kikstand454

I 5th it? Your set up will work. It will not be optimum though.

Save your money and go thrift store shopping for backpacks. You'll find them for $5 or less. More money for lures!

This past Friday, my brother called me up and told me about his afternoon, where he was bank fishing a tidal canal, and had a huge fish break him off. I told him we could hook up Saturday morning, and scout the area for places to launch kayaks in the future. We met up and fished his spot at high tide, and with no bites, drove around the whole area for a few miles, with no action. The tide was nearing low.....and I had places to be, so we headed back to the car. I mentioned we should hit his spot one more time while the tide was different. Well, third cast up the bank with a bone one knocker spook, and the world exploded! It immediately started pulling drag on my curado200! It was a crazy 7-8minute fight, with a 7'mh field and stream inferno* and yozuri 15# ultra soft. I eventually got it to tire out, and kicked off my shoes and jumped down into the canal on a sand bar to land it. My brother did the same, and brought the mesuring board out of his truck. Here he is- 34"!!!!! Caught in less than 2' of water, on a topwater, in the middle of the day. From the shore!!!! I was still shaking 20 minutes after I released him healthy, back to his hole, where I'm sure he's king of the block!!! ( well.....except for the gators!) * - my $29 field and stream inferno from acedemy has spent a year fishing saltwater in my kayak. This is its third overslot redfish it has landed me, and has caught many other hard pulling salt fish including Spanish mackeral and jack cravelle. I 100% recommend this rod as the best rod you can get for pennies. It is light, sensitive ( enough) and tough!!

Salt water drum are not sheepshead. Saltwater drum are a family of fish that include redfish, black drum and spotted sea trout among others. A saltwater sheepshead is a completely different fish, and is called that because it has huge flat smiling teeth that look just like a sheep.

I will echo the above and say they're pretty much all I buy anymore. I will also vouch for their quality by saying I use the big square bills for redfishing around oysterbars in the saltwater. They rock.

Looks good to me. I don't know about throwing c-rigs and t-rigs on a 6'6" M though...... I personally would switch your 30# reel over to your mh rod and use that for bottom contact. Shakyheads will benifit from a m rod and the topwater will make do. I would throw the swimbaits on the heavier rod as well. Edit: I don't fish small, rocky streams though either. I'm in Florida. So its a different environment than what you deacribe. In all reality, I wouldn't even own the M shock because it's just too whippy for my needs. I would also ditch all the braid, go with straight 15# copoly on the mh and 12# on the Mf..... And throw all bottoms and swimbaits on the bigger rod, and the other stuff on the smaller one. Also my MH rod would be 7' or more. If I were to replace the Mshock with a rod, it would be a 7'6" mh/f and I would put your 30# braid on it and throw the c-rig, swimbaits, and frogs on it. Then I would use the smaller 6'6" ros for jigs, t rigs and spinnerbait, buzzbait, traps, chatterbaits.....etc. *shrug* So take my oppinion fwiw.

YZ is great. all I've used for a long time. I think your line twist problem is not related to your line.

No and no.

Fwiw.... My PA in law installed a powerpole on his zcommanche. Himself ( Yamaha warranty tech at the time). It worked really well. But he got rid of that boat and downsized to an 18' xpress. When it came time for a pole, he opted for the minn kota. He says he likes it much better in every way. Installation, cost, maintenance, holding power, etc.

I only have one, port side. I built it myself with paracord and brass clips, with no pulleys, split it into two runs at the middle handle, and never have an issue with it. Ever. It holds just fine with no cleat. I am adding the same set up on the starboard side in the very near future.

..... Why are you waiting for the maggots to die? They're just maggots. They won't hurt you. Dump them out in the yard and clean your tackle box man. After you try any/all of the ideas above, let it sit open outside in the sun for a day. UV rays kill most anything. Including smell producing bacteria.

Depending on the situation, i would go- YZ hybrid 17# 15# 8# Or 15# 12# 6# If you're not around alot of matted vegetation, then IMHO, you're better off without the braid. If you ARE going to throw frogs and punch baits into slop, then braid can't be beat. Jmho.

