Kayak Koz

I drive a Genesis Coupe. It would take extensive and costly modifications to even attempt to pull a trailer. It's getting time for a new vehicle anyway.

Yeah, I've examined this in every way. The weight will essentially be the same, but I shouldn't be as worn out from pedaling all day. My original plan was to add a trolling motor to my pedal kayak. First off, that adds almost another 60 pounds in weight with the motor, battery, and mounting hardware. Second, I have no interior hull access in my kayak, so mounting the motor would be a crossbar held by well nuts. I was worried the shearing forces would eventually cause damage. I just don't know. That's why it will probably take the summer to sort out.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Seastream Angler 120 pedal drive but as I'm now pushing 60 (holy #$%!) it's starting to wear me out. I covered about 12 miles the other day and if that didn't kick my butt enough I have to haul it up a big, steep hill out back of my hotel to put it back in storage. I've been packing light lately and it's still 150 pounds with the kayak, pedal drive, electronics, battery, and gear. I've thought about trading in my car and getting a Bronco Sport and a trailer, and while that eliminates hauling it up and down the hill pedaling all day on the water is still going to kick my butt. I've thought about a boat, but that seems to be a money pit. Then again, if I get lucky enough to qualify for and win the MLF Phoenix regionals, first prize includes a new Phoenix boat. but I doubt that will happen. I think the most logical option at this point is the Old Town Sportsman AutoPilot 120. But it's a big chunk of change that takes money out of my new car fund. I'm in a funk because age is catching up with me and that pedal drive is kicking my butt lately. But I think this is my last season with it. I'll buy a new vehicle by this summer, Sell the Seastream by fall and buy the Old Town and a trailer. Getting old is no fun.

I went on a squarebill binge tonight at TW, I bought 4 Riot Reactor 1.5's because they looked really interesting and had some good reviews. I also bought an Ima Square Bill and a few 13 Fishing Scamps. I guess the good news is that I didn't order enough to get the free t-shirt?

It seems there's a simple solution what ails you: subtract 2 from your initial guess ?

All you need is an EXIF data viewer. There are a bunch of free ones online.

After the round of storms last week, the southern part of Lake Oconee where I fish is junk. Tons of debris and diarrhea colored water. I went out on my kayak late afternoon last week and while there were tons of bait fish there were no predators to be found. I spent a lot of time just pedaling around and utilizing my electronics. The stripers probably headed north for clearer water and although I caught two dinks, I never found any decent bass. Nothing on side scan or down scan. This part of the lake is always tough bass fishing, but after storms it's a wasteland.

All year round. But the difference is that in winter months I stick to black/blue and use a lift and drop technique instead of just swimming them.

In your case I would follow up with a weighted, Texas rigged Senko. I'd swim it a bit then let it sit for 5 or 10 seconds, then repeat. But I know from experience that it's not always easy to do that when bank fishing, especially when you bring only one rod. So I'll give you a little trick that can work in a pinch. First off, instead of tying on a bait use VMC Touch Lok snaps. Then in your tackle bag rig up a T-rigged Senko attached to a leader and a Gamakatsu Superline Swivel. Now you can quickly swap out your squarebill for the T-rigged Senko. Some here might chime in that with the snap and the swivel you're adding two possible failure points to your line. While that may be true, at least you give yourself a shot at a quick follow up with a different bait when you bring only one rod.

On a DSLR: https://expertphotography.com/blurred-background-portrait/#:~:text=The aperture of the lens,will offer even more blur. On an iPhone: https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/edit-portrait-mode-photos-iph310a9a220/ios

Cool - but superstition says you just jinxed yourself for the entire year ?

I sit. My pedal drive is pretty big and because I'm short my seat is forward so I don't have a lot of deck space. The other thing is that where I usually fish, Lake Oconee, the lake is VERY narrow and there's a ton of boat traffic and wakes. At my age, while I'm fine standing all day on a boat I worry about my balance on a narrow kayak.

The are part of the housekeeping department. Their primary job is to keep the public space and exterior clean. But they also help run items to guests and perform light maintenance tasks like unclogging toilets, changing light bulbs, and assisting the maintenance chief if needed.

Just remember that with a sweeping hookset you might crash your rod into your fishfinder. I cast right handed and usually fish left with my setup. One thing to note in my photos. When I'm out on the water I pivot the fish finder to the left so that the screen is parallel to the hull (in the photo it's perpendicular). Also, if you notice the head unit mount I can stand it up or lay it down at a number of angles to keep it as low and away as possible as well as have it pivot. But again, the best thing to do is try it everywhere.

I tried coffee just once in my life. I took a sip and hated it. No regrets. That being said, Red Bull may kill me one day.

