CastingClinic

@ol'crickety You're living in a dream I once had.

Tried a brand new lake with a buddy for a quick hour and a half before sunset yesterday and snagged a small bass each. Spinnerbait is still hooking up.

Fat perch and a dinky bass. Slow fishing yesterday. Got in trouble with the wife trying to chase the skunk away before finally snagging these two. Tied a handful of baits but a spinnerbait came in again to save the day.

Beautiful day! A few pickerel, a perch, a gorgeous little pumpkinseed and this guy coming in a bit over two and a half pounds. Spinnerbait still the move!

New PB at 4lb 1oz Had a great day yesterday with everything seeming to come together. Hauled in a 3lb LMB on top of this guy with a handful of other fish and a pike sized pickerel. Went out with a game plan and didn’t talk myself out of it. Went where I thought I’d find fish and found them. Threw the lure that I thought would catch them and caught them. Told myself nearly a dozen times “don’t leave fish to find fish” and it paid off. Spinnerbait for the win!

Cold and windy day with water in the low 50s. Fishing was tough but caught these two with a white/chartreuse spinnerbait. Smallie is just shy of 2lb and the largemouth came in at 3lb 5oz. First day out this year marked off as a success.

Well for anyone interested I ordered a battery meter that will measure DC current to 100A. Tested at home and saw nothing out of the ordinary but would still need to test on the water for the most accurate readings. Went out yesterday and logged almost 3 hours of run time without a single abnormal reading. At full power the current draw averaged 43A with peak amperage hitting 50A only when "flooring it" from a dead stop. I had the battery wired direct to the motor so the culprit now is either poor connectors or bad breaker but at least I'm confident the battery and motor are still good to go.

@MN Fisher @padlin Almost certainly an over current situation and I plan to do a full mock-up test with my rig, a bucket of water, and a multimeter when I get a chance. @casts_by_fly Is it possible for a brush to be damaged and offer no symptoms besides higher than normal current draw?

Started having issues with my breaker tripping under typical conditions. 75ah deep cycle 12v battery > 60a circuit breaker (manual reset) > ~10ft 8awg wire > Newport Vessels 55lb thrust trolling motor This is the setup I used without any issues for all of last year. The breaker never tripped regardless of conditions, runtime, etc. Over the winter I replaced the deep cycle with a 100ah LiFePO4 12V battery, upgraded the wiring to 4awg, and added a PWM unit. This setup also worked flawlessly until a few weeks ago when I ended up in a lake with WAY too much grass and wind to boot. I pushed the motor trying to navigate through and started smoking the PWM. Disconnected and went straight battery>motor and immediately started tripping the breaker. Called it a day, pulled up the motor and started paddling my heart out. Took the PWM out of the equation and had two fishing trips without issue and then at the end of a long day while cruising back to the launch had the breaker start tripping at full speed (no grass or obstructions this time) and had to drive back on setting 4 of 5. Bought a brand new breaker thinking I’d pushed the last to the breaking point and the first trip out the breaker trips after a few minutes at full speed and wouldn’t reset. I had to pull out a wrench and rewire the battery to bypass the circuit breaker and limped home as slow as I could manage. Once home I took another look at the breaker and it would reset for me. Besides the first day I started having issues in the grass, every instance of the breakers tripping has been in clean water and under full speed. The prop shaft is clean and spins smoothly, prop is in good condition, connections are tight with no corrosion, no signs that the battery or motor are compromised in any manner. Could the new breaker have just been a dud and a bad coincidence or am I missing something? Again I haven’t had any issues running the motor at full speed for extended periods of time in the nearly 150 hours on the water with this setup.

I worked evenings at my last job and would try to go out and get some fishing in before work. Had to stop after the second try because it would just end up with me calling out from the lake. Goes to show where my priorities lie.

Black buzzbait does it again. Flat with moderate millfoil and patches of lilypads. Worked the buzzbait through ally’s in the pads and this guy crushed it at the boat.

Tried out a new lake yesterday. Moderate wind and a lot of the lake was inundated with thick grass making getting around (canoe fisherman with trolling motor) a nightmare and I tripped the circuit breaker a couple times just trying to get from point A to point B. I did get on a nice drift along the west side of an island about an hour and a half after sunrise and got this guy on a black buzzbait. Got two more bites but I’ll blame a poor hookset on my end for not landing them. Ended up calling the day early due to the conditions.

Oh I don’t fault you at all. Getting in and out is a serious pain but I just think of it as the price of admission. Once I get out on the water it feels like home and it’s by far the body of water I know the best but I do dread the end of the day. Now that we’re in the dog days I’ve been trying to hit up some new/less visited spots. Gonna try our luck at Wawayanda this week.

I love the Chester area, been house hunting there a few times to no avail. Should've added I'm in Wayne now since the baby but close enough not to change my habits much, same commute to Splitrock where I spend most of my time. I'll keep an eye out for you posts

Northern NJ here. Grew up on Long Island fishing saltwater. Got much more serious about freshwater fishing last year based out of Randolph. Earlier this year added our first born and my fishing buddy added his second a few weeks later so the fishing has slowed down a bit but we still get out regularly. Canoe fisherman who has stuck to the northern reservoirs mostly but just recently started exploring some of the river systems.

She might not be much but she’s mine. 17ft Grumman copy, 55lb Newport motor, and a DIY outrigger that extends to a 14ft wingspan. I can comfortably get two guys with gear and a packed cooler fishing all day long with both men standing and that’s enough for now.

I had a feeling something like this was the case, there was a handful of very old gear that came along side this rod. I do like the feel of it but the size gives me finesse vibes. I wish it had a little more flex for topwater but I like your idea of throwing a spinnerbait on it. Gonna give it a shot and try a few different baits, I have a few spots that could probably benefit from a shorter rod.

Unable to upload a pic I just took a closer look at the rod and I was mistaken. A small scratch had me mistake the model number for the length. The rod is a true 6’0” (although a hair longer in reality) with a 6” straight tapered rear grip that’s just a bit worn. I figured someone hacking and shaping a grip in half made more sense than Berkley manufacturing a 6’ medium heavy casting rod with a wannabe pistol grip. Still curious what this was made for.

I’ve come into possession of a Berkeley Lightning casting rod. MH/F and rod says 6’6” however the grip has been shortened and now the rod sits around 6’1”. I’m thinking a little too stout for treble hooks so not a great fit for jerkbaits or topwater. Right now I’m thinking I put a Lews speed spool on and skip jigs with it but I prefer skipping with spinning gear. Perhaps someone has a better idea for a small, light, compact and yet relatively stiff rod.