casts_by_fly

people ask questions to try to help better. There are tons of options in the marketplace. There is a rod, reel, or line to fill every possible use case and preference. Rather than make assumptions about what you're doing or like, its better to ask a clarifying question or two. In this case, you might be pitching 5/16 jigs or you might be throwing 3/4oz+plastic. Since you said you might already have a rod for the job, then what's your preferred action/style? For me personally, I fish a lot of similar aquatic veg over here in NJ. Tons of pads, thick milfoil and pondweed. I'm normally throwing 3/8-1/2 lead plus plastic or comparable jig. My choice is the Falcon expert Amistad with 50 lb braid. 7'3" heavy fast, but not pool cue. A 3/8 and beaver (palmetto bug, bandito bug, etc) is about as light as I want to go on it to maintain accuracy. If you're fishing lighter lures, the Heavy cover jig is a better choice. If you prefer a shorter rod and its more loose vegetation then the 6'10" head turner is designed as a light pitching stick. I have all three of them and they have their place. The head turner is my swim jig through vegetation rod.

The rules here are that if you’ve moved NJ and this is your residence, then you have to transfer your license is 60 days. So if your address is here then you should have done your drivers license already. The usual tests of where you work, where do you sleep most of the time, where are your bank statements sent, etc, are what they would use if you ever got into a dispute about residence. yes, you have to be resident in order to register and title as best I can tell. One of the main things is bringing ‘6 points’ of ID. Half of the points are for identity and half are for residence (bank statements, utility bills, drivers license, etc) which implies that you need to be resident to register a boat. also, not sure if MT had the requirement, but for all motorized boats here you have to have passed a boaters safety course. If you’re driving a boat with bigger than a 9.9 or a few other rules you also need it on your nj drivers license, but that won’t affect a motorized kayak. again, the likelihood that you get pulled and ticketed for any of this is low.

That looks like some good eating sized tuna. Well done.

fair enough. In that case I’d pick the easiest state option too. yeah, probably. But then you never know who’s going to check you. Come off a small lake and have a nit picky one who isn’t busy and you get a ticket. I’d just hate for someone to get a ticket that’s unnecessary when a nj boat registration is $12 a year.

If you keep the boat here for 6 months consecutively you have to transfer the registration to NJ.

The crappie are moved shallow right now. Right as ice out a couple degrees is enough to get them onto shallow cover to warm up. Perch are usually with them. A dozen or two fatheads or small shiners and soak them. Throw a twister tail on another rod while you wait.

I wouldn't want a dyneema pull cord. Dyneema (amsteel) doesn't take well to abrasion and will fray. I'd think unless they have some super pulleys in there, the dyneema will get pretty rough looking in short order. and it better have a good spring system on the mount. Titanium doesn't flex or give. Without give in the mount, you're going to be stressing the mounting screws if you hit something. I'm sure they have considered it, but I just don't see the reason for a titanium shaft. Is the weight savings really that important? Are they positioning this to boaters who have double live units, live lock, mega 360, and other weight on the nose of the boat as a way to cut some of the weight?

A garmin was my second choice and I very much considered it for the imaging quality. I suspect mega live will get some more refinement through software updates to close the gap some. Also, I'm coming from a 7" MSI unit and going to a 9" MSI+ with live imaging. That's going to be a pretty big jump in itself.

That's my thinking in asking the question. If Anna is up to temp now, that's at least a month or 6 weeks sooner than I'd think a nearby lake would naturally get there. Lots of other natural occurances are a combination of daylight and temp, i.e. need a minimum temp to allow it but day length is the trigger. Some are the other way around.

Thanks. I scrolled but didn't see that bit. In that case, I see no benefit or upgrade over someone who has a ghost. For a product that has been rumored and worked on for so long, you'd think they'd have had more up their sleeve. thanks, rick

Normally I'd consider that spawning temp. Since its a 'heated' lake, does that still hold true? is it that rough temp throughout the winter and how does the spawn there compare to neighboring lakes that aren't 'heated'? thanks rick

Not sure I see the benefit over a Ghost. Both are lowrance compatible, brushless, 24/36V systems. The ZR doesn't list a thrust, though does say 30% more than leading motors. If that means they are getting 145 lb thrust from 36V (minn kota is 112 at 36) or 156lb which is 30% more than the ghosts 120 then that is impressive. That would let you use a 24V system like a 36V and save a battery. The Ghost is 97 lb at 24V. That would give 126 lb on the ZR at 24 V if its truly 30% more than leading models. If you're limited to 24V, don't have the battery space, etc, and need 126 lb thrust then maybe that's important for you. If you're trying to go as light as possible then a single 24V lithium battery and this motor is a lot of power in one place. That said, I don't see all of that applying to most people.

