Boomstick

^6

I have a 7'6" flipping rod I use for flipping and pitching and a 7'4" frog rod, but most of my other rods are 7'2" and under and I feel that's the perfect size for flipping in a kayak. I would also suggest a YakAttack BlackPak (or similar, the BlackPak is my rod and tackle storage of choice), a YakAttack Leverloc Anchor Trolley and an Anchor Wizard.

The biggest pro of the Jon boat is you can take a friend, but you can really rig out a kayak very nicely and my Bonafide SS127 is quite comfortable and easy to cast in. I would prefer a kayak if it's just me, however a decent kayak will be much more expensive than a Jon boat.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to flip a Bonafide SS127? My fat ass hasn't been able to do it yet

I picked up a Garmin EchoMap UHD 93sv for my kayak, it's really easy to use and I don't have to make too many changes going lake to lake. The imaging is pretty decent, I'm all all around happy with it. If you aren't aware, the 73sv has the same number of pixels and it's cheaper just a smaller screen - I got the 9" simply because the larger screens are better with sun glare and I have horrible vision when sun glare is involved. The same is true with most brands as well.

My general rule of thumb is I have to find where the bass are before I think about targeting larger bass. So when I don't fish for bigger bass is when I am not finding the bite. If I find the bite early, then targeting bigger bass is fair game.

My first question is how thick is the grass? Areas like you describe can be tough.

So what I would do is go out at dusk or dawn and try throwing something like a spinnerbait or a crankbait, and at night a black spinnerbait with a single colorado blade. I would think at feeding times, you're bound to get something! When the going gets tough, I bring out the T-Rig or a Jig and when it gets really tough I usually get out the drop shot or Ned rig (ned rig is easier from shore when you can hop it on the bottom). Some questions - Is the water you fish clear, dirty or mildly stained? Do you see baitfish in those areas?

So did your luck ever turn around? I actually had a similar drought that I think went from later June to mid July. After that, the bite picked up a little bit, and I got a few in August but unfortunately due to gout in my foot, I've only made it out once since that - but still got four that day and one was a good one!

Congrats! Smallies always put up a fight. I caught a smallie this summer that was < 3lbs (forget the exact weight) on a jig on a MH/XF rod with the drag set to 4.5lbs and that fish put up quite the fight! I was quite surprised it wasn't at least a 4+ pounder.

I'm left handed and I use my spinning reels left handed, but I use a right handed baitcaster. I can't reel with my left hand to save my life, so my rod stays in my left hand unless it's beneficial to cast around say bushes or something by casting right handed - which after a few tries I can do okay but it always takes me a few warmup casts. It works out for me much better this way.

I have been using Berkley Trilene Flurocarbon for the past few years, largely because I buy it at Bass Pro Shops every spring buy one get one free or Cabela's for half off which is one hell of a steal. I have had pretty much no issues with lines or knots breaking or bad memory, a uni knot works very well and that stuff is strong! I apply some KVD line conditioner every now and then and I've gotten a couple seasons on one reel (another one was new for this year, and the other I cut off and replaced late last season as it was getting low on the spool). My oldest son has been using Yo Zuri Hybrid, 12lb and 15lb and that's also some nice line. I think we spooled it up in June this year and it's been good all summer and no major memory issues. We also tried some P-Line Fluoroclear and that stuff had horrible memory and only lasted one trip before we replaced it. I can't quite justify the cost of Tatsu myself but one of these days I might have to try it as I keep hearing good things. But if you find it works for you, then by all means stick with it I just haven't had the need to switch.

If I remember right, the Stradic were some of the first quality lightweight reels around, so everyone is familiar with the name. Not saying they aren't good reels, but it's like going to the grocery store and buying Coca-Cola vs some off brand you never heard of.

Dark colored spinnerbaits typically excels in two conditions - night or really dirty water. We don't have water that dirty in the northeast though, so I can only confirm one of them to be true.

I had taken up a liking for certain red wines and sweet riesling earlier in the year. When it got warmer, I switched to beer.

