Boomstick

I pretty much always throw tubes (1/16 or 1/8 oz Owner Darter Heads) on a ML/F or ML/XF spinning rod. I have used my M/F spinning rod at times and when I want a little more power to throw tubes through grass I have used my M-MH/XF casting rod.

Try twitching it at random time intervals.

My best days of fishing have been cooler days (and nights) after long hot stretches. Not quite a cold front - where the bite usually dies off.

That rod is quite a bit too stiff for crankbaits. For crankbaits, you will want something between medium and heavy with a moderate or maybe moderate fast tip, with the exception being a M/F rod which typically makes a great squarebill rod (especially in grass). H/F rods are usually good for frogs (with braid), and jigs or Texas rigs in cover, punching setups and heavier spinnerbaits or chatterbaits.

Baitcasters have a learning curve, but in my opinion once you learn how to use them you can cast both quicker and more accurately so it’s worth the initial frustration. I would suggest tying a 1/2oz weight on your line and practice in your backyard. Once you get it casting smoothly without birds nesting, add a bucket for target practice. You might get some tangles on a spinning reel if you cast and forget the bail. I rarely have issues with line twist or wind knots myself but my wife will forget to flip the bail and knot up the line so bad I have to replace it almost every trip. Also you don’t need to cast as hard as you can either. I can cast casually and get the bait 90% as far, trying to throw it harder can lead to problems, loss of accuracy and it’s only for a little extra distance at the end of the day.

Oh I thought it floated, been a while since I used it. Regardless, Sufix Siege is my recommendation. A good strong mono that handles well.

Trilene XL is the thinner diameter mono, so yes there are many stronger mono variants. Big Game and Trilene XT are two from Berkley. I like Sufix Siege, and I think that's roughly what you're looking for. By floating fluoro, you might mean copoly line which is a hybrid of mono and fluoro. Yo Zuri hybrid is a good, rugged copoly, but note that the 15lb is the diameter of basically other brands fattest 17lb mono as well for some reason, but the others are similar.

A fresh spool of fluoro will have more stretch than most mono contrary to popular belief. If anything, the combination of MH/MF, grass and mono or fluoro raises the most concerns, where a MH/F would probably work better for hooksets, but people like the MF for rebounding after snagging grass to trigger bites. If you keep it moving, it should be okay.

I just asked for GPS coordinates near Crown Point (where I was last week) and the first spot was the bay that we caught all our fish in, as well as spots we tried but didn't have much luck in. I also did the same for Lake Dunmore, where I will be next week and it did an alright job. It mentioned to use the dropshot during the day, but probably should have added the tube and missed at least the most productive 5 spots on the lake. It is a less fished lake, so that makes sense it would have less data.

Pictures, or it didn't happen! I have the Bigwater PDL myself, it's a great kayak.

You are fine with a decent quality mono or maybe copoly for chatterbaits. I'd recommend Sufix Siege if you need a good mono.

If you are throwing topwater and moving baits, sensitivity isn't all that important because you can still feel your bait stop (I don't think any rod is that "dead" feeling) or the blowup. What's most important is power and action and maybe weight, if you care (I don't mind heavier rods at all)

This is a pretty versatile 3 rod setup. I’ve been considering getting a M/F rod just for versatility, I might not even use it a lot but it would let me throw a variety of lures of I travel light.

Canoes are fun too

That's where I'm at too. I can comfortably hold up to 7, but 6 is a little easier for two reasons. First if I'm fishing with my kid and we use the left and right side built in holders, the rods can cross which can be a pain launching and loading. Once I get on the water, I can move the rod in front of my blackpak to that holder, which means no rod in front of my blackpak which makes getting inside the blackpak much easier. With a little tweaking, I could get up to 10 rods comfortably by adding three more rod holders to my blackpak. The downside with this is I'd either have to put the blackpak on some sort of riser, another thing to carry (maybe I can find a way to screw it into the bottom?) or I can simply raise up the rod holders, but this creates a storage issue where it won't fit on its spot in my shed and may limit what I can put ontop of it in my car which may be problematic when camping.

I've been out a few days where I would have been absolutely terrified on my old SS127. It was a super stable kayak but could not handle breakers the same way. I decided on the kayak because 4mph as a casual pedal for me, where 2.5-3 on others was about the same effort.

