casts_by_fly

For modest pads and grass you won't see a difference between 40 and 50. I fish 50 on my frog rod because we get some pretty heavy pad fields and I have a tendency to just chuck it back in there. Neither will have any stretch so they will fish the same. The only differences will be a little better castability with the 40 and a little more abuse resistance on the 50. I've never loved braid for a buzzbait, but if you're going to do it either one will be fine just the same as with a frog.

Reconnecting with Mono? That would imply that I left at some point... Mono is my primary line for casting rods. I'm as light as 8 lb supernatural on my BFS rod up to 20 lb big game on my big stick. 14 and 16 supernatural are my primary lines for my moving bait rods. But Like Ajay, I see no need to be singular. Spinning rods are braid to leader. My swimbait rod is 22lb fluoro. I've recently swapped my normal texas rig rod to 18 lb fluoro. About the only thing that is consistent across most of my lineup is sunline- the fluoro is sniper and the mono is supernatural. And even the leader is Leader FC.

Fair enough. I've got enough fly tying gear in the basement that I could outfit a shop and keep their shelves stocked with flies for a couple seasons. As you've found, if you have a vice, some tying thread, and some heavy mono they aren't hard to make. Then again, for the time and effort for me to dig out the gear to do it and for all the more I need of them I just bought a pack instead. And i AM cheap.

You know, Berkley makes that hook already and you can just buy them if you want: https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Berkley_Fusion19_Hooks_Weedless_Wide_Gap_Wacky_Hook/descpage-SFWW.html?from=basres

I've come to the position that it really makes no practical difference on a spinning rod and if anything a slower rate might even be better for me. I am only using spinning rods for finesse techniques (ned, light worms, jighead minnow, etc). For the most part, all stuff that the slower you fish it the better. A jighead minnow might be the exception, not for the fishing part of it but for the 'crap I missed my cast and have to reel in quickly' part of it. Even then, you're only talking about 60' of line out so at 3' or so per turn of that reel, that's only 20 quick turns to be back at the boat. If it is 19, 20, or 21 turns that doesn't matter.

I just use a half inch drill bit. Chuck it with the cutting blades in the chuck (aka backwards). Very loosely wind it and no spool tension on the reel. After you finish stripping off the reel and cut the line, reverse the drive and hold your hand on the line for a minute on low speed to loosen the line. It slips off the end of the bit and into the next.

I’ve got an offset post with a 9” extension. Not sure the total height. If you are using a straight post, just get an adjustable. My Palma is perfect for leaning and use getting my butt onto the top of the seat material, but I couldn’t sit down fully at that height. I also can’t straddle it like a saddle as that’s too high. If you want to do both- lean and sit- then you need some adjustment (or lean with it in your lower back instead of your glutes).

Sounds like it. If the helix is working and the Ethernet is working on it, and the plug direct from the motor isn’t working, then I’m going to guess a board in the ultrex. Check the wires on the motor for damage just in case. I assume you have the one boat network app. Use the ‘call me’ feature and they will give you a call from tech support.

Throwing slack back into it and a very short stroke is the key. Hard baits glide each way and that gives you back some slack so that you’re not pulling in too much line at a time. A frog doesn’t glide so you’re really only pulling it an inch at most. Start with some slack in the line and when you make the twitch and feel the line come taut, stop and throw slack back into it.

It was a one room shop in the basement of the house, about 14x20’. She had another equal room that was stock storage. Then the laundry room had two full sized refrigerators in them. She lived a couple hundred yards from the mouth of a trout creek where it met the big river so she had a heavy trout clientele in April and May. Then it was guys going down to the river with forked sticks looking for cats and carp. The bulk of what she carried was joes flies, rooster tails, power bait, salmon eggs, dough ball, and of course worms. My dad hand picked most of the worms at night, with a flashlight. I’ve talked about it on here before, but he had two wooden boxes he made that were 18”x12”x12” inside and on good nights in the spring when stocking up he’d fill one and half or nearly fill the other. But that was an all night session. If you opened the refrigerators, she had old plastic shirt boxes from the big department stores when that’s how shirts were sold. They were 12x18x3” and she’d have two refrigerators filled with them with worms of different sizes (they split them into 3 gradings). I’d help pick worms sometimes, but I was elementary and middle school aged at that time so couldn’t do too many all nighters. Since my dad was a bass angler primarily, he kept a good stock of some more important things- Stanley jigs and uncle josh pork, rattle traps and rapalas, and a bunch of spinnerbaits and buzzbaits that he’d tie up himself (pouring the lead himself). he also molded sinkers of all types too from lead flashing discards and old wheel weights (lead wasn’t worth the scrap price then). That’s where the original Tom Mann rats came from that I shared in the original box last year. Alas, we all age and eventually the steps just got to be too much for her.

We’ve moved 6 times in the past 20 years. We were in one place for 7 years and we’ve been in our current house for 5. So the others averaged 2 years in a place. Two of the moves were international and crossing borders. 2 more were international but within the same country. At each stage we had accumulated more stuff than in the last move. Before the final one before we got into this house, my wife had handed in her notice (which was 6 months) and she was put on ‘garden leave’ which means we accept your notice but don’t come to the office for 6 months. It’s a way for you to forget all the things you’re working on before going to a competitor. She did a ruthless clearing of everything we hadn’t touched in the past 3 years. Then we moved into a place that was 2.5x the size and on a different electrical system so EVERYTHING needed to be brand new for so much of the house. I feel your pain.

On top of what TB said, check the cables at both ends, just to make sure you didn’t get corrosion or break a pin.

