Kayak Koz

I've never made deer jerky, but I have made jerky out of beef cuts like London Broil. One marinade that works really well is Texas Pete's Sriracha. It had a nice "sweet heat" to it. It makes great Chili as well. If you like a rub, Tony Chachere's Creaole Seasoning is great. Heck, Tony's is great on just about everything. You can even make a damp paste out of it.

I looked online at some trucks the other week and I'm still of the same mindset - I just would not get that much use out of the cargo area, even with my kayak. I don't need a pickup for my job, either. I have nothing against pickups, I just have use for one. Funny story about pickups. Before my dad passed away he spent a few years wintering in Florida. So that first year he buys a brand new pickup and a brand new 5th wheel and heads to Florida. But when he comes back home two months later he's got a BIGGER pickup and a BIGGER 5th wheel. It seems his neighbor at the campsite had a bigger 5th wheel that dad liked, so he bought a bigger one for himself. Then he realized his new truck couldn't haul it, so he had to buy a new truck as well!

When the water cools it slows the metabolism of bass and that changes their feeding patterns. Of course, that magic water temperature is regional. What a bass may consider to be cold water in Florida might just be fine and dandy in New York. Bass still feed in colder water and the will still chase baits. But that feeding window is much shorter. Look for channels or old stream beds where they can easily navigate from deeper waters to shallower feeding grounds. Most of all, try and figure out the patterns of the bait fish as the water temperature continues to drop.

With the next lake I unlocked the water and surroundings were photorealistic. It is a bit awkward to use it with glasses. Also, I have progressive lenses and larger frames so the fit was not good. I bought a pair of reading glasses and that helped. I loaded up the boxing and it was pretty cool. It was like you were really in the gym. I did the workouts and equipment and sparred. It was a good workout.

Winter is coming and that means less time fishing and on my kayak, especially with the hours I put in at work and the less daylight this time of year. So I need some recreation. That's not always easy living out here in the boonies. So today I pulled the trigger and bought the Oculus Quest 2 VR package. I downloaded a few games, but have only played one so far. Naturally, it was a fishing game. The graphics aren't quite lifelike due to hardware limitations, but they are pretty good. You don't see your body, but you see gloved hands and the gloves look real, especially the way they catch the light. As I move my thumb on the controller my virtual thumb move. My virtual hands react seamlessly with the movement of my hands. You start off with a basic spinning rod and one lure, and when I look down the light catches the chrome of the handle and the housing of the reel. OK, it looks very close to real life. Even with that one lure, reeling at different speeds can prompt different fish to strike. And yes, you have to set the hook. Reeling them in is arcade like, and you have to stop reeling or release a little tension show the fish don't break the line. Like in actual fishing with spinning gear, my right hand holds and controls the rod while I have to make actual cranking motions with my left hand to reel in. But you have to exaggerate it a bit with a wide circle. and sometimes I crash that controller into the other one. These controllers supposedly have vibration capabilities, but they are not used in this game. That's a shame - I will have to email them about that. Or maybe I have to check the settings to turn it on. That would be great if they have that feature. I saw some soft baits available after I earn some more in game coin. The first fish you catch is an LMB as you go through the tutorial. Then it's been bluegill, small carp, minnows, and smaller fish. As you earn points you open the next levels. I hot level 3 and there are bigger fish but so far they get away. I will probably have to level up my gear to land them. At the first lodge you start at there is a row boat and a bigger boat and while I can get in them I can't use them yet. More leveling up is needed. The game also includes saltwater fishing as you level up. The entire experience is immersive. I was actually surprised at how much so. I also purchased a boxing game that I need to try out next. The ping pong game is also supposed to be good, and I may try that out as well. There are a lot of interesting titles, including a rock climbing game that is supposed to be spectacular. One thing that I like is that as far as games go they are relatively cheap at around $10-$20 for most as opposed to the $60 for XBox or Playstation games. Maybe this VR thing gets old quick, but so far it seems great. You can also watch videos and movies and I may try that as well. Supposedly it feels like an iMax experience. The only drawback - and it is a big one. Is that Oculus is owned by Facebook and you MUST have a Facebook account to use it. All these years I have stayed away from FB, but today I needed to create an account. But I locked it down and made it as private as possible. With all of that stealthy data collection that FB does I really hate having to join. A lot of other people feel the same way and are writing their members of Congress regarding being forced to sign up. Maybe that will gather some steam.

