flyfisher

I've never searched anyones boat to know if they do or don't have one. Not my concern really lol I have fishing to do

I read his statement as not wearing one not necessarily not having one. See a ton of people with them on board and not wearing them

depending on the laws they may not need one. Do I think they should, sure, I always wear either my self-inflating or traditional pfd in the cooler months but it is their choice. I have seen guys in groups of like 3 or 4 sit on the ramp with their kayaks and then unload everything and then load it in the back of their truck. Takes like 40 minutes. I mean I trailer my kayak and I still use a cart 95% of the time because one it is easier than backing a short tongue trailer up with my short wheelbase car and 2 it lets me load easier and quicker and not be in anyones way.

I had friends stuck in traffic all around the area. One took 8 hours to go 100 miles and that was west of Richmond and another who was stuck in traffic north of Fredericksburg but made it through after being on the road for about 12 hours. This time of year it pays to keep some stuff just in case in your car, even in non snowy weather the cold can be deadly if you break down and can't get help fast enough. A walk in the cold can get hypothermic pretty quick. it really was wild. I was playing disc golf on Sunday in a t shirt with a record high and temps dropped and it snowed/iced over the next day. Virginia has some weird weather but this was a first in my 15 years living here.

haven't tied jigs but tying flies I have tied with a lot of bucktail. Bucktail is hollow and the more thread tension the more it will flare out. You need to find that balance of tension and holding ability. Ione way to manage it is to tie it down tight at first then looser as you move back. This will hold the hair in place and slim down the flare effect.

Kayak fisherman on the water and ramps are some of the worst. I am not sure if it is because people think it is some sort of brotherhood because I am in a kayak and they are too but they feel they can come up and fish close and want to chat the day away. Sorry bro, I want to fish not talk about kayaks. Now at the ramp I think a lot of it is ignorance and a huge influx of people to the sport. When I first started kayak fishing close to 20 years ago I would see another kayak fishing maybe one out of every 5 trips. Now I see almost as many kayaks as I do traditional boats. Not a bad thing but any time there is an influx into the sport you have people who are learning the ropes and I am fine with that too. The influx has really made some great advancement in the products available for kayaks and kept the prices somewhat reasonable.

best spinning reels out there. I have two older models and they still function as good as day 1.

I had a TFO break that was no longer in production. They gave me the full retail cost as a credit towards a new rod which was $100 more than I actually paid for the rod. I got to pick out a new rod and ended up getting a 8wt mangrove coast for $40...not a bad deal. I guess the one advantage of buying from a place that gets their stuff made overseas......my sage xp that I busted they repaired at a cost of about $150 but was totally worth it as that is still one of my favorite rods and my goto 99% of the time when fishing for smallies.

I carry one like this on the kayak as well as a Gerber river shorty under my seat in case I have to cut an anchor line. For cutting line I have a pair of boomerang snips fastened on a retractable line under my seat so they are out of the way and still able to be used easily. I rarely need the knife but I like having a razor when I do need a knife.

we will have to revisit this in about a decade and see what happens. I remember when the snakehead were first found here and everyone was worried....well a decade later and the bass are thriving and the snakehead are doing just fine and a much sought after game fish and good table fare as well.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/631302256?autoplay=0&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0

I don't follow the pros that closely and don't even take it into consideration when making any purchase.

M/F with copolymer or flouro.

If you like coffee this stuff is absolutely fantastic. It is made here locally and I was mixing it with some cold brew. It is also great with some simple syrup. I am gonna have to go pick up some more next week.

Well nuts work as do rivets. I usually go the rivet route on things mounted to my kayak unless I know I will be removing the item at a later time.

The advice here so far is solid. Nobody is perfect and everyone has bad days. This supervisor has shown me that he is a good guy simply by acknowledging his mistake and apologizing. A lot of people don't do that. As far as the guilting you to come in, it is what it is. They are short staffed and needed people. You don't want to do it, you don't do it and move on. Him being in a bad mood because of it isn't your concern. I am sure there are times when you have a bad day too or the people who report to you think you are and you don't even realize it. Just keep plugging along and doing your best and if it gets worse, you start looking for other opportunities.

I think @A-Jay nailed it. Fishing offshore in a kayak is a difficult proposition but anchoring is key. I have primarily been fishing rivers lately but when I do fish lakes a lot I always bring a second anchor rigged off the back to compliment the one off the front and I know I won't move from a spot. This is where electronics comes in to play because I am not going through the effort of anchoring without knowing it is a solid location. Unless the weather is windy I can usually get away with one anchor off the bow though since I can stand and cast pretty much 360 degrees in my kayak. I also always go much deeper with my crabnkbait than my target depth to keep it where I want it to be longer. If I start ticking the bottom and I don't want to I just let off for a second to let it float up and that alone can trigger strikes.

yeah they are basically three different groups of discs, drivers, mid ranges and putters. Then you get into flight characteristics of each disc and there is a grading scale for that. Kind of like when you say a baitcasting rod and then we all know how many different ones there are and some are better than others for certain things. When I first started playing back in 2000 they didn't have any ratings and there were 2 main manufacturers. I left it for a while and got back into during the pandemic and there are like 50 manufacturers and they have flight ratings for discs now too lol. It is a good way to get out of the house, get some walking in and not take more than a couple of hours to do it.

Got my daughter and wife a set of disc golf discs for Christmas. My 5 year old really took to it and she did her first 18 holes without as much as one complaint. It also didn't hurt it was 65 degrees at the end of December.

the few duck blinds I have seen stick out like a sore thumb but they are on swampy areas and raised off the ground.

If I see something far enough away and I am still concerned, I stand and wave my paddle around as it will get their attention. The 2 times I have had to do it, it worked and they both came over to make sure I was ok and I said yeah but I was concerned they didn't see me. One said they didn't before I waved my paddle and the other said they did. I did ask the one who saw me before what he saw and he said he saw my paddle going into the air on my paddle stroke. I do have bright yellow paddle blades but whenever anyone asks about a paddle, I do mention this as it can make a difference. Scarier run in for me is with hunters on a specific body of water but that is a different story and thread I guess.....

I think that is regional becasue my Bass pro shop has a horrible fly tying selection. We do have a local place that has a killer fly tying section but when I go online it is usually one of the bigger places like. feather-craft because I trust the quality. I try and buy feathers and most naturals in person if possible because then I can see the consistency and pick the best pieces. Synthetics, hooks etc...I go online to the cheapest spot I can find for the most part.

I've thrown ned rigs on my 7wt before with no issues. You just have to glue the bait to the hook or it will rip off during the cast. I've done the same with nose hooked stickbaits too. A purist I am not.....I rarely hit myself with flies but I think that goes back to me learning how to fish with a 4wt and I used it for everything. I didn't "know" I wasn't supposed to throw heavy stuff on it so I adapted my casting stroke accordingly. Comes in handy now even though I have more fly rods that I know what to do with at the moment lol

Tough choice but I wouldn't mind living in central PA so I could fish for killer smallmouth and some historic trout streams. Florida is another one but I haven't fished there much but the idea of a flats boat and sight fishing for a bunch of different species is super appealing.

I think for me it goes back to when I used to tie for a few shops. I would tie dozens of the same fly and would get bored but it gave me some spending money so I suffered through it. I remember when golden retrievers became the hot fly I tied so many it made my eyes bleed but we couldn't keep them in stock. Of course back when I was doing this the flies for sale were more basic which probably added to the boredom. I got away from tying for a while and was pleasantly surprised with all the advancements...it was real nice to not have to cut hooks to make shanks for articulated flies :).