Fishingmickey

I have the larger of the two Torqueedo batteries and your right it does show 31 AH at 29.6 volts. FM

Oh gad's JB, Fricking bait monkey.... What retrieve ratio are they? FM

I'm assuming you mean sensitivity... I think the Helium is more sensitive then the IMX Pro. FM

ABrugs, If I had to pick one of Shimano's reels. I haven't experienced the Antares yet (and probably won't). I do have a couple of 20 model Metanium's and I have three of the 18 Bantam's. Honestly there isn't very much difference between the two. Both are super solid feeling, cast great and very smooth reeling reels. I have several other Shimanos also like the Aldebran, Chronarch, Curado G, Curado 70, Curado DC, Scorpions & Scorpion BFS. My vote if I had to cut down to just one reel. It would be the Bantam. Now high end rods... that's another whole ball of wax. I've got a couple of G loomis IMX pro's and a older GL2. I've never tried any of the GLoomis NRX, NRX+ or GLX or GCX rods. I got the IMX pro's on a combo deal w/the Bantam reels for 350 from *** a couple of years back. The IMX Pro's are a very nice rod but not much different performance wise then my Kistler Helium 3's, ALX Enox, Denali Lithium, Dobyns Champion, Shimano Poison Adrena and a Zodias. If I had just one of those to pick from it would be the 7' MH Kistler Helium3. I feel it is as light and as or more sensitive then any of them listed above. Good luck in your hunt, Fishingmickey

Direct from Kistler, I have several Helium's. They are great rods.

Sure, I'd be happy to let you know how it has been. I've had it for about a year and a half now, I got one of the first one's shipped to the US.

That looks like a really awesome time Bulldog, This is the perfect time of year to hit the coast too. Fishingmickey

Hello Gera, I added a Torqueedo 1103AC to my PA14. It was a cry once buy once thing for me. It has it's pluses and minuses. Pluses are it is a all integrated system. It has the battery, motor, motor mount and controller as a package. It is a 155lb thrust motor equivalent to about 3hp. Full throttle is about 6.0 - 6.3 mph. Half throttle is 4.7 to 5 mph. I'm a fairly large guy and I have the kayak loaded. The controller really helps with battery usage. It tells you charge remaining in percentage, it also tells you how much your drawing when running. I can remove it from my kayak in less then five minutes. It is compact and as light weight as a 155lb thrust electric motor can be. I'm also able to keep my pedal drive in place. I use it mostly for moving distances and from spot to spot. Minuses are it was expensive, really expensive at about 2,600 base cost. It is a specialty item, it will only work with Torqueedo batteries (1100 watts, 100AH equivalent or so). A spare battery was about 800. Spare prop and shear pin was another 100. So when I considered the overall cost of installing a trolling motor and battery it wasn't that far off from one of the spot lock motors with adding in the cost of a 80 - 100ah lithium battery to power it. I'd love to have a spot lock trolling motor but there is a lot more involved to mounting and rigging one of those motors on a kayak. Maybe in my next build. The Bixpy motor looks like a fine small light package and will probably serve your purposes just fine. I don't know about the J2's. Website says about 80#'s thrust. but I think the J1 was pretty lightweight in pounds thrust (35 - 40 lbs thrust). Another one to consider is the Newport vessels motor that is out now. It is considerably cheaper then both of the above, but no battery. It runs off of a 24 volt system. Good luck in your quest to motorize your kayak. Fishingmickey Yes, I did have to register my kayak with the state and put on numbers. I had to provide the manufactures certificate of origin and a photo of the serial number to get my numbers and registration sticker. IMHO it was worth it. FM

Just to add to BlueBasser post, Side imaging is definitely well worth it. Being able to see 50 -100' on each side of your kayak! You would be amazed at how much more bottom contour changes (creek channels, road beds, fence lines) you can see. It is also excellent for finding brush piles, rock piles. I consider it a dang near invaluable tool for scouting for new spots to fish. FWIW I run the Garmin 93sv. FM P.S. Another good place to check prices on is The GPS store and they also have black Friday sales.

Hi Fly, You might want to take a look at the Diablo Kayaks/SUP. They are kind of a cross between a Kayak and a SUP. They are pretty good river boats IMHO. Fishingmickey

X2!!!

Are you using a spinning reel Pressured? And to answer your question. Yes, threading on a worm crooked will cause your lure to spin. You can see this pretty easily when your retrieving it that last few feet of the cast or just drop it in the water with two or three feet of line out and pull it. Does it spin? Spinning reels do create line twist. There are a couple of ways to get the twist out. One is to let out about half the spool of line ( with no lure or anything on it) while towing it behind the boat for a few minutes like 7-10 minutes. The water drag will remove the twists. The other land based option is to find some place to wedge your rod and reel. Tie the end of your line to something, walk off about two good cast lengths or more (this should get it past the twisted portion). Untie the free end of your line. Then set the rod down and wedge it. Take a cloth or a micro fiber towel and gently pinch the line between your fingers. Walk the line while holding it in between your fingers with the cloth from the rod to the end of your line. You should notice the twists coming out of the line. If you didn't get them all the first time or are not sure do it another time or two. Hope this helps, Fishingmickey

Waiting with baited breath to hear how the first outing went! Hope all went smoothly. FM

The original Berkely power bait smell. I love opening a new pack 7" pumpkin seed power worms and giving them a good sniff. It stinks oh so good! FM

Looks pretty dang sweet for a 100 dollar rod. FM

You might check out a web site called Uship. You post what you have and where you want it to go and then it get's bid on by the shippers. I've used it a couple of times to ship bulky stuff that UPS and FedEx thumbed their noses at. FM https://www.uship.com/

Jimmy joe, SPRO has the RK50 which is 4-8' and the RK55MD is also supposed to be 4-8'. The RK50 is 5/16 oz and RK55MD is 1/2 oz. FM

JJ, have you tried any of the Spro RK series? The RK55 has been a solid crank bait for me. I love me some rock crawlers! FM

Leatherman Wave is usually riding on my side or in the pouch pocket of my kayak. I used a pair of the serrated medical scissors for cutting braid. FM

I've found that my Met's are much better behaved with all four brakes engaged. Dunno if the JDM models are any different other then price. Still silky smooth with all four on and not any noticeable difference in casting distance and a big difference in bird nest size and quantity. FM

OK, R2S, Ish Monroe, Bling model is one of the best quality spinner baits out there. War eagle makes a fine spinner bait too. FM

Check out Seibert Outdoors! The no chips are matte black. He really has quality weights and packaging is excellent for them. FM https://siebertoutdoors.com/products/ols/categories/tungsten-weights-and-accessories

I've found when I am fishing a spinner bait "fast". I like to wake it like Catt mentions. I'll retrieve it fast enough to where the spinner bait is making the water bulge up and not break the surface. Then I have the blades break the top for noise for a moment or two then go back to "bulging" making a wake. It's been very effective for me at times. I prefer to throw a double willow 1/2 oz. FM

On some of our highly pressured lakes here. I have had problems fishing standing timber. Set the hook on a good fish and next thing I know it is hung up in wad of braid 14-15'deep. Very frustrating. Couldn't get the fish out and ended up breaking it off. FM I do agree with the opinion that wading out after it would likely end up with you possibly getting hooked on other lost lures or worse. Hooked up on a barbed wire fence under water. I shudder at the thought. FM

Ordering two of each ( Bug and Menace ). FM