casts_by_fly

I contemplated the expert version of that rod as a pitching and frog rod. I went expert amistad instead.

interesting. Maybe just a big male, otherwise maybe an early spawner that dropped eggs last week.

Helix 7 on a yak attack mount with an extra arm. I have the base mounted pretty far up the rail but the extra arm brings it back closer to me when I sit. When I’m standing fishing I pivot at the bottom pivot and the screen is almost waist height. i would go bigger to do it again or when this one dies. When I am moving around and mapping a lake with autochart and trying to learn the bottom, I want gps, side scan, and 2d running. I can do it now with a 70/30 split in favor of side scan, but a 9” screen would be better. When I a fishing I’ll usually just leave side imaging on with a slow scroll rate so I can take a peek every now and then if I missed a piece of cover (especially the side of the boat I’m not fishing primarily)

Falcon expert 6’10” finesse jig/topwater rod. Just the right amount of power for the baits I normally fish, versatile enough to put basically anything on it, and super lightweight (whole combo is right around 9 oz fully loaded with mono). I have the 7’ 6-power expert on the way though and that might take the crown since I fish the bucoo version so much.

unless they are in the water column portion of the picture (I.e. you just went over top of them and the bright dots show against the black water column) it can be hard to pick out fish in cover on side scan. On a hard, smooth bottom you can see the darker shadows and on a soft smooth bottom the fish show up as brighter specks. In cover though with a mix of light and dark spots, it is hard to separate fish from cover. Just know they are there and fish it.

for the size of the head it does look a bit thin. Up here the water is the bottom half of the 50’s and there isn’t anything doing in less than 5’ as far as bed activity. Not even small cruising fish yet. The fish have good bellies. Could that just be a hungry fish in a pond with not enough forage?

Very cool . I like it.

very pretty gold coloration. Is that the normal color for you? Ours are more bland brownish. Thanks, rick

how are you guys fishing them? I picked up a pack of zman turbo fattyz which looked good to me and look similar to the speed worm. I was thinking Texas rigged and swim it through grass beds and edges. thanks rick

yes, this is the answer. One is now on the way to me (and a lure or two). Thanks!

Hi all, my wife gave me a corporate swag hoodie from her work. It’s a great hoodie and pretty heavy. It’s become my new fishing hoodie this year because it has a built in turtle neck/gaiter. It’s great for 60 degrees and less. Above that it’s pretty hot. I’m looking for a lighter workout shirt weight version for the mornings where it’s 50-60 but gets into the 70’s before I’m off the water. I don’t want to spend $75 for one. Any good $30-40 options out there? thanks rick

Pitching will be fine. Pitch skipping will be fine. Forehand skipping will be tough with that much length but I’m sure it’s doable if you know how to skip well enough already.

looks good to me. I just picked up a Siebert's tremor bladed jig in golden shiner and its quite similar. We have huge golden shiners around here (8-10" long) so I think it will get a lot of action this summer.

The water temp won't have changed in that short of a time, so I'd start there. I'm guessing you're around 50 or so? A cold front in chilly water when the fish haven't really moved up yet would have me looking at transition areas. This time of year the fish are somewhere between their winter spots and the spawning areas. The shallows may have cooled a bit so the fish pulled back a little. I'd start on the deeper end of the transition areas (steeper dropoffs that border spawning flats and deeper water) in that 10-12' range and go from there. A lipless isn't a bad shout and might get some reaction bites. I always have a chatterbait tied on this time of year for similar reasons. Both can be fished in 15' and in 3' so you can start in one area and just keep following the fish's path. If they are turned off you might need to swap to a jerkbait or drag a jig.

Standard 15 minute 2-part epoxy. Clean up the epoxy that is there with a scotchbrite pad by taking off the surface finish, apply new epoxy to the female sides of each joint, and push it all back together. If the seat is rock solid then I’d try to get some epoxy under the cork with a syringe as you’re putting it together.

Rapala dt fat goes to 3 if you try hard. Big body, wide wobble. dt4 on 15-17 lb will top out 2-3’. Tiny OG similar to the dt4

every bass caught in sub 40 water is a bonus fish. Got out for my first full day of the year (as opposed to quick afternoons or half mornings) so went to a new lake and a big one (2k acres). I scouted a few areas on navionics ahead of time based on where I thought they would be (stable 52 degree water for the past week should have them on steeper banks that filter up to spawning flats). Got on the water for a great sunrise before the sun rose a little too high and went behind the clouds. Three of the 4 areas I marked out produced fish with a 3.7, 3.3, another right at 3 and a 2 lb smallie (didn’t weight those two, just took a length). I lost a northern that would have gone every bit of 15 lb that ate an OG6 right at the boat and straightened out the snap. I learned a lot of the lake and it won’t be the last time I go there. This is one instance where I wish I had a bigger boat as the lake is a couple miles from the ramp to the top. Thanks rick

Hi all, is it just me or are the hooks on the OG slims (og6 specifically) a lot heavier than necessary and not as sharp as they could be? I noticed the thickness when I bought them but didn’t think anything of it. Today I caught two bass on one (which a huge northern later claimed) and in both cases the hooks popped loose when the fish was in the net. I’ve never had that happen with my other baits where I’ve swapped into gamakatsu trebles and in one today I had to get pliers because the hook was buried so deep with two of the points. I’m going to swap them for gammys but wanted to check if I was crazy and also if there was something special about the heavier hook that affects the action. thanks rick

When you say last, do you mean tip end or reel end? Both are fixable but one is much easier than the other. thanks rick

