Hanover_Yakker

Agreed! A spinning reel on a decent medium action fast rod will serve you well and cover most of what you want to do (the Walmart Ugly Stik spinning combo for $30 is decent to get started with). If you absolutely were forced to get one though - the Zebco 33 casting is pretty solid and is functional though per your original request.

I'll most likely be launching across the way at Ft. Belvoir, since it is a little more kayak friendly and a quicker shot out to the main channel. Looking forward to this event!! Bring plenty of topwater weedless presentations, shakey heads or wacky rigs and pig-n-jigs for for the holes in the grass and possibly a fluke, chatterbait or spinnerbait to run on the outside of the grass lines. There's nothing like the adrenaline rush of a snakehead waking from 20 feet away to chase your topwater frog - let me tell you!!! It will get your heart racing. For those that like to chase blue catfish, there are some fat whicker kitties laying along the bottom of the main creek channels - fyi!!! I sighted at least 3-4 30blers when I was there last summer. There are also yellow perch or ring perch for some of you amongst the bass as well in the holes and along the shallows near the grass edges., so an ultralight with a beetle spin or a rooster tail might be a good option as well if you are bringing the little ones.

It was great meeting a couple of you guys this past weekend....Sam, Thorn et al. There were some deals to be had if you ventured into the booths versus just aisle hopping and scanning the outer edges. One vendor in particular had a great deal on TFO rods and Curados but you had to get inside their setup to see it. The latest version of the Curados were on sale for $119 new - they had several G6 and G5s available. The TFO deal was pretty sweet - the Tactical Series ($149 normally) selling for $89 and the Signature Series ($99 normally) selling for $69. For those that didn't make it, maybe next time. Hope to meet more of you in the future!

This might help out some of the folks that have never been there: http://www.saltwatertides.com/dynamic.dir/potomacsites.html

No one from BR stopped by the ARC booth to meet up yesterday that I was aware, only Sam on Friday. I'll be there today again (from 10-1) only for a few hours due to a prior committment with my son. Know your price points on certain items to avoid paying normal price for the sake of being at the show.

I just placed an order with you guys the other day for a whole mess of the Flip-n-Swims Sent you an email too. Looking forward to giving them a workout soon.....

Today was kind of slow but we had plenty of traffic at our setup. Didn't get a chance to hit any seminars, but Saturday is the big day. Met Sam today and had a nice chat with him for a bit. Hope to meet some more of you tomorrow. If you have some free time around 3pm, make your way over to the Seminar 2 location back by the concessions in the back. I'll be in the seminar with ARC and we will be hosting a panel discussion about kayak angling and species specific techniques. I'll be wearing my Hobie Fishing Team shirt and visor standing next to my yellow Hobie Revolution the rest of the day, so I should be pretty easy to pick out .

Yeah, sorry about that. Corrected it.

Cars, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, current fave (and one of my faves) is The Sandlot (he plays baseball so go figure)

The deals are best had late on Sunday when vendors are tyring to get rid of products they don't want to carry back. You can find deals if you are diligent - I found a mis-priced St. Croix Avid 6'8" MXF casting rod last year for $74.99 .......you read that right. A $180 rod for $75!!! You just have to be diligent and be willing to look at every rod in the booths. The seminars are the icing on the cake for me.

Try here: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.675476,-77.167239&num=1&t=h&z=16

If I can make it, it would be most likely only for one day, likely Saturday the 24th due to baseball committments on Sundays all year.

I'm hoping that the date is in August since my September is booked with 2 tournaments already. Not sure I could swing a third weekend especially with school and baseball still going on with my son.

One last note on GoPros and sound recordings, the mic is very sensitive. That being the case, the waterproof housing actually mutes the mic and makes your commentary muffled. The non-waterproof housing cures part of that but then you are exposing your GP to the elements like rain or other water damage from fish, co-anglers, etc. and you are more succeptable to increased ambient noises you cannot control like wind, things in the boat banging or anglers shuffling about. You'll notice that none of my videos have any ambient noise or commentary, simply because ambient noises are everywhere for me when I fish out of a kayak. Not to mention that the GP is literally only inches from the water, so even the slightest wave chop or movement is amplified. Keep playing around with it, and it will improve each time. If you watch the first of my videos from early in 2012 to the last one I did back in early December - the difference in quality and production is leaps and bounds ahead. Keep at it!!!

Both of you will be required to wear surgical masks upon entering the facility..........LOL

You could always go with a lipless crankbait once you learn the fall rate of your lure with the line you use.

If it's results your after, then why not go old school and get something like a good Shimano Curado 200 DPV or a Revo Winch? Most likely in the same price range or even cheaper and it may have some good mojo still on them ?

Yeah, the forecast keeps changing....... *** ALERT *** ALERT 12Z NAM ..AGAIN INCREASES THE MOISTURE -- that means SNOW -- Over ALL portions of Southwest Central... southern central and Southeast VA for FRIDAY JAN 25 The New NAM model has 8 INCH SNOWFALL for ALL OF SOUTHWEST VA... from just west of Roanoke to Wise Including MARION ABINGDON WYTHEVILLE .. and 3-4 4 inches snow over over the VA - NC boerder areas Martinsville DANVILLE SOUTH HILL HILL EMPORIA & FRANKLIN and in NC MT AIRY REEDSVILLE and HENDERSON and the MODEL... not me the MODEL has 4 inches snow over SE VA-- Suffolk wakefield Franklin Chesapeake Noroflk Va beach... and into Northeast NC" Fun fun!!! Just a heads up to anyone interested, I'll be teaming up with my fellow kayak anglers and doing a seminar on Friday (1pm) and Saturday (3pm) in a round table open forum format in case you want to stop in and ask some questions. Check the seminar schedule Look forward to meeting some of you this weekend if you can make it.

Not a problem - others on here like J Francho, flyfisher, DarrenM and myself can give you real-world experiences of both the pros and cons of almost any kayak you can ask about. If we haven't paddled or pedaled it, we probably know someone who has and can get you in touch with them. Since you are in FL, you may want to look up Sunjammers. They are a kayak outfitter and can set you up with as many demo rentals as you like. Be forewarned though, they also have Hobies ......LOL

FWIW - other versions of stick baits like Yums, Strike Kings or BPS don't even require the tool. I was always worried about losing the tool when out on the water in my kayak, so I would just roll the o-ring on by hand and place them in the bag before heading out. Never tore one yet.

......and here I thought I was doing well with selling half of my gear and maintaining only 11 rods total (2 dedicated saltwater, 2 ultralights, 2 for my son and 5 for my bassin and trout/redfish slayin')....... ....oh yeah, and the one I forgot, the $850 Orvis Hydros fly rod combo that hides in the corner out of sight.......

Welcome aboard from another fellow CVA person. Careful though, I fish out of one of them there plastic things they call a kayak

I would add that the Shimano Saros and Symmetre are great values and balance very nicely on a Legend Extreme. Whatever you do, make sure you take the rod in with you to see how each reel feels when mounted on the rod.

I wish those tournaments had a kayak division!! I'd give Hank Parker a run for his money in my Hobie !

Current exhibitor list: http://www.ncboatshows.com/exhibitors.php/eventId/3 Current floor plan: http://www.ncboatshows.com/_files/2013_VEXPO_LAYOUT.pdf Current seminar schedule: http://www.ncboatshows.com/schedule.php/eventId/3 ****Looking to save a Dollar $? Look for the Times Dispatch Press Pass for $1 off admission. Press Pass will be printed in several editions throughout the week of the event.