Boomstick

I like the Omegas, they keep rods low and out of the way. They're a little difficult to get rods out of sometimes though.

I use a BlackPak, 2 YakAttack Omega rod holders, 1 Zooka II for my net, an anchor trolley and anchor wizard. I will get a fish finder hopefully soon on my dry pod which puts it front and center. You can do the same setup on the ATAK except I would have to add a track in the back for the rod holders, so I would have considered flush mounts, although they won't hold the net.

The ATAK 140 was my second choice behind the Bonafide SS127. Stable and well designed knowing how users will rig it out, just like the Bonafide.

You can definitely get a kayak for $700 but it may be missing stability or tracking of a more expensive model. And then you may have to pay to add extra tracks and rod holders, so that runs up the price a bit. But you will enjoy kayaking a lot more if you are properly equipped for it. My first day out on my new kayak this year was on a fairly windy day and every boater was out on the water. If I didn't have a stable unit, I very well could have capsized, no joke! What I would suggest is spending a little bit more to get a little better boat. I bought myself and the kids kayaks this year, and it's so much fun. I got my youngest an Old Town Topwater (renamed the Sportsman for 2020 and I believe they now include the premium seat which is a nice plus too) in the 12' model which runs around $1k. It's a fantastic boat for the money. It's much lighter than my Bonafide, nearly as stable and actually tracks notably better too without the rudder deployed on the Bonafide. It comes with 3 rod holders, two rigged for trolling and one is designed to rig up with but it's near impossible to paddle using the third one. Add a YakAttack Blackpak or milk crate with a rod holder kit will hold 3 more rods. The only other thing we did to it was add an anchor trolley and an Anchor Wizard. The other thing you get with the Sportsman/Topwater is a transducer mount built right in. Most more expensive fishing kayaks have some sort of transducer mount or a way to mount them, but if you get something around $700 you are going to have to get one of those RAM mounts that mounts to a track and runs the transducer alongside of the boat, which is not nearly as clean of an install. If you look up on Youtube how to add a transducer to an Old Town Topwater you should find a couple of videos, it's a breeze. The only thing you'll need is either a YakAttack or similar mount that fits into a track, maybe a small track if you want to mount it front and center, and maybe some cable glands to run the extra transducer cable and battery into the hull storage. If you really want a PDL, I would say just go for it. It's cheaper to do it now an pay interest if you can't find a 0% or low APR financing offer. There is also a Sportsman PDL version which isn't too expensive. They have the Predator which is more expensive and is faster but less stable, but the biggest pro is they include the upgraded seat. I have heard great things about the Lightning Strike HD, they are supposed to be quite stable and they run around $1800. I decided not to go the pedal drive route for both costs and paddling is great exercise. I am in the process of looking to add a fish finder to my Bonafide SS127. I am looking at a Garmin EchoMap UHD 93sv. Because it mounts dead center in the Bonafide, the 9" seems like it will be a perfect fit. If I was mounting one on say a side track mount, I would probably go with a 5" or 7". As for paddles, once you get to around $100 the only thing you're getting is a lighter paddle. Really cheap paddles may have some play in the handle and that's just awkward. If you don't know what kind of paddle you want, I would recommend the Bending Branches Angler Ace. Why this paddle? Because it's a very generic uniform design that is designed to work with both high angle paddling and low angle paddling, so if you aren't sure which you prefer then it'll work both ways pretty well. On a wide kayak like the Old Town Sportsman, you will probably want a 240cm or 250cm paddle, I use a 250cm because I'm 6'3" but if you're closer to 5' than 6' then a 240cm will be fine, and if you aren't sure the Angler Ace Plus is adjustable for another $25 or so. As for a PFD, you should be fine with the one you have for starters. You may find the back is too low and interferes with your seating position, but half the time I don't lean back far enough to hit the back of my seat anyway. I started off with a $6 Cabela's XL when I first got my kayak on the water but more recently I upgraded to a NRS Chinook PFD in XL. I have no problem with it being too small and it has a high back so it doesn't hit my seat.

The presence of heavy hydrilla can change the way you fish for sure. We have much more milfoil up here in the northeast (which bass don't like as much) but overall it's a similar concept. I was fishing in a lake last Sunday that other than the swimming and fishing access area which has been cleared of weeds, the rest of the lake has some moderate grass and milfoil. It makes it hard to throw anything horizontally as you pull back so many weeds or grass that even your spinnerbait blades stop spinning -- a chatterbait fares slightly better in these conditions, but not much. In such cases, look for openings you can throw your T-Rig or jig into. Many prime spots exist along the shoreline, and I find I have a strong chance of getting bit in such spots as well. It's definitely harder to find fish, but it can be done.

My youngest son lost a decent carp on a lipless crankbait of all things earlier this year. Never thought they'd hit most bass lures, but there ya go

Well I think the conventional approach is generally around 60 degrees. I bring out the topwater frogs when the water temp hits 60 degrees, but I will bring out smaller topwaters like poppers when the water hits 55, sometimes even before that.

I have no idea why they increased the size, but that's a good buy. I've had decent luck with Yum Dingers, and will certainly carry a few with me if nothing else for a backup. My goto stickbaits are either a Senko or Strike King KVD Ocho which I think has a little better action than a Senko but doesn't last as long (at least they're cheaper)

I don't think that's too big at all. I target smallies on jigs and T-Rigged rage tails. Smaller baits at times may get more bites, but you may land more quality fish with the larger bait -- and at times the smaller baits may not be worth their time.

The old tree falling in the wood question comes to mind here, just updated a little bit. If a bass eats a bass and nobody is around to see it, is that bass a cannibal?

