Fishingmickey

I will be in your neck of the woods soon SG. Cobbosseecontee is calling. I hope I can do as well. FM

OOooo, I like that one Don! FM

You might want to make a note of who you talked to and the date... Game warden might see it differently. Might save you a fine. FM

I just wish it had the power of the Torqueedo 1103 or even the Newport 180. Insert wistful sigh. I wonder if having the new Garmin motor on the back in spot lock mode would position the kayak with the transom end into the wind? FM

Dang, you go Guillermo!

I would love to fish jigs, the Texas rigged worm keeps getting in the way. FM

Top water, Tiny Torpedo, Chug Bug, floating Rapala minnow? Maybe tie on one of the clear bubble floats and some of the fly rod poppers? Small frog baits? FM

Crank baits up to about a XD 3 size? Jerkbait, Smallish soft plastic swim baits.... Bout anything you want to throw from about 3/16-3/4 oz. FM

Rora, To go further with the bread. Cheap white bread can make excellent dough balls. Buy you a loaf of Wonder bread. Drop your hook size to a size ten or twelve. You take a hunk of bread out of the center of the slice - no crust. Wad it up and stuff it in your mouth, chew it a bit to moisten it and the when it is dough-ey. Take that blob of dough out of your mouth. break off little pieces off the blob about the size of a small split shot or smallish pearl and roll it in your fingers so it's round. Impale it onto the point of the hook. It works a wonder for pressured fish because no one uses it. You can also throw some in for chum along with some small pieces of unchewed bread. Some uncooked oatmeal can also work for chum. I've used the above to also catch golden shiners here in Texas. The best big bass bait known to man other then a water dog. Fishingmickey

Yes, Not sure about elsewhere, but in Texas and I think about any other state if you've got a motor on it electric or otherwise is is now considered a motor boat and you need to follow those regulations regarding navigation lights and registration (state numbers). FM.

I love that Garmin came out with a new motor for Kayaks. The thing I don't love is it is kinda weak in the pounds thrust area. 50lb with 24V and 30lb with 12V. The 3,600 price tag with no battery kinda takes your breath away. I'd be a bit more excited if the Garmin had 80lb thrust or better. The NK300 and the Torqueedo are both 3hp or 155# thrust. The NK180 is 24V and 1.8 hp which I'd guess to be in that 80lb thrust range. But no spot lock. I want my cake and to eat it too! It is also very expensive considering it doesn't come with a battery. The Torqueedo 1103 runs about 2,700 - 2,900 (with battery). The Newport NK300 runs about 1,500 no battery and it is 36V. So you'd need either three 12 volt batteries or a 36 volt battery. The discontinued Motorguide XI3 was 12V, 55lb thrust and had spot lock for under 1,500. Waiting to see what comes out next. Glad to see the manufacturers are taking kayaks seriously!!! Now bake me a cake! Fishingmickey

I had a problem once with a Hummingbird I bought and returned. What I found out about it was after the fact. The processor in the unit was slow and it would look fine on the screen but I went over some submerged laydowns in clear water and it missed most of the laydown. Just flat didn't pick it up on the screen. This was a cheap unit (5" screen) and probably 11-12 years ago and I was on a budget. It has likely changed since then. I found out about it on the internet and since then it has soured me on Hummingbird. It may have been fine on the newer units or the higher end units not using the cheap processor chip. I switched to Lowrance and then to Garmin. FM

Happy Birthday, Tom!

I love the power worms, they have that awesome stank! FM

Texas rig'em and swim them back to you while trying to run it through as much junk as possible without hanging up. Excellent for hydrilla. You feel it catch in the grass, pop it out and try to get it caught again. The magic usually happens after you've popped it out. It's basically a swimming worm. Swim it, twitch it, keep that tail vibrating. FM

It correlates with how many times I hit the snooze button that morning multiplied by a unknown varying variable divided by how much more trouble will I be in with my sweetie for being late. FM

Bazoo, I ask do you want to like fluorocarbon or hate fluorocarbon? Buy cheap fluorocarbon and you'll hate it. Fluorocarbon line is a different beast then monofilament. It's stiffer! Fresh fluorocarbon especially the cheaper (stiffer) stuff can really backlash good and doesn't belong on a spinning reel in anything larger then about 8lb test. Don't overfill your reel (baitcaster or spinning)!!! Stiffer is good in bite detection. Fluorocarbon sinks meaning less of a bow in the line when throwing bottom contact baits and it will try to sink your topwater baits. IMHO fluorocarbon is the most sensitive line out there for bottom contact fishing. A good starter fluorocarbon IMHO is Seaguar Invisx. There are some differences between using fluorocarbon and monofilament. Fluorocarbon hates to be kinked. So when you backlash you must gently work out that birds nest. It you pull hard (even sorta hard) you'll kink the line and it will break off at the worst time imaginable, either when setting the hook on that 6+ plus or throwing that $25 Vision 110 or similiar expensive lure. The same thing with your knots. I don't like a (that's me) palomar knot for fluorocarbon line. Improved clinch knot or San Diego Jam knot. Feel free to give the Berkley Big game Fluoro a shot. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Regards, Fishingmickey

There is a release lever (about 3" long black piece) on the top of the unit. Left hand side of your picture. The Cover fits the connections under the unit. It's so you can remove the head from the cradle. FM

Love it, Team9! FM

1/2 ox 4/0 BKK ballhead is the best I could do. BKK also makes some saltwater jig heads but not in Ball head. Nor 1/2 oz. Here's BKK's website. https://bkkhooks-americas.com/ FM

Nice gator, Dave!

The set up is probably fine for trolling small to medium sized baits for trout. One of the questions that comes to mind is how big are the fish your targeting? If it is 15-20# Lake trout in 40'+ deep water you'd have to upsize. Stocker trout to maybe 5 lbs you'd be fine. There are a ton of combos that you can put together that are much nicer then the Ugly Stik. The GX2 is not a bad rod. Just not sure what reel they would have it paired with. Both Diawa and Shimano make some pretty decent spinning reels for fairly cheap ($30-70.00ish range). Not many rods in that 6' range. Most start at 6'6". The Diawa Aird X line is good quality rod for cheap. Shimano make the Convergence and Sellus line of rods. There are many others too! Good luck and welcome aboard! Fishing mickey

I troll, I have found it a excellent way to catch some really big bass on a very pressured lake that wouldn't otherwise get caught. Also good for finding those wolf packs chasing open water shad schools in the late summer into fall. To those who say it takes no skill. I say hooey. It's the only way to get a DD22 down to 22' is on 30lb braid. If your doing it right it is just as hard and just as rewarding as running down the bank casting to targets. FM

I don't know, I have rods, I have reels. I should thin the herd. FM

I am just Agog! Nothing like the heartland for innovation and the perseverance to pull it off! FM