Hook2Jaw

I cast them just fine. The rod is more of a 1oz to 4oz rod, in my opinion.

@Catt, I believe in the DOA and Vudu for the pre-rigged shrimp, but I keep a wide berth on the Livetargets. What I want is more worm styled shrimp imitations that I can rig with a drop shot or worm hook. I use leaders on my spinning setups and my swimbait rod.

@Catt most folks around here use braid to fluoro leaders. I agree though, braid to lure would be a terrible idea with all the jagged, delicious oysters. I've had no problem landing them with straight fluoro or mono. I still have yet to try a copolymer line, but it won't be long. I wish more companies would take Z-Man's initiative and start designing more soft plastics that imitate shrimp.

All our reds on the Georgia coast gravitate towards a lot of oyster shell, but I have landed them on 12# Berkley Vanish Fluorocarbon. Those Vudu Shrimp are a slayer. I've been Texas and Carolina rigging Z-Man Scented Shrimpz with great success. They have that stink of the Gulp, but they last through the trash fish! Also, they're cheaper. I'm finally starting to convert some of my inshore fishing friends to using things besides shrimp on jigheads and paddletail swimbaits from the saltwater aisles, as I believe more R&D goes into our bass baits!

Medium power will be fine, in all honesty, it's what I believe in using the most for redfish and seatrout. You won't need 25 pound line, that's a bit excessive. I use 14-17# fluoro/copoly on my casting outfits and 20# braid to 14-17# fluoro on my spinning rigs. 6'6" will be okay, but you might want a longer rod to add more distance especially considering you're bank bound. I recommend you grab some Egret Baits Vudu Shrimp, some 3/8oz jig heads, and some YUM Pulse Swimbaits.

Whatcha got there, @Catt?

I've been rocking Brent's suggestion. I can bomb a lure a good distance, and typically have minimal brakes set. Overruns are few and far between. So few and far between they're usually from hanging on something behind me during my backcast. I'm talking click on the spool and the dial on 4 with a 1/2oz jerkbait and putting your body into the cast. In the beginning, I set my spool tension to eliminate the side to side play. I then found Brent's method and introduced a small amount of play. Over time, more and more side to side motion has been allowed and I'm pretty happy with the capabilities of my reels at their current settings. Love the braking system. Like @Junger said, you're going to have to slow the spool before the lure slows as it touches the water. If I stick my tongue out to the side and really let one rip, I'll often see the line fluffing in the reel as it begins to backlash. The brakes tend to correct it.

@A-Jay, you'll be happy to know that this past weekend I was able to get the kayak out on open water in the 50 degree Georgia heat. I threw a jerkbait, yo-yo'd a lipless, and even tried for a reaction bite with a chatterbait closer to the bank. When it slowed down, I broke out a shakyhead. When I say it slowed down, I mean I lost a solid off a laydown on the jerkbait. That was the only fish I interacted with for four hours. That's what I get for talking crap about making the sacrifice of enduring winter fishing for you guys. I hope the ice goes away and my fish start biting soon, I threw an S-Waver 168 all afternoon from the bank today for another serving of skunk a la ed.

Glad you joined the Hobie team, @Choporoz! The Hobie Compass will soon be a part of my kayak fleet too, I want one for quick trips and to have a second boat for my lady. After a solid amount of time of constant pedaling, you lose the soreness. I also added a laaaarge amount of muscle to my legs, which will undoubtedly help you load and unload the boat as time goes on.

I believe myself to be a somewhat above base level angler. I've caught some rather nice fish. I've caught numbers of fish, and the days I get skunked get farther and farther apart. I have gained a large amount of skill in the two years I have been bumping the banks either on foot or from my kayak. I do not believe in luck, but do believe in chance and yes, some folks stumble upon chance happenings more often than others. One day, I invited my little brother out and within his first five minutes of fishing in many years I was coaching him through landing an 8 pound toad on light tackle through lily pads on a weightless YUM Dinger and light line. I believe it to be chance that he hooked that fish, but through the knowledge I gave him during the fight he landed the fish. I believe as I add more skill to my current level, I'll be able to have more chances to land trophy bass. It's skill.

@Catt those rosewood handles will ****** her outta there fast. Edit : bassresource won't let me use a synonym for pull nor talk about half my rods.

