casts_by_fly

The weight of the line isn't much when you're talking 4 lb test, so I wouldn't even consider it. Stretch is something to think about, but if you're fishing an ultralight you're throwing really light hooks anyway. We used to fish 4 and 6 lb for steelhead in the lake and you'd cast a lil' cleo about a half mile to reach out to them (they would cruise about 50-100 yards off shore and you could wade out about 10 yards, so distance casting was needed. Then again, it wasn't an UL rod). I have no problem throwing a little trout magnet 25 yards and hooking up with little bass and bluegills. A small local pond has an island about 25 yards away and the island has trees laying down from it. The fish hang off the tips of the trees. Another has two fountains and not much else. The fish lay along the pipes for the fountains which run from shore out to the middle, around 25 yards. A 1/20 ned head and a small trd bait will cast a long way with that rig, but I don't push it out that far.

It would probably be my Falcon expert head turner. I never leave home without that rod to the point that if I were in a boat and could carry a couple more rods I'd own a second one. It does well with so many of the things I like to fish, and I often like to have two of those things on at a time (spinnerbait, chatterbait, swim jig all go on this rod). I might replace it with the Cara version instead of the expert, but that's splitting hairs. I think my new Cara Heavy cover jig will fit this bill also, but I've only fished it twice so far so its too early to say. That said, three Head turners and two HCJs would make for a pretty complete set of rods.

That's the Mansfield. 7' medium power (4 power falcon), 1/4-1/2 rated. The current model lists as a moderate slow action in the cara series, but is a moderate fast in the expert and other lines. I've held it, but not fished it and it was just a little slow/underpowered for me. The 5 power all round will do all the things I'd ask of the mansfield with a bit more power under the butt and into the mid rod. That said, if you're throwing a lot of small crankbaits like a bomber that are in the 5/16 range then I can see this being a great rod for that. The older STX more or less turned into the SX from a features perspective. I have two Gen 3 STX here and they are very similar to the Gen 4 SX with the infini system. The SX is shaped like the gen 4 reels which I think is an improvement, but they fish similarly.

What motobass posted is a good idea. Another option is starboard. Its HDPE marine grade board. Its common to use in a kayak for a lot of things and handles weather perfectly. Here is one option from Amazon but you can search around and find it cheaper. A cheap cutting board would do the same. For a cheap and cheerful hinge, just drill a half dozen holes along one edge and use zip ties. An elastic strap on the other side will hold it closed, just drill a hold in the lid and cut a notch in the crate (or vice versa). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RWPJSS8/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_4?smid=A282GQUOHAJR4X&psc=1

Per my post above, I don't see the added benefit. I prefer to fish both a trailer and a trailer hook on spinnerbaits. You can do that with a paddletail, but it starts to get in the way. A split tail works great for that setup. And if I'm not using a trailer hook then any trailer will work physically, but they all seem to work about the same for me. So I'll stick to cheap and light with the split tail. I keep a pack of white and a pack of clear/flake in my bag. I'll add a chartreuse tip or belly sometimes, but that's about it.

for me, I prefer a longer rod. Sure a 5' rod is find for catching fish that are close to shore and where there is not a ton of grass. The advantages of the longer rod are a couple things. You'll get longer distance casting out of it. You might not need it most of the time, but if you want to cast a 1/32 jig out that extra 20' you might get stuffed with the shorter rod. if you're going to a bobber and jig setup and fishing 4' deep, you're going to struggle with a 5' rod. If you have any type of weed cover right along the shore, a longer rod will help you get the lure out of the water before getting back into the weeds. And, if you do end up hooking into a big fish, the longer rod will give you more play with landing it. My go to ultralight is a 7'6" UL Bass Pro microlite. Cork grips, very light guides, good blank. I bought it mostly for trout and have landed trout to 24" on it. It works great in the ponds for small bass and bluegill also. I have a 500 series shimano on it with 4 lb test. Good balance, easy to fish all day, and I like the length for line control and casting.

It is repairable. Looks to be about 12” down from the tip? A fiberglass sleeve, thread wrap, and epoxy coat will have that back to good enough. It will cost you $35-$50. Is the rod worth it?

