Tugmaster

Retired from the Navy. Now a Merchant Marine working on tugboats.

www.tinboats.com has a TON of info for you.

Check out Powerteam soft plastics. They have a good variety of sizes, colors and styles and they float! Todd

I have two Presidents. One is on a St. Croix Mojo wacky rod the other is on a St. Croix Mojo power spin rod. I'm using 10lb and 20lb Power Pro on them. Todd

I see your in South Jersey. Take a trip over to Jersey Paddler. They will take care of all your needs. Todd

I bought a Mojo Wacky and a Mojo Powerspin from Basstackle warehouse a few months ago. At $75 apiece and free shipping I couldn't resist. Haven't fished them yet but did a bunch of research and it was 99% positive. Todd

I'm kinda surprised that no on has mentioned the Stanley Ribbit frogs. Although different than the hollow bodies they still produce!

Any fishfinder will work. Where the issues with a fishfinder in a kayak comes into play is the mounting of the transducer. There are a few options. First depending on what kind of kayak you have you can use a scupper mount if your kayak has scuppers. Next is the sidebar mount. Madfroggear.com has a nice setup. Some guys also make there own from PVC pipe. Also, you can mount your transducer inside the boat using plumbers putty. Some people like them this way and some don't as they don't trust the accuracy of the signal being shot thru the hull. If you do a google search for " kayak mounted fishfinder " you will find a lot of images and ideas. As far as a fishfinder itself goes take a ride up to Cabelas in East Hartford and take a look at all the different ones they have. There are plenty in your price range. Todd

Lots of answers to that question. 1st, what type of waters do you fish? Lakes and ponds? rivers? What do you want to spend? For the most part the sit on tops are pretty popular for fishing out of. The "hybrid" kayaks such as the Native Ultimate and the Wilderness Systems Commander are great boats but not well suited for rivers over class 1. You still see people fishing out of the sit in kayaks too. Depending on where you live, try and find an outfitter that will let you test paddle some different boats or find someone in your area with a kayak and give it a whirl. I think you will find most people will go out of there way to help you out. Todd

To be honest your height is totally irrelevant. Kayaks, like all boats go by maximum weight capacity. What you need to ask your self is what kind of water will you be fishing. Rivers? Lakes? Ponds? Longer kayaks tend to track better. Some folks like the old style cockpit type kayaks while other like the sit on top type. There is also the hybrid type. Kind of a canoe that you use a kayak paddle with. They all have there advantages and disadvantages. If you have a decent outfitter near you you can go for a test paddle and see what fits your needs. Todd

My guess would be that you Google GPS is giving you those positions in degrees, minutes and seconds of latitude and longitude. The Eagle unit may want the in degrees, minutes and THE DECIMAL EQUIVELENT OF MINUTES. Easy fix. Divide the seconds by 60 for the conversion. Example 27.24" divided by 60 equals .45 So the corrected latitude would be 38-04.45'N Hope this helps, Todd

Take a trip over to www.paddling.net. You will find links to just about every manufacture of just about every accessorie on the market. Lots of good info in their forums too. Todd

GREAT!!! Can't wait.

So when it come to fishing soft plastics how do you decide white size hook to use? Now I understand the personnel preference part when it come to the gap and whether it is offset or not but I'm not sure where the size comes in. I've seen different types from 1 to 6/0 and I'm sure there are more sizes. I'm know there are technique specific hooks, I.E. Wakey rig and drop shot but for rigging weed less how do you decide? Thanks, Todd

VERY COOL!!!! I really don't like fishing shows. This is great. Regular folks fishing. Nothing more. Thanks so much for sharing! Todd

Thanks for answering this. I did look at the Shimano reels in the same range including the Sahara which was a little more. After reading the different reviews on both Plueger and Shimano it came down to the Ford vs. Chevy thing. I will look for those leader materials. Thanks again, Todd

I've fished on and off since I was a kid. Mostly any thing that swims, I'm not that picky. Well after a 20+ year carrier in the military I want to get back into it. I have the time and the money to do it on a more serious level. After a bit of research I came up with the these two rigs. 1. St. Croix 6'8" M/XF with a 6930 Plueger reel. 10lb Power Pro braid. 2. St. Croix 7' M/H/XF with a 6935 Plueger reel. 20lb Power Pro braid. I plan on using the 6'8" for soft plastic fishing. Wakey, dropshot, Mojo, ect. The 7' I will use for the heavier stuff. Rapalas, Ribbit frogs, ect. My question: what should I use for leader material? Mono or floro. Last time I did any serious fishing everyone was just using momofiliment. No braid, no floro. Do these two set ups sound like decent rigs for what I am planning on using them for? Thanks, Todd

Very cool. I remember from my time in the military those magazine puches were handy for all sorts of stuff! Most of us had a few extra on our web gear. Never would have though of using them on my kayak crate.

I ordered a bunch of stuff from Tackle Warehouse last week, including 4 different packs of Trickworms. Well, my package showed up today and I noticed two of the packages were marked "original" and two were marked "extra salt". What's the difference between the two? Will they fish different? I would assume the extra salt will sink faster. Thanks, Todd

Reminds me of my younger days when I used to park my Harley in the living room. That ship sailed when I got married.

Since the Ride115 is a SOT and you a bit higher out of the water I would say at least a 230cm or a 240cm paddle. Get the lightest one you can afford. Any PFD with a high back will be the most comfortable. In addition to the one mentioned above, the Chinook by NRS is a nice PFD. Todd

Try to demo as many boats as you can before you lay down the cash. I had a pretty good idea in my head on the boat I wanted and after testing a bunch I ended up getting something different. Remember with your budget that a good paddle will set you back around $200 and a phishing PFD is around $100. Todd

Just got this book. Good read. You will enjoy it. Todd

Dicks has the Penn Sargus on sale this week for 25% off. That's like $49 for the 2000 series. Very nice reels. Todd

Since your from Danbury I assume you will be fishing lakes and ponds and not in Long Island sound. The DEP book covers everything you will need to know. If you put a gas or electric motor on your Jon boat you will have to register it thru the DMV. You may also want yo consider a canoe or better yet a Kayak. Just a thought. Good luck. Todd