1. I think lipless is an excellent choice and I like them for covering water as well. I catch quite a few fish with them as well, and they can be fished in so many ways. Excellent choice. 2. I tip mine with a YUM Pulse 3.5, and at times 4.5, as well as YUM Craw Chunks. 3. Any plastic worm will do, I use YUM ribbontails because they're cheap and catch fish. I also use YUM Dingers on a Texas rig, they're a multitask bait for me. 4. I'm happier with a frog and a spook, and they require a similar rod cadence. To each his own. 5. Keitechs do, indeed, catch fish. They're also not too expensive. The YUM Pulses I mentioned will also work on the underspin and the Keitechs make a good trailer as well. Grab some good old standard swimbait jigheads as well as keel-weighted hooks. There's nothing too different about losing some of the flash or getting more weedless when the water calls for it, similar, almost the same technique, but you become more versatile. 6. Jigs, for me, and many others, produce big bites when they're casted. Pitching them to isolated cover produces bass of all sizes. Keep throwing them. You'll become a believer.

As a round reel fan, I can get on board with the Calcutta. The way I palm my reels, I'm holding the rear half and round and lowpros sit just fine. What exactly is the second reel, though? Year? Tell me about that thing.

Looks like Ninja Turtle Green will be the green trout hero of the future, @Catt! As for younger crowd, I ain't but 31, and I can't stand no funky colors on no rod. This is fishing, not a disco ball.

I prefer blacks rods with chrome, white, or gold accents. I like plain jane colors. If my Daiwa Fuego casters weren't such an amazing deal I would have never bought them because they have that tacky red "FUEGO" on the top of them. It matches nothing. I don't like it. I prefer my entire life to look like a black and white TV.

Was taught to fish jerkbaits as a kid in the rivers with more of a power fishing retrieve. Jerk jerk, reeling all the while, jerk, and so on. Recently having good success with 1-5 second pauses beginning this fall. During the jerk, rip, slash, whatever you want to call it, I can feel bites just fine. During the pause, I feel like I'm missing fish with a lot of slack in my line for a true, stationary pause. Recently I've been carefully maintaining my slack with a slow reel/sideways pull to maintain contact when I cannot see my line. My lure is barely inching forward, almost imperceptibly to me. Is that correct? It's been working.

@J Francho, she's beautiful. I've seen the compass handle 2' chop like a champ, and despite the length of 12' they keep up with my PA14 well. The new Outback outruns me, slightly. I don't think I'll be grabbing another PA14 when it's time for a new one, I like the hull of the compass, the price, and the blank slate for upgrading. Planning on getting my fiancee one this year.

@J Francho, been thinking about adding some taco clips to the kayak to hold my net and paddle. What boat are you in? Also, I have that same pair of split ring pliers/cutter. I'm pretty happy with it so far.

I've been using a 1/2oz Booyah Blade Double Willow for general use, varying my retrieve speed from cast to cast, but having most of my success with it slow and near the bottom. It's winter, and makes sense. I've been using a 4 1/2" YUM Pulse as a trailer. What I understand about spinnerbaits is to increase my weight, like any lure, and decrease my speed to access the middle of the column and bottom. I keep colors simple, white in clearer water, chartreuse in dirtier water. I keep my trailer colors close to my spinnerbait, but try not to match to attempt to draw the bite towards the hook. That's about it. What I don't understand about spinnerbaits is when to use one blade rather than two, when to downsize or upside my blade/s. There's some great information so far, but if the spinnerbait masters here could keep coming off information that would be great!

I've never used copolymer before. I'm thinking about trying it to save money on my bottom contact baits, is it as sensitive as fluorocarbon?

Definitely. The dude is amazingly talented.

I've been doing this with a double willow Booyah in 1/2oz with the same length YUM pulse, I'm pretty sure it's a 4.5", though. Was the water not so clear at that particular classic, and why a 1oz around shallow cover? Educate me. I haven't gained as much knowledge as I would like about spinnerbaits yet. As far as the YUM Pulse goes, I have so much faith in that swimbait.

A 1/2oz Booyah Bankroll Jig in Money with a YUM Craw Chunk in Crawfish as a trailer. 10 pounds, 5 ounces. Biggest bass I've ever caught in my life. I'm hoping to beat it this year.

Dink for last bass of the year catchers unite! ?

I got a Daiwa DXSB 8' Heavy today for 109 bucks, and I'm impressed with it. It's throwing a 1.5oz Sebile Magic Swimmer exceptionally well, and I fully believe it will handle 3oz glide baits.