All good choices so far but the ratltrap in the top right and a couple of these swim jigs/tremors would do it for me.

when you say 7’ MF cara, do you mean the All ‘round? I have considered the expert version. I have the bucoo in that one. I have my amistad rigged with 50lb 832 and that’s a good combo for 3/8 plus plastic and up pitching. Given that much weight, I’ve put a revo SX on it. I don’t love that reel for a ton of casting compared to other choices but for pitching and bombing it’s fine. I’ve put a revo STX on the rod with 17 mono and that would be good for 1/4 plus plastic but that’s the bottom end of the weight for that rod I think. Since I fish a bunch of grass and pads I prefer the braid. It’s also incredibly sensitive when a fish hits it and when you set the hook it’s positively set.

did you spool it on very tight with lots of tension? If not, make a long cast and do that. Line coming off in loops says loose line on the spool. Never a good thing with braid.

Since you clarified to punching, I’m looking for palming comfort, a higher speed retrieve, a smooth freespool, and comfortable handles (wider paddles and a longer handle). Like dvt said, I pitch with all of my rods at some point. If I’m back boating with my dad in the front, we’re typically fishing the left side of the boat which is my backhand. I would rather pitch than back hand cast so that’s what I do. For light punching and pitching a jig/plastic to cover I don’t have any spool tension or brakes engaged, so the freespool is the most important bit for me for the cast. The rest is the second half of the cast.

I like the 3.3 and 3.8 if I’m going to throw a paddle tail. That said, I don’t find the need for a paddle tail on a spinnerbait anymore. The purpose of a paddle tail is thump and profile. The thump of the blade is far more powerful than the tail so you lose that benefit. You can get the profile with other baits and you can get as much movement/action or more with other baits. And in the interest of simplicity, I just throw on a zoom split tail anymore and be done with it. The baits that already have a different trailer will get fished until that trailer is gone and get replaced with a split tail.

i also fish falcons, so know the ratings you’re talking about. A 4 power medium is too light for me, even for small treble hook baits. The 5 power mh all around is my starting point. I also have the 6’10” and 7’3” mh rods. They are all 3/4 on the top end of the rating. Will they fish 3/4-1 oz? Sure. The all around with 3/4 total weight is right on its edge for sure, but it will work. I fish the finesse jig with a half ounce chatterbait a lot in the spring and with a trailer you’re into 7/8 oz territory sometimes. And the Hudson is my main topwater rod so it sees 1/2 oz buzzbaits and 110 sized ploppers which all come in around 3/4-7/8 all in. that said, if you’re throwing 3/4-1 oz often, give the 6 power rods a go for it. The 7’ dragger in the bucoo even is an awesome blade bait rod for 1/2 oz-3/4 baits plus a trailer. I just wish the expert series had the equivalent rod.

no worries. I’ve emailed with them a couple times and they have been right on for me. I think the expert amistad is a touch stiffer than the cara also so that would correlate between them. I only have one cara (7’4” heavy cover jig) but I have a bunch of experts and they suit me well.

do you have the amistad to compare it with? Everyone I’ve talked to says they feel the same, aside from the extra length on the amistad. If that’s the case then the bayou would be perfect for a frog.

for a day trip I stick to about an hour. I've got enough lakes inside of 45 minutes that I can fish two a week and not repeat in a month. It makes it hard to justify exploring new ones in the 1-hour zone, though I try to do a couple a year. For a weekend trip I'll go back to my parents to fish a day with my dad. That's a 5-hour trip each way, but I'll stay the night before and night after.

That's a pretty remote area (522/I70) but last we were there I don't recall any issues with cell coverage. That's right where 70 crosses into MD.

The best buzzbait rod is the one that you can cast the buzzbait that works on your water as accurately as possible and has enough backbone to set the hook. For me, that’s a MF/MH normally for throwing 3/8 oz baits into medium cover. I fish a swinging sugar buzz exclusively.

it is 61 and raining here today, going into the 40's tonight. All next week is mid 40/60 for low/high. That's going to start dropping water temps a bunch here. It was 78-79 last weekend but I suspect low 70's in a lot of places this weekend. The deer are getting on the move and I bet the bass are too now.