I fish the booyah pad crusher in both sizes. the little one is tougher, but still walks. the bigger one is just fine. if you don’t know how to walk any baits, get a Zara spook and learn there first. Frogs are tougher and require you to throw more slack back into the twitch faster than a hard walking bait. I wouldn’t want to learn on a frog.

My wife got a last minute invite to help a friend, so I hooked the boat on and went to one of the locals. This lake has been super low since last summer and it is finally within 5’ of normal pool. The ramp still wasn’t quite usable but the gravel next to it was. I wanted to mostly see how the lake looked, see if it was launchable, and graph around a bunch to see if I could find some bass. My left elbow is still painful, so I can’t fish a baitcaster but spinning rods are left hand reel for me and alright. I thought the largemouth might still be on beds or might be done and backed off. With the water having just come up 2’ and dirty, there was no way to see beds and all of the cover in the lake was still above water (plus the grass is all dead). I scoped around some stumps and brush, but every mark was a crappie. No bother- foot long crappie fight just fine on light spinning rods. I caught 8 in the end fishing for them just like they were bass. I was going to keep them but then decided I couldn’t be bothered to clean them tomorrow so after a quick pic of the 5 big ones (2 biggest both 13.5”) they swam away for me to catch them another day. I’ve got a couple buddies that want to fish but don’t really know how to fish so a bucket a shiners and a couple spinning rods should make for a good night.

If that’s what you’re fishing, that’s cheap lead ballhead jigheads and grubs, paddle tails, and anything else you want to put on the back. With a Texas rig, go as light as will take you to just skimming the bottom so as to not hang up on the bottom. Drift them all through with the current and you’re golden. That type of layered rock though is heck on line. Slate/shale is even worst (it chips into really thin sheets that are sharp) but that stuff you’ve got has nooks and crannies for every sized lead head or line.

My grandma owned a bait shop in the basement when I was growing up and my dad did all of the stocking. these were standard in the shop at the time (as were the plastic tubes of split shot which were awesome). These couple bags are 25 years old and the last ones that I have. I think my dad has a couple bags of the 1/8 oz because that’s what he uses to fish a 6” worm. Some weights will hang up on grass and you just lightly pop it through. These never hang and you never feel the grass on your weight. If you’re throwing an offset hook you’ll catch grass on the bend, but if you’re throwing a straight shank round bend you will never get grass on any of it anywhere.

That's awesome. Their seats have gotten a good run of recommendations on this site already. The palma horse is the perfect fit for my boat and how I fish. I'm so glad I got one. Next time I fish with my dad I'm going to have him try it as I think it will be better for his back on his own boat. It will probably be a christmas present for him.

funny enough, what catt just described is almost exactly how I was fishing it Wednesday. My hook had a keeper, but otherwise that was it. Didn't catch anything on it (or anything on the bigger side of plastics) but it won't be the last time I throw it. In 2 weeks when the bluegill spawn really kicks off it's going to be killer. And I still have a bag or two of the original water gremlin needle nose weights which slide through grass like nobody's business and are perfect for swimming a worm like this. I wish someone still made them.

So funny enough, I have a 'fanny pack' from the 90's that looks almost identical in size and layout to that one. I used it as my pond hopping bag way back when and still do the one or two times a year I fish a pond at ice out. Mostly I keep my crappie stuff in it for a quick grab and go when I know there is a crappie bite happening. Like you've found, it's just about the right size for enough, but not too much stuff. Soft bags for tackle are the way to go, treble hooks are trickier and need a hard box.

Afraid not. Opposite side of the country. Good luck though!

It's super handy in the winter actually. They run the christmas gift card sale (10% off) so buy one for yourself. Then build a wishlist through the winter until they run their spring sale where everything is 20% off. Use the gift card to pay and you basically have 30% off (28% if you want to get technical about it). When you see a bait here that gets high scores, add it to the wish list until you build up to free shipping. Stuff like that.

I dont see why it wouldn’t work. the important thing is being where they are and preventing a bait they want quietly. Pitching a plastic on a BFS rig will get there. If you need a full 1/8 plus plastic then you have plenty for a rig like that. in fact you’re asking me contemplate my options this weekend…

My mom got my dad one 15 years ago and he used it maybe once. They gave it to me a couple years ago. I agree with Scott that for my unit, you’re not seeing much until you hit the bottom. And the camera view is maybe 12” in front and a narrow angle. I bet there are go pro options available with some type of live cable that will be better than what I have. Like Scott, i dropped it down when I was learning what my fish finder was telling me. I learned that the lake I was on had a really soft bottom and anytime you found a rock you also found tons of snails. I saw one fish in the entire time using it and that was a fleeting glance of a small smallmouth. I should pull it out again and use it on one of the super clear lakes around that have 20’ visibility. You can use the cable to turn it a bit, but it’s better if you’re moving. Then again, I can just about pick out the same detail on live imaging now so…

Are millennium a new board sponsor? I haven’t seen that before, but I’m on board with the seat.

Depends on how much space is available. My dad’s boat is a 16+’ tracker so minimal. Maximally I can bring 4 rods, of which 2 have to go in the rod tubes (which are in front of the passenger seat) at any given time. He fishes 4 rods all facing backwards and I fish 2, maybe 3 facing forwards and sitting with the butts on the seat. It works just fine. Then I’d grab my tackle pack which carries a handful of 3700s (which i don’t need, but I like my stuff). It fits in front of the passenger seat and under the rod tips which block you from sitting in the seat anyway. He’s got a 20 hp so I just sit on the front deck facing backwards when we’re ’at full speed’ which is about 12 mph with both of us. YMMV.