casts_by_fly

I'd ask if you catch fish with others lures instead? I can go places and NOT catch fish on ned rigs all I want- because they fish just aren't in those places. Then I also have a few places that the fish go in cycles. Last year I couldn't get bit on my 'home' lake on a ned rig. Year before it was 20+ fish evenings. The Neko made up for it this year. Who knows what next year will be. Same home lake 2 years ago, if it was green pumpkin you'd catch a fish or two. If that same lure was tipped chartreuse it was every other cast in the same spot (literally spotlocked and making the same cast). All that is to say that #1, make sure there are fish there in the first place. #2- follow the rules above to fish the lightest head you can and put a bait where the fish are. And #3- if you're catching but not very well don't be afraid to change up the profile or the color just a little bit. Those same fish above wouldn't eat a craw profile but would eat a stickbait profile (floating or not didn't matter). They would eat a green pumpkin stickbait but really ate that chartreuse tipped one. Of course these fish were eating small bluegills so that all makes sense but YMMV.

@Bigbox99 - on my 'big' rod which is a falcon big bait with a 200e Chronarch, I run a bit of spool tension. Not enough to get a slow drop and forego braking, but enough that it is doing some of the work that my thumb would do at the start or end of a cast. An 8" magdraft has enough inertia in the air to overcome any amount of braking you're going to add to the spool so there is no need to run with zero tension. I do the same when I'm throwing 3/4-1 oz spinnerbaits as well.

@MassYak85 - the 'starter kit' is the box, 20 medium boxes, and 8 small boxes. That is mostly what you see in my picture. I added a pack of small and a pack of medium (5 in each pack) for about $5 per pack, not per box. So all in, I have $50 tied up in the boxes in the picture above. I have $10 more worth of a pack of smalls and a pack of mediums which will just about fill the box. So that's $60 to just about fill it.

@Brycecover - my dad has that 7' M zodias with a vanford, but it takes 4k sized reel to balance it at the lock nut (which is where I prefer it also). I'd rather have the same weight but smaller profile stradic 3k size. The zodias have the monocoque rear grips which are super light weight and don't help with balance, but do with overall weight.

Did you take the tension back off to test if it was smooth again? Also, did you take the tension off to reassemble the reel?

Here is the 2014 catalog. Page 26 shows the musky rods and you can mostly make out the MUR nomenclature. The specific rod label in the picture is the GL2 styling. Also, in the original picture (on facebook marketplace) you can click on the picture to put it full screen and pinch zoom out to see the GL on the blank right below where Dave cut off the picture. http://www.westernbass.com2014 G-Loomis Catalog

@ATA If only AI actually knew what it was talking about all the time. The rod is a GL2 musky rod as big box said. Saltwater guys use them for bottom bouncing. It would also be a pretty good NJ musky rod considering how many smaller fish we have around here.

@herder - i had that thought about the Gilly when it came out. I picked up a pack of first release small size and have throw it all of twice. I hope the flux works out better for you than the gilly for me.

@Gera are you talking a JDM casting rod (the SV TW says yes). I’m looking at the spinning versions.

I don't upgrade routinely, but if I need a new rod or reel for some purpose I'm not going to slum it either. There is some logic to saying you can spend less on a moving bait rod because you don't need the sensitivity as much. But then again why spend less when you can spend more!

Sad day for me. I love him as a coach and person. He wasn't the reason they weren't winning playoff games. We haven't had a league average quarterback in almost 10 years since before Ben got hurt. A couple years of missed draft picks coupled with minimal/no/bad free agent signings (either our own or others) means there are holes on the roster. They have started to fix that with the lines, but the WR/DB position is thin. And we don't have a QB. Rogers is crafty, but even with all his craftiness he was the 27th best QB by QBR this year. A second 'good' receiver would have helped but not enough. And outside of Joey Porter Jr the DBs all had holes in their game. I think next year is the mulligan year. New coach. Bridge quarterback (or play Will Howard). We don't pick high enough this year to get a good quarterback, barring anything weird happening in the draft. With a bridge QB and new coach you take the mulligan and get a top 10 pick that Tomlin would have never gotten down to.

The zodias would be just over that at $270 (and is only available for preorder right now). I really like shimano spinning rods so I'd be investigating that one in your situation. But I haven't held it (its a new model) so I can't say for sure for you ordering it blind. But owning the 6'9" ML and having fished my dad's 7' M, plus having the 7'2" ML PA and the 6'10" UL/M PA I am reasonably confident that the 7' ML is going to be right in that ballpark. The 7' M is rated for 1/2 oz also so if they kept the bottom nominally the same but lightened the top quarter (which would take it from fast to extra fast and lower the lure rating to 1/8 oz) then that's my guess on what the ML will be.

@Brycecover - what price point for the rod? The 7'2" ML poison adrena is a pretty sweet rod for a lot of things. I bet the new 7' ML zodias is also (I have the 6'9" version).

Yeah, i think they just came out with a couple new variants. There is a deep version now and bigger storage cells.

That would have been my guess. He doesn’t have any line specific sponsors that I can tell, but he is a Daiwa guy and J-fluoro looks like their top end leader.