I won't say I carry a lot of tackle that I will never use, but some of it is very situational.

^9. Sorry if I posted this one before, I'm getting to the point I can't remember.

You can cover a lot of ground on a MH/F and M/F or M/MF that leans on the faster side. I got my oldest son a Dobyns Sierra 704C and 703C and that's a great two rod combo. The 704C is very much a fast tip, but the 703C is a little closer to a mod. fast so it can fish a weightless or lightly weighted T-Rig or a crankbait, lighter spinnerbait or topwater while the 704C can fish a jig, heavier weighted T-Rig or heavier spinnerbait. Then add a ML/XF or M/F spimning rod for finesse and you have most your bases covered pretty well. F9r the fourth rod, add a H/F rod with 50 or 65lb braid for jigs and frogs. That's not to say you won't eventually add more rods to the collection so you can have multiple things rigged and ready to go, but that will cover most lures from a minimalist standpoint very well.

I have a Plano box full of spinnerbaits from many different brands. The War Eagle's are tough to beat, priced right. I really like the Terminator T1s if you can find them - the blue and silver one is great! The River2Sea Blings are really good, and I just picked up a couple of Nichols this year which have a nice small profile which I haven't fished much but should be quite effective.

I haven't moved up to a Jackhammer yet -- plenty happy with the Project Z's myself, but I once lost a Megabass S-Crank, so I know your pain.

Well I've never had that happen before, that really is a day wrecker. At least you were able to get a replacement. I have heard about some quality issues with various Revo reels, but I'm not sure how common it is. Hopefully the replacement is solid.

My top is the Roboworm straight tail in 6". Aarons Morning Dawn, Aarons Magic are probably my two best color.

I started off college as a music major, focused on guitar.

So I found 0% financing for 15 months, so I can largely focus on rebuilding savings and pay it off later in the year. I think I am going with the 18ah Amped Outdoors battery with the Amped Charger. Should give me at least a weekend of fishing per charge, although I would like the Dakota so I can get their solar charger next year when I'm camping, but they only have a 10ah and a 23ah battery. The 10ah should be fine, and the 23ah may fit but might be tight with the wiring, and is a bit more expensive. I looked into FPV as well, but they seem sold out everywhere. I guess I could always add a second 18ah battery and bring two charged, or charge it with Dakota's charger. As for the mount, I'm debating going with the Yak Attack just so I can get the extension and also solely for the reason that I rigged myself with primarily all YakAttack gear and can keep that consistent (if I ever "go pro" maybe I can get a sponsorship lol) but I am leaning towards the Ram mount. My style of fishing is I would largely use it seated and once I find a hotspot that I'm flipping a jig into, then I'll stand. The only thing I need now is some of those dry thingies to run wires through, and I'm set.

I've been looking at images. Hummingbird does seem to have the best. The Lowrance HDS has the best screen but that comes at the expense of battery life, and the imaging doesn't have nearly the contrast of the Hummingbird. The Hummingbird images definitely seem to be the best quality as they simply have the best contrast. Garmin and Lowrance seem to be pretty close. Raymarine seems to have very good images, but I'd have to fork out a little bit more. I'm primarily leaning towards the Garmin for their ease of use, but they also support 1120kHz side imagine and a wider down imaging conde at higher frequencies sacrificing distance, but 76m is more than I need so they have a very good scroll rate. So I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with the Garmin overall.

Would you say the imaging is notably upgraded from the Plus? Someone sent me some images, and they do look really good, like significantly closer to Lowrance and Hummingbird imaging. I liked the Garmin because it's easy to use. I am torn if I want to go live scope ultimately to be completely honest. I feel like I might overuse it. But for now, I'm just looking for a quality fish finder first.

I probably could report it. I don't normally have a camera as I still don't have a cell phone, but if I did I honestly don't think I would have thought to get a video or picture either. Your step-dad is very lucky that he survived that ordeal. I hear about people getting ran over on boats and killed or injured when the prop hits them! Up in the northeast, at least MA, NY and VT, you do have to take a boating safety course if you were born after 1974 to register a boat. That said, you never know if someone else is driving it..

The Red Label is the entry level Seaguar offering, but it's much better than Vanish. InvisX and AbrazZ are pretty good, and Tatsu if you can afford it.

I would say a soft plastic. If your senko or power worms aren't catching them, through on a craw or a rage bug

Berkley Vanish is well known as being just about the worst line on the market and imo is responsible for half of the bad name fluorocarbon gets with many people. My experience with Vanish is that it is very appropriately named and it does just what it says everytime you drag it along a rock, weed, stump or just breathe on it. It literally has no abrasion resistance at all. Add in some pretty bad memory issues and well below its rated line strength and you complete the trifecta. I can't believe Berkley still makes this line, generally their products are good. Unfortunately, P-Line fluoroclear is not much better from my experience. It did not seem to have any issues with line strength or poor abrasion resistance as far as I could tell, but I put it on my son's reel once and the memory issues were just horrible! I went home and replaced it with some YoZuri hybrid which he has not had an issue with to this day. I have been using Berkley Trilene Fluorocarbon for the past few years, with minimal problems. It generally holds up pretty well through abrasion and with a uni knot, knot strength has been quite excellent as has the line strength. I buy what I need for the season plus some extras on BPS/Cabela's spring sale each year where it's buy one get one free (this year Cabela's just had it half off). 2/3 of my reels still have the line from last year without any major issues, and the one that does not had taken some pretty bad abuse around rocks at the end of the year last year and I was changing it from 12lb to 10lb for this year anyway.