Kayak Koz

Never swivels, but I do use the VMC Touch-Lok snaps on some gear. As others have mentioned, you can swap out baits quicker and it can be a pain to tie off fishing from a kayak. All of my rod holders in my kayak are behind my seat, so to tie off I either have to stand the rod up and lean it against me or lay the rod down. Both of those options are cumbersome. What I will probably do is add a rod holder to the rail, specifically to hold a rod to tie off baits. The drawback is that my kayak is getting pretty crowded with stuff lately. That being said, I am making a concerted effort to tie directly this year to see if I notice any difference in bait action or catch rates.

I have a lithium battery on my kayak for my Lowrance and I don't have a trolling motor or anything else that needs to be powered. But if I ever did add a trolling motor, I would most certainly go with LiPo batteries. The main reason for that is unless with the weight of lead acid batteries and a trolling motor on a small and light craft like a kayak I would want to make sure I did not alter the center of gravity to a point where it made it easier for the kayak to roll over.

I would bet good money that this is the first time that Bernoulli's principle has ever been mentioned on a fishing forum. Kudos!

It looks like you can pretty much cover the entire basin with your casts. It also looks like there's an aerator in the middle. I'd start there and work outwards. In a pond like that, bass will usually sit in that deeper ring and come up the hill to feed. It looks like there's an outlet on the top right. Often times, if there is enough outflow, a channel will form in that area that's just a little bit deeper than the rest of the basin. Sometimes bass will use that as a highway to shallower feeding grounds. If there's an inlet, that's a fresh water source and can often bring in food sources for the bass. I'd look for that and fish there as well. That gooey stuff? I'd drag a hollow body frog over it and see if a bass comes crashing through. I would toss the frog on that gooey stuff first just see see if bass were using that for cover. Then, if it's really pressured, I'd also work from the bottom up with soft plastics working very slow with lots of pauses.

Bingo!

I hope everyone in the path remains safe. Sorry to rub it in, but it was 84 here today and I took a quick 20 minute break this afternoon for some fishing on our docks. Caught one. But we do have a wind advisory in effect with gusts expected to be 40+ mph. The wind is starting to move in now.

I can easily fit two Planos under my seat, four if I want to stack them. One thing I have been working on early this season is how to make the space on my kayak more useful and improve overall convenience. For example, I added a cleat to the rail and a bungee dock line. I'm also going to add a rod holder to the rail. Sure, I have four rod holders behind me and when I fish I bring only 3 or 4 rods. So why a rod holder on the rail? Because it will make it easier to tie on new baits. Currently, when I want to tie on a new bait I usually turn the rod around and lay it on the deck. That's a great way to lose a rod over the side. If I try and stand it up and hold it, I lose mobility swapping out baits. That being said, things are starting to get crowded. My kayak is becoming like a Swiss Army Knife with lots of stuff. At some point I'll probably just say, "The heck with it!" and strip everything down and bring 2 rods and one or two Planos. As it is, some days I leave the electronics at home.

Without a doubt. Look at what Walmart is doing at all of their stores. They take out 2 - 4 cashier lanes and put in 8 - 16 self checkout stations.

I have a Plano A-Series Backpack that I use on the bank or when I get invited to fish on someone's boat. The only problem I have with it is that it holds TOO MUCH gear. I can fit 5 or 6 Plano boxes, a container for soft baits or bagged soft baits, scale, tools, gloves, gaiters, a couple of bottles of water, spools of fishing line, and a lot more. Even when I'm dumb enough to overload it, the straps are still comfortable and I can cinch it up so it's not flopping around.

Exactly what kind of work are they doing now? I'm genuinely curious. Perhaps they have skills that they never tapped into before, but typical manual laborers and fast food workers don't have, say, coding skills or something along those lines that many people do from home.

I wish I had the time. Like most businesses, we're short staffed. So I'm doing my GM job, the AGM job, the Director of Sales, Project Manager, and pulling the occasional front desk shift. I also need a maintenance chief. And when I do want to get out there and find some time to fish - like yesterday - it's windy with gusts over 20 mph. But I did play hooky last Thursday and @flatcreek and I fished a tournament up at Lake Russell, so that was fun.

This is getting beyond ridiculous. How am I supposed to get my hotel renovated? I order new RFID locks for my hotel last August and the delivery date was November 1, 2021. It's now March 27th and my LATEST update says the locks will be delivered on July 5, 2022. New guestroom carpet was a month late. We're rushing to get it installed this week before Master's Week next week. I lost thousands in revenue this past weekend because I needed to take rooms out of inventory so we could get carpet installed. Window treatments are 3 months behind schedule with a tentative delivery date in April. Artwork, lamps, soft chairs, ottomans, and mirrors all have TBD delivery dates. We had the couches custom made and they came in on time, but they are sitting in storage because we need to get the new carpet installed first. Most months we need to select our 3rd, 4th, or 5th choice for soap, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion and mix and match brands because of shortages. I've been waiting on parts for one of my commercial dryers since last December. But the worst of the worst of the supply chain issues is that the new Shimano Expride baitcaster rods are delayed until next September on TW!!!! How will I ever survive?

I always find posts like this amusing (to me) because me and 40 pound braid on a baitcaster go together like peas and carrots since day one. But flouro on a baitcaster is my kryptonite.

