casts_by_fly

this. I have to slow down a 90 a lot compared to a 110. Any little piece of grass kills a 90 prop it seems. rick

rangerjockey, im pretty well aligned to everything you’re saying on falcon rods. I’m a big falcon user and fan. I have quite a few now and most trips I just have a set of experts with me (various rods). I can see why some would thing the finesse jig too light- if you’re used to 3/8 jigs and heavy wire then that’s not really the rod for it. You need a true lighter wire small jig on that rod. The head turner is called the pitchin stick in some of the models and that’s the right use for it for me. I’ve looked at the virtus rods a few times. Their website is a bit lacking but looking at the models and descriptions it looks like an almost complete copy of the cara lineup. The only one I can’t place is the 7’10” xfh. I’m thinking it is a Rayburn with 2” taken off the butt. Have you used any of the virtus rods yourself to compare them? rick

Gotcha. Similar to me then. I have an autopilot which is about 160 with battery and motor but not gear. I don’t use a cart much since I mostly use lakes with a ramp or a place I can pull down to. So I didnt want a $250+ cart for a couple times per year. I got the traverse for Christmas and it runs half that price. I’ve used it a few times and it’s a good cart. https://www.amazon.com/Malone-Traverse-Kayak-Canoe-Cart/dp/B095BLPTGD

8 hours is about half of a 240 acre lake. Ask me how I know and why I have a zero lines card now. add the zero lines card and start charting. I don’t use the pc software since I don’t have a pc. I chart on the unit and view on the unit.

Which kayak and how heavy is it? That makes a difference in the style of cart.

Bottom changes. If you can look ahead of time on navionics you can find points or breaks. If it’s a place you fish often and know the weeds will be there yearly, go in early spring and graph the area. the other thing to figure out is if they are up high, mid column, or down low in the weeds. Not much sense dragging a Texas rig across the points if the fish are shallow and looking up.

I fish 30 and 50 lb 832 now on baitcasters and yo zuri on my spinning reels. I have fished powerpro and some others in the past. I’ve never had an improved clinch that wouldn’t slip. I normally tie a 6-7 turn knot the same as my mono as I’ve tied them for 30+ years. I don’t know what I’m doing differently but I know that I just don’t bother with a clinch and braid. If I’m throwing braid it’s usually on something like a jig, frog or plastic where a palomar is quicker to tie anyway. rick

An improved clinch with braid will slip easily. Stick to a Palomar or uni. Dig happens when you a reeling against a lot of force (pulling against a snag, a big fish, etc) with looser line underneath. You can eliminate it by ensuring that you watch out for it and when you’re using a slack line presentation to every now and then strip down all of the loose line and reel it all back on under tension so you have a firm base of braid.

What lure knot are you tying? are you getting the braid dug into the spool such that when you cast the dog in is stopping the spool while the lure keeps going?

falcon rods are on the light half of their power rating usually. Consider the finesse jig and head turner. Both 6’10” and both 1/4-3/4. One is MH and one is H. The finesse jig is a light mh and the head turner is a lighter heavy. Both are great rods. I have the pitching stick in the bucoo sr and it’s basically the same as the head turner (touch heavier physically, touch less crisp- both being comparisons to the expert blank). I like the head turner with 1/2 weight baits. A 3/8 spinnerbait is a touch lighter than my preference for casting. For pitching, a 1/4 weight plus a beaver or 3/8 with any plastic is about right. A 3/8 jig is good.

Falcon low rider finesse jig. My favorite blank profile in the falcon lineup. Great for 3/8 bladed baits. Perfect for what you’re asking. The all round would be okay, but I don’t like the mid rod flex profile for bladed baits.

facebook group. Old town autopilot owners. There is also old town sportsman owners group.

Blanks, guides, and to a lesser extent seats/grips determine price. And marketing/warranty. The blank is the backbone of a rod build and where you should really pay for quality. It’s hard to read through marketing bs at times, but you have to put the picture together between the manufacturers claims, other peoples reviews, etc. Always start from the best blank you can. guides can range in price, but you’re mostly paying for lighter weight. A basic ceramic guide and a silicon carbide guide will both be just fine for bass fishing and neither will have a difference in performance. A titanium frame with a thinner ceramic ring will perform better than a big clunky ceramic ring in a stainless frame. It’s about weight at that point. Great cork is more expensive than cheap cork or foam. Few are using great cork though so pick based on preference. the rest of cost is warranty, marketing, and quality control. A rod with ugly wraps and poor finish will fish just fine, but I don’t like to look at it.

Falcon expert 6’10” top water finesse jig. I use it for that and it’s perfect.

