bulldog1935

The topic comes up on every forum. Fly tackle and traditional bait tackle, the idea was change hands, both cast and retrieve with dominant hand. If you go back 200 years to the origins of this tackle, people weren't in a hurry, and they also didn't cast a lot. (a lot of it had to do with 30-oz, 12-15' wood rods) With the newfangled spinning tackle, especially if you look at postwar Mitchell - a reel you couldn't manual-bail - also with prewar early spinning tackle with no form of anti-reverse - you can't let go of the handle without losing all your line. So the idea was full-time cast right and reel left to be able to retrieve as soon as possible. As far as personal preference, here's what I wrote about it last time it was polled on a different forum My daughter changes hands to both cast and wind with right hand on all tackle. Have to keep her spinning reels set up for RHW. (she's all grown now and wrestling for Lady Aggies) I was writing with both hands in 1st grade, and the teacher rubber-banded the pencil to my right. There's no rhyme or reason to my preferences and muscle memory, throw left, bat right, etc. Like most south paws, don't really have a dominant hand. So I grew up using all tackle the way it came off the shelf, casting and winding with either arm/hand. What most people don't get with fly casting until they begin using haul, is that your line hand is more important than your rod hand, because that's where you feel the rod load through the line, and where you modulate timing and power. Night fishing, vertical back-cast, change-direction cast - all need haul, and it should become natural in all casts. I did notice catching 30+" Kenai rainbows with guide's rod, I can't wind as fast with LH as RH. In general, my left arm is power, and my right hand is finesse.

you can also pick your spool bearings to make sure that it can cast the weight: (these are Hedgehog spool bearing grades)

Fair enough. Probably the best standing boat is Diablo Adios, and the smaller Chupacabra, both offered in ABS, which makes them light to single-hand. They paddle well, and also offer a skeg, which helps offset windcock. There was a very good episode of KT Diaries where they floated the Devils River on these boats, and fly fished standing for bass. Another really nice river boat I demo'd with Steve when he bought his Coosa was the KC-12, which is now the Kysek 12 (the cooler manufacturer bought the boat company). Also ABS, pretty versatile set-up, but the price has gone through the roof. Here's the photo I was looking for earlier with my buddy in the Coosa - you can see why it spins so well.

Three years ago, there was a mountain lion in and out of Freidrich Wilderness Park NW San Antonio. It was seen one morning before daybreak on IH-10. The park is loaded with both trails and a greenway, and people take their dogs to walk them there. They did shut down the trails. Another sighting in the town of Castroville, W of San Antonio 5 years earlier. The most recent was reported not far from me, and again, toward suburban San Antonio.

My buddy has the Coosa - tall freeboard, good storage, and the best-handling river SOT I have ever seen. (he's also boat-rich, with the Redfish, Kahuna, Revo 16, Outback, sold an X-Factor, and gave away an Emotion Fisherman to our buddy Lou) Right now, you have one of the most wind-slick boats ever made (also a good pedigree, designed by the same naval architect who designed Wilderness boats). Just above, you may notice my daughter in an orange Redfish 10, and my buddy's daughter in a red one. My daughter has beat me up at the coast chasing her Redfish up to 6 mi (at least until I got my Werner paddle) . My buddy made the mistake of taking his Coosa to the coast once, and the wind beat him to death. However, I think you might find the Coosa FD drive to move you more efficiently than paddling, and help you overcome wind issues with the tall freeboard and sit-high position. It doubles up with the same good river handling and a paddle. If pedal drive sounds inviting, I'd also recommend you compare the Coosa FD to the Hobie Compass, and decide which pedal drive fits your seating comfort better. The shorter Revo 13 isn't terribly stable, but has a big fan club for Mirage drive on salt and lake, combined with good river handling and paddle.

Others have posted in DC discussions that the DC improves reliability, but costs distance. I'll be in the camp that low loaded spool mass and good spool bearings to match your weight niche are the way to get max distance. Almost off topic, no LW baitcaster is in the league with my custom Abu CT's - they double the distance of any LW reel.

The only Lew's reel that has disappointed me is the Custom Inshore. Spool mass with the old centrifugal brake add-on is excessive, especially for the 1/8-oz niche where I wanted it, and I can't get flat line lay. Seems every other reel they offer at the same price point makes a better inshore reel. My Super Duty G is a workhorse in 1/4+-oz niche. The mag brake also gives a clean spool with no mass added for brake, and best reel I have for casting into the wind. My favorite double knobs are these EVA from SDS that replaced the paddles on my Tourney Pro

here's one I picked up years ago from the same vendor Marble's Woodsman A-2 (tool steel - it's freaking sharp)

Then there are 5-color braids offered by YGK and Duel They are marked every meter and change bulk color every 10 m. Can measure right off your spool should it float your boat.

the unshielded bearings will free-spin for well more than twice as long.

