casts_by_fly

If they are eating a jerkbait I wouldn’t try to force feed them a crank bait.take the win and catch the fish. If they stop, then see what else they will eat. I’d throw a ned. Open water, rocks, relatively shallow, and visible fish.

I was just going to say that. Classic.

Practice and constant attention. When my dad and I fish from his boat, he’s in the front and I back boat. 16’ tracker. He carries four rods in the front facing back and I’ve got 3 or four in the back facing front interlaced. It helps to keep the reel handles parallel to the rods (in my kayak holder I have to do that). Treble hooks are the biggest issue and we normally don’t have more than 3 out of 8 rods with them.

Very true. But I don’t think this guy is that guy.

He still had to know where the fish would be and make a tournament plan to support that. On nearly 300k acres, you could do a lot of sweeping the trolling motor all day if that's your plan and not see anything.

another junebug here. I've fished it at times and have yet to catch a fish on it to the point where I've stopped carrying it. I still carry brown/pumpkinseed/orange in jigs, but I can't think of a fish I've caught on that color either.

I have 3 preset buttons and those are 1- live, 2- side (70% split on top) with 2D and down on the bottom, and 3- live plus maps. When I am motoring between spots I'll have it on #2. Side imaging is my primary when I'm moving around and sometimes I'll even swap to 100% SI. If I see something I'll waypoint it and either come back over with DI or just go straight to live plus maps so I can see the waypoint. I like to have both 2D and DI on together because they do different things. Sometimes I'll crank up the sensitivty on 2D to show the thermocline and I'll always turn on the fishID because it will pick that up where I might not notice it on DI on the small corner of the display. You'll have to play with it and see what works best for you.

In a boat, you can scan lots of areas and mark waypoints to come back to, e.g. go find brush piles in 12’ near drop offs all in a given day. In a kayak, you have less range so you can do the same things but not across a full lake. So what do when I’m fishing a lake that I don’t know fully or haven’t scanned lately is that I’ll spend a little time when the fish aren’t eating to scan and mark anything interesting. I might not fish it that day, but I know it’s there for another trip. If I see a bunch of fish then i‘ll stop and fish, but that isn’t the purpose. when I’m going down the bank I will have it on. In the past I’d leave side imaging on so i could see anything off to the side I didn’t know was there. Now I have live imaging so I’ll leave it on and facing ahead of me in case there are roaming fish that I’m not necessarily fishing for but that I now know are there.

Last trip out I hit a musky with the nose of the boat (I had my front lights on and was motoring quickly). Startled the crap out of it and it tail slapped the bow.

Crank baits and jerkbaits are on snaps, often to the factory split ring. Walking baits either a snap or loop knot (no split ring).

I only have seen the Central Park lakes. They aren’t the most productive lakes. They are fed by rainwater only so get a bit stagnant. I don’t know how much fishing pressure they get but they are the only thing fishable and surrounded by a couple million people. Not the place I would generally choose to fish but if that’s what you got, that’s what you do. if prospect park or where you are fishing is similar, then I might consider a little darker colors and downsizing. Darker because of the usual dinge color of the water and probable algal blooms this time of year. Smaller due to pressure and smaller fish (bait and game) generally. If it were me fishing it, I’d probably go to a weedless Ned rig and mix up swimming it and dragging it. You’ll have to experiment with colors, but hot snakes/yoga pants(black)/black blue would be my starting point. Also a half 5” senko in green pumpkin is a good choice (I have liked tipping the tail with chartreuse).

The penn fierce combo I bought a couple years back has been great and especially for the price.

using the current fm stradic and not the fl I have (I think they are very close), the 3k sizes are 7.9 vs 6.3 oz. In the 4k they are 9.7/7.6. That’s 1.6 oz or 2.1 oz depending on the size. For a given size, that’s a lot of weight and it matters sometimes. When I got my zodias I had a 1k stradic in the same order and at 6.5 oz it was way too light. I have an older stradic here which is about 7.5 or so and it was very good, hence I went with the 3k size to balance. Yes, you could upsize from a 3k stradic to a 4k vanford to keep about the same weight, but I don’t want a big honking reel when I don’t need it. Give me the all metal stradic in my case. The zodias rear grips are very light. I would expect a 7’ medium to match with a 3k sized reel also but the vanford is so light that there is nothing to it and you have to add 3x as much weight at the reel compared to a little heavier rear grip. And the front grip design basically forces you into a one or two fingers behind the reel post because there isn’t enough grip in front of the reel post for all four fingers. So effectively it means you need a heavier reel if you want the balance close to the reel post. on my 6’9”, the 3k is about perfect and makes a nice balanced rig. If I wanted a longer shimano, I would go expride for the lower weight SiC guides or to the curado for the heavier rear grip.

