casts_by_fly

Yep. And it doesn’t matter if it is a 39’ Donzi with triple 300s or a crawdad with a 28lb minn kota. Any motor. And on top of that, if you are operating a motorized vessel you must have the boaters safety certificate. Then depending on the boat and the waters you are on you might also need to have the boating endorsement on your driving license. Basically anything bigger than a 9.9 you need the endorsement.

I fished a lot of those type of ponds growing up. They all had crappie in them and when the crappie are spawning the bass are munching on them, especially the 6-8" ones. Black and blue or black and chartreuse (dirty water) always worked regardless. That said, if you want to do a little more match the hatch check out 'mud shad' from sieberts. I like it just as a general clear water all purpose baitfish swimjig and spinnerbait (as well as the chartreuse tinged version dirty shad). If your crappie are more of the gold colored black crappie then adjust accordingly.

16# sniper should be just fine. Sniper is a thinner diameter japanese style mono (I use 16# supernatural on my head turner). You should be at the 87 yards end of the rating. If that was big game or elite you're closer to the 43 yards end. I just went to 18# shooter on my HCJ on the bantam to try it.

A couple years back that was actually a pattern on Champlain (I think) in one of the tournament series (either MLF or elites). One of the guys noticed that smallies were following around carp on livescope. Find a school of carp and there were bass with it. And it's a lot easier to see carp on live imaging than bass.

I have all of the things you're consideering and I even used my Zillion on my Cara HCJ the last two years. This year I moved the zillion to my finesse jig rod and put a bantam on the HCJ. why did I swap? the Zillion on the HCJ was a great setup. I ran 17 lb mono (suffix elite) and it was primarily used for texas rigs, jigs, and buzzbaits (all 3/8-3/4 total bait weight). If you want maybe the easiest casting, smoothest combination, I have to say that throwing a 1/4-3/8 oz buzzbait in the dark and pinpointing cover was as smooth as butter. One of the easiest casting fool proof setups ever. I can't say a bad thing about the combo and uses. I was upgrading a couple other reels in my lineup and decided that a Bantam is an even better pair and I don't regret that decision. I had one on my amistad and tried it on the HCJ before deciding. At the time I was ordering, the bantams were the same cost as the Zillions at $225 or so (if the zillion had been $200 like it was previously I'd have gotten another one of them). The bantam is just a little heavier than the zillion and while the HCJ is very light in swing weight anyway the extra ounce in the bantam balances it just a tiny bit better. The Zillion also is right on the border for line capacity for heavier line. I was using suffix elite which is 0.016" in 17 lb and on the thicker end for a given poundage. I'd get 55-60 yards of line on the reel on a fresh spooling. With a choppo 105 I could just about cast all of the line off the spool. With a buzzbait or texas rig that didn't come into play, but after a half season of use you definitely wanted to respool to fill it back up. The bantam holds a decent bit more so no issues there. I still have the other bantam on my Cara Amistad. I considered a met for the HCJ also, but it is the same weight as the Zillion and a little smaller physically. I put a new met on the swim jig rod and it's lovely there (I also have one on my head turner that hasn't left that rod in 3 years).

$1k difference for the same fish finder? That buys a lot of service time if you need it. What units/setup are you considering? How are they going to be installed by the non local dealer (you take it to them?)? Will the local one match the price?

On my helix 7 I pared down the views until I had the 4-5 that I would use with any regularity. the rest were hidden. On the helix 9 there were 3 presets so I had my combo view (side, down, 2D), ML, and ML + map set on the presets. I hid a bunch like vessel view. Most of the time though I only needed the 3 presets. It works, but touchscreen plus presets is fantastic. On the console unit I have my combo view a map combo view, and ML on the presets. On the bow unit it is ML, ML+map, and I'm not even sure of the third. If I need something else, a quick home button reveals 8 or 10 favorites (of which I don't even have 3 of them assigned). Just too easy.

I'm pretty falcon dedicated for all of my casting rods and I don't see changing that anytime soon. I need to add a couple rods into this thread now.

yeah, always look at the actual email address and not the display name. Hover over the display name with your mouse or tap it in iOS. The typical scam is that they spoof the visuals from the website so the email body looks legit but the email address is not real and any links will take you to a spoof site.

I agree it is faster, but at the same time I never had issues with the speed of the helix. maybe because it was the only head unit on my kayak and I wasn't taxing the processor? But the xplore is definitely faster and having touch screen means it is faster in real time use when you are riding around graphing things. With the helix you had to move the cursor with the dial pad and even when you were quick with it you'd lose 50-100' of bottom when you went back to the current image. Touchscreen is great for that.

