Fishingmickey

Back in the olden days of fiberglass rods with metal ferrules to join the pieces together a two piece or multi piece rod was definitely considered less sensitive. The modern day graphite spigot joint fits much better and has much better sensitivity then "olden days" rods. That is where I believe the origin of two or multi piece rods got the less sensitive phobia. I've got a bunch of travel rods (6-7) that I use when we vacation in Maine where flying is the only option to get there. They range from three to five piece rods. I find it very hard to tell if they are less sensitive then my one piece rods. A little heavier for sure but I can still feel a bass suck in my bait. Fishingmickey

Berkley XL and Big game are excellent monofilaments in my book, I don't trust Berkely to produce a high quality fluorocarbon line because they might be too interested in pinching pennies in the manufacturing process. Sunline Defier and Defier Armilo are excellent monofilament lines too. When you compare line diameter to lb test. I feel Berkely is thicker then Sunline by a good bit for the same breaking strength. I use Sunline when I am filling a full spool for for my topwater bait casters and spinning reels. When it comes to Fluorocarbons, I think I have tried most of them out there. I've settled on Seaguar Invisx, Tatsu and Diawa Samurai as the best of the fluorocarbon bunch. Sunline Shooter Sniper and Assassin are good too. I just think the Sunline options are thicker and seem to get stiffer memory wise faster then the Seaguar or Diawa brands I've mentioned. Yes, The Tatsu and Samurai are more expensive, I only fill about 1/2 - 2/3rds of the spool with them. I get a lot of fills off of the 600 yard spools. I only put about 60-70 yards on when I respool. I use the Berkley XL mono as backing. As WRB has mentioned regarding the Trilene 100% fluorocarbon. They are pulling the usual let's de-rate the breaking strength and sell a thicker diameter line. There are several other brands that do this too. Best of luck, Hope my lengthy opinion on lines helps some. Fishingmickey

I've picked up two or three Diawa spinning reels and have been very impressed by them. Honestly I think they are as good or better then Shimano in the spinning reel department. I have been a Shimano fan boy for quite a few years, But Diawa has made some serious inroads into my arsenal. I'm kind of frustrated now with BPS/Cabalas when I go in store shopping. The variety in the stores just isn't there like it used to be. It seems like they are muscling out established brands and just pushing the BPS. I was gob smacked the first time I went into a Cabalas store in Sydney NE. My head was on a swivel! The amount of fishing inventory was amazing. Now when I go in looking for small stuff like terminal tackle (hooks, snaps, swivels and miscellaneous stuff). They just don't have it. Loads of aisle space with BPS branded stuff from top to bottom. I'm not sure who is building the reels for BPS now or if it is several brands that supply BPS mega-conglomerate. I just miss Cabalas when it was Cabalas 20 years ago. Rant over. My two cents says get either a mid price ranged Shimano or Diawa that will last you many years of fishing. Fishingmickey

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Thanks FishTank! I got half a metric crap-ton boat load for next to nothing. Cover Pop's, Strike king cranks, Keitech Ez- shiners, Berkley power worms, Strike king fat baby finesse, Rage bugs and Bull worms. The bait monkey is bloated! FM

Double boiler maybe? FM

Kistler Graphite if you can catch them on sale is a excellent rod that fishes way above it's price point. Falcon Low Rider is another. Regarding line. I will preface this comment with IMHO. Fluorocarbon transmits slack line bites much better then braid. Braid if it is slack ya got nothing, tight you can feel a fish swim past it. Fluorocarbon is much better for feeling "on the fall" bites (again) IMHO. FM

KBF and the BASS Kayak series events allow trolling motors. Hobie BOS series allows them for practice but not on tournament days. FM I'm rooting for my friend and very much a hammer. Rolando Nandin. He took fourth in the BASS Kayak event on Fork. Then the week after he won the Hobie BOS event on Toledo bend. There is a lot of seriously great fisherman in that field. FM

I have several ALX rod's. Two custom rods, 6'10" jigging sticks that were custom made for WRB. I have a couple of others too. One is the Enox MH and the other is the Ikos MH. The are both just above 7' One I think is 7'1" and the other is 7'3". They are excellent rods in my book. WRB knows the owner well and is trying to help. Might want to reconsider your reply. Sorry, I don't have the Hustler either. FM

Did ya notice where Ike is sitting? FM

Ummm, Maybe find something (gravel or sand bottom) with a known depth 10 -12' or so. Make sure it is snag free. Time how long it takes to get to the bottom. Say it takes 30 seconds to hit the bottom in 10' FOW. So 5' = 15 seconds. 7.5 sec's 2.5' etc. It will vary some with line size diameter and type. So if your fishing in 12' FOW weeds are growing to 6'. 5' would probably be a good depth to retrieve your bait. I'd also invest in a lure retriever. FM

