Joel Nelson, TUCR Noodle rods, and how to properly use tungsten jigs. That man with those rods and those jigs taught me a lot more about catching panfish than I thought I needed to know. Really helped up my gill game for sure and for that I’m forever thankful. I never would have had that kind of exposure without IDO.
My favorite episodes are James and Joel just catching a mess of gills/crappies.
Well, you say 1-2 year old boats? To echo Grouse, let’s look back at the last 1-2 years and remember what happened. Literal billions in cash flow for practically anyone that signed up. 3 years of extravagant purchases and now Covid cash has dried up. Time to actually pay bills and get back to ones actual standard of living. It’s not just boats either. It’s everything that can be liquid.
As a musician, I can tell you that the amount of gear that this country has purchased the last 3 years is asinine and that a lot of it will no doubtably be on the used market within the next couple years. I know I certainly upgraded my studio. With new market demand finally becoming lower and prices becoming higher than, Stanley makes a good point too.
I’m honestly surprised I haven’t seen more used firearms on my local market yet (Michigan). Which, makes me happy that people are exercising there 2A rights but it isn’t doing jack all for prices and supply.
My rule of thumb has always been 1 amp per 100watts so anything above 1500w gets its own appropriate circuit.
Look into EuroTackle’s micro finesse series soft plastics. The EPF Swim and EPF Grub are pretty awesome. The Swim is a 1” paddle tail that works quite well. Pair with small lead jig/tungsten jig and you’re good to go. Don’t hesitate to throw a float on top. I like slip bobbers if I use a a float. Very quick and easy to change depths when needed.
Don’t overlook tying or buying some flies either. Personally, I almost fish panfish exclusively with a size 12 foam beetle and a small clear casting float on my ultra-light spinning setup. Works very well and catches everything from gills to smallmouth to trout.
I don’t know what waters you’re fishing but if numbers are the game I wouldn’t personally use small soft plastics. But that’s me. Honestly you’d probably have better luck using a bare hook with a few strands of colored thread tied to it Ora chunk of thin rubber and. Again, that’s me. Fish are dumb dude. If it looks small and squiggly… they will more than likely try to eat it just out of pure instinct. Especially, if size isn’t your goal and you’re focused on only numbers.
Having said that, the Eurotackle finesse stuff is pretty good. I’ve also had good luck with Northland Impulse soft plastics.
You’re all overthinking this.
How to Hard Boil an Egg:
1. Boil water in a pot that has a matching lid to a roaring boil. Careful not to over boil.
2. Add eggs. Age doesn’t matter but too cold of an egg and the shell will crack from the shock of the hot boiling water.
3. TURN OFF BURNER AND PLACE LID ON POT. Don’t remove the lid.
4. Set timer. 13 minutes for hard boiled. 8 minutes for soft boiled.
5. When the timer goes off. Remove eggs to a colander. Use tongs or a big spoon.
6. Rinse eggs in cold water until “cool” enough to handle without burning yourself. Eggs will still be mostly hot underneath the cooler shell.
How to Peel:
1. Take the “cooled” egg and smack it against the counter along its side hard enough to break the shell but soft enough to not smash it. Just pretend like your cracking a raw egg.
2. Using your palm, apply slight pressure and ROLL the egg against the countertop until the entirety of the shell is fractured. Too much pressure and you’ll tear the cooked egg white.
3. Commence peeling. The membrane that is attached to the shell holds the fragmented shell together like the sheet of film on a windshield keeping it from shattering.
4. Rinse peeled eggs in cold water and set aside for whatever you’re doing.
5. Don’t put hot eggs in the fridge.
The 30” Bullwhip was also the first TUCR I bought. I’ve never regretted it. It really is an excellent and versatile rod. Everything from dink perch to decent pike. Like Chuck said, the addiction begins my friend. In addition to the Bullwhip, I now have 4 Precision Noodles (2-30” & 2-28”) and I just took delivery of a 30” Deadstick that I intend to use with my Okuma baitfeeder for some pike.
