Kayak Koz

I never had the Crush, but I had a Mach II Plus that was my favorite combo for a number of years. But ever since I started buying Shimano Curado's (K, MGL, and DC) I've never looked back. But that Lew's combo was my favorite for a few years.

I picked up The Rod Glove XL Casting at Tackle Warehouse and they are plenty long for my 7's rods.

I have a confession to make - even though I run hotels for a living, I don't enjoy staying in hotels all that much unless I'm in a suite at an outdoor type resort. I'd rather stay in a cabin or a tent. But the reason is simple - since I work in hotels, one of the goals of my vacations are to get away from hotels.

As someone who runs hotels for a living I must object to that remark. ?

Is beer really that expensive? Obviously, I haven't purchased beer in a long time. I always feel the need to shower after leaving Walmart. But where I live it's a necessary evil. It's teh only department store around, and we have only 2 other grocery stores.

This year has been a rollercoaster at work with a lot of ups and downs, but everything has been moving in a positive direction. As some of you know, I run hotels for a living and took over an absolute dog of a hotel. But it's on a lake, has a lot of potential, and a great owner who has been putting money into the property and has been generous with me. Renovations have been a bit of a nightmare. Supply chain issues have wreaked havoc. For example, we ordered new RFID door locks last July and they were supposed to be installed last November. I just received them last week and they will be installed next week. We did get painting, carpet, custom made sofas, and window treatments done and it made a huge difference. But we're waiting on occasional chairs, bedding accessories, lamps, artwork, and desk chairs. We **hope** to have them at the end of the year. The year started off slow, but March was a record March for us. April was down to budget because Master's Week crowds were still limited and we didn;t see compression. May has been an outstanding month and we beat our May record for revenues over a week ago. Fall pace is ahead of previous years, but the summer is a dud so far. We set record June and July revenues last year, but booking pace is off this year. And this Memorial Day weekend is weird. Normally we fill up with three night stays, but right now we're close to filled but we have an inordinate number of two night stays. It seems with inflation and gas prices, a lot of people are dropping one day of vacation this weekend. We should be close to sold out for the 4th of July right now and we're not even close. So I'm wondering, how many of you are cutting back your planned vacations or planning to make a last minute decision because of gas prices and inflation?

I've never understood the need for or the desire for a trailer on buzzbaits. With that added weight you're going to have to reel in that much faster to keep it on the surface. I prefer no trailer, and that lets me vary my retrieval speed within a single cast or on each cast. And I catch a ton on buzzbaits. Most seasons I need to replace them at least once because they get so bent up or break apart from being crushed all season.

On the highway I set the cruise control at 75 and I'm content with that, although I do hate it on a two lane highway where one lane is doing 65 and the other lane is doing 85. Now the back roads are a little bit different. I live out in the middle of nowhere and if I'm feeling chipper and my soft summer tires are feeling grippy I've been known to push the envelope a bit. But I do it in open areas with clean lines of sight. I'm not barreling into blind corners and crossing lanes. I will say that I also love hanging back entering the highway, looking at the traffic, punching it and feeling the nose lift a bit (rear wheel drive) while getting thrown back in my seat. I do this knowing my car can handle this and I know my car and my limits. But I think it's hilarious - and scary - when these nut jobs with their tiny, skinny little tires try and drive like Mario Andretti. They have no idea how easily and how quickly those little junk cars get out of shape if they have to make a quick move. The average passenger car has so much play in the wheel it's easy to over correct and snap the car out of shape. My car has almost zero play in the wheel and the feedback is immediate. I let my 16 year old drive my car and it scared the crap out of him. That's a good thing.

I keep my fish grippers clamped to the locking clamp for my pedal drive and keep the hook of my scale around that as well. Pliers are on the deck at my feet. This way everything is quickly accessible. You could even use small pieces of velcro to keep these in place on the inside of your hull. You could also purchase a rail caddy.

If I might offer a suggestion - if you really want to fish out of a kayak don't take any shortcuts because you'll regret it. You'll get so frustrated getting blown around, not tracking well, having to really work to get anywhere, etc. that you'll give up and wasted that money. I get it - trust me. I had fished a few times in paddle kayaks that I rented and it wasn't all that fun. But I took a leap of faith on a pedal kayak and I couldn't be happier. Still, I could not get myself to plunk down $3k on a Hobie or an Old Towne. I spent $1,500 on a Seastream Angler 120 PD. So here's my advice to you - you can take some more time and save for a better, new dedicated fishing kayak or even better, start searching online for used kayaks. You may have to spend a lot of time looking on eBay and a hundred other sites, and you have to search every day and be quick about pulling the trigger, but you're bound to run into someone that for whatever reason decided kayak fishing was not form them and they just want to get rid of their kayak. You can always haggle and barter as well. I think if you're patient and buy the right kayak that you'll be much happier in the long run and really fall in love with the sport. Lastly, no matter what you spend on a kayak you're always going to end up spending more on things like roof racks, kayak cart, fish finder, rod holders, storage, cleats, bungees, coolers, safety flag, and more. Budget for those as well.

The water shoes I linked to have a thin sole, so it's like walking in bare feet with a rubberized bottom. Where I primarily launch I have to step on large, slimy rocks. They grip just fine, but the feel is af you are in your bare feet. One other thing - they are extremely light. I usually only wear them in and out of the water, but once I drove home with them on. It made braking feel a lot different. They reminded me of my old Simpson racing shoes.

