casts_by_fly

you’re not crazy (at least not this time).

Another option to consider is a home equity line of credit. They work like a credit card in that you have an available limit, but are tied to the equity in your house. If you are more than 20% paid or so on your mortgage you should be able to get one through your bank. We just opened one 6 months ago to finance our outdoor kitchen renovations. We get paid big lumps once a year in bonuses which we use for things like this. Having the revolving line allows us to choose when to spend the bonuses if we need to commit the money a couple months before we get them. Ours is interest only and variable rate but you can get them with fixed rates and percentage of principle payments just like a loan would have. The benefit is that when you pay it off the loan isn’t gone. The line of credit is still available to you. So we will pay ours off in March and have that entire line of credit available to us for other things. If we wanted to buy a car or boat with it and the rate is better than through a dealer or other offer then we use it. If we don’t use it then we have a high ‘available creditk and great debt to credit ratio on credit reports.

in that case, the low rider all ‘round fast is where I’d go in the falcon lineup.

The shimano and st croix are $200 rods. If you’re going to that price point the falcon expert is the line to look at. Nice upgrade over the lowrider and awesome rods. did you decide on a length/power/use?

PFAS are not tested for by the f&bc last I knew. They test mercury, lead, pcbs and some others. and yes, the numbers will be right. PFAS have been used for a long time now and they don’t break down. The do accumulate though. One game fish eats a whole lot of bait fish that ate a whole lot more plankton, which ate a whole lot more greens and algae where the PFAS deposited. Bio accumulation at its best.

If you have a shop vac I'd do that too if you haven't already. I'm always amazed how much liquid my shop vac will pull up that you didn't realize was there. Renting a carpet cleaner is another option.

you've got a long road ahead of you. Mold is hard to kill and keep gone, especially since you're going to have humid summers. The smell will be all through everything for a while. Bleach is a good solution except you know what it will do to your carpet and anything plastic/hydrocarbon underneath it so avoid. Your best bet will be to get an industrial mold killer concentrate and make a couple passes through everything. Spray it down good, follow the instructions on the pack, and repeat a few times. Then get it dry. You're going to want constant airflow through it. A fan at a minimum, a dehumidifier would be ideal. Mold needs moisture to survive so the sooner you get it dry the better. After you've cleaned and dried it, do that again a couple times. Anything that is removable, pull it out so you can clean under it. And next time, pull the drain plug and tilt the front end up.

The Helix 7 is a good balance of size and usability. I have the G3N. If you're looking just at one view there is plenty of screen real estate. If you want to run split view with mapping and side for instance, you're going to have to choose which one gets a screen size smaller than you're prefer. I chose to run maps on 30% of the screen (down imaging below it) and side imaging on 70%. I then zoom in and out on the map depending on what level of depth I need to see. I haven't compared pricing for new ones or what's the best value right now. Tucking the transducer up is no problem for side imaging. I use the sportsman transducer location with the mount flipped and its about the same 'tucked in' level. Also, the helix 7 has the smaller transducer that's only 3" long.

like said above, it looks like mold flashing. When an injection mold isn't secured fully or if the injection pressure is higher than the mold compression pressure you'll get the halves of the mold to separate a little and plastic to creep into the gap. In this case, it looks like they are screw threads or some other way to swap the tails in the mold. I bet the body of that superfluke matches up to a paddle tail fluke and Zoom just swaps out the back of the mold to change designs in production.

man, why you gotta do that when I'm traveling and away from my tackle bag? I guess I'll start a list...

