Hanover_Yakker

I'm getting ready to try it out here soon myself again. It's been far too long for me.

They are awesome frogs to use but there is a learning curve. The best way to use these is a follow up bait to a traditional soft plastic frog like a Rage, Ribbit or Zoom Horny Toad. When you have a strike and miss, lay that rod down and throw the Clone as a follow up bait. The best method is what is called a twitch twitch drag where the drag actually pulls the Clone under the water for a couple of inches. The hardest thing to learn how to do is not use a hard swinging hookset with this frog. The hook is designed in such a way that the hook will set itself with only the slightest sideswipe hookset. The first hing you need to do though is go to your local pharmacy store and buy the dental rubber bands used for braces. The ones provided in the pack will work, but they will snap too easily after being exposed to the sun. I have several of the Clones myself and will be replacing the bands myself here in the coming week or two. My favorite Clone is the Brown Bull but you can take a Sharpie and customize the legs of the frogs into any pattern you want. They also sell what are called the Skitter Legs which turns the Clone frogs into a buzz frog with a stinger hook trailer. You can find them here: http://kayakfishinggear.com/captkendaubertskitterlegs-stingerhookkit.aspx Here's a good video of how to use it: And of some action..... And another one....

Unfortunately, I realized when I got there that I had left one whole tray of takle sitting at home that would turn out to be a critical error. As for the event, I didn't fair as good as I would have liked. I had planned on getting there early on Wednesday and pre-fishing a couple areas. Mother Nature had other plans, because the night before I got there a cold front moved in and brought with it 25-30mph all day. I could see white caps in the Diversion Canal and out on the main body of water on Moultrie. Several other kayak anglers and boaters came in reporting minimal success. I decided to wait until the following day. Thrusday brought the brunt of the cold front with overnight lows below freezing and winds in the 20mph range. I fished in and around the area at Blacks Camp with nary a bite. Few had success as well. The Hatchery was okay, but day 1 of the KBF Open found 29 people with no fish to turn in on their scorecards. I ended up pedaling about and helping out more than actual fishing. Day 2 on Friday brought with it milder conditions with temps in the 60's later in the day and calm winds, so I went to the Rim Ditch at the Hatchery and fished hard for 4-5 hours. I threw at every laydown and bed with only 3 bites to speak of. The first bite was a complete miss on my part from not paying attention. The second bite missed was more about the buck bass guarding the bed not taking the bait completely. The third one is the dreaded "one that got away" story. I found a laydown that had 3-4 trees crossed over one another, so I decided to go big or go home. I tied on a 7/0 EWG Gammy with a 1/8oz tungsten weight and threaded on a 10" PTL Ribbon Hinge worm. First cast into the back of the laydown was perfectly placed. I worked it up and over the laydown cross point and let it fall to a rest. A couple subtle twitches and I felt a sold 'thunk". I knew the fish didn't have it all, so I let it take it a couple more times and saw the line subtly move. I reeled down and gave a nice firm sidesweep hookset and felt the hook drive home. My MH rod bowed over and then "pop"......the dang fish snapped new 30lb. PP braind clean!!! I was so ticked, uuntil I learned that my buddy had fished the same laydown not 30 minutes before me and had the same experience. On somewhat of a good note, my buddy from NOVA was fishing near me and landed his personal best at 23 1/4". Saturday brought with it air temps in the high 60's and some wind, but we were fishing Mark Deschene's VIP Adventures, so we were all a little excited. 60 kayak anglers were licking their chops at the chance to qualify for the top 15 to move on. We were placed in two groups of 15 anglers on lakes 5 & 6. Many of us had no prior knowledge of the place and those in the know wouldn't even share the location. They had the upperhand, but I stuck to my guns and fished my way. Several fish were caught on all manner of presentations from lipless cranks, billed cranks, soft plastics, swimbaits, etc. All of my fish were caught on texas-rigged soft plastics. I had 8 fish total, three of which were dang crappie. They were slamming my 5" stick bait like it was a minnow. I ended up missing the top 15 by a few inches of total length between two fish, but I did get to see a 7lb. beast get pulled in by one of the SC natives that knew the lake already. Since I missed the cut on Day 1, I opted to head home a day early. I had thoughts of getting up and trying my luck back at the hatchery for some casual fishing, but I just couldn't get out of bed for some reason. I ended up oversleeping, so I finally bagged it and called it. I got some breakfast, took a shower and hit the road. When I look back at the event, the most consistent bite was on medium cranks and lipless cranks deflecting off of stumps in varying depths of water. It made me realize that I need some serious work on my crankbait skills and learn to get over my fears of working cranks against wood. I guess my fear is directly tied to the fact that I don't have a plug knocker and I fear that I will lose my high end cranks. Looks like I know have a point of focus for the coming year, and a new rod to add to the arsenal, since I don't have a crankin' setup. In the end, it was an awesome event and one that I plan on going to again next year. Thanks again to all of the folks that shared some information with me via the numerous PMs I sent over the last couple of months.

