JackstrawIII

Long is probably... over 100 feet let's say? And the Dobyns is a fast action "heavy", which fishes more like a medium heavy in reality. Good and sharp? Yes. Jighead? No. I use mostly the Owner flashy swimmer, never a jig head. All of our lakes are heavily weeded in shallow areas and I don't really fish any open hook presentations after May 1st basically.

Yeah, probably. I like a good solid hookset even with braid. The only moving baits I like to fish with braid are frogs/toads, and with those I'm very conscious about letting the fish take the bait longer before setting the hook. Maybe I could try doing that with paddletails too I guess.

Hey guys, This should be a somewhat straightforward question. I fish a lot of paddletails and my favorite setup I've found so far is a Dobyns 704 and I'm using 12lb YoZuri Hybrid line. It's just about perfect for close and moderate distance casts... but I've missed a few bites lately on longer casts because there's just so much stretch in the line. I can feel it stretch like a rubberband over longer distance hooksets and I'm just not connecting. Here's my question. Will going to 15lb line make enough of a difference to solve this problem? Is there significantly less stretch in 15lb hybrid line vs 12lb? I'm hesitant to go back to braided line for moving baits like this because I feel like I miss bites at all distances due to absolutely no stretch in the line. I've tried braid to leader... but I don't think the leader gives me enough stretch. I guess I could try a more moderate action rod with braid? Would that put enough "give" in the system at all distances to let the fist get the bait properly, while allowing me to still get solid hooksets at longer distances? Thoughts? Thanks.

Never used a rod longer than 7'5... and I'm a very tall person. My favorite length is 6'10... but maybe I've been missing out on the benefits of longer rods. I'll have to give it a try.

I resonate with this thread deeply. I tell myself I have enough, but I enjoy buying fishing gear... so I keep doing it. But hey, gotta keep the economy rolling somehow.

I keep it very simple. For flipping/pitching (per your title) I use: - First choice: Strike King Rage Bug - Slightly less action: X-Zone Adrenaline Craw - Even less action: Berkley Pitt Boss - No action: Yamamoto Senko I have no more than 2 colors for each: green pumpkin and something either lighter or darker. I am convinced that color matters wayyyyyyy less to fish than it does to fishermen. I carry probably 100 different soft plastic lures on my boat... and I use probably 10 of them. I could totally get away with 10 total soft plastics for all of my fishing. The problem is... I love buying fishing gear... *shrug*

I was going to recommend the 13 Fishing Defy before I even read your post. It's a great cheap rod.

Frogs will need braid. The others use mono. At least that's how I do it.

If I'm fishing heavy weeds or very dark water, no leader is needed. Normal situations, yes, I use a leader 4-5' long.

Exactly the same experience here. I can live with it the way it is, it hasn't gotten any worse and I'm praying it doesn't, as I like everything else about the reel.

Dobyns Sierra 704 is a great all around stick at a good price.

I'm actually experiencing the opposite. I started fishing everything with medium power rods and 10lb mono. I was emphatic that this was enough for everything, including most frog fishing. And it kinda was. These days, almost every rod on my boat is a "heavy" power. I use quotation marks because "heavy" doesn't always mean "heavy" (like in the case of Dobyns, for example). But I've gravitated towards heavier gear in search of more control over the fish, better hook set percentages with weedless presentations, etc. I still use light-ish lines, with most being 12-15lb copoly and 40-50lb braid when necessary.

I've always heard that mink oil (and other viscous oils) aren't good for boots because they soften the leather too much and can cause damage. I guess that's probably dependent on how much you put on at once. With that said, I clean with saddle soap and occasionally buff on a harder wax like otter wax or something similar.

I also wore Wolverines for years and still really like them... however... I've been wearing a pair of these for a couple years now, and I really love them. They don't have a steel toe, and aren't technically really even "work boots" ... but for a daily wearer that's insanely comfortable, waterproof, and capable of some really hard work use, I've never found anything better (and I've tried a LOT of boots). Wearing them as we speak, actually: https://www.lemsshoes.com/products/mens-boulder-summit-waterproof?variant=40017815699514&country=US Ps. These are great for people with wide feet. If you're a narrow footed person, your foot will swim in these.

I have three daughters who I care for deeply and want to keep safe. I also have no interest in living in fear and paranoia, as an unfortunate number of my friends do. My wife and I have done a few things that have helped us create an environment that works our family: 1. I have conversations with my kids about what appropriate interactions with other people look like regarding conversation topics, physical contact, etc. We ask them certain questions periodically to help us gauge whether they've been in environments that have made them uncomfortable or where they may have been exposed to damaging content or behaviors. 2. We talk about their conscience/intuition and its role in keeping them safe and the importance of listening to it. Most kids don't understand the danger of ignoring your "gut". Our kids (hopefully) do. 3. We don't allow them to have social media accounts or unsupervised internet access of any kind. These are privileges that they will earn when we feel they're trustworthy enough to handle them responsibly, not inalienable rights endowed by the Creator. 4. No sleepovers. Sorry, not sorry. There's more, but ultimately, this has worked for us. To my knowledge, our kids have stayed safe and my wife and I are able to sleep at night.

Haha this is the only thing that works for us too. I guess we'll just keep working the process and try to keep the kids from chasing him when he has the ball. Thanks AJay. To answer the OP's question, our mini bernedoodle loves the kong mini tennis balls. The only problem is that they roll under the furniture and he just sits and whines there until we go get them for him.

I've been very happy with the 7.5 speed Lew's BB1 Pro. It has a very strong drag and the actual inches per turn is quite high, despite only being a 7.5 speed.

I've had a heck of our time trying to get my dog to give me the ball back. He knows the "drop" command and will let go of anything (including food) besides his ball. He'll fetch it, bring it back, but then won't let go of it. Any ideas on how to break this habit? He loves fetching, but it never lasts more than 1 throw haha. He's 3 years old, so still plenty of time to learn a new skill... if I can figure out how to teach him.

I'd go with some sort of white/silver/gray with some black flake. That's basically a standard minnow color that imitates the young of pretty much every species.

Yes, I love Strike King's "Bama Bug" color, which is exactly what you described.

You’re spot on. The ones I did catch were on a paddletail swimming very slowly along the tops of the weeds. I did find a stick or two to flip a creature bait towards with some success, but minimal. I think you’re right about the conditions being what they are. However, I’m in the “fish whenever you can” stage of life with young kids, a job, grad school, etc. I’m just happy to be able to get out occasionally and wrestle with whatever conditions nature is serving at that given time. And this is why you’re such a legend haha. I want to be like you when I grow up.

A common strategy to keep growing bigger/healthier fish is a "slot limit", meaning you harvest bass under a certain length (usually around 14" or so).

Hey, would love to hear what you guys would have done in my shoes. Twice in the last week I've fished very shallow (like 8' max depth) natural lakes between 300-500 surface acres. Both lakes weed up terribly in the summer, but are navigable this time of year before the weeds really pop. Both days were bright sunshine with not a cloud in the sky and very little shoreline structure (shadows) to fish. In both cases the water surface temps were in the high 50s or 60s and the bite was very, very slow. I managed to catch fish both days, but I was somewhat frustrated because it felt like I didn't have many variables I could change. I tried fishing different areas, fishing fast vs slow, high in the water vs on the bottom... but the uniform shallow bottom and lack of diversity in these lakes meant there was only so much I could change to try to "find the bite". So, my question is, what would you guys have tried in these conditions? How do you manufacture "variables" to tilt the odds in your favor?

Bury the tip of the hook inside the plastic body of the lure. Set the hook hard.

Not to me.