Bassin_Harrison

Great job, looks great! Much more up to date format/style ?

Just a heads up: I felt the new KVD rods up at Kittery Trading Post in Maine and man they felt soooooo cheap. Like a <$50 rod. I know you're talking about the reel, but if they put as much quality into the reel as the rod, I don't expect it to be very good. And I'm not one of those Lew's bashers, I love em and have had nothing but great experiences with their products/customer service. But that rod felt awful.

I do not have any personal experience with any of them (I did handle one, never fished with it), but I did my fair share of research on the Smoke 2 years ago when I was looking for a new set up. The best I can offer is that I have yet to hear anything bad about it, look at all the TW reviews, the TackleTour review and some of the past posts about it on here. It sounds like a great all around reel, just stay away from really light baits. I'm still considering it for a future set up just because everybody has good things to say. I think since you've been a shimano guy it could be worth a shot to branch out. Hope this helps.

Daiwa Fuego CT x3 !! If you're willing to spend a little bit more, that reel is totally worth it. It retails for $110, but can usually be found for around $70-$80 on ebay. Fantastic reel.

Fantastic thank you! I'll try to get in there before the end of the season for sure, I'll let you know how it goes!

You got it! I can't upload from my phone so we'll see if these links work... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ey6HkllqwtQ4ESdaxmKJRR0TbNYjI2FG/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JpIKQ8iCwOTqdGEZVRNGOCwt5Cs5qIkf/view?usp=sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LcBP6lpJVtC6I1zOrMGMn-YyeF9_J6xx/view?usp=sharing Sorry for pretty bad pictures, my phone was literally at 1% so I was going as fast as possible lol

Thank you man! Sent you a pm.

That's awesome... I'm always scanning maps on my phone for new water and I saw Johnson's Pond once, but never had the chance to fish it. Guess I'll have to go check it out! I've fished Lake Rico 4 times now and haven't had much luck, but I've only bank fished it. Do you think it would be worth it to throw in the yak? There's always a ton of people there so it's probably pretty pressured, at least around the shore.

Also I see some of you have said September was a really hard month of fishing... for me it was quite the opposite. I broke my PB on Sep. 5th at a hidden gem we found in Plymouth, 7 lbs 10 oz. This shattered my PB of 5.0 that I caught in July. And to make it even better I caught her out of my FeelFree Lure, water was crystal clear and I got to watch her come up and engulf the Zoom Ol Monster. So amazing and easily one of the best moments of my life. But to get back on track here: after my PB, I continued to have pretty good luck. I caught two or three more around 3 and one that was 3lbs 14 oz. Mostly been throwing a 6th Sense blue gill swim jig w/ a 4.8 Keitech, it's my most consistent bait for sure. And if I'm not catching bass I've been hammering the pickerel, they're all over the place right now. If anybody is in or around the Whitman/Hanson area, let me know how you've been doing. Bite has slowly started to get harder, would love to know how other people are going about it.

I know this post was a week ago now, but THIS^^ My dad and I were fishing in the Hanson area last week (from the bank) and we weren't having much luck, he was throwing a horny toad and I was throwing a small underspin w/ a little paddle tail. Few pickerel and a small bass, but that's it. But then my dad lost his horny toad and threw on a spinner bait, silver/white skirt with silver and gold blades, and just absolutely lit them up. Pretty sure it was 4 bass, 2 perch, and a pick in a span of 15 minutes. Absolutely crazy. It blew my mind that I could be throwing something so similar with a blade and catch one bass in 2 hours, and then he throws a spinnerbait and just destroyed them.