If you're stocking up on swim jigs, the link is above. I think Mike just put a 10% sale on another thread too. The shot caller and the swim jig are a regular swim jig (the beefier type). The mini is a slightly lighter wire hook and (i think) a couple fewer strands of skirt. if you want big and heavy, the megladon is also a good grass jig. I choose heavy vs lighter wire depending on the cover and the water conditions. We get a lot of really clear water here (4-10' is normal in summer) and a lot of people fishing so I tend to go smaller/thinner/lighter from June or so on (I also mute the colors downsome). In April and May I fish the bigger profile jigs as they come from Mike with a full sized trailer (like a 4" rage menace or 3.8/4.3 keitech). When the smaller bluegills get moving around and the fish have seen a few things I'll go to a thinner profile with a 3.3/3.8 keitech or 3" rage menace. The 3" menace on the back of a shot caller is a perfect bluegill shape. In a 1/4 or 3/8 you can get into the skinny stuff on the back of weedlines where there are bluegill beds and just swim it long the edge. Bass can't resist that one.

I fish three general colors most of the time. Ayu (or equivalent white/grey bottom and green/grey/blue back) green pumpkin (sometimes the TW special green pumpkin blue black, sometimes a variation on green pumpkin) chartreuse over white (when you need that color, only that color will do) these are the colors I use on swim jigs and on ball heads. I have their version of Texas craw for this spring but haven’t fished it yet. Our water is clear usually so naturals are better served here. I carry a yellow marker if I find stained water and want to color a tail.

I don’t know motor guide but I know packaging. That’s been stapled before and the staple removed. Can’t tell why of course. Could have been a qc check after packing the motor. Could have been repacked at the factory. Either way though, a bass pro and fedex wouldn’t have those staples to duplicate the factory. They would have just used tape if they opened it. And bass pro would have called it an open box special and put it in the bargain bin. I wouldn’t be too worried as long as everything was in the box that was supposed to be.

Keitechs are my standard because they have a great shimmy and roll at low speed. Sometimes I fish fast and sometimes slow and the keitech does both well. A rage menace is great and if you have small bluegills around the menace Junior on a trimmed jig is dynamite. I prefer a menace when I am fishing it faster. Once last year I forgot my tackle bag and had to fish only what was rigged on the rods plus a small handful of cutoff lures that were in the boat from the last trip. Swim jigs were the ticket that day but I only had two keitechs. After o blew through those I put on a rage craw from a pitchin jig on the other rod and rigged it vertically. Great action and kept catching fish. It wouldn’t be my first choice, but to your point above, use what you have already. So many trailers available for some many purposes and yet most of them work well for most scenarios.

I think I also have one as a swim jig. We don’t have a ton of golden shiners around and our water is always very clear so I haven’t thrown them much. Very situational lure for me.

Not sure where in the country you are so tougher to say. But: 1- it’s always worth going fishing. If you think you’re not going to catch anything, then pick a lake that is secluded and easy access/launching. If you’re going to blank, make it in a pretty place without the aggravation of people. 2- you can’t learn anything sitting on the couch. 3- water temp is more important than air temp.

If you just need the color and approximate match, sieberts has a golden shiner skirt color that is awesome. It’s a perfect match for the shiners around here. I have it in the tremor with a big clear with gold flake zako on the back and it looks great in the water. It’s about a 5” bait or so. You could go bigger with one as a spinnerbait.

I use my pliers. Wrap the braid around it until it doesn’t slip and start pulling. The hook usually straightens before braid breaks.

That’s an anti reverse bearing or clutch that does the job. If it’s a greased clutch the grease may get thick in the cold and the clutch bearings don’t move to lock the axle. A good cleaning to remove the heavy grease and then lightly lube it back up with an oil will fix it for cold weather.