Might consider this at some point.

Thanks - the video is actually Jeff Little of smallmouth fame. The net he has is a custom DIY where he took a standard net and bolted it to a "polio" cane. However, Leverage Landing Net patented the same design in a folding stowable net. You can watch the promo video here: Their site is: http://www.leveragelandingnet.com They have various sizes. I won one of them in 2011 from KBF, but I gave it to a co-worker for him and his dad to use on their G3 boat. They love it.

I currently have a Revo S and have owned two others in the past as well as an HS-SX and STX - loved them all, and you're right on the price point. Bought all of my Revo S' for $99. As far as the differences in braking, I prefer to not use any braking either centrifugal or magentic, so that design feature is of little to no significance for me at all. The weight factor is minimal at best when you are using mid to high end rods. The real difference for me is "feel". While my STX felt good, the Revo S just plain sits nicer and feels better in my hands when I am fishing. Now, if you able to get the STX at or below $130, then that's another story entirely.

Both are the same for me - shakey head and targeting cover but the difference might be between a 4-5" finesse or small profile soft plastic versus a 7-10" trick worm, stick bait or large creature bait. Same technique though just different sizes of the lure. It's not necessarily a "panic" bait, but more of one that forces me to slow down and relax. The bite quickly follows oddly enough in most cases.

Just ordered a tube of the original, probably will snag some of the craw at some point.

If you like crappie, the fishing pier at Powhatan Lakes is not bad. Big ones hang out in the brush piles right next to the pier. At Sandy River, the fishing pier has some nice catfish available. Bear Creek Lake has some decent fishing with some well placed trees about 20 yards out from shore and next to the pier. Check the VA DGIF site for locations with fishing piers and fishing opportunities. You might there are more than you realize.

Didn't see your reply, so sorry for the delayed response. For me, my primary waters are Sandy River Reservoir and Briery Creek Lake. I also hit up Diascund Creek, Smith Moutain and Lake Anna. I hit afew local ponds when time is short, but once summer gets here I can usually be found around the Eastern Shore and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge tunnel chasing some salty species like Summer Flounder, Redfish, Speckled Trout, Spadefish, Sheepsheads and big Croakers. I frequent both fresh and salt and try to stay as well rounded as possible.

Welcome aboard! Lots of VA folks on here. Just a matter of coordinating schedules with people. I know that there is a meet-n-greet on the Potomac at the end of August you might want to consider....

Like Dwight said, a backing plate of some form is highly recommended. An easy solution that several of my kayaking friends use is the cheap cutting boards from Wallie world and cut out a circle. Almost bulletproof then.

I never even consider it to be honest, because most of the weather sites I use to check temps and winds do not have the barometer listed until you dig deeper into the details on a different page. Heard about it, read about it and even started tracking it after my fishing trips just to see if there was some measure of truth to it. What I found was more akin to the amount of time I had on the water and my approach or tactics for the day were the most likely culprit of why I didn't catch as many fish as I had hoped for.

A Strike King King Shad (wake version) - the joint just seems to stiff to me compared to my floating SPRO BBZ-1 shad. The motion is too mechanical if that makes sense, so it just sits in a tackle tray along with other unused random/old tackle. I've cast it one time, didn't like it, so I cut it off and tied on something different.

