Choporoz

Pot of black coffee. I'll often take a couple granola bars along, but almost always still have a couple granola bars left when I return. Crazy...at work, when clock strikes 11AM, I'm starving. But I could be in the boat from 5AM to 4PM and never think about food

Good thinking...I hadn't considered that; Canada is in OP's bio

Over the past 14 years, I have gone from nearly all YZH, to nearly all braid, to mostly braid/fluoro leader, to mix of braid and fluoro. Today I have mono for topwater poppers, plugs, and ploppers. Fluoro for most bottom contact, where 12 - 17# seems appropriate. I do still use braid to fluoro leader for heavy jigs, jerkbaits, and light spinning applications. Fluoro on cranks. Straight braid for frogs. Spinnerbaits and chatterbaits get thrown on whatever line is on appropriate rod at the time. As you can tell from varied answers, opinions are all over the map....no correct answers. I have few strong conclusions aside from: - I feel strongly that fluoro slack-line sensitivity is way better than other lines - I come down on the 'bass aren't very line shy' side of that argument. - braid to leader adds a knot and increases risk....however, putting visibility to the fish aside, leader still adds value in three ways: abrasion resistance, ability to break-off, saves braid on re-ties. - I hate when line sinks ahead of topwater baits - visibility to me can be huge when using senkos and flukes - contrary to what I thought for years based on spool prices, braid is cheap...YZH might even be cheaper -

To above, I'll add: Plug knocker Whistle Gatorade Bottle

Ouch. Inflation? I had Premiers pegged as good value if under about $130. But, it was a while since I looked at them. Handling both side by side, I felt Victory was twice the rod as a Premier

I don't like tailgaters, but I have never been rear ended by one. I have been rear ended twice by people who had been safe distance back but looking down, presumably at phones and didn't break in time. Tailgaters are maddening, but I would guess they are probably some of the most attentive drivers around you. I think, then, that you are more wrong than them. You should probably be in the right lane. Slow drivers in the middle lane are more dangerous than the evil slow drivers in the left lane. I was stopped for speeding a few months ago. Got a warning, but as he walked away, the trooper said "Keep it down... eight to ten over". Rather surprised me.

I resolve to not watch any news any more. Every so often there's a report about the yen tanking.... within minutes I find myself on Digitaka

Never been. Doesn't look too big. Love that they rent boats. Will you be fishing from bank, boat, kayak...? Looks like you could cover much of the lake in a day by yak or Jon boat

Worth 100. Also worth 107.20. But for the KVD version, put some loc-tite on the handle grip screws. They tend to back out. Haven't lost any....just mildly annoying until you lock them in

I think maybe there's another potential lesson. I am unlikely to work a section/area twice, in different directions. But it is possible that having a bit of time between power and finesse to a 'spot' was important. That is, perhaps alternating baits during a single pass might not have had as good of results. Oh heck...the more I think about it, the more I convince myself that I don't know what I'm talking about...we don't even know if the buzzbait might have been better on the return trip than on the first pass...or if the later fish were even in that neighborhood during the first pass

Welcome! - from Person Co.

Also works better if you know that the working light bulbs are 30 years old

Yes. But not all day. I fished from a kayak for years before getting a boat. The limited mobility, compared to a boat, led me to be extremely thorough before big moves. So, I am predisposed to fish slow and I will do that on the first few high percentage areas. I often learn a lot about fish mood by starting with power and then scouring with finesse if power isn't getting bit. But....if the area seems void of bait and bites I will move on pretty fast. However, even that decision might be seasonally dependent. I used to bail out on creek arms, bays and coves if I didn't see hardly any bait in the first third or half. Certain times of the year bait can get so concentrated that I need to scan all the way back before moving on. One more but ....sometimes when I know I only have a couple few hours on the water, I will just fish fast and move around, looking only for active aggressive bass

I do not necessarily recommend buying more than one new rod at a time. It is rare that I bought a rod with an intended specific use and got it right the first time. But many of those mis-cast rods ended up being ideal for something else. So by the time I settled on a jig rod, I already had a great spinnerbait rod and a great chatterbait rod. Set out to get a shakey head rod, but ended up with a senko skipping rod and a tremendous dropshot rod along the way.

Appreciate the clarification. I don't keep logs of any sort, so I'm going on my generally faulty recollections....but, I never noticed a seasonal difference. My thinking has always been that a dramatic shift from sunny to overcast....or overcast to bright.... changes the fish activity. But no rules about one change being better than the other. That is, the bite will noticeably improve or nearly shut off when sun comes out or disappears for extended period. I wish the fish would give me a better answer, but if they are, I'm missing it. I fully expect a change, but cannot predict which way it is going to go.

Are we talking about clouds rolling in, or dusk?

Agreed. That's one thing that bothered me about top level kayak bass tournaments, also. There's tight knit not-team teams that make some question the individual nature of the sport.

I like my Smoke S3s better than my Tatulas.

I scrolled up to see if this thread began on April 1. I honestly would not have imagined that Texas Rig is NOT a confidence bait. To those who say that jig is always fished where a t-rig might be used; is that always a skirted jig?

Almost every day lately I read a BR post and wonder whether we've been infiltrated by bots. Can't say that ever crossed my mind more than a month ago. Don't know if it is just me...or the AI

It doesn't matter. Or, rather...it matters so very little for your leader that it doesn't matter. I submit that if you fish two identical rigs....one with each of those options, you will never be able to tell the difference

Bass behavior varies... no question. ....perhaps some of the perceived differences in sucess between you and @Bird (wood v. grass) have to do as much with varied angler behavior

That Alpha Gal is some crazy stuff. Never heard of it before about 2-3 years ago when a friend got it. As bad as Lyme can be, it has high degree of being minimized if caught early and correctly. But never being able to eat burgers or bacon again would be a whole different sort of purgatory

@JayMac89, same here. I'd like a TM for long transits, but I would find a way to keep my pedals

+1! 100%