J Francho

Yeah, the last five years has been pretty wild. I remember being on the phone with Chad Hoover years ago, and he was discussing what he saw for the future. He's an ambitious guy. Are you in a state series linked to the national championship? I made it through two years ago, but didn't go. Another member here competed, @clayton86. He didn't finish very high, but learned a lot.

$100K in payouts, over 350 qualifying anglers for the national championship. Hardly "infancy" phase. These leagues have matured quickly.

BTW, I think it's safe to say, this is big league stuff now:

I remember thinking "Kayak bass fishing tournaments? Catch and release? Oh boy, this will be interesting." I gotta hand to the guys at TourneyX. They came up with a good solution for this.

Congrats Hobie and Kurt Smits!!! http://www.hobiefishing.com/blog/kurt-smits-wins-40500-kayakbassfishing-national-championship,793/

It's a case of the haves and the have nots. I would prefer to lump paddles and pedals in one group, and powered in another. Just because every angler has the right to use the equipment doesn't mean they can afford or want to use the equipment. Some got into kayak fishing for the purity and simplicity of a non mechanical fishing platform. It's only natural to take it to the next phase: competition. In competition, any advantage, within the rules, will be concocted. Pedal is an advantage of paddle, but not as much as a motor. Once you put a motor on a kayak, it ceases to be a kayak, and becomes a personal motor boat. It's only a matter of time when something marketed as a kayak (which, BTW, is the rule for what is allowed as a kayak in competition), has a hull engineered for speeds and power, much higher than we've seen offered. Not a trolling motor, but a light, powerful, outboard style motor. I don't begrudge this at all - just the opposite. It's really cool, and I dig the new technology. But sorry, it ain't kayak fishing. I think what will happen down the road, either no one will paddle a kayak in competition, there will be separate divisions, or someone will branch out and start their own "powerless" series. Whatever direction this goes, it's not going away, and can only evolve. After having been in this movement for well over a decade, it's progression has been amazing. I may even be totally wrong on what I think will happen. I remember thinking this competition thing would never grow to what happened last weekend - $40k+ purse for the winner of a national competition.

For the most part, propulsion is an advantage because of covering distance quickly without physical exertion. That's where much of the debate lies. Trolling lures is slow, and not really an advantage in a kayak. It's more of a secondary debate.

Any place that sells boating supplies and equipment will have them locally.

Dude, you're on the internet! Shhhhhhhh......... o

Any shoehorning will be a compromise. Why not use the what years of experience has taught us?

Just get one of those water proof boat bags and a bunch of Plano utility boxes.

I use two Avid models for DS: AVS63MLXF and AVS63MF They're strictly for vertical, deep DS in cover free water. The ML is for 1/2 oz. weight, and the M for 3/4 oz. weight. I actually have two each, so I can keep fishing with less reties, or use two baits. I don't generally cast with them, though you can easily pitch the weight. They've served me well on Erie, Ontario, and several Finger Lakes.

They already use drones. Problem is, they're noisy and intrusive.

Probably. I don't use the rig.

I use Tuf-Line SuperCast 20#. Its a coated, fused superline with a mono core.

Yes.

I match my trailers to my socks.

I think you'd find what you want in a house brand rod that is decent quality, like BPS Bionic Blade. There's a lot of bang for your buck there. Unless you have a very specific reason, you shouldn't cut a rod down. I know some custom builders that will cut a blank down, or even add to the blank, but it's always just a couple inches, and always at the butt section, never the tip.

I have a few that work well for this... Okuma Scott Martin TCS 6'9" Pinnacle Perfecta DHC5 Micro 6'8" Saint Croix Avid AVC68MXF The Avid is probably my favorite.

For the specific baits you mentioned, I prefer a medium power fast or x-fast taper paired with a mid range speed reel. There are some specific times I need more speed when using a lipless, but you other casting rod would be fine for that. I go with a faster taper simply because I want to ba able to manipulate the bait faster when dealing with shallow cover. I wouldn't worried about tearing hooks, or the myth that you have to "give the bass a second with the bait." When trebles pull free, it's because the fish was poorly hooked in the first place - probably because the angler didn't fast enough! A moderate taper rod is better with deep diving baits. It aids in better deflection off the bottom, and stumps. For line, anything from 12-15 lb. mono or copoly will be fine. If it were specifically for topwater spooks, I would recommend the low stretch Tuf-Line SuperCast, but you want this third rod to be as multi purpose as possible. Length is up to you, but somewhere 6-8 to 6-10 would be ideal. Long, but not so long you suffer from accuracy, and still be able to make underhand casts for casting under docks, overhanging trees, etc. The big bonus here, this makes a great spinnerbait rod, and will also toss some of those lighter finesse jigs 1/4-3/8 oz.

It's supposed to be canted to the right a bit, to account for torque of the spinning prop. You might want to consult an experience mechanic familiar with setting up outboards. There's many things to consider.

Fishing tribs for steelhead is even worse. People would see my buddy and I just pull into a parking lot and the cell phones would start ringing. Some of that I blame on my own ego. Back then we just HAD to post our catches. People started recognizing us and figure if we were there, that stream must be lit.

I don't use any trailer baits. Never have. I ALWAYS use a trailer hook, though. Spinnerbaits are one of my staple baits.

Run what you brung. Good for him! I can't fish with junk, but maybe that was all he could afford, or want to spend. Now it's on you to figure out WHY those fish were 30 yards away from your usual spot.

Dude was just using the bent rod pattern. It's the same as when you're in a boat and catch a few. Suddenly you're surrounded by other boats, and now your spot is a community hole. Pond fishing can be a little ruthless. I don't snake other guys' spots, but I see it all the time. I generally look for other ponds, and move on if that's happening.