Stasher1

If it's the handle without any visible fasteners, hold the spool in place with one hand and reel backwards with the other.

Your options are pretty limited in that price range. In warmer weather, a float tube or "belly boat" might be an option...but you'd still need stocking foot waders and flippers. A used kayak is probably going to be your best option, but make sure you budget for a quality PFD to go with it. Pelican makes a handful of sit-inside kayaks that retail for $200-$250, and can be picked up from most sporting goods stores or Walmart.

It's a weird feeling, the first time you walk thru BPS and don't see a single thing you want. My last few purchases from BPS haven't even been fishing-related. They were camping supplies. My local Academy Sports has a much smaller assortment of lures, but I'm far more likely to find something I want.

That pretty much sums up the Atlanta (Lawrenceville) store. It's either a BPS house brand or a Zoom product. It's so bad, I only stop in once or twice a year, even though it's less than 20 minutes from home or work. Tackle Warehouse recently opened a location just north of Atlanta, so maybe that'll be the "kick in the pants" this BPS location needs to step up their game.

Spent a couple hours on a local lake this afternoon, and no numbness or pain. Looks like the seat upgrade might've actually been worth the effort.

The standard advice when considering kayak weight limits is not to exceed 70%-80% of the boat's stated weight limit. While a kayak will float while carrying its max payload, it will not handle correctly, may be unstable/tippy, and will (obviously) ride much lower in the water, which can rapidly become a safety issue with sit-inside kayaks. It can also result in a very wet ride due to water coming up thru the scupper holes in a sit-on-top. They act like little geysers. ?

Haven't tried one myself, but the Advanced Elements inflatables look good and get good reviews.

The surface of the new bottom pad is about 3/4" higher than the original seat, but that's mostly due to the 1/2" layer of closed-cell foam I added under the new pad. Not sure if I'll keep that additional padding on there, but it was easier to add while I was drilling the new holes for the seat pad than it would be to add it later As far as comfort, that remains to be seen. I was hoping to get it out on the water today but the weather and chores kept me tied up. Feels good in the basement, though. ? If nothing else, the DLX pad is a pretty big upgrade over the thin Pescador seat pad. Nicer material and a thicker pad.

I don't think $350 is all that bad, but plan on another $100 for wheels/tires, $50 or so to address any potential problems with the lights/wiring, plus whatever you decide to invest in the trolling motor and battery. Then, you get to deal with boat and trailer registration...

Well, I finally got it all put back together. Wound up going with a Perception Zone DLX seat pad and the standard Zone back pad. The DLX pad is thicker than the stock Pescador pad,, but I added some 1/2" closed-cell foam from a cheap Walmart sleeping pad for a bit of added cushion. The back pad needed a couple mods to fit the hinge area of the Pescador backrest, but you can't tell once it's mounted. Really wish it had been black instead of gray, but it doesn't look too out of place with the gray locking levers on the hatch.

Ok, so this is what I've come up with so far. Waiting on a set of Perception Zone DLX seat pads (bottom and back) to arrive from Topkayaker, and will probably slip a piece of 1/2" closed-cell foam under the bottom pad, or perhaps cut the original Pescador seat bottom to fit.

While blade shape and handle composition are definitely important, blade rigidity needs to be evaluated as well. A nice light handle won't matter much if excessive blade flex requires you to paddle your butt off to propel yourself forward at a decent speed. I've had good luck with the current production Carlisle Magic. Sturdy enough to survive a couple tumbles in whitewater, rigid blade, and a decent price. The older models had some issues with sticky ferrules, but the current models are using a different ferrule design that seems to work a lot better. I think my current one was about $80 shipped from ACK.

The GTS Pro is an awesome seat, but after placing it on my Pescador, it's just not what I'm looking for. I owned a Wilderness Pungo for a short time that had an absolutely awesome seat, with all sorts of adjustment options. I'm going to attempt to build something similar, using stock Wilderness and Perception parts. http://topkayaker.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=119_14&products_id=1866 I bought the leg lifter piece for a Perception Zone DLX seat, Wilderness seat webbing and buckles, and some 1" stainless footman loops. Not 100% certain what I'm going to use as a seat pad, but I'm leaning towards a Wilderness, Perception, or Dagger stock pad with a .5" layer of dense closed-cell foam between it and the leg lifter. The extra support to the hamstring area should help alleviate the numbness without the bulk of an aftermarket seat (at half the cost), and look stock to the untrained eye.

I wound up ordering the GTS Pro. Hopefully it'll be in sometime this week, so I can try it out next weekend. https://www.surftosummit.com/products/gts-pro-molded-foam-kayak-seat-no-pack

For me, back support isn't really an issue. It's the seat bottom that's the problem. I guess I could try some of the cheaper "solutions", like the kneeling pads that are sold for gardening...but i don't really like makeshift solutions. It's a silly thing, but I can't stand to have something that looks like it was just slapped together out of whatever was laying around.

The stock seat on my 2018 Pescador (non-Pro version) is just abysmal. Have any of you folks used the Feel Free Kingfisher, YakGear Manta Ray, Surf to Summit GTS Pro, or the Gone Fishin kayak seats? I'd like to keep it $150 or less, if possible, and I'm not really interested in lawn chair-style seats.

For anyone who has to deal with CherryMax rivet removal, it's not as difficult as it seems. There's a steel retaining ring that's contained inside the head. You need to grind the head down until the ring is visible (it'll be obvious), and then carefully grind a tiny bit more until the ring pops out. Once that happens, the core can be punched out fairly easily. With the core removed, you can drill into the head until it pops free and tap the rest of the shank out. I have installed and removed thousands of them, and haven't found an easier method. Well, that's not entirely true... If you have pneumatic rivet shaver, it can be used to take the entire head off the rivet, at the expense of the cutter. Not ideal, but extremely fast.

I could've sworn my first Triumph came with a Made in China sticker on the butt, but many years have passed since then. IIRC, (and I could very well be mistaken) the Triumph was built in China prior to SC setting up their facility in Mexico, which was the same time they released the Mojo.

Imo, the Premier and Mojo are two of the worst rods for the money in St. Croix's lineup. Heavy and not as well balanced as numerous other rods in that price range. If you just have to own a St. Croix but can't part with $150, look into the Triumph. Not sure if it's still the case, but they used to be built on the same blanks as the Premier, just overseas instead of in the US. That made them very similar in feel and performance, but significantly cheaper.

FWIW, Walmart sells many of the same products as Amazon thru their site with free shipping to the store. If it's broken or wrong, just return it right away.

The Pflueger Trion is only $30 from Walmart.

Rod/reel combo looks great, but there's something horribly wrong with your lawn. ?

Perhaps with the current models, but the difference between the e-series Curado and Citica was night and day to me. It was so noticeable, that I sold the Citica after a few lawn casts. I have a little Cardiff 100a that's a great reel, but it's definitely not as smooth as the more expensive Shimano reels I've owned and used and the stock drag definitely needs upgrading.

Not to single you out, but it must really suck to be so insecure that you'd actually worry about what people think about the reels you own/use. A reel is simply a tool to perform a task. Contrary to popular belief, a baitcast reel isn't the best tool for every situation and the same can be said for spinning reels.

Aliens are most definitely real. We have entire neighborhoods chock full of them. I've never seen them fly, though. Most of them just drive around in white panel vans with ladder racks.