casts_by_fly

also a good way to do motor break in on a new boat in the early season.

I’m in the same place as you guys. Nice warming trend to kill the snow. Ice will thin and keep thinning. It won’t be early ice out but at this rate mid march. Talked to the boat dealer and they might have a window next week to rig it so….

yeah, they call them drift socks. But I find them a little snug.

guess you kinda just have to go along for the ride? I'd love to see one but we certainly dont have any here.

The mirror color I find doesn't make much difference. But having a mirror does. FWIW, i got a pair of prescription sunglasses recently that were amber with a blue mirror. A bit custom, but they are for driving and other times when I'm wearing glasses but need sunglasses. When I'm fishing I almost always have contacts in. Since these were more casual and the frames were silver, I didn't want gold/green mirror but having the amber lens was mandatory. Turns out rayban has an amber/blue mirror option.

This is me on my 1 or 2 lakes that i guess you'd call my home lakes. I know the depths in any given spot on the entire 100+ acres of my main lake that I fished last year to the point that I stopped carrying electronics for most trips. Just throw rods and tackle into the boat and go. Other lakes I don't know any better are different.

I fish amber exclusively. Amber helps to contrast greens, browns, and earth shades better and those are all of the colors where I fish. Grey/blue is great for bright open water, but I don't fish that. Also, amber is also very good on ocean water (I wear them when we are diving or otherwise in the ocean).

lipless, slow rolled spinnerbait (< 2' visibility), slow rolled paddle tail (>2' visibility), ned rig

What depth/weights/baits are you throwing? A 1/16 head with a 3” yum sonar minnow (which you might or might not consider hover strolling) is a big difference from a 5/6” bigger bodied bait with 3/8 ounce. I know those are extreme but size matters…

yeah, you'll find that there are bands of latitude that will be similar. And similar type of bodies of water will be similar (highland reservoirs vs smaller natural lakes). But once you check a few monitoring sites vs your own lakes you can build up a pretty good idea. And frankly, I mostly only use it for the first couple weeks of the season to see if ice is off and if the water is warming. Once the water is up over 45 degrees the actual number on the gauge isn't going to make me go fishing or not go fishing.

What is the foam with holes for? Worm weights?

I use the regular USGS national water dashboard. In some areas they have good coverage for lakes and in others not. If I just want to look at water temps, I use the filters in the top right to take out the water levels and everything else. Then the yellow icons have different shapes. Circles are streams and rivers, squares are lakes. There are also springs and saltwater/estuaries. Once you start checking your local lakes you can get a feel for how other local lakes compare against the ones tha thave USGS monitoring. Spruce run is a local one for me and I know that site tends to be 2-10 degrees colder surface water temp vs a lot of other lakes in the area. https://dashboard.waterdata.usgs.gov/app/nwd/en/ Depending on the USGS probes and the monitoring sites, some have temp at depth readings also which are quite helpful. This specific site is one of my locals and like you note, the surface can be a good bit warmer than the 4.5m probe (15') on sunny still days. Even the 2m vs 4.5m will show a difference.

i cleaned and lubed a couple weeks ago. I wait to line them until closer to the season normally, but I had a free saturday where I had to stay home and had nothing else to do so I started the process. Still one or two more that I haven't decided on the line I'm going to use just yet, but if I had to go fishing right now I'd be in okay shape.

I am guessing you had the negligible rain low clear water summer like we had up here also. I too caught the majority of my fish on finesse neds, even though it was my first real year of fishing them. My biggest fish still came on other stuff, but numbers were finesse.

I mean, if you like odd stuff then sure. But for me I'd save $50 and just get the zillion with the same physical profile if you like Daiwa. I prefer shimano and would (and have just done again) go metanium for what you're saying, but that's not exactly a 'unique' reel.

Looking at the USGS map, I think he almost has to be in the deep south east unless it's a tiny lake/pond that is warming quickly. Russel lake (downstream from hartwell) is showing 52. Santee Cooper is about the same. The trinity River north of Houston is a little colder. Lake Houston is about 50-52. The St Johns and the Suwannee are closer to 60. The chattahoochee is right in that 55 mark as well.

Look at a map of the lake. Mark the spawning areas with a big red x. Then mark the overwintering areas with a green circle. Now connect the nearby dots noting any structure that would guide the fish between the two. Depending on the warming or cooling trend, time of day, and conditions, the fish will be somewhere along the line. Start at one end and go to the other. I prefer to start shallow and work deeper but that’s just me. When you find where they are along one line, then repeat for others on the lake.