Because I like HBird for side and down imaging and am only running 1 unit on my kayak. I considered keeping my current helix 7, moving it back towards the seat permanently for side imaging and mapping (I currently adjust its position by tilting it backwards towards the seat or completely vertical when I'm standing fishing. Its on a long arm), and putting a second LS only unit on the front of the rails. then I'd have a cluttered right rail with fishfinders and transducer, a cluttered left side with horizontal rods, and less space in the boat to work with. So I decided to go with a 9" unit that should be big enough to use like I'm using the current one and stick to a single unit. And my preference is HBird. thanks. I'll check in with them. The best I'm seeing so far is Amazon actually (and the various marine dealers listed there). $1390 and $1480 for live and Helix 9 MSI+ respectively.

before buying a hibachi, try two different things. One, crank up your traeger as screaming hot as it gets. Throw your reverse seared steak on and when it comes time to flip the first time, use a kitchen or blow torch to torch the top side of the steak. Flip again two minutes later and torch again. Two, if that’s still not enough, just get a charcoal chimney and sear on it. no laughing on this one. My buddy uses a smaller/less powered version to light up his charcoal in his egg. You can have a large size egg cranking to cooking temp in a couple minutes and hotter than you can stand next to in about 10. They are great for lighting up a bunch of charcoal really quickly.

Hi all, providing my bonus comes through as i think, I am probably upgrading to mega live which means a head unit upgrade also. I’m looking at a helix 9 G4n msi and mega live. All of the spring sales have been on lowrance and garmin. Anyone know of humminbird sales? rick

that’s a big lump of plastic. 5/8 oz? Maybe 3/4?

I don't know of a charger that you plug into the motor socket. I think you might be saying to change out the positive and negative connections on your charger to a plug that fits the motor socket and I'm sure that would work. However, I don't see any advantage in doing it that way unless you were really just trying to get by for now until you got a permanent mounted charger. You don't need a 2-bank charger if you're run in parallel. It will take longer to charge, but just consider the two batteries as one big one. Then you only need a $100 10 Amp charger instead of a 2-bank for $225. Have a look around the transom area of your boat and see if you have a 110V plug sticking out somewhere. I'm not sure if it was standard on your model, but lots of trackers have a plug already mounted (sometimes under a cap). On the inside of the bilge area you'd connect the 2-bank charger to that. Then you just run an extension cord to the boat and don't have to leave the hatches open to run cords.

If its my rod, then yeah probably. See what your guy says but if he's charging less than $50 plus materials for it you're getting a deal and he's shorting himself.

I snell anything that I am texas rigging with a hefty weight. Not because of the hook turn, but because the snell keeps the knot behind the eye of the hook. As the weight and hook eye are clicking into each other, separating and coming together, a snelled knot means the not isn't between the two getting damaged. It might be a small concern and only valid with certain weights and hooks, but there's no reason not to do it. And yes I know that the plastic in the lure helps hide at times, but you know how much plastic rips and always at the most inopportune time.

none of the above. My base line is 17 lb suffix and that goes on more of my mono rods than anything. I have 12 and 14 lb supernatural on other rods, but that is cranking and specialist work.

You can, but its a pain. Foam stretches so you can slide it on from the butt end of the rod with a little glue and working it over. Cork doesn't stretch so you need to ream the cork out large enough to fit over the very butt end and then shim it to that size for the rest of the length with arbors or tape. If the butt is much much bigger than the area in front of the front grip then there is a big rap that you might not be able to hide easily with a check and have to do something really custom like a built up epoxy and thread winding check. Alternatively, you can strip the guides and rebuild the entire rod, but that's a pain in the butt and its really hard to make it look like a new rod. That would also cost a ton.

I'd have to go largemouth because any fish that's pushing 30 lb regardless of species is a big fish. The sheer size of the fish would do it for me.

Having never been there, how busy is 'busy' this time of year? The lake is mega huge so I imagine you could hide a lot of boats and not worry about running into each other. thanks, rick

So many different styles and dishes, there is no way I'm picking one. cinghiale (Wild boar) ragu over pasta (we had papperdalle) in a little tratoria in tuscany was life changing. Fresh sliced truffle over butter pasta and a paired wine (barolo maybe). Bisteca ala florentine where they bring the full primal cut to the table and ask how thick you want it before taking it back to the kitchen and cooking it perfectly might be one of the best steaks ever. My NYC Italian favorite (I've not found it in actual Italy) is Chicken Scarpariello. I think that translates to 'shoemaker's chicken'. White wine and vinegar based sauce. Chicken, sausage, potatoes, peppers, onions, and pepadew peppers. That's been a favorite for a long time.

The blade size and how fast you’re reeling it will impact how much rise you get. Bigger and faster means more rise. I let that determine which specific bait I’m throwing.