casts_by_fly

They are also good largemouth baits in early spring when they first come up to the shallows and then again after the fry have hatched. I don't know that I've ever sight fished a largemouth in a pond that wouldn't eat one of these that was slowly falling past its nose.

bobby Garland baby shad swimmerz. 2.25" Its a small paddle on the tail, but it puts a little big of wiggle into them. I use these and little mini flukes of about 2" in the spring on a 1/16 or 1/32 jig head when the crappie come up in one of the canals nearby.

Because having U40 on top of cork feels like plastic in your hands. Maybe not quite plastic, but cork is such a good grip material why would you coat it and cover it up?

Digitaka price is $355 but they are out of stock. They have the DC for $460 if anyone is looking.

I'd say pick a different lake... I mentioned that lake in the 'why do you fish where you do thread' though didn't name it. When most bass tournaments don't top 40-50" of fish for a full day of fishing during a good day and the biologist reports don't show a high bass population that tells me it isn't a bass lake. If you want to go for trout or lake trout then by all means. For that I'd troll rapalas on a 'carolina' type rig about 20' down. You'll get some exercise paddling and enjoy the weather. I too was planning to go out tomorrow after this warm rain and 55 degree weather, but looking at a very different lake. I can't go now, but I was planning to slow roll spinnerbaits/chatterbaits and drag jigs along the weed edges.

All of the above. I've got at least a dozen decent lakes inside 40 minutes that I know and a few more that I don't. They range from 15 acres to 2700. I also have a fairly flexible work schedule so I can pick and choose my times to go. Based on that I'll pick a lake that I think should be fishing well for the day, time of year, and conditions. I like variety so I fish them all eventually. In one case, a close lake fishes well from ice out until May but after that gets a bad algal bloom and heavy pondweed, both of which make it unappealing to fish (so I don't). Another dropped 25' last year and I couldn't be bothered to fish it in those conditions (after I fished it 15' low). One lake is tucked down inside of a mountain bowl so it pretty protected if I want to fish on a windy day. The big lake has mega boat traffic on a weekend, tournament thursday, or any day from memorial day through labor day with pleasure boats so if I'm going to fish it, its going to be on my own time and early. Most all of them have good fish, some have big fish. If a lake doesn't produce, I don't bother. There is one about 35 minute away, ~120 acres, beautiful setting, etc. I've yet to see a tournament produce any type of worthwhile bag there (as in it takes ~40-50" to win there) so I'm not bothering. I like to add one or two places each year that I've never fished, go in depth at one or two places I've only fished a little, and hit my priority lake during their prime time.

I'm adding some OG4's this year. I fished the 6's last year a lot and did well. There are a couple places where a 6 is just too deep and even 17 lb mono can't keep it shallow enough so 4's it is.

I'm also intrigued. If there is a difference, I suspect TT is right. My impression of that reel is that it was designed to compete at the Revo price but have some cost cutting that you're not supposed to notice. This could be one of those areas. In the Infini brakes in the Revo's, there are 6 identical brakes. Taking two of them out would save some machining steps, while using two different materials would add minimal cost back in. Putting my engineer cap on, you get the same benefit if for instance a grey would equal one brake equivalent and the blue two brake equivalents. Then you could get any combination that the 6-brake infini gets with only 4 brakes. Pushing the brake out might show a different size/surface area. Curious to see what you find.

do you guys play with forward and back placement to get different attitudes in the water?

finn seems like a cool dude. Maybe part lab and part husky, I'm sure he's loving that snow. Good on you for putting in the time with him.

You could try a bunch of different hooks. Or, you could buy a single hook brand/type and add some lead wire until you get what you want. Then you don't have to mess with trying a bunch of different things that may or may not work.

Fair enough. When we moved back from the UK I debated between a GMC denali and the ram limited. I'm not sad about my choice, but I'd have been happy in the GMC also. So long as it was red...

I've got minor upgrades for the kayak. Some drainage in the cup holders and rod holders for one. maybe some slight organization changes. I really want to try livescope as I think it would help in a few places, but for $2k upgrade and having a second head unit (or get rid of my helix which I love) its not an easy or quick decision. I'd also like to get out one more time now that I've filled my deer tags, but the water temp is mid 40's and the air isn't much better. And we're due rain and snow this week so chances are slim.

I'm not fishing streams much lately, but used to a lot. Depending on how small you're talking some good ones to consider are bomber model A's, DT4s, and the various 1.5 equivalent squarebills. A lot of what I was fishing was < 2' so a DT4 wouldn't be quite right there but the little bombers are. Also, the rebel wee crawfish always seemed to produce, probably because its a 2-3' bait and was digging into bottom like a real crawfish would.

That you like black? ?

Super tempting for me. I want either live or 360 but with my helix 7 I can’t add anything to it. I love humminbird but don’t love the images on mega live compared to livescope. I don’t want two head units on the kayak. Mega 360 plus a head unit would be nice, but it’s still a head unit plus transducer. Since I’d need both I’m really tempted to get the lv34 and 93sv and have two units but $2k is more than I want to drop right now.

