kikstand454

Way to go grease! I need to pick up the swim jig more!

Great story and beautiful fish! I agree with the 5.5-6# guesses. She's a toad! Wtg!

I agree with all of the above and I personally would be throwing a suspending jerkbait most of the day and a jig the rest.

I hate gators too. ...real ones. I've lost so many topwaters to submerged gators. ... frogs especially! And cavitrons. And horny toads. Lol. Desmobob- the answer to your problem is either the aforementioned retracting dog leash, or a chalk line.

If you're that concerned about it, when you get home from a day of fishing, walk your spool of line out in your yard, clip it to the fence or a tree, and reel your self up. That will put it back tight. That braid will last for at LEAST two years if you don't cut too much off when you fish. In general, you probably shoulda/ coulda put a backing layer of mono down and then a topshot of braid over that- then you wouldn't have "looseness" issues. Just something to think about next time. "Next time" being when you get about halfway through THIS spool of braid- pull it all out across your yard, spool about 30yds of cheap 10# mono into your spool, then tie the OTHERSIDE of the braid to this mono and reel it up- essentially "flipping" the braid and now you have brand new line.

I have an embarrassing amount considering: A) I rarely tournement fish. I'm not even officially in a club. I only occasionally ride shotgun with the pa-in-law in his tourneys. I don't own a boat. Not a powerboat. I do have a kayak. ... but I don't own anything resembling a "bass boat" C) I really am on the bottom rung financially. Its simply not possible to make any less than me and support a family of 3 with no government assistance. But I do it. All that being said- when out on the bass boat, I take at LEAST 6 setups. Sometimes 7. When I am inshore kayak fishing I have 3 baitcasting and one spinning. When I'm bass fishing inthe kayak. ... I have 4 baitcasting- different than my boat rods. Altogether off the top of my head I would say I have 20 or so baitcasting combos and maybe 5 spinning. I have about 6 reels laying about for whatever reason. .... maybe a rod or two? Not sure. In my defense though, a large portion ( espicially the reels) are hand me downs. So I have MAYBE a grand into all those set ups. .....so that's not too bad. Now .......tackle on the other hand. ......

Amazing job goose! One of the best threads I've ever read on here. .... or anywhere else.

I have a similar experience throwing traps.

That will do fine. Great rods. Get at least a 7' one.

Sounds like you found yourself a great swimjig/ chatterbait rod to use around docks and bank lines!

Almost every rod I have is a mh. I just don't throw alot of light stuff. I throw a spook Jr just fine on a mh. That being said. ... I recently got a 7' m/f veritas that I am in total love with. I know that its underrated power wise and may be what many consider mh/f - but its much less stiff still than my other mh rods. I guess its somewhere in between. I just keep tying moving baits on it to see what it'll throw and it keeps asking for more. I've thrown weightless floating worms and 6xd's on it- worked great! Lipless crank season is coming. ........

Awesome!

???? Well I didn't realize he was asking this question at midnight the night before, because I was answering it on my phone and it doesn't have time stamps. My original reply to the OP wasn't meant to be mean or snarky in anyway. ... more like a " rolling my eyes" response to just buy the appropriate materials in order to correctly "try" a new to him technique. What he was suggesting to do was not a Carolina rig. It was barely a split shot rig. The part you highlighted was me offering up the most important part- it doesn't matter if its an "almost" Carolina rig. .... if he's not using it appropriately in the right scenario/area- he's going to get discouraged. I elaborated on this in my second post. ... which was actually a reply to catch and grease - not the OP- stating that if you're going to try a new technique, I think the only way to give it a fair shot is to do it the way its "supposed" to be done first, before modifying it grotesquely and still calling it a Carolina rig. This was also not meant to be in any kind of mean tone. I am sorry if you misread/ misinterpreted my comments. I hope the OP didn't do the same- as I meant no harm at all.

Zerust works. And it works well. ....then ...it doesn't. The boxes don't specifically say how long the zerust will last, nor does it say when it was manufactured, so.... when it stops working, it crashes hard . This is my experience in saltwater with my kayak. Pretty much the harshest environment for lures/boxes. I love the zerust boxes, I just wish they had a published expected life span and a "born on" date.

Punching grass has become my new favorite technique! Wtg. ....keep at it!

Happens all the time. Just means you're making well placed casts to aggressive fish! Reaction strikes- Fun huh?

Really consider each and every part of a "fishing package". You may find that you're paying for things you don't want/need- when you don't realize you don't want/need them. For instance, those slanted back rod holders behind the seat? Completely useless to ME. If I had paid for them to be there as a "fishing" kayak, I'd be ticked. I use the one I have to hold my net- which it does well. Buy I could've rigged up something to hold my net. .... I sure have no desire to put a rod in there. Rod holders and other rigging can be added after the fact and put where you want it. That sometimes makes it more cost effective to buy the " non fishing" version and just add your own stuff. Things like the slide track system though are alot harder to add, and you may want to research that. Just some thoughts.

Well. ...no. ....you don't HAVE to. ... But it helps. Also. .....I'd see making massive modifications to a rigging if the parts were super expensive or something, but. ... like I said, you can get swivels and beads for less than 2 bucks. With a new technique it seems to me you would want to learn how to do the basic premise/principles with the normal tackle. .... and then modify it from there. If the guy is constantly breaking off at the crimp, or isn't catching anything because of any number of factors related to his make shift rig. .... then he's going to get frustrated with the technique and give up on it- before he even actually does it right. *shrug* Jmo

I'm interested . Sent pm.

The perception is a remake of my kayak- an old WS tarpon. Love my kayak.

Come on. ..... stop at a Walmart and get a 97¢ pack of swivels and go into the fabric dept and pick up a pack of beads for even less. Slap a black trick worm on there about 18" down from the swivel and catch fish! Better question is. .... are you going to be fishing it in an area where a c-rig is productive? Because otherwise, you're just gonna be hung up alot and frustrated or not catching anything and dismiss the technique.

Freshwater ..... I was fishing in a small national forest pond. .... casting to bedding bass. The water was super crystal clear and about 3ft deep. Out towards the middle was a hump, and as I came up on it, I saw a good 4-5lb fish sitting on a bed, turning in circles. So I got execited and gently tried to get my canoe in a good position when out of the drop off came this huge dark shape.... it was the 5lbers girlfriend! I almost had a heart attack! She was twice his length. I nervously pitched a beaver into the bed and the monster nudged towards it. ....then the male went over and snatched it right up. I tried to shake him off but I had thrown that beaver into so many fish that I guess the hook was exposed just enough and he hooked himself. He ran straight towards the bed and spooked big momma. I almost cried. I got him to the boat and reached down and shook him off the hook without touching him and he went straight back to the bed. ...I backed off and waited. The big girl never showed herself again. Just a guess but she was realistically maybe 11-12 lbs.

I'm not sure about up north..... but I see blue crabs way way way up freshwater rivers, all year long . I know with 100% certainty that a tidal river bass will actively hunt and eat fiddler crabs.

If you have a budgeted amount of around $100.. then a Lews or Tatula would probably be your best bet. Maybe a citica. However..... if you want to spend less ( sometimes much less) than that, then I too will vouch for the pro qual and the mettle. Great great reels. FOR THE PRICE. I got my mettle on sale around Xmas last year for 26 bucks. Easily worth 3times that.

They same one we all know. ....and never listen to. " Don't leave fish, to find fish! "