casts_by_fly

Looking at the USGS map, I think he almost has to be in the deep south east unless it's a tiny lake/pond that is warming quickly. Russel lake (downstream from hartwell) is showing 52. Santee Cooper is about the same. The trinity River north of Houston is a little colder. Lake Houston is about 50-52. The St Johns and the Suwannee are closer to 60. The chattahoochee is right in that 55 mark as well.

Look at a map of the lake. Mark the spawning areas with a big red x. Then mark the overwintering areas with a green circle. Now connect the nearby dots noting any structure that would guide the fish between the two. Depending on the warming or cooling trend, time of day, and conditions, the fish will be somewhere along the line. Start at one end and go to the other. I prefer to start shallow and work deeper but that’s just me. When you find where they are along one line, then repeat for others on the lake.

I agree on the durability on the zako, especially with toothy critters. They are also heavy. A 4" zako is something like 3/8 oz on its own, maybe 7/16. Super glue helps. Some on the nose when you rig it and a little where the hook exits the body before and after you use it. The durability and weight are why I've moved off of them. They do look really good though. Both are good and to some extent depend on your local bluegills. Two years ago I took a bunch of pictures of my local bluegills when I took a friend's kid fishing (of course the pics were for the parents...) and tweaked my choices a little from that (purple and tan are prevalent here).

we don't have local shops with any selection of bass gear whatsoever. The little bit they do have isn't interesting or it's the basics that I'm well stocked on. There is a DSG a half hour away, but not exactly convenient. So I'm basically 100% TW. In stock items can be at my door in 3-4 days most of the time. Their prices are MSRP as standard, but there are often sales 20-25% depending and if you buy a gift card when they are on sale you get another 10%. All in, that's cheaper than DSG and way more convenient.

same. I think it probably has to do with private browsing or other browser settings.

im pretty sure that the ti2 can’t share side or down imaging. Just basic 2d and mapping. My dad has one on his boat and I looked into it 2 years ago when he wanted to add on and network. Not slow speed, inconsistent speed. Paddling along at 3/4mph is just fine for side imaging. Motoring at 4 mph is also. Just adjust the scroll speed to give the right screen picture. But stop go or being still will give a bad picture. It might give you an inkling that there is some type of structure there to then scan it again, but it wont be very good and you’ll still have to scan again. If you’re doing like catt says and just motoring down the bank from the front looking for structure then fine. Or going down the bank at a constant speed casting moving baits you’ll get a good picture.

Personally I’d do it the other way. When I’m up front I’m not using side scan. To best use side scan you need to be moving along at a relatively constant speed. If im up and fishing, then it’s stop start and not staring at a fish finder (except for live imaging). So I’d put the better unit at the console and then just use the front unit for current depth and maybe downscan if you want.

I get it. My boss left about a year ago and I slid into her role. Same banding, slight pay bump. At the time basically the same job and team. A little busier but not unmanageable. Since then I’ve added more and more, though only with a mild benefit. There is more on the table but it will come with more time and I don’t know if I want to go down that path. I wouldn’t mind walking it back a step to get the time back I’ve lost, but that ship has sailed. So it’s about finding the right balance of what you have and what more you want. I think I can see a path. The other thing is work life boundaries. About 6 years ago work was really in the crapper. I would leave home Monday morning early, drive 3 hours, spend half the week away, come home late Wednesday night and then on Thursday afternoon find out I had to do a day trip back to the same place. Often the days/nights on the ground were 12-14 hour days and then eating subway for dinner and sleeping in a cheap hotel. All in a high pressure environment. I got into a bad place mentally and because I cared so much about the work I let it bleed into my personal life and time. I’ve come to realize that it’s okay to flex a little either way but make sure you’re getting enough you time and non work in balance with how much you’re putting into work.

The problem and the answer are both in your paragraph. Because there is minimal interest in 2 piece bass rods, there is little to no development put into 2 piece blanks for bass rods. As you said, a 2 piece rod can be made to feel just as good as a 1-piece. Fly rods and multi species rods do it all the time. I suspect rods with a steeper taper like a mag bass or jig and worm style might be tougher but I have no verifiable data on that. Have you ever tried to replace a tip section? Most manufacturers won't do it. Tips and butts are often mated for fit. So they won't sell you just one piece as a breakage replacement.

At work we have hot desks so I don’t really have a desk or office of my own. However I work from home 3 days a week so my home desk always has something fishing or hunting on it. Since it’s prep season, I’ve got 17 rods and reels right behind me and all of my tackle packs within a quick reach away. I’ve sat on more than a few calls just clicking and reeling away. When it’s fishing season I will rig rods that I’m going to use that day or the next day.

Started the reorg today with the hard baits. Snapped a quick picture before cleaning up for @king fisher to peruse. This was organized into the every trip, the sometimes trip, and the basement storage boxes. Now it will be a little different.

