MassYak85

So a while back I bought a decent size piece of basswood with the intent of getting into making some of my own lures over the winter months. I did a little research and it seemed like a good choice to start out with. I plan on experimenting with some shallow-medium diving cranks and maybe a larger wake bait (Slammer style). As you can probably imagine I have a few questions before I dive in. What do you recommend for hook hangers, are small screw eyes adequate for the job? Should I look to buy some lips or can I make my own out of circuitboard material? Does the kind of paint matter so long as it is sealed well, and what kind of sealer do you recommend? Is Basswood bouyant enough where I need to add ballast weight (for the cranks) or will the hardwear weight be enough? Thank you in advance for any and all tips/answers!

Is the sound a brass weight + bead and a tungsten weight + bead make that different from eachother? Lead is pretty soft so I would assume a decent difference there but with brass and tungsten both being pretty hard is there really a reason to use brass over tungsten other than cost?

I have issues fishing weightless senkos in the wind. When it's windy the line bows and if it's bad enough that will actually pull the senko along which impedes it from falling straight. When it's calm I can cast them accurately, see what the line is doing, and the senko falls perfectly. So for me at least it's just that I can't effectively fish them in the wind as well, I'm sure they still work well if you can present them effectively in the wind. T-rigging or using a wacky jig might help out the cause. Usually in the wind I like to fish moving lures like spinnerbaits or cranks though, and if I need to slow down usually go to a jig.

We got up around 6 and were going to go out but it was so cold we decided not to. Around noon we changed our minds and headed out, we got a few 3lbers so it was worth it, but like you said, I was banking on the wind to help out the bite, if it had been the other way around it would have been terrible.

Oh man, I was out on a small lake today. I can't even imagine the wind/waves on the Quabbin.

This, this THIS ^ You will be amazed how well it works on most backlashes.

I'm sure it's not difficult but that's just more money out of pocket every year for an otherwise "expense-free" means to get on the water.

There is enough flat space in the back where I could get a mount and use one, but then there is the whole issue of getting it registered. Not that I would realistically ever get fined for it, but still. I went out with my father in his boat this afternoon, wind was absolutely brutal. Forecast said gusts to 30....it wasn't exaggerating. My dad got one early on on a spinnerbait, about 3lbs. We decided to brave the full brunt of the wind and fished on the back side of a large exposed rockpile, we both hooked up at the same time, him on a rooster tail on his ultralight (that was fight), me on a Rat-L-Trap. Both fish were about 3lbs. I got a dink on the next cast and then nothing. We moved into a sheltered cove but no bites, it was kind of obvious they were hanging out in the wind. We moved back out and drifted along the west shoreline, a few small bass, a few pickerel and we decided to call it a day. I got a pretty big perch on the Rat-L-Trap that had a small crappie in it's throat. My Rat-L-Trap was similar in size and color so it made sense why he went after it. I suspect that may be my last outing before the hard-water season, probably won't make it home from college again for at least a few more weekends.

I would tend to agree @"hamma". I love my kayak but I really only fish it on lakes and ponds where it actually has some sort of advantage. Take A1 for example, with a full size bass boat you really only have access to 1/2 the pond. With a small aluminum john boat you might stretch that to 75 - 80%. A kayak let's you get to the very back of those thick lily pad beds that grow in the summer, or go up the feed stream on the west side. That being said if I want to fish Quinsig in my kayak....it might take me 45 minutes to an hour to get from flint pond to the north end in a kayak, vs maybe 5 minutes if you have a bass boat. If I had to choose one I'd definitely take a bass boat. You might lose some of that shallow water access but you gain it back on the larger lakes. You can't really effectively fish from a kayak in the middle of a large lake in 20mph winds the same you would in a boat. you are at the mercy of either drifting with the wind or being stationary using an anchor. A peddle drive would change that a little but you still lose out on time efficiency on the larger lakes.

No, I only recently saw it and I'm not sure whether or not I want to try it yet. Might wait until spring.

That game will probably come down to which defense plays better honestly, as both Ben and Brady are both capable of torching any defense that's not bringing their A-game. I believe the Pats pass defense is ranked slightly higher at the moment but we'll see. Definitely one of if not the toughest game on the Pat's calendar this year.

