J Francho

All rods are tip heavy when a bait is tied on. Balance depends on the reel paired with the rod. Balance is also subjective. Try before you buy.

The KBF tourneys up here aren't all that expensive to get into to. Definitely worth a try. I bet you'd do just fine.

I was not impressed with the White Bird spinning rod I tested. It was labeled as a drop shot rod, though I would call it an all purpose rod. It was moderate fast, medium power. I felt that the solid tip made it less sensitive. It was not as crisp feeling as rods that cost twice as much. If you're on a budget, and need a spinning rod for pond hopping, then this might be a good rod.

I have fished several without, but I knew the waters well. That lake wasn't a "find the bait, find the bass" lake though. I do think a graph with at least traditional sonar and GPS is a huge advantage. Though, if you know the water well, and consistently catch fish there, you aren't foolish to try a tournament. At the very least, you'll see how you stack up against other anglers.

I use a Lifeproof Fre and a Ram X-Grip mount. See lower left:

Alconite tips are around $3 and can be found at most tackle stores.

This thread has gone full stupid.

Woke up to an inch of snow today.

They're there, adding ornaments to the power lines, lol.

I don't think so. My take on this is they went over every little detail, and made incremental improvements to a lot of things. The hull is vacuum infused glass, which is state of the art hull manufacture. Fancy speed boats are built this way, and painted over. They've been doing it for years now. The livewell gets improvement. The cantilevered consoles are gimmicky to me. Air ride , sliding seats seem cool. I do like the cooler setup, and is it me, or does the seating area look way lower than the deck? I know they tout the raised deck, but those don't look all that different from most new boats. Maybe I'm used to my skinny hulled Bullet. The lighting all over the place seems to be fad these days. Even kayakers are running gaudy LED setups, lol. The notched bow is weird looking. I don't mind the lack of glitter. Always hated glitter, but that's what you always got with a bass boat. I do wish they had more color options. So, I don't think it's any one thing, but the sum of improvements. They sure as heck trademarked a ton catch phrases, lol. That's right about when they did the reveal. Look it up on Facebook.

That is under the specs for HP options. The top says, "Introductory Offer VX21 Midnight Spectrum w/Mercury Pro XS." Intuition tells me that a 300 would add to the cost.

You can actually use this as a tool to see under a dock. Plenty of guys scanning a dock, by steadily swinging the TD head sitting still next to a dock. No, it isn't the clearest picture, but you can see of there's a fish or a brushpile there.

It says 250 on the top of the card. Supposed to get rid of the sloshing on rough rides.

Don't take it hard, it's just friendly joking. We get one or two threads like this a week. Every week, lol. It's probably over on page two by now. Same for things like Braid or mono, tie direct or leader, what is a do it all rod. It's all good. It let's different people answer each time.

Someone else. I have a Hobie Compass.

1001 uses. Kayak anglers have been mounting things to cutting boards for decades.

I'll just say this as a camper...I cannot stand a barking dog at the camp site. It's worse than kids crying or loud drunkedness. A friendly, "Hi buddy!" bark is fine. Is there a site close to home where you could test him out? That way, if he does start up, it wouldn't be the worst thing if you had to break camp and take him home. It's funny, I've been contemplating taking my dog along. She's not a barker, but I'm worried she'd take off on me. She's pretty good off leash, but that in familiar territory. Good luck.

It is not an elevated seat. It's a great boat, pretty stable, tracks well. I've taught many a class out of one, but it's a dated design. Back to the original question, here is a starter article. There are hours worth of reading about kayak fishing if you just type kayak in the search bar in the articles section. Have at it! https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/kayak-bass-fishing-start.html

Thread the line through the level wind line guide. The thread the line through the channel in the spool, as in the top pic. Bring the tag end all the way around the back end of the spool. Tie to the main line using an arbor knot. Spool up. This will ensure not sharp edges are rubbing on the line and avoid the entile bulk of line spinning on the spool.

The Dump is opening up.

They're tuned in to the little 'bow released by the DEC, Same reason there's a TON of northern pike in that creek I took you to. Pike Smash the BBZ there as well. I'd be willing to bet that SB bite exists in the Genny, but then I'd have to fish the Genny, lol.

Sounds like a set up.

Nothing new in fishing anymore!