casts_by_fly

In no particular order and mostly ignoring color. sexy dawg black buzzbait (swinging sugar buzz currently) bladed jig (1/2 oz tremor) with trailer 3/8 swim jig and keitech trailer dt6 og6 1/2 oz red eye shad 1/2 oz spinnerbait full sized beaver for both jig trailer and Texas rig a pitching jig (dredgers currently)

im surprised the bayou is only 1/8 oz lighter than the amistad given the 4” difference. I’m sure is feels a lot more in hand because of the length difference but that’s surprising. I considered both when I bought the amistad and picked the extra length for pitching rather than the shorter for frogs (my plan was double duty).

I learned to cast on basically that reel. I think it was the next model newer. This was around 1988 or maybe 1989. I think the gear ratio on mine was 5.1:1 (maybe 5.6:1) but also the spools were smaller than todays spools so actual retrieve was around 24-26”. Give it a good clean and lube and it’s perfectly fishable.

Cottonwood tree. Common around the Great Lakes for sure. When I was living near Cleveland and they are in full bloom, the carp in the streams would inhale the seed pod clusters. Biggest carp I ever caught was on a white Clouser sight fishing a drift that they were eating the seeds. That fish ate a 4” clouser and it’s mouth was so big the lure was inhaled sideways and didn’t touch the lips. That was fun on a 5 wt (I went for smallmouth that day). mono is easier to clean off than braid but the only way to really get it all off it so keep sliding it towards the lure and eventually retie.

Facebook marketplace and get a transom mount trolling motor for parts or not working. Take off the bits you don’t need and add a fin to the back.

thats me a lot of the time. I work from home and mostly only use my truck for fishing trips. I leave my gear in the truck basically all of the time. I’m fully loaded right now. I run an extension cord to the boat to charge batteries. if the truck is empty, it takes about 5 minutes to load up. My kayak is on a cart, so I back the truck part way into the garage, roll the boat over, and slide it in. Two straps later and it’s in. I keep my rods on the kart in rod holders so pull 6 rods and they go in the front seat. The motor, my tackle bag, and the helix go on the back floor. My sunglasses are always in the truck and I grab my hat on the way out the door. Rain jacket and bibs are hanging in the garage and get tossed in the back seat on top of everything. at the lake it depends on the ramp/launch. I too don’t like to be that guy holding things up especially if it’s a trailer launch and I’m dropping a kayak. That said, I’m usually on the water before everyone else so it doesn’t matter. I’ll back right down and drop the boat in, then load my gear (10 minutes tops). If no one around I’ll just leave it wherever is convenient. If people are trying to launch I’ll beach it nearby and move the truck first, then pull stuff out. If there’s a dock all the better. Only change is when parking is a bit of a walk. I’ll unload the truck quickly nearby but not put it in the boat. loading is similar in reverse but there might be a wait for the ramp so I’ll usually carry more loads back and forth so that I’m just tossing in the boat when I get there.

Not a raider, but my kayak does that. its a trolling motor in the front boat and if the rudder isn't down the boat can be 30 degrees off from the direction of travel at times. the rudder straightens it back out. I don't know of a made to fit rudder for that boat, but you could look at modifying a generic kayak rudder. They mostly use rope/cable to drive them through foot pedals or hand cranks. You could just bolt a piece of copper pipe to it with some elbows or you could mount it fixed straight but able to flip up and down. https://www.amazon.com/Rudder-Direction-Control-Steering-System/dp/B07JNVKYT6/ref=asc_df_B07JNVKYT6/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=564740184919&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9469057734530149438&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9003726&hvtargid=pla-1647092250473&psc=1

They still don't come into the boat. When I net them, I leave the net bag in the water and put my foot on the handle. I'm in a kayak so I am low enough to do that. They can thrash all they want in the water and they aren't getting hurt or sliming the boat. My net is 20"x21" hoop and it about that deep again. Not perfect for a big one and not what I would take if I was targeting bigger pike and musky, but it will do in a pinch.

Depending on the stiffness of the butt (well actually the blank between the seat and the first guide) I’ll be somewhere around 20-24” from the reel face to the first guide. Then I’ll start at the top and use a basic incremental distance to start (4”, 4.5”, 5”, etc) until I’m back to the butt guide. Then everything is static load tested until it looks right. Faster actions will shift guides up towards the tip, more moderate rods will take a more even spacing. I’ve done a lot of spiral wrapped rods and have three or four of my own downstairs. Spacing is roughly the same. You can get away with a guide fewer usually if you want. Casting performance doesn’t change. Fish fighting on bigger fish is better (more stable rod) but it isn’t a big difference.

I net most every pike or pickerel I catch. They are among the most manic fish at the boat side and there is really only one place to grab them not near the hooks (behind the head). Often when I get one close to the boat it has no interest in being grabbed. Also, when they start making runs towards and away from you it’s just a matter of time before your line catches a tooth or corner of the mouth and the fish is gone with your lure. With a net, it’s usually the first approach to the boat and the fish is in the net. Then it can go manic in the net when it realizes what’s happening.

Do you feel the need to fish heavier weights? If you do, then the next rod heavier might add capability. If you don’t, then another of the same will add redundancy and allow rigging two different things for the same purpose (ie a jig and a Texas rig) to fish the same spots at the same time.

Well that's why it looks weird.

I use rubber coated also with a wide mesh. I net anything with a treble hook any any fish over about 16". I'm in a kayak, and once I net the fish, I leave it in the net while I put down my rod, unhook it, pull out a phone if I'm taking a picture. I'll get the occasional multiple hook hooked into the net, but never are they truly stuck in the mesh, usually its just wrapped around. If you're getting hooks actually stuck in the mesh then I'd say you need a difference mesh.