As long as they are sewn onto police uniforms………………
All of my TUCR’s are 30” or less. I use a Plano breakdown shotgun case. It’s about 36” long in total. It has the pillar in the center so I can only fit 3 combos in it but at ~$35 it’s a nice affordable compact hardshell alternative to a massive ~$100+ rod case that’s just way to cumbersome for only a few rods and a pull sled. It won’t protect them from getting ran over by a quad but it’s leaps and bounds above a soft shell case or a bag. I believe the same case is also advertised as a breakdown archery case. Same case, just one says “Gun-Max” and the other says “Bow-Max”. I’ve used it for about 4 seasons with no regrets.
For all the yak a yak in various media not much talk about cadence and its huge, great question.
It certainly is. Cadence is one of those things that to the untrained eye just looks like someone pounding jig when it’s more like someone orchestrating chaos. It’s a skill well worth trying to understand and implement. And, once you think you have it figured out, you learn something new.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>tswoboda wrote:</div>
My first thought is the 2 lbs of #5 split shot I donate to the north shore rivers steelhead fishing every spring. That would get spendy with non toxic.I also do not like the fact that the relative size of tungsten shot is quite a bit larger than lead shot of equal weight.
Tungsten is denser than lead. If both shot are truly of equal weight, tungsten will have lesser volume. Meaning, if your two shot are equal weight, tungsten will produce a smaller shot. Due to tungstens density, it takes less tungsten to produce shot of equal weight relative to lead. If your tungsten shot is bigger than your lead shot of equal weight, or even the same size for that matter, you’re getting ripped off on tungsten shot.
Just like anything else that is replaced, it’s going to have to happen at the manufacturing level first. I mean, that’s who manufactures said products to begin with. I would imagine since enforcement on angler use would be pretty hard to accomplish, especially on a financial level, that people that are still using lead tackle would still be allowed to use what they have until it’s gone but they aren’t buying any new lead tackle because it won’t exist anymore. That’s why it’s called “phasing out”. Same thing happened with leaded gasoline. That was banned and it’s not like every gas station in the country just had to dump all of their leaded fuel. Not at all, they were allowed to continue to sell it until it was gone and then they received unleaded gasoline to sell. Which took about 30 years until it was phased out. It starts at the manufacturing process and ends at the consumer level over years (sometimes decades) of integrating a better product, technology, or manufacturing process. If you’re using lead tackle in 15 years, yeah, you’re probably going to get a citation regardless of your geographical location within the US.
Progress will always upset somebody somewhere.
Anybody opposed to lead in water ways has used their teeth one too many times to crimp their sinkers. Literally almost anything else we do to our water ways doesn’t compare to lead. Why? Because lead doesnt biodegrade and remains as is for thousands of years. Lead is also a neurotoxin. There is also no safe level of lead. Research lead.
As far as actually using fishing weights, tungsten is the way to go anyways. Iron and steel just don’t cut it.
Patience and the willingness to be patient. It’s not unheard of to have to sloooooooowly raise your jig (while jigging) more than 5-7 feet. Sometimes several times spanning several minutes.
Of course, it’s not really many people’s goal to catch the slowest fish unless you know that those slow fish aren’t just dinks and a waste of time. Which, relies heavily on the body of water rather than your jigging cadence. Most guys move when fishing gets that slow because why sit trying to tease a mystery fish for 5 minutes when you can just move and hit the more aggressive fish in a different spot?
On the average lakes I fish, more often than not, when a fish is really being that stubborn it’s usually a small one that’s probably been caught and released earlier in the season and is being very timid.
If you’re using a sonar, I like to pretend that my jigs mark is a laser pointer and the fish marks are cats. Panfish behave remarkably similar towards a jig like how when cats play with a laser pointer. Stay a couple feet above the school and try to resist dropping right in the center of it. If you move at just the right pace to keep their attention (not too fast, not too slow) coupled with very a subtle but quick jigging cadence, the fish will follow the jig at the same pace (start by jigging in a stationary position until a fish approaches). Once the fish gets about 6” from your jig, keep that cadence but try to keep that distance 6” distance by raising your rod and lifting your jig. If the fish speeds up, keep that distance by matching the fishes speed until it closes the gap. Then, set the hook.