@PhishLI any idea what leader he’s using? Fluoro i presume, but do you know the rest? I moved to FC leader material this past year (instead of mainline pieces) and have been impressed with Sunline FC leader. It isn’t cheap per yard, but I didn’t go through half of three spools last year so overall cost isn’t bad. The 10lb held up to a good bit of cover I wouldn’t expect. But 10lb in this is borderline as heavy as I want for a jighead minnow. That said, i caught a bunch of 5-10lb non bass on the 6# out in open water and it was fine.

hi all, Let’s start by saying that there is no perfect system for terminal tackle. Some like to keep things in original packaging and separate by size, shape, weight, and type. Some people put everything into one big box. I’ve gone back and forth over time but I think I’m settling into my preference. Two years ago while still in the kayak I loaded out a 3600 box with all my worm hooks (EWG, straight, offset, #1 up to 5/0), some specialist hooks, some of my jig heads. The rest of my jig heads were in the 3600 box with my minnows. But then I kept dropshot hooks and weights in a ziplock bag with the dropshot plastics. And I had a separate Tupperware to hold neko rig terminals. And all my Ned terminals were in the 3700 deep with all the Ned plastics so that I could carry them any given day or not. And all my worm weights were in a 3200 size 4-compartment that never left the kayak. Some stuff was in original packaging, some was opened. Aside from the Ned box, nothing was waterproof so when it rained (either in the kayak or in the boat) stuff could get wet depending how hard it rained. I needed a better solution. I saw the BKK box and thought it might the what I need. To be clear, I am just talking about the OCD box, not the fully loaded system (which is the same box, but comes preloaded with terminal gear). I bought a set of small and a set of medium boxes to see how they fit my stuff and started by organizing the Ned heads and my bullet weights. It all fit well so I picked up the box (which comes with a good set of small and medium boxes inside). I spent a couple slow work afternoons pulling out my terminal gear and dropping it into the OCD box. It’s a good start for 95% of the terminal stuff I use. I have worm weights from 1/32 up to 3/4, worm hooks from #1-5/0, neko specific hooks of three variants, nail weights in all I need, Ned’s from 1/20 to 1/4, and jig heads (for jighead minnows or paddle tails) from 1/8 up to 3/8 in a couple styles. Still a bunch of room for other things. I haven’t decided on what I want to do with the other 5% of terminal gear that I normally carry but I have enough boxes on the way to fill the rest of the space so lots of options. And the ones without labels don’t have anything in them. All that and the box is only just a little bigger than a 3600 deep sized box. And has a waterproof gasket closure (not as good as the planos, but pretty good). I think I’m really going to like this.

@bowhunter63 thick trick vs the standard trick worm- what is the difference in how they fish? I picked up the trick worm last year to good effect and it’s my #2 plastic now (after a rage bug). I like variations on a theme so a pack of thick tricks might be interesting.

Yeah, that was my thinking. 60k BTU, turn it on for 15 minutes before I go out there to let it warm it all up, and then shut it off. Put on some tunes and go to work.

@Gera - what bait weight range does it feel best with? It is rated down to 1/8 oz which is pretty light for a medium let alone a M+. Does it handle a true 1/8 oz? My light end for it would be a 1/8 head plus 3” small minnow, so 3/16 oz total, maybe 1/4 oz. On the upper end it is rated for a 1/2. Does it fish a true 1/2 oz total bait weight well? That would be a 1/4 or 5/16 head with a 4-5” plastic which is the upper end of what I’m throwing most of the time. If it could handle 5/8 oz total that would be awesome, but someone else’s notes on the expride M solid tip indicate maybe don’t go over the upper weight limit too much.

I prefer a full grip but most of my rods are split. For me, whether the grip is split or not is the last thing of importance after the blank, the seat feel, the lightness of the guides and ultimately the grip. I like a full cork because I cast two handed on every cast, even if it is just a small touch on the butt.

I think you're probably right Glenn. I agree on the Rams/Hawks part 3 being the real game. I think if Sean Payton can coax 2 good error free games out of Bo Nix then they will be there. And that Bronco's D would give the seahawks offense some fits. But there is a lot of uncertainty to go. Maybe 2 weeks of rest made DK Metcalf a new man and he balls out for 3 games...

@Rockhopper - you can mark the entire set of forums read by clicking on your profile name in the upper right and chosing "mark all content read". That will mark all content across all forums read. If you just want to mark one forum (for instance the reports forum) then while in that forum there is an option to click 'mark forum read' right above the first thread. It isn't as simple as it was before where you could click the icon on the main forum landing page to mark a singular forum read. Now you have to click into the forum to mark a single forum read.

I've been on forums or groups of one type/purpose or another since 1998 or 1999. Topics range from fishing/rod building and hunting to photography, scuba diving, lawn care, sports, and others. I think the first was actually an email dlist for flyfishing before forums (like this format) were available. I have been in various specialist facebook groups (local/regional forums, product specific stuff, etc). In my 25+ years of doing this, a couple things I've learned: 1- People will be people. In society you have a broad range of people and like noted above, the internet is just a mirror of the people in the real world. There are tons of great people. There are also a bunch of jagoffs. 2- The group, the moderation, the rules, and the transparency all make the difference. Just go on any 'unmoderated' place and look at people's behavior when there are no checks and everyone is 'anonymous'. Heck, look at how some people behave in well moderated forums (and how quickly some people get booted in those places) to see what's "possible". Maybe the first best example I experienced was rodbuilding.org. Rule #1 is that you must you use actual first and last name. It is amazing how well people behave when your real name is put to what you are writing. Strong moderation like here or Upland Journal (hunting forum) is great. A few forums I used to partake in (and a lot of the facebook groups I joined) do not have that and I don't go there anymore. 3- Decide what you want from the place you're putting your time. Are you looking to learn something, help someone, kill time, stir trouble? There's a forum for that. Want to get wound up about something and argue with someone? Want to show off/brag about your 'thing' be it a big fish, fancy truck, or perfect score? There's a place for that. For me, I don't want any of that. I have no time for the negativity or trolling. I want to be in a place where good people are helping others and sharing experiences. I've stopped going to a bunch of forums and left a bunch of groups because of the crap it turned into. And I'm happier for it.

I don't have a computer that can run the ZLC software. I am 100% apple based except for my work computer (which I can't install anything on). So I am entirely inside the head units.