stk44

I almost always use a leader with braids unless I’m fishing thick grass. I would go with 30 lb braid to a 12-16lb leader depending on the cover. I’m a big fan of the Sunline fc leader. It’s the best leader material I have found for the money.

Have you heard what the new rods are like or are you not recommending them because Gary is no longer the owner?

That last part got me 🤣

I start looking for the deepest water and start there. If you have the luxury of a couple day warming trend, that is a plus. I recommend starting with a small rapala Shad rap and bounce it off rocks or tick the tops of any existing weeds. I think I use the SR04 for ponds, but it all depends how deep your pond is. The retrieve should be really slow and pause anytime you make contact with a hard object. I would also try a small 3” swimbait on an underspin or jig head. I grind these off the bottom in winter if possible. Lastly, and especially on a sunny day, I’ll try a small rapala husky jerk. I use the smaller 3.5” size. This time of the year is goofy trying to get your bait to suspend, so bring some suspend dots to help keep your bait in the strike zone. Go out with the expectation that you may only get 1 bite, or none at all, over 2-3 hours.

I’ll have to check out the bubba scale. Does it consistently give the same readings? As an example does a 1 lb fish weigh exactly 1lb on mutiple attempts or is there a variance?

Cool. Now do you load and unload directly from the trailer or is the trailer just to get you close?

Agreed. I have a paddle kayak and boat control is a challenge, but I still get by. I think of it as cardio. Tournament fishing while everyone else has a TM would make it difficult. Spot lock would be pretty cool on a kayak. Do you have a trailer for your kayak or can you load it in your truck?

Thanks, this was exactly what I was looking for. I like the using the net as a basket idea. I have a few lakes where cookie cutter fish are the norm and a cull might be just an ounce or two. So this will help me tremendously. I typically throw my fish on the balance beam and only weight when the beam is close to horizontal and I can’t tell which fish is heavier. I like your process of keeping the freshest fish when they are close, which is way more important on average given the dead fish penalty. Your process is methodical and efficient, which is what I need. thanks for your help!

Have you checked my location? Lol

How consistent is the scale? Don’t care if it is accurate, but I really need to be able to trust it.

So once you get a legal 5, do you check any new fish against a balance beam or a scale?

I agree. Anything > 7’ is tip heavy. The remedy to this is to go to the legend rods. I have a mix of st croix, dobyns and shimano. I prefer my dobyns rods for baitcasting and st croix rods for spinning.

This is all sounds pretty awesome to me. You have to remember that all of these people are trying just as hard as you to either win the event, or at least place in a reasonable position. I think that's awesome you beat over half of the competition. Do they have kayak tournaments that are paddle or pedal only? I have no bandwidth/availability to fish kayak tournaments, but plan to some day. I always thought the format was pretty cool.

One area I can improve in tournament fishing is my method for culling fish. I was a rider for many years, so I’m still developing my own method now that I have a boat. I typically use the clamp type cull tags until I get a limit. When I catch my potential fish that will cull, I put on the ardent smart cull tags (the ones that go just behind the gill plate) and put them on the balance beam. The primary reason for the tag switch is that the ardent smart cull tags are more secure for the balance beam and don’t fall off in the livewell. Sometimes I feel like I waste time trying to figure out what my smallest fish is, while other times I feel like I waste time screwing around while weighing them or putting them on the balance beam when the bite is hot. A lot of times when I weigh fish I usually adjust the weight on the cull tags, but my scale is in decimals and the adjustable dial on the cull tags use pounds and ounces. Makes my brain hurt sometimes and it’s too much thinking for me lol. Here are some main questions I am trying to figure out: -Do you measure/weigh each fish each time you put them in the livewell? -what do you do when you get a limit? Do you stop fishing and mark all fish at that point? Or do you wait until you catch a potential fish that will cull? -do you keep notes of your smallest fish in inches/ weight or just note which is your smallest? -what tags do you use? -any particular culling system/strategy that works for you? Thanks in advance, Steve

Dang. I’m just hearing this now. I truly hope the quality doesn’t decline. In my opinion they make the best balanced baitcasting rods that I have ever used.

I definitely struggle navigating between the active screens, but yeah, overall the helix is still a great unit. I have a 10+ year on Garmin echo 150 on my kayak, so it’s worlds ahead of that one. 😀

Honestly, even if I was using ML1 I would still want the Xplore. I didn’t think I wanted touch screen when I bought my boat a couple of years ago, but it would be super helpful. I think the processing speed is the huge upgrade. I honestly cannot believe how delayed the helix is some times.

I really like my ultrex. I have the “old” ultrex (bought in 2023 lol) with ipilot link and it is fantastic. I only have experience operating the ultrex but I will say that the housing that protects the built in imaging seems to take a better beating than the lowrance ghost. That’s just from my observation seeing torn up equipment in tournaments. I don’t have any experience with Garmin or powerpole motors. Once you select your trolling motor, I would select a graph that’s compatible. I have humminbird helix units that are pretty good. Most models are discontinued, so you might be able to find a deal on them. They have been replaced by the Xplore which I have heard is a really solid unit. If you are interested in FFS down the road, you want to make sure you get the latest unit so compatibility is not an issue when it’s time to upgrade. Good luck with your decision.

I would add a ned rig, tube, and senko to your arsenal. Try find your own spots. And remember that just because you or someone else got fish in a certain location, with a certain bait on a certain day, does not guarantee future success. Conditions can change by the minute, forcing the fish to adapt. Start with main lake points or fish any visible cover. Look for differences, even subtle differences with your eyes and electronics. Maybe it’s a turn in the weed line, maybe there’s a change from large boulders to smaller chunk rock that you notice on the bank. Focus on the little things and that will help you eliminate as much water as possible. Time on the water helps and it sounds like you are due for some fish soon.

Strike king 3.5 coffee tube, strike king coffee flipping tube, and net bait sth 4” are my go to baits. The latter I really like for Lake Erie smallmouth.

-Fish it like a top water- leave hook eye exposed. Sometimes I pause between twitches, sometimes I don’t, sometimes I straight retrieve with the rod too high. -Fish it like a top water when vegetation is matted- leave hook eye tucked in the bait. Twitch bait or drag on surface -Fish it deeper (but still shallow)- leave the hook eye tucked in the bait. Experiment with cadence. Twitch twitch twitch, slight pause seems to work best for me. -some of my favorite flukes are zoom super fluke and the caffeine Shad -Look up donkey rigging. It’s a pretty cool deal. good luck Yep. Sometimes they want it straight retrieved (and fast) or they won’t strike.

Took a short trip out on the lake. My oldest caught her first ever smallmouth on a senko which was pretty cool. My youngest had another smallie on but, we haven’t quite got the hook set down Being a girl Dad, we spent about 30 minutes fishing and most of the time spot locked playing Barbie’s and eating snacks. I’ll take it though, it was a good day.

I use it to track my fuel. That is the main thing that your gauges likely do not do accurately. This app is VERY accurate. My gas tank might show that I have an almost full tank, but I might have 30 gallons which is actually 3/4 tank in my boat. You can log maintenance in the app, which I guess you could do anywhere but it reminds you when some maintenance may be needed. If you get it on sale I think it’s definitely worth it, but depends on what you want to get out of it.

You really only need to worry about sensitivity and contrast to get good readings. There are a ton of YouTube videos that can put you on the fast track to learning some of the shortcuts. It’s really simple, honestly.

Gotta love cold muddy water. The only thing I wanted to try that I didn’t was a Shad rap. I’m surprised the spinnerbait and bladed jig didn’t produce though.