flyfisher

Motors are a fantastic thing to have in current. I fish a river with some heavier current and it absolutely helps. I am able to do one person shuttles and go 5+ miles upstream and float back if needed. I did the paddle thing for years and worked the currents and eddies and could cover water close to the launch spot very thoroughly and maybe a mile or 2 upstream if I worked at it. With a motor I follow the same principles as if I was simply paddling I just have more propulsion and can cover a lot more water.

Tying thread is cheap and so is bucktail and marabou. I would stick to the fly tying specific stuff. I have tried some of the Michaels stuff and it the quality isn't consistent and the color bleeds out. Marabou is under $5 a pack and bucktail runs about the same. only thing I get from a place like Michaels for tying is foam and beads.

nice!! When floating downstream in my ATAK 140 I routinely use a foot to push a pedal to change the direction of my motor in a pseudo rudder like fashion. I'm not in my 20's but have been blessed with good balance lol

Yeah I wasn't counting creek fishing in bank fishing, more of the pond variety. I agree that when I go chase brookies in the mountains I am doing as much hiking as I am fishing and that could be deemed more of a workout. As far as pedaling goes, sure it can be until you build up some endurance. Back when I was figuring out if I wanted to get a pedal or paddle kayak, I was able to use a pedal kayak for a day. Being a cyclist my legs didn't feel any difference. I guess the moral of the story is that it all depends on your fitness level. As far as getting the heart rate up for a certain period of time it is generally advised to be in about 70-85% of your max heart rate for a minimum of 15-20 minutes and ideally 30-45 to be called exercise. Sure anytime your heart rate is up is better than none but you aren't really doing much good if you raise your heart rate for short periods of time. I know for cycling, or any endurance sport really, you want to start your riding season by building up the base and keeping your heart rate in the lower end of the range for as long as possible and try not to peak. If you do this for your first month or so of riding you will see that your heart rate improves and that target range is higher than it was originally. The heart is like anything else in the body and it needs to be worked and in the right fashion to gain true results.

if it takes you 20 minutes, time needed for an elevated heart rate to count as exercise by many, to land any bass then you need to up your skill level and stop stressing the fish so much lol

Highly underrated fish. I have had some truly memorable days catching carp on my 4wt when they were feeding on caddis. Nothing beats having a fish take you into your backing and in freshwater, they are probably the only ones that will.

I think fishing for smallies it is pretty common to see fly fisherman, or any type of moving water. Flatwater fly fishing isn't as prevalent really that I have seen. I also think with it getting colder and people using the float and fly technique gets people thinking about another method to catch fish. Eh, I am not a fan of the muddler minnow but it is effective. It is a really classic pattern that has been around for probably close to a century.

Kayak fishing is more "exercise" than bank fishing but I wouldn't call it exercise. I guess if you had long paddles every trip out and were keeping a higher heart rate for 20 minutes or so it could be exercise but in your normal kayak fishing, I wouldn't call it exercise.

it can but the post was talking about bombing 140' casts. I personally have never found the need to overline a rod in the past 10-15 years. Lines being developed with short more concentrated weight tapers solved the need to overline a rod. My current favorite line is the Scientific Anglers Titan and it does a great job at all distances in the 4 different weights I use it.

Is this supposed to be a big deal or something? I mean for a 7wt rod 250grain head is severely overlining the rod and as long as you are patient with the rod loading up, it will shoot that length of line pretty easily. Overlining a rod is simply a way to slow down the action of the rod to cover up casting mistakes on faster blanks.

I don't but I have seen people who do on the various social media pages. I think if I am going that deep into kayak fishing I am just gonna get a small boat though. My SI is doing me well so far

Outstanding book on the impact of trauma in children and how we can use this knowledge to better teach them in the classroom. There are others as well but this is the most recent one for me.

wow that is poor design. I haven't heard of a Hobie PA wearing through before. it is one of the few brands I haven't owned over the years though so I only have experience pedaling others boats and not abusing them like I do my own.

Since you are doing two birds, I would do one traditional and one cajun and see what the crowd likes. I personally never inject my turkeys if I brine them. I'd also just smoke them all Thursday morning. For me, I use a weber smoky mountain cooker and leave it wide open and the bird only takes a little longer than a normal roasting time and you get that smoke flavor that we all love on a turkey.

No such thing as a dry brine really it is a rub but same difference. I prefer a wet brine and do it every year. You have to make sure the brine is heavily seasoned and then allow the bird to dry out a little before cooking or you will get a more waterlogged and less flavorful bird. I usually follow the recipe Alton Brown has for his brine and it has been very good to me over the years.

I see a lot of people using keel guards and I am not sure why, unless it is a cheap thin plastic kayak. I have an ATAK 140 with a removable keel guard like the one you have pictured and I have replaced it twice in my 7 years or so of owning the kayak and haven't seen the need to protect anything else. Quality kayaks are made with pretty thick material and the chance of wearing them out is pretty low. Glad you found something cheap though rather than boat specific stuff which is always priced higher than a comparable item that isn't made for boats.

I'd rather spend time grabbing another rod with a bait I want already tied on than I would retying. Every cast counts and more casts the better.

yeah on top but the hull is different if I recall. I remember looking at one when I go the ATAK.

@Fallser you do some fantastic work and your innovation and creativity is awesome. I am currently enrolled in 3 grad school classes combined with teaching and everything else so I haven't fished or tied in a while....after the first week of December my time will free up though. Somehow I did manage to pick up a couple more 8wts though

Conventional fishing I take 5 or 6 3700 boxes, i think that is the size. Fly fishing i take a couple two sided streamer boxes and 2-3 3700 boxes. They all go in the same crate, I just swap out certain baits/flies certain times of year. Certain river trips I may also pare down what I take a lot if I know what the fish are hitting on.

x2

I use the yak attack omega holders on tracks, best fly rod holder I have found hands down. I take 3 with me usually. as far as standing or sitting, yes :). I do both depending on the situation. My kayak is motorized with foot control for steering. I will paddle around once in an area though too and when floating downstream, I will keep the motor down and use it for corrections and stand probably 90% of the time. I still use a crate and use a couple of two sided boxes I got probably 5-6 years ago, I think they are wetfly and I also use your standard Plano waterproof boxes, I want to say 3730, for larger flies like game changers, t bone styles etc... pretty much I didn't change to much from my conventional style of fishing except the rod holders. Storage is about the same except I have a battery box in the back of my rear tank well. The ATAK 140 has a big rear tankwell so it fits everything pretty nicely. I am not gonna get out for a few weeks but I will take a pic as soon as I get out again with everything set up.

I'll take a pic but I haven't done anything special to be honest. Only thing I haven't done is add anything in front of my seat that I don't have to aka rod holders and the like. On rivers I leave the fish finder at home as well. Fly line will catch on everything it can lol

they use the same 4 bolt as a power pole would so if there is an adapter for that it should work. Good info but some is a little off. The torqueedo battery isn't 100 AH equivalent, it is closer to 30 AH. The Bixpy J2 is listed as 33lb output. It is nice to have multiple options though.

I have seen a lot of issues posted on the J2 motors and people wanting to trade back to the J1. It was high on my list when I motorized this year but I went with the Newport Vessels NK180s and have been extremely happy. I run with 30ah lithium, 2 12v wired to give me 24 and all in I was under $1300 total investment plus another $100 or so for registering and titling my kayak here in VA which is good for 3 years. I can run 5+ miles upstream and float back and on lakes I have only burned the battery out when I was trying to by running full speed for over an hour to get back to the ramp. I wish I did it a few years earlier but the torqueedo price was just too much to justify.