Kayak Koz

I recently purchased 1/16 oz Picasso Smart Mouth Jig Head Gamakatsu and a Picasso BFL Smackdown Four Blade Umbrella Rig. I tossed it for about 15 minutes while kayak fishing a few weeks ago with no luck. I'd toss is into shallow water (2 ft) and bring reel in to where is was about 15 feet deep. I've fished A-Rigs a few times over the years without even one strike. It's kind of one of those, "Oh yeah - I forgot I had that" baits that I probably should throw more.

I took out a second mortgage the other week and bought a Plano Edger terminal tackle box ?

Thanks. I have looked through previous years worth of tournament data by month for the lakes we are fishing at, studied the maps, researched preferred forage and structure, read tons of articles on each lake, and have some "secret" GPS coordinates for some lakes. But as a co-angler this year, much of that is up to the boater when I get paired with someone random. I'll be paired with a buddy for some of the tournaments. All of the lakes we're fishing are historically tough. The biggest bag for a boater on any of the lakes was under 21 pounds.

I have my first Phoenix Series event coming up on Lake Lanier next month and the since main forage is blueback herring I bought some shallow, medium, and deeper depth crankbaits (Frittsides and a Dredger) as well as some swim shads in those colors. I also picked up a Stunna Jerkbait in the Northern Lights pattern. Over the past few years I've gotten away from fishing soft plastics unless they were a trailer or I was throwing Senkos. So for 2023 I decided I will make a concerted effort to fish more soft plastics. I plan to make it a habit to take only soft plastics on some of my kayak outings this year. So I loaded up on some Man Bear Pigs, Power Lizards, Brush Hogs, and Rage Bugs. I also added a Plano Edge 3600 terminal tackle storage box. Personally, I think they are overpriced, but I do like the container within a container storage. I'm tired of the terminal tackle spilling into other compartments when it gets jostled. I'll probably end up buying another one in the future.

It appears that you've been around the BR forums long enough to know the answer to the question, "To fish or not to fish?" There is but only one correct answer to that question in any context ??? But seriously, I think the question is probably "where" should you fish, not if. Winter is always hit and miss because of the shorter feeding windows. But after heavy rains where I fish, the water tends to get really muddy. Not stained - muddy. Really muddy. So, if I fish in those conditions I'm looking for cleaner water coming from feeder streams and the dam., especially near drop offs. I'll hit shallower waters first hoping it's feeding time for bass, then work my way out to the drop offs.

Before you do anything, total the weight of your trolling motor setup, yourself, and everything else you plan to carry and make sure you are not exceeding the weight limit of your kayak. I mean everything like all of your gear, coolers, bottles of water, dry bags, fish finders, safety flags, rod holders, crates, tackle, anchors, batteries, and especially your own body weight. Depending upon your kayak, you may find you run up on that weight limit number rather quickly and either need to pare down what you take on each outing or rethink your plan.

Thanks for the thought. I was just busting your chops. It seems like every week for the past month I read about something here on BR and a week later UPS is leaving it at my door. So tomorrow I'm going to spend 2 bucks on a Mega Millions ticket and if I win I'm going to buy two of everything on Tackle Warehouse, keep one, and give the others away!

Very interesting, especially since you can rig it inline or crossbar. My hull is pontoon style and the adjustable inline setup looks like it might work better than my C-Tug. I didn't see anything about weight capacity, and in one of those pictures on the website there seems to be pronounced flex in the axle. I was going to blame you for making me spend more money, but I see they are having a giveaway that I entered. If I don't win you'll be hearing from me!

With a simple sonar system like the Garmin Striker 4 you'll be fine going through the hull. It's when you upgrade to something with side imaging that you'll need a different setup without obstructions. I use a Yak Attack Switchblade for the transducer with my Humminbird Helix 7 DI SI.

Man, this why I hate you guys and the BR forums /sarcasm I had been thinking that someone should have a tackle storage system with plastic covers to keep things neat and had never seen the Plano Edge Terminal box. So then I'm browsing through the forums and 80 bucks later I have two of these things! I think the price is a bit ridiculous, but I can justify it by saying I'm more than a casual angler. Now to update my will and leave them to my son ?

