Darren.

Welcome!

Welcome, Ed! Canoe fishermen more than welcome here. Kayaker myself, former canoeist, as well.

Zoom in and you'll see a total of six scupper holes, or 3 sets of 2. Two in the foot section, two at the seat, two in the rear.

That's a HOSS, Dinky. Nice.

In addition to kid scissors, I use surgical scissors from an army survival kit. They work great. Put it on a retractible lanyard along with a pair of forceps.

that's a cool paint job!

Nice hawgs, and snakehead!

Then absoLUTELY go with what you have. If I were on a budget like that, I'd do the same. No reason not to. Save cash, no worries!!

Allow me to differ from the rest. And purely my .02, nothing more. I use 10 lb test on my spinning gear. Power Pro. I followed this road from heavy to lighter test braid thanks to some articles about Gary Yamamoto's spinning gear. I'd say the max *needed* is 20 lb test. GY uses 15lb max according to the article. Think about it. That's a LOT of poundage, and most braids that I know of will break above their rated strength. I'm not discounting the other suggestions. Just relaying what I've found for ME. If you feel more confident with a higher pound braid, then by all means, go for it. 10 pound test is amazingly strong. I always use a leader, anything from 6-15 lb test, and I've pulled in huge, water-soaked logs off the bottom of 10-15' at my reservoirs. It is strong stuff. Used it as backing plus a 10lb Yo-Zuri Hybrid leader to haul in my PB in thick grass. Held fine. All I'm saying is that you don't *necessarily* need higher pound test to fish for bass. Again, if it makes you more confident to do so, then by all means, do it! On my main baitcaster, I use 20lb test braid with up to a 15lb test leader. Plenty for my needs.

Aww man, no pix posted?!!

Great setup. If I only take out two rods, I'll lay the one I'm not using in front of me. Eliminates the catching issue...

Only one way that I know of: Image source: http://realart.blogspot.com/2010/08/star-trek-spectre-of-gun-from-wikipedia.html

Following!

Good stuff, Top.

Jim, unfortunately I observed with my eyes more so than my hands + eyes. I do believe these are upgraded models, nicely outfitted for a day on the water if that's what you want. By that I mean buying a yak pre-rigged for fishing. My first one was that way, my Native wasn't, which allowed me to outfit it as I wanted, not as a company thought I wanted. If that makes sense. They are redesigned from the models I originally looked at, and there's not a lot in the way of reviews out there. The thinness issue was where guys complained that any dents in shipping were still present and didn't come out easily. Weighs 52 lbs as-is. So certainly seems to have more plastic than before. Are you planning on having this item shipped to you, or buying at a "local" BPS?

Nice! Looks like a lot of fun. Many happy catches from her deck.

Got my spool of 12lb on Saturday. Haven't had a chance to spool it up yet. Thanks for the review.

Will do, Fish. Prayers offered.

You'll be fine with the Lightning. A lot of us here started out with Ugly Stiks, and other "lower-end" rods and caught fish. You have a limited budget, so stick to it. A lot of us have a habit of feature creep when talking to guys on budget, and that's not a problem per se, just what happens. A $40 dollar rod is fine, but if you only spend $20 more .... and next thing you know you're up to $100 and way over budget. And all of it is guys trying to help you. Within your budget, there are a number of rods to choose from. Some aren't easily found without shipping, and that may or may not meet your budget. So if you're wanting to buy local and the Lightning is there, get it. The Shock is the elder brother to the Lightning. Is nice, geared for braided line, etc., but most rods (even the Lightning) can handle braid these days. Your reel is perfectly fine for drop shotting as well. If and when you can afford to upgrade to finer gear, then do so. Don't fret now. You'll still catch fish. You can even use your Ugly Stik, but as others have said, it is heavy (unless it is the Lite version) and not particularly sensitive. Works for some stuff just fine, though.

Hi Griffin. Welcome to the forums! For questions like that, you'd probably get more advice posting the Q in the Northeast Bass Fishing forum as opposed to introductions.

Welcome to the forums!

FWIW, I was at BPS yesterday and took a look at the D10T. Nice unit. Looked for the Malibu Mini-X, but it wasn't in store (or if it was, it was out of stock). BUT! If it is anything like the Stealth 9, it's built like a tank. Was pretty impressed with the build quality of the Malibu yaks they had in stock.

Welcome to the forums!

I have, in 8lb test. Rarely use it. Find P-Line Floroclear and Yo-Zuri Hybrid to be more than adequate for *my* needs.

Cool! Nice catch.