Ruy Lopez

Sweet set up with that seat on top and trolling motor. Definitely giving me ideas. How long is your boat?

Father time eventually wins every battle. I’ve kayaked for several years on my 11.5 foot Preception Striker. But it’s taking a toll. It’s hard to be sitting cramped in one spot for three or four hours at a time, and all that rowing, while good exercise, is harder and harder to do and takes its toll at my age. I love to fish and still wanna do it for many years to come I rented a 14 foot aluminum boat today with a 5 hp engine and while I got skunked, it was still a much different experience than the kayak. Better in many ways at this stage in my life. It was actually nice to be able to stand and move around and not have body parts go numb from sitting in one spot in tight confinement. And I could just have all my tackle spread out everywhere on the floor. Something as simple putting on a new lure is multiple times easier on a boat than a kayak. I was able to bring five poles without any of them being in the way. My issue at this point though is that I drive a 2019 Nissan Sentra. Realistically, is it a pipe dream to think I can get maybe a 12 foot aluminum boat and hitch it up and tow it? Most of my fishing trips are within 10 miles from my house and some 15 miles. I’ve been blessed with some nice lakes around here. Some of the roads can be a bit hilly. Thoughts/suggestions?

Headed to Belton, South Carolina around mid-September. Any good spot in that area to go shore fishing for bass. And as usual as I’ve stated before in these types of threads, I’m from Massachusetts so I’m looking for an area where my chances of getting bit or swallowed up by a snake/critter during my fishing time are minimal 😜

The 4 1/2 and 6 inch work like magic for me on a dropshot, both the neon green and the baby bass colors. Although I would echo what others have said, they are delicate as heck.

Don’t mock me. I’ve lived in New England my whole life. Never fished in the south. I might be headed to Greenville, South Carolina for four or five days and might want to do some bank fishing. Never had to worry about anything killing or eating me in New England on lake/pond shores lol. I know I’m probably being a nervous Nellie, but would I have to worry about anything like snakes or anything else that may “spoil” my fishing? I’m assuming you don’t have gators? I apologize for any ignorance, but this is the stuff some sheltered New Englanders worry about when they head elsewhere to fish.

I know Lunkerhunt gets slammed in these forums from time to time but they’ve produced well for me and they are cheap which appeals to my frugal side. I don’t use a trailer

Make that another vote for the FG knot. I’m far from proficient in tying fishing knots, my eyesight isn’t what it used to be and I have a bit of a hand tremor but even I can tie an FG knot that doesn’t get caught in the guides. I did practice it a couple times first before doing it for real

My wife and I own two 11.5 foot, Perception Striker kayaks. They each weigh a whopping 65 pounds. We are getting too old to lug these over ahead onto our Ford Expedition. Our Expedition is going bye-bye so our current situation is that we have a 2009 Honda Odyssey and a 2010 Nissan Sentra. We are thinking of investing in the Hullavator. My questions are: 1. Based on my research it appears that the Hullavator can handle the perception striker dimensions/weight. Anybody have any thoughts or, more importantly, personal experience. 2. What are the roof capacities of each of the Sentra and Odyssey vehicles? I couldn’t find them in the user manual. I called a couple dealerships and not a ton of success. The Nissan guy didn’t have anything on paper but he figured they could handle up to 300 pounds. As I said the two kayaks together would be 130 pounds. The Hulkavator would be another 40 pounds and neither of the cars have racks so we would have to add that weight as well. 3. Any thoughts on alternatives to what I mentioned above? Obviously when you are talking about getting a Hullavator for each kayak AND getting racks then we’re talking about a pretty sizable investment. Especially when compared to what the kayaks cost. At this point however the kayaks are getting no use and are just taking up space in the garage. So we gotta do what we feel we gotta do.

When you say you fish it slow are you hopping/dragging and pausing it along the bottom slow. Or are you swimming it through the middle/top of the water column slowly?

I may be overreacting on this one, but I get a bit squeamish and uncomfortable when someone on TV catches a fish and instead of releasing the fish relatively quickly they go into a dissertation about how they caught the fish before finally releasing the fish. I’m like: “the fish didn’t really need to hear all that dude, let it go”

Awesome! It’s all about the journey...

Noisy, guitar-thrashing intros to fishing shows on tv or YouTube fishing videos.....yes I’m getting old.

You are right about that. I’ve been pretty careful in applying it. So far I just end up with a reddish-pinkish hue in the crevices between the side of my finger nails and skin. Very greasy too

Started using Liquid Mayhem crawfish this year and so far so good. It’s got my recommendation

I really got into fishing last year and had fun with a lot of different techniques. I didn’t try the Ned rig last year but I have fished it almost exclusively so far this year (which has only been about 2 or 3 weeks in Berkshire County MA) and have had a decent amount of success. I’ve been using green pumpkin, Z-Man elastic worms and mushroom jig heads Looking to try Drop Shot and Mojo rigs for something new that I haven’t done before. I must say I’ve tried to look for some mojo weights and haven’t been successful (I think I would have more luck trying to obtain weapons-grade uranium!). So I got some BPS finesse weights which appear similar enough. We’ll see how it goes