The explor is a significant step up from a helix. The imaging quality on SI/DI is about the same, but live 2 is better. The touchscreen is really nice and the screen itself seems just a little bit more refined. The processor is faster. if you have a helix there is no need to upgrade unless you want ML2. But if you’re starting fresh then Explor is a bump better.

That first fart after a good poop is always a nervous encounter.

Yes, it is the pro kicker. I needed a long shaft and wanted electric tilt which for merc (what my dealer sold) is the pro kicker only. 14 spline, 2.38:1 gear ratio, the same as on the 15 and 20 hp I believe. The 8 pitch was the right one for me. But when I had my father in law in the boat 2 weeks ago I dropped from nearly 11 mph to just over 7 mph. So I think with just me in the boat the 8 is right but the extra 250 lb of a person adds a lot to the weight. I think your boat is probably 250 lb heavier than mine to start from so a 7 is probably the right pitch for you with this motor. I’m not sure what prop came with yours. Mine was a 10x5 4 blade from merc. A 3 blade 9.25x7 is probably the most that will turn for you.

Oh man. I’m in. I have 4 dogs that will help my application as well. is it a plus on my application if the farts are sometimes questioned for texture also

Is this the club where every time you stand up or sit down you have to let out a grunt, a sigh, or some other non verbal utterance? If so, I’m in. I’m not sure when it started but it’s all the time now. tie your shores? Big sigh. Stand up from the couch? That’s an “ooogh”. Bend over too long and then stand up straight? That’s an “eeigh”, followed with some dainty movements until you’re right again.

No, it still doesn’t hold memory from line twist. Just make a couple long casts next time out and it will be just fine.

I fish both 832 and 131 now and the 131 is a good bit stiffer. Mine hasn’t softened up yet after a full year. The only thing I don’t like about it is that it doesn’t come in a higher visibility. Trying to watch my line this morning on a grey day with green water and plenty of trees as backdrop- next to impossible. I’m thinking of getting a hot pink sharpie.

I agree with this. My driveway is about 100’ of single lane. it opens into a 3 garage bay wide chunk in front of the house and three garage doors. but the driveway is an acute angle to the garage doors so if you are straight down the driveway you are cutting back on yourself and have to jackknife the trailer more than 90 degrees. Once you can figure that out, a straight boat ramp is cake!

You are correct. I thought the EO was the entire exception, but it is just repealed for China and Hong Kong. Crisis averted for now.

I think switching can make a bit of sense at times as long as the lakes are close and very similar. In this case they are fishing above and below the same dam on the same river. The fish should be in similar patterns. Chick is 36k acres, Nickajack is 10k more. Santee Cooper is 160k. Toledo bend is 185k. Champlain is 260k. So it's not as if they are making the playing field so big and complicated that they can't scout all of it or at least a defined area of it. if the dam wasn't there or if they were allowed to lock through then it would just be one big lake. They did it on Sheran harris and Jordan I think 2 years ago and that was a little more different and they fished differently.

the de minimis exception would have been in place when all of you got your most recent orders. Basically anything under $800 was exempt from import duties. That exception has been eliminated so I would expect duties going forward on JDM shipments. I would guess (but do not know) that the freight handlers will be responsible for collecting it as they have in the past.

you're probably right that the lower frequency piezo is having an issue, maybe a broken wire. Either way, you're better with the higher frequency anyway. You'll get clearer returns in most all scenarios with it.

While better conditions would be better, you can’t influence those. You gotta fish when you can fish. I have a couple lakes like that around here and they can be tough at times. What I find is that this time of year, there is still a significant amount of grass, either left over or fresh. Find the fresh stuff that is thick and the fish will be in it. Find the edges and work them over as close to the grass as you can. If you have electronics or sunshine enough to see the grass, pitch to the holes with a jig or Texas rig. Vary the weight and profile until you find out just what they want. If it is sunny, still, and clear water you can be sure that they will be tight to the cover that is there. Sometimes they just won’t eat and you can bet they probably won’t be active and chasing. So you just have to find the right profile they want falling at the right rate- faster reaction bites or slower sit in their face bites.

For inshore, that typically means guys targeting redfish and trout with bass like lures. Use the lure weight ratings. I’d call the first a medium and the second a medium heavy in bass rod terms.

Yes, but keep lead acid for the cranking battery. Practically speaking, that probably means 3x 100 ah lithiums of your choice.