Turkey sandwich

Great fish! North Branch?

That's also not true at all. During the summer and fall much of the river is fished very easily from a kayak or via wet wading. I might suggest picking up at least a kayak before writing things off. You seem in a hurry to turn everything negative, man. I mean no offense by this, but the problem may not so much be the water, the fish, the state, etc. but rather you just taking a negative attitude. As for current, if you want to be successful, you learn how to fish it, like anything else.

I'll disagree strongly about PA being crap for bass fishing. Yes, a lot of medium and small lakes are heavily pressured and tricky, but the Susquehanna is incredible.

They were everywhere today, it felt like. I was prefishing a new lake for a kayak tournament coming up and it seems like they were everywhere I wanted to be. Weed beds right along the edge of a channel swing? CARP EVERYWHERE. Fingers are crossed this is over in two weeks.

My parents still live near Wilkes-Barre and I'm up in NEPA a lot to get on the water. There's a ton of great fishing between the Susquehanna, Delaware, and lots of small to medium sized lakes. For much of the year, a lot of the North Branch of the Susquehanna and Delaware are wadable. If not, a kayak is very much ideal for fishing both. The Delaware has a crazy mix of fish ranging from stripers and shad to smallmouth and walleye, to a world class trout fishery the further north you go. The Susquehanna is maybe an hour from you and is amongst the best smallmouth rivers anywhere. You have lots of options.

Cheers!

So on an appointment yesterday, I picked a tick off of a customer's dog before picking another off of my pants. So, immediately after I stopped in REI. I picked up a tick key and some classic 98% DEET along with a bottle of Sawyer's spray on odorless permethrin that's supposed to treat clothes and last up to 6 washes. Here's to not getting Lyme's Disease, fellas.

This is a great strategy. I've also purchased a lot of gear this way. Also, Tackle Direct will price match, or at least has for me in the past. St. Croix's bargain bin is also a good place to check, not just when items are discontinued, but pretty randomly, too.

So, politics and a whole lot of specifics aside, what do you actually want to learn? I'm with @smalljaw67 on this one. If the plan is just learning some basics, or fishing with live bait, you don't typically need anything special. If you want to learn to fish basic bottom contact baits like jigs and plastic worms, any decent fast action Medium or Medium Heavy rod will suffice. I would not throw jigs, spinnerbaits, or 99% of plastic worm presentations on a light action rod. For around $100, a lot of good quality rods can be had that are great for learning on. I'd invest the difference in a rod built for a different presentation or invest the difference in the type of tackle you'll likely be using. If you're still looking at either the Loomis or St Croix, they've both excellent quality rods and I'm not going to cloud things up with other $200 price point suggestions. I own an Avid X and love it. I also own around half a dozen St Croix sticks ranging from Premier to Legend Elite. The rod quality is excellent and their customer service is second to none.

I keep a lot of gear at my mom's house outside of Wilkes-Barre. It makes a lot of sense since I'm on the Susquehanna most weekends I'm free and the weather isn't awful.

Yeah, roof racks can be pretty pricey. The other issue is actually storing a trailer here in South Philly.

I'm thinking that this is the way to go. Now, just to be creative with the assembly. The DIY videos on this are killer. Thank you guys.

This is basically what I'm thinking. Only my Lure is orange camo Thoughts?

Just saw that this thread double posted when I went to edit it. Can we move the other thread here? @nhbull this is pretty similar to what I'm thinking.

I'll give this a look in a bit. I'm looking at some of the modded Harbor Freight trailers now, too. They seem like a pretty sweet cheap option.

So, cartooning my Lure 13.5 is a pretty exhausting venture and always requires help. I also drive a sedan that gets totally packed with fishing and kayak gear anytime I head out on the water. I was wondering if any of you have lightweight trailer suggestions that would make loading/unloading much, much easier. It would also be really helpful if there would be a way to store some of my gear on the trailer instead of my in my car. I'm looking into having a trailer hitch installed, but I drive an A4 that isn't exactly designed for towing bass boats, so a big, heavy trailer is definitely not an option. Thoughts? Suggestions?

It's just easier to move away ;). Instead, I now have stuff like Schuylkill, Passyunk, etc. It's a cool video, Glenn. Thanks for posting. I like the responses about changing the bait/technique/etc before changing location so long as there's fish. I think we've all been victims of ourselves bouncing from likely spot throwing one or two baits all day. Fishing the conditions is pretty big, too. I'm surprised that none of them spoke about having any kind of system in place regarding changing lures.

I can carry up to 8 on my kayak with the way it's currently rigged. Sometimes I'll take that many. Sometimes I won't. Ultimately it all comes down to what I'm likely fishing that day. There is no solution that's perfect for everything, and frankly, I'd rather have something and not need it than need it and not have it.

There are some other options, but I have a Revo Winch LH and I actually like the reel a lot. It casts great. I was very pleasantly surprised.

Good luck, Catt!

well, that's frustrating. Going heavier on line can be a good idea sometimes. Going lighter, not so sure. That being said, Rio Gold is great casting line. Can you see about returning it and swapping it out? I know Cabelas is really good about that stuff.

d**n. Sorry to hear it's gone missing. Hopefully you can get it back. Have you contacted insurance? What's that like for such a modded vehicle?

I have an Aetos MHMF that is definitely faster than a lot of fast action rods and has a TON of backbone with a really sensitive feel. I really like this rod. They sell for around $180, but compare favorably to a lot of rods in the low $200 price range. The quality is definitely on point and Fenwick did a great job with this series. I also really like St Croix's Avid X line (Like everyone else). It's always debatable and obviously subjective being that personal preferences play into gear heavily, but man, they are tough to beat for a $200 price tag. I'm a big St. Croix fan, and the SCIII blanks on up are just killer. These rods seem to have combined them well with comfortable split grips and micro guides. I don't have one in MH power, but I have owned similar Rage rods, and I really, really like that blank for jig fishing. If St Croix didn't offer me a crazy deal to upgrade to a Legend Elite after damaging my Rage jig rod, I'd own a 7' MH F Avid X.

140 fish! That's about the craziest total I've ever heard of, and I love that river. Congrats on a killer trip. It's a shame you caught every fish in the river and there's no reason for anyone else, under any circumstances to fish it.

Welcome to the forum! If you use the search feature, you can likely find some quality information from other folks that fish out your way. I don't fish Texas and I'm not very familiar with many systems down your way with smallmouth. That said, I also have no idea what the conditions are, or where they would be in their seasonal cycle. I could make general suggestions, but knowing nothing else, they'd likely hurt more than help.