I always set with spring scale to 1/4 of weakest link - line, tippet, or rod max line rating. Heck, I have the spring scale. Not using it would be like having a beaver hat in the closet and out on a cold rainy day. If I need more on the water (say with a determined hook set), will thumb the spool (same with spinning reel), but can't really think of a time fish taking drag wasn't part of the fun.

I'm pretty proud of my clean Allbright knots, here attaching fluoro to small braid on new Lew's SP. The fluoro and knots fit flush in the spool groove.

I've gone to all unshielded bearings on my baitcaster spool bearings, and retain good-quality corrosion-resistant shielded bearings for all drive bearings. If you compare how even orange-seal hybrid ceramic bearings compare with unshielded bearings in free-spin, the difference is pretty impressive. After that, decreasing bearing weight is the next step in reducing inertia. SDS on ebay offers spool bearing swaps by reel make and model, and each listing gives you a menu of bearing types to pick between. You do have to wait for post from Ukraine. On my Abu CT surf reels, I've gone to full-ceramic, because these stand the chance of saltwater splash. Another good bearing vendor in Florida is HPR bearings, and pretty sure that's where I sourced my full-ceramics.

all fair enough. My back acre is 150' in the short direction, making it a great place to cast. First time though, I aimed up with 1/4-oz on my Abu CT and 8' surf-lure rod, the slow cast went over the fence into my neighbor's back acre - oops.

I think it's really unusual to talk Yards in terms of casting, unless maybe you're tournament casting with surf rods. 70' is a working cast and near the limit of accurately casting into a bucket, 100' is a long cast. Blind fishing, you can fish casts out to 150'

Smooth acceleration is the key to reliable baitcasting. Any jerk you put into the cast is only backlash. If you want/need to increase rod tip velocity for longer casts, go to a longer rod.

Two trail cams in Arizona confirmed two jaguars that have wandered that far north. S. Texas has a closely guarded population of 35 ocelots. Laguna Atascosa NWR was established for them, and the roads closed to motors after a road kill a dozen years ago (you can bicycle there). We've seen some of their footprints on Horse Island when we stopped to stretch from our kayaks.

Are there Japan fishing guides? There's 10001 MAD snappy answers for that one. The Japanese make our fishing niches look downright preschool - Plat lists 22 different classes of rods, but the Japanese have that many niches in offshore alone, from XUL to XXH. They were also a fishing culture for 1000 years before the old world discovered the new. And I can't imagine not bringing home a Japan knife.

here's what I did with mine - I already had the long Daiwa handle, and it was a perfect match with the tall gears. Required an IOS hex shaft adapter (best price on custom parts at Fishingshop.kiki in Tokyo), and found the Ulucus Daiwa-copy knob at half-price closeout. I did this when I was ordering a few parts batches to customize a buddy's four reels. The reel was also one of the $50 Amazon loss-leaders, so I had room to play. up front about Tica, their bronze gears need run-in, and they'll feel stiff until you line them.

old news in S. Texas. Hit 80 yesterday and again today - redbuds are blooming, white bass are running, and spring has sprung. Problem is, our spring doesn't last long, and zips right to S. Texas summer.

I buy a few parts from TicaAmerica (spare spools), and they tell me Amazon stocks their own store - they'll show up on Amazon if you search Tica Libra SX or Tica Samira X-treme.

We always come down the creeks with fly rods

one thing, you didn't mention a capacity. In this price range, Tica Libra SX is my go-to reel. Tica goes back to 1961, they build all of Daiwa's big surf reels, random other Daiwa models, and Daiwa has borrowed a lot from them. They're workhorse reels built to outlast every Shimano, with sealed roller-bearing selective A/R, a better line roller and comparable line management in their improved version of locomotive drive. If there's a problem, it's that TicaAmerica only imports the small 1500 size (comparable to a 2000 Shimano) and the large 3000 size (comparable to Shimano 5000). Tica sells on Amazon, and if you keep up, may catch a Libra SX at loss-leader half-price - I've bought two of mine that way. If you're looking for a line capacity in between the two Libra, don't care for Libra's low gearing, the worm-drive Tica Samira 2000H fits there, and 6.2 gearing.

Recently put my buddy Donny on redfish, he landed 30 and kept his slot-fish limit. He's one of those whom if you point them at the water, they do the rest. I have many friends who can contrast his skill set. They range from natural-born to just happy to be out, and I can think of a few who can over-think their way out of fish in any situation.

all I can offer is christening my daughter's maiden-voyage kayak with a bottle of Virgil's root beer. May she always bring us home safely.