casts_by_fly

very clear water has its own set of problems. Downsizing is the first port of call. 'quiet' baits also. Long casts, and find some cover they can hide in.

Straight Flipping hooks with a keeper work well. They will tear up the head of a bandito quicker, but palmettos are great. The keeper really gets stuck in the elaztech and holds it on. a wire keeper on an ewg might work. I also find that hooking the head deeper helps too. I used to just go into the head enough that the eye of the hook was still out of the plastic. Then I put it just inside the plastic but the knot was still out. Now I will bury it almost an eighth inch further so there is an eighth inch of line inside the plastic.

It must for what I pay in taxes. I wouldn't know though as I've never set foot in one.

I have one in my fly vest but I don't like it for big hooks. You're doing 5/0 single hook bait hooks with it?

It is in the radio wave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. 1 megahertz (mega imaging) is a wavelength of about 300m. Older sonar at 80 khz is about 3700m. Pretty much all other sonar is between the two. The radio portion of the spectrum is 10^-3m out to 10^8.

The lowrider all round fast would be a good choice for what you want. The head turner model would also be a good choice. I have the head turner in the expert and bucoo SR for jigs, bladed baits, and light texas rigs like you're talking about.

Zoom horny toad and a 1/2 ounce jighead with weedguard looks great underwater. My last tore up toad has gotten that treatment, but I haven't fished it yet.

following. I too use a stone with hook grooves, but its a pain for certain hooks and relies on user technique to not ruin a hook. I remember ages ago seeing an electric one that you put the hook into a hold and inside were diamond turning stones to touch up the point. Anyone use or have one?

Its still a radio wave of some frequency sent out in a very thin plane. Old transducers were the same (and not a cone per se). The longer transducers of today have multiple beams coming out of them- one for side imaging, one for down imaging, one for 2D imaging. Some have many multiple frequencies available in the same transducer.

I could see that with the waters you have up there. For a month long online tournament I could see 90" plus taking it here. I'd have to look at my pictures, but I know I'd have a >90" July. April I had that. In a 1-day tournament though, its really hit or miss. April tournaments do well as you'd expect. One of my local lakes had one back in April and the top three were 81-83" for a 300 acre lake that maxes at 6' but is mostly 4-5' and flat bottom bowl. A lot of the lakes though just don't have the volume of bigger fish to support it.

Yeah, that's pretty much me. A spinnerbait, chatterbait, and swim jig each have their (quite similar) uses. Light grass, limited visibility- chatterbait. Wood, rock, breeze- spinnerbait. Clear water, grass, swim jig. Of course those are only the starting points going into a day for me. Then you have to adapt on the day.

not so much around here. 80” will win nearly every tournament. The most recent one took 77” but second was 34” and 27” took third. If you can get five 2.5 lb fish you’re winning or placing almost every tournament.

Well pump. We have well and septic but gas and electric. stiltweed is very common here too. Never realized it until I figured out what it is. Now I see it everywhere. Once it’s in your yard it’s tough to get out. Glyphosate kills it the same as it kills everything. I sprayed the woods edges to contain the spread back into the yard. In the yard though it’s pretty much fenoxaprop that kills it but not grass. I’m hopeful I can get 90% of it in this last spraying since I need to start over seeding in a couple weeks.

A pfd is a pfd no matter what boat you're in. If you have one that's comfortable for you to wear then wear it. A kayak PFD is specialized in that its cut to allow paddling better, often has a bit more airflow, and often has pockets. If its comfy though, wear it on the boat. It will still keep you afloat if you go in.

Both for different purposes/places. At the moment I'm using my 6'10" 'Heavy' Falcon pitching stick as a light frog rod. Its labeled heavy, but its a 1/4-3/4 and more of a top end of medium heavy power. I have it for lighter grass, pads with holes around them, and docks/rocks. If I am throwing into heavy mats and pads then I use my 7'3" 'heavy' Falcon amistad which is a true heavy with a 3/8-2 oz rating. I don't prefer that much length to work it tip down and the weight at that length can be fatiguing for how I fish a frog. If I were to get a dedicated frog rod it would be the 6'11" bayou which is designed to be a frog rod. The power of the amistad in a shorter package.

how many different weeds can you find in this picture?!? this is our dog yard and it’s going to be torn up when we get our back patio redone this month. I’ve not done a whole lot to maintain it this year. For the eagle eyed observers you’ll see crabgrass, clover, Japanese stiltweed, nutsedge, creeping Charlie, and spurge. There might be some Poa hanging around too, it was there earlier this year. This bit of yard is still ten times better than the rest of the yard was last year. And I still have a bunch of stiltweed that I’m trying to sort out. The good news is that the acclaim I sprayed it with last Saturday looks to be taking a toll. The stiltweed is browning everywhere that was sprayed and it should be dry and crispy in another week. That’s just in time to get it cleared and broken away for seeding in a month or so.

What they've all said already. I prefer stained water with 1-2' of visibility vs all of the clear water that we have here. Stained water opens up a lot more options for lures. I love a chatterbait in stained water (less so in clear water). Similar for noisy topwaters (buzzbaits, ploppers). I find that the type of staining will held drive color choices. Tannic staining (where the water is clear but just looks like tea) is different to mud staining. I bet you have some tannic water as its common in northern natural lakes. In tannic water gold blades, copper colored crankbaits, and plastics with red/orange flash in them (canada craw) are better for me. In muddy water chartreuse is a better highlight color. If it is an algae bloom and green staining then black and blue for me.

