fishwizzard

Yea, I like them that way. I am on the verge of ordering another rod from the same guy, but a 6' M-MH for flukes and larger weightless plastics. I hike a lot as well and a short rod OAL is helpful there as well.

It is in the car currently but I know it is within .25" - .5" of a L St Croix rod I also one, which has the lower grip in this picture:

I try not to fish bedding bass (but have moments of weakness) simply because I spend so much time politely explaining to dog-walkers about bedding fish and asking them to refrain form letting their dogs trample through them for a few weeks out of the year. Most people have no idea about fish reproduction and are happy to help out. The few that don't seem to care about the fish seem to care when I show them a treble hook and talk about their poor dog's feet. The three people who told me to get bent got the rangers called on them for not leashing their dogs.

I am so glad that I am not the only one who gets a kick out of hand-lining for small fish. I hike a lot and when there isn't always a pole with me, there is always a few small circle hooks and some line in an old altoids tin. Nothing more satisfying then catching a tiny fish with a tick you just pulled off your arm.

That is the same one I have, but I have only fished Ned rigs and 1/8oz inline spinners on it. It does both of those very well though. I have never tried out anything on the higher end.

I have a Citrix travel rod that I like quite a good bit, it is a 4 part rod but still seems to have good sensitivity and is comfortable to cast all day. I also have two Okuma spinning reels I bought when I first got into fishing that have.....not had nice lives. But they both keep on trucking along and honestly I like them enough that when I buy reels that I know will not see a ton of use (surf casting, cat fishing) I don't even look at any other brands. Also, I live by the Chesapeake Bay and when I see charter boats docked up, most of the time they have a rack full of rods with Okuma reels. I suspect they hit the Inexpensive/Rugged/Smooth Casting balance very well.

I just had a custom rod made with a shorter then average handle to use in my yak, the difference is night and day in how much better it handles. When ever I use it for a bit and switch rods I always foul on my pfd a few times before I remember to adjust my casting motion.

Thanks for the kind words guys. I have had a good feeling about chatterbaits ever sense using the micro ones a bit in rivers but this is my first fish on a proper one. However, I credit most of the catch to casting to the right spot, that guy's comment about the creek channel got me thinking. When I got home I fired up google maps and looked at the lake, it was pretty clear where the stream ran before they dammed it. I am going to start spending way more time researching the waters I fish and less time obsession over lures. Well, after this one more TW order.... In any case, obviously I now have to go back there today after work and fish that channel at bit. It is low 50s and raining but that is just a minor inconvenience.

Would adding a small nail weight to a Fat Ika help it glide away farther or faster, or will it kill the action? I don't have access to deep and clear enough water to test it, but can think of a few spots that I could use it at.

I have been struggling to pick up using a baitcasting rig so I am devoting the last third of each outing to working with it. Went to a local lake today after work and spend an hour or so working a small fluke through the grass and pads along the shore with no success. Then I put that rod away and went out on a small floating dock to practice casting away from anything I could snag on. After about 45m I was making some good progress roll casting when my phone buzzed. Assuming it was my girlfriend wondering where I was, I paused my retrieve about 3 feet from the dock and went to check my phone. As my rod tip went up I discovered this guy on the other end. I didn't even feel the hit and he was just barely hooked in the inside of his mouth. Caught him on a green chatterbait with a rage menace trailer. Right as I got him back in the water another guy came up to see what I had caught. He was amazed there were fish this big in here as he said that an extreme drawdown a few years ago really hurt the fishery. He then told be that I had been (unknowingly) fishing a creak channel that ran through the lake. I guess I need to work this area some more.

I was there as well, and didn't catch a single bass. I did get a very nice bluegill that I regret not measuring and taking a picture of. It was the biggest I have ever caught but he threw the hook and fell in my lap so I just dropped him back in the water without thinking.

I wanted a similar rod, for more or less the same reason. I ended up going with a custom from Smallie Stix in PA. It is on a 6' MHX CS722 blank. It is rated for 1/6-3/8, but will cast a 5" senko well enough, although I admit it feels a bit light. I have yet to try a 4" one but I suspect it will be fine. I can't recommend his rods enough, it casts like dream and somehow seems as light and nimble as my 6' L rod. I plan on ordering a "M leaning to MH" rod from him shortly to be a fluke/senko/weightless plastics rod.

I think I know what you are getting at, but I will give it a shot. Here is what it looks like now: I will pull 50' off this evening and try to give it a few casts.

Yea, my issue was that I didn't want to be practicing the wrong thing, which was an issue when I was into shooting, I never received proper instruction and had to unlearn a bunch of stuff once I got more serious and knowledgeable about it. There is a lot of instructional stuff out there but very few videos that show the complete casting motion, most everything is a 3/4 body shot at best and never shows the rod tip. My plan is to just keep the casting rig in my car and devote a third of each trip to working with it as well as stopping at the local pier whenever I get a few moments to practice there. At the very least I can give the old crabbing guys an amusing show.

