Boomstick

Welcome! You have a great spot between the finger lakes up there. Have you ever gone up to Lake Nippissing? I was up there in 2017 and that's an absolutely beautiful lake (but tough boating with all of the rocks, especially when I was up there and the water was covering some rocks that are normally above the water).

Welcome

Thanks. I may start off without an anchor trolley and add one later. I'll figure it out in later April when the snow melts. I have to build a trailer, which shouldn't be too horrible. I also wanted to add a rudder, which will be a lot of drilling and cutting, but if I can find anyone who will do it then that's fine, I don't think I even own all the tools I would need anyway. I have seen people run their anchors out the front, I guess the issue is I would be casting into the wind like you said. Both of my kids are both teenagers now, so old enough to know how to use an anchor. I'll do a similar setup for my youngest and my oldest actually wants to go with a SUP, and since they sit so close to the water a float would be beneficial for him. The reason I ask about anchors is that I will need at least one more, and it sounds like I should go buy some 5lb anchors. The ones I have are 3.5lbs. I think they would probably do well for my oldest son with a SUP though.

I cast left handed and retrieve right handed. I can't reel with my left to save my life, it feels so awkward to me.

Probably not a great reason but I have my reservations about drilling holes so the fewer the better. If I fish left handed, should I set up the anchor trolley on the right side typically?

I should have mentioned that I largely focus on fishing lakes. I do have a river near my house with a launch maybe a quarter mile away and they have some mondo brown trout there too, so that may be a target as well, but I do primarily target bass. I was hoping I would not have to rig up an anchor trolley.

So I'm about to purchase kayaks for myself and the kids, I have most of my initial setup figured out and a few smaller details left. I'll post a "rate my setup" sort of post once everything is finalized. Does everyone use one or two anchors with their kayaks? I have seen some people run them out only the front or back -- how does that work out? It would certainly be nice to get a single anchor wizard if I could. Also what types of anchors should I get. I currently have a couple of claw anchors which have served me well so far.

I am definitely no pro, but I would look first and foremost at deck space. How many people will be fishing on your boat with any sort of regularity? A 20' foot boat will accommodate two in the front and one in the back very comfortably, and that would be my first measurement of which boat to buy. Other advantages of the shorter boat is the shorter boat will handle better in tight spaces, might be slightly cheaper to buy and tow and easier to launch. The larger boat should provide better stability on choppy water and might accommodate more horsepower. I would really be happy with a 18 footer myself, although space is definitely tighter with two up front but I have been on a 17 footer and my oldest son and myself were able to find room -- it helps that I cast left handed and he casts right handed.

I have heard exceptional things about the Old Town Topwater. A local store has one for sale, and I read reviews and people were extremely pleased with it for the price, especially for something stable. And it's well equipped and sit on top too. The 12' model is $999 and the 10.6' is $899. I would suggest looking into those and trying to bump up your budget slightly for the 12' assuming you dont have to carry it too far.

I have had some hooks rust out because I put it in a tray. My intent was to go home, open the tray but I forgot. Then this past season, I did the same with some jigs with trailers, I caught it when I sorted out new jigs I ordered for black friday, and surprisingly nothing rusted.

Well I spent a fair amount of money on those really solid Bass Mafia trays last year. They are very solid but also expensive so I hope I don't have to replace those anytime soon. If the latches rust, I can get new latches from the company and replace them as well. I have a cabinet at home for overflow storage, and those are pretty much new baits for baits I lose a lot, like jigs. So I hope those will also last a while but they never see water and rarely get opened. Basically, a year is nothing. If you don't see signs of wear and failure, don't worry.

I would use the H/F rod for jigs of that size. The Tatula heavy rod labeled as the jig rod casts them a mile too! As to jigging for a reaction bite, many people think to either drag a jig on the bottom in clear water, and flip or pitch a jig into cover to get a reaction bite from fish in the weeds, but there are times when the fish appear to chase at dusk, so when I'm fishing a jig as I move into the transition period and dragging it is not working, I will bomb cast it out and let it sink until it hits the bottom, then raise my rod tip and let it sink again and do that until it get back to me, and I've caught a few, especially in times where a moving or reaction bait may work a little bit but the bite is not fully on like this, so I think Todd is on the right path. Craw trailers are a good bet but first and foremost make sure you're using a trailer that swims pretty well.

I just bought Berkley's aluminum 5" split ring pliers with some Amazon gift cards I had amassed and got them in the mail today. I figure a nice pair of split ring pliers is in order as I have only had cheapos. I have not yet used them yet but they feel very nice and hopefully I will have them for years to come. They do come with a sheath and lanyard as well, which I will probably strap to my kayak chair once I get that. They also have line cutters which I hear work really nice. Leatherman's are great for virtually everything else though. I got both of my kids a Leatherman this year, which is a nice upgrade from the $6 Cabela's multi-tools we all had been using. One of these days I'll probably grab one for myself too, but my son bought me a KVD knife with hook sharpeners which is really nice and not a bad blade either, so I carry that and hook removers and this year those will be replaced with split rings on me and I'm set. I have owned a handful of Rapala tools, from the cheaper to the more expensive ones and never had a problem with any of them, so that's always a safe bet.

