MassYak85

I would say wacky worm since it's my favorite to fish but realistically it doesn't cover the whole water column as well as some of the others. I might have to go with drop shot.

I do sometimes. It's rare though. If I'm in the boat with my dad I want to be talking with him. If I'm in my kayak I want to hear boats coming near me. Honestly I find it puts me at a disadvantage so even when I'm alone on a pond with no one else I usually don't. If the bite is slow I might just to distract me a little. But there's so many audio cues you can use to target fish from the obvious things like splashes, to frogs jumping in the water or croaking, to the small things like a reed brushing up against another as a bass pushes it aside as it's darting to chase a bluegill.

Kudos to you man that's awesome! I'm worried my lakes are gonna start to freeze over next week. I might have to try the Charles myself or drive down near the cape to find non-solid water.

ditto

I think it can be important all year long. In the summer the pulsating skirt on a swimjig when it bumps into a piece of cover could be enough of an extra attractant aside from it's swimming action to trigger a bite. But in the winter you might only want the secondary action. If you have a jig just sitting there on the bottom for long periods of time the slight action of the trailer and skirt in the current could be all they are looking for and too much imparted action could deter them.

Bank Access is very good. There is a trail that goes most of the way around the lake in both directions from the parking lot. Heavily wooded so not a whole lot of access from the trail but there are some spots. There's about a quarter mile dam right next to the parking lot that you can fish from. It's completely covered in grass and not steep. The only downside of fishing form shore there is limited access to deep water so when there's a cold snap and they aren't shallow it can be tough. If you get a warm up though they can move up into that area and you can have some good luck. As far as fish the biggest I've gotten out of there was a 4 1/2 pounder last spring. In fact that was the first fish I caught last year (April 10th). It's one of the more consistent places I fish regularly though. It has produced a lot of numbers days for me, I'd say average fish size is probably around 2 - 3 lbs. I haven't fished it a ton when it's truly cold like in the high 30's low 40's(other than ice fishing). From what I've heard from guys I've talked to that fished it for decades said there used to be absolute pigs in there but not so much anymore. There's still good fish in there though. Last time out in my kayak last year I had something huge knock about 6 feet of slack into my line when fishing a Mattlures Gill. By the time I caught up and set the hook it was too late and whatever it was shot off and left a torpedo like 30 foot wake. Also when fishing in the summer sometimes I'll just paddle around in the lily pads to scare stuff and I've seen some huge swirls from spooked bass. Long story short it's definitely worth fishing. I like going there a lot more than whitehall. If you plan on going let me know I can give you some more specific tips.

What kind of kayak are you looking at? I think most of the sit on top fishing kayaks have weight capacities in the high 3 to 4 hundred pounds (some even higher). Mine's a 10ft sit in with a capacity of 325 but I'm usually around 200 when all is said and done with gear so it's not something I've ever thought about actually. If you're worried about extra gear tipping you over the weight limit I probably wouldn't stress about it. I carry more than I should but even then it's not that much weight wise. Most of it comes from my jig and soft plastics boxes.

Nice Score! I would have been all over that too, I love the swing shads.

I'm at school in lowell for the week so I haven't checked it. Last weekend I drove by and it was open. With this rain and mild weather I'd say go Thursday if you're able. After that we are getting another cold snap with daytime temps barely above freezing it looks like, I'd imagine it will start to freeze again. The lake I live closest to last weekend (this is 15 minutes from A1) was half frozen. Seems like we're going to be in limbo for a few weeks at least in my area. I'm sure towards the cape there will be plenty of open water to be had. I'll probably launch my kayak next week regardless of the weather I just need to get out.

Welp, long term forecast says no days above 50 all of next week, with some nights late this week dipping into the single digits. I definitely want to get out at least once or twice during break so I might just tough it out one day. I still have to get my roofracks back on my car.

I'll give another nod to 16lb sniper but my second choice would be 30lb braid with a leader depending on the conditions.

I've caught them both slow rolling but also waking them up top. If you can get them really high and just making the water "boil" it looks a lot like when bluegills school up near the surface.

I've had good luck with a big black colorado blade spinnerbait

For some reason the Bass Pro near me had 150yd spools of Seaguar Smackdown for 12.88. Needless to say I grabbed a couple.

The Bait Monkey drove me to Bass Pro, and then threw a few things that were on sale into my cart.

I've toyed with the idea of a fish finder as well but haven't done it yet. How did you do your transducer, is it a through-haul? Speaking of passing the time, I went to Bass Pro today to check out the sale. I didn't go crazy but I did find some nice deals I couldn't pass up. I've been looking for a new kayak net for a while and they had these guys marked down to 10 bucks from 17. They were too long for my liking as a kayak net so when I got home I sawed off a couple feet from the handle and put the grip back on (picture is after I modified it). They also had some Zoom plastics marked down 25% so I thought I'd try some chunks for my new jigs. They had some scatter raps down about 25% as well so I grabbed one. And get this, Seaguar Smackdown Braid....marked down almost 70% OFF. They had 10, 15, and 20lb 150yd spools for just 12.88. The higher strengths had been picked clean but I figured I'd stock up on some 15 to use on my spinning reels. I've never tried it before but I've great things about it, and for that price I couldn't say no.

oh woops, my bad. I meant you @Teamboca

Lol keep us posted on the 190. I'm thinking of grabbing one myself to throw on my swimbait rod after all the fish I caught on the 130 last year.

If I didn't have classes until 2 and a possible interview maybe I have next week off I'm hoping there will be at least a few days in the high 40's or low 50's that I can get out.

Well with the bitterly cold weather this weekend I figured I'd at least do something productive related to fishing. Made a kayak light pole out of some PVC and a diving flashlight with a defuser I got online. I added a small metal eyelet in case I want to add a flag to it as well for daytime use. I'm pretty happy with it, should work well. Apparently the flashlight is rated waterproof down to 100 feet so I wn't have to worry about it crapping out on me in the rain. Still not 100% sure how I'm going to attach it. I have flush mounted rod holders and I might just jam a pool noodle into them to fill the gap between the PVC and the rod holder diameter. Also made a stakeout pole a couple weeks ago.

I'd like to know too, I have a couple pretty close to me but their selection isn't great. I usually just use them when I need bait.

I have the okuma (H) and like it. I'd say it's more like a 3/4 - 4oz rod rather than the 1 - 6 they claim but if you're just looking to throw smaller swimbaits it's good for the money.

I got a Hudd Gill and a Jackal Squad Minnow Jerkbait TW had on sale.

I'm hoping the single digit temps don't lock up all the places near me, I might still try and get out sunday if possible. I got a hudd gill from TW I'll be wanting to try out.

x2 And no I have not noticed them marking up my reels...but then again most of my reels are black so you might want to ask someone else.