casts_by_fly

it looks like you might have just enough thread in the hole. I'd start with teflon tape since its a cheap and simple thing to try. You could also try a more coarse thread of the same size and pitch to give a little more bite. Some loc-tite green might also be enough if its just barely slipping. Green is easily removed later.

I'll second the amistad as that's what it was designed for, but I'd say to get the expert or Cara version for the extra sensitivity on a bottom contact rod. I have the expert and fish down to a 3/8 weight and a beaver up to a 7" swimbait with 3/8 oz weighted hook (all in about 2 oz). No problems with sensitivity on the lighter end of things and it handles the heavier weight just fine.

If he likes the Herm and you don't want another Bucoo, then why not a lowrider? Only another $30 and you get cork and upgraded components. The 7' All round fast would be a great choice for what you describe.

I caught another 18"+ last night (from the lake that gave up the last two of them) in a quick evening session and it got me thinking about this thread. I went back through my pictures for July and it was close to 90". Mindful that I measure against my paddle right before the fish goes back and I only check to the nearest half inch, I had 87.5" in July. May is the same. Biggest fish came in March in 40 degree water (a 4-03 smallmouth). August is off to a good start with an 18.5", but I'm still searching for the 20's this year.

A humminbird Helix will using autochart (which is built in). I have a helix 7, but I'm pretty sure the helix 5 will do it too. The head units have a limited memory but you should be able to get most to all of a 300 acre lake before it runs out. If you will be doing more than one lake, then you'll need a zero lines card for $100 which is an SD card with lake outlines built into the map. If you're doing more than one lake, get the card first as headunit memory doesn't transfer to the card later and you'll lose what you charted (kinda, it will be on the head unit still but with the card in the head unit you can't get to the memory of the head unit.)

that was my logic as well. Live wasn’t part of humminbird when I got mine and garmin/lowrance were out of the price range. 360 was fairly new and high price. I figured I’d never need or use them. Now, I would like to upgrade to 360 but can’t. That’s why I always advise if someone thinks they might want it in the future, get a unit that can handle it now.

I run a Helix 7 MSI GPS in my autopilot. I use it for side imaging, down/2D imaging, and lake bottom mapping. Its a great unit (I've used it for 18 months now). Image clarity is fantastic once you dial it in. Its unobtrusive in size for a 12' kayak. Touch screen would be nice, but once you are used to the button interface its just fine. I would like a little bigger and with 360/live capability for the future which nominally means a Helix 9 in my future. The 7 is fine for single screen. If I want to split screen I can make it work by adjusting the splits, but another 2" would be better. The autopilot has a transducer mount built in and either molded gaps or through hull grommets for running wires. Its a very clean install and everything is hidden except for the last 12" of wire. I have a yak attack mount for mine on the rail.

quarter into it and make sure the bilge pumps are on auto. I get wakeboats on the big pond here (that I'm fishing tonight) and I'm in a kayak. If I'm motoring with the electric motor I quarter into them and expect to take one over the nose. if you go to direct into them you will take every other one of them over the nose. If you're parallel with them you'll rock side to side a lot. Its enough that it might just roll me on a big one. I have to make sure my scupper plugs are pulled ahead of time if there are WB around. If I'm fishing and one comes through I can usually ride it out nose to quarter on without taking on water. If the waves are coming from behind you then you shouldn't have too much problem- they should lift up your back end enough to not swamp, but again with the auto bilge. One coming from behind me might turn me sideways and the next will get me so I usually turn into them if I know in time.

I fish those swimbaits on a baitcaster (my lighter crankbait rod in fact) when I'm fishing them, but similar line setup to what you're saying. I'm using 30 lb 832 to 10 lb red label. On my 7' MH (which is closer to M) that will work down to a 3.3 keitech with an eighth ounce head or hook or a 2.8 with a quarter. I pitch it a lot rather than cast so I'll keep my leader to 5' or so such that the knot is outside of the rod tip. If I'm casting a swimbait all day around docks, then I'm on straight mono. Yeah, I know a spinning rod would be better. When I eventually fish the delaware for smallies I'll have a spinning rod set up with one. For lakes I don't normally carry the spinning rod so I need a BC that will do the job.

