casts_by_fly

welcome. what part of PA? I grew up south of Pittsburgh and have fished most of the left half of the state.

Scent? no. Cork isn't really porous, its more like a closed cell foam. You get stains but they wear away. The two pictures are both well used casting rods. One is 1 year of hefty use. One is 30 years old and well used for the first 20. Not a whole lot of difference between them for wear and both could be cleaned up pretty easily.

Night fishing in the summer is my preferred time to be on the water. I night fished for year growing up in ponds that maybe I wouldn't fish during the day, but that's another story and many years in the past. Now, I'll take the kayak and either show up an hour before sunset or more likely I'll be launching 2-3 hours before sunrise. First a first timer, a couple things: 1- start with a body of water that you already know. Night time isn't the time to be exploring a new lake. I'm talking about a lake that you can just go fish without thinking, without looking at a fish finder, and one that you already know which rocks, logs, and spots you're going to cast at before you hit the water. 2- going a couple hours before sunset will help. You can get on the water, get situated, get your casting rhythm and distance sorted before it gets dark. It will let your eyes acclimate to the lowered light gradually. 3- put a red cap or plastic over your light. From #2, your eyes take a half hour to fully dilate to true dark conditions. The tiniest bit of white light sets them back. Red light helps a ton to keep your night vision. I only use a light to tie knots and instead navigate by starlight/moonlight. I have a light with me in case of emergency, but I don't use it. I also turn off the navigation lights on the boat (I'm always the only one on the water). 4- long sleeves, pants, and a hat are a must. Bugs are always bad and DEET can only do so much. Also, any lures you snag and pull loose coom back faster than you think. At least if you have skin covered you're not getting a hook in the arm. I love night fishing. Throwing frogs on grass mats at night is a special thing if they are eating them. The sound of a bass sucking down a frog in the middle of the night will shoot your heart rate through the roof. Big single colorado spinnerbaits with the thump will teach you all about feeling for a bite or a blade of grass when all you can do in pay attention to every whirl of the blade.

U40 is by far the easiest for sealing cork, if you like the feel of sealed cork. I do not. If you have half decent cork that isn't a bunch of filled pits it will not wear to much at all. I have 40 year old rods with original cork that are still in good shape. If 'dirty' bothers you, then some dish soap on a rag once a year takes the heaviest off. A magic eraser will take off marks. If it gets really bad, some 400 grit sand paper and a light hand will bring it almost back to new.

Yes, though it is a replacement and not a repair. That tip top is junk and you can’t fix the ceramic rings. Some heat on the tip top should loosen it up. Then some ferrule cement or epoxy for a new one.

I love my falcon amistad for what you are describing. Mine is the expert series and the regular amistad (3/8-2), not the extra heavy. I have 50 lb 832 braid but for what you’re saying I’d go heavier. I just landed a half dozen on it tonight in fact pitching a Texas rigged beaver (though not with punching weights tonight).

I don’t know the real estate market for lake homes. Hopatcong has a ton of places but that lake is madness in the summer with pleasure boats, party boats, wake boats, and bass boats. Cool multi species fishery but I wouldn’t buy a house there. spruce run is a Great Lake to fish, but there aren’t any houses on the water. Plenty of places around the lake nearby, but nothing actually on the water. Lots of bass, pike, hybrids, etc. If you know skyline drive area then you already know monksville and the nearby lakes. Monksville has big fish but is a tough lake. That’s a trophy musky fishery (Hopatcong is also). Most of the skyline drive lakes are water supply reservoirs though so no houses on them. Greenwood lake would be one to consider. Lots of lake houses, good fishery, bass, muskies, walleye.

agreed. I grew up fishing western pa which is a combination of rivers, farm ponds, smaller lakes that are like ponds, and some corps of engineers impoundments. These northern natural lakes are different to all of them and have some unique things about them. Water clarity is a big one as all of the lakes here are normally very clear this time of year (6-12’ visibility) and that adds a couple wrinkles.

Are you set on NY? Lots of lakes in north nj worth fishing. Plenty of bass, lots of musky/pike/Pickerel. All well within 2 hours of the city.

right? They are so easy and so much fun to debug from a distance on someone else’s boat.

Which lake is it (I’m in Morris county and fish lots of the lakes here in nnj)? Pm if you want. I don’t know of anything trout stocked in the 40 acre range around here so can’t give you lake specifics, but generally what you’re describing is the typical lake around here. The drop offs tell my it’s one of the natural mountain lakes, not a park pond. Access to deeper water tends to hold fish around here, so fish the shallower cover that’s near the deeper water. Big shallow flats of grass hold fish, but you either have to cover a lot of water with frogs and other weedless baits or you have to methodically pick them apart (not my preference). If the grass isn’t on the surface, then you have a lot more options. Depending on weather, shallow square bills, wakebaits, spinnerbaits (downsized), and chatterbaits will all work over the top. When the weeds hit the top you can pretty much put those all away. Then it’s Texas rigs on the edges, jigs and Texas rigs pitched to holes, and weedless on top. Swim jigs can work through the grass and are productive. Most lakes here don’t have timber or brush so when you find it, fish it methodically. A boat will be your friend most places around because of near shore grass and bankside vegetation.

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.