Maybe we should all start throwing an A-rig a lot more.

Has anyone heard of this or tried it before? I'm not advocating, just curious.

My first thought? I hope you enjoy swimming. And that you're good at diving for your gear ?

I just purchased the Cal Coast Fishing Clip-N-Cull 2.0 Culling System but I have yet to put it in action. I have seen guys using them on BPT. They are easy to handle, engage, and disengage with one hand.

I'm going to add one more item - fish with more soft plastics, specifically creature baits. I throw Senkos and Ned rigs, and I use creature baits as trailers. But I think I'm missing out by not dragging and bouncing more soft plastics along the bottom. I'm going to pick out a few days where that is all I load up on my kayak.

Love me a good popper! I just bought a Shimano World Pop 69F popper but haven't had the time to try it out. It's semi transparent and has a foil in it on springs so when you pop it, it flashes.

First off, I'm jealous of anyone that catches giants like that. The technology is what it is, and it's only going to get better. I imagine it won't be long before someone comes out with glasses that provide you a real time feed from FFS. I'm on the fence as to whether or not it should be allowed in tournaments below the elite bass pros. I think I'd rather see guys come up through the ranks based upon their skill and not how much money they have to spend on technology.

I'm planning to bring 4-5 rods as a back seater in the Phoenix series events this year. If I was fishing a lake with heavy cover I'd bring a sixth, but we don't have one of those on the schedule. I did buy a big Plano duffel bag recently that should meet my needs. It will hold two of the Plano 2-tier 3700 stowaways, my soft plastics box, a couple of single Plano's, food, water, and my rain jacket in the main body. My culling gear goes in one end pocket and my scale, pliers, and other miscellaneous items go in the other end.

Unfortunately, Tennant is back for only a few episodes. I think that the whole Chibnall / Whittaker scarred the franchise so much that they needed to do something to bring people back to the show. I liked Whittaker in Broadchurch but she was awful as the Doctor. It was like she was always wheezing and out of breath.

In 2023, I'm a Rookie in the MLF Phoenix Series and my goal is to qualify for the Regionals. And speaking of that, my jersey came in today. My hotel logo is on there for sponsoring me for a few tournaments, some contingency logos, and as a trade for some bait companies contributing to my Fishing with the GM kids program at the hotel I have those logos on my jersey as well. I'm considering expanding the Fishing with the GM program to local residents instead of just hotel guests starting with one event during the summer. I need to think it out a bit more and narrow down a local charity to pair this with. In 2022 work was just too busy and we were too short staffed to grow the program we established in 2021.

I don't think so. You have the same camera and crew no matter what. But with a taped show there is tons of editing to be done before the broadcast, adding costs. I'm not a fan of the tape delay, especially when it's been months and they are promoting it like it's a live event. I remember when I was young and ABC would tape delay the Indy 500. I would make sure to stay clear of radio and TV all day until it aired.

Then why the heck is MLF pushing this so hard on social media? Seems sketchy that they promote it as the premier event when it actually took place months ago,

The Team Series kickoff is tomorrow, December 31st. In Alexandria, Minnesota. The forecasted high temperature is 31 degrees with a low of 15 degrees. Nuts. Completely nuts.

I liked Strange New Worlds as well. I actually started watching Star Trek Discovery after I watch SNW and I had to turn it off sometime in season 3 (or whatever the season was when Pike was done). It was just terrible in so many ways. And all I kept thinking was, "This is Star Trek. Why is there so much crying in every episode." As for Top Gun: Maverick, I watched it last night on Paramount+. It was pretty good, and definitely an homage to the original, even in its cinematography.

I have both an Expride A and an Expride B in the 7' 2" MH size and I love them both. I think the B is slightly more sensitive than the A. Weird thing today, though. I was throwing an underspin with the A for a few minutes, then switched over to the B where I had a spinnerbait tied on. For some reason, the B felt really weird. I have no idea why. The grip and the butt just felt off a bit. I think it's because I've had the A longer and I'm more comfortable with it.