If i remember correctly, I used a 1/8" drill bit for the pilot hole and a #10 cap screw in various lengths, started threading the initial bolt into the hole through the mount, then drilled a second pilot hole opposite of that one and started threading another bolt. Once you have 2 bolts started, you can drill the third one, but make sure you hand tighten the cap screws and nuts to avoid over tightening them. Like I said earlier though, its easier to just carry the base with you into the store and test fit the bolts or cap screws first. ***NOTE - keep in mind that you need to plan for not only the mounting depth of the base, but also any hull or moutning material you are mounting to. Especially if you are using the tip I mention below - an additional 1/4" will be needed in the length of the cap screws. I think I ended up using 1 1/2" cap screws on the ones with the pad eye backing approach.*** Here's a tip for anyone looking to install any type of mounts on their kayak or canoe and using the RAM bases. Purchase a handful of the nylon or stainless steel pad eyes. When you go to install the bolts (or rivets), use the pad eye as a backing washer on the iside of the hull. Once completed, you know have an attach point for any form of lashing or caribiner. Perfect for those small Placno dry boxes that people use to keep phones, keys and such in. The reason I mentioned the RAM bases is because the holes on the RAM bases actually line up on one side so that you can use both moutning holes on the pad eye. If you use some other base like a Humminbird or Garmin, you can still use the pad eye approach, but you may only get one hole lined up on the pad eye. No worries, once it's cinched down, it will hold and can still be used. This is a great technique for boats as well where you have access to the back of a panel, because you can use the pad eye or a zip tie with the bolt eye on it to attach wiring to to keep it from laying around and getting chafed or cut by movement.

To be honest, it has been awhile since I used those because I use the YakAttack Screwball paired with the YakAttack GearTrac accessory tracks. Let's me slide the mounts on and off and secure them with a simple twist. The best method I used was taking the base in with me and checking the diameters of the bolts firsthand. Sorry i don't remember offhand but I'll look tomorrow and see if I still have the plastic pack with the sizing info for you.

I gotcha - the main reason they do not provide any mounting hardware is that the install depth varies from application to application. I got mine from HD or Lowes and used S/S cap screws (allen heads) with backing washers and nylon locking nuts. I used cap screws, because I figured not many people would be carrying around an allen head in their pockets to steal the mounts. A phillips head screw driver is way too common. I also tipped each bolt and the backside of the washer and the nut where they would contact the hull with LEXEL to ensure a watertight seal.

According to RAM's product info page on the 107-U, your package should have come with three items, the Humminbird base with integrated 1" RAM ball, the RAM double socket arm and a 1" RAM ball base. If you have anything less than those three pieces, then your retail package was missing the requisite pieces per RAM's package description. You can print and take the product description from their page to the retailer and exchange it for the right package. http://www.rammount.com/CatalogResults/PartDetails/tabid/63/partid/082065077045066045049048055085/Default.aspx Hope that helps!

Appreciate it - yeah it does take a lot of time, but fishing and volunteering with Heroes On the Water are my priorities outside of family, coaching my son's baseball team and work. Although I have to admit, and the setter owner can chime in on this one as well, when you have a dog that has that "it" factor where they just get it, its natural for them. It makes the training relatively easy. Let's hope that others will share their lovely four-legged family members and keep this thread going!!!

Depending upon which package you purchased. Most mounts from RAM can be purchased either by themselves or in a retail package with the base. I have purchased both types. The mounts themselves alone typically run in the $18-30 range but the packs with the bases typically run in the $39-49 range. What is the part number/model RAM mount you purchased?

I most likely misread his original post, but I agree with you on the different types, but the beauty of the Welsh Springer Spaniel is that there is no distinction between field or conformation. The same breed standard applies around the world for our breed. As for your comments on hunt tests, I am well versed on those. I have marshalled, been a steward and am certified as a bird planter. In addition, the dog you see in the photos is my own and he is not only a WDX (working Dog Excellent), JH (Junior Hunter), and has two legs towards his Senior Hunter, but he is also an obedience champion, a Versatility Champion, a confirmation Champion, a Grand Champion, as well as an International, and National Champion and has won several Sporting Groups, Best In Shows and Reserve Best in Shows. I am well aware that many breeds like setters, pointers and even some of the spaniels (namely English Springer, English and American Cockers) have differences between breed standards for their field or trial dogs and their confirmation dogs.

Welcome aboard.

Here's a few of my toys.....thanks HawgTech!!!

If you do, drop me a PM. I have a specific question to ask you offline.

I almost forgot that I also have the Ghost Chartreuse Shad and the Blue Herring colors as well. Awesome baits - was able to snag mine at the local Gander Mountain when they were closing down. 70% off!!!