What could you have done? That depends upon how much you like swimming ?

We had more lousy guests this weekend. Our pedal boat and two Adirondack chairs turned up missing. I was hoping that at most someone sunk the boat and threw the chairs in the lake, so I spent part of the afternoon on my kayak running my side scan hoping to find them. No luck. We did have some good news this week - we're getting ready for renovations. The new WiFi and TV service will be installed soon including pulling fiber optic cable into the building. The new RFID door locks will be installed next month. We also ordered the new guest room carpet and the fabric for the sofas and chairs. Those items will be custom built here in Georgia. We did a test of the new paint colors in one guest room and it looks fantastic. There's an 8 week lead time for the mill to produce the carpet, so we hope to start painting and carpet installation after the first of the year. In the meantime, my maintenance chief and I are going to tackle remodeling the front desk area and the breakfast area. One thing I will be doing is cutting our new logo on a scroll saw, adding some LED backlighting, and mounting it on the wall behind the renovated front desk. And speaking of the new logo, we'll have new outdoor signage coming as well.

Do any of you have the Oculus Quest VR system? What are your opinions of it? I have been thinking of picking up the Quest 2. It comes in the 128GB and 256GB versions and unfortunately memory is not expandable so I may spend the extra $100 for more storage..

You poor, foolish man. You've been lulled into a false sense of security. You've already had your taste. You'll be back for more. First it will start with dreams about fishing where in your dream you finally found that magic bait. But the dreams are hazy, and you can't quite make out what it is on the end of your line. Somehow you manage to avoid Bass Pro and Tackle Warehouse even though your starting to jones. The next thing you know you're at a Walmart Super Center to pick up milk and underwear and you find yourself down the aisle for fishing gear. You're done. You wake up two days later in a pile of your own drool (but with fresh underwear) on the banks of your favorite fishing lake. You have no idea how you got there, but you notice you have 20 packages of new Zoom soft baits and two boxes of Walmart spinnerbaits. No one defeats the Bait Monkey. You've just delayed the inevitable.

As a Yankee fan, rooting during the Astros-Red Sox series was like choosing between Hitler and Satan.

It's not the gear ratio - it's the technique. I fish buzzbaits with 6:x, 7:x, and 8:x reels with no issues.

As others have stated, even in a hard kayak a bait will move it under the right conditions. What helps with my 12' pedal kayak is the ability to set the rudder to help compensate for any changes in the angle of the bow. It's to the point that while I'm reeling in I don't even consciously notice that my hand will leave the rod briefly to nudge the rudder. Man, machine, and tools become one.

I engage the reel before the bait hits the water and take up any slack so when it hits I'm already half a turn or more when it hits the water. Also, before I engage the reel I'm loosely thumbing the line for a split second to slow it down. Lastly, yo didn't say if you're using a trailer. If you are, that will impact the speed of the bait and how quickly it starts to sink. You'll need to engage your technique a split second sooner to compensate. Personally, I never use a trailer on a buzzbait, and I use them as much as I can. I would have to say that over the years the buzzbait and chatterbait are my two top producing, moving baits.

I honestly have no idea. I've gone out there for 3-6 hours at a clip for a few weekends in a row and the battery stayed charged. Then I'll bring it home and charge it overnight. This is the charger that I purchased: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07W46BX31/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I'm sure there's better stuff out there. But I have zero complaints with what I purchased.

I honestly thought it was still in Beta. That being said, I just ran a diagnostic on my home built PC and I'll need to update my BIOS before upgrading. I'll probably wait until January to upgrade after Microsoft releases the 1,573 patches it will probably need to fix Win 11