Owner beast 6/0 is my hook of choice for them. A good second is the eagle claw trokar mag swimbait in a 5/0.

wait, readers make everything 1” bigger? What if I buy her the 3x model?

As a supplier to walmart, I'm familiar. And when that happens, the product going to walmart will have a different item/part/SKU number for ordering purposes. There needs to be enough differentiation usually so that another retailer doesn't have the same product for a better price. Clamshell packaging vs box with a spare spool for instance. In this case, Falcon doesn't differentiate. I also think that's why they have dropped the Evo lineup. They had the Evo and HD at the same price points for basically the same rods. And that price point was high for walmart's every day shelf price. So they have cut the Evo and launched the attrax at $30 cheaper so that they have a budget offering.

The Evo wasn't made just for walmart. All of the Evo's come from the same line in the same factory. No walmart specials on them.

congrats!

I have a bunch of flambeau zerust equivalent inserts, but I have plano boxes so I just slip one or two under the lures in each box. I also don't put lures away wet. Anything I cut off goes into a tray which gets dried out before anything goes back into a box. So the only water that gets into the boxes in the first place are when they are open during a rainstorm (which isn't much). Also don't forget to take off any heavy salt trailers. Some hook don't care (presumably they are coated), but some you'll get really bad rust even without any moisture.

I am still fishing a seinna (maybe sierra) from the mid 90's. It's traveled the world with me and still keeps kicking. The tolerances are loose so no wear to speak of that's noticable within the loose tolerances. Just keep some grease in the gears and you'll be good to go.

We got 3” of slush Saturday night which was a real bear to clear. Then the temps dropped where it froze into solid ice. We were due anywhere from 0 to 24” of snow in 2 days as recently as yesterdays forecast but now it looks right balmy. That’s ice melting weather right there.

The falcon head turner is my rod for those uses. It’s designed as a light pitching rod. Great for 3/8-1/2 plus plastic. Works great as an open water frog rod (or light cover). It does a ton, but this is its wheelhouse.

the couple electric only lakes are small. The main one I fish is 115 acres and I might use 10 ah in the kayak. I’m pretty sure that a 24/50 will be plenty for me, but I can add another in parallel if I find it’s not. pictures a plenty in a couple weeks.

yes, also considered. A couple of my lakes are electric only. The regulations in those lakes are just ‘electric only’. Zipping across one at 25 mph on plane would be cool. Pushing the regs of what 9.9 hp actually is when converted to electric might be possible but I don’t have anything big enough where something bigger than a 9.9 would be warranted. And I thought about a straight 9.9 electric but the benefit over a gas 9.9 isn’t there for me.

I have some of these in every 3700 I carry. https://www.flambeauoutdoors.com/FIshing/Divider-Systems/Zerust

I was waiting to update this with the final build spec and pictures (I just sent the order today), but you just about hit the nail on where I’m at. I went 9.9 because of my lakes. I have 3x hp restricted lakes at 9.9, plus 3 unlimited lakes that are under 300 acres. There is one lake around that’s unlimited where unlimited would make a difference, but I don’t fish it because of how busy it gets and I can still fish it with a 9.9. I strongly considered a jet. And if I’d have had better visibility of my bonus when it was available, there was a used boat that I would have bought with a jet. That would have been a compromise for my usual fishing for a couple trips per year to the river, so I didn’t do it on what I’m getting now but I was very close. I’ve gone ultrex. I was going to go with a terrova. I’m used to remote control from my autopilot, and spotlock and the associated functions were mandatory for me. The terrova is cheaper and lighter. However once I add on the mount for live imaging, the terrova plus mount costs the same as the ultrex (for which the included mount works fine). So I’m going with the more robust cable steer plus remote version. I’m humminbird, but I’m going similar features and type. I considered going helix for the deals going on and for moving what I have from the kayak. But I’m going to leave the kayak fully rigged and buy fresh which means explore series. I’m going 12” up front and 9” at the console. The console will be primarily side imaging and the front will be live imaging, both with the mapping linked for waypoints. Both are being mounted on ram mounts. The front might not, but probably. I haven’t made up my full mind on battery brand yet, but I decided to go 24v single battery on the trolling motor and 12v for the rest of course. Lead for the cranking and lithium elsewhere. I’m pretty confident that a 50 is enough for the electronics, but depending on the brand I go with it might be a 60. On the trolling motor, I am probably going 50 ah. That’s the same total power as a 100ah 12v. I’ve been fishing a 80ah 12v in the kayak as the primary propulsion for 4 years without a problem. Since I’ll have a 9.9 on any of the lakes I’ve run the trolling motor battery down below 50%, I think I should be okay. I was clear with the dealer that I start fishing at ice out, so here’s to hoping that happens. It might be my ice out or a-jays ice out. But we’ll get there.

too light for BFS? BFS is as light as you can go on a casting rod.