I hate white claws... how about wine?

I gave up the red meat entirely but I rarely ever drank more than 3 beers, usually 2 in a sitting anyway...

I haven't ordered much of anything this summer because the only thing I had to resupply was soft plastics and jigs (lost a couple). I was able to stock up on soft plastics from Bass Pro Shops and jigs have been rather hard to find this year. Jigs have been another story. I had a few extras on hand and was able to find enough to get me by the year, but most of my first choices are sold out. I'm kind of glad my tackle needs this year were rather minimal.

So here's the thing, at dusk your normal colored spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, crankbaits and various topwater lures will kill it. Once it gets dark, visibility is gone so you are gonna want to switch to black that move a lot of water. My choice for a crankbait is the original Storm WiggleWart in the Black Glittertail Chartreuse color. These move aggressively side to side, so they do really well at night. For a spinnerbait, look for one with a single colorado blade in a black color. Variants like black and blue, black and red or black and chartreuse also work. For a chatterbait, all you need to do is put on a black color. If you can swing it, the jackhammer in black and blue should be your best bet because of the blade designed to move the most water possible - but I haven't shelled out for one yet, I usually go with the project Z's and sometimes the originals.

My 3 lures to cover most lakes would be something like this... Arky head jig Spinnerbait or crankbait - would really have to think long and hard about this, but leaning towards the spinnerbait for being weedless. drop shot for summer or jerkbait or popper for the early and late season - roll the dice really because I literally can't make up my mind.

When it comes to deep divers, I have kept it pretty simple and run the Strike King line since I don't get to use them all that often - 5XD, 6XD and the 8XD. I currently have a couple Norman Little N's for medium divers. I plan on picking up a few more deep and medium divers next year since I now get plenty of chances to use them in my kayak. I might try a 3XD or a Pro Model 4 and 5 for something a little shallower than a 5XD, which is too deep for a lot of places I frequently fish. For shallow crankbaits, I have had the best success on the River2Sea Ish Monroe Biggie largely in the smaller size but the large ones work too. They have a very natural looking wobble and seem to work well in any scenario - kind of like a KVD except I've caught more fish on it. I have also had good luck on the Megabass S crank both 1.2 and 1.5. Also I haven't got to use this one, I only have one and gave it to my youngest kid but he has great luck on the Booyah Flex 2 which has a fairly aggressive wobble.

For the UHD? Or even the Plus when it was the current model, that's great! I think I paid $1000 with no tax or shipping for mine. LOL! I can only afford this because my house is fairly small - and thus doesn't break the bank.

Yeah, a bad kidney function can do it. I've had borderline kidney function but I also had colon cancer at the time which interfered with my ability to digest things. I changed my diet before that was caught as well, and my kidney function was suddenly better than normal. I've largely followed a pescatarian diet for the past few years - I used to get major blowups every 6 months before that. During the summer months when I can camp and grill, I eat some chicken and will rarely eat turkey, but that's about it for meat. I have been drinking my share of beers - but never more than 3 in a day but usually 2. I never had any issues since until they changed my medication, and the issues started almost immediately. Might want to suggest diet changes to your coworker though in case he hasn't looked into it, it definitely does help! Protein translates to uric acid almost directly in most cases, but you can look up uric acid levels in foods as well.

So I bought myself a Garmin EchoMap UHD 93sv a few months back - great unit. Now I'm going to be shopping for fish finders for the kids kayaks which will be their Christmas present this year. I want to keep it around $500, maybe $600 tops. I also want to keep it to 7" because of how they will mount on the side tracks. I was thinking about the Garmin Stiker Plus 73sv which also has side imaging and we could also share waypoints. I might be able to find an EchoMap lus 73sv for about the same price too, but that's an older model so I imagine support might not be as good. For the most part the lack of maps isn't the worst thing if they're fishing with me, and we do fish a lot of small lakes where you can simply remember what the bottom looks like. But first, is there anything else I should consider?

I had to contact Garmin about an issue and the delay between emails has been 4-5 business days as well, but they were helpful at least.