Hawkeye21

I'm not sure there is a right or wrong way to fish them. It all depends on the conditions and what the fish want at the time. I prefer a quick retrieve because I like to power fish but that doesn't always work. There are numerous ways to retrieve it: Burn it just under the surface. Fast and steady. Rip it through the grass. Slow and steady. Slow with some quick twitches. Yo-Yo. Drag it on the bottom. Jig it on the bottom. Fast with occasional pauses.

I'm another vote for omfishingsinkers.com Three of us put in a nice sized order over winter and I'm impressed with them, especially for the price.

I feel like I was really close to catching the largest bass in the small lake I fished yesterday. Caught my personal best of 5-12, 21.25". That's pretty good for Iowa.

Red Eye Shad in Orange Craw

There's a lot about marketing that the average Joe does not understand. Marketing is more than just selling more product, it's about brand awareness. Sponsoring the right people can help get your name out to more people which eventually leads to more sales. It's not something you can always directly see although there are ways to see sales directly from an angler. When an angler gives you a discount code to one of their sponsors it's usually so the company can track the amount of sales that angler is generating for them. Don't forget, not all sponsored anglers are getting free product. Some get a discount and some receive a certain amount of money to put towards their tourney season.

I was also going to recommend the Flint. NuCanoe makes great kayaks and has amazing service. If your prefer an open deck and the ability to customize more then NuCanoe is the best. Bonafide and Native are also great kayaks as well though so certainly nothing wrong going that route. Also, NuCanoe's kayaks are made in Wisconsin.

I don't think I know a single bass fisherman that thinks that. There's a reason most anglers use heavy line with the drag set tight, they don't play the fish at all. It's for the amount of line they go through retying basically.

Austin Canoe & Kayak has 20% off one item over $50 this weekend. Use code RAPID20

Ugh... If Medium Heavy equals a large then that makes me a Heavy.

I use a Abu Garcia Veritas 2.0 7'6" MHF rod for frogging from my kayak. The extra length doesn't really bother me much. I'll fish it sitting down or standing up, it's not a big deal.

I don't understand the relation here? What does amount of line and putting bass on a pedestal have to do with each other?

You must not have ever used up that much line before. Doesn't take too long after a few break offs when you have a long cast. If you use the one real a lot and for a lot of different lures you're going to be cutting off a decent amount when retying. Anytime you get a cut or fray in your line you should be getting rid of that section. Basically, if you get out fishing enough you're going to go through a decent amount of line on a reel.

I just realized that the original post was for bank fishing and all the info I gave was for offshore. (Stupid brain) I guess some of the same strategies will work but just in the shallows from shore. Cast to the bases of cypress trees and look for isolated ones if you can.

I was just down there fishing a few weeks ago for a tourney. It was the toughest fishing I've ever experienced but I did catch a few nice ones once I figured things out. I learned a lot from that trip. What worked best for the people who placed high in the tourney was flipping isolated trees. It seemed that a wacky rigged stick bait worked the best for most people. Creature/beaver style baits also worked. One person that placed third was actually getting a good bite on a hollow body frog right next to trees. Unless things changed a lot in the last few weeks I would find bigger looking cypress trees that are by themselves, away from the larger groupings. Flip a wacky rig around the base of it and let it sit for a good 10 seconds or so. Lift it up and let it sit again. If no bite then flip it to another side of the tree. When done flipping to each side of the tree start looking for the next isolated tree. I don't think depth was really much of a factor since people were catching them very shallow and as deep as 6 feet. Colors that worked for most people were junebug, black/blue and green pumpkin. I was catching my bass flipping a BioSpawn Vilebug and Vilecraw in junebug color. As for location, Jeems Bayou produced well for a lot of people and the isolated trees out on the big lake. I don't think people had as much luck in the backwaters of the TX side.

It did warm up nicely today but I don't think it's gotten to 60 here today. I'm by Dubuque. Water temps should warm up in the next couple days but then overnight temps in the upper 30s again Thursday and Friday night. Next week's forecast looks to be more consistent so hopefully that helps.

Kayak fishing in the wind can get very frustrating in the wind, especially when you're on a river or in an area with lots of overhanging obstructions like trees. Just like anything, you learn as you go. I use a stake out pole when fishing shallow water and that makes a huge difference for me. When in deeper water I may throw out my anchor or just drift along and fish. Having a good seat and a stable kayak makes a huge difference. Being able to stand up and not worry about balance as much takes a lot of strain off your body. Having a good seat obviously helps with back issues and overall comfort. I have a swivel seat on mine and it's extremely helpful as it makes it easier to turn around and grab tackle or poles along with helping me position myself for casting and reeling. These are reasons I bought the NuCanoe Frontier 12. As frustrating as it can sometimes be I don't think I would ever change anything. I love fishing out of my kayak and don't regret not having a bass boat.

The only time mine gets cleaned is if it's raining while I'm traveling with it.

I think it's going to take a little longer than a day. It was 27 degrees this morning and will only be a high in the 50's. We're going to need temps above 60 and some sunshine for a few days to get those water temps back up to where they were. The over night temps have not been helping either. I'm hoping to get out again Friday afternoon, possibly on Easter as well.

Last week's temps really affected the bite in Iowa last week. I went last Saturday and the bass were fairly active with water temps being in the mid 50's. After a week of cold weather the water temps dropped 10 degrees and really changed how the bass were biting. If you follow Facebook groups for different lakes in Iowa you'll see trends across the state. There was a kayak tourney on Lake Icaria Saturday and they really struggled. Only 11 of the 57 anglers caught fish and no one caught a limit. There were some nice size bass caught but not many overall. We really need to get back on track with some consistent rising temps.

What's different about those? Are they better?

I just lost my first rod ever fishing down in Louisiana. Was one of my more expensive ones too.

I have Shady Rays. For the price I think they're pretty good. What I really love the most about them is how they back their product. My last fishing trip the mirrored coating started coming off for some reason and I couldn't wear them anymore. When I got back home I went on their website to get a replacement and all I had to pay was $10 for shipping. I just got them in the mail today. There were no questions asked, just had to confirm my original purchase.

I always recommend adding gear tracks to any location on the kayak where you may want to add accessories. This gives you a lot of flexibility for moving things around and removing them. A milk crate with rod holders attached to it can go a long way for gear management.

Based on performances against the level of competition they're in. I think Lee deserves to be at the top right now with back to back Classic wins and how well he's been competing against the best in the BPT. Overall I don't think it matters too much since they are not all competing in the same events against each other.

This debate started up on Facebook group page and it's been interesting. It's not about the greatest ever but who is the best at this moment, based on the last few years. another site world rankings has Jordan Lee first, Edwin Evers second and Bryan Thrift in third right now. I think that's pretty fair to say at the moment. The one person is arguing that Thrift is the greatest angler in the world right now. What are your thoughts?