Fully loaded and ready to fish Old town autopilot 120 Humminbird helix 9 MSI+ Humminbird megalive 80 ah Amped lithium battery for motor 30 ah amped lithium electronics battery Minn kota heading puck Battery monitor Noco genius battery charger for lithium or lead acid Fishing specialties pole mount Carlisle angler paddle Malone kayak cart Two yak attack omega rod holders Mariner sails 4 rod horizontal rod holder with upgraded hardware Weed ninja prop blade and Weedless wedge prop TH marine eliminator prop nut Wilderness systems seat organizer Self draining scupper plugs front and back Integrated navigation lights Kayak seat back cooler Extra props, hardware, and accessories straps for truck bed anchoring included. Wooden garage storage cart included if you are local enough (or bring a big enough truck to haul it all) Never been in saltwater This is a fantastic high end kayak currently set up for freshwater bass fishing. I’ve fished it the past couple years and love it. I have fished it on the biggest lakes and smallest ponds of NJ and it will handle anything you throw at it. I am buying a boat and don’t have the room for both or else I would keep it. Any questions please just ask. $6500 obo

I agree on the durability on the zako, especially with toothy critters. They are also heavy. A 4" zako is something like 3/8 oz on its own, maybe 7/16. Super glue helps. Some on the nose when you rig it and a little where the hook exits the body before and after you use it. The durability and weight are why I've moved off of them. They do look really good though. Both are good and to some extent depend on your local bluegills. Two years ago I took a bunch of pictures of my local bluegills when I took a friend's kid fishing (of course the pics were for the parents...) and tweaked my choices a little from that (purple and tan are prevalent here).

we don't have local shops with any selection of bass gear whatsoever. The little bit they do have isn't interesting or it's the basics that I'm well stocked on. There is a DSG a half hour away, but not exactly convenient. So I'm basically 100% TW. In stock items can be at my door in 3-4 days most of the time. Their prices are MSRP as standard, but there are often sales 20-25% depending and if you buy a gift card when they are on sale you get another 10%. All in, that's cheaper than DSG and way more convenient.

same. I think it probably has to do with private browsing or other browser settings.

im pretty sure that the ti2 can’t share side or down imaging. Just basic 2d and mapping. My dad has one on his boat and I looked into it 2 years ago when he wanted to add on and network. Not slow speed, inconsistent speed. Paddling along at 3/4mph is just fine for side imaging. Motoring at 4 mph is also. Just adjust the scroll speed to give the right screen picture. But stop go or being still will give a bad picture. It might give you an inkling that there is some type of structure there to then scan it again, but it wont be very good and you’ll still have to scan again. If you’re doing like catt says and just motoring down the bank from the front looking for structure then fine. Or going down the bank at a constant speed casting moving baits you’ll get a good picture.

Personally I’d do it the other way. When I’m up front I’m not using side scan. To best use side scan you need to be moving along at a relatively constant speed. If im up and fishing, then it’s stop start and not staring at a fish finder (except for live imaging). So I’d put the better unit at the console and then just use the front unit for current depth and maybe downscan if you want.

I get it. My boss left about a year ago and I slid into her role. Same banding, slight pay bump. At the time basically the same job and team. A little busier but not unmanageable. Since then I’ve added more and more, though only with a mild benefit. There is more on the table but it will come with more time and I don’t know if I want to go down that path. I wouldn’t mind walking it back a step to get the time back I’ve lost, but that ship has sailed. So it’s about finding the right balance of what you have and what more you want. I think I can see a path. The other thing is work life boundaries. About 6 years ago work was really in the crapper. I would leave home Monday morning early, drive 3 hours, spend half the week away, come home late Wednesday night and then on Thursday afternoon find out I had to do a day trip back to the same place. Often the days/nights on the ground were 12-14 hour days and then eating subway for dinner and sleeping in a cheap hotel. All in a high pressure environment. I got into a bad place mentally and because I cared so much about the work I let it bleed into my personal life and time. I’ve come to realize that it’s okay to flex a little either way but make sure you’re getting enough you time and non work in balance with how much you’re putting into work.

The problem and the answer are both in your paragraph. Because there is minimal interest in 2 piece bass rods, there is little to no development put into 2 piece blanks for bass rods. As you said, a 2 piece rod can be made to feel just as good as a 1-piece. Fly rods and multi species rods do it all the time. I suspect rods with a steeper taper like a mag bass or jig and worm style might be tougher but I have no verifiable data on that. Have you ever tried to replace a tip section? Most manufacturers won't do it. Tips and butts are often mated for fit. So they won't sell you just one piece as a breakage replacement.