30 lb 832 and be done with it.

I bought the curado 7'2" BFS casting rod earlier this year and agree that itsn't not a rod for light baits. The curado and zodias share the same blank, so that's a good reference point. I've recently picked up the Phenix ML 7'1" BFS for throwing 1/16 oz plus plastic neds and similar and its a good one, even with a cheap Kastking zephyr on it. Overhead casting, 30 yards with 1/8 oz total bait weight is about right. I assume you're looking for more than that and my zodias 6'9" ML will outcast it by 10 yards with the same bait. The X80 is 1/4 oz which for a spinning rod is no problem to bang out. A long ML with braid will see you 40+ yards no problem. if I was buying blind, the expride 7'6" would be the first place I'd look.

I was just coming to type what frnknsteen wrote. This past winter my dad and I both ordered new reels (and me a rod). He went 4k size vanford, I went 3k sized stradic (FL, previous model to current). His is on a 7' zodias M, mine is on the zodias 6'9" ML. Both rods have carbon monocoque rear grips which are really light. I had intended to use a 1k size reel and it was no where close to balancing it. The 3k did at an ounce or so heavier and feels great in hand. Its a much better balanced package (size, weight, swingweight, etc). His 7' with the vanford feels tip heavy for me and how I hold the rod. His reel is also an ounce and a half lighter I think. That's great for him because heavier setups tax his elbow and I think he holds the rod further up the grip. I think the stradic is the best value for money spinning reel available and I wish I had bought a couple of them when they were clearing the FLs out at ~30% off. Given that option now I'd buy two more and just set them aside for the future.

Do you want a spinning rod or a casting rod? You said you want a whippy spinning rod but then say you are looking at BFS. Sounds like you're open to either option? How far is 'a mile'? On the spinning rod side, you probably want to look at Hair Jig rods.

hmm. I’ve been watching them every couple days and never saw them come into inventory. Do they have an email watchlist that I’m not seeing?

I had no idea that bass had chromataphores. Squid, octopi, and cuttlefish are well known for them and it’s awesome to watch an octopus change colors just feet away from you on a dive. But bass? I never would have guessed it.

Scientific cause? Can’t explain it. Observational? Early spring fish in open water are almost silver. Bog fish in tannic water or with a lot of vegetation around are black on the back with a dark yellow bottom. I don’t know if it’s the food, sunlight, or what that causes it but it’s gotta be an evolutionary adaptation to the habitat.

Yup. Grabbed the front treble like it was going to t-bone that baitfish. Hooked right in the corner of the mouth and took the whole bait down for a brief 2 seconds.

Yeah, those are my usual stops. Digitaka is my first port of call since free shipping and their price is usually the same. But they haven't had stock of so many reels for so long. The JLS is a 6 speed last I looked. If I were doing a dedicated swimbait rod then maybe, but for a frog rod or a pitching rod (which is what my two big rods are mostly used for) I don't want a slow reel. I'd take an 8 over a 7. Was it a 7 or 8 speed and mind if I ask where?

yes and no. Shallower spools start spinning with less force required. That can be from lighter lures or softer casts. Shallow spools also carry less rotational inertia which means they slow down easier on their own if you stop pulling on the line. The former is why my dad loves his chronarch MGLs. He casts with a soft sidearm motion, negligible braking, and decent spool tension. It is what makes them easier for beginners to learn on since beginners usually haven't gotten good at loading the rod yet. The latter is why they are good for skipping baits- when the bait hits on the first skip it looses a bit of momentum and the reel slows down with it. My zillion SV TW doesn't go anywhere near light stuff. About the lightest thing I throw on that rod/reel is a 1/4 oz buzzbait which is practice is about 1/2 oz once you add the skirt, trailer, and blade to the head weight. More practically its a 3/8 buzzbait (5/8 oz total bait weight), a 3/8 oz texas rig (5/8-3/4oz TBW), a 110 plopper (7/8 oz TBW), or other 1/2-1 oz type lures. It can bomb a 110 plopper about as far as I have line on the reel (albeit heavy 17 lb mono).

And it’s the same idea with mgl vs regular shimano spools. that said, and mgl or sv spool will cast as far as you need to for most anything.

For future reference, on JLS you can have it show proces in dollars directly. Look in the upper right and choose your currence. Skips converting with xe or google.