I bought some cheap water shoes on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MLYVJ4F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 They are like walking in your bare feet if your bare feet had a bit more grip. I wear them getting in and out of my kayak, and they are also comfortable when pedaling. Even if they last only one season, at only $27 they are a steal.

The problem is the camera mounted near the bow and having to climb over the pedal drive to get to it. My C-Tug is also strapped down to the bow, so there's not a lot of room to maneuver - especially when you're an old guy and not as nimble anymore.

I ended up buying two AKASO V50X action cameras. For now I am going to mount one of them near the bow and probably use a head mount for the second one. I also might try mounting the second camera up higher behind me. I could not find a camera with the remote power on and off capabilities. You'd think that with apps and bluetooth that someone would make this a standard feature. It does have a wristband with buttons to snap a photo and stop and start video. The one wristband controls both cameras simultaneously, so that will make it easier to synchronize video timings and any split screens that I might do. Work has been ridiculously busy and I haven't had a day off in weeks and haven't been out on my kayak in about a month. Today is supposed to be a day off, but I have to go to the hotel for a while. I might at least mount one camera and maybe try and fish for a while early this evening. But it's supposed to be 94 out today.

It happened to me not that long ago. 20+ pound flathead hit an underspin with a paddletail. It was too big for me to pull into my kayak. Luckily I lipped him and once I got the fish grippers on him it was easy to unbutton him.

I keep telling myself the same thing with my kayak. Last week I bought two action cameras to mount on it

Welcome. Ask yourself why you want to fish. Think about it. If you're out there fishing for numbers then you're going to most likely fish different techniques and places than a tournament angler. If you're fishing for BIG bass then you'll need an entirely different mindset and you're going to have to take a painstaking approach to different techniques, different areas to fish, and account for a lot more environmental factors. Me? I mostly fish for the Zen while out on my kayak. Well, that and cursing under my breath (and sometimes out loud) at the jet skiers that decide to get too close. But somedays I have a different mindset, especially when tournament fishing. Think about why you fish, then make a plan. Learn. Adapt. But I will leave you with this story. I used to be a pretty decent golfer, and one year I was playing in a pretty big local tournament on Hilton Head that I had won the year before. And I was brutal out there. I was in last place or close to it. I was never a club thrower, but I was angry and it showed, and I couldn't shake it. My father was caddying for me that day. He kept quiet on the front nine, but when we made the turn he handed me a club and said, "Jack Nicklaus can't run your hotel." That one little phrase put me in my place. I realized I could be good at golf at times, but I was not a pro and I had another calling. I didn't play much better on the back nine, but I was no longer angry or frustrated. I've carried that lesson with me every since. I am still the most competitive person I know, but I learned to temper my expectations.

Welcome to BR. Before you pull the trigger on a Zodias, take a look at the Shimano Exprides. Of course, you might only be able to look. They are in short supply right now. But they are worth the wait.

Welcome aboard. BR is a great place to hang out, learn, teach, and even make some friends. It's also highly addictive.

I can only imagine how ticked off you are. If I was in your shoes, I would put as much pressure on the apartment complex as possible. I'm guessing that somewhere in the contract it states that storage is at your own risk, but you can claim negligence on their part for the security lighting not being operable. See how they react first, and if they blow you off suggest that you will take it to small claims court. It wouldn't hurt to record the conversation (if legal) as well. If you can't record it, ask them to declare their position in writing to you.

Nice fish, no matter what it weighs. Congrats! Here's a tip the next time you don't have a scale: 1. Cut a piece of fishing line the length of the fish. 2. Wrap fishing line around the fish and cut it to get the girth of the fish. 3. Use this handy calculator to estimate the weight: https://www.bassresource.com/bassfishing/fishcalculator.html

It's funny because I never gave much thought to added scent, but on one TW order earlier this year I added some Mega Strike to my order, tossed it in my kayak crate, then forgot about it for a few weeks. Then one day I'm out there not having any luck, so I spread some Mega Strike on the big spinnerbait I was using. And on the next cast I landed my first fish of the day. Since then, it's been hit and miss. I generally don't put it on unless I'm having a slow day.

Black/blue and green pumpkin will be your staples, but you really need to experiment. My personal experience is that chatterbait colors are more dependent upon the body of water than by the season or anything else. I've fished a lagoon where black/blue is killer then fish another lagoon 1/4 mile away and they won't touch the black blue with the same conditions and clarity.

I use Rapala fish grippers. You can be careful all you want, but all it takes is one fish shake and you have an unwanted body piercing. But there's another reason you should use a fish gripper as well, especially if you're fishing smaller bodies of water in warm weather climates. If you lip enough fish during the day, you can tear up your thumb and end up with cuts and abrasions. If you've paid attention to the news the last few years, there have been a number of people infected with bacteria or amoeba that can do considerable damage or even kill you if they get in your bloodstream. Grippers can help mitigate that risk.

This guy caught an 8+ foot alligator gar but released it rather than wait on getting an official weigh in and quite possibly having the fish die in the process. Full story here: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/alligator-gar-bayou-catch-17162146.php