No superglue and the shortest tag ends as I can get. The mono/fluoro tag end is more important than the braid side since braid is soft and flexible even at short lengths. I don’t use braid to leader often, but when I do it’s an Alberto knot which is smaller than a double Uni. I don’t worry about it going through the guides. It’s not optimal but small knots pass just fine, especially for heavier lures.

i typically carry 5 rods in my kayak. I always have three of them. From there I supplement with 2 more depending on the lake and season. I’m also a falcon guy so they are all that I carry basically. I always have: 6’10” head turner heavy fast. Lighter side of heavy, almost mh. Does about anything well but is my primary chatterbait and swim jig rod. If I throw a spinnerbait it’s probably on this rod. This rod has my metanium on it. 7’3” hudson special. Mh MF. Does most of my heavy lifting with treble hook baits. Lipless, medium cranks, ploppers to a 105 size. Big buzzbaits. This has a chronarch on it 7’4” heavy cover jig. It’s a jig rod and that’s what I’m doing with it. I fished bigger swim jigs as well as pitching jigs last year. It’s a good bottom contact rod on the whole. I have a zillion on this rod. past those three, I have some lighter and some heavier that I carry often. Early season I grab a 7’ trapcaster for an added lipless or crankbait rod (later season we have too much grass to justify a second crankbait rod). I pulled back out an older st croix 6’6” medium moderate for jerkbaits this spring. I almost always have my 6’10” expert finesse jig with abu Garcia mgx as it’s amazing for the lightest baits but still fishes a big chatterbait well. I have a 7’3” amistad for mid to late season grass pitching. I just picked up the 6’11” eye crosser for frogs and big spinnerbaits. That one will do early season duty for big chatterbaits as well. These rods all have Abu Garcia on them, either an STX gen 4 or a revo SX (plus the mgx on the finesse jig rod). I have other rods that make an appearance now and then but these are the ones that get regular use.

my autopilot with battery and motor weighs about 150. I’m another 225. Add my tackle bag and anything else and I’m 400-425 fully loaded. It’s not a boat meant for paddling and yet it does just fine when I need to. The paddle version will be better still. the difference in having a boat and not is dramatic, especially around here where shore access is so limited. Get one and use it for a season before you think about a motor. A paddle kayak is a super simple way to get out on the water at low investment. You can launch it just about anywhere you can get access to the water. You don’t need a special parking space for a trailer. Storage at home is easy. Adding a motor is more complication and more fuss. You might not want it after you’ve used it a while. The best advice I can give for new kayak buyers (and others echo the same) is to just put time on the water. See what you like and don’t like. Don’t spend a ton on something you might change or upgrade later. Kayaks are eminently modifiable. Buy a good hull and you’ll be well served.

in that case, as a falcon fan I’ll throw out three. In the expert lineup they are $200 and in the cara they are $250. I have mostly expert and a couple cara. I’ve used a chronarch on all of them to good effect. These three are the ones that always come out with me. I’ll add two more rods depending which lake and time of year to fill out the rod holder slots. 1 the head turner. 6’10” 1/4-3/4 fast heavy. It’s on the lighter side of heavy. Great all around rod. I use mine for moving baits (vibrating jigs, swim jigs, spinnerbait) mostly but it was also designed as a small pitching rod and I’ve used it for that. It also works as a topwater rod for lighter cover frogs and big walking baits. Great all around rod. 2 heavy cover jig (cara only). Newish to me but I like it a whole lot. 7’4” 1/2-1.5 fast heavy. Meant for jigs and I’ll go with that. Much lighter tip than you’d expect when you pick it up, gets quickly into power on a hookset. Super light for that length and power. Maybe a little big for a moving bait rod but anything bottom contact you’re in. 3 hudson special (expert only). 7’3” mh MF 3/8-3/4. All around big utility rod. This is where my chronarch lives now. It’s mostly a treble hook rod for me but I also fish big buzzbaits on it. Lipless Crankbaits, lipped Crankbaits up to a dt 14 or so, ploppers, etc. It fishes a bladed jig well if you like a little slower rod for that. I fish big buzzbaits on it too.

a rod to do what? No good suggesting you put it on an amazing crankbait rod if you want to pitch jigs.

the old town sportsman option is a standing capable kayak. Being limited to a paddle will limit the conditions when you can stand to fish while also move along but the boat is stable enough for it. I rarely sit in mine (only to tie hooks or net fish really).