Fishingmickey

Ohio, You don't need a swivel. I have fished the plopper a bunch. The 90 is the one size I won't use. It has a narrower body then the other sizes (not including the 60). When you retrieve the 90 fast the whole thing will spin. Also if you get any gunk or weeds caught between the prop and body of the bait it will also spin the entire lure. If you wanted to. You could install a good quality "ball bearing" swivel with a split ring to the front. Then tie directly to it. Happy Whopper Ploppering, FM

Rapala Fat Rap, Shad Rap and DT's. fat Rap and Shad Rap in the original silver and black Rapala color. Spro RK55's, The Spro Little John has already been mentioned. The Duel Hardcore Crankbait +3's and +4's are favorites of mine too. FM

Way to go Blue! Very nice! FM

Belgrade stream? China Lake was slow this year. I did manage one that was pretty close to 4lb. FM

I lost one that still hurts remembering it. It was about 8 years ago. I was fishing Choke Canyon and I had a Big Bites Cane Thumper 5" swimbait on a Owner Jig-a-rig 5/0. I was using 20# fluoro on a Curado 300EJ reel w/heavy action rod 7'1" Shimano Crucial rod. I was bottom bouncing the cane thumper and I felt the tick and set the hook and tied into what might have been my personal best. I knew I had a big fish! I fought her firmly, not horsing letting her pull drag. I felt bulldog head shakes and she jumped twice. My heart was in my throat both times she jumped. I've got her next to the kayak and coming in to the net. She makes one last head shake and half hearted jump. My bait swings free from her mouth. I made as much of a lunge with the net as I could from a kayak. I got almost half of her in the net and I lifted. I didn't have enough of the fish in the net and it slid free. I felt sick losing that fish and having been so close to landing it. I was pre-fishing for a KATS tournament and fishing a on line nation wide benefit tournament. That fish would have helped me win the on-line tournament. It was a two biggest fish month long tournament. I already had a 23.5" bass and this one would have went over 25". I felt it was easily a double digit fish and very possibly my personal best. FM

I'm in the same camp as Cast by. It's not either a Helin Flatfish, Heddon lazy Ike or Worden's Flatfish. With that eye and the dorsal fin type I have never seen before. FM

Ol Crickety, This will be my third time fishing it. I really like the lake, It has a very healthy bass and pike population. Now one of the best times I have had fishing in that area is fishing Belgrade Stream below the town of Belgrade. If you can find a way to put in and take out. Yaaaah, you really need to go fish it! I had a magical morning there. I was using a kayak that came with the airbnb we stayed at. Take a Whopper Plopper 75 in the powder color. Let me know your fishing report. Fishingmickey PS. lots of 2-3lb fish occasional 4's and 5's and I lost one that went maybe seven. Some good smallmouth there too.

I'll be on my annual trip to Maine, week after Labor day, China lake here I come!. FM

Sounds fishy to me. FM

Alabama, If your running new wires or changing the connectors in between your trolling motor and battery. The link MNfisher posted shows to some ring eye connectors. Those 18-22awg connectors are way too small to be used for a trolling motor. You want bigger connectors for 6AWG - 12AWG. The larger size the wire (better the flow is through the bigger pipe) gauge the better it conducts, it makes for less resistance. Too small a connection will generate heat at the connection when used especially heavily used (high speed setting). Take a look at the size of wire going to the trolling motor. Your wire connectors or additional wire need to be at least the size of the wire or a size or two BIGGER! Minn Kota makes a product called the Maximizer. This allows you to have infinite speed control over your trolling motor. Might be worth looking into and can be very helpful in getting the perfect speed. It would eliminate that huge jump between speeds 3, 4 and 5 on your trolling motor. FM

Food for thought Alabama, you'll find not running the trolling motor on high will greatly extend the life of your battery and the distance you can travel. If it is a five speed, try not to run it any higher then three. Running a trolling motor on high can suck a battery down in hour or less. Or that is my experience anyways. FM

Japan Lure is another good one. FM

I have three or four Shimano JDM Scorpions. I love the reel, very smooth, casts very well but was very touchy casting and backlash prone. I had read a post on this forum about someone with a Chronarch that instead of the usual two brakes on two off. Using all four brakes on made his Chronarch perform much better. I tried the same thing with the Scorpions and it was a world of difference. The touchyness casting was gone and I could throw my 1/2 oz spinner bait with the dinner plate blades and balsa crank baits into the wind once again with confidence. FM p.s. I haven't learned how to read Japanese yet.

I'm well south of you! I do fish kayak tournaments. I'd like go fish Squaw Creek this winter. Fishingmickey

One thing I haven't seen mentioned in this thread so far is sensitivity (get your popcorn ready). I think fishing straight fluorocarbon is more sensitive then fishing braid. Hear me out here. Braid is more sensitive in tight line moving bait applications. I think for bottom contact baits where you might have some slack in the line. Fluorocarbon transmits the bite better because of it's inherent stiffness. Fishing braid with slack in it. The braid is too limp for good bite transmission IMHO. Flame on! Fishingmickey

I'm in and out of the ramp pretty dang fast. Like 2-3 minutes fast. I trailer my PA14. I rig & load everything up in the parking lot before I get in the launch line ( if there is one ). I have my tie down straps and bow strap off. I have a 30' rope tied to the front handle and to the winch post. I back my trailer down the ramp and float it off. Get out, take the rope off the winch post. move the kayak out of the way for the next person and either beach it or tie it off to the dock. Go park the car and then jump in the kayak and go fish. I'm faster at launching my kayak then the majority of power boaters.