I have the Flambeau Tuff Krate Premium. I've never weighed it after it's loaded, but it's usually full. In the bottom I'll have five or six Plano boxes plus a container of soft plastics. In the top section I'll have a few bottles of water, gaiters, and gloves, snacks, fish gripper, scale, scissors, and pliers. I have a lot more loaded each trip including my Lowrance, battery, transducer arm, lithium battery, YakkAttack CellBlok, safety flag with light, dry bag, and my CTug, paddle, 3 or 4 rods, and the pedal drive unit. I'm not worried about the weight on the water, but then again I have a stable, 12 foot kayak. That being said, my goal is to pare down the tackle I am carrying this year, but not because of the weight. I want to stop overanalyzing my approach. My goal is to get down to 2 or 3 Plano boxes and a few bags of soft plastics.

I like my Curado K more than my MGL, and I like my DC more than both of those.

I have three new Shimano baitcasters that I purchased within the last 4 months and I would rate them as follows: 1. Curado DC 2. Curado K 200 3. Curado MGL 150

I live out in the middle of nowhere and have only one local option for internet - 10MB DSL. I hate it. I'll have to download the Starlink app and see if I can get service in this area yet. It stink the increase to $700 is more about recovering losses from sending all of that free equipment to Ukraine rather than price gouging or inflation.

I'm really sorry to hear that. I hope you have the best of care and support to get better and change your course.

I should have explained my idea a bit better. My thought is that part of the deck should take the place of your plano box, not a place to store your plano box. You would lift a hatch and there would be compartments like your standard plano box.

I imagine that with any significant weight up top that shearing and torsion forces come into play and you risk shattering your sunroof. You might be driving home and it could just pop and shatter. As mentioned above, you are going to remove your drive unit when you load. You will also remove your seat and really anything else that you can.

One caveat that I want to add to what I said earlier is that my son suffered greatly from depression. A friend had committed suicide, COVID took away social interaction, and two of his grandparents dies plus some other things. It was bad. Really, really, terrifyingly bad. He was in therapy. Doctors tried medication after medication. He was hospitalized - twice. And for all the doctors and all the medications, what it finally comes down to is your brain. Your brain gets you into this and your brain can get you out of this. That's going to mean different things to different people. If you believe the medication will help, it will. If you believe prayer will help, it will. If you believe therapy will help, it will. But if you don't believe something will help you, it won't. Your brain will overpower it. And that is the mighty struggle. It is my personal opinion that if you understand this, even when things are dark, that there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. If you can see that light, you can find a way to navigate your own path. Your brain is both a powerful tool and a powerful enemy, but ultimately you have the control over that power. Find the light.

I'm sorry, but that thing looks like somebody glued a lawn chair to a paddleboard ? Yes, it can be a pain to twist and turn to get to your crate. Thankfully, I can fit some planos under my seat. But somebody needs to come up with a better kayak that has storage cubbies built in to the inside side walls of the kayak and deck storage for tackle in front of the seat. One thing that is a pain for me is that in some areas I fish there are some very low underpasses that I have to navigate and that means I have to pull my rods out of the rod holder when I cross under. I also have to hope that all of the birds in there that go flying off don't poop on me as I go by.

When I bought my house in SC the yard was a mess. Weeds, sand, nasty flower beds, and what was an old vegetable garden. I tore out every bit of vegetation in the yard, built bigger and better flower beds. Then I added zones to the existing irrigation system so I had full coverage. Once that was done, I SEEDED the yard with Bermuda. It was a labor of love. And when it all came in my grass looked beautiful. Walking on my lawn was like walking on carpet. But I had to mow the grass just about twice a week to keep it under control and looking good. That wasn't fun when we ran a heat index in the low 100's all summer long. It was a lot of work. My neighbors never understood why I mowed my own lawn and didn't just hire someone. I didn't understand why they hired landscapers and then complained they could never save any money. My suggestion before you plant anything is find a balance between having a great looking lawn and the maintenance you will need to do to maintain it.

My first bit of advice would be to stop watching the news and stay off of social media. Do it for a few days. then try a week, then try a month. If you do want o keep up with the news, go to a website like Reuters. We all have times when things can be the lowest of lows, even if it's not chronic depression. I had a few rough patches in the last 5 years or so, especially when my father died. Now I have never used drugs, and my alcohol consumption is about 3 beers a year, but one thing that helps me when I'm down or even facing a tough challenge is the Serenity Prayer: "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." I think a lot of us feel stress and pressure because of things outside of our control. So for me, that first part of the prayer hits home. It did take a while for me to make this a habit. But when I felt down or stressed I would force myself to think about this prayer and it helps me keep everything in perspective This immediately quells the negative emotions that may be creeping up on me. This allows me to focus on the things that I can change, and that gives me a sense of control and confidence to move forward.

For under $200 I love my Shimano Curado 200K ($189). In fact, I like it more than my Shimano Curado MGL ($199), but not as much as my Curado DC ($249). For years I was a fan of Lew's reel, and the ones I had were in the $129-$179 range. But then I bought the Curado 200K in the difference in quality and smoothness was startling. I'm not bad mouthing Lew's here - I still use my Lew's reels and their customer service has always been outstanding. But I was so impressed with the 200K that within months I bought the DC and the MGL - and I'm not one of those anglers that collects reels, at least not that quickly. When I bought the Curado DC I also bought an Expride rod to pair it with. My only regret with that is that I did not buy more Expride rods because they are now on backorder. Truth be told, I was not even thinking about the Expride but other Bass Resource members suggested it and I'm grateful for that. It's an awesome pairing with my DC. I'm sorry to sound like a Shimano fanboy because there are a lot of other great reels out there. But by far these are my favorite reels.