I used to fish ultralights for PA smallies, so a ML is more than enough. Have your drag set properly with a reel that has a smooth drag and you'll be in good shape.

No. As much as the blazing sun and heat have sucked the past 4 weeks, I don't welcome fall fishing. Summer fishing is great- the days are long, the water is warm, the air is warm. I don't care if I get a little wet in the kayak. A cloudy/transition day like we have today is usually good enough to turn the fish on providing you can fish those days. Plus with fall you're on the back end of the year and your days are limited. Depending how cold you will fish you're into the 'couple weeks left' part of the calendar. Up here we get ice so no year round fishing. And, archery season comes in in september so competing interests and all that...

this is an old town PDL and not mine, but the theory is the same.

I'm not great at checking my snap knots either, especially this time of year when one rod lives with a snap (it gets a plopper, a crankbait, or similar depending on the lake). Also if you're a snap user, check that its closed and always use a good quality one. I lost a big pike in May that pulled a snap. I got it back part straightened. I think it just pulled the wire through and it wasn't a heavy enough wire snap. It was a leftover snap that I had laying around and I think was already on the crankbait when I pulled it out of the box so it just got tied on without thinking. Needless to say, all of those lighter snaps are gone.

welcome. You know where I'm at when you get some time.

very clear water has its own set of problems. Downsizing is the first port of call. 'quiet' baits also. Long casts, and find some cover they can hide in.

Straight Flipping hooks with a keeper work well. They will tear up the head of a bandito quicker, but palmettos are great. The keeper really gets stuck in the elaztech and holds it on. a wire keeper on an ewg might work. I also find that hooking the head deeper helps too. I used to just go into the head enough that the eye of the hook was still out of the plastic. Then I put it just inside the plastic but the knot was still out. Now I will bury it almost an eighth inch further so there is an eighth inch of line inside the plastic.

It must for what I pay in taxes. I wouldn't know though as I've never set foot in one.

I have one in my fly vest but I don't like it for big hooks. You're doing 5/0 single hook bait hooks with it?

It is in the radio wave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. 1 megahertz (mega imaging) is a wavelength of about 300m. Older sonar at 80 khz is about 3700m. Pretty much all other sonar is between the two. The radio portion of the spectrum is 10^-3m out to 10^8.

The lowrider all round fast would be a good choice for what you want. The head turner model would also be a good choice. I have the head turner in the expert and bucoo SR for jigs, bladed baits, and light texas rigs like you're talking about.

Zoom horny toad and a 1/2 ounce jighead with weedguard looks great underwater. My last tore up toad has gotten that treatment, but I haven't fished it yet.

following. I too use a stone with hook grooves, but its a pain for certain hooks and relies on user technique to not ruin a hook. I remember ages ago seeing an electric one that you put the hook into a hold and inside were diamond turning stones to touch up the point. Anyone use or have one?

Its still a radio wave of some frequency sent out in a very thin plane. Old transducers were the same (and not a cone per se). The longer transducers of today have multiple beams coming out of them- one for side imaging, one for down imaging, one for 2D imaging. Some have many multiple frequencies available in the same transducer.

I could see that with the waters you have up there. For a month long online tournament I could see 90" plus taking it here. I'd have to look at my pictures, but I know I'd have a >90" July. April I had that. In a 1-day tournament though, its really hit or miss. April tournaments do well as you'd expect. One of my local lakes had one back in April and the top three were 81-83" for a 300 acre lake that maxes at 6' but is mostly 4-5' and flat bottom bowl. A lot of the lakes though just don't have the volume of bigger fish to support it.

Yeah, that's pretty much me. A spinnerbait, chatterbait, and swim jig each have their (quite similar) uses. Light grass, limited visibility- chatterbait. Wood, rock, breeze- spinnerbait. Clear water, grass, swim jig. Of course those are only the starting points going into a day for me. Then you have to adapt on the day.