casts_by_fly

Per the title, someone comes on here looking for advice on what to catch bass on next year. What is the lure you tell them to fish? Why is that the thing you tell them to fish? It can be a regular fish catcher or a little off the wall suggestion. When does it work for YOU (conditions, time of year, etc)? Selfishly, I’m always looking for another thing to expand the box or something that interests me in trying. I have a couple thoughts in mind for the year but always looking for something more/different.

I grew up fishing cover, shallow, for northern largemouth and that’s carried through to me to today. I try to learn something new every year and expand what i can do, but my bread and butter is still < 10’ with non finesse baits. I think the flip I’d struggle with would be TVA lakes where ledge fishing offshore is the deal. Watching Jacob Wheeler and others graph areas of similar type, pull up and catch fish on the first couple casts through and then do that over and over again with a range of baits and locations is an aspirational goal but not something I think I could do right now. Deep, clear, western lakes would be my other flip struggle. I have a couple lakes around me that set up like that. Finesse fishing has never been my thing as much as I’ve invested a bunch of time into it the past couple years. My brain says that baits should only ‘kinda’ be seen by the fish and lakes where the fish can see a bait hit the water 20’ away is a struggle. I am learning it slowly, but it’s very different. the flip I’d love is shallow southern lakes set up around cover (grass or wood). something like a santee cooper. Up here I get coldwater largemouth in relatively clear lakes. Going south to minimal to modest visibility where I could wind around the lake with a bladed jig or pitching bait all day would be a dream.

@Brian11719 I hear you. You pick the thing you like and the can’t get it in the future. That’s a fair criticism. the issue with offering it both ways is complexity. It is easy enough for a custom or semi custom builder to offer it both ways. But for a major manufacturer and (more importantly) the retailers to offer it that way means double the number of items to stock. And you might think just take what you were going to stock, cut it in half, and then have two of them (with different seats) but it doesn’t work that way. I work in an industry where we make things that are sold at retail. And you’d have to stock 20-30% more individually than if you only had one of the two. That introduces excess stock when you don’t plan the right amount of each which means discounting/clearing the ones left over. That might be minimal if you’re talking about a 7’ M spinning rod where you sell two tons of them and a minimum order quantity at the producer isn’t that much (relatively) but if you’re talking about the 7’6” light that is pretty technique specific then the demand planning of how many to make vs how many to sell is pretty tough.

@Brian11719 - to me, that’s the best improvement they could have made for this rod. I’m going to take a wild guess that you hold a spinning rod with the reel stem touching your middle finger (either in front of behind the stem)? I have the stem between my pinkie and ring finger which means that on my current zodias my index finger is rolling on the edge of the knurled part of the locking nut. Not comfy when fighting a decent fish and even wears a little when just fishing. This new reversed reel seat would be a great improvement for me.

@gim - that was a wild one. The bears D was the biggest change. In the first half they couldn’t stop a cold. In the second half they just shut Jordan love down. Nothing flashy, just stops. I have a general distrust of teams that go from worst to first in their division because of a new quarterback or new coach (outside of some horrific injury luck in the bad season). This year that’s the panthers, bears, jags, and patriots. I picked three to lose and the patriots to win. We’ll see how close i get with that. @Mike L - I don’t hate Harbaugh to Miami as a prediction. Tua is ‘Lamar-lite’ in a lot of ways. Miami will get Tyreek back. They have a decent core and if Mcdaniels can get them to 7-8 wins harbaugh can get them 2 more. But I would love to see him come to NY. I don’t root for the giants but lots of people here do. With the defensive front 7 they have, a young but seemingly decent quarterback, and some other pieces around (plus the 5th pick this year) I think they could do a worst to first in that division with him. It would be exciting to see and since half the steeler games are blacked out for Giants/jets I could at least watch something exciting on TV.

@Brycecover stradic medium body (2500/3k size). That’s what i have on all of my spinning rods and I don’t see a reason to change now. For this use it will be the xhg and a 2500 since I’m putting really thin braid on it. the 7’2 ML PA balances great with it as does the 6’9” ML zodias and the 6’10” UL/M PA. My dad has the 7’ M zodias with a 4k vanford (same weight as the 3k stradic) and it balances well also. They are all close enough that the ~8 oz reels feel just right.

Just grab some 6 lb supernatural mono and run with it. Braid to leader is nice in some instances, but straight light mono is perfect for what you want.

@A-Jay - My next door neighbor’s mentality when it comes to moving snow is ‘embrace the suck’. He refuses to get a blower because it’s an intermittent need here in NJ and also a little physical work doesn’t hurt anyone. He’s not wrong on both counts. He also has a 10’ wide x 100’ long black topped driveway that is about as smooth as a baby’s butt so sliding a shovel across it is pretty easy (unlike my pavers). With as much snow as you get in a year or in any given event (measured in feet not inches!) any reason you haven’t gotten an even bigger removal tool like a plow or tractor mounted blower? I know your blower is a monster, but when you’re looking at feet of snow…

@Micro Module Police - most people can’t read Japanese nor have a browser translator so there’s that. @Brycecover - will do. My only hesitation is that the medium solid tip is 7’2”. I have the 7’2” PA ML which has the same spec so there would be an overlap there. More importantly, I prefer a bit shorter for quick flick type casts which is half the time you’re chasing on FFS. I think I’m leaning expride 6’10” M but let’s see. Maybe I order both and return one.

I decided to go with the propane turbo heater (60k BTU). As much as I’d like to have it hung up and out of the way with a thermostat, I would be practically limited to 5000 watts which is about 17k BTU. Based on all the calculations, that would be pushing the limits to heat a 3 car garage with 14’ ceilings. Instead, for the same spend I can get 4x the BTU and give up some of the convenience. I’m confident that 60k BTU will heat it up pretty quickly and being propane there should be no smell and minimal risk of noxious gas if using it with the doors closed. I already have 2 propane tanks and propane is easier to manage than diesel/kerosene (neither of which I have cans for already). I’ll deal with the floor space it takes up (in the winter) and in the summer I’ll put it in the basement. I’ll have it next week so I’ll report back on how it does.

