Smalls

Braid for flippin grass/vegetation. Fluoro (I actually use copoly) for wood/trees. I used to flip with braid, but got hung up in wood a lot more with it. I don't deal with grass anymore, so I ditched it.

Why not? Plenty of us swingin 8'+ swimbait rods around off plastic boats.

I'd definitely give Perception a call and explain your situation. Just glancing at it, doesn't look like anything would be in your way, but I've been wrong a lot in my life. Nothing quite like drillin some good sized holes in your new kayak just to find out it won't work.

Just their crankbaits, it seems. And it looks like TW has actually taken the rattling version off their website. I've never actually seen anyone else fish one, now that I think about it. That's actually how I ended up trying em. Told my daughter she could grab a couple baits out of the bargain bin. Went back a week later to clear it out. blockquote widget

I've heard a bunch of good things about a company called Kerco paddles that sell on Amazon. While not the lightest carbon fiber paddle out there, it's still lighter than most other fiberglass paddles. I don't know what the differences between their paddles are, but the red one says 34 oz, and 250cm. $95

There's ways around using the both the unitrack plate or the adapters ?

I hate being a fanboy of any particular brand. My tackle box has a little bit of something from a ton of different brands. But you're right, we all do usually tend have a preference. That said, I probably have more 6th Sense and Storm Arashi hardbaits than anything else. Both brands are inexpensive, especially when you take into account that you don't have to immediately replace hooks/rings on either. I've broken a few bills off the 6th Sense squarebills after some heavy use, but otherwise both brands are pretty durable. Most importantly, I have caught a ton of fish on em. The Arashi cover pop has probably put more fish in my boat than any other piece of tackle I own. I'm of the opinion that I only need 4-5 different colors in my tackle box. But if you need more, 6th Sense probably has whatever color you wanted.

I'm using a smaller graph with a B (1") sized ram mount. I like it. It's solid, and easily removable. Easy to mount and move, too. I'd probably move up to a C (1.5") size for a 9" graph, but I'm sure the smaller size would work fine, too.

You just push it into the bottom. Obviously works best on dirt/sand, unless you have a powered micro pole.

Absolutely. On top of that, it can be dangerous. Unlike using it on an anchor trolley, there's no "give". So if you take a wake broadside, you run a high chance of flipping.

Great write up. I hate identifiers. I 100% understand and agree with their necessity, but forgetting something so stupid just stings so bad.

Start looking on the used market. Not many peddle drives available in that range, and even less that have the stability I think you're looking for. There's definitely deals out there, too. I just saw a '16, but barely used Native Slayer 10 for $1350. Just gotta keep your eyes peeled, and might have to make a road trip.

Arashi cover pop. Walks really well, and really seems to irritate bass into biting really well. It's usually the first topwater bait I toss, and 90% of my topwater bites come on it.

Did you make sure the cables were seated? The hook plugs on the Hook 2 need some "umph" to make sure they're all the way in the head unit.

In my opinion, all that is mostly unnecessary for the average angler. We can get by and catch fish with a few types of baits for each water depth, 4-5 basic colors, and minimal terminal tackle. But fisherman are "gear nerds". It's a very in depth hobby, and having all sorts of different gear and things to tinker with is half the fun sometimes. I just recently made myself stop buying a lot of hard baits. I've got like 4 boxes of just topwater poppers. Unless some completely innovative game changing popper comes along, I don't need any more. Pros travel the entire country, fishing all sorts of different types of water. Their livelihood depends on having that one particular bait that works on this specific stretch of bank on this particular lake. On top of that, their tackle collection is a mixture of free/discounted baits and 20, 30, even 50 years of stocking. Buy what you need to get out fishing. Buy the things you want when you can. In 20 years, you'll have more boxes of squarebills than you can cram into a boat.

I've been happy with the ones VMC makes. Haven't lost a fish on em, yet.

It's really odd, that place is usually jam packed with stuff. All I really I see is Black Dog and Bucca's stuff. Both great brands, but definitely not hard to acquire.

?. I actually just looked, they're surprisingly low on variety right now.

Swimbaitcity.com has a good selection of the popular stuff.

I don't even understand the allure of scupper carts. They're a huge pain in the rear to get in.

They released them today. I was watching some videos on a few of the kayaks, seems like they really listened to what people thought needed to be changed or fixed on the topwater/ predators. Definitely some cool features on them. Are they discontinuing the topwater/predators? I haven't seen anything saying they are, but I don't know if offering them makes sense with the sportsman available.

The second, maybe third time the wife and I took our kayaks out got really sketchy, really fast. Supposed to be a beautiful day, sunny and and only 3-4 mph east winds. The launch is on the west side of the lake, and we paddled out towards the opposite side and started fishing. We're out maybe a mile and a half from the ramp. Let me tell you about NM winds- whatever the forecaster says is a lie, he has no clue, and that wind comes fast and brutal. Within 10 minutes of fishing I noticed the wind shift. Another 20 minutes and it starts picking up just a little bit. I didn't wanna make my wife paddle that far in a strong headwind, so we start paddling back. We're in no rush, just paddling comfortably. The wind is constantly picking up, and the so is the chop. About 3/4 mile from launch we come out from behind a bluff wall to the main lake, and it's like we got sucker punched. An almost 35 mph west wind hit us in the face. There's literally nowhere close to beach, so we have no choice but to continue on. I watched my wife do the "moon walk" for a solid 5 minutes, where she would paddle forward, but go backwards ?. I paddled over to her and reminded her she needs to paddle correctly if she wants to see land this week, and we started making progress. I couldn't even tell you how long it took us to get back. Felt like half a day. We were so exhausted, we ended up napping right there in our vehicle once we finally got back. I grew up on St Clair in Detroit, so I'm used to that kinda weather just appearing out of nowhere. But being new to kayaking, it scared the hell out of me. I watch the wind pattern the entire week before going out to that lake, now.

For updating software.

You should get your bait monkey checked out, I think he's broken.

I agree. What I mean by "ripping them out" is the fish coming unbuttoned during the fight. I noticed that happening a ton less when I bought my first dedicated crankbait rod. I don't think I've ever actually ripped em out on a hookset