Yesterday I went back to the pier, this time with the reel spooled up with 8lb YZ Hybrid and some Kastmasters in 1/4 to 3/8oz. Worked on sidearm roll casting, Was able to get decent consistency with both lures but poor distance even with the 3/8oz one. I paced it out and with a one hand cast I was getting it ~30' and with two hands like ~40-50', but with much less accuracy. I worked on it for about an hour with little improvement. I also worked on some of the over the shoulder casts and was able to get a better feel for things. I think I finally understand that the way I cast my lighter spinning rigs just isn't going to work with a casting rig. So some small progress. I also might have just bought a Fenwick Smallmouth Elite mh/f 6'9" rod off of some discount site. It seemed to be well though of here and the price was good enough that if I don't like it for bass it can become my second kayak trolling rod. As a separate note, that 8lb YZ is some strong stuff. As I was about to leave I was throwing the 3/8oz lure and it got snagged like 30' out from shore. It was really stuck and I didn't feel like taking a swim, so I wrapped a stick around the line, fully expecting it to snap, but it held and I, pulling pretty darn hard, managed to drag in what looked like a 4' ficus tree with the root ball totally snarled in old crabbing line. I did not at all expect the line to hold and have much more confidence in it now.

I am going to remove the braid from my reel to use on my fluke rig and spool up maybe 100y of 8lb YZ and see how that casts. At the same time I will break the reel down for a good clean and relube. Assuming I get it back together, I will start over and see how it casts. Otherwise, someone is going to get a good deal on a box-o-casting reel in the next few weeks.

I also keep my zman finesse plastics in a small double sided Plano. It has been about 3-4 months now with no issues that I can detect. The reactivity of zman to normal plastics is odd though. I have accidently thrown a used zman lure into a pouch with other used plastics and they "burned" into each other pretty quickly. But then I have on my fishing bench a small ziplock with a cut end of a Ragetail worm and a ripped zman worm and there was been no reaction for weeks even though they are in direct contact.

Yes, I have tried with a 3/8oz chatterbait with a trailer that should put the total weight close to 3/4oz. The only way I can get distance is to emulate a civil war mortar and cast about as high as I need to go far, if that makes any sense. I am going to post a call for help in the MD thread, I have a healthy supply of good beer to offer up. I suspect is just me needing practice, but seeing someone else make some good casts with my rig would confirm that. What is driving me crazy is that I remember being better with this rod last summer. But I have put enough time in over the last few days that it would be coming back.

Went out to a pier after work to practice casting. Ended up slamming a brand new YZ crankbait into the toe rail hard enough to break the bill and deform one of the hooks. Other then that fine bit of casting, I again tried a weightless senko and a 3/8oz chatterbait, same results. I can maybe get the Chatterbait 20' out using just my wrist and the senko a bit further. I was aiming at a dock across from me, trying to land the lures directly between the ~10' spaced pilings. I could ussualy do it, but I had no control where within that 10' the lure landed. I went from keeping all the breaks wide open, which would cause a backlash when the lure began to drop, to locking them all down, which forced me to use both hands to even get it to the dock 20' away. I also had a cheap M/F spinning rod with me, with it I can toss either bait about twice as far and could hit right next to a pilling almost every time, even though the chatterbait is too heavy for the rod. Admittedly I have not touched my casting rod since last fall, but I don't remember being this bad with it. I have been fishing a ton since then, so I am assuredly just a lot better with my spinning rods, but I must have spent two hours throwing a 4.8" FI at those pilings and I can say I didn't make a singe cast that felt "right". I wish I knew anyone else who fished so I could stick the rod in their hands to just make sure it is me.

I have a pack of the littlest ones and when rigged on a small jighead and cast into a creek pool the sun fish and minnows just swarm it, nipping all the limbs if I let them. I have never gotten one in front of a bass, but as soon as the grasshoppers make their appearance I am going to fish them hard.

I am pretty happy with spinning gear, but want to learn how to use casting gear just to do it. When I can make a good cast, I enjoy it, it is just taking so much longer then becoming proficient with spinning tackle did, and not have confidence in my equitment is making it harder to know if something is actually amiss or I just need to suck it up and practice more. It's just that even making false casts to check clearance don't feel as.....I don't know, smooth, natural, as my spinning rigs do. Every lure I have tried either feels too light to load the tip or too heavy for the rod to cast well. It looks like my first step it to either switch my line out with 8lb Hybrid.....or 50lb braid.

I believe I have the reel set up correctly and in any case I have fussed with all the breaks and tensioners from running them all the way open (backlash city) to running them all locked down (goodbye $6 lure now sailing into the distance when the knot popped). In a lot of the fishing videos I watch it really seems like guys are getting far more tip play then I am currently getting. Can anyone recommend a M or MH rod under $100 that is known for a softer tip? I do a bit of salt water trolling from my kayak and can use the current rod for that so I don't mind spending a little money before I retreat back to ML rods and finesse plastics.

Yea, the station was one of the two places I parked the other day. I didn't cut through campus, which might be shorter, but took the more "scenic" route along the tracks and down by the river. I am going to try and head back later this week, maybe Thursday or Friday if anyone wants to tag along.

Sidearm is about the only way I can cast it at all, but my accuracy is somewhere between the broad and narrow side of a barn. I have read most of the sticked threads and watched a ton of videos, the issue seem that I cannot get my tip to load and flex unless I am using a heavy for rating lure and then I don't feel like the rod has enough power to make the cast without a ton of force on my part. Am I right in thinking that this rod should be able to cast a weightless 5" senko without issue? The issue about line is interesting. I have a reel I could swap my 20lb braid on to and some 8lb YZ Hybrid on hand to switch too or any number of local stores that will load me up with heavy weight Power Pro.

I am a cautious believer in it. I had a spinning reel spooled up with a cheaper 6lb floro and had no end of trouble with it. On the recommendation of posters here I bought some KVD L&L and gave the spooled line a good application. The line seemed far far better the next time I went out. I have not retreated this spool yet but will do it the night before the next time I take it out.