HeavyDluxe

Lots of good advice in this thread. I would vote for the jig... You can bottom bounce them, and you can swim them (a spinnerbait without the spinners). Soooo versatile.

Is she going to be fishing, or just out for a paddle with you? If the latter, perhaps a SINK is another viable option. re: the SOT options - My experience has been that a lot of the cheaper SOTs are fine as far as ergos and stability, but the hull design leaves a little to be desired. Bought a relatively inexpensive SOT for our kids to use ($300ish) and it tracks really poorly. Literally, I can follow behind them by a boat length and see the boat fishtailing side to side with each stroke. Makes for a lot more work to go the same distance I go. If we're fishing, they take the SOT. If they're just going to paddle/swim/goof off while I fish, we bring our Old Town SINK and they paddle that. That said, if you're just looking for a cheap option in a SOT, start with looking at used boats. Aside from that, set what you want to spend and get the most boat you can afford (lest she think you're skimping on her). One other note: The Perception Pescador is an excellent value. The hull is actually the exact same hull as a past model of the Wilderness Systems Tarpon, a well-respected fishing platform. For the money, it's an excellent buy.

El Cheapo Eagle Claw Lazer Sharps. Owner hooks on some of my jigs from Sieberts.

I'm with JFrancho... I've only kayak fished for one year, but I was able to get REALLY close to fish without spooking them (and in very clear water). I think the two biggest things that spooked fish were when I'd make 'noisy' paddle strokes too close to them and when I'd bang something around on the boat. If I was more careful with managing equipment in the boat and making sure I didn't glub-gurgle the water stopping or making headway, I could always get surprisingly close.

Great point, and well said.

My advice: Try not to fall in love... One day of good smallmouth fishing is a drug, and you find yourself chasing another fix.

Hey, A-Jay... Thanks for the post. Before I write a reply, I want to take the chance to tell you how much I enjoy your posts on here. If I am scanning a long thread, I almost always stop to read what you say. Of course... But, unless I'm missing something, I think the fact that you are either part of a boarding party or traffic stop as a LEO indicates that you have some measure of probable cause to be there in the first place. For example, as an LEO you can't stop me and ask for ID 'just because'. You can if I'm driving erratically or if my vehicle matches the description of one that's stolen or belongs to someone suspected in another illegal activity. That's why I specifically mentioned vehicle stops in my first post as an exception. And, again, it's important to note that stopping me to check whether I am properly licensed to be operating a motor vehicle (even without cause) is still a whole different thing than stopping me and asking for ID while I'm walking down the street exercising a legal, Constitutional right to carry - assuming, of course, that OC is legal in that area. There's a huge difference between rights and a licensure, and it's a distinction that far too few Americans (civilian and public servants alike) understand. I cringe every time someone says something like "I have a right to drive a car", etc. No, actually you don't. So, if a LEO is carrying out a legal traffic stop or vessel boarding, of course there's appropriate reasons for them to ask to see ID. But, if a citizen is OCing in a legal state and the police get a call re: a 'man with a gun', they are not authorized to ask for ID unless they have other probable cause to believe the person is going to commit a crime. I imagine we agree here, but thought it was worth clarifying... As the son of a military and civilian police office, I recognize that there are valid cases where - for the officer's safety and for the reasonable enforcement of certain laws - an officer needs to see identification. Again, we largely agree here... Though I will pick one nit and then make one soapbox point. The nit: Actually, I think that part of the sacrifice we ask officers of the law and military personnel to make when they assume their office is precisely that their safety is lessened at the expense of protecting/enforcing the law. In other words, while I want officers to be safe, I actually think individual rights of the citizen are more sacred. Again, as the son of a cop, I know what that means on the ground for those officers so I don't say this lightly or flippantly. But, this is exactly why good public servants are to be honored and esteemed. The soapbox: I totally agree that LEOs face increasing risks every day... I'm thankful that my father is not on the force any more, because the day-to-day risks for the men and women who serve are much worse. It's certainly true that life and death hang in the balance much more often than any of us wish. Still, I'm concerned (and I think my father would echo the same concern) that so many in law enforcement and supporting politicians focus on the risks. I fear we're breeding a culture in our law enforcement agencies that's hyper-vigilant and more prone to excess uses of force. Part of this, regrettably, also has to do with the abysmal lack of regular training for most agencies. Tax dollars are scarce, and departments have to make do with what they have. And so, the first thing that gets cut is often training. (For example, how many normal LEOs get department sponsored range time/weapons training outside of yearly qualifications? Up here, precious few.) Those things combine to make a very dangerous cocktail for all involved. FWIW, if there are other LEOs out here reading, I hope you read these posts with the tone I intend. I'm grateful for the very difficult job that you all do for us and mean absolutely no disrespect in these statements.