Carefully peel the husk down a leaf at a time, de-silk the ear, pull the husk back up peel off a outer leaf, tear the leaf into 1/2" strips. Tie the 1/2" strip around the top of the ear maybe a couple of inches down. Put it on the grill for fifteen minutes or so rotating a couple of times. Peel the husk off, butter, salt and pepper. Absolutely the best! FM

I'm running a Garmin 93SV UHD and livescope. I use a 17AH FPV lithium for the 93SV and a 23AH Dakota lithium for the livescope. They will take me through a 10-12 hour day. I should install a switch on my livescope so I can turn it off when I'm not using Panoptix. I like having two batteries for it. So if my livescope battery dies I've still got the ability to run the 93SV. I carry two of the 17AH and one 23AH in the center hatch of my PA14. The 17AH FPV's have a screw in connection to the battery. The FPV batteries are small 5" x 3" x 2.75" and weigh just over a pound. I've got two of them stuck together with some 3M duolock (it's like velcro). So if I need to change batteries it is very easy to unscrew the connector from one and screw into the other. I've gotten a low battery warning once on the 93SV.

The Avid is a lighter, nicer rod but it is twice the price. They both have nice cases too. I've bundled the cases together with zip ties and I had no problems with airlines. I think they are longer then 22" though. Overall length is probably closer to 30-32". I've got the dedicated rods as far as the Diawa's go. Not the combo casting/spinning rod. I'll hit it with a tape measure this evening and let you know length. FM

I did a search on Tackle Warehouse for Travel rods and they showed a bunch. https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/search-tackle.html?start=0&count=30&searchtext=travel+rods I have several travel rods. I like the looks of the Falcon and Major Craft. I have both the Diawa Ardito and St Croix Avid travel rods. Another good place to hunt for travel rods is the japan websites. FM

Howdy TXchaser, I've had live scope for a couple of years now. I do like it quite a bit. I really need to use (and learn how to use) the perspective mode more then I do. It's a challenge to use live scope on the kayak especially if it is windy. Keeping the kayak/scope pointed right so your bait stays on the screen. But it is really neat for watching how fish react to your bait and seeing it happen in real time. Seeing them eat it, run away or just flat ignore your offering. One of the other things to note is screen fixation can be an issue. You can see the fish and they follow the bait. Sometimes it keeps you fishing for fish that aren't feeding or may not be bass for way too long. Watching a bait ball of shad split in two when your lure goes through it is super cool. Being able to see fish under a dock, on submerged timber, finding that outside edge of a weed line in 10-15' of water, Isolated clumps of weeds, etc. etc. Right now I am debating if I want to get the upgraded live scope transducer. From what I've seen in the on-line reviews is it does a better job in cleaning up some of the clutter (ghost tree is less) and just debris/interference in the water. Supposedly you can see your baits further out. It is a 1.2K+ cost for just the transducer and I'm having a hard time justifying it. Fsihingmickey One more thing to add is the LS transducer is big and bulky. It doesn't like moving in the water much above a mile an hour or two. FM

I'm running a Garmin 93SV UHD, with live scope. I'm using Ram mounts for both the unit and tranducers. Both transducers are on the right side. Head unit is on the left side. Batteries are a 23AH Dakota lithium for the live scope black box and a FPV 17ah for the 93SV. FM

I was inspired by spinner bait memories... Could ya tell I do like to throw a spinner bait? Thank you for the kudo's, Derek!

There are three colors of spinner bait to throw and two weight sizes. White, chartruese or white and chartruese. Weight 3/8 - 1/2 oz. Like a fair number of others have said above. Accurate casts, hell yaah. You gotta dang near be able to drop on top of them. I swear I have had them catch it as it hit the water. Like instantly. Turn your trolling motor on 2, pick up the spinner bait and hit every target you can while going down the bank. Short accurate casts and quiet entry are a must. Run it into and over everything you can! Retrieve it like a drunken sailor walking down a steep hill. When it is in the strike zone make it dance like a twerking stripper on a pole. Or sometimes a steady thumping retrieve works best. I like to wake my spinner baits sometimes. Retrieve it fast enough it bulges the water and doesn't break the surface. Then give it that little extra burst of speed and make the blades "Burble" break the surface for a second. Run it down those weed lines, twitch it through the pads, hit those dark water ambush pockets and you will learn the power of the spinner bait!!! Day time, night time any time is the right time for a spinner bait! FM P.S. Use a file to make sure that big hook is sharp. I don't use a trailer or trailer hook regularly.

PA14, I trailer and drive a Toyota highlander. Trailer is the way to go IMHO. I completely rig (rods, crate, chair, trolling motor, electronics, etc.etc.) the kayak in the parking lot. I tied off a 30' line from the bow handle on the yak and tie a loop in the other end and loop it over my winch support. Have all the straps off and back down and float it off. Get out tie the bow line off to the dock or beach it out of the way. Go park the car and hustle back, get in the kayak and go. My rig and unrig time is usually about 20 minutes. Launch and retrieve time is probably at or under two minutes. When I pull out. I back the trailer down so the rear bunk ir right at water level. Then I guide the kayak back onto the bunks. I pull it up on the bunks with the line rest of the way and pull out fully rigged. I make it a serious point not to be a ramp hawg. Fishingmickey.