A johnson silver spoon with a white pork trailer (the longer ones, not the frogs) is a dandy big fish bait (and pike lure) throw around lily pads. We did that for many years.

It looks like the brakes are the infini brake from abu Garcia/doyo. If you lock the orange brakes in place next to the axle and make a cast you’ll know if it’s the brakes or the bearings. A hard cast and multiple pins of breaks ‘on’ will make a plastic rubbing noise, almost like a matchbox car running across the floor. Bearings on the abus are more of a metal on metal squeal that sound like a dremmel tool.

That's a nice setup, but I would totally catch them on the backcast half of the time. Did you change the location of the holders in the two pictures? One looks back right and the other front left.

Paddling is a pain with that setup location on mine. I don't paddle though (Autopilot). The most I need is a push off from the bank or a light paddle to get out from the launch into a channel. I can stand up and use my paddle like a stand up paddle board for that and its easier. If I were in a paddle boat I would mount it further back so that the rod butts end around the seat and the tips stick back further. A few guys have done that. I was worried about losing rods out like you. After using it for a year now I've only had one close call. I was using a shorter rear grip rod and the holder nearer the tops got knocked back. It pulled the rods close to the ends of the butt grips and the short gripped one was pretty close. Outside of that I've not had a problem. the other thing with the horizontal rod holder I should mention is that while its a 4-rod holder, getting 4 rods into it is tricky and takes specific rods. I have all Abu revos and they are very low profile. As long as the reel handle is parallel to the rod, I can lay them all down nice and neatly if the handle is 30 degrees you can't except for the first one nearest you, and then you have to turn it handle up. I do that sometimes when I'm swapping between two rods regularly (like a jig and a topwater). I have a Shimano Bantam Chronarch 100 (the older white one) that sits up a little higher and I have to keep it on the outer slot. The newer Chronarch MGL is okay anywhere. Spinning reels have to be on the innermost (handle up) or outermost slot (handle and reel hanging down). That's why if I take a spinning rod I leave it on the rear single holder (or else its a quick access on the inside one because that's what I'm swapping between). here are the omegas and one iteration where I used them

I fish weighted swimbait hooks with (not surprisingly) swimbaits and swim them through grass. It works and comes through pretty clean. Just make sure you rig the full hook eye inside the bait including the knot. Then its just a case of how good the swimbait is. A big keitech SIF comes through pretty clean. I've never used them for a bottom presentation but its not a bad thought and I'll try it. If you have weighted swimbait hooks in a couple weights then its worth trying. If you don't, then I'd stick to a regular texas rig because you can vary the weight and hook easily.

If you like Fogys, also get some tremors. They are the best hunting I've seen so far (haven't tried a jackhammer). All of the trailers I use on them hunt (zako, rage menace, blade minnow) but it is speed dependent. A quick turn of the reel will start it hunting (or a rod sweep).

And also surface spoons. I fish a lot of topwater spoons. A moss boss is one, a talking spoon another. My favorite though is a weedwalker which are sadly not made anymore. Its a spoon with a blade in the middle like a paddlewheel. It fishes like a buzzbait and leaves that great roostertail of water and bubbles, but you can throw it across the worst grass. It always lands belly down due to its shape and weighting, and I've never seen a sinking lure come to the surface as fast. The only downside is that its susceptible to fine grass strands gumming up the blade. Algae is bad for it and I don't throw it in that. I have another topwater spoon that I fish, but its still made so I'm not splashing that one all over the internet.

that's the same thickness of grass we get here in North NJ. Before it hits the surface you can throw topwaters, but once it hits the top you're limited. A texas rigged plastic will come through it about the best. 1/4-3/8 oz works for me, pegged with a bobber stop.

The horizontal holder is the horizontal rod holder from Mariner sails. I have a pair of Yak Attack Omegas from a prior setup that you can't really see in that picture. I'll dig out another picture. I use one in the rear for a single rod and the other next to the seat to hold the net handle (again, so a branch can't grab it and pull it out of the back of the boat. For the horizontal holder, I made one modification. The wing nuts that come with it are all plastic. I wanted to crank up the tightness to the rails and the threads were starting to flex and strip. I went to my local Ace hardware and got a much bigger and metal threaded knob. https://www.mariner-sails.com/ms-horizontal-rod-holders.html

Now that you have your answer, what's the application? I'm curious what you're doing that requires fluoro. Surf fishing would use 15 lb and long lengths, but fluoro is the worst choice of the three. Bottom bouncing would take long lengths and 15 lb would be a lighter setup, but if you're bottom bouncing in 250' where long lengths of line make sense then braid and leader is the better choice. Flatline trolling?

I have a horizontal holder for my kayak. I went through a couple iterations from using the built in rod holders to adding two yak attack omegas on the rails, then right next to the seat, to what I have now. I prefer to fish like in a decked boat, so I lay them down on the port side. I’m right handed and cast sidearm/roll on the starboard side most of the time. I also stand to fish. So that location and horizontal means I can cast and land fish normally with no issue and I can also turn and cast in any direction overhead and not worry about clipping rods. I’ve since moved one of the omegas to the rear rails to carry an additional rod (you can see the black mount on the rear port rail). I now have 6 rigged and ready. I can throw a two piece spinning rod in the rear well if I think I’ll need it but I rarely do. If I’m carrying a spinning rod I’m going to throw it in the rear omega. the omegas have a great strap to hold them in so I don’t worry about a bush grabbing the rod and pulling it over. The horizontal holder has a bungee on each rack but I never use it unless I’m transiting in waves.

I meant from leader to hook, not to mainline. A crimped loop will help get action back into the lure and let it swing more freely on the wire or stiff fluoro. Same as a loop knot, but easier to do in the heavy stuff. If you're fishing with a snap then the difference won't really matter.