I have a trolling motor Kayak that does 4 mph with no effort from me, so maybe a little easier to graph and mark. I typically use this time of year to explore and graph lakes. The grass isn't grown up yet (we get a lot of grass) so you can see all of the bottom imperfections easily. The fish are also not quite warmed up yet (though they are moving up now) so the fishing is a bit slower. After you get the initial itch out of the way of fishing a new place or getting out for the day, I'll take some time to ride around the new lake and autochart. I'll mark a few waypoints for future reference. If its a small lake like the last one I'll just chart the whole place and be done with it. I think it took a half hour to do 10 acres pretty thoroughly. I also chart from the time I launch until I pull back in. Then even while you're fishing its recording. Now that's only depth and bottom hardness/vegetation but you're at least capturing the data with no added effort. I agree a bit on the sidescan arguments above. Its helpful in some places, others not so much. Less than 10' and the range is a bit limited (to maybe 60'), but that's helpful for finding stumps and rockpiles as you go down a bank that you wouldn't otherwise be able to see. One particular lake I fish has a 1 mi shoreline that is 4' at the shore and 6' 200 yards from shore. There is a lot of mud bottom but there are a lot of old brush piles and trees that have floated in and sunk. You'd have to go right over them with downscan, but with side scan you can cover a bit more area on the graph while you're blind casting around. 10-20' deep is the sweet spot for me. Plenty of range and resolution but also fishable. Deeper than 30' and I'm probably not fishing it anyway so I swap to 2D/downscan/GPS 3-way split to mark any interesting things.

I went Helix 7 MSI GPS. Its a great fish finder for a kayak. Side imaging works perfectly. Down and 2D obviously work great. I put mine on an extra long arm setup because I stand to fish. I tilt it down if I'm in the seat and mapping something or tilt it up to where I can almost touch it while standing and fishing. The transduced for the Helix 7 is still small compared to the bigger/longer transducers so it really tucks up under the boat. Its got side, down, and 2D sonar plus GPS for mapping and heading. I've since added a zero lines card from Humminbird to record the autochart maps for all of my lakes. I just turn it on when I launch and let it map while I fish. I wouldn't mind a bigger one, and touchscreen would be nice. That said, I don't feel like I am undergunned in the electronics department. Only consideration- if you want to add livescope/mega360/new technology in the future, be sure to get a newer model that will be compatible. Mine is NOT compatible with any of those. I wouldn't mind having 360 but it means upgrading to an 8N. thanks rick

Dakota is USA sourced lithium and assembled here. Hold that thought. I've heard and read it, but can't verify it one way or another. The duracell AGMs are the best buy for sure in a lead battery, No need to spend $2k for a full set of batteries and charger. I'm guessing you're 24V plus a cranking? I'd leave the cranking battery as lead. Two trolling motor batteries that will go all day will run you $1400 (amped 100 AH lithium). A four bank Noco is $170 and each bank can be set for the type of battery so no issue keeping the lead. There may be other options out there, but Amped and Noco are both high quality. Depending on your use, a pair of 80 AH for $1100 might be just fine for you. No doubt it is investment, especially if you have to fully replace what you have. --- Lithiums have their place. I run an 80 and a 30 in my Kayak for motor and fishfinder/lights. If I were running lead I'd be about 75 lb heavier. I carry the boat in the truck bed, so there is no way I could load and unload without taking the battery out whereas now I do. It would also put me right close to the weight limit for the boat between me and gear. Also since electric is my primary propulsion I couldn't deal with the slow down over the charge of the battery. I'd start dropping speed quickly and be at a crawl by the end of the day (short of going to a group 31 which would add another 25 lb). As in the video, well taken care of batteries will last far longer than abused ones. Making comparisons needs to be apples to apples. If you use the top 50% of your battery and charge it when you get home then your batteries are going to last a while regardless of chemistry. If you abuse your batteries you won't get the lifetime regardless of chemistry. The two main addages of batteries apply- buy the biggest capacity you can fit and charge it when you're done with it. If you follow those two you'll maximise the lifespan. At the end of the day though, for the same person using the same nominal capacity, and treating both equally, lithium will last longer and perform better for less weight. They are more expensive so its just whether that performance it worth it to your application. My dad is also old and struggles (almost can't and definitely shouldn't) to pull his batteries out of the boat at the end of the season (he stores in a unit without power, so has to pull them for the winter). A 25 lb lithium is no problem, so I bought him one last year for birthday/father's day. He's also in an underpowered tracker (HP limits) so dropping 75 lb in the back end will help him for sure. Its not mandatory and he'd have continued with his duracells, but the lithium is better for his use. It also made for a good gift for someone who has everything or just gets the things he needs/wants. thanks rick

We moved to this area just over 2 years ago and I only had the kayak for last season. So the first year I fished all of the ponds around (they aren't great) and will use them for casting practice, trying new rods, or just getting out of the house for 2 hours. The biggest lake around is ~2200 acres and I fish it. The smallest is around 5-8 acres that I have fished so far. In between, I've got at least 20 lakes within 45 minutes that are worth fishing. The closest being 15 minutes away. Extend that to an hour and add another dozen and a half plus a couple rivers. I'll go in spurts. Early season (like now and the past month) I've fished my local lake more because its close and I can pick my days/evenings/mornings. Starting about now I'll start branching out. I like to explore a couple new lakes per year but also get multiple trips into the favorites to see how they fish throughout the year. My top 4 lakes last year (for visits) I probably averaged 8 trips to each. I fished at least 5 of the other lakes at least once (maybe a couple more). This year I'll do the same. Three of my top 4 from last year will feature heavily due to proximity or quality of fish. I'll add another half dozen different ones this year to see if they make the cut for next year. You never know what you're going to find, so sometimes you just gotta go somewhere new and start casting. That got me a new place this year already because it was the only lake open to fish that didn't have a tournament on it. Its small but you can't argue with a 3 lb largemouth on the fourth or fifth cast. thanks, rick

Looking like May for you this year...

My first smallmouth of last year.