Hi, Brian... Thanks for the response. Up front, I'm all for healthy and respectful debate... These things just tend to degenerate. Glad we agree on the 2nd Amendment and the general principles of firearms ownership. We need to be united to keep those freedoms secure. That said, I can't help but respond to this section of your post: The problem I see with your reasoning is that all the things you listed don't correlate, in any way, to having to identify yourself to a law enforcement agent. The same Constitution that secures the freedom to own firearms also secures, "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures" unless said LEO has probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed or is imminent. A law enforcement officer, without awareness of illegal activity, who asks a free citizen for identification is violating that person's rights under the Fourth Amendment. That is not true, in anything approaching the same way, for the items you list. Buying beer is not an inalienable, human right. It is a privilege and a licensure. Having a bank account, getting cold meds, driving or owning a motor vehicle. These are not the same thing. AND, just to put it all on the line, I have a HUGE FREAKING problem with LEOs asking anyone driving a vehicle (regardless of make or their ethnicity) to whip out an ID unless there is enough credible evidence (probable cause) to suspect a crime has been committed or is imminent. I believe the purpose in the framers' mind in securing our rights in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments specifically shows a fundamental point about free societies: Bad things can happen. People can use the freedoms afforded to them to do bad things to other good, free people. But, we accept that as a risk to live in a society where I enjoy the benefits of those freedoms myself. And so, respectfully, I will never show my ID to any law officer unless they are detaining me under suspicion of committing a crime or I'm otherwise legally compelled to do so (traffic stops, for example). Otherwise, I will - again, respectfully - ask that officer to conduct themselves with appropriate respect for my 4th Amendment rights. Since another reply's come in while I've been typing... I want to make clear that some people in my camp get massive jollies bucking LEOs with their (as that poster said) "constitutional superiority". And that is a shame and, as noted, makes us all look bad. However, I fear that our desire to be seen as more reasonable than those jackasses risks allowing for more slow erosion of our rights. Think about it... How few Americans understand their rights under the 5th Amendment, or know that the cops are allowed to lie to them in any interrogation? So, I don't go looking for a fight over my rights (fwiw, I don't personally CC or OC at this time)... But, I will guard those rights fervently, and yet respectfully, any time agents of our government who are under oath to protect them wade a little too close to the line. It's possible we're all on the same side here, so if I launched a salvo at the "Amen Corner" of the hall, I apologize.

The hull features that tend to make a boat more stable (wide, flat beam with pontoon shapes underneath) also make those same hulls somewhat sluggish in the water. Everything's a trade-off... FWIW, look for any local kayak/canoe shops and call for demo days. Most have a day (or more) at local bodies of water where you can get your butt wet in a wide variety of boats. Get out and paddle some competitive boats and see what you still like/don't like about the yak you have. In the end, only you can decide what suits you, your style of paddlin', and your budget. A test drive here or there might be helpful.

There is no perfect line... all have their trade offs. That line will definitely catch fish, so go for it.

