casts_by_fly

Not sure where exactly you are, but plenty of places in NJ have shad. a chartreuse and white spinnerbait catches plenty of fish around here, even in the clear water. I don’t fish them much because it seems everyone and their brother is throwing a white spinnerbait most days.

Cxx is the most wiry line I have ever tried. And if you try it, make sure you buy by diameter. The 10# cxx is 0.014” which is the same as 12# big game (a bigger diameter line in its own right), and would be equivalent to 18# supernatural (if they offered 18#).

That’s totally fixable if you really like it and don’t want to buy a new one. Rick

a tesla model x battery is 1000 kWh. A 100 ah 12 v battery is 1200 Wh. That’s basically 1000 times the power capacity. if a battery is $100 for a trolling motor that’s $100k scaled up to a car battery. Price is linear with capacity.

That’s a pretty wild spec. 6’5” and rated up to 5 oz. I can’t imagine it does well under 3/4 or 1 oz. Short range swimbait rod? Probably make a good amazon peacock bass rod. I just assumed you were sitting which is why you wanted a shorter rod. If you’re standing then you have a lot more flexibility. There’s a big difference in weight between 7’11” and 7’2-7’4”. And you’ll find a lot more rods in that range for what you’re looking for. If you want a shorter rear butt there are a few rods that have it. For what you’re describing (minus the length) I would have said the Cara amistad. At 7’3” it’s not a huge flipping stick but will do up to a solid ounce plus plastic for a light punching rod. Really light in the tip, very low swing weight, balances great with a 6.5 oz reel or so.

because braid to leader on a spinning rod is better. Fluoro and mono have about the same amount of stretch but if you’re throwing a 15’ leader but on a 100’ cast there is a big difference in how much stretch you’ll get with 15’ of leader vs 85’ of line.

Wow. For under $100 I’m contemplating a spare. The code is legit if you follow the directions.

With an fg or Alberto, you can use micro guides up to 12# leader or so with no issues. Pick the rod you like and don’t worry about the guides.

The bottom dweller starts at 3/4oz so it’s either a 3/4 or it’s not a bottom dweller. The heads on them are compact for a weight because there is the extra weight on the hook shank.

Its a combo of both. I don't like braid for either application, but occasionally use it depending on what rods I have with me and what they are all rigged with when I want to tie a spinnerbait or buzzbait on. A faster action and braid can work, but the fish have to be hitting it pretty good. The ones that just swipe at it won't get it good a lot of the time and the combo of high sensation transmission from the braid, the quick load up of the fast rod, and the lack of any attenuation of the line mean as soon as you feel the little swipe you're pulling but the fish doesn't have it. If you really slow down the lure and slow down your hookset it can work. A more moderate rod helps, but I'd rather have a faster rod and mono for spinnerbaits. For buzzbaits, I fish heavier mono (thick 17 lb) which has less stretch already and then a 'fast' actioned rod (per the label) which is actually on the slower side of fast and not nearly as fast as my spinnerbait rod. Again, it's the balance between line and rod. I fish a buzzbait super slow (as slow as I can crawl it). One thing that will help a lot is a plastic trailer on a buzzbait. I don't know if you use one, but when a fish comes up to suck it off the surface, there needs to be some volume and mass for the fish to suck in. A naked buzzbait has a lot of 'air' making up the profile. It's less for the suction force to pull on. Even threading a 2" piece of a stickbait on the hook will make a difference. I've found the best balance so far is a 3" spunk shad. I wish there was a 3.5" for this as the 4" is just a little too much (body thickness and weight) even if you pinch off a half inch. That's a strike king with razor blades i think. Bottom dweller I think from the weight on the hook shank. I have a couple. That looks like a 3/4 oz with a replacement skirt

I’ve had an instance or two where stretch lost a fish. And an instance or two where no stretch hurt me in another way. fishing a plopper 90 with my dad two summers ago I made a long cast into the very back of a boat stall. A solid 40-42 yard cast. I clicked the reel over and took in enough line for it to plop twice when the fish hit. I definitely had outcast my rod and line’s capabilities. As soon as the fish turned toward me the lure spit out. There was too much stretch in the line and not enough power in the rod to overcome it. Opposite end of the spectrum, I was throwing a wake crank earlier this year on a heftier rod and braid. A fish hit it but missed. The fully loaded up rod on a hard pull and no forgiveness or stretch in the line made it rocket back at me at Mach five and bury two of the three points into my leg of the front treble.

Pick a pair of pliers on a ring, a big dropshot weight, or somethign else small and weighted to hang off the hook. Makes tying the double pitzen much easier.

I'm aligned with AJay on this one. If you like the rod and how it fishes, then its cheap and easy to put on a new guide. A single running guide of decent quality is a couple bucks. Worst case you have to put a matching k-frame SiC guide on and you're out $20. That's a lot cheaper than a new rod. Doing it yourself vs a shop? See what your local shop would do it for (or a local ustom rod builder). Something like that should be a $25-$30 job including the guide (but not including a SiC guide). Is it worth if to you to learn how to do it? Up to you. Wrapping guides isn't hard. There is a learning curve, but it isn't hard. Applying finish is the same. Plenty of tutorials and videos on the net for both. Do you need another hobby? Have plenty of time coming up in the winter with nothing to do? Great. Go for it. I used to build custom rods for a long time so I have all of the materials downstairs and the experience upstairs should I need to. if I didn't? I'd take it to a shop and just let them sort it out. I've got plenty of other things to do with my spare time.

just send it to DVT for a servicing over the winter and be done with it. It will come back like new, freshly greased and working great.

