the reel ess

True but I want the barbs on my trebles. Mono also floats. This matters more when you fish from a kayak because your rod tip is lower than it would be from a boat. So you might start your retrieve off by pulling the bait under until your retrieve is closer. If you tie a good leader knot you're not going to have an issue. And if you break a 20 lb mono leader using a topwater, your drag was tightened way too much.

Since this thread started, and it is 6 years old, I have fished Kendall twice and Godale once. I caught exactly 1 bass each time. Once when I was putting in there a couple guys were taking out. They told me be there early or go elsewhere. They said they ahve no idea where the fish go when the sun gets up. I also fished Lake Shamokin, that pond at the Shrine Club on 521. Same experience. You can now bank fish at the new river park on the Hwy 1 bridge. It has a kayak/canoe landing and there's a big creek behind the park.

Falcon Lowrider or Bucoo rods are a great value at their price point. They're technique specific, so there's no guessing. I own the "big cranker" Lowrider ($129) and the Bucoo "Pitching Stick" ($99). Love them both.

I prefer a metal frame. I've owned a metal framed reel that lasted nearly 30 years. I did repair it a couple times, but it was normal wear. Then I've owned two graphite framed reels that just didn't last. Once that frame is warped it's game over. Now there are a few graphite framed reels that I suppose are high quality. Lew's makes a graphite framed reel that's $140. https://www.lews.com/en/shop/casting/mh2ac I would expect good service out of any reel at that price point. I'd avoid the really cheap ones and focus on the $80 and up range, no matter the frame. Honestly, getting a BC reel cheaper than that would worry me. That said, I believe any BC reel that cost more than $50 should be able to land big bass.

I've seen Seibert and Delaware Valley tackle post on here. I even interacted with someone at Academy about one of their house brand reels, though they aren't sponsors.

I like it. I'm starting to collect additional boxes that won't fit in my bag.

Last time I had a surgery I went about 5 weeks. That was about 6 years ago. I may have gone longer in winter if the weather was consistently bad. But I try hard not to go very long. It's important to my mental health.

I caught this bass at my buddy's pond. It was maybe 2 lbs., big for his pond though. It had about an 8" bass down its throat. I have to estimate because, obviously, some of it was digested. It looked as big around as it did long when i caught it. He tells me to keep everything because they're stunted, but I just had to throw that one back. It's a stone cold killer and stands a chance at getting big. There isn't enough bait in that pond for both the bass and bluegills. And most of the bluegills have gotten too big to be eaten. So any bass that can eat bass stands a good chance of being "special".

I never stopped using mine this winter. But we routinely get 50 degree days in winter. I'd really like to move either south or east, near the coast to get more warm days.

A what?

Whopper Plopper. You can get some big females to bite it, prespawn or even postspawn when they're still shallowish. I like the 110 best, but I scale it down to the 90 model after spawn if the bites stop.

I actually had a hook go through the strands of braid. I had to cut it and retie. That would be quite the hassle of I was in kayak with no scissors. I carry them for that reason now.

A T rigged craw is deadly. You can also rig one on a bare jighead. It will get a few more bites and cull fewer small fish than the whole jig with skirt. When I do I like to use a lighter jighead because it will sink faster. I caught the bass in my profile pic on that rig.

I do limit the ones I carry. They're almost all black/blue, 3/8-1/2 oz. Arky head, or, lately I'm trying the CatchCo Trashmaster. It works just as well but is more weedless.

I have picked up that combo at the beach many times and thought the same thing. I'd go down one power. If you want a MH freshwater, I'd buy a M saltwater, unless you intend to use it in salt as well. I have a 40 size Pflueger Trion on a MH freshwater rod and it's a pretty heavy combo. I'd prefer a 30 size on it, but it won't wear out and it has whooped a bunch of good bass. I'd go with something like this before that Penn combo. Looking at the Penn it's a graphite composite rod that will be less sensitive. This combo will be better suited for bass. https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/lews-mach-2-spinning-combo?repChildCatid=7769504 Or this https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/kastking-crixus-spinning-5-ft-6-in-6-ft-6-in-freshwater-saltwater-fishing-combo?repChildCatid=10169202 I have one of these Crixus rods and it's very light and sensitive.

Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go today.

I just looked it up. They call it a mod-fast. but it's more moderate than fast. At least mine is. And I was wrong about the reel size I have on it. It's a 30 size.

$80 is cheap now? I must be El Cheapo mas grande. I have a Lightning rod 7' M-Mod for lighter treble lures. $40 and It'll do everything you want. It's a great balanced rod. I have a Pflueger Trion 2500 on it. $80 combo reg. price. But I found the reel unopened in a pawn shop for $20.

I always tell my wife that, God forbid I die while fishing, please don't sue the landowner. I would have died doing what I like. There was an old man who crappie fished on the same reservoir I bass fish. He died in his jonboat out fishing. My buddy told me he found that guy's minnow bucket floating a couple days later. He said it had a crappie in it. So he caught something on his final day. Not too shabby. To your point I always tell the wife where I'm going and about how long I'll be. Then I usually stay longer. When I tell her 4 hours, she knows it's 5.

Yeah, I'm talking about largemouth in still waters.

I got the Whopper Plopper in a post about a minute before yours.

High end bass boats cost about $20K more than a decade ago. Kayak fishing has grown exponentially in that time. I think there has been some good innovation in topwater lures. I'm thinking specifically about lures like the Whopper Plopper and hollow body frog. Braided line has become more popular for more techniques with many more varieties available. The standard BC reel gear ratio has pretty much become 7 to 7.5:1. I rarely use a reel under 7:1 anymore. When I do it's just because I want to catch a bass on my dad's old stuff. I remember when I was a kid there was a local who won or placed well in most tournaments on our lake. He anchored almost everywhere he fished. He would anchor shallow and fish deeper. Mostly, he used T rigged worms and crankbaits. And he had a 16' aluminum V bottom Bass Tracker. He also made his own fish attractors. He was rumored to have thrown out old, gutted appliances. Artificial reefs, in a sense. Indeed, you could see something on the bottom with your graph most places he fished. Actually, most of the good fishing spots I knew, I knew because I saw him on them.

Like a jig, a huge majority of the bites come on the first drop. Lift it a couple times to make it wiggle. If there's no takers yank it out and repeat. I prefer a T rigged one, weightless. For one, it's more weedless. You can skip it into heavy cover with less fear of hangups. And you can work it back and get some bites on the retrieve. And if you let it sink on a slack line, it'll enter almost the same way a wacky rig will. I'm sure there are times either one works better. But they're very similar.

I have a 90 and 130. They both work. The 90 culls fewer smaller fish, but I've caught one over 6 lbs. on it. But I usually go for the 130 because it doesn't tend to spin after a really long cast. Since I kayak fish my line angle is lower than it would be from a boat deck. The 90 spins upon retrieve until I get it closer. Line twist is undesirable. And one of the best things about these lures is you can bomb them a mile and cover lots of water.

I got a notification that someone replied to one of my comments on the thread about kayak fishing YouTube channels. When I clicked on the notification it was from March 2nd. Then I went to reply and it said my post was hidden and it was a different color. What do you suppose happened here? Has the thread been deleted? I somehow can still read it.