flyfisher

Where in Texas is it too cold to fish right now? here in VA I haven't stopped fishing and even caught a few....

Decided to tie up a sunny pattern. Added in a rattle and designed to ride hook up which helps a ton coming through Lilly pads and through cover better.

Highly doubt it. I know the site owner was going through some changes in his life and there was quite a bit of *** going on with regards to the political realm as was the norm on there and people were speaking up. I enjoyed that forum and it was a good place to get some legit smallie info. It is where I first found out about confidencebaits and their products and that info alone is worth it lol

Your creativity and skill is amazing my man. On the ned flies, did you just extend some stiff mono out and wrap that? I have actually superglued a ned plastic on a ned rig and used that on more than one occasion. I found that without the superglue, you will cast the plastic off.

How deep are you fishing and/or how stout is the current? I have a couple rods lined with sink tips and I use them for specific situations. I don't have experience fishing for stripers though but I can say that for bass, I don't often use my sink tip on lakes but do on rivers when I want to get my fly down quickly. It is nice to have a sink tip for tying flies though as it allows you to use unweighted flies "weighted" so to speak. If I had one rod for my bass fishing, I would without hesitation go with a floating line. I can always adjust my leader length to get flies down faster if needed. the advice on the roll cast is a good one when needed but for me I am usually fishing streamers and fish almost all the way back to my kayak so I don't need to get the line up to the surface. I have also found that a slow drag up and then a rapid quick backcast with a very distinct stop can lift the line fairly easily with a faster action rod.

yup and you have the best one on the market I see as well.

Not a good idea to use a scupper for anything other than draining water. scupper holes are designed to drain water and to provide structural rigidity to the deck of the kayak. Use an anchor trolley and not only can you keep your kayak from breaking but you can also change the location to set your direction to where you want it to be. On lakes my anchor trolley and stake out pole are one of the most critical pieces of gear.

What line is on there now? I currently run the SA titan on all my 7 and up weight rods and it is the best bass bug casting line I have used.

Interesting discussion on here and I'll throw in my .02. I would rather have a kayak that paddles well with a motor than one that doesn't and has a pedal drive. This is why I have an ATAK140 and a Newport Vessels NK180s motor mounted on the back paired to 30ah lithium battery. The last few seasons I have primarily fished rivers and it has been perfect for motoring upstream and floating back. On lakes I can go 5.5mph at 75% throttle and easily go 10+ miles. I don't have spot lock which would be nice but I am ok without it for my style of fishing and I am pretty solid in my anchoring technique. Right now you could get an ATAK 120, I think the 140 is no longer in production, a motor, battery and rigging and still have a ton of money left over for electronics as opposed to the Hobie. I won't lie and say that I didn't look at pedal drives when I bought my ATAK 6 years ago but being a cyclist, I could not stand the Hobie pedal motion. The native was much better for me but I still ended up getting a pedal kayak and motorizing it last spring.

certain baselines need to be established....I had plenty of people I would guide fly fishing who couldn't catch too but it was because of their lack of casting ability more than anything.

if you don't think you are going to catch anything then why bother doing it? Cold weather fishing is another nut to crack and a very rewarding one. Anyone can catch fish when they are on.

I usually let everything live and release bugs back outside if they are inside with the exception of these. I run into a few a year and kill each one I see. All I need is my kids to think that is a cool spider and get bit.....here was my dinner.....a double bacon cheeseburger with American and pimento grilled cheese as the bun. Wasn't bad but I don't think I would get it again, too much bread. I didn't realize it was gonna be Texas toast grilled cheese.

you'd think that would be right up front on their website but if it is, I must be blind because I don't see it and besides that I am pretty sure the propellor has to be in the right position to deploy or remove too so not sure how it can just pop up if it hits something .

Great looking kayak. My dad is looking at the longe version for rivers and my one big question that I have yet to find anywhere is what happens if you hit something while under power. I currently have a rear mounted Newport Vessels NK180s and if I hit something it just lifts top but I don't know if this boat does the same thing. I think in lakes that kayak would be killer though for sure.

Winter isn't about quantity but it is always about quality. I know going out when it is cold I am not going to get man bites but the ones I do get are always good ones. I have also found that cold fronts don't impact the fishing as much in the winter as in other times of year.

Brand doesn't matter to me really. I want a rod for the job at hand. Right now I have Robyn's, st croix, Shimano and a couple ducketts in my conventional gear. My fly rods I am slightly more brand loyal but I have TFO & Sage right now.

Casting a heavier weight fly rod isn't any worse or easier than a lighter one but what does come in to play is the balance. it is easy to balance a lighter weight rod but when you get into that 7 and up range it becomes more critical. I have reels labeled as 5wt reels on some of my 7wt rods and ones labeled 8-10 on my 8wts. And remember too the line weight isn't about the fish as much as it is the flies you are tossing. The goto for most of my bass fishing is an 8wt and my sage Bass II which is somewhere in the 10/11 range. None of my roads are a chore to cast all day as I took the time to balance them. You'd be surprised at how much a little extra backing or taking away some backing can make a difference in how a rod feels in your hand. You can always go smaller with a heavier weight fly rod but it is harder to go heavier on the same set up. Smaller won't give the same fight though obviously. keep the fly rod and you'd be surprised at how much fun catching brown or green bass are on it

Just got my order in from confidence baits.net https://confidencebaits.3dcartstores.com/Finesse-Jig-n-Craw-Mini-Kit-Riverbottom-Red-Flake-color-316th-oz-_p_74.html these have been a goto for me in winter and all year really. The draggin' heads are pretty solid as well and rarely get hung up.

I think ACK got bought out like 5 years ago like you mentioned but just recently they changed to "the house" and I have seen on other bulletin boards that some locations are closed.

Thats why you fish alone....

Dragging and working through cover always works the best for me no matter the situation or cover.

Being a teacher I am seeing a ton of cases and exposures. We cancelled our plans to visit my parents and sister in philly because of all this mess, among a few other things. The school district I work in which serves about 24k students has had 200+ teachers out since we got back and over 400 cases of students over break. My district is very risk averse and pretty strict on masks, sanitizing, distancing as much as possible etc...My son, in a different district than I teach, has been quarantined 2 times now and this district is about the exact opposite of the one I work in. My parents are planning on coming down to visit us tomorrow so we will see what happens. Just keep trucking through and doing all that you can to protect yourself and your family. I know for me, I'd hate to feel like I didn't do all that I could to make things safer.

Having a break on 10lb test line is usually a sign of wear, old line, a bad knot or user error unless in heavy cover which it doesn't sound like is the case. given your belief of fish to be line shy you will have to go with flouro, copolymer or mono. I go with Copolymer for a lot of my rods but I also go straight braid on some, I don't think fish are that line shy though I am not a fan of leaders with braid, one more thing to fail in the system but I know many do it without issue. I run 6lb diameter braid on spinning rods and anything from 10-17lb copolymer or flouro on my bait casters and braid in 10 or 12lb test diameter.

not having owned a pedal drive kayak, I wouldn't spend a ton of money on a paddle as it will probably be used in emergencies or for minor positioning. I do know quite a few guys with pedal kayaks who have a small hand paddle like you mentioned. I motorized my kayak last spring and still can't break the habit of having a paddle across my lap and using it to move me around a spot while fishing.

Great cause and you're a good guy for setting this up. Jut did my $10 donation. I primarily fly fish but I do love a good jig bite