BrianSnat

I've been using spinning gear since I was a kid, so I'm going on 40+ years of pretty much spinning only. I can't think of any I can't do with spinning gear. Jigs, plastics, cranks, flipping, pitching, long casts. Last year I picked up a baitcasting combo to see what I was missing. Lew's Speed Spool Tournament on a Berkley Lightning Rod Shock (I didn't want to shell out a lot for a rod until I decided whether I liked baitcasters). After a few months of trying it I decided that I much prefer spinning. I leave it home about half the time and when I do bring it I put it down after a half hour or so and go back to spinning. I can cast farther and more accurately with my spinning gear.

One key is to select a kayak designed for fishing. While you can fish from any kayak, and can pimp out most kayaks to make them fishing machines, kayaks designed specifically for fishing will be stable from the get go and will come with rod holders and many other accessories meant for fishermen. But if your chief goal is just to off the bank and out on the water why a kayak? Why not a canoe or small jonboat? I've always found them much more comfortable to fish from than a kayak, where you're basically stuck in the same position all day. And you can probably pick up a used 8 ft or 10 ft jon boat for a fraction of what you'd pay for a kayak and use the leftover money to add a trolling motor, swivel seats, fish finder, etc.

One thought unrelated to your question, might I suggest a bigger hook. I find I have the best results with Senkos using a 4/0 EWG, or even a 5/0 if I'm out of 4/0. With the bigger hook the bait falls basically level with that flutter of the tail that is so enticing to bass. My hookup ratio is also much better than with the smaller hooks.

I'm lucky if I catch more than one bass per Senko. Some of the knockoffs like Yumdingers and Shimmy Sticks are more durable but don't have the same great action as a real Senko.

Just brought this one home on Friday. Same 14 ft as my last boat, but a foot wider nearly double the freeboard, better motor and no more climbing over seats to move around.

Anybody have experience with using Yamaha 2 stroke OBs? I just bought a boat with a 9.9 HP Yamaha. I googled the fuel mixture and it is 100:1, but I found mention after mention of people using 50:1 despite the mfr's recommendation of 100:1. Some were advised by their mechanics to use 50:1. Most said they ran 50:1 without issues. I have 6 fresh gallons of 50:1 that I bought for my old boat and was wondering if I should use it as is, or cut it.

Couldn't find any LSR rivets so I went with regular pop rivets. It's only a 7" pedestal so there shouldn't be that much pressure. We'll see.

Hard to beat the Lews for the money

I like Senkos and Swim Senkos in the spring, and fall and summer.. Before the bass moved into the shallows I was doing OK with a drop shot rig.

Found it for $29, thanks Google!

That's an idea, but heck, it costs almost as much as my seat.

I always trailed my boat with the outboard motor down. I guess I felt it would be less strain on the transom and lift mechanism that way. But I noticed other people trailering their boat with the motor up. It seems about 50/50. Not enough clearance would be one obvious reason for keeping it up, but assuming you have plenty of clearance do you trailer your boat with the motor up or down and what is your reasoning?

My first boat was a canoe. Then I fished an old 10 ft Sears aluminum jonboat out of the weeds at our family lake house. It hadn't been used for years because the transom had rotted out and there was a hole in the bottom. I put in a new transom, patched the hole and used it on my local lake for several years. Then I bought a 14 ft Sea Nymph and my dad gave he a 9.9 HP Force motor from his garage. Been using that for four years. Today I came home with a new boat (well new for me) and put a for sale sigh on the Sea Nymph. It's still 14 ft, a Grumman, but "bigger" than the Sea Nymph. About a foot wider and about double the freeboard. And best of all no bench seats to climb over. It has a flat, carpeted floor and pedestal seats. And a better motor, still 9.9 HP, but I went from crappy old Force to a newer Yamaha.

For most of my life it was clinch knot only. I can tie it blindfolded. Now I use palomar to tie on hooks, for dropshot and for smaller lures. Larger lures are too much of a pain to pass through the loop so I still use clinch knot for those.

I like my Lews Speedspool

I've used those. Still have a couple in my tackle box They are OK, but it doesn't take much longer to set up a traditional C rig. BTW I paid about half of that $9 price tag for them.

I thought about that. I've used it without a pedestal, but I'm not sure it would be very stable with a pedestal. Lean back and I'm probably in the drink. I googled my question and I think I found my answer on another fishing forum. Threaded blind rivets if I can find them, or LSR pop rivets. Still open to any other ideas though.

I'm a year round fisherman. If there is ice I catch bass through the ice. No ice,I'm in my boat, though I usually concentrate on trout in the later winter/spring I still bag a few bass. About late April I start concentrating more on bass and by May I'm nearly 100% going after bass

not one in NJ, that sucks

I'd like to install a pedestal seat on my boat's aluminum bench seat. Here is the pedestal I have. Since I can't get under the bench seat to use bolts, any ideas how I can attach the pedestal to the bench? I thought sheet metal screws would be too flimsy. Considered toggle bolts but I'm afraid they might not be strong enough. Any thoughts or other ideas?

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll try a 3/0 or 4/0 and see how that works out.

I've been reading good things about the Zoom fluke and super fluke so I bought a few bags of 4" flukes. I rig them weightless, T style using a 1/0 EWG Gamakatsu offset worm hook. I love the action and it seems the fish do too, but I just can't seem to hook up. My first time out I was one out of eight in the hour or so I fished the things. Lost a few more bass yesterday going 0 for 4. I've been fishing T style rigged plastics for years and have had very few problems with hooksets using a variety of other plastics such as Senkos, brush hogs, Trick Worms, frogs, Thumpers etc. With those however I'm usually using a 4/0 or 5/0 EWG hook. Could it be the smaller hook? I thought about using a 2/0 or 3/0 but it seemed to impact the action of the bait. I also went to lighter tackle (6 1/2 ft ML fast rod w/ 6 lb test line) to get a little distance on my cast because the things are light. So is it hook, rod, technique or something else? Any advice is appreciated

Funny this just came up. I keep my plastics in their original bag and they were beginning to overflow my tackle box. Last week I found a cheap zipper portfolio bag and it fits all of my plastics. Only problem is remembering to bring it along. My first outing after separating my plastics with the main tackle box I opened the box only to realized I had left the plastics home. Fortunately I had a few used ones sitting in the trays, enough to last the evening, though the variety wasn't there. So now I have the plastics bag clipped to the handle of my tackle box with a carabiner so I don't I don't forget it again.

I like the Rage Thumper or Space Monkey.

Bob