To keep a quick subtle jigging cadence, I jig with both hands on the reel and the rod is essentially sideways (tee kicked off to the side). I use the rod tip as a kind of suspension (like on a car) for the jig. It’s all soft suspension bounces with the flexibility of the tip loading and cushioning each subtle bounce. If you aren’t soft handed enough, you’ll bottom out that suspension (just like on a car) and you’ll feel the “BANG BANG BANG” of the weight of the jig bottoming out that suspension matching your jigging cadence. I use my wrists to jig until I need to raise the jig (fish following it). Then, slowly raise the jig. If your reel is properly winterized, doesn’t freeze, and retains a fluid smooth retrieve, you can also throw the anti-reverse switch and use your reel to raise and lower your jig instead of physically raising your rod. I find by disengaging the anti-reverse, I can drop back down in very small precise increments. To go with the laser pointer analogy, sometimes if a fish is being really stubborn and just won’t close the gap, I’ll drop back down to just below the fish so it goes “wait, where’d it go” and the fish will usually follow it back down. Then the cycle starts over. If none of that works, I set my rod on the ice and dead-stick the jig. If that doesn’t catch the fish I’m after, well, time for a move.
You could also try different jigs/colors/baits etc. sometimes fish are slow because they want fresh bait on every drop. Happens more often than you think so when you think a fish is being slow, it’s just being extremely picky about what you’re offering. Kind of like a hotdog vendor trying to sell you a dog that the guy I from of you just took a bite out of. No way on that. But you’ll take a nice fresh one nomes touched yet. Fish can be the same way. My point? Sometimes our jigging cadence has absolutely nothing to do with slow fish. Sometimes it’s even the weather.
Just keep at it my man!
Seems my RODS I ordered are not going to make it before the end of my season.
Are they behind on filling Custom orders?
When did you order? I don’t place custom orders past November 1st. My first order (I own 5) 5 years ago took 6 1/2 weeks.
Remember, it’s peak ice fishing time. Coupled with an influx of Americans with extra expendable cash, I’m sure TUCR is working nonstop to fulfill orders. Try contacting them.
Why? Haven’t electric augers taught us anything? By then, instead of not being able to sell your gas auger it will be a vehicle nobody wants or can’t use then you’re stuck with worthless nostalgic scrap. Embrace electric now so it will all just happen quicker!
Sure, combustion engines will have their place for a long while, just like augers. But, for the vast vast majority of consumers, gas is definitely showing it’s age and it has been for the better portion of the current century, just like augers. In 30 years we will wonder why we didn’t adopt electric sooner.
I can only imagine what the vehicles of the not-so-distant future will be like. Especially once we perfect electric motors for consumer vehicles.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>61orbt wrote:</div>
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bigcrappie wrote:</div>
Lots of people using the Ice defense system on a lithium power pack.People are dropping $200+ just to use their ifishpros in certain conditions? sheesh. Ya’ll must really like those things
They are $100 and go on sale for around $85 shipped fairly regularly. And they are extremely effective with the ifishpro. Zero ice unlike a bubbler which will leave a small ice free space where the bubbles are pushing ice away from.
You can rag on it for being $100 but there’s nothing out there that works better.
It’s a 12v dc water pump. there is nothing special about that. You can make your own out of said pump and pvc pipe and save yourself about $80…
I use tip-ups for pike. I like regular ol’ 15#-30# Mason tip-up line. Relatively cheap and lasts forever.
Screw water stones. Use adhesive backed 3m micro-mesh sheets on a proven flat surface (like a thick pane of glass) then maintain your edge on a quality strop. If your blade steel isn’t crap, a strop will save you a lot time by honing your cutting edge instead of removing more and more and more steel every time you run it through a cheap rod sharpener. Or any sharpening system for that matter. Also, don’t forget to remove the burr before stropping.