The falcon head turner was designed as a short in pitching rod. It’s 6’10” and fast action. It is rated 1/4-3/4 and that’s probably right. You could call it 1/4-1 also. Falcon rates it as a heavy, but it’s the lighter side of heavy compared to other rod makers. More like a bigger MH from some. Great rod for pitching 1/4-3/8 plus plastic or equivalent jig.

What price point? For $215 get the zillion.

I'm going to say that a 1/4oz weight with a baby brush hog isn't going to fish well on the amistad (any of them, with any lines). That's just not enough weight to load up the tip of the rod. I don't have any 6" trick worms, but I do have other 6" zoom worms and would say the same as for the baby brush hog. A 6" lizzard might just have enough weight with a quarter ounce to fish okay, but you'll be working it. The HCJ is going to fish those things much better with a quarter ounce. I fish mine with 17# elite and a zillion. It will pitch those weights all day and cast them just fine. The Amistad has more power higher up the rod than the HCJ, but they are about the same physical weight and swing weight. The expert amistad is super light in the tip for swing weight which is great. But its also stiffer in the tip than the cara. The HCJ vs expert amistad are going to be similar in swing weight and total weight. Not sure how much power you're looking for in the rod and how heavy of cover you're fishing. However, for modest cover (medium weed and light wood) using 1/8-3/8 plus plastic I'll often fish them on my Cara swim jig rod (and 30# braid), especially the 1/8-1/4 range. It's a 5 power (HCJ is a 6 and amistad is a 7) so its a bit lighter in butt power but the fast tip on it is great for a texas rig for me. Things like a midi rage bug, boar hogz, 4" flipping tube all with a 1/8-1/4 oz. Those fish great on that rod. I still think the HCJ is the right rod for you here.

Yeah, this is a peeve for me also. On a bucoo SR I could understand. But on a $200 Expert ane xtra $0.50 or less for the thread cap, even the most basic one that Fuji makes, would be a difference.

I struggle to slow down enough to truly fish finesse baits. So for me, a ned is the first one I pick up when its tough. It's still an active retrieve for me. I'm swimming it, popping it, almost fishing it like a swim jig. A wacky rig for me is cast it out, let it hit the bottom, wait a bit, little pop, hit the bottom, retrieve. That's an isolate cover technique for me. And I hate it.

I'm not using it for true BFS work. It's more like what you'd put on a spinning rod for finesse bass- neds, small texas rigs, etc. Set up how I have it, a 1/16 head plus a finesse TRD or other small plastic comes in around 1/8 or 5/32 oz give or take and that's doing pretty well on it. It takes a minute to adjust casting stroke when I've j ust been throwing a 1/2 oz on a H/F, but a coupel casts will do it. The Zephyr casts alright. With a little work on my other ML/M (older rod I built a long time ago) I can throw a 1/32 head plus 2" twister. The brakes on the reel are a bit finnicky. There is a very small sweet spot that works and if you're not in it you'll struggle with the lighter stuff. What I don't like is the build quality. There is a lot of play in every joint and moving part. When I put down a Bantam or Zillion and pick up a zephyr it just doesn't feel right. I'm considering a JDM aldebaran BFS, but then for cheaper I could pick up a zillion with a high end BFS spool which could then do double duty if I wanted. We'll see what the winter brings. I've got 1, maybe 2 more fishing days left this year.

So start here. 1/4-3/8 weight plus what plastic? And what line are you fishing? off the go, I’m going to say Cara because it’s a tough lighter in the tip. And if you really want an amistad to do a quarter ounce plus plastic then you need the lightest/tippiest one. That said, an amistad for a Texas rig starts at 3/8 oz with a full size rage bug. If that’s the upper end of what you’re throwing then I’d say to consider the heavy cover jig instead. Much better with the under 3/8 oz weight range.

Check out the ‘finesse jig’ rod from falcon. In the expert series they call it the finesse jig/topwater and I have that one. That’s at $200 though so look at the low rider. I bought mine for sexy dawgs and other walking baits first and foremost. Medium to medium heavy power. I’d call it a fast action, but there isn’t a ton of power up the rod so more than just a casting weight worth of bend and it’s flexing pretty well.

If you’re buying mono, you have to consider the diameter, not the stated breaking strength. Stren 4lb is about 0.008”. If that’s your baseline, you need to compare that against sunline supernatural in 6 lb. Sunline uses Japanese diameters and the stated breaking strength is the actual breaking strength. American mono makers are typically rated far lower than the actual breaking strength. I’m a fan of supernatural generally. I fish 6lb on my all purpose trout rod and all the way up to 16lb on others. I haven’t gone to 4lb yet because I only use it on my ultralight trout rod and I love the line on it which is P-line C21. It tracks about the same diameter as supernatural. Very limp, ties a great knot. It’s been the best ultralight line I’ve fished and if I didn’t fish braid for bass that’s what I’d use.

not full white because that's super loud in our crystal clear water, but a more muted white/grey/silver for sure. Dark back, lighter bottom, keep it up in the water column.

This is my experience in most of the northern NJ lakes also. We have a lot of lakes that I'd classify as northern natural lakes even if some have been dammed. Weeds, deep weed edges, bluegills, often another apex predator over the bass (musky and pike), etc. We DO have shad or alewifes in a lot of the lakes though, so that changes the baitfish dynamics a bit depending on the lake.