casts_by_fly

trebles around wood is going to be a challenge in the daytime. At night forget it. For topwaters, a buzzbait is my primary night lure. it is mostly snag free. You can tell if the line or hook is fouled very easily as you're reeling it in. The plopping sound at night just drives bass nuts. it is a big fish bait anyway, and night fishing is about big fish for me. A spinnerbait will fish well in timber at night. Again, the constant reeling means that the arms will hit the wood first so unless you reel it into the Y of a branch you should be okay. A brush jig is the other good choice. One with a decent weed guard. A swim jig with a lighter weed guard isn't going to be enough down in heavier timber. You want an arkie style head with a full weedguard and then put a flatter bodied trailer on it, threaded up onto the hook. Incidentally that's also a good skipping jig, not that you're doing that at night. It's a good timber jig though because it will slide up over branches instead of rolling on them. Jig fishing at night is all about the feel though so on the retrieve just close your eyes and feel every branch and bump.

The action is 'where' the rod bends when you're casting. The power is 'how much force' it takes to bend it there and beyond. Keep that straight and all will be right with the world. You mentioned 'how fast the tip moves back from a load'. That is NOT correct. That would be called the recovery speed or just recovery and that is something that isn't categoried by manufacturers. You might hear a rod be called 'crisp' or 'responsive' and that's what they are trying to imply. You can measure the recovery speed (tru resonant frequency is the rechnical term I think), but since no one publishes those numbers it wouldn't help you much unless you had a bunch of blanks' or rods' worth of data. With the definitions squared away, you can have moderate actions with low or high powers. A noodle rod for salmon and steelhead is a good example. They are designed with very moderate or even slow actions where they will bend into a complete U shape on a fish (just point the butt at the fish and keep cranking) but they have a decent amount of power when you really bend them. Conversely, you can have an ultralight (power) trout rod with a really fast action. When you cast it with the rated lure weight, only the very tip top bends but hook into an angry brown trout and it will flex the blank well into the bottom 1/3rd. Bass rods are similar- you can have fast action ML or M powered rods and you can have heavy powered rods with a moderate action. A fast actioned rod is going to have a light, quick loading tip, often lighter than a more moderate actioned rod of a similar power. But then that light tip is going to give way to a lot of power right behind it, usually about 20-25% of the way down the blank. A more moderate rod will flex into the top 1/3 or so on a cast but the actual top 6" of the tip isn't doing much flexing. As to what you want to use each for? That's personal preference. A bladed jig rod is a good example. AJay's pictures above show a quite moderate rod loaded up with a (presumably) big smallmouth. He loves a moderate rod for chatterbaits and I think swingheads. For me, I fish my chatterbaits on a fast action. Same with spinnerbaits. Everyone has a preference. Moderate actioned rods for trebles? I'm throwing most of them on a fast action for topwaters and a moderate fast for crankbaits. Then again, I am fishing mono which has a bit more give so that the total system has enough give to fight a fish but enough sticking power to set the hook in the first place.

wanna trade? I love the look and feel of a dbomb, but aside from one fish where it was a jig trailer, I haven't caught a fish on one.

Downcycle your bugs if you aren’t already. Texas rig them until the head is torn up. Cut off the first 3-4 rings and rerig it as a Texas rig and you’ve got a new life on it, only 3/8” shorter (they still work). When that is torn up, throw it on the back of a jig and call it a day. Glue them to a jig and they will last a while. You only have to worry about the clays being pulled off.

Yes, but you’re not going to like it. If you bolt the trolling motor to the boat and hook it up directly to the battery (let’s say with crimped on O ring terminals) it will work just fine. Until there is a problem. You want a breaker of some type in case you have an overload. It is unlikely, but the motor is $1500. You want to do as much as you can to protect it. The kill switch is optional, but it is good safety practice. I never got knocked out of my boat and if you’ll never wear the kill switch then don’t do it. The QR plate for mounting it is also optional. If you are never going to remove it then leave it there. Plenty do. The QR plate is a nice to have.