Nobody ever seems to strop their blades anymore. Ever seen a barber sharpen his razor? Probably not. Ever seen a barber strop his razor? I mean, the imagery is iconic so I’m betting more than likely.
Works awesome for chisels and planes too.
I’m bummed about your luck but thank you for proving this thing isn’t worth more than $15 at best.
If it can’t handle a bumpy ride Velcro’d to something in cold temperatures then I would suggest removing the unit all together when done using it and placing it gently into a dedicated molded hard case. Preferably, the garbage can.
Seriously, next time just get a mobile aerator and some tubing and place the tubing about 5”-6” into your hole. The rising air will draw up the same warmer water as that thing did and the bursting bubbles at the surface will keep your hole clear. Put an in-line valve air-valve and now you can adjust the “flow”. Boom, saved ya another 80 bucks. I’m sure you could even find a 12v aerator and splice it right to your flasher battery too.
3 YEAR OLD POST BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE PEOPLE…
Hey, what are the best boots?……….
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Randy Wieland wrote:</div>
I Think the Amazon Prime is becoming a joke. “Free two day shipping” and I get items listed as prime in 6 to 10 days.definetly. i didnt renew my membership for that reason.
You can thank the immense amount of unemployment being spent all summer coupled with pandemic guidelines early last spring/summer. Simple logistics mixed with an influx of national spending will do that to shipping times. It will even out eventually. It hasn’t changed my view on my prime membership. Especially considering that when the town I live in doesn’t carry anything I want or need to purchase, Amazon is a huge bonus. I don’t live in the boonies, my town just blows. Given the way logistics works, I’m surprised it isn’t a two week wait. Amazon truly has astounding logistics.
Having said that, Amazon has always been good to me if there were ever an issue. Sure, you might get an uptight service rep once in a while but keep going up the ladder. Their bigger customer service representative deserve company commendations in my opinion. Every issue I’ve ever had, which isn’t many, has always been satisfactorily resolved.
I just ordered a Triton oscillating spindle sander for the guitar I’m building. They sent me the wrong item. But, it was the upgraded model (oscillating belt sander). Needless to say, I didn’t complain about that one.
My grandmother owned a campground in central Michigan for over 40 years. Her favorite squirrel deterrent was cornmeal mixed with “plaster of Paris”. My aunts favorite method was a live trap. She lives on a lake and has the live trap roped to a tree. When she catches one, she just throws the live trap in the lake for 5 minutes.
The women in my family are brutal.
Old flasers are like watching standard over HD. Do you guys still watch TV at 480p? The tech has come a long way so why not use it?
Those FL8 vexes are built to last 100 years which is awesome but the technology is so much better every year. Interference is bad too. I have not had any problems with that using my Helix.
Sonar is ancient technology. I mean, bats have been using it for millions of years. What you’re talking about is computer processing and display capabilities. Your helix uses the same technology as every other fish finder. The difference is how it interprets and translates the information.
I own 3 4k tv’s, 2 ultrawide monitors, 2 way over-spec’d PC’s, 4 current iPads, 2 iPhone 11’s, thousands on musical equipment,……… and 2 Marcum VX-1i’s………. Sure, I could buy a livescope, but I don’t need a machine to show me the entire lake from one hole. It’s not about the technological advancements. I grew up when fishing was a challenge/reward kind of thing. Not using all of the latest most expensive electronics and gear helps keep that aspect alive for me.
Different strokes…
I will say once you fish custom rods you are done buying rods off a rack so hang on.
Truer words have never been spoken. Just wait until you start building them. Justifying $100 for a custom rod when you could build 4 for the same price. The struggle IS real lol.