Pretty sure I have my breaks on around 8 or 9 and my spool tension is pretty lose, just eliminates side to side movement. I rarely adjust my breaks, they hang around 8 for pretty much any bait I throw doesn't matter the weight. I was chucking a pretty small underspin a fricken mile the other day with those settings, that reel continues to amaze me even after a year of using it. I don't know how experienced you are, but you should definitely be using your thumb at least right before the bait lands. I don't thumb the spool during the cast much at all however, so I'd say turn up the breaks to around 8 or 9 and if you are still back lashing, it's more your technique than the reel probably. This actually sounds more like spool tension than breaks (although the breaks should be higher than 4 or 5), make sure it's tight enough where the bait falls a good speed and when it hits the ground only a few loops pop up.

Just looking to see if anybody on here has tried these rods, they retail for $150 I believe. I came across them because TW is doing a giveaway of 3 of this series and so I looked into em, they have 4 or 5 solid reviews on TW that seem legit. Curious if they're as good as those people say, starting to look around for a new set up and that's right in my ball park for a rod. Tight lines H

I have a 7 ft Medium spinning Arid X and it is such a great rod for the money. I haven't heard one person say anything bad about them. Totally would buy more in the future.

@Bankc Thank you for all that information, super helpful. I'll start looking at batteries right now

Tom your always providing the best info on literally every topic on this website lol thanks for the response, I’ll follow ur advice

All of that is exactly why I am going with the Striker. It does as much as I need it to do at a lot lower price, I'm not too worried about mapping because like I said I'm not out on large bodies of water often. And I'm not worried about having a smaller screen, like you said space is pretty much top priority on yak. Thanks Bankc, tight lines

Great to hear guys thank you! I'll check it out for sure, but I think I'm just going to go with the striker just because it's pretty close to what I was hoping to spend and I haven't really heard anything bad about it yet. And I'm not too worried about reading the screen since I've got pretty good eyes at 16 lol

Yeah sadly I can't go up to anywhere near $500, but I think that the Striker will be ok for me. I'm just throwing it on a kayak and I'm usually fishing smaller bodies of water, just ponds and once in a while your average size lake, so I'm not really worried about mapping much. I'd just like to know what's below me really. Thanks for the input!

Thank you to everyone who responded. It seems like the Garmin Striker 4cv is going to be my choice, every where I've looked people only seemed to have good things to say about it. After doing some searching, I don't think that side imaging is important enough to me to spend $100+ more so the Striker should do me fine.

When I said I don't know much about depth finders, I really meant it lol. If I had to guess, side scan doesn't just tell you the depth right below, but all around as well? As for a budget, I'm not sure because I don't know how much I need to spend to get a decent one. If I can get good quality one for $100-150 that would be best, but I'm willing to spend more if that won't even get me close to what I need. What Optimator recommended, the Striker, seems like you get a lot for the price. But I don't know what other finders offer at that price point. I'm not sure how much more something with side scan would run me, but I'll look at that right now.

I'll check it out thank you

*I initially posted in marine electronics, but since it's about a kayak I'm re-posting here. figured it would get more attention* New to kayak fishing, I've had my lure 11.5 for just over a year now and I want to start adding on to it. I'm looking to add a depth/fish finder at the moment, but I have no idea what makes a good one and what the price ranges are. I'm sure I could research them just like I normally do with my fishing stuff, but I figured I'd ask around here first. I'm on a budget, but since I'm not sure how expensive a decent one is I don't know where to set the bar so any recommendation is welcome. If you need anymore info before giving any suggestions let me know and i'll do my best to provide it. Thanks, Harrison

New to kayak fishing, I've had my lure 11.5 for just over a year now and I want to start adding on to it. I'm looking to add a depth/fish finder at the moment, but I have no idea what makes a good one and what the price ranges are. I'm sure I could research them just like I normally do with my fishing stuff, but I figured I'd ask around here first. I'm on a budget, but since I'm not sure how expensive a decent one is I don't know where to set the bar so any recommendation is welcome. If you need anymore info before giving any suggestions let me know and i'll do my best to provide it. Thanks, Harrison

Will do, thanks

For sure going to have to invest in a pair of waders, was planning to before this season started but never got around to it. I’ll definitely check those places out, thank you!