MontanaBasser

I tried this at the pond today and bird-nested badly. How do you have your brakes set when you do this? Do you use the clutch during the cast or do you trigger the clutch, thumb the spool and then release. Is it easier at the beginning to use a heavier lures or a lighter one?

I have 6 and 8 year old boys. I found the Kid caster at Sportsman's. It's a lifesaver. It cuts down line fouling enough that I can actually fish. The reels are nothing special but very functional.

SDS customs on eBay has everything you need to turn these into nice little BFS reels.

I knew a guy who was a huge Walleye fisherman. He'd always bring two thermos bottles along. One with coffee, one with hot water for the paddle tails.

SDS customs is great. I've purchased multiple spools, bearings and disassembly tools from him. Shipping is from Ukraine, but it was swift. However, why not leave that reel be and purchase an inexpensive reel for heavier lures? I've had great luck at pawn shops finding Walmart reels still in the plastic. That's how I found SDS customs. I was looking to trick out some Lew's Speed Spools I found at a pawn. New bearings and shallow spools and my Lew's Speed Spools preform like $100 reels.

I used to be a Benchmade only guy on account of the Axis lock. But, now that Spyderco has a quality ambidextrous lock I carry more of those.

Like others I DIY. An off cut of 2*4 with a wood screw drilled in the center of the end grain. Pro Tip: there is enough space behind the chuck of most hand drills to fit the head of a screw. As long as you use a long enough screw, this allows you to get a good grip on the shaft.

This is an Alberto knot with 8lb Berkley Forward and 4lb Suffix Trout HP. I tied the knot twice because I thought the first time was a fluke, but the Berkley Forward frays every time. The know was moistened and tightened by hand with gloves on. 10 wraps up and 11 wraps down. I haven't seen this with other lines.

Keep the tattered remnants in your glove box and call it a day. If the new stickers are junk, the wardens will know. YMMV, but in my experience the evidence of the junky sticker is all the proof you'll need. When I moved to Montana, the drivers license information would rub off the ID. The MDVs response was "use a sharpie and write the data on the back." Also, I can't remember what state it was, but it used to be somewhat common to see license plates that were straight galvanized because all the paint flaked off.

You could get some heat shrink that fits.

I think one of the cranking batteries is kaput. But, I'm not used to 2 battery systems so if someone would educate me, I'd appreciate it. I read 27v using the closest battery as my negative and 0v when using the other battery. My confusion is how I can read 27v if one cell is dead. Wouldn't it be closer to 12?

I have a pretty much brand new 2023 Alumacraft Competitor 205. It was a dealer show boat so it has 12 hours on it. I took it out last month for a shakedown cruise and everything worked great. Today, I pulled up at the boat ramp and it's D E A D. Nothing. No beep on key turn. No tilt trim at the motor itself. No accessories lighting up. Not even the horn, which I think has to be hard wired. It has a MinnKota 3 bank smart charger. The installed charger shows all three banks @ 100%. There are two batteries in the rear for crank and power steering pump and a 3 battery 36v system under the floor for the accessories. I've checked cranking batteries: Connections are tight Fuses are intact Master power is on Kill switch is properly set Putting a jump block on the cranking batteries had no effect. Key in different positions What am I missing? With how dead everything is, it has to be a short somewhere I think. I'm going to get my voltmeter, but I would LOVE it if it was something I was doing wrong.

If you're in the Bozeman area, let's hit it together.

Especially big trout

By my understanding, BFS was initially a trout thing in Japan. It's interesting that they're flipping cranks. I was thinking about insect profiles when I made the post, but minnows on underspins have been working on spinning gear...

I had a solid start to this experiment. This was caught on a #6 Gamakatsu G-finesse stinger with a Moon dog Bait Co leech GP/baby blue. Extensively I was fishing for trout but I prefer bass anyway

I use a swivel most of the time. If I'm not, I pause after one or two casts and let the line untwist. What I really try to avoid is having the line twist carry past the last 10' of line. At the very least, I want to cast out all of the twisted line every time. Once the line twist makes it back to the line that stays on the spool I'll have trouble with wind knots and loops. One thing I didn't see anyone else mention is current. IMHO, if you fish flowing water the swivel becomes more important.

The other day I was fishing a fairly overgrown stream and the idea of flipping some micro sized baits for trout occurred to me. Has anyone here tried? I'm thinking of using a 1/16-1/8 oz bullet with a little crappie soft plastic or a small ball head jig with a grub or hellgrammite on it. What do you think?

The fishing is always good. The catching...

How do you do that?

It's too early to tell if I'm actually missing fish because of the hooks. For me, this type of fishing is 10 minutes here and there at park ponds. I'm often focused on the birds,the clouds, or simply not doing anything. Plus, these ponds are filled with two types of fish - dumb young stockers and older fish that have seen everything under the sun. I've had stockers swipe at it and miss, but it's not clear to me that they are actually trying to eat the lure or just curious. As far as losing hooked fish, it hasn't been a problem. I've had 3 'good' sized fish on these hooks - too rainbow and a smaller LMB. All three had deeper hook penetration than I've ever seen in a barbed hook. All three hooks were buried to the bend - roof of the mouth, corner and corner hook placement. None of the fish jumped or thrashed much. To be clear, this is all finesse-ultra finesse. 4lb leader on 10lb braid. Heaviest lure I'll throw is a 3/16's Thinfisher.

Does anyone know a straight shank dropshot hook available in size 4 or smaller?

I've switched a lot of my BFS and trout lures over to barbless singles. Trebles beat up trout too much. Thus far, barbless hooks seem to penetrate deeper and it more than makes up for the barb.

Here is some more nightmare fuel for you. H

I had a question for ALF and gave them a call. They answered the phone 2nd ring and it was someone with knowledge and authority. That's so rare these days I'll keep supporting them. If you are looking for a high end rod, check out another site.com. They had a huge selection of G.Loomis new and used.