium and then you'll need another $100 for the charger (i assume you'll need one). That's not a bad shout for what you'll get out of it.

A 10-20 year old rod will have minimal resale value unless it's in great condition and is still nominally the active lineup (like a 10 year old GLX would be close). To me, it's not worth the effort of selling them off. I've got 35+ year old rods in the basement and they get pulled out here or there. Some are for kids to use, some would be specialist backups. Mostly they just sit there.

I stand by my feedback in the other thread. Those are common bass rod sizes and normal bass reels will be just fine. I suggested a zillion and you said that’s what you were going to buy. I stand by that. A met is a great choice also. If Phish says an alphas is a good choice I’ll believe him on that too.

First, what car? Just because it has a hitch doesn’t mean it can tow. Many hitches are added for accessories like bikes or hitch hauls. An 18’ garage will be a 14’ boat with a swinging tongue and a short motor on the back. Assuming you have an 8’ garage door, you don’t need to worry about width for a 14’ boat.

Purple is a variation. It can be something like black grape to be your dark color or pb&j to be your blend in color. Heck, purple over white is a great shad variant. I carry quite a few gp purple options given my waters. If purple does it for your waters then great.

For largemouth, something light, something dark, and something that blends in. Black (or variant), white (or variant), and either green pumpkin or pumpkinseed (or variants) depending on your water. That should cover most scenarios and get bit depending on the water color, light level, prevailing baitfish, and type of bait. I have a lot of clear water and bluegills so green pumpkin variants fill a lot of space.

If you want to talk falcons, Mets, or zillions just holler.

@T-Billy - do you troll with the gas engine and is that what’s hard on it? Just curiosity on my part. I’m sticking with my mid march ice out for the bulk of the lakes here. One might be ice free right now since I’m not sure if it freezes in winter but even with the warm could days we’ve had there is still a lot of ‘frozen’ going on. But, the small stream at the bottom of the hill is flowing now and it only takes a couple days of that before it the bigger creek it dumps into is flowing. When that size starts flowing that means a couple of the lakes around are getting some good water coming in. There is one lake nearby that I couldn’t fish at ice out in years past because it is trout stocked and the lakes was closed from mid march to mid April. But the regs changed this year and that lake is viable from ice out so I’m going to be on it before the weeds start getting bad (250 of the 300 acres tops out matted by June). It is also shallow and has a decent stream flowing into it. So with a good warming spell it might be fishable early.

@TOXIC what I gathered from another forum, the entrants have added up the lost winnings, expenses, travel, etc plus any who have paid entry fees.

All the things in that statement are true. Magnesium is a metal. Metals are chemicals. Magnesium is an element (aka pure chemical, not a compound). Some metals are elements. Some metals are blends of elements.

Absent good science that says do it, channel cats are meat eaters. You're starting from an empty pond and adding meat (bluegills). You want bass to eat the meat, not catfish. And last I checked, channel cats aren't high on a bass's diet.

I just had one loaded up with 16# PEX-8. I didn’t fish it, but it laid down great and there was no issue with the thin line getting between the spool and frame. Dig in might be a problem but that’s going to happen with that line anyway.

Well I guess we’ll just have to look forward to a big St Clair report in a couple months! At least you made it there and back in one piece despite the weather. Nothing worse than the travel getting in the way of a trip.

I forgot about the owls. We have a 4-5 dozen different ones around here that we hear/see. Not at the house, but on the lower road we’ll see the occasional barn own with their big white faces. Mostly though its screech owls and barred owls we can hear out back at night. I would see them while hunting more than at the house even though I was hunting a half mile away. Maybe being 25’ up in a tree and eye level to them at dusk when they are out hunting helped.

I bought more than a few used rods from ALF previously. It was always hit or miss what they would have in stock because you never know what someone was trading in. You’d have to keep an eye on it frequently. I was on the email list for specials but they were usually the same specials that were running everywhere. If i was ordering a used rod, I’d probably throw on a couple other things that I would need at that time. I’ll continue to do the same for TRL. That said, I prefer not dealing with hit or miss for my regular orders. Considering that TW is a board sponsor, has basically anything and everything I could want practically always in stock, and their prices are nominally the same as everywhere else (especially when you buy the things you use when they go on sale) I’m pretty stuck in my ways of where I order. I also like being able to build a wish list over time (if only they had an ‘add all to cart’ button) as well as look up previous orders if I need to reference something I bought. I hope they do well. They seem like good guys.

We have red bellies, yellow bellies, red heads, and a couple smaller wood peckers too. The woods around here are old growth standing timber. Think ‘lake fork’ only dry. Much of the area around here is an old easement where any type of clear cutting or major cutting is banned. As a result, we have a lot of old, big trees. On the flip side, ash borer and other diseases have killed a lot of them. So we have a lot of old, big, ‘stumps’ that are 50’ tall. That’s the habitat for woodpeckers.

I added one spinning combo and one casting rod (already had the reel). 6’10” M+ XF Poison adrena solid tip with a stradic 6’10” Falcon Cara Head turner (threw a low retrieve rate metanium on it that I had here) The first is a dedicated minnow shaking rod. I’ve been dabbling in it for the past 3 years and moving to the boat last year really gave some opportunities i couldn’t get in the kayak. I enjoyed it so I made a dedicated setup for it for the bigger minnows that I throw. The second is another head turner. I have one in the expert lineup and it’s probably my most used rod between vibrating jigs and spinnerbaits that go on it. More than a few times I’ve wanted a second in the boat to be dedicated to the other of those two baits. I tried last year with the Bucoo SR version of that rod which I’ve had for 5 years now, but it wasn’t crisp enough for what I wanted it to do. So i used the sale and TW 10% off gift cards to get a Cara for $191 before the MSRP jumps to $299. Aside from those on the hardware side, I’m trying out some Tatsu (on the HT mentioned above), I’ve got an ultra thin braid for the PA solid tip, and added some fresh planos to replace a couple that have been around a while and were distorting/breaking in places.

We get tons of birds here all year, though we would struggle to have a bird feeder between the deer, squirrels, and bears. Every week in our facebook group someone has one destroyed. As soon as this snow is off though, I’ll have all kinds in the back yard (we back up to the woods). My favorite are the bluebirds. They hand out on the branches just outside my office window in the spring just sunning. This time of year the pilleated woodpeckers are great. There are a half dozen residents that are flitting around pounding at the dead ash trees most of the year here. We get a lot of northern flickers which are like a smaller woodpecker that feeds on the ground. There is a red tail hawk that has had a nest about 200 yards from my office window since we have lived here. It is a big oak tree with some gnarly vines that make a nice little hiding hole on the edge of a power line. She has suitors due in a couple weeks and 1 or 2 fledglings in May. We normally get to see the young fly the nest and then they are gone. And of course we have turkey buzzards around that like to use the pool for a quick sip.

What budget range? The zillion SV TW will do all of that and then some in factory form. $250-ish from JDM sites.