War eagles and Hildebrandt's are all I throw.

^^^ this. Or search mikeyballz. These two offer everything you need to know about punching mats. I'm punching mats tomorrow! My fav thing to do.

I use 15# YZ hybrid ultrasoft. I also use it as the leader unless they're being super finicky. Love it.

I fish more salt than fresh..... And I use regular bass gear to do so. 7'mh/f rod and shimano cu200 reels. 15# yzhybrid. I fish this out of my kayak 95% of the time. My top producing lures are all " bass lures" as well. Spook one knocker, gold spoon, flukes. These presentations will catch most of the fish you want to catch,( trout, redfish,Snook,flounder, mackeral) and less of the fish you may not want to deal with, ( catfish, sharks, stingrays, baitsnatching pinfish).. For straight " just want to catch something" fun.... Get some 3/16-1/4 oz jig heads and a couple packs of gulp shrimp. Or live shrimp..... Whichever youre in to. You can add a popping cork to this rig as well to get up off the bottom and catch more speckled trout.

I would save the money, get one of the many awesome sticks in the $100-$150 range, and switch your line from mono to copoly. Copoly IME is notcibly more sensitive than mono, has less stretch, and a higher braking strength/diameter. It doesnt have the slack line deadness of braid and it won't routinely wrap around your guide eyes. It's also just a tiny bit more expensive, so it won't hurt the wallet initially as much as braid. ( braid price is irrelevent honestly, as I routinely get 2-3 YEARS out of a spool of braid.....). I like Yz hybrid. Others like cxx. Lots of options in the copoly market. Good luck.

June bug is great. I too like it in tannic water. It's just a great color for some reason. I do well on it when the sun is out.... I think it makes the sparkle pop a little more. Who knows.

Ahhh....... See....... If that had been in the first post, this thread would've been done on the first response. 7.1 is perfect for anything less than 10ft deep. IMO. Little squarebills and traps...things like that. No problem. You have no need to worry about beefier gear ratios until you start throwing 6xds in 18fow.

Oh......no doubt. That's what I was saying to begin with. Ideally you would like to be 2/3 of the rated weight of the yak with you and your gear. This what the OP should shoot for. But in reality..... Alot of us are in the 200# range and the 500# kayak market is slim and expensive. So you make do. I got my tarpon at a steal and I wasn't going to pass it up for anything. I feel 100% safe in it and have taken steps to assure it will never fully sink. Strategically jamming the interior with pool noodles only costs a few dollars and your time.

Agreed. If I were in the market for a new yak right now, I'd get either a lure 11.5 ( do they have a longer one? Ive never looked...). Or the native slayer 14.

Agreed jFranco. I think you misunderstood my post though. An example would be in MY current kayak ( older tarpon 140) I am well over weight of the 2/3 rule with me being 235# and then my gear. I MUST run scupper plugs all the time or my kayak is a bathtub.....the water will not drain. I am using the scupper plugs to KEEP water out......not to LET water out. Lol. If I am sitting in my kayak and I pull a plug, I have a water fountain. I MUST get out of my yak for the water to drain out. And I believe that this is the most common use for scupper plugs. It's not what they're designed for.....but I think it's why most people buy them. Folks who are under their yaks weight rating normally never bother buying them. They like the open holes for water drainage. That's been my experience anyway.

Yeah...lol....I meant half the price of spro. But honestly, you can also get them for half the price of scum frog if you catch it. I found a whole case of them, in a sexy shad color, and they had them marked $.68. I bought 12. I don't throw a frog much.....but they're sexy shad color is pretty dark and I've done well with it- so I picked up what to me may be a 3 year supply for less then 10bucks.

I have heard nothing bad about them. I considered getting one- but I just don't need another rod at this time.

It's not so much a speed issue, jitterbug, its a torque issue. Deep diving cranks.... 15+' .... Put alot of torque on you and your gear. Made even worse by dragging/ bouncing it off cover. It's kind of like a bike. Can you make it up that hill on a no gear kids bike? Of course.....but you're gonna work twice as hard for the same result. The same hill on a ten speed, you can gear down and make the trip easier on yourself. Same concept.