It was nice to see him so locked in to Hogan on those two deep balls

Kayak fishing is really awesome around here because you don't have any of the big reservoirs, mostly just small lakes or ponds that can be paddled across in 5-30 minutes depending on the location. I think the biggest disadvantage to kayak fishing is definitely the wind. Anything past 15mph and I don't even bother putting mine in the water. Although my best day ever on A1 was probably in 20+mph winds a couple springs ago....none of the weeds had really grown in yet so I anchored about 100 feet off the shore the wind was blowing into and casted to isolated stumps, got some pretty nice ones. Speaking of wind...anybody going out tommorow? Supposed to be 20, gusting to 30. It's funny, I used to hate fishing the wind, now it gives me an added boost of confidence for some reason. I guess it probably has something to do with how often I fished soft plastics until recently, I wasn't comfortable unless I could see my line on top of the water in order to see bites.

Me and my dad hit quinsig today, started around 6. The carp were having all sorts of fun in flint pond but no bass were interested in topwaters so we moved on. Overall a painfully slow day, and the only consistent bass catching was a small 15 minute window right when the clouds came in and the wind picked up. It was dink city on rooster tails in the north section and then when the wind died down again....nothing. We did see something pretty interesting at the north end though, there was a school of what I can only assume were about 30 rainbow trout that kept chasing our lures back to the boat, nudging up against my spinnerbait but not eating it. It's like they were annoyed that the lures were in their area. The only other time I have seen that kind of behavior from fish is when the herring run in the spring, they will do the same thing. They were pretty decent size ones too, all around 16 inches I'd say. Wish we could have caught some but they didn't seem like they wanted to eat. We left around 2, no one else seemed to be doing very well either.

As far as hooksets, most of mine are over the shoulder when sitting down, when standing up (I have outriggers otherwise I wouldn't be doing that) I do them how I normally would from shore/in a boat. If you hook a good fish though, your kayak will move on the hookset. Whether or not that warrants a harder hookset you will probably have to get a feel for once you get started with your new kayak. I'd say the only time I feel like that has an actual impact on my hookups is when frog fishing, so I really lay into them when I do get bit. Using braid, an XHF rod, and locked down drag...the only thing that can move is either the fish or the kayak, and when the fish wraps you up....it's your kayak. Of course it also depends on how much your kayak + you + gear is going to weigh. For me that's probably around 250lbs so I'm sure some of these larger fishing sit on tops will be a more solid platform. For pitching, I do it standing up just fine, but when sitting I have to do a kind of "roll cast" with my wrist which still keeps it low to the water but it probably will never be quite as precise or quiet as true pitching. With anchoring in a river, it could be downright suicidal depending on the river. But if you read up and know how to be safe about it you should be fine.

Kietech swing impact fat and eco pro tungsten swing shad. The eco pro ones are relatively cheap and still have huge tail kick at slow speeds.

Here's something I saw on YouTube for you guys that like trying out new rigs

I have a couple natural colored ones for clear water and one that is white and chartreuse for really muddy rivers mostly. Can't say I've used them all that much tbh though.

Oh you're right, my mistake. But still...this stuff looks more white than clear. http://img.tacklewarehouse.com/watermark/rs.php?path=WST-1.jpg&nw=302

I'm hoping for that matchup too, but the sox dropped their first game so hopefully they can hold on and win this ALDS.

I found this pretty quick http://www.piscatus.net/spiderwire-ultracast-invisibraid-final-review/ I have never seen the stuff in real life, and it might look completely different underwater....but to me that is WHITE. Which I would think would stand out even MORE.

I use 40lb braid as mainline since that's what's on my bottom contact setup. It works well and I don't have issues with the line wearing. Make sure you use quality weights though. Very cheap lead can be poorly molded and have jagged edges near the hole. Even some tungsten can be rough so weights with an insert can help if you are having issues with the line getting worn. Something I do do though is take a bobber stop and put it on the braid mainline before tying any of the rig. Then once the swivel is attached to the braid I push the bobber stop down to cover the braid to swivel knot. I don't know how much it actually helps but it's just a confidence thing for me knowing a 1oz tungsten weight isn't smashing directly into my knot everytime I drag the rig.

If anyone ever needed convincing of this....

Good luck with the tuna! @Janderson45 Nice fish, I fished A1 a lot over the summer (and winter, my profile picture is just to the left of the island if you are looking out from the launch), last time I was there a couple months ago from the bank it was probably a foot or two low. How are the weeds there right now? It was absolutely choked at certain points over the summer.

Oh they work I feel like a lot of anglers are getting the 90 size because they feel the 130 is a little too big. Honestly I would recommend just getting the 130, you'll catch 1lbers on it all day. The 90 has issues with spinning as well and has waaaaaayyyy less commotion and gets swallowed up by waves or wind chop.