The Peabody hotel has a Duckmaster? I can't even find a competent houseman to round out my staff. And no, I can't add ducks and a Duckmaster to my hotel. Out here in GA my guests would shoot the ducks - and maybe the Duckmaster as well!

I think that it really depends upon whether you pedal, paddle, or use a trolling motor. And if you pedal, the size of your pedal drive will have a big impact as well as how far back you sit. And if you're under 40 years old, think about the future because one day in your 40's you're going to wake up and say, "Why did companies suddenly start making their writing smaller on packages?" I have a 7" Humminbird Helix DI SI on my kayak. The pedal drive on my kayak is a bit tall and bulky. Combined with my eyesight and short arms it was a no go mounting it straight ahead. Because of the side imaging I mount my transducer on a YakAttack switchblade and that is mounted to a YakAttack CellBlok. I also have a YakAttack fish finder mount attached to the CellBlok. I took multiple trips mounting this combo on both the left and right side rails, moving it forward and back along the rails. What I quickly found out was that it could be a real pain fighting and landing a fish and having to navigate my rod above and around my electronics and pedal drive. Eventually I settled on mounting the assembly on the left side as close to my seat as possible. I also experimented with taking the fish finder off of the CellBlok. But in the end, when I set up or break down my kayak it's much, much easier to connect/disconnect one unit than multiple units on the rail. So my best advice is that before drilling to first experiment with the rails that you have. Take multiple trips with each setup, then decide.

Yes, Dakota batteries are great but they cost a ton. I use a 10ah Dakota for the electronics on my kayak. For my trolling motor I bought a WEIZE 12V 100AH LiFePO4 Lithium Battery for just over $300 on Amazon and it's been just fine. I also bought a NOCO GENIUS10 charger for $99 and I'm happy with that as well. Honestly, I think that batteries are pretty much hit and miss. But you probably have fewer misses with the premium brands. I spent a lot of time reading reviews on websites before making my purchase.

When I bank fished in SC we had thousands of lagoons in the area and I would walk, bike, or drive to many during the course of the day. If I was driving I would put a few rods in my car. But biking or walking it was one 7’ MH bait caster and a backpack tackle bag. I tried carrying two rods, but the way I fish from most banks is that I am constantly on the move especially when fishing parallel to the shore on bigger lagoons.

My guess is that it can't read the exFAT formatting and needs the FAT32 formatting.

I have a Helix 7 DI SI GPS G4 and today I went to update the software. I went through the proper steps including restoring defaults, powered it back up, put in the micro SD card, and then - nothing. So then I poked around on the Humminbird website and I saw where it says the maximum micro SD card size that can be used is 32GB. That may be the issue as mine is 128GB. But as a computer guy I find this odd. I sent off a message to Humminbird asking if this could be the issue. Digging deeper, the Humminbird site says the SD card should be FAT32 formatted, but that's old technology and has been replaced by exFAT. Windows 10 won't even give me the option of formatting a large micro SD card in FAT32. There's a command line workaround that might work. Anyone else run across this issue? In the meantime, it looks like my best option is to just go to Walmart and pick up a 32GB card.

I bought some 8" Berkley Powerbait Power Lizards in both Cotton Candy and and Watermelon Red. I haven't used the Watermelon ones yet, but I've caught a good amount of cold water bass using the Cotton Candy on a Carolina Rig.

They are currently building another plant in Morgan County, GA. Well, they are trying to build one. Between their financial problems and Morgan County residents protesting it isn't going that well.

Let me preface this by saying that I am blessed to have a great team at my hotel, but filling out the last few positions has been problematic. First off, you get applicants that hop from job to job to job to job throughout the year. Forget it. I won't even think of hiring you. Then there's the ridiculous no show rate for scheduled interviews. Ideal candidates? More rare than a double digit bass. So you end up taking a chance on someone you normally wouldn't hire. How's that going? Well, we had someone working for us for about a month and on the night I'm packing to leave for my last tournament I get a call from the hotel that something is off with her, so I head in to work. This girl works the front desk, so she's the first point of contact for the guests. I get there and she's in the back office and she's got about 8 of our Jimmy Dean breakfast sandwiches opened up and spread out. It looks like she was eating the eggs ands sausage and leaving the muffin. The bottom three buttons of her uniform blouse are undone and it's easy to see she's drunk as a skunk. Fired. I get back the next week and my housekeeping manager had hired a new room attendant the day before. She walks by me as she goes to the time clock and the smell of weed almost knocks me over. Fired. New laundry attendant showed up for her first day, found out there was a lot of work to do during her shift, then never showed up again. Frankly, I'm tired of having to deal with staffing issues. So this is probably my last year at the property level. I'm going to look for a Regional VP position so I only have to worry about hiring GM's.

Yet another reason to utilize a YakAttack Switchblade.