Smalls

Once in a while you can find the Onyx a/m 24’s (both auto inflate or manual) on sale for less than $80 at academy or Sportsman’s. Well worth the investment. I can fish an entire tournament (kayak, so it has to stay on 100% of the time), and I don’t notice I’m wearing it at all. I often forget to take it off after getting off the water.

Braid, and always braid. Those hooks need some “umph” to get driven home. Even if you’re fishing around sparse cover, the frog is designed to be fished in the thickest crap you can find and still winch em in. Heavy rod, heavy line, and put some back into that hookset.

The US/Can Nav+ option under maps would be a Navionics card? It didn’t make sense earlier, because the card itself is $200, and that option is only $30 with the graph. But it kinda makes sense, now. edit- it is indeed Navionics, and they have a majority of the lakes I fish. J Francho, I appreciate you holding my hand. I’m gonna go ahead and get the 5” with maps.

I did find what lakes are included in C-Maps. 95% of my lakes say “shoreline only”. I’m gonna assume all I get with that is a trace of the lake, no contours or anything else.

Those are two different options so if there’s a 3rd, that just adds to the pile. And if my lakes aren’t in the preprogrammed lakes, I really can’t afford the $150 or whatever it is for the extra card. I can’t seem to figure out any of that info. This is helpful, I didn’t know that. So far, this is the only thing I’ve learned 100% about Lowrance’s terminology. Currently running an 8ah battery. So I might just pick up another (it was only $25) for tournament weekends. The 7x allows you to set waypoints, I just don’t know what it looks like in the screen, and how useful the waypoints are without an actual map. If I see something on the graph, I can mark it, but I don’t really know what I can do from there. I’m coming from a Humminbird Piranha Max, so I’ve done without any mapping or GPS functions whatsoever. Trying to gauge how much of those functions I’ll use if I had them.

Finally decided to upgrade the graph for my kayak. For price vs features, I’ve decided on a Lowrance Hook2. Whichever I choose will have the tripleshot transducer. I’m trying to decide between a 5”, with maps, or the 7x. If I get the 5” with mapping, I don’t understand the difference between “4,000 US lake maps” and “US/Can Nav+”. I know I’m the only one who can decide what my needs are. With that being said, I don’t feel like I ever paddle far enough where I need maps. I study online maps before I go enough to see a cove/dock/point and know exactly where I am. I also live in NM, I can’t imagine their maps of out here being very detailed. Some of our lakes fluctuate 20-50ft or more throughout the year. I would, however, like to be able to drop waypoints. Is the chart plotting on the “x” models enough for me to see a waypoint, and start paddling to it? Basically, if the mapping is more useful to me than I think it is, I can afford the 5”. If it’s a feature I don’t need, I can go up in screen size. No one ever complained about their screen being too big. The last piece of information I’m looking for is power consumption. I know this will vary depending on what features I’m running, but just looking for a general idea, so I can figure out what size battery I’ll need. Tips, guidance, or any other hand-holding for this process would be great

It’s so much worse in an inflatable. But the positive is that they are super easy to anchor. A 10 lb dumbbell on a rope kept me in one place. The nice thing about being so light, though, is that a 24 lb trolling motor whipped me around the lake pretty quick.

My kayak has a sonar pod that everything fits nicely into. But if I didn’t have that, I’d for sure go with the cellblock route. It basically makes your graph/battery/transducer arm one easily removable piece. I’d probably buy a camera bag or something similar to store/carry it while not on the kayak.

My first “boat” was a 10 ft dinghy. I actually really miss that thing. Took less than 15 minutes to set up, including loading it with rods/tackle. Everything including trolling motor fit in my trunk, with space to spare. The only downsides were that a) if I wasn’t anchored, I was at the mercy of the wind and b) with the floor being so low, it made certain presentations a little harder, like walking a frog or pitching. $550 is a great price, too. They can go for thousands over here.

People have been doing this forever. Usually they call it a “finesse Carolina rig”, cause the weights are usually pretty small in comparison.

Nope, unintentionally high-sticked it while trying to grab a fish. Fish slipped out of my hand, and just like that I was in the market for a new rod.

The 360 drive is probably the most impressive thing that came out this year in the kayak world for me. Nothing else really wowed me. The price also wowed me, but it is Hobie.

Ditto. I learned the hard way a few years ago- never wrap braid around my hand. I don’t think I’d trust any glove to protect me. That Senko ain’t worth it.

https://www.flwfishing.com/news/2019-10-10-major-league-fishing-to-acquire-flw Shocked where I got the news, actually. A kayak fishing page, asking about speculation on the KBF/FLW partnership, and whether or not it’ll continue.

Even the slightest wind is going to push you around like it wants yer lunch money. There’s not enough mass to them to keep you planted. And because they’re harder to add accessories to, anchoring is difficult. I know Sea Eagle and Hobie both make good inflatables, that I’ve seen people really like. But they’re also a lot more expensive than the Intex

Storage, comfort, fishability, stability, and ease of modifications/add ons are all pros of the SOT’s. General speed is the only pro I can think of sit inside’s. You’ll have a way more difficult time adding a TM to a sit inside. Pretty easy and straight forward process on a SOT.

It kinda makes sense, but any difference it makes would be negligible. You’d never in a million years see or feel it.

I’ve been waiting on a repair quote for about 2 weeks, now.

I use it, because I hate the palomar knot. I haven’t had any issues with it.

Scratch option 3 off the list. I see so many people buy cheap and crappy kayaks thinking they’re going to modify it into this awesome fishing machine. What happens is that they spend more money than they would’ve on a decent kayak, and their creation is barely if at all better than when they started out.

6th Sense are definitely a good choice. They come stock with some good short shank EWG’s too, so no need to swap em out. If you haven't, I’d swap the hooks on whatever other baits you’re using to short shanks, too. You’ll get hung up a lot less. If I know I’m gonna be around a lot of wood, I’ll take a couple of my daughter’s pony tail rubber bands and put it arothe squarebill so that it holds the front hook against the body. Still get great hook ups, but that hooks not dangling and swaying around to get hung up.

I’d go with the Powell Max, if it were me. There’s been a few times where I thought “this rod should have just snapped in half”, and it’s still going strong.

Which lines from each company where you looking at? I have rods from both companies. I was not a fan of the Powell inferno rods, but I love my max 3D. It’s a lot heavier than my fury 705, but it’s also a 775, 7’7 mag m/h.

It’s a lot easier to spot cover, structure, and other fish attracting spots while standing. I’m probably still sitting 65% of my day on the water, but I’m definitely standing when pin point accuracy is needed.

My right. Palming the bait with my left.