Ordinarily I would agree with you but I don’t think falcon has what he wants based on his description. They have the bucoo treble hooker which is a 6’6” moderate, but is it also medium power and basically a short Mansfield. It’s a pretty light rod and not what I’d be throwing single hook baits with as my primary choice. There is the expert jerkbait which is a 6’8” moderate, but also medium power and also a quite light rod. based on what he says he’s doing, the expert finesse jig is what I would use. It’s 6’10” and medium to medium heavy in power (falcon can run light in power relative to other brands depending on the rod). It is a fast action but because it is more medium power it bends deeper than you’d expect when casting. It’s a great rod for sure and one of my favorites for a lot of things. My primary uses are for 1/2 oz walking baits, 3/8 or smaller spinnerbaits/chatterbaits, and any time I want to throw lightweight stuff on a baitcaster like a weightless fluke, weightless plastics, or a small paddletail swimbait. It works well for a small squarebill or other 5/16 size crankbait. based on the description of the BPS stick, the 7’ trapcaster is the right rod. Does all of the things pretty well with the right action and power. It’s just 7’ and not under that.

Carp stir up the bottom and food. Bass eat said food.

kayak fits in the bed. Rods go on the passenger seat, gear in the back seat. I don’t care much about mpg but I’m fishing within an hour of home most trips.

next order then! Already have the trailer so let’s rock and roll.

I’m purple craw, native craw, and pbnj for a pitching jig in the dredge brush jig. Swim jigs in blue oyster and mudshad.

My plan for this year was a year of redemption. Last year I hit two deer and didn’t recover them and made some other mistakes that limited my options and cost me opportunities. The year before I killed a buck and lost a buck, but even the one I killed I got lucky as I tweaked the shot left but caught the liver arteries. So one out of four over two years isn’t a good run rate. part of the plan this year was really tuning my bow to me. I was shooting my dads browning and it was okay, but it was older and never was quite right for me. Instead of working on that bow, I came across a great used bowtech and got it set up for me. Turns out I was shooting 2” longer draw than I should have been. After dialing it in, I was managing respectable groups at 50 yards so a 35 yard shot in the woods was well in range now. I hunt a combination of public land and our 3 acre block right behind my house. We have a ton of does and young deer in the neighborhood year round, but during the rut the bucks pour in for the does. We live on the end of a cul de sac that backs up to my 3 acres and woods. Most of the houses on our street have fenced yards so the deer get funneled right through our yard. Where the does go, the bucks follow. I don’t shoot does here so I scouted some WMA land last February and I also hunt two township parks on a permit. i managed an early doe on the WMA in September (see thread below). It was a good shot and the deer crashed quickly and in sight, but not getting a pass through combined with the high entry (11 yard shot) meant a small blood trail. right before thanksgiving my wife was out for a girls night so I hopped into my saddle on the WMA hoping for a buck passing through but willing to shoot most anything. Just before dark three does came through at 25 yards, but as thick as the cover was, I couldn’t get a shot. Finally the big doe split off and came down to me. She was quartering hard towards so I waited until she would turn broadside on the trail. She must have caught a whiff because she did a 180 and gave me a hard quartering away. On the shot I knew it was pretty good because I could see the blood gushing as she ran, but I only had about 10” of arrow inside her and again not a pass through so I was a little worried. I needn’t worry. Because of the angle and a freak occurrence, the broadhead didn’t enter at my aiming point and instead entered about 4” further forward and stopped on the breastbone. Since it was a cut on contact though, it was cutting the whole way and cut two ribs completely across before slicing through the top third of the heart. I put out a camera for the first time this year and had a couple really nice ones that were just about starting to come during daylight here at the house. I saw one in the distance one sit and saw one under my stand while I was on a call, but alas they eluded me. We were then traveling a lot during the prime rut and sure enough this guy was under my stand as I was getting in a cab to the airport at first light. Now with time winding away and the deer disappeared here at the house, I started into the township property. I thought I might get lucky with a doe and the weather broke last night from the cold and wind we’ve had the past week. First sit, best sit, right? It was last night. I’d never sat in this tree before but it’s on a major trail and I can see a lot from it. I planned to sit it and see, then make a plan for next week. Just after the sun dropped over the hills I heard some rustling so grabbed my bow. A couple seconds later he popped out at 60 yards and I could see the rack, but I didn’t think he was coming to me. Sure enough, he made a beeline for my stand. He was even nice enough to stop behind a pair of big trees so I could draw without him seeing me. All I needed was for him to take a couple steps into my lane. After what felt like 5 minutes at full draw (it was probably 1 minute) he took the steps I needed and I finally got the double lung pass through I’d been looking for. He didn’t know he was hit and only reacted to the sound, so he bounded a couple jumps, walked 10 yards and fell over. Perfect ending to a memorable hunt and a little bit of redemption for last year’s missteps.

I missed this thread the first time through. That blank sounds like a great lighter swim jig or lipless crankbait blank in the vein of the falcon 7’2” swim jig rod. Light and fast tip but decent backbone. Looking forward to hearing how it is.

This year has been a stretched out decorating. My in-laws came to visit the first weekend of November while I was away so I brought the trees and ornaments up from the basement so they could decorate them together. The trees went up (we have three this year and one not being put up) but nothing on them. Then we were traveling a lot in November. My wife loves Christmas decorations but was too busy so I would pick a small thing and do it after work but before she got home. Last night we did the main tree together and are almost done with everything (two sets of lights outside left).

When you work it out, post some pictures of your setup here. I'm not sure if I'd love to have it or hate having it on my autopilot. I love my helix but it can't do 360 or anything live. I'm looking $2500 or so to get one or the other when you factor in the new head unit so its isn't a simple go for it. I would love to try it and see how it works on my waters, but I don't know anyone here that has it so that's out.