dwh4784

So this is my first year fishing from a kayak, and I quickly discovered that treble hooked fish are not my friend. Especially when it's a dang pikeminnow (squaw), and I C&R everything anyway. I did as much research as I could and ended up deciding to swap out every treble I had to Gamakatsu octopus circle hooks. Problem is I haven't used any of these modified lures too much yet, other than a 1/4oz Panther Martin which has had a great hook-up %. I have several lipless cranks, flicker shads, countdown Rapalas, topwaters, even trout spoons, all re-rigged with these hooks in various sizes. Does anyone have experience doing similar? I always plan on fishing them but I get out there and the zero confidence bug bites and I fall back on other stuff.

I just got a 90 in loon today, Dick's is carrying them and I snagged the only one on the rack in that size/color. I've been wanting one badly for sunrise smallmouth fishing. I changed out both trebles to 2/0 Gamakatsu octopus circle hooks, we'll see how it works. I hate using trebles when fishing from a kayak, mostly for personal safety reasons.

I really like the white LiveTarget field mouse. It swims incredibly lifelike in open water, and the hooks are great and detach well from the body on a hookup. I've also actually seen big white mice jumping around in thick lily pads around here, so to me that just adds to the realism. I also use a normal Spro frog. No issues with it so far.

No, it's a ONYX MoveVent Dynamic Paddle Sports Vest. Was like $50 on Amazon. The mesh back makes it so comfortable, I used a normal life jacket for my first couple trips and it was not very comfy.

Not sure I would trust an auto-inflator. But I always wear my ONYX PFD when on the kayak. I'm an excellent swimmer, beat a bunch of guys one time that said they could swim a lake. 45 minutes later only one of us was sitting on the opposite shore... Still, when fishing and on a kayak or boat you could easily tank it and get hit in the head, or drop all your stuff. Best not to have to worry about your head staying above water in that scenario. Wear the PFD no matter what. Drowning is no way to go. Just saw an article today on one. Guy didn't know how to swim, no PFD, drowned in 9 ft of water.

The first time I took my 4 year old out on my kayak I ran into a nice group of guys, the first ones on a large boat that were making a giant wake for their waverunner friend to jump. Not a big deal on a lake this big, except they were hitting me with white cap rollers, it was a week day, and this lake is huge. I could hear the boat driver talking about going 9mph to make the biggest wake he could from where I was at. They could have been a half mile away and done the same thing, but had to do it right next to me. Never went back to that lake and probably never will.

I caught a ~15" rainbow using a float and fly combo last year that had at least a 6" length of 10lb+ snelled baithook broke off in it's mouth., Keep in mind I was using 6lb mainline and 4lb leader. Not sure what happened for them to lose that sort of gear, but glad I could remove it all and release the fish.

My uncle had a what I would guess was very early 90's Ranger bass boat with a 150 Suzuki on it, man that thing was FAST! Not sure how fast modern ones are with 200+ motors but that boat was ridiculous compared to our Bayliner bass boat with a Force 85. Seems like the fastest he said he ever got up to was 72mph. It also smoked a LOT on cold startups, I definitely remember that. But ours was broke down all the time and his never was.

I went against the trend and bought an Old Town Vapor 10 Angler this spring. It's a SINK rather than SOT. I like it a lot, have been out at least a dozen times. I've even taken my four year old son out in it twice. I added one rod holder to the front so I can take three rods out. Re-rigging on the water is a pain. If I weren't limited to 10ft length (storage space in the garage) I would have saved up for a SOT with the raised up comfortable seat. I didn't like the idea of getting wet all the time on the cheaper SOT models comparable for what the Vapor 10 was going for. I paid $399 for mine new FWIW. My next kayak will also have a rudder system or an aftermarket one available. Being able to steer with your feet while drifting in the wind/current would be incredibly superior to having to constantly adjust with the paddle or your hands.

Hi, I've lurked and read articles on here for quite some time. Really just getting back into bass fishing this year after a pretty long hiatus. I grew up fishing a lot with my dad and uncle, but uncle gravitated toward fly fishing for trout and dad only golfs now. I bought a fishing kayak this spring and have been out several times, trying out a lot of new places. I caught my PB smallmouth a few weeks ago at 3lb6oz, which was an absolute blast! My best largemouth on the year is the same weight, with a few others over 2lb. The kayak fishing is a totally different experience than fishing from a bass boat, that's for sure. I've changed a lot my my equipment and tactics as I figure things out.

I gave one a good solid try one day, and got nada. Switched to a SPRO frog and caught one right away. I was honestly more paranoid an osprey was going to dive on it, there was one definitely eyeballing it.

I remember once a long time ago with my dad a blue heron picked up his devils horse in its beak. It snatched it sideways, and he waited until it tried to turn and swallow it to yank it out. He always said if my stepmom wasn't with us he might have seen how it would have ended up with 50lb spiderwire on the reel though...

My most memorable was when fishing with my dad, we were about to line up with a dock in a great spot and I was in the back seat and tried to hole-shot him and failed nicely. He laughed as I went right over the corner of the dock with my slug-go, and just as he asked what my plan was if I got a bite there I hammered a ~2lber and hook set it over the dock and into the boat in front of my feet in a single motion. I said something smart like that was my plan the whole time. We still laugh about that one.

I've lurked on this forum for quite awhile, but finally had to register to post in this thread. That one a few posts up on the blue ribbon tail worm made me seriously laugh out loud! Great thread. Here's my contribution. Also one of the last times I fished with trebles in the kayak.