Zach Matthews
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Mike it might be easier for us to just demo a few different lines so you can see what’s going on and if the Headstart is helpful or not. I’ll bring a few options when we get out for the Mothers’ Day caddis hatch.
Zach
Mike that setup would be fine for the Toccoa River tailwater and you can catch plenty of trout on it. It’s not going to be light enough for chasing north Georgia brook trout but everyone uses a second dedicated rod for that kind of thing anyway. That 6 weight is also stout enough to do double duty for shoal bass and pond bass in other parts of Georgia, and will work fine in Arkansas if you ever hit those rivers on your trips back.
A five weight is considered the bog standard trout fishing rod. Personally I don’t own any four weights but that’s kind of a personal preference thing; I have the 3 spot and the 5 spot covered and there’s generally plenty of overlap.
The good news is there is absolutely nothing wrong with the tackle you chose. Those are all good brands.
Zach
Mike –
Keep at them man. I know those fish are there. I’ve actually caught them in the tailwater below Blue Ridge Dam — I think they must have washed in as fry. Walleye are always worth working for.
Zach
Jim –
I’d get the Guru 2. Having a little more capacity is usually a good thing and in my experience a 3 weight and a 5 weight are different enough animals that I don’t see one reel comfortably bridging that gap. The 1.5 is a perfect 4 weight reel but would be a bit large for a 3 and a bit small for a 5. If you’re fishing a 5 weight, the Guru 2 is your winner.
Most of you guys seem to favor older music. No country music fans of “painted-on jeans” and getting drunk on the truck bumper?!
Country has gotten so repetitive here lately.
Zach
Jim you might find this little gear piece I did last week helpful:
As I recommended there, I’d look at the Lamson Konic or Guru reels.
Zach
That’s awesome Travis. I need to get out so bad but my weekend schedule keeps getting filled up…
Zach
Travis that’s interesting. Could you elaborate? Is it because the water intake is in-line instead of below the jet output?
55hp pull start would be pretty rough. Bout like starting a lawn tractor…
Zach
Hey Buzz –
Appreciate your thoughts as always. You’re absolutely right about our debt to TFO, Echo, etc. If you think about it, we don’t really hear the ‘fly fishing is for snobs’ routine nearly as much these days as we did back in the 1990s.
I also appreciate your comment re: the wear and tear issues. Primarily the issue there would be clousering, i.e. nicking the tips with heavy weight. Not sure you’d be able to identify that in a wiggle test.
But the real sweet spot is going to be new but discontinued rods; that’s where you get the best deal but still avoid the risk of pre-purchase damage.
Zach
Completely awesome, Tim. Love seeing that IA hat in there. Thanks again for your note about the site error last night. I appreciate it.
Zach
Mike that was an awesome break down. Thanks a ton man. You basically confirmed what I want to get. (Tracy is currently wearing my driftboat fund on her finger but I am recharging it).
Zach
What about the skiff-style boats with the front casting yokes like the Clacka Headhunter series? I have fished out of a true, stripped down skiff with no font casting lean-bars and frankly I hated it. But the Headhunter boats look pretty amazing.
The issue down here too for us is lack of river gradient. Swiftwater is rarely an issue, but wind is, and highsiders get pushed around in the big open tailwaters.
Zach
Hey Ty
Scrap everything you know about “queries” and simply write a partial piece. Research your target magazine, figure out what kinds of things they do regularly (but have not done lately), and prepare an outline of an article. Typical feature length is 2,000 words. Then fill in the intro with say 300 words, and sketch out where the rest of the piece is headed in the outline. Always provide publishable photos to accompany the potential piece, and email the entire package over to the editor in chief or managing editor with a polite cover letter.
Zach
Steve I could see that for side-damage only, but what about all the hull damage and the front nose being ripped clean? Also the transom is actually the cleanest part of the boat.
One of these days someone is going to sheepishly come forward and admit what happened.
Zach
Here’s a two tone version showing the new lower unit. I think this is a minimum 20 HP system, so it might not work for small Gheenoes, but I bet it’d push a Hog Island Skiff…
We should have gotten the lifting video from the front angle. I talked to my buddy Verlyn at church about this and he made a good point. In auto body work after a crash, you try to reverse the damage, right? Pull at the point of greatest impact.
That’s kind of what we’re doing. I think the boat sunk, then wedged, probably with the hull straight downriver. The force of water flattened it out, popped those side rails, hogging the boat. Something ripped the mid bench and front seat out too; it might have rolled.
By the way:
hog
hôg, häg
verb
past tense: hogged; past participle: hogged1. informal keep or use all of (something) for oneself in an unfair or selfish way.
“he never hogged the limelight”
synonyms: monopolize, dominate, take over, corner, control More
antonyms: share2. (with reference to a ship) bend or become bent convex upward along its length as a result either of the hull being supported in the middle and not at the ends (as in a heavy sea) or the vessel’s being loaded more heavily at the ends.