I’ll echo what people have said above about not fishing a wacky rig in cover. But once in a while I will use a weedless hook and throw a wacky rig into cover

This is interesting to me. I’m relatively new to fishing and have caught maybe 1 or 2 fish on lipless crankbaits. I tend to shy away from crankbaits because they are too frustrating for me in that they get snagged up in the grass and weeds where I fish a lot; to the point where I am reeling in a small salad Unless I’m missing something I’m not understanding how you’re getting fish if you’re crankbait is all mucked up with weeds? Also I’d be curious to know the specs on the rod that you are using. Thanks

Well I did it. Went with the Lew’s Carbon Fire 6’8” Medium-light. Paired with the same reel, size 3000. Looks nice and more importantly feels good Now if this thing can cast lures through snow and ice we’ll be in business!!

Very informative list. I've already snapped a pic of it. One question though; what would constitute low-action trailers and what would constitute high-action trailers?

I'm thinking of getting a medium-light spinning rod for finesse applications. Right now my local Dick's has a deal on the Lew's Carbon Fire Spinning Rod. My budget is about $100 but I'm pretty frugal and love deals; so if there isn't an appreciable difference from this rod and the $100 rods then I think I would lean toward this rod. Specs are 6'8", medium-light power, fast-action. What do you all think? If I go with this rod then of course my next question would be what would be a good reel to pair with this. Of course if the snow doesn't clear then this is all moot!!

I’ve noticed that when folks talk about the T-Rig that they mention that much of the time they get a bite on the initial fall of the worm. My question is that if they are using a spinning rod do they leave the bail open as the worm is initially falling to the floor or do they close it. I guess same question with a bait caster do they leave it in free spoil in the initial fall I only ask because I believe I’ve read where many folks on the Ned rig leave the bail open and I don’t recall that ever been mentioned with a Texas rig

Obviously the bass are plentiful in Florida. My question for all you Floridians; doesn't having all those critters (snakes, gators) in and around the ponds and lakes creep you out when fishing; especially if you are fishing from the bank. I'd always be looking around me I have a feeling if I fished in Florida. Maybe I'm just showing my yellow side.

Friday didn't go so well. Tried spinnerbait, t-rig and wacky rigs. And maybe a couple of other things. Wind was whipping and it was cold; actually made it feel like fall for the first time. Saturday went much better. Caught a few (which is a good outing for me) in the morning on spinnerbait and wacky rig. One of the Bass in the spinnerbait ranks second on my personal best list. Don't ask for size as I stink at that. Got out for a little bit that afternoon as well and got a couple. One on spinnerbait and one on topwater popper as the sun was setting Recuperated most of Sunday. Went out for a little bit late Sunday afternoon. Grumpy's post made me think of trying a fluke as I have only fished it about once so I figured it would be a fun one to try. I T-rigged it. Caught a nice little bass on it; thanks for the suggestion Grumpy. Used the twitch, twitch pause method. He bit it hard so I just had to make sure the line was tight all the way in. As this middle-aged beginner finishes up his first summer/fall fishing I am not looking forward to a few months of cabin fever. The fishing has really been quite therapeutic in what has been a tough year otherwise.

Still relatively new to fishing but learning by the day. Like a lot of places we've had a warm Fall. Heading out early Friday morning(around 8:00) to a very shallow, small pond in Berkshire County, Weather calls for sun and a high of 60 with the morning hovering in the high 30s. Thinking of starting with maybe topwater poppers and spinnerbait (maybe even crankbait) for an hour or two. What are your suggestions please? Will the fish even be biting at that temperature in the early morning; should I just head out later in the morning? Plan to switch to Texas Rigs and Wacky Rigs later; or whatever works. I've had a lot of fun fishing the plastics lately and I've had some luck. All suggestions are welcome

Thanks for the info Grumpy! My mind must be slipping! I've been on that pond maps website a ton and it never occurred to me to connect the dots between the species listed there and the shad. Although as you say some of the info is outdated. I've got a lot to learn about fishing but so far I've caught a few bass (at least enough to keep me coming back) and pickerel at Cheshire this year. Ironically, I've had some luck with the 3-inch PowerBait Pre-rigged Swim Shad (in the shad color). I guess some of the bass haven't got the memo yet that there might not be any shad in the waters!! Lately though Spinnerbaits have helped me catch a few. I caught a couple trout this year. One at Richmond by floating some Powerbait and one by yo-yoing (I think that's the proper term?) a Thomas buoyant Minnow spoon off the pier at Onota. Funny that you mention T-rigged worms, I tried that earlier this week at the causeway at Onota. No luck though but I am still learning how and where and when to throw one. That's the beautiful thing about YouTube and the internet. So much available instruction. Sifting through it all can be a tad overwhelming at times but I love learning so it's 99% fun. Plus what else are you going to do on a rainy day! I invested in a fishing kayak earlier this summer but have been out only a few times on that. Plan to use it a lot more next year. Most of my fishing at this point is from the shore. Okay I'm rambling now. Time to pack it in.