J Francho

Rarely I use a leader because I think I'm missing bites. Often I use a leader because I'm fishing tangled wood cover, and I want to be able to break off without disturbing the wood, but still gain the mostly zero stretch benefits of braid, i.e. weird or bad hooksets still sticking fish or overall glued in feeling. There's a tiny bonus of feeling the connection knot as you navigate branched so you know about how much further you have before the bait will hit the branch. Sometimes the hop off a branch is the trigger. That said, if I can go straight braid or straight fluoro, that's what I'm doing. In fact, I prefer fishing with fluoro over all others.

Painting roofs? Ours are either metal or asphalt.

Yes, that too. Weird haze like the past couple years.

I've had to drain water from the pool almost every day in July.

Seeing as their metabolism is tied directly to water temperature, it stands to argue they need eat more in warmer water, assuming all other conditions are good. In other words, they gotta eat sometime, and a lot. For me that means a few things - fishing at night or dawn and dusk when bass are at an advantage. Another thing is to go bigger with bait profile. I do have a tendency to look deeper than usual whenever it too hot, or too windy, or a cold front blows through. Those deep fish don't seem to be as bothered by changes above the water line. Going deep and going big is relative to your water, and it has worked well for me. As far as time of day, most of my biggest bass have come mid day.

I've made it all the way home with mine on, lol.

I haven't, but a friend using my Mustang HIT did, from freezing cold water. It was a struggle, and I had to hold the boat. If weren't for a the cold water, I would have had him remove the PFD to re-enter. I think for you, a quality auto is the way to go. Look for something with wider should straps. The narrower ones kind of get to me after a full day.

I'm addicted to Haulover footage!

In fact, most Ferrari need maintenance whether or not they're driven, lol.

My personal best smallmouth was caught using a #6 hook. Match the hook size to the plastic you're using.

Line twist is just something you get with spinning reels. The cheap sinkers combined with reeling in fast don't help. I don't care for spin shot hooks. Better drop shot sinkers with good swivels, closing the bail by hand, and knowing you'll have to troll out the line to remove any twist are what I do to keep it at bay.

The jigs I use for smallies are usually unpainted or black.

I support a living wage but I'm also not a cheapskate.

Is that the look you get when you don't leave a tip?

C'mon man.

Popmax by a long shot.

The J-Will 1/8 oz. heads have been just right for me. When I was using it a lot, I got pretty comfortable counting it down to the depth I wanted, and it didn't weigh so much my shoulders were shot after a day. I don't get too fancy with it, though I like Fat Impacts for baits.

Good to hear it will mend. The waiting is the hard part.

Maybe they're catching on in your neck of the woods or you're referring to fishing. Up here inflatables are rare. I've seen maybe three. Most aren't fishing from them. The kayak shop I worked at doesn't inventory them because they don't sell quickly. I linked to the Hobie as an option for the OP. I haven't been in one, though based on my Hobie and all the others I've been in, it's likely a quality ride.

A different option altogether might be an inflatable. this one also happens to be pedal driven. My main kayak is a Mirage Drive and I love it. https://www.hobie.com/kayaks/mirage-itrek-9-ultralight/#fishing

Angle grinders are up there with table saws for me - they're the devil. I had an angle grinder accident, but I was way luckier than way2slow. Only knocked a tooth out. Easy fix, and almost no pain. It looked funny for a for weeks. Heal up soon man.

I use 25 ga needles left over from filling my insulin pump. It's been years since I had to fizz a fish - pretty much the same time it's been since I fished tournaments. Go figure?

I don't see too many ice anglers practicing catch and release, but that doesn't sound like the same situation as this.

Good to see you posting. I'm so sorry for your loss.