I'll stick my nose in the hornet's nest. First off, I live in a state where open and concealed carry are legal without permit. In the neighboring state, you can OC without permit, but must get a permit to CC. I've encountered people OC in both states... For the most part, it goes unnoticed. I guess as a 'gun guy' I notice because I'm looking for them. I followed someone OCing through the supermarket one day. I remember watching other customers glance at the gun, then almost shake it off ("No, it couldn't be a gun."). I think that, ideally, that's the way it's supposed to be. Now, if I was in a context where there was more gun-related crime or sensitivity, I imagine OCing would be much more provocative and rarely go unnoticed. I recognize that there are probably tactical considerations that would make CC a better option than OC. That said, I think that people should be free to OC any time they want. And, assuming they're not doing anything threatening or illegal, they shouldn't be harassed by law enforcement. If an LEO arrives to a call that someone has a gun and determines it's someone OCing, then observation should be enough and it should end there. As far as CC licensees having more 'training' than people exercising OC: I think that's largely bunk. The CC classes in most states are more legalese than training. And while OCers may be gun-waving fanatics in some cases, a fair number are people who take shooting seriously. Either way, the right to self defense and CC/OC is not an issue of skills anyway.

FWIW, take with requisite grain of salt, etc etc. I found that I had to be really conscious of line slack, especially around hook sets. I needed to be much more 'decisive', in terms of timing, when laying into a fish. A kayak moves so easily on the water that, if there's any wind or current, I found that the movement could introduce just enough slack into the line to dampen the hookset (if I didn't time things well). And, though I'm not 100% sure, I have a theory that even my leaning as I reel down can cause the boat to start to move on the water. So, when I first started fishing from a kayak, I found a lot of fish were getting off. Once I started being more aggressive in reeling down and swiftly setting the hook, my hook-up ratio seemed to return to normal. No equipment change was necessary compared to what I was previously using on the bank. Just needed a slight adjustment to technique. Again, your mileage may vary. ed: To try to put a point on it... From the bank with soft plastics, my hook set could be thought of as having two 'beats'. "Reel-and-Set"... Now it's more like a beat and a half - "ReelSet". I try to keep the reel turning the same as it was on dry land, but just accelerate the time I start to pull up into the set. FWIW, I've found that line management while unanchored has been the hardest part of kayak fishing so far. I dead-stick a lot of soft plastics....

Congrats on the new season, Mike... And thank you *so* much for the improvements to the website - particularly the ability to stream for those of us who don't get cable or satellite where we live. Love the show, especially the emphasis on fun/tactics rather than equipment... In a marketing world gone wild, it's a great departure!

http://kayakfishinggear.com/

What Farmer said in the post above, for sure. re: burning the baits - I was fishing from shore once and started a fast retrieve of a bait because I knew I was out of the zone where the bass had been biting. As it got close to the dock, I noticed a massive pike darting up behind it. Scared me half to death and, in a moment of shock, I stopped the retrieve. The pike slammed on the brakes, too, and watched the bait stall and start to sink. Then the fish abruptly turned back and powered off into the weeds. If it ain't movin', they won't want it. Now, pickerel are a whole different story. Good luck... Pike are a heckuva lot of fun to hook into, if you're willing to accept they may steal a bass lure or two along the way.

Learn the fish itself - its habits, patterns, behaviors, and preferences. Then make yourself a student of the body (or bodies) of water you fish. Coupled with that knowledge, using a small, inexpensive selection of baits will still find you having consistent success. IMO: In the vast majority of circumstances, the difference between a name brand bait and a knockoff of reasonable quality is not so large that one will catch fish and the other won't when properly applied. Yes, there are inexplicable times when they're going to be more enticed to bite by the swaying motion of a GYCB Senko in Watermelon Magic to the point they will not even notice your BPS Stick-o in Watermelon Candy. However, I think the number of times that is the case is much, much lower than the TV shows and bait companies want us to believe. If you get good at locating fish, understanding their disposition, and use appropriate presentations based on that information, I'm willing to bet you will pull fish out of the lake. To put it a different way, top professional bass fisherman will consistently (but not always) outfish you with whatever tacklebox you hand them. And that's because they know the quarry better than the average fisherman.

I'm at hour seven... this better be a good joke when it comes.

Welcome from the slightly-more-northern lands.

