VolFan

For 150 acre lakes only by yourself I would do the kayak. For anything bigger or with anyone I would do the boat. I have a 14 ft Lowe v-hull with a 20 hp Mercury in it that I got for $4500. I built a deck on it but then took it out. It’s more comfortable and easier to organize without it. My family (wife/teenage son) go with me maybe 10% of the time, and I cherish those times like no other, but mostly it’s just me. The takedown/setup of the boat actually takes less time than my yak, and I can get that boat into 98% of what I can get my kayak into. And if you’re going to trailer a kayak, the boat trailer I have doesn’t take up any more space than a kayak trailer I previously had.

For you swimbait/big wake guys - Cl8 Baits is having a 40% off sale on their Possum and Baby Possum. The Baby Possum is the best rat wake bait of all time. Mind you, even the Baby is not small, and the Possum is like throwing a house cat. But holy moly do they catch fish. And Clayton the owner is fantastic to deal with, absolutely fantastic.

Did the break happen while line was unspooling mid-outgoing-cast (did your line get tight in the air mid cast?)? Or was it on the initial load and release of the cast? The former is something catching during the cast, the latter is immediate failure of the knot.

Lighter and longer leaders let it level. I am a huge fan of this technique on a Carolina rig.

Armor All on the shaft is what has been my best friend in this. It works pretty well. Apply as needed.

So it’s not the same as straight fluoro. With braid to leader all of the stress is put on that length of fluoro (however long your leader is). The braid doesn’t stretch so if there’s a little malfunction there’s only the length of your leader for cushion. With all fluoro or mono it is spread more equally.

@A-Jay ’s problem is clearly too many nice reels. You almost certainly kinked/burned the line tying the knot. Braid + anything wrong in the leader leaves no cushion and the leader loses. I would also ditch the leader and either go straight bright or straight fluoro.

@Harold H People use white perch, not white bass that I am aware of. The white bass runs are way down but white perch are very prolific and easy to catch for everyone…except me for some reason. I have an almost comical inability to catch them. Spots make better baits to my palate…

I use spotted bass for catfish bait on the Catawba chain in NC. It works better than anything and futility works to control their population.

Hey I am not aware of anything similar - that’s why the advice is so easy. Right now is definitely a bad time to buy. You may want to keep your ear to the internet, contact a few dealers and see if you can get someone’s trade-in on a bigger boat. There’s a place here in south Charlotte that is a SeaArk dealer and they always have a few discounted at end of season each year.

Oh I’m not kidding! I’ve climbed around on them! It’s a perfect big TN lake boat!

Having looked at boats, you want a SeaArk Easy 200 or Big Easy if you want to go big. Great aluminum boat for fishing but many of the amenities of a pontoon boat. It can be heavily kitted for fishing and/or have sweet couches for lounging reading whatever. The SeaArks are built heavy so if you like to back and swim or camp you won’t have a problem with gel coat or fiberglass. If you have it for a few years and want to sell it just give me a call.😀

Yeah on a warming trend you’d be surprised how many big fish will eat a big wake worked slow shallow around dawn.

Habitat is more important than everything else combined but we’re way off the original topic. Lmb are basically bluegill with way better PR and advertising, and taste deliciously similar.

Physics is generally undefeated in the long run - use a heavier buzz bait and a plastic trailer instead of a skirt, OR use a heavier bait with a smaller wing and smaller skirt and stop overthinking the reel. Although collaborating with the Reel Monkey is part of the fun…

GREAT reels!!! Lmk when you get tired of them!

Is it polite? No. But they may not realize it, and with kids or dogs involved all bets are off. Absent some kind of private property they have the same privilege of using the same spaces you do. My wife and I like to go skip rocks on trips, it’s a weird thing we do. There’s some core memories there. But we don’t do it near people fishing. But throwing rocks in water IS fun.

We got 11” of snow this past weekend. I know that’s ’a dusting’ for most of you but in Charlotte that’s a lot! Broke my favorite shovel…😢 RIP Poly Scoop…Ypu scooped many things over a decade and a half of service…

$4K ish, not including tackle... Soooo…about $12k once I get everything I ‘need’…

We have about an inch on the ground and are supposed to get 5-8”. Nothing for you guys more north but it’s the most we’ve had in a decade.

That was about as aggressively dumb as it gets. Can’t stand prosperity and then gets beat on the next play for the tuddy. Oof.

Darnold was sliding towards turning Into a Panthers Pumpkin again with a dropped snap then sack but really got it together that last drive.

So like a fish vulture?

Has @Glenn gone full Patriot West??? 😀

That’s good eatin’! How’s your ice looking? I’m not optimistic Charlotte is going to miss this.