I will say nothing wrong with the Vibe Sea Ghost 110. If I was a bit lighter, I'd be tempted to get something like that just to take to smaller lakes for an easier launch, especially with my back issues. But I can really appreciate the Bigwater after spending some time with it on windy days on Lake Champlain, basically what it was made for. 20+ mph wind is like being on the ocean but it cuts the water and keeps me tracking in the same general direction pretty nicely. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who prefers a lighter powered rod for a T-Rig, at least when I can get away with it which honestly being from the northeast is most of the time. I do have a flipping rod too, but I rarely use it. A lot of lakes don't have anything thick enough to warrant it, and a few I fish regularly that do, it's a very small spot. Add to that my second braid reel actually broke (the side plate won't stay on, Ishould probably send that to Daiwa it can't be a hard fix), so lately it's been that or the frog. And for me, most of the areas where I need the flipping rod are also areas covered in lily pads. I can still fish the weedlines with my t-rig or jig.

Daiwa rods have different action across every single line, and for the most part (at least once you get to the Aird-X and up) they are pretty consistent. Daiwa's fast isn't as "fast" as some brands, or as moderate fast as Dobyns, but what you probably want is a Daiwa rod with a R (they call regular I guess) which is basically moderate fast. I would recommend a rod that is medium power and cast action for this. The Aird-X M/F would be perfect and should cast really well too. Little more tip but less power in the backbone. If not out of your budget, the St Croix Mojo Bass has two rods that would be great for this. The first that comes to mind is the 7'1" M/F model. This is a great all around medium rod, great for crankbaits, topwater, flukes, jerkbaits but is also a really great soft plastics rod at least in the absence of heavier cover The other option that you might consider for a more purpose rod is the 6'8" M/XF rod. It's not as great of a crankbait rod, but it's great for flukes and light topwater but also makes a great jerkbait rod. It runs a little bit lighter in power but has an extra fast tip so it basically bends throughout. What makes it particularly good for jerkbaits is when you get bit on a twitch, you can really feel it but since it's not as stuff as the other St Croix mediums, it still offers plenty of flex to keep them pinned.

For all the kayakers, when fishing in a new or large location (not your local pond where they only hit senkos, if they're wacky rigged), what rods do you normally carry? After spending two weeks on Lake Champlain, I started to wonder if I am doing this the most efficient way. I can carry 7 rods with me, maybe 8 if I really want to keep one up front all the time, which is a bit of a pain having to swap rods rather than put one back and grab the next. I could arrange more if needed. H/F - frog rod - usually bring this if there's any lily pads around in the warmer months. MH-H/F - jig rod - pretty much a staple MH/F - this is usually for things like spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, swim jigs and the like, but it may see a Texas rig when my T-Rig rod is used for other things or I want a little more power. M-MH/XF - texas rig, wacky rig, tubes, shaky heads, weightless senkos in no wind, finesse jigs - pretty much a staple MH/MF - crankbaits. I usually carry this over my M/MF rod because it will throw all types of crankbaits. M/MF - crankbaits - I only bring this one if I'm fishing spots I'm familiar with and I know I won't be throwing deep divers or in any sort of cover. M/XF - Primarily poppers and jerkbaits For spinning rods: M/F spinning - drop shot, shaky heads, weightless senkos - this is what I bring if I only bring one spinning rod. ML/XF spinning - drop shot, tubes, ned rigs, weightless senkos - this one usually only comes when I bring three spinning rods ML/F spinning - this rod pretty almost always has a tube rigged up or sometimes a ned rig. I am wondering if I can make any minor changes to make things more efficiently. Another thing I've been fighting with is I usually run 12# fluorocarbon with my M-MH/XF rod. It's enough for a T-Rig, and light enough for lighter applications and most of the time that's great but I have fished around a lot of rocks where thicker line is better, requiring me using the reel with 16# that I usually use with the MH/F rod. Maybe I shouldjust go with 14# fluocarbon and have it be the best of both worlds? Or should I add another reel? I do need a reel with 15lb or 17lb mono for prop baits, in theory I could use that for spinnerbaits too.

My kayak is the Old Town Bigwater 132PDL that was made for heavy winds. I will say having a kayak made for it makes it much easier. 12mph winds even on Champlain was still quite manageable, I'll still blow sideways eventually, but slowly enough I can get a few good casts in in a precise area, or I can let myself drift with the wind and fish. 17mph is much more of a challenge. 20+ and Champlain starts to look like the ocean.

Thursday had gusts around 12 but that and late Tuesday was as good as we’d get. Yeah the winds kicked my butt!

