casts_by_fly

In the UK not so much. There are tons of them around but no one wants to catch them. Eels are netted with dip nets in some places when they run to spawn but that’s also not common in the Uk anymore. And outside of a sushi restaurant I don’t think I’ve seen eel on a menu in the 12 years I was there.

The falcon expert 6’10” finesse jig rod is a great stick and would be right up your alley. Great for lighter jigs and plastics. Will walk a sexy dawg all day. I like mine for a chatterbait also. Very light weight and really crisp but not stiff. Probably my favorite rod of all I have. if you really want to satisfy the bait monkey, I put an abu mgx on it and they are on sale most places right now.

I use a 20x21 from yak attack. Its a great net, but still not 100% of everything I want in a net (I want the hoop to be collapsible for easier storage). The hoop is the main issue for storage so check the compartments you’re going to put it in. I’m in a kayak so it’s in the open well in the back and it just fits. rubber wide mesh is mandatory. Trebles don’t stick and it’s easiest on the fish.

If you like to stick with falcon then an amistad would be a good addition. Pitching any heavier cover with a half ounce or more, 3/4oz and bigger spinnerbaits, and frogs on top. I just picked up an expert series and it’s going to be a great rod for bigger stuff. a head turner would be a good add also. Slightly more power but very similar action to your 6’10” MH. Pitches medium jigs great and doubles up for bladed baits.

the 106mk in the video, the autopilots, and the sportsman PDL boats all have that similar/same hull design. Pretty flat across the board with a twin tunnel underneath. That 106 has a ‘tail fin’ by the rudder which I expect helps with tracking. My 120ap doesn’t have that but it does have the big rudder which is always in the water for me. these hulls have great stability. They will tilt 15-20 degrees fairly easily and then just stop.

you won’t break a rod on a hook set unless it’s already damaged or you hit something with the rod (like a tree you didn’t see). in terms of power, I like a little more power in a chatterbait rod to be sure the hooks drives home. They are pretty heavy hooks.

And good guys too. I remember when Dan (?) was just kicking off the store back in 2000. Always fantastic service, quickest shipping you’ll find from anyone.

It’s only about 3 days a year for pa lakes. The first day and the first spring and fall in season stockings. In my prior experience of living in pa and also fishing the lakes the first day growing up, most guys are throwing power bait, eggs, meal/wax worms, etc. nothing that I worry about them catching tons of bass on. And some of those trout lakes are some of the best bass lakes in western pa. slob will always be slobs though. That’s a universal truth in every place. Every trip out I feel like I’m picking up a half bag of trash.

I have fished the bucoo head turner for a year and I have the expert version on the way now. If you like a faster rod with power up high in the rod then it’s a great action. Just today I handled the bucoo 6’6” ‘Herm’ and I think it would be a great spinnerbait rod if you like a short rod. A little less power up the rod compared to a head turned but a little more than the 7’ rods. rick

Doubtful. I have a truck and put it in the bed. I also leave 35 lb of battery, and another 5lb of packed items in the boat. It makes for a hefty lift into the bed so cartopping would require changes and a good lift (and ideally a lower car, not an SUV).

My autopilot is stable enough that I just put a foot on the top gunwale and lean into it. The boat tips about 15-20 degrees and stops. No issues unless it is windy/wavy. Gotta remember to move the coffee cup to the other side of the boat though... I rarely sit except to tie on a lure or take a break and enjoy the sunshine (i.e. the fish haven't bit for a couple hours and I'm getting tired of it). I guess I treat my kayak the way I would a boat and not a kayak, but that's just how I fish.

I fish for fun and from a Kayak. Last weekend I had three different chatterbaits rigged and 'on the deck'. Why? They were catching fish so I had three different color/profile options. Turns out they didn't want the white one- glad I had the other two ready at hand to just bend down, swap rods, and keep casting.

I'm of this position too. I've done a few rods with match guides before there were other light options on the market. I have a 9' 2-pc Lamiglas casting rod that I build as a steelhead/salmon float rod in roughly 2003. I was living along lake Erie at the time and fishing the rivers 4-6 days per week most weeks. To mix it up a bit (I already had fly, spinning, and centerpin rods) I did a baitcasting version. It worked great but if I were to do it again I would definitely not use the match guides. This rod was spiral wrapped with alconites on the transition and then match guides the rest. I think size 5 alconites would have been a better choice then and now the worlds your oyster. The match guides are delicate. They bend out of shape easily in transport or catching on branches. And, a size 3 match guide feels about the same overall weight to a lightweight #5 with the benefits of a larger ring and lower profile on the #5. That said, I've used that rod for 'other' things as well including a couple north sea boat trips to fish wrecks. I took that rod as a mackerel catcher with a medium shimano round reel and some 30# braid. With a half ounce weight and a mackerel rig you could have some fun catching 12-18" mackerel up to 3-4 at a time. thanks, rick

This cold snap the past 4 days has been sub freezing for most of the 24 hours in a day so I'm sure our lakes have dropped a few degrees, but it happened last year too so no biggie. Let's call March a bonus. It might have gotten chilly here, but our water is open. Feel free to make a drive down! The next week is 40/60 low/high for a solid week with some warm rain coming in. Things should warm right up. thanks, Rick

The OT sportsman series was designed for stability with a wide bottom and almost a catamaran style hull. I've got the autopilot 120 but the PDL and paddle versions are the same bottom. I stand all day in mine and even will motor at full speed while standing. I'll step all the way to the front (straddling the motor) if I'm pitching and its still stable.