The new Zodias B are listed on TW now. I’ve been planning for a dedicated solid tip minnow shaker for this year and was debating between an expride and a PA (hadn’t decided on M vs M+) and now they throw in the zodias with a nice looking uplocking seat (my only complaint with the zodias A) at the price of a JDM stradic less than the PA…

Well, i sorta predicted it above. The experts got refreshed (new labels, graphics) and they raised the price to $229. Then the first of the year hit and they upped the price for both experts and Caras which are now $249/299 respectively. Lowriders jumped to $149 and Bucoo to $119. TW still has them listed at the old prices, though stock is variable. Many are backordered until March/April, though they are still sold at the old price. So if you were considering one, now is the time to order it. I was hoping to wait for the site wide 20% sale to pick up a Cara head turner but that’s usually late Feb/early march and I bet they will have upped the price before then. I’m going to have to do some math and see what’s better. Ok, did the math. 299 at 20% off is $239. Currently they are listed at $249. So $10 cheaper if I wait and catch them at new price with discount and there is the possibility they will run the same before they change price on the site.

Awesome! @Glenn - are you a techie/IT guy by trade?

I’m an ardent 832 user in that scenario (yellow with 10 lb fluoro leader) but my dad swapped to 10# x9 last year for the exact same situation and absolutely loves it. Casts a mile, great visibility (white for him), hasn’t broken a fish off yet. Can’t compare to spiderwire but based on his experience I’d have no problem trying x9 if I was considering it.

I’ve had one for 3 or 4 years now. I had a helix 7 and was using auto chart for my local lakes because none are mapped. It filled the helix on the first lake so i got the card. The card is just an SD card with a specific formatting. No, you can’t just use another SD card and format it yourself. Yes it works as advertised. And when I moved from my helix units to my xplores this spring the data came with me. I haven’t put enough time into the hard/soft bottom and vegetation mapping. I just turn it on when I launch, set the depth offset, and let it go. It records the data and puts it on the card. One day when I put some time into learning it better I can add the bottom hardness layers and the data will be there. If someone swapped and has one spare, you can easily use it. It isn’t anything like a license. It’s more like an old hard drive. Just install and start using it.

I’m going to bump this thread back around because I’m in a similar position with the same rods.

that's a chunk. Almost 'square' by the measurements. is it a KY fish (guessing from your profile data)? if so, that's an 85+ on the state by state thread... Just sayin...

I’ll just leave this one up here.

welcome! Whereabouts in northern NJ? I'm in Morris county so get around to most of the lakes around at some point.

For you northern climate guys, once it starts snowing and you get that first big one, does it ever clear or are you stuck with snow/ice/hardpack until spring? We got 8” or so before Christmas and while the sidewalks are clear the lawn/woods/etc are all white hardpack. It’s annoying for the dogs because they just lose grip (especially in the next phase when it just ices). But we have 50 a rainy for 2 days this weekend so it will be gone by Monday. I can’t imagine aging to deal with it for 4 months straight.

Hi gents- A mini split would be great, but I’m not spending $1k on this for all I need. A plug is portable turbo heater is a $150 spend. A wall mounted unit is in the same general ballpark and it would be off the ground and out of the way. A propane turbo heater is half that. So this is the spend range I’m looking at.

As a Steelers fan, I have not posted much in this thread (not ever). I’ve only been in this forum since after the Steelers have been post Ben declining. That said. This game was wild. I don’t think the NFL could have asked for a better last game as a broadcast point. I didn’t think the Steelers were the better team last game and I’m not sure they are now. I don’t think they will go anywhere (maybe beat the Texans). But what an exciting game. It is 60 minutes post game and my heart rate isn’t down enough to let me sleep. What a wild finish.

Outside of shimano, I know Daiwa had a ‘team Daiwa’ reel with the fighting drag circa 1995. My dad has one still and just pulled it out not long ago. That was his main spinning reel for most of the years I fished with him in the 90’s and early 2000s. I’d have to check the model.

@Jigfishn10- I double checked and it is a 30 amp breaker as I suspected. I didn’t check wire gauge, but I would wager the builders didn’t put in a heavier wire than necessary, so I doubt I can get to a 40 A circuit. I was looking at 5000 W units because nominally 5kW = 21 A draw which is just right on a 30A circuit. 7500W is 32 A and needs a 40A breaker that I’m not sure I am comfortable doing. The garage is nominally 35x20 with 14’ ceilings. I haven’t measured height, but my 12’ ladder leans against the wall almost upright with some more space to go. At 10W/sqft that would be 7000 W which is about what I was seeing elsewhere online. That’s the calculation that is making me think about putting in a 40A breaker (only if the wiring can handle it). That said, my question is if that 7000 W is for a standalone building and bringing it to full temp (72ish), then will 5kW be okay in my situation and I don’t have to swap breakers. @gim- adding a ceiling fan is a non starter. That would mean running wire or at least cutting in a box and pulling power from a garage door opener. That’s more work than I’m willing to go to. I’d just get a propane torpedo at that rate. I wouldn’t mind it for the drying air circulation. Right now I keep a dehumidifier in the garage that I put into the footwell of the boat when I get wet (plus a separate fan blowing under the seats. It works, but a ceiling fan would be a nice add. That said, as much as I have the ability to scab one in, I think running the same fan and dehumidifier with a propane heater (or wall heater) in there would be good enough. Is your garage connected to the house or separate (by walls)?