I used to have a Cabela's tackle bag that held 6 3600 sized boxes. I got a crankbait box, spinnerbait box and 4 3650s. That thing wasn't actually too terrible and you could bring anything you'd need for a single trip. That is, if you load it up wisely with lures appropriate for the lake you know you'll be fishing, it's adequate for that, but the space was rather limited. I ultimately traded that bag to a friend for his that held 4 3700s boxes -- I had all of the specialty trays which he can take advantage of, and this way I can travel light with 3700s if I hike to a lake somewhere. But it was not a horrible setup for how I used it. I have since upgraded to the Bass Mafia Tackle Bag that can hold up to 12 (I think) 3700 trays. I have a spinnerbait box, deep diver box, double 3700 box, double open compartment box for soft plastics, and 4 more single boxes I keep in it. It's pretty heavy but I can load it into the back of my truck and go. I have a cabinet on my porch for some additional tackle I don't normally carry with me, mostly backups for when I lose something in the tackle bag. This year I am going to buy a kayak so I'm going to experiment with some waterproof boxes that I can load before each trip for what I'll likely use on each trip and see how that works, rather than haul a larger amount of tackle with me. I think they are the same as the cheaper bass mafia boxes. I shopped for deals and whatnot and got all of the upper end bass mafia boxes, and those things are fantastic. You can run them over with your truck and they'll survive. Expensive, but I'll have them forever. The cheaper ones are nice too, but I'm not sure they're worth the cost especially when the Cabelas are near the same thing

Last year, I started using the River2Seas with a large Indiana and small Colorado blades in stained water to some extent. They move a good amount of water, but you can also see the flash they put off. These have really started taking over situations where I would normally fish a Colorado blade, but I should note that the water in the northeast usually isn't super muddy either. As far as the Colorado bladed models go, if I only had one it would be the single bladed models, they simply move more water as the second blade sort of cancels out many of the vibrations. However I do like the double bladed Colorado blades for early and late in the year when you're trying to slow roll in clearer, cold water. As for color, I would go with a sexy shad color.

I usually stick my rods in a rod tube in the back of my truck. However if I have a few rigged up and I'm moving locations, I might grab a rod sock to keep the line from getting tangled when I'm putting the rod over the center console into the back of the truck inside the cabin.

^9. I saw Steve Earle live when he played in my small town that hardly anybody ever plays in On the war theme....

^8 for all 3.

I've seen that before, but there was a button you could hit to turn that off.

Well you do have many more rods than I do and I'm all done with school/ Anyway, the rods I would normally use for finesse jigs are rods that are classified as mediums often but run on the heavier side, or medium heavy that run on the lighter side. I wouldn't worry to much about length, but my ideal length for finesse jigs would be around 6'8" - 6'10" just because it's not a lure I need max. casting distance on and the shorter rods have their advantages in close quarters casting situations. The 6'7" MH that runs on the lighter side as you described sounds perfect. I believe the Omen Black you have in MH is a little bit too heavy where their medium would be inline with what I'm referring to in terms of power and action. Some people use a true medium rod and if you're casting lighter jigs that might be the way to go as well but only if you're casting lightweight jigs, but if you're casting the 3/8oz or 1/2oz finesse jigs that's going to be a little light. Others use a MH/MF rod, so you will get a wide variety of preferences.

Yup, very good advice, always set it on your rod at a 45 degree angle. Also, on a MH rod the average breaking strength is 6lbs, so I always set mine no more than 5lbs absolute max because at different angles, that drag may further increase or decrease, although I keep it to usually no more than 4.5lbs and usually no more than 4lbs myself. Yeah, have a friend hold a scale and pull up like you're fighting a fish and try for a 45 degree angle on the line as best you can manage.

Alright but where I am confused is if you have a lot of MH rods, wouldn't a M or MH/MF or the like be a step down? Or are you trying to use the current MH rods for things like spinnerbaits or soft plastics and looking for one specifically for jigs? I may be overthinking this but that's why I am confused.

Like WRB already said, shorter and lighter aren't really the same thing. What do you hope to accomplish with this "lighter" jig rod? Or are you just looking for a more leightweight rod for jigs that don't need a massive hookset/

Sounds like you need a truck...I would say that classifies as a need

I used set it to 25-30% of the max of the line's breaking strength of the line or if using braid, the maximum breaking strength of the maximum line the rod is rated for. More recently I have been setting it to 1.5 lbs on a ML rod, 2 pounds on a M rod, 4lbs on a MH and 6+lbs on a H. Sometimes early in the season I will get out the scale, but if I did it by on a scale recently I have a decent rough idea what it's supposed to feel like so I can do it by feel after that.