Last year, I spent a week at Crown Point with my youngest son. I had 4 days allotted to fishing, but I lost my prop early on the second day. I made it out on day 3 and fished a bay (more on that bay later) but day 4 was windy so we hiked the trails where Fort Independence once stood. This year, I booked 8 nights, Saturday to Sunday. Saturday was setup camp, go get wood, ice, fish and meat from Norm's Bait & Tackle down the road, who is sadly retiring come Labor Day but the best meat and fish you can get, and everything else food related from Hannaford which was a good 30 minute drive away. On Sunday, the forecast said afternoon thunderstorms so we decided to get up, drink some tea and do the museum and see what it looked like when we got out. We didn't get the thunderstorms or much rain, but the wind was going at 40mph, so we decided to stay in. Did a little shore fishing, but didn't get anything. On Monday, it was fairly cold and the wind gusts were over 30mph, so we decided to go across the bridge into Vermont after we drank our morning tea and made lunch to a culvert we've driven by several times before. My kid got two decent bass on his first three casts fishing the culvert. After getting nothing myself, I decided to fish the culvert across the street, and caught one pretty quickly, but nothing for a while. Since the bite in the culvert died down, I decided to try throwing into the water in the backside of the lake arm. This was around 3:30. By 5pm, I had caught 8 bass, and this includes having to take a break to relieve myself in the bushes and grab some peanuts from the car to snack on. We combined for 25 bass and a bowfin. On Tuesday, we tried fishing the grass in front of the forts and under the bridge, but could not get a bite. The winds were also pretty strong which is a recurring theme here, which makes fishing open water. The wind did eventually die down later in the day and that let us try fishing for smallmouth on a hard bottom, rocky section. By the end of the day, we decided to visit the bay near the culvert, and I caught one, and my kid caught 4, including the probably 4.xlb bass in the picture (he didn't weigh it, but it was 20" long) in the culvert. I also wanted to try to get a sunset picture, I got one from there last year that was one of the best I ever took. We didn't get a clear sunset that night (too many clouds) but I did snag this picture of him fishing. What a beautiful place... Wednesday was cold and windy, so we decided to stay in. On Thursday, my kid had gotten sick, I think it was indigestion largely as a result of the massive ribeyes we ate Tuesday night (I accidentially ordered 2 1 to 1.25lb ribeye steaks where I wanted two between .6 and .75lbs each). To be fair, it was the best ribeye I ever made. So I got him some indigestion meds and went out for a bit myself. I ended up going through the culvert to catch some fish. This was the calmest day wind wise we had. I threw a Strike King KVD Ocho KVD Magic color, which kind of matched the water color which is more stained than on the main lake side and wasn't getting any bites. So I decided to try the green pumpkin colored baby brush hog and instantly got 4 bass. On Friday, we flipped some grass a while and went back through the culvert since my kid didn't get to do it, and caught a number of fish. I was catching them on KVD Ocho's in a purple color and a junebug XZone deception worm on a drop shot, which confirmed that the KVD magic color just didn't stand out enough. We got 4 bass each. On Saturday, we wanted to skip that bay entirely and try to find another spot but the winds were even more brutal, getting up to 25mph, so after getting dropped on some 3 foot breakers we headed straight to the culvert. I caught 7 bass and my kid got at least 3. The bay where we ended up catching all of our fish is kind of interesting. Not only did I figure out that I needed a color to stand out, but I kind of figured out what was going on. We caught all of our larger bass either in the culvert or on the side of the causeway that is by it. Then all the small bass are in the backside of the arm and don't pass through the culvert since the big bass that can eat them are there. I'll definitely be going back here. Next year I'll probably pick some of the New Yorkers brains about info on where else to catch bass and what to try. Such a beautiful spot, I’m sure I’ll go back. It’s been a while since I got on such a great bite. The only trip I caught more bass was Lake Dunmore in August 2021, where I will be going for 8 nights starting next Saturday.

Wow, you're killing it!

Yes, this 100%. The Laguna is the budget rod, maybe if I didn’t have a rod and wanted to fish I’d buy one for a one time use and give it to some kid, but the Aird C is basically the gateway into Daiwa rods, they’re decent without breaking the bank. If you want a cheap rod to keep in back of your car that you don’t care if it gets stolen, the Cabela’s Whoopin Stick or Ugly Sticks are the way to go and they make them to take a beating too.

Not really, it’s just to give an idea how much line it holds. Some manufacturers 12lb is based on let’s say fat fluorocarbon diameters and others are based on mono diameters, so 12lb alone doesn’t mean much without a diameter, 12lb mono is roughly as thick as 20lb fluorocarbon. I’m fairly confident 14 or 16 will be fine.