Darren.

Wow. We've got those here in VA, never caught one myself.

That must've put up a fight like nothing else in the pond!

And FWIW, I'm not a fan of using O rings and rigging the hook parallel to the worm. J Francho suggested in another thread, if I recall correctly, using 2 O rings in an X like pattern and hooking perpendicular through that. I rarely miss fish with wacky, and I don't use O rings... My go-to hooks are the Gamakatsu Wide Gap Finesse in 4, 2, and 1 sizes.

That's awesome. And love the peacock bass too!!

Welcome aboard!

Kids + rods. Yep. Been there. Hey, at least it's a Croix, you can upgrade now!

If it's warm, make sure she wears her bathing suit...and tell her to take a short swim. Not like it's gonna kill the fishies or anything.

I started out with a $350 kayak. Worked for me for the time I had it. You'll enjoy it until/if you decide to upgrade later.

Sweet! Love it when they hit like a truck!

Welcome to the forums, Kevin!

Curious to know the brand. Being a kevlar yak, it would probably have been pricey. Is it a Sit on Top, or a Sit Inside style? Or is it a canoe-style (aka hybrid) yak? Sit on Top and Hybrids would, IMO, be the easiest to fish from. But plenty of people fish from sit insides. And being Kevlar, you may be limited in outfitting it unless it already is outfitted for fishing. But that certainly is not a show stopper, you've got options. And there are thousands of articles on the web for yak fishing from all types of kayaks.

Welcome to the site, Jimmy!

Big time kayak fisherman here! Never done the float tube. Make sure you think through how you want your gear to be set in the yak. If it is a tippy yak, you might want to secure your rod(s) and gear bags. A net is helpful to have. Extremely important, assuming you're set here, a PFD in case you capsize and can't swim, or are unconscious, etc... critical. You'll love getting into tight places, finding new spots to fish. Enjoy these days! What kind of kayak did you get, btw?

Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard, Matt!

T'Tour's review states this as for the reel's applications: "The Viento is a excellent reel for fishing jigs and plastics but we found other uses for this innovative reel as well"

I say go for it! T'Tour has a review of it, gives it a 9.0 out of 10, the Cabelas reviews are high, it's a good reel for the money, it seems to me.

I vote to save up for the kayak.

That's what I was thinking. I can't show this to my wife, she'd know a garage (or car port) can actually be clean, and I'd have no excuses left.

I do. I have 5 yaks in a makeshift rack outside, and stored upside down, and my Native Ultimate hangs from the ceiling of my car port, out of the elements per se. I hang it from 1/2" rope, 2 straps, and (currently) 6 pulleys. The more pulleys, the easier to lift.

Hard to argue with any of the rods, except that I'd put the Avid and Crucial at the top of the list. As for the reels, I've got a bunch of Shimano's, the best being the Stradics. BUT. Let me suggest eBay for the Daiwa Lexa spinning reel. I'm in the process of judging mine (a 2000SH), especially compared to my Stradics, but if what I'm seeing/feeling now, despite being significantly cheaper than the Stradic, it is incredibly smooth, winds line back on the reel beautifully, too. Very impressive reel. Now I'm not sure I'd spend the $ on another Stradic in the future with a quality reel like this on the market. Just my .02 so far.

x2 on the Lexa. You can find one on eBay for around $105-115 (I bought mine off eBay). Super-thrilled. So much so that I have also bought the Lexa 2000 Spinning reel. Will be putting up first thoughts in a new post soon. Suffice it to say. Winner. This from an owner of two Shimano Stradics.

Welcome AGOSS! A number of young-guns on the forums here!

Shimano fan here, but rapidly turning into a Daiwa fan. Lexa reels in particular. Baitmonkey forced my finger to click "buy", then Paypal - several clicks there - all for a Lexa 2000 spinning reel. I couldn't believe it. Just spooled it up yesterday, put it on my 6'3" Compre. Amazingly smooth reel. I have yet to do a side-by-side with my Stradic FI, but right now, the Lexa has me very impressed. From this point on, I must become brand-agnostic. For sanity's sake. And put my credit cards in the freezer. And cut off all ties with bassresource.com, bass pro, etc.

this is what i do. works well for me in my kayak.