Choporoz

I applaud you for attempting to apply logic and information gathering to the process. Good luck. I have bought at least two dozen rods over the last 10-11 years. Of the three 'favorites', One was recommended by many here One was an impulse store purchase largely because it was over 50% off MSRP and I'm a sucker for a perceived deal One was recommended by exactly one person on here; someone I knew little about, and I had no good reason to evaluate their judgment So....I guess I am saying is that to me, luck is every bit as important as process

Maybe I was interpreting too much. In my mind, the OP wouldn't really give two cents to find out what I thought was best for me in my water....but just maybe he wanted to find out what might be best for him in his water. So perhaps the question is flawed more than the answers. Why should anyone ever have to make an absolute binary decision between two different greens? Based totally on information not included or understood. My response was a bit cheeky, but I do think that it will be as beneficial to the op as any one recommending he choose between one or the other.

Try both. Alternate use for a day. One will work better. That will become your confidence color and you'll never need to buy the other again.

But, if they're on a short right leg pattern, you're skunked.

I think we got wrapped around the a semantics axel. Putting aside the 'junk', I disagree with your premise that discovering and refining a pattern is hard (er?) from a kayak. (The example above is a pretty extreme hypothetical: all catchable fish are on southwest corner of docks facing south on inside points. But all those docks are across the lake.....) Expand your mind's eye and apply aspects of what you learned from that dock corner to other areas. Patterning is one thing. Putting all the targeted bass in a tiny box is something different, in my opinion.

I've been known to over-use the phrase 'they aren't jumping into the boat'. This one tried. Hit a buzzbait as I was lifting it out of the water. She got the hook and then slammed into the side of my kayak almost completely airborne. She meant business.

Cutting them is easy. Making them longer is less easy.

I was nosing around JDM website. I am a bit confused. Google Translate isn't any help. Who has the Daiwa decoder ring? XH, HLC, SH, XHL, SV, PL, HL, SV, H, TW...my head is spinning. And I already have a bunch of Daiwas, but I haven't kept up. What are some of the key acronym meanings?

I have no clue what junk fishing is, either. I also am missing the point of the op. Does a kayak have limitations? Uh...yes. What vessel doesn't? Should we be prepared and able to fish the water available to us? It helps. I have fished a half dozen different lakes over 10K acres the last few years. (Up to 68K). There are options, opportunities and limitations on any body of water and in any boat, kayak or float tube. One of my most frequent local lakes requires considerable flexibility from an angler in any craft regardless of how far you reasonably travel from any of the ramps. Adaptability, flexibility, experience and knowledge don't equate to junk in my mind.

Leader may not be needed, but there are perfectly acceptable reasons to want to use one...including abrasion resistance....and others. Agree with @softwateronly. I typically use between 8 and 15# leaders with 10 to 40# braid.

Same boat. Usually only windy days now when I go over 1/4. Depth doesn't matter to me nearly as much as wind or current....or combo wind/current. Cast 1/8 on a windy day on an outgoing or incoming tide and you likely have no idea where your bait contacts bottom....or how many yards of slack are between you and your lure. Patience, feel, experience, sensitive rods, have all contributed to greater success working lighter weights through complex cover. If I want to actually drag bottom and be assured of constant contact, I'll probably have a swing jig, Jika or jig vice a Texas rig.

Imagine that line coming off the spool and how it now has to 'get around' the spool lip/edge. It will certainly rob you of momentum or inertia and kill distance. If you already decided you like that line, consider buying a spool and doing it yourself. Might save you some money and you'd know ot was done right.

My hesitation with this is that it sounds like there's only a cast-length of braid left. Just adding backing would mean that any catch at the end of the cast means you might fight the fish with that backing-to-braid knot.

I decided a few months ago to let it go, also. Funny (silly?) thing....the final straw for me was when they switched from bound issues to staples. Seems minor, I know. But I keep back issues by month, instead of chronologically so I can grab a few issues on a particular season....if I'm really bored. Now, there's no way to tell which issue is which....or find a particular month or year.....no reason to keep them at all. But. But, after missing a couple months, they offered me another year for, I think 12 bucks, so I'm getting them again. The lures were worth the 12 bucks...or a least a buck and a half anyway. I hoped for a tackle bag instead of the lures. That blue bag fits perfect in my kayak hatch.

No matter when you respool up new line, it will feel like you've 'wasted' a good amount of line. If you are casting to within a couple coils of the end, it's already past time.

My suggestion is not to drill any holes. And I am one who usually starts drilling within a couple days of getting a new kayak. I acknowledge that I may now be that yak snob. But I can only see this going one of two ways: 1. You like fishing from a kayak, but you want something different....very soon. 2. You hate kayak fishing because the seat sucks, the storage sucks, the stability sucks, the handling sucks, theres no place for your paddle, you can't stand, your wife/friend/kid wants to go along because there are two seats.....and you sell your first and last kayak....very soon. You got a good deal? Great! Flip it for a profit and get something better for fishing.

I generally have 13 or 14 in the truck. At the ramp I decide on 8 for the kayak that day. Within 90 minutes of launching, I am questioning my decision making abilities...and calculating how long it would take to get back to the truck and swap out one or more.

The answer is X. X = the number I have + 1

Best of luck.

https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/catpage-MOLDCOMP.html?from=basres This is what I bought, but never tried

Me three. They seemed a little stiff and in my mind they were going to impede hooksets, so I set them aside and never tried them.

Nobody here (especially not I) is arguing that a kayak is always the best tool for the job. Just trying to educate against apparent widespread notion that kayak fishermen are settling, and would always prefer a boat. For some, that's no doubt true. But for many, as hard as it may be to believe....it is not.

A kayak angler won an open salmon tournament on Lake Michigan the other day. I suppose the accessibility aspect may depend on your location. Within two hours of here, I can think of a couple dozen ponds, creeks, and rivers I can get my kayak to, but no trailered boat could access. Also, probably 90% of the boat ramps are gated at night, but many of those same waters have public shoreline accessible by kayak that isn't behind a gate. Except for areas of maybe four lakes in the state, and areas of the Potomac, I probably can access any bass fishing spot in Virginia that a boat can.

All true. But note that it isn't necessarily indicative of Badger behavior. Sconnie cede the Dells and surrounding area to Illinois and Illinois ex-pats about 40 years ago.

@fishwizzard, Thanks. I will check into those. If i read someone else post what i wrote, I would think they were a little nuts. I open TW worms page and theres probably 150 different worms there. No doubt a dozen would work where a Thumper would. I suppose it's a confidence thing. But I'm surprised those are getting tough to find. They sure have always been killer for me. I'd rather see the 10" go away since I feel the Anaconda is better in that role. I'll try to get a hold of SK, but they never answered my emails in the past.