That was his point, RetiredBosn... But I can't come up with anything more reasonable. So, I will tell him that it's a dove.

Heh... Yeah, me too. But I'm hoping for a different answer. My dad maintains the size was too big to be a dove and, I think, he's shot enough doves to at least have a shot at being right. But, perhaps there's no more exciting answer forthcoming.

Hi, all... Hoping someone here might be able to give me a hand. My father's been taking up wildlife photography as a hobby recently... His health hasn't been the greatest over the past year or so, but he and my mother can still ride through the area's bird/wildlife refuges on the open roadways and stop to snap a few from their vehicle. This past Thurs, my parents were in Bombay Hook NWR (east of Smyrna, Delaware) taking photos of various things. My father spied what he thought was a hawk, based on the size of the bird, in a tree some distance away. He stretched the zoom on his camera and noticed the colors and markings didn't look hawk-like at all. He snapped some pictures and zoomed in more on the computer when he got home. He's not sure what kind of bird this is and is pretty puzzled. He emailed me, and, after looking in the ID books we have here, I'm not sure either. My best guess was some kind of rail, but the dove-like head doesn't quite fit. And, my father insists that the big was 'big' - especially, he says, given the distance away it was when he snapped the pictures. Bombay Hook is an eastern shore, tidal marsh... so shorebirds of various kinds flow in and out, along with the more typical inland birds. Every now and then, there will be wayward European visitors, but I kinda doubt that's what this is. Anyway, I'd love to be able to give him some help with an ID if anyway has an idea. Thanks!

I used Megastrike for the first time last year... I have to admit, I didn't see anything that appeared to be an uptick in hook-ups and fish landed. But, I've heard fisherman up here calling it an off year in general. So, we'll try it again in 2014 and see... People on here absolutely rave about it, and clearly they're doing so honestly. Lots of people have a lot of confidence in it.

+1. Well, sorta. I can imagine wanting more, for sure. However, I think this amount of storage is sufficient to take 'enough' of everything. FWIW, I've just taken the approach that part of the challenge of kayak fishing is the somewhat minimalistic approach. I have a kayak, not a bass boat. And so I want to challenge myself to tackle the specific nuances of fishing out of a small boat. (And, also, resolve to enjoy the unique pleasures and capabilities that fishing in a small boat affords). I've also tried very, very hard *not* to give the bait monkey too much control in my life. I could easily obsess to the point of making sure I have every bait in the world in every color with me every day because, well, today could be the day that's the magic combination. If I think about it, I know that's not true. But my mind could easily go there in a blissful, tackle-buying orgy. So, FWIW, the system I adopted so far is as follows: I bought the larger, rectangle milk crate from FarmPlast. That fits snugly in the back of my Ride 115 and holds five, large Plano boxes with a little extra room. I've divided those five boxes up by category and keep *all* my baits and hooks in them, with one smaller plastic box holding my weights, sinkers, and rigging stuff. The only other baits I have around the house are 'overstock' of common things I have in the crate (another bag of senkos in my favorite color, for example). I keep the milk crate in the back of my car. If I go bank fishing, I have another middle-sized plastic box that I stock up from the crates and carry in. For me, I've found this is 'enough' tackle to give me the feeling that I'm not missing m, keeps me from amassing waaaay more than I truly need, and has (IMHO) helped me as an angler by disciplining me to think about how I'm fishing - maximizing the tackle I have rather than just shotgunning approaches. YMMV, obviously, but there you go. (PS: Those large FarmPlast crates are really nice)

I know there must be *some* co-angler tourneys in NH since a somewhat local tackle place (Pinnacle B&T in Newport, NH) sponsored one on Lake Sunapee last year. I'm sure there are some local clubs that do likewise. I live across the line in VT, though, so I'm sure someone more local to you will chime in shortly with a better answer.

I used red hooks primarily this year, due mostly to the fact that they were cheap at the start of the season. My catch rates were significantly higher with the non-red hooks. Certainly not a scientific test, but *I* developed 'negative confidence' in them.