Any modern name brand brushless lithium drill should work just as well as any other (rigid, Milwaukee, dewalt, etc.). What matters is torque. A good rule of thumb for torque is 100ft/lbs per inch diameter of the hole you’re drilling. Meaning: for an 8” hole you’d want something with at least 800ft/lbs of torque. A 6” hole would need at least 600ft/lbs etc.,
In today’s market, you’re going to see most drills offering either ~500ft/lbs of torque or ~1200ft/lbs of torque. The lesser being more for remedial household tasks (basically an automatic screwdriver) and the latter being contractor grade equipment used more to construct homes and buildings by career builders (a “real” drill). The lesser drill may very well drill a hole through the ice but it really really isn’t meant for such a demanding task. Using a drill as an ice-auger is hell on the drill, hence, why using contractor grade drills (again, from any reputable manufacturer) is a good idea. You can get a bare (tool-only no battery) M18 Brushless Fuel drill (1200ft/lbs) for $150 from HomeDepot. Go on ebay and buy a genuine M18 battery (at least a 5ah) for around $50 and a charger for around $20-$30 you have a nice setup. Definitely worth it if your use to only hand-drilling. Actually, considering it’s “Black Friday week”, you might be able to find some good combo deals on drills/batteries right now from the big-box stores.
I use a Milwaukee M18 Fuel (1200ft/lbs) with a 12ah battery and I can’t really ask for a better power source. It’s spinning an 8” Lazer on a Clam Plate. Holes all day.
Now I’m biased here so take it for it what it’s worth. I own 5 TUCR’s and zero St. Croix’s. In my personal opinion, when it comes to ice rods, I don’t believe that St. Croix offers more than your average off the shelf ice rod. Is it a good rod? I’m sure it does it’s job as an ice rod just fine but in this circumstance, you’re paying for a name.
I vote TUCR. Excellent general-purpose to application-specific rods from a group of great people to boot. And, they are truly a custom shop instead of just using the word “custom” as marketing ploy.
Use 1/2” masking tape to create 2-3 arbors on the blank to snug up against the 1/4” hole. Use some extra epoxy to fill the voids left in between the arbors. That handle isn’t going anywhere.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Wallyhntr1 wrote:</div>
Who in their right mind would read this spew from joneser? I agree, you are one serious moron.Just because a guy comes in with a strong opinion based on valid points from the not so distant past is no need to call names and degrade. You should look in the mirror.
As far as the subject matter the I couldn’t agree more with jonsers insight on it.
Exactly. I don’t agree with many people on this site when it comes to “things” outside the scope of the forum, but I also agree with jonesers. Especially if you’re already in a area of poverty. Also, no one I know that received pandemic assistance used that money to better their situation. Nobody paid off bills or saved a dime. Everyone blew their cash on toys. And like jonsers said, people don’t hang onto boats and ATV’s when they are facing foreclosure. So, we will end up with families with no assets transitioning from single family homes to the EVER EXPANDING apartment complexes you see sprouting like corn fields. The single family home is being faded out for mass subsidized housing. That’s been happening for decades and this is just the push it needs to be fulfilled.
It’s just a way for a business to sell things nobody wanted in the first place. They make it seem like a good deal but for ones money, one can spend it much better buying things they actually need to catch the species they are after. Many hobbies have “mystery boxes” and they are all full of garbage nobody wants. Every once in a great while I’ve heard of people getting something of actual value or something that was indeed “unique” but for the most part you’re just paying to throw away someone else’s trash.
I fish them a lot. I get rid of the split ring and tie directly to the line tie. My setup is braid with a floro leader spliced together with a uni to uni knot. #4s are my preferred <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>perch size. #4s still have plenty of fish calling rattle when you rip them. The #3s are a little more finesse and are great for crappies.
I also ditch the split-ring and tie directly on. I just use #3 ice magic though. And you are right, the size 3’s are more of a finesse bait (all of them kind of are) but that’s the glory of the rattles. You can have it both ways. Grab their attention with the rattles then slow it all right down and make your jig cadence deliberate. I’m still hoping that they come out with a size 2 with a single treble on the belly.
