casts_by_fly

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.

Did you ever get the Cara 6'8" MH? I have one here that I've fished for a season and a half. I go back and forth between loving it and being indifferent to it. If I had a boat and carried a dozen rods at a clip I'd love it, but in the kayak carrying only 5 it often gets left home.

I fish both and I find that I prefer the 100 for palmability. The 150 isn't that much bigger, but its noticeable side by side. That said, if you're running 17lb diameter plastic lines (US sizing) or 20 lb (JDM sizing) go with the 150. The smaller 100's don't hold quite enough of the bigger line.

You did right by rejecting the shipment. Hopefully it was when the delivery guy was there and you just turned him around. That's a damage in transit and something that needs to be taken up between fenwick and shipping company. I would just go straight to the CC company now. You've tried to get in touch which is the right thing to do. You can't be expected to wait forever.

like pat said- follow the food. big fish eat little fish. little fish eat tiny fish. tiny fish eat plankton and insects. insects and plankton are mostly coverned by wind/wave generated current. if there is no current, then they will be in grassy areas and shallows. If there is current then they will be in the grass that's in the current.

Yeah, you're right. That's the one I have. I confused it with another rod. Still a great rod for light stuff and I'll probably pick up a proper BFS reel to go on it this winter (the zephyr I have on it now is 'serviceable'.

Does it have to be that short? The Phoenix feather ML is a pretty nice rod for light stuff. I think it’s 6’10” though.

Got out for the first time Thursday. We were out of the country from the season opener until Thursday morning, so I sat the evening. Had two does come in and had a perfect 16 yard quartering away shot on the adult. But I couldn’t pull the trigger because the little one with her was maybe 40 lb and had spots two weeks ago. In two more months? That’s a dead deer. In January? The both get shot. But I couldn’t do it Thursday. Yeah, I know what you mean. Completely obliterated the block I had out in about 3 days. The deer wouldn’t come around while he was there. The block is gone and he’s moved on it seems. the camera is about 12’ in the air so can’t mess with that at least.

It’s not the line. You just need more practice. XL is a pretty limp line and easy to tie, but you need to have a little dexterity if your fingers to manipulate it and decent eyes or readers. If the only knot you know is a uni, that implies to me that you haven’t been fishing that long and probably haven’t tied that many knots in your lifetime. for fishing ultralights and mono, a standard improved clinch is usually just fine. I still fish an improved clinch on tiny hooks. If it’s a bigger wire hook relative to the line diameter I might tie a trilene knot with the extra pass through the eye of the hook. With tiny mono on ultralight rods, nicks in your line are going to be more impactful than the knot you tie.

There are times when you make just that perfect cast and think to yourself that there just has to be a bass right there. Often for me it’s with a buzzbait that ive hit the last inch of a gap between the weeds just along the side of another piece of cover. Or it’s that ‘V’ in the lily pads where you’re bring it right along to the point of the ‘v’ and know one is going to hit it there. You just know something is going to happen. my other favorite is when you’re bringing in a topwater and you see the wake of a fish about to shark your lure. It’s hard waiting for the actual hit.

The purpose of a swim jig is to present a fish profile in thicker cover and not get hung up because of the shape of the head. You come through clean because of the sleek profile. Adding a blade either on the front or back is going to kill the sleekness. You’re going to catch grass. In that. Are just throw a bladed jig or a bladed under spin.

only difference for me on the vanford is the weight. They are too light to balance most rods. For a 6’8” it might work but even then my stradic which is 1.5 oz heavier is just right on a 6’9”.

jdm stradic in a 3k size and call it a day.

mariner sails four rod horizontal rod holder. About $40. I replaced the knobs with ones from the hardware store. The originals are all plastic and the threads stripped a bit. So I used ones with brass threaded inserts. Depending on you mounting locations , you might need to add a mighty mount track.

I do on straight shank worm hooks when pitching. Otherwise no.

this is my rod setup. I stand to fish and fished from a bass boat for years so that’s the style of layout I like. I don’t want anything standing up. So I lay down 4, have one in my hand, and will occasionally put a sixth one in a rod holder on the rear rails laying horizontal.

Different ones for different situations. I like sk burners in a half ounce if I want to cover a lot of clear water fast. As long as you keep them straight you can bring them in pretty quickly without blowing them out. Off color water I like a Colorado/Indiana setup and slower, so I’ll drop to the tour pro sk or another random in my box. I like the dirty jigs compact a lot as well. Lighter wire and a heck of a thump for two willows. Not a burner type though, more mid pace depending on the weight. trailer? I’ve stopped adding them. If I really want one I’ll add a split tail. I still have spinnerbaits rigged with trailers and I’ll fish them until it wears out. tips? Fish them. I don’t do my best on them in slick calm sun but wind, low light, night, or dirty water all say spinnerbait.

6/0 owner beast. With or without weight. If it’s sinking too fast for you, start reeling right before it hits the surface to take up any slack (or cast without slack) and keep a high rod tip.

No need for welding. Some Fulton tongues are bolt on. https://www.fultonperformance.com/product/hdpb230101_trailer-tongue-bolt-on-hinge-kit

If you’re handy, you can add a swing tongue. otherwise you’re limited to a 15’ boat or so. I have a 19’6” garage and a 16’ would just barely fit. Instead I have a kayak.

Sorry I missed the lowrance unit on the front already. In that case if you like it then stick to lowrance. Lowrance ffs is close to garmin. If you were starting from scratch then I would put garmin on top for ffs, humminbird for non ffs imaging. And humminbird offers 360. But the ffs for hummingbird is not as good as the others.