Revo mgx is tiny in hand and weighs 5.0 oz. The mg extreme is a fraction lighter.

303 is the recommendation in the autopilot forums. I haven’t even washed mine on the outside in a year and a half aside from disinfecting the passing in the footwell. I store mine inside so I’m not terribly worried about UV. I do need to wash and wax the bottom to pick up some speed I’ve lost though.

The falcon expert head turner is what you want. 6’10”, MH F. Great rod for light to medium frogging. I fish mine with jigs and Texas rigs mostly. Works well with blade baits. Very versatile rod.

2” soft crappie paddle tail or twister tail on a 1/8 oz head. This time of year there is a ton of dry still that are moving around in schools. It might be bass, it might be bluegill or wipers. But everything will eat a 2” minnow that has gone astray.

I have no problems standing up in mine (autopilot 120) and I’ll stand up on the seat too for a higher viewpoint sometimes. Getting up and down out of the seat is pretty easy though I appreciate some people don’t have the same ankle mobility I do. A pull rope tied to the nose handle or similar is a good idea if you have a little grip strength.

this is where I’ve settled also. I could pick out a falcon pretty well from their descriptions now. That said, I own a bunch of different ones so I’ve got most of it covered. there IS a standard but the major manufacturers don’t use it. Custom builders largely do though so if you want to compare two rods you can look up a lot of common cents data online.

I haven’t but a bunch of guys on the Facebook group have. Couple options it seems but I don’t know enough to explain them since I don’t have live scope. if you’re not in the Facebook groups have a look and search around.

I have the Hudson in the expert line and have fished it a bunch now. I have it rigged with 14 lb suffix elite so take my findings in that grain. I have the bucoo trapcaster, pitchin stick (head turner) and lizard dragger. I have the expert finesse jig, head turner, amistad, hudson, and lizard dragger/table rock. it’s a very good mid to big crankbait rod. I’m talking DT 6 up to DT 14 or even a 20. I’ve fished buzzbaits on it, both 3/8 and 1/2 oz with trailer hooks and trailers. I fished a Texas rigged toad last time out. I put some time in with a 3/8 swim jig. I think I’ve had other lures on it but that’s the majority. the closest in your arsenal is the swim jig. I felt one at a store and it feels similar unloaded. The swim jig might have a faster tip but similar power mid-rod. The Hudson wasn’t enough to fully set the hook on a toad. Casts great and I could put it wherever I wanted but hookset wasn’t enough and I lost a couple that I let take a toad but couldn’t drive the hook home. For a buzzbait and sharp hooks it was good. I didn’t set into any fish on the swimjig but for a lighter wire style swim jig great. For a heavier wire maybe not. what’s the rod best for? Great for a 90 or 110 plopper bait. Treble hooks, lighter wire hooks. Maybe if I wanted to put braid on it then the rod might give a little better hookset. I would think of it as an amistad with 2/3 the power. The amistad is great for driving a heavy wire hook home- perfect for jigs and Texas rigs. The Hudson is not a heavier single hook bait. Compared to what you have, I’d throw a swimjig or jig on your head turner and a buzzbait on either the head turner or the finesse jig even. I throw swim jigs on both of those rods (up to 3/8 on the finesse jig and 1/2 on the head turner). One has 14 elite, the other 17 elite. For a buzzbait rod, the bucoo sr lizard dragger isn’t a bad shout. I fished it with 17 elite last year for chatterbaits mostly but it also doubled up as backup big cranks and random “other” stuff that wasn’t heavy cover and heavy wire. The trapcaster with mono wasn’t quite stout enough for me for single hooks, but with 832 braid like I have this year wouldn’t be bad and it would be a good choice for lighter swim jigs. The elite table rock I think is underpowered for the rating. Maybe I need to fish it more, but it feels like a 5.5 power not a 6 power.

We have grass so I need something to slide through it. I’m using either a siebert shot caller or strike king tour grade.

Adding heavier and/or feathered trebles to walking baits. Heavier rear treble will cause it to sit vertical in the water and jump up and out at times. The feathered treble is for spookier fish or fish just not quite there to chase.

The falcon bucoo sr 6’6” treble hooker is the right rod for the small cranks. 1/4-1/2, medium moderate. A 4-power falcon is fairly light and lighter than I prefer for crank baits but would be a good choice for the lighter crank baits. I prefer a 5 power in the falcon line and the trapcaster/all round is my preference but that’s 7’. A great one for double duty with small cranks and top water is the 6’10” finesse jig/top water. I’ve fished bomber a’s and dt fat with it. Makes a great spook and popper rod. Little longer than you want but a great action for all of that.