a worm under a bobber is the simplest fishing so you're on the right track for getting kids into it. First, confirm that there are fish where you're fishing. If the water is semi clear, you should be able to walk around and see bluegills in the area. If not, keep walking. You can also try throwing out a chunk of white bread half the size of the palm of your hand. Once one starts to eat it, it will pull more in and you can be sure they are there. I would downsize to a #10 hook. A 6 is a lot for smaller bluegills. I wouldn't use a whole worm. you only need a 1/2" piece or so. Putting a whole worm on a hook just means there is a whole lot of worm that doesnt' have a hook in it. They will grab the tails and run away from their friends. You think you've got a great hit but pull and miss. I like just enough worm to cover the hook shank plus a 1/4-1/2" tag end. I don't know what size bobber you're using, but anything bigger than a 1" red and white bobber is too much for bluegills. If that's all you have is bigger ones, then add 2-3 B split shot right under the bobber. Ideally you want the bobber to be halfway sunk when it is just sitting there. That way even the lightest pecks show the bobber dipping under the water. Or, you could use weighted bobbers if you have them. Keep it simple. Once you tune the setup just a little, then any time the bobber moves, either down in the water or away from you you should be able to set the hook on a bluegill. This is how I teach kids to fish and its about a foolproof as you can get.

Not as well as a spinning rod and not as well with light baits. I can show you that objectively with FFS. I run zero spool tension on most all of my baitcasters (aldebaran included) and even at zero spool tension there is still drag from the spool that will pendulum the bait back. A high arc cast is the solution if you're using a BFS rod.

Not just heading lock, it needs to have a heading sensor. The autopilot has heading lock without a sensor because the motor is mostly up front and just pulling the kayak behind it. A heading sensor (which I think you have on your AP to allow jog) means the motor knows the angle the boat is pointing. Without that, the motor could be keeping on a line, but the boat is at any angle- forward, sideways, etc. that's now the Minn Kota kayak terrova. same spec. same price.

If you're putting a 50 lb thrust motor and 100Ah of 24V lithium in the far back it just might balance out.

I tie a slip knot with an overhand stopper on every spool- spinning or casting- even if the spool is vented. I'm sure the first time I don't is the next time that I hook a musky or striper on light tackle that spools me.

sure, but pushing from the back means actively steering unless there is a separate heading sensor in the front of the boat (a rear mount might be possible). Let's say you're going along in a straight line, motor aiming for a point via it's own navigation. The nose of the boat starts to turn a little to the right, but the motor doesn't know that. It keeps it's path aimed straight for the destination point. The nose will keep swinging around to the right as the motor keeps aiming straight. Next thing you know you're sideways, and then running backwards. There needs to be steering correction to keep the boat pointing towards the destination and since steering is from the rear that means the trolling motor has to make constant corrections if it is doing all of the navigation. I'm sure they have worked it through, but I'm curious how they do it. it is a similar scenario for running down the bank and fishing. With a front mount motor, you point it the direction you want to go. With a rear mount, everything is flipped.

This is mostly where I am also. My dad has lowrance and as much as people tout the user interface, the new UI on the explore units is miles better now. I have had helix and now have explore units. The side and down imaging is the best on HB. They are the only 360. I would caution everyone against saying that Garmin is clearly the best FFS. If it better than mega live 2? I think so. Clear and obviously better? That’s a tough call now. ML1 was barely serviceable. ML2 is a huge difference and right up there. In the past you could have amazing SI and passable FFS or you could have amazing FFS and passable SI. Hbird upped their FFS game way more than garmin upped their SI. If you had to pick one brand to run using all ‘things’ I think it would have to be humminbird.

That was my thinking in getting it also. Then I went and bought a poison adrena 7’2” ML and they are VERY similar in power and action, just with a different reel.

It is certainly a very awesome piece of engineering. Using it like a trolling motor going down the bank with rear steering would be weird to get used to at first, but if you’re sitting in a kayak I can see it working. They are definitely going for the high end tournament angler with it. I would wager that depending on the hull it will do 4.5-5 mph at full power.

Funny enough that’s what I had rigged up for tonight before I asked the question. No wind, modest weed cover. I went with a 1/4 in a needle nose weight. On the rod I used it was perfect for the 10” worms. Borderline enough weight for the 7” worm. I’ll bump down a power next time for that. Landed one on each worm so not quite what I was hoping, but then again this lake has been giving me trouble all year.