For me its the grass and docks. Early season when the grass is sporadic a chatterbait is dynamite. This time of year though the grass is usually too thick to fish a chatterbait well as you're getting the blade matted in grass on every cast. A swim jig will come through it easier. Also with docks and grass here a swim jig pitched tight up against or under the dock will get you bit. A chatterbait doesn't for some reason. I agree on wood. A swim jig that is swum down the side of a downed tree will get eaten. we just don't have that many laid down trees around here. I did the same this year. Last year I fished chatterbaits and spinnerbaits significantly, but I recognized the limitations I just typed above re:grass. I decided I needed to learn a swim jig for days that are dead calm and grass filled and its paid off for me this year with the weather. Maybe a swim bait would have caught the same fish, but we'll never know.

Once you're calibrated to a lineup, yes that's definitely true. It's why I've stuck with falcons- I liked the first couple and I know their actions and powers pretty well. However, you still get surprises so its worth an ask. The 'buzzbait' surprised me for sure. To a lesser extent the Hudson special did too. I think it probably is. If you want more than the head turner but less than the amistad, the heavy cover jig is a possibility. I've considered this rod for just that purpose- a longer pitching rod for texas rigs and jigs that is longer than the head turner but similar or just a bit more power.

gotcha. I'm seeing all of the catches for fluke and Tuna. It looks like its been a great year for both. I haven't invested any time in learning it and I'm a solid 75 minute drive to a beach without any shore traffic so I've always kept to bass in the sweetwater since I have 8 good lakes inside 30 minutes.

I have bucoo SR and experts (no lowriders), but I have the models you describe. I have the head turner in both lines (called the pitchin stick in the bucoo). The Dragger 1 in bucoo, the 'equivalent' in the expert called the buzzbait, amistad expert, and a couple others you didn't ask about. I don't fish carolina rigs very much. I've done it a couple times on the bucoo but that isn't a technique I know or use (though I should try harder). I used that rod as my 1/2 oz chatterbait rod last year a lot. Also same sized spinnerbaits and the occasional deep crank like a DT16/20. I like the Bucoo action, so when I upgraded a bunch of rods to experts this year I picked up the 7' 6 power thinking it was equivalent. It is not. Mine is a previous generation when it was called 'buzzbait', while now it is called "table rock". The bucoo is listed as Heavy/fast; the expert as Heavy/Moderate. Both are on the lighter end of heavy but close enough. I would call the bucoo Moderate fast and the expert moderate. The expert flexes further down into the rod with lighter pressure. I've listed the expert for sale here as it doesn't fill a hole for me. Its a great rod, just not one for what I need. The bucoo currently has 14 lb line and is a light texas rig rod for ~1/4 weights and medium worms. The lowrider profiles more like the bucoo on paper, though I haven't fished it. The amistad is a big pitching stick. I start with 3/8 oz weights plus plastic or a 3/8 jig on it (with 50 lb braid). I think a 1/4 oz jig would struggle unless you had a really big plastic on the back. For a bigger jig its a great rod. I use the head turner for up to 3/8 and amistad for 3/8 and up. My head turner has 17 mono and that's a good medium pitching stick. I'll fish up to a half ounce swim jig on it or a half ounce chatterbait and trailer (which is pushing the upper end a little on it). I use the bucoo head turner (pitchin stick) with braid as a light frog rod or if I know I'm going to have the amistad set up for punching all day I'll fish the pitchin stick with a frog all day. The amistad is a great frog rod for bomb casting, but I don't get the accuracy with it I want in a frog rod.

can you at least say what the 'something other' difference was? I don't fish fluke so just curious really.

This is pretty much where I am. Last year we had a much cooler summer and more active feeding sessions for the fish. The grass was healthier and more abundant. The water had a little more color to it in a lot of places. This summer lakes are low, we've not had any real rain and the lakes are very clear. Most temps are 85 or so, some higher. The grass is absent in a lot of places. All that has meant the fish are tighter lipped this summer. I still have a chatterbait tied on to start every trip, but I also have a swim jig right next to it. Last year a chatterbait was my anti-skunk lure, and to be fair I've caught some good ones on it this year but all were in stained water and/or early season. The swim jig has been consistently producing for me this summer.

It’s aggressive if it makes a lot of noise/vibration/flash. If it goes really fast then that’s a bonus. A big whopper plopper is pretty aggressive. High vibration and sound crankbaits are aggressive. A bladed jig with a big blade and high motion trailer is aggressive bass want aggressive when they are actively feeding.

if money isn’t much of an issue, then either fab a mount for an xi3 on the front of your boat, or buy an autopilot. You are $750 for the xi3. I bet you are $150 for material. A brand new autopilot is $4200 but I bet you could get one loaded up in your area for the same price and it would include ‘stuff’. If you’re going to trailer it you can probably get a used one on a trailer for barely more than a new one. I don’t know the used market for your boat. Given the choice, the autopilot is pretty great.