This is the lithium battery I purchased. Only 7A, but all I use it for is my Lowrance. Battery life is excellent, and the weight is minimal. This was an important feature with the CellBlok because there are three mounting holes on each end of the CellBlock (inner, middle, outer) and when I lock it down to the rails I use the innermost hole so that the unit is actually hanging over the outside of my kayak, giving me more room in the cockpit. Because the battery is so light my kayak does not list to that side even with the CellBlok hanging outside the edge of the kayak. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PG5I8EE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The hinges actually snap into place when you put it together. They hold the lids down just fine. Now you might think that having a snap on hinge is not such a good idea, and at first I thought that as well. But what it means is that if the hinge is accidentally hit with enough force, say when loading, unloading, or transporting, the hinge could pop off. In my mind that's a lot better than having it snap and break. The one thing you will need is a bungee or string to tie to the lids so that when you open them they don't flop all the way open, It was a big mistake for Flambeau not to include that. I like this crate setup a lot, but the one thing I don't like is that it does not have some sort of tool caddy on the outside. Then again, once I start fishing I keep my tools up front so I don't have to turn around and grab them while fishing. I definitely like it a lot more than my old, standard milk crate because it holds a lot more and I can close things up. The multi compartment setup is great and saves me from having to add additional storage. It also allows me to keep items sorted, whether it be a frequently used Plana, tools, food, drink, etc. I'm sure some people use the top for soft plastics. Since my kayak does not have any in hull storage, the two compartment setup was a big deal for me.

I bought this Flambeau Tuff Krate Premium. I can store a ton of Plano boxes and a Tupperware type container for plastics in the bottom. In the top I store a small Plano with some key baits, extra sun gloves and gaiter, pliers, and a scale. There's also room for a few bottles of water and snacks. I also have two extra rod holders attached to it. You can attach 2-4 more additional rod holders as well.

I have a pedal drive, so I can't mount anything in the middle. But I have the CellBlok, the Switchblade transducer arm attached to the CellBlok, the Hook2 fishfinder mount attached to the CellBlok, and my Hook2 5. My fishfinder mount is adjustable enough that I can almost lie it down to lessen the height of my entire package. You can separate the CellBlok and the fishfinder mount instead of stacking them, but remember you will probably have to angle your fishfinder upwards to see it clearly. That may increase your screen glare or position the screen in more direct sunlight. I went with the transducer arm because the hull of my kayak is pontoon style and I have the TripleShot transducer with side scan that needs to be clear of the hull. That being said, the way I have it set up, it's easy to tear down. I just remove the CellBlok from the rail and everything else is attached to that. And after 4 - 6 hours out on the water I want the tear down and clean up as easy as possible. As @Bluebasser86 mentioned, you're going to want to try it out in different placements and if I might suggest - different conditions. It's a lot different trying to read the screen on days when the water is really choppy or on bright, sunny days compared to when the water is calm and you have overcast skies. I moved mine up and down both the left and right rails until I finally decided to keep it snug to my seat on the left side. But if I ever want to switch back to the right side all I have to do is turn the Switchblade arm so it faces the other side.

Crazy temperature ranges this time of year. Winter coat in the morning and shorts in the afternoon.

The season has officially changed with the First Day of Flannel. When I got up to walk my dog this morning the temperature was in the low 40’s. Then driving to the dealership this morning to get my car repaired I actually had to turn on the heater! Fall is officially here in the south. I might even have to wear flannel pants to bed tonight. In all seriousness, this year has flown by. As I get older, I hate when that happens.

We all go through periods where the fishing is just awful for one reason or another. But if you had more good days than bad days fishing it would eventually get boring. I spent two hours out there on my kayak after work yesterday and didn't sniff a bite. But it was a beautiful evening on the water, not a tourist in site, and I just enjoyed being outdoors and taking it all in. There are worse things in life, and your post indicates you have experience with that. Enjoy the simpler moments. Not everything is a competition.

I have the Yak Attack CellBlok for my battery case and this sits on my rail. Attached the the CellBlok I have both the mount for the fish finder and a Yak Attack Switchblade for mounting my transducer. So when I break down my kayak after a day on the lake I just remove this one combination unit on my rail. That being said, stacking the Fish Finder mount on top of the CellBlok adds some height that you have to navigate when landing a fish. My fish finder mount has a lot of adjustments, so I can lay it down instead of having it stick up too far. It works for me, but I had to experiment with putting the unit on both the left and right rails a few times before deciding my final placement. My rails run right up to my seat, so I settled on putting it on the left rail as close to the seat as possible. Keep in mind that I have a pedal kayak and that pedal unit is a bit of an obstacle sitting in the center that I need to navigate around while fishing. I think at some point I will probably experiment with putting the CellBlok behind or under my seat and just having the fish finder on the rail. But right now this works well for me.

How many times do you need to be told to listen to your dad? ?