Circling back to the original question. My Met 20 arrived earlier today so of course I had to spool it up and take it out in the yard. I'll fish it this weekend for a better picture, but I'm going to say that if you're constantly backlashing with it then either there is something wrong with the reel or something wrong with the user. I put it on my 6'10" H/F 1/4-3/4 head turner since that's where its going to live. This is normally my swim jig/chatterbait/spinnerbait rod and it had a swim jig already tied on so that went onto it. I did my standard setup (zero tension or movement in the spool, internal brakes half on/off, external dial in the middle) and made a nice easy sidearm throw like normal (25 yards) and it behaved as expected. I did a soft overhead lob and same result. I then backed off and started winging them at 35-40 yards, casting as hard as I can into the rod. No backlash other than when I left my thumb off the spool for it to land and I got a dozen over rotations. I'll give it a better work out this weekend, but it behaves just like the chronarch MGL which is exactly what I'd expect. ------ Added edit a little later: I'm going to refine my statement above just a little. My meeting ended early and I was curious what it takes to backlash this reel so I went back out to the yard. There is a very fine line of adjustment in the brakes between no issue and blown up. With a normal light sidearm flick/rollcast the difference from 4/3/2 on the dial is basically don't worry about it/thumb at the ready/you're picking line out. The braking force curve is pretty steep on this one. Overhead lobs (not bombs) were a touch worse (more backlashing) for the same distance/effort in the cast as the roll cast. Supporting PHishLI's point above about centrifugal brakes, bombing with a high initial speed actually tamed things a little better than lobbing for the same distance. The quicker startup on the spool engaged the brakes quicker and slowed things down, though the net result was the same length of cast with a bit more manual effort (but no backlash). Now keep in mind that this was just testing and trying to blow it up. In a real fishing setting I'd probably set it on 3.5-4 and just fish. If I started to blow up because of wind or something else, then dial it up and if I thought I wasn't getting the distance I needed I'd dial it back until it starts to backlash. to solve this problem, I'd say set all 4 brakes to be 'on', i.e. free swinging, set your brakes to 6, and set your spool tension to be a slow drop with a single revolution when the lure hits the ground. That's a lot of restriction, but if you can cast it like that and blow it up, then there is something wrong with the reel. If not, then start backing off spool tension, then start working down brakes.

I've held back on replying to this thread since I'm far from an expert on skipping. Heck, I couldn't do it until a couple months ago and I still can't do it reliably on the water. That said, I do it in the pool pretty much on command with almost all of my combos (shimano, diawa, abu). I'm hopeful that what I've learned teaching myself can help you. The technique is more important that the settings once you get it. Until then, use settings to help yourself out. I watched various videos including Andy montgomery and bassfishingHQ. I started with my brakes on full and the spool tension set pretty high (slow fall of the lure, no over rotation). The only way I could skip like that was with a heavy soft swimbait (1.5 oz) and a very moderate rod. I didn't backlash (how could i with those settings?!?) but distance was short. Over time, I played with less tension, less brakes, other lures, etc. Eventually it clicked that the rod action was more important. A gradual acceleration was the key. I found doing a 360 roll cast where you accelerate through the last quarter of the roll let the rod load up before the final acceleration of the lure. Then after you've released the spool continue the motion of the rod up to 11 o'clock. To make things easier on yourself, pick a heavy plastic to start with. A toad is a good choice. I still leave my brakes pretty high for the instances where I release the spool just a little early and smack the water at the boat. It helps save a bit of overrun. I've lightened up my spool tension a lot, though not to the same level as when I'm casting.

yeah, i know that already. I stalk your erie posts like everyone else on here does (I'm from just south of Pittsburgh originally and lived in Cleveland for a year too). The color on that fish though is textbook. I've seen quite a few mounts that were painted like that and thought no way was that a realistic paint job. From the eye barring, the perfect shading from dark to light, and the little bit of interest on the sides with the rusty color. Probably the pretties fish in this thread. Shame its disqualified for being too big...

The I-81/77 corridor is bad for service from the NC line all the way to blacksburg. For anything more than a local trip under an hour, I recommend just putting on google maps. Not necessarily for directions but traffic and speed cameras. That might not apply to you if there is no traffic and you always drive 5 mph under, but both are good help when you're going somewhere out of your home range and especially on the highway. More than a few times google has alerted of an accident or stoppage on a highway and the only way to avoid the 2-hour delay is to get off 40 miles before it and detour.

Why did you carry a painted skin mount out onto the water just for a picture though? Seems like a lot of effort.

My amistad has the revo SX that I didn’t like on the pitching stick. It’s a heavier reel at 7.8 oz but the amistad is a bigger rod and it balances fine. And since I’m rarely fishing less than 1/2 oz or more total bait weight (and almost always pitching) I turn off all of brakes and tension and just go fishing. I’ve fished it with my STX and it’s a better reel but the SX works fine.