The gamakatsu is still my standard for an EWG, offset round, and flipping hook. They are my treble hook choice as well. I picked up some redline weedless wacky/neko hooks and they are very nice. I just added some gamakatsu neko hooks (not weedless) to my last order and they are 1/6 the price. I’ll deal with them being not weedless I think and break them off when I get snagged at that price.

If you're trying to learn on a baitcaster, something like a magdraft- heavy, aerodynamic, minimal appendages, but also not a dense sinker is a perfect start. Flat baits help. A toad is a good skipping bait because it has weight to it and nearly floats. Frogs will skip but are a little tougher since they will slow down a lot more. A texas rigged tube is a good skipper. Things like a paddle tail and similar swimbaits, especially rigged on a texas rig or weights screwlock instead of a jighead, skip great. What you're looking for is a balanced weight distribution (aka no big sinker on the front), a flatter profile, and minimal drag. Treble hooked baits are a no-go, or at least are pretty tough. A sexy shad will skip, but the hooks grab water and anything else. A spinnerbait is tough. A buzzbait is okay if you have a toad on it or similar plastic, but not a skirted one.

For you guys throwing the bigger worms as a search bait/target bait going down the bank (aka not offshore), are you using the normal range of texas rig weights or do you change specifically for the big worms? My go to is a beaver type with a 3/8 tungsten. In 5-12' of water that's a good combo as a baseline. If they aren't eating that and I 'know' they should be, then I'll go up to a 1/2 first and look for reaction bites. I rarely go lighter, since a slower fall rate usually means they are on a finesse bite which means I'm throwing a different rod and bait. Do you treat the ribbontails and big worms similarly? Offshore I'll throw a big worm with a half ounce usually.

the pad crasher junior is the one you want. Also a new one for me (I have one on the way) is the snag proof zoo dog. It is a walking bait shaped body with frog hooks. I'm a little worried the hooks are narrow, but I'm going to try it.

They had another auto boat add on item before also. It might not have been the same brand but it was an add on motor kit that you controlled from your phone. But again, once you add it to another trolling motor you’re already at $900. And you are using a transom mount motor which limits your mounting options. For not much more you can get into something designed for that from the factory.

This is where my lack of having a low rider doesn’t help. The Cara swim jig is a fast action and I’m fully on board with that. I didn’t realize the lowerider was a MF. And I haven’t handled one of those to compare directly. You might want to consider the All round fast. 7’0”, 1/4-3/4, MH, F. If the action is halfway between the trapcaster in the bucoo and the Cara swimjig (power of the trapcaster but rod action of the swim jig) then I think that would be right up your alley.

Whichever way it fits in my mouth. Fresh sweet corn is my favorite. Straight off the cob (either boiled or grilled) with butter and salt. Freshly cut off the cob with the same, except cut a little deep into the cob so it comes off in slabs of kernels. Grilled and drizzled with elotes seasoning/crema. Fresh corn salad (boiled, cooled, cut off the cob and mixed with cherry tomatoes, green onion, cilantro, and some oil/vinegar). heck, if it is good and ripe I'll eat it raw off the cob.

yeah, that looks like an xi3. The terrova is the direct replacement for that, but isn't going to be cheap. It would be a nice setup though. Before I monkeyed with cutting down a PD I would just put the more money into it and get the terrova.

In fact, I'm pretty sure you have the lowrider already in the swim jig. What do you want the new rod to do that the swim jig isn't for those things?

Looking at TW, they vary from $160-$200!!! I think that's outrageous for what they are. I have the ML which would be $170 new. It isn't a $170 rod. I agree that there are better choices for the money. My ML doesn't creak so maybe try another reel on it. But on the whole the rod just feels a bit cheap. I don't like the plastic of the reel seat. The shape is great and comfy, but the hard plastic feels cheap. The aesthetic of the rod screams budget store to me. It fishes fine (mine was a 'big ned rig' type rod) but there are better for the money. Not at all. The lowrider is a good comp. It is $30-$70 cheaper and a nicer feeling rod. I'm sure all prices are pushing up a bit, but before the price rise on the experts we'd have been comparing an expert at $199 to the feather at $160-$200 and the expert wins that hands down. Now the experts are $230 I think so that's a bit more of a price gap to consider.