Dorado

Live Target Threadfin (baitball series) Squarebill is one of my top producers. Actually, I would rank that particular lure in my favorite 5 hard lures of all time for LMB. Threadfin is the primary forage where I fish and that lure gets some aggressive chasers to shore. I like to burn it in the Fall and postspawn is effective doing a moderate retrieve with frequent 2 second pauses. $12 for a squarebill is a lot, relatively speaking. I'm a SK KVD 1.5 fan too, but I catch more fish consistently with that baitball pattern. Solid work Live Target.

I really dig this collection. Awesome stuff! Do you own any of the Rapala ULs?

Split shot rig with curly tails and other finesse worms

I tied on a Carolina Keeper last night for the 1st time after reading your recommendation from a different post and they are very user-friendly! I won't go back to any other alternative. Like you've said.........one knot.

Going to start off long lining this Rig from the kayak to cover water. I can interchangeably swap those baits with Slabalicious paddletails to various grubs. Have some beetlespins too that I'm going to get creative with. After I find the concentration, going to target with roadrunners or crappie magnets paired with gulp!alive! Minnows. Will hopefully post dinner tomorrow night!

Love me some 2" gulp minnows. You fish those under a bobber too and how do you work that jig back?

Call me crazy, but I get more fulfillment catching Slabs with artificials. I'm a fly-fisherman at heart who is trying to be a bass-crappie-angler wannabe.

It's fun to do bad things :/ .........totally joking here. It's called a vice!

Never fished for crappies from a kayak before but I'm visiting a reservoir this Sunday where I've heard the spawn is going on. Any tips for techniques and/or favorite lures/baits? I'm not a live minnow type of guy (just preference) :). Thanks!

Thanks, Scott. I forgot to mention that too, my spinner baits often get tangled too in the traditional tackle box and I end up messing the skirts up - on occasion.

Do you spinnerbait fans recommend buying spinnerbait-designed tackle boxes for storage? I just cram them in my deep, crankbait-designed boxes for now and notice that it bends the wires.

Just ordered the same make and model glasses, but with a gray lens for these extremely bright Arizona skies. Can't wait to try em' on!

Asking if there are any bad experiences with the NED rig is liking asking the Hobie crew if there are any drawbacks with their Hobie yaks.

Perfectly stated

Tom - how do you recommend they retrieve that particular set-up? I'm taking a beginner out tonight and I happen to have some Roboworms ST oxblood red flakes. Thank you.

IMO, if you already have road runners, pair them up with 3" grubs for some fun action! At least with grubs, it's a constant retrieval and nothing can be easier than that. Ned Rig can call for a little more patience and involve a couple nuances (potentially) like rod shaking, for example. Just my 2cents. In my experience of taking kids out fishing, grub fishing rarely let's me down. If I had to use a bobber and use artificial, a 2.5" Gulp!Alive! usually gets some takers too. Good luck!

KVD 2.5 in Red Chili has caught my PB Smallie and ton of other toads. However, for LMB, the Live Target Threadfin (baitball series) has been my top producer.

I'm taking baby steps, but eventually will develop the skills to fine tune those detailed settings (surface clarity, sensitivity, etc). I need to learn how to walk, before I learn how to run. I don't think my Hook unit has that feature since it's on the lower-scale of Lowrance products.

Thanks for your input, Roger. Crystal clear now. Perfect, thanks! It's starting to all come together now.

I'll have to experiment with it tonight, during simulation mode, and see if there's a way I can toggle the setting to BOTH High/Mid CHIRP. To clarify, is that what you're saying? Run it in dual mode?

I bank fish a lot and here are my 3 rules (repeat of what others have said): 1) breakdown a reservoir into sections (quadrants, hemispheres, into smaller lakes) whatever you can to mentally not overwhelm yourself with a large body of water. 2) Identify where the channel is. The channel can serve as a 'freeway' where baitfish and predators flow thru during various times of the year (especially true for stripers and catfish - I'm discovering). A lot of warmwater species like to head to the mouths of channels to gorge before they spawn, as it's instinctual to move 'upstream' <---- say this loosely. 3) Favor rip-raps because crawdads, bluegills, minnows seek shelter and feed here. Seek docks and marinas (shelter, structure, food). Lastly, favor coves (especially in the Spring when those offer great spawning habitats. When it gets windy too, the currents will push food into the coves and offer the bank angler some protection too *win/win side note: fish windward sides too. At first, I thought that was counter-intuitive because who likes casting INTO the wind right? However, the chop pushes forage into the banks and disorientates them, causing a feeding frenzy if you hit the window right.

Thanks for this info. I sure do like #'s! From what I'm gathering, HIGH CHIRP (200kHz) will provide greater detail by providing target separation, like a lunker hugging the bottom for example. Conversely, Medium CHIRP (83kHz), with the wider cone angle, will provide a stronger arch (fish) and help distinguish schools of shad since it's capturing a 'bigger picture' in the return.

Shameless bump

I fish out of my yak in waters that average 20-28 feet deep and hit 60 feet maximum when I'm targeting stripers. I own a Lowrance Hook 4x Mid/High. Should my sounding settings be set on HIGH CHIRP (200 kHz) or MID. CHIRP (83 kHz) when I'm trying to locate schools of shad and feeding fish? Also, since I do not obviously troll, should my PING speed be on 'slower' or 'normal'? I am comfortable with my DownScan settings as I only utilize that screen for structure identification purposes. I have the preset settings under "Shallow Fishing" mode. I keep sensitivity on 'auto', have noise rejection on 'off', and do not mess around with the water clarity option. I'm a beginner sonar user so I'm trying to hone in on the fundamentals first. Thanks in advance!

1. Zoom 3" White Grub 2. Strike King Bitsy Tube Pumpkin w/ Green Flake 3. Gulp! Alive! Minnow 2.5" Black Shad 4. NetBait Paca Craw Baby - Toledo Special 5. Zoom Super Fluke Jr. (White Ice) In no particular order.