You're pretty close to my suggestion as well. I like Falcon rods and for ploppers the 7' Heavy (lizard dragger) is great, but I'm only throwing the 110 size. A 130 size might be too much at which point the Amistad is the next choice. I bet the amistad would throw the 110 well also (I'll find out this year). I'm maxing out at 3/8 oz for a buzzbait so I throw them on a 5-power Falcon (mostly the 7' MH). The 7' H would work but isn't ideal so I leave something else tied onto it.

very different question to all around or 'just one' type questions. if you want a burner, then a 1/2 oz strike king double willow with the razr blades. That's my usual first pick for a spinnerbait when I'm trying to cover water. You can burn them fast and they stay upright. They fish a lot heavier than a 3/8 would but aren't a beast to cast like a 3/4 and up. I tend to throw them with a 3.3" Keitech SIF as a trailer.

In addition to the people who changed jobs to work from home type roles, a couple million people retired who ordinarily wouldn't have. I've seen estimates of 3M people retired 'early'. On a workforce of 150M, that's 2% of your entire workforce that chose to stop working. thanks, rick

I will normally have something white tied on for most of my trips. I'll drop it over until I can't see it. Reel up until I do. Check depth and repeat once. I'm looking for a general idea of how clear it is and also the water color. A lot of natural lakes here in north jersey are clear, but colored. There is a lot of dark water here that you think isn't clear, but then you can see a bait down 5'. Few of the lakes I fish have a significant stream coming in, so they stay pretty clear.

thanks tom. Last weekend was a blank working it through. I started at the top left of the picture where the flat turns to the steeper break doing what I did the previous time- throwing lipless up on top, bouncing through the rocks on the top, and letting it drop down the front face. I made a couple passes with different colors. I did a couple more passes (always keeping the boat deeper and perpendicular) throwing a soft swimbait, a sexy dawg, and a single colorado spinnerbait slow rolled. Then when none of that was working I figured it couldn't hurt to position shallower for a pass or three so repeated some of the lures, also threw in some other crankbaits (DT6, OG6). I didn't have it in me to slow down to a jig, though I did make a few casts in high priority areas with a TRD tickler. I think I threw a swim jig through it a few times also. Before I left the area I got up on the shallow side that isn't mapped above so I could map it but also to see what it looked like. Its a mix of bowling balls and some big flat rocks (small table size) interspersed on a gravel/sand bottom. That's what I thought based on the red eye shad feel. I had good visibility to 4' and didn't see any fish but that makes sense since the water was still 49 degrees there. I'm sure they are still holding in the 8-12' bracket. This weekend is COLD here, but next weekend I might run over. Maybe I just need to dig out the snorkel gear....

I have horizontal rod holders, so overpasses and low trees aren't a problem. Though I do have to watch my left side when I am getting close to brush, walls, or docks. I'm not usually that close that it matters unless I'm going in for a stuck lure or in significant standing timber. I also don't run a crate. I just have a tackle bag that sits behind my seat in place of a crate. Its a soft sided, rubber bottomed plano bag with 5 3700's, 1x 3600, and some pockets for soft plastics. Its not bad getting into that from the seat. The problem is if I want to get further back or into the front hatch. The front hatch means crawling over the trolling motor. The rear means a long reach. I don't normally carry anything in the far rear since my net sits there when I'm fishing. If I take off a rain jacket or if I have a small cooler it will go there. I have a small plastic bin that will fit there, but I don't normally need to carry that much but it would be nice to be able to put the things that I DO carry into lockers/hatches and not have to make guesses at the start of the day what I may or may not need. With the design of the autopilot (motor in the front middle of the boat), I don't see a lot of options for built in storage. I understand why there isn't much and why that's the limiting factor on this boat compared to a Hobie for instance. If you didn't have the scupper holes in the front floor, then I could see a perfect flat area to build in a hatch. Definitely big enough for 4x 3700 boxes, more in the 136 AP. Scuppers would have to be relocated to the sides though (engineering and assembly problem) and the hatch would have to be absolutely waterproof for the event of a front deck flooding (I've had it happen a couple times). The rear well could be hatched, but you'd lose storage space so I don't see the point. All around the sidewalls aren't tall enough to fit a 3500 let alone a bigger box. thanks, rick

If you were local I’d give you the spool I have here (1 reel filled off a 300 yard spool). That’s about how much I rate it.

We’re iced out here and I’ve gotten out, but lows in the low 20’s for four days next week, highs barely 40, and grey all do not make me happy. I had 52 degree water last Saturday in spots and I will be a lot colder next weekend. at least it’s wet.

The mono? I find it hard and keeps memory. Ties good knots and good abrasion resistance, but curls almost as bad as p-line cxx. if you want to try suffix mono, elite is much better. I use 14 and 17 for most everything with 832 in 30 and 50 for special applications.

I've always been 2 coats of low build. I have never found a finish that looks good enough with just one coat regardless of the build type. So low build does a better job of penetrating and truly coating on the first step and gets the finish about 60-70% of the build I want. Then a light to moderate second coat finishes it off. thanks rick