Boomstick

Sad. This was preventable as well.

I'm sorry for your losses. That's some rough timing and events you have to deal with there. I haven't had to deal with losing a parent yet, and hopefully it's sometime before I have to. My dad has had a few health scares this year and that's scary enough.

Try the Lucky Craft LC Rattle In or DRS (Deep Rattle Sound). I have a prior gen model, RTO I think it's called and it's beat to tick but still catches a ton of fish. I would wager those are just as good.

Those are their relatives

I don't recall where it was, other than it was across from a beach.

I have had this happen before too - once on a swimbait of all things!

My favorite is the River2Sea Biggie in the smalls size in the Real Perch, Bluegill, Horizon Shad and Abalone Shad colors. Why? Because they have a moderate wobble that looks just like a real fish, and catches them just the same and they seem to catch bass in most conditions. I also like the Megabass S-Cranks, the Lucky Craft LC Silent, Norman Fat Boys and the SK KVDs as they downright hammer them in the right conditions. The Booyah Flex 2's have a great wobble and would make the list too if only the bills didn't always break when I fish them around rocks where the others on the list hold up fine.

Spoons can be quite effective in the cold weather, or letting them sink to the bottom in fairly deep water in a hot summer's day. They can also be trolled to catch big bass, although it's not something you see a lot anymore.

I bought this raincoat a few years back. It's actually fairly warm too, a little too much for summer but in 40-60 degree weather, especially when raining it's great. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FZLC2HI/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The best car I ever had was a 1984 Buick Electra with the 307 v8. The car was totaled over 500k on the odometer and it didn't burn a drop of oil. The 3.8L in the Buicks was also a rock solid engine, and the later version I had on a 2000 Lesabre actually got me 40mpg driving home from Baltimore -- although the highway mileage is closer to 30 up here because of all the hills.

Hey that's a nice problem to have!

Funny that you should post this. I'm sitting on my porch and something that looked about the same size just flew into my porch window and flew off. I doubt it was actually a murder hornet, but it did look like a huge bee.

I live in a small "city" of around 13k people neighbored by a couple of towns of around 8k population and then much less in other directions, so it's like living in light suburbs with rural surroundings -- the best of both worlds. Although if I could afford a rural place say on a lake, I would be all over that.

A 3000 size should be perfect for that rod! I can't see needing a 4000 for anything! And I too am a huge fan of the Daiwa BG as well, it's a great reel for the price.

I never look at a reel in terms of casting distance. Some reels *DO* cast further than the others, but the primary factor is the rod, and some of the reels that don't cast as far make up for it in other ways, like better braking. If I was going to get that nitpicky about my casting distance, the Shimano Curados cast pretty far so I'd consider those. I got my youngest son a Pflueger Supreme XT a few years ago and that thing casts even further. I am partial to Daiwa reels - the brakes are amazing - but they definitely do cast slightly a little bit shorter, but it's not that bad.

I haven't even got pictures yet as I'm still waiting for the trailer title to arrive so I can get it registered but when I get it loaded and am ready to go I'll get some pictures to post. I got my oldest son a Kaku Voodoo and we added an anchor trolley and got that setup a few days ago. Today, we installed the anchor trolley and setup my youngest's Old Town Topwater and I gotta say, that is a pretty sweet boat especially for the price. I have an anchor trolley and some rod holders to add to mine as well, but unfortunately my silicone tube exploded out the back right as I finished the anchor trolley on the Topwater so I have to wait for another one to arrive before I can add mine. Glad to see you appear to be doing well after your accident. I hear those Wilderness Systems kayaks are pretty sweet too and yours looks nicely rigged.

From my experience, a really warm day when the water is still cold doesn't have a really huge short term effect. It will help warm the water so they begin spawning or even better, before that happens feeding in preparation for the spawn, but in terms of a day like today being a really good day to fish, it doesn't seem to usually work out that way. However I have found the opposite is true in the summer when the water is hot. If you have a cool day after a heatwave, that evening can produce an unbelievable bite if you find their feeding spots.

I don't own one yet but I have two suggestions. #1) Hit up YouTube to find some videos on how to read a fish finder. Bassresource and others have some videos you'll probably find helpful. #2) Hit up your local Bass Pro Shops/Cabelas and toy around with the display models and see what you like. When I add a fish finder next year, I'm probably going with a Garmin because while they do not offer the best picture quality and might not even have a single feature that stands above the rest, I find they are so easy to use that it makes up for it (and the price is right in the BPS spring sale too)

What did you end up doing? I realize I am late to the show here but I'm in a similar situation of having new gear and dying to try it out, so I would have said go fishing. Then again, my answer of to fish or not to fish is always fish. 62 and a small chance of rain is not bad. 55 and rain can be a little crappy though. I cannot tell you how many times I had a bad day of fishing and then the skies quickly turn and maybe a light sprinkle begins and I start getting fish. Of course once the rain really starts it's a bit harder to catch them.

Yup, I don't think I will either. I spent this weekend learning to horizontally pitch, which I never really was very good at before but now I'm getting the hang of it -- and I can stand and pitch normally too. I actually picked today's fishing spot because it's an area that we can stand and pitch between the weeds. My youngest picked a dead weed that was floating in a U shape about 4 inches across and 30 feet in front of him and his first target he hit it dead center and low entry. I definitely pitch more than I flip too. My flipping is so bad from not flipping since last year that I was able to pitch faster.

You must like them real stiff. Up in the northeast, we don't have the thickest weeds and I can get away with a lighter rod than down south. I find that a heavy jig rods rated for 12-25# generally make the best jig rods. I have been using the 7'1" Tatula which is a fairly stout rod (casts a mile though), and that was my frog and jig rod last year until I added Tatula frog rod earlier this year knowing I was would be sitting in my favorite spot in my kayak with lily pads in front of me and milfoil on my sides wanting to have both rigged.

I don't have any direct experience with either of those rods, but I have some experience with the Dobyns Sierra 703C and 704C and they are solid rods. Due to my rather limited experience with the Zodias lineup, I would gather that extra heavy might be a bit overkill especially if the extra heavy follows the same trend as the medium heavy -- not that they're bad rods. I got my Tatula for $120, but they retail around the same.

I have constantly heard great things about the Irod Geneis rods, but I will admit I am a Tatula junkie.

If you aren't fishing for bass, are you really fishing at all? Kidding but I don't know how you do it...

Alright, I'm grabbing the Tatula 7'6" Flipping rod. I would get the 8', but I should be able to fit 7'6" in my rod rack and maybe in the Flambeau Bazuka Pro rod tube in the back of my truck. I do a lot better with at least 7'6" for flipping and pitching. If I'm dragging a jig, the 7'1" is perfect so I'll take that in clear water.