E. Guido Soda

Hate, hate the drop shot. But between fishing a DS and painting my mother-in-law's toenails, I'll take the DS. <shudder>

I'm incredibly ugly. And along with sun protection, they help me keep warm...

Did you ever find a club to fish the Coosa with?

1 - Carolina rig. Can't catch jack on the C-rig for whatever reason - I catch them like crazy on other finesse presentations - jigs, T-rigs and shakey heads, but not Carolinas... 2 - Deep crankbaits; catch huge numbers on square bills / shallow divers, spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, etc., but no love on the 10' + deep runners; I feel like this is probably more of a fish locating issue than a technique issue. Fishing out of a kayak or a canoe 95% of the time I am generally not in very deep water, so I need to create more opportunities to throw them...in the right places. 3 - Rat-L-Traps - Again, I have considerable success with similar lures - rattling square bills and shallow divers, but I just don't get the bites others seem to get with lipless crankbaits; slow, medium, ripping retrieves, dead stick, yo-yo, whatever, I have very, very little luck with them. It isn't landing them, it's that I just don't get bit. EGS

Shallow they are at this time of year. Caught this Logan Martin pig from my canoe on a Strike King 4S back in November. More recently, it's been shakey heads and slow rolled umbrella rigs off of deeper points.

If you can pick up the Johnny Morris Signature Series reel from BPS for under $100, that is one hell of a smooth reel; it's a little bigger than the PQ and the Revo SX's, but it fits my palm nicely, and is a great looking / feeling reel. I like the Pro Qualifier, as well - pretty smooth, tough, has the DBS (although I set mine at two and forget it), and is a wench. As I posted in a different area - I forget which one because they keep moving my posts all over the place - I dunked a BPS PQ in April, fished it out last month, and it works just fine.

I was going to recommend the St. Croix Mojo Bass, but the spinning version of this rod only comes in fast or x-fast. Same with the Loomis e6x spinner. I have casting version of both of these; the Mojo Bass Glass casting rod has plenty of bend and is an awesome stick for the money - $119 or so. But don't you want less bend for most spinning applications - single hook hook-sets??

I did the same thing - I came back and dove for it the next day, but the water was extremely muddy;visibility was less than 12" and the bottom was full of sticks and branches that felt exactly like a rod...so I abandoned it, only to catch it eight months later! If you love something, let it go....

Excellent! Lake, river, creek?

Didn't want the whiff to know I had bought another rod/reel combo.

BPS Pro Qualifier, 5.2:1

It has seven, I believe. BPS Pro Qualifier...

How much did the LMB weigh?

It is. Pike family, but yeah, it's a pickerel.

Nice. I just found out these guys are native to some of our waters down here. I didn't measure it because, quite frankly, they freak me out. They also bleed like hell. For reference, the swimbait is 6" - I estimate it was probably 26" - 28". Weighed no more than 2lbs max.

The flathead was the same way for me. I felt the tiniest twinge so I set the hook, and......nothing. Then it just took off, and took me close to ten minutes to land. Funny thing about that one is that while it fought like hell, it just kept going around pretty much in circles. It didn't really leave it's "hole", I suppose. From the looks of his back, he must have rolled several times. The striper, OTOH, I caught in an impoundment where they are not at all native. Someone is putting them in there, and as such it was the last thing I thought I would pull up. Like your catch, it was right at sunset. I threw one last cast of the Storm jerk bait and right as it hit the column, BOOM! It hit it like a d**n train, and ran around for a few before I was able to land him. Great stuff...

What did you catch it on? Nice one...

What's your biggest catch from the yak / canoe? Mine are: - Huge flathead on a junebug / chartreuse Zoom Trick Worm + Spot Remover 1/4 oz shakey head - Saltwater striper I would estimate between 8 - 10 lbs. on a Storm Twitch Stick, pearl - 24" LMB; not sure of the official weight, on a black Zoom Trick Worm + 3/8 oz green pumpkin Picasso Shak-E-Football (can't say enough about this jig!!)

I like it for the impoundment I fish 80% of the time, which is a small lake fed by what they call a "river", but is in reality just a medium-sized creek. You can't put your own boat into the lake, and the rental traffic in the area I fish is minimal due, in large part, to the fact that boats just can't get into the smaller, narrower areas. I fish the yak (Jackson Cuda 12) on larger water from time-to-time, but for creek / small river fishing, it's the best. I still do some boat fishing, but 90% of the time I'm on the yak. And yes, the paddling is great exercise!

Caught this rod and reel in December.......that I dunked in April! Reel cleaned up and works just fine, rod seems OK, as well.

As has been stated, I'm not sure there is a yak with a rod locker, per se, but one of the reasons I purchased the Jackson Cuda 12 was because it has bow and stern hatches. I can store gear at either end. If I want to store a rod, or rods, inside the boat, I just pop the center console up and put them in; they are probably not really accessible while you are on the yak. Pictures attached so you get an idea of where it is and what it looks like. I can easily store my longest rod, 7'6", in the hull. PS - whatever length you go with, if you want to stand and fish, I would recommend you get a yak of at least 36" in width. Mine is 31" and while I can stand, it is rather precarious, at best. The Cuda 12 tracks like an animal, but it isn't the most stable boat on the water...

Good question. I generally like to use 6'7" - 7' and carry four or five rods at all times. The longest rod I will bring is 7' 6", and only on certain outings. This is due to skinny water tree cover, hugging banks, downed trees, brush, etc. If I felt the need I could use longer but only on open water - which is probably about 30% of the time for me. In my everyday yak outings, I am navigating tree covered skinny water, so when I head into tight spots I take my rods out of the holders and lash them to either side of the yak with the tips in the rod tip protector on my bow; they bend and fit the side of boat perfectly. Anything longer than 7'6" doesn't fit well onto the side. My yak is the Jackson Cuda 12, which is 12'6"' long, BTW.

In the kayak tournaments (which include canoes) I fish around here, the rules are pretty simple: - no motors / electronic propulsion - no "mothershipping" (being towed by motorized watercraft) - PFD's at all times - one rod (w/ artificial lure only) in the water at any given time We can even fish from the bank as long as the kayak / canoe stays in sight. Pictures on the trough must be taken from the kayak / canoe with the mouth of the fish frame left, belly side facing you and your token visible in the picture. As for mods, there are no rules on them whatsoever, as long as they do not include motorized propulsion. Enjoy!

I recall there being a spinnerbait quality thread on here sometime back; I just wanted to throw this out there - I tried a 1/2 oz Strike King KVD Finesse Spinnerbait (double willow) a couple of weeks back and that thing is a tank for the money. After a torrential rainfall on Christmas weekend, I paddled up to a narrow creek channel which feeds into an impoundment where there was a shad feeding frenzy going on. I chunked the KVD spinner in there and caught fish for a couple of hours, including a saltwater striper (not a huge one, but a solid fighter) and some four - five lb. LMB's and spots. This thing took a literal pounding, and I would estimate that over the week or so I used it, I caught 40 - 50 fish on it. Not saying I wouldn't have caught numbers on another spinnerbait, but I've bent wires, broken swivels, etc. on comparably priced spinners. This one is still straight as an arrow after slow rolling on rocks, snags, battling fish, etc. Trailed it with a Big Bite Cane Thumper, BTW. Just $.02... EGS