Here's the leader board at the Kayak Bass Master Classic. A couple of very serious SC bass have been caught. https://tourneyx.com/leaderboard/standings/2022-bassmaster-kayak-series-championship

Strike king Diamond shad (lipless crankbait). Heddon Dying Flutter baby bass color, Rapala Skitter pop (Small size SP5) Chartreuse back color. FM

Grape, Purple, Merthiolate, Plum, Red, Bubble gum, I haven't seen a worm of that color yet. My opinion is the bass can see'em or pick them out at a longer distance. They are unnatural, bass thinks kill it now and you get bit! I do agree with tholmes comment, dunno why they work but they do. FM

I like using good tools at either work or play. A good well balanced rod and reel that casts smoothly and accurately greatly increases my fishing enjoyment. FM

I've been to several memorable ones. Two that stick out in my mind at Trustworthy in Soldotna, AK and before they expanded and got big. Cabala's in Sydney, NE. 30+ years ago. FM

Well there always seems to be a fly in the ointment when the idea is too good. FM

Give him one of your's, you upgrade. Make the Father in law happy, makes the wife happy. You get a new reel. Triple win in my book. FM

I run deep diving crank baits on 30# braid. The only time I have "dig-in" issues with my bait casters is when I get snagged and have to lock down the drag and pull like hell to either bend out the hooks (most of the time) or break off. I fix the "dig-in" by tying on another lure or using the one I pulled free. I get the boat (kayak in my case) moving and pay out line till I get all of the "dig-in's" dug out. then reel in with the tension from the crank bait itself gets my line right again. I've tried going down to 20# but it just too fine diameter wise. When I am trying a bomb cast with 20# braid and I'm not successful. The birds nest and and shock of a 3/4 - 1.5+ oz crankbait coming to a dead stop in mid-flight will snap the line. Then the crank bait will go into the next county or maybe orbit. I run 20# braid on my spinning reels and I have no dig-in issues with spinning. Going with smaller diameter braid is like trying to tie gossamer frogs hair. I've started playing with a couple of BFS set-up's. I'm using 10# braid with them. Hopefully that dastardly "dig-in" monster won't rear it's ugly head. Fishingmickey (not one of the all you people who knows the correct way to reel in braid)

I'm in the same boat as fishballer06. I've got two Met's and three Bantam's. They have performed perfectly and are as solid as a rock with the frame design. FM

I used Gliss Several years ago when it first came out. I used it in the 18# & 24# test for several months on a couple of reels. I had the same fraying issues as A-Jay. The one really nice thing I liked about it was it got a DD22 down to 22'. It is the only line I have had do that. Once it started to fray I broke it with my hands. Fishingmickey

I have found through experience for mounting a fish finder. I use the Ram 1.5" ball mount for the "H" rail. and then get the double ball long clamp and mount a upside down 1.5" ball on the bottom of the fish finder bracket. It makes for a neat clean install. It's quick and easily removable for transport by loosening the "H" rail clamp. I disconnect the power, transducer and live scope cords and store them in the horizontal rod holder. FM P.S. Do not get the 1" ball. It just doesn't grip well enough.

Pro's: I have a 2018 PA14 with the 180 drive. I like it for a lake boat. It is very stable and is fairly fast in a straight line. I can cruise at 3.5 mph or so. It'll go faster but I'm not up to the effort it takes to go that fast for longer periods of time. 4.5 mph for a length of time requires some serious output on my part. It's a great fishing platform and allows me to take a ton of gear/batteries for electronics & motor/cooler and it is very seaworthy even loaded down. I've got a Torqueedo 1103ac trolling motor mounted on the back and love it. It makes getting to the other side of the lake fun. Making major moves from spot to spot much more efficient. Top end is about 6mph but not something you want to do for any long period of time. I get to where I want to fish. I can raise the motor and go to the pedals. It's decent in the wind. Heavy enough where your not blown off position where you want to fish. In the breeze you can feather the pedals and hold position in either reverse transom or bow into the wind. Cons: It's a pig. Like driving a semi. It takes some serious effort to turn it around. You have to have forward speed to get enough pressure across the rudder to turn. It's heavy. You really need a trailer to make launching and retrieving painless. I float it on and off at the ramp and can launch almost as quick as a bass boat. Fishingmickey

@NathanDLTH, I just wanted to get your opinion on the Triaza travel rods. I've been hunting for some good travel rods. Thanks, FM

That's where I heard it. Thanks for the correction.