schplurg

Get a respirator In California even the sky comes with a Prop 65 cancer warning. And the water for that matter. Going to the lake tomorrow to test the new Old Town Sportsman PDL. Yeehaw! Shouldn't be any smoke there. Last years fires left a layer of ash on my milk crate after a day. Was a good day of fishing though!

I'm easy. I use a very large empty drink bottle, fill it with water, freeze it, then set it in my yak and drink it as it melts. If it will fit I will put it in a cooler with other stuff. If not it sits at my feet. Lasts all day. Coleman makes a line of coolers that will keep drinks cold in the sun all day no problem. I have a larger one, it's called the "Max" something, MaxCool? I use it camping and it holds ice for a few days for $40. You don't need a Yeti for one day.

[checks calendar] You guys are a bit tardy to this thread!

See a doctor if you are having pain because it will only get worse. I played guitar for many years, then used a computer for many more. I have tendinitis and carpal. Don't mess around.

Nope.

Not all dogs and breeds are made equal and it's best to know that from the start. My friend's Malinois is the best dog ever, but she was a handful at first. We knew a lot about the breed and what to expect though. That's all I'm saying. For instance, German Shephards are almost identical in behavior. Malinois are just as protective but also more aggressive in general. Some are some aren't, it's well known that there are these personality types with the breed though. It's not a bad thing, they aren't Pitbulls. Shephards aren't considered aggressive, Malinois can be. Not out of control, but aggressive. I saw it myself early on and it was eye opening. They are pretty high energy too. This is all well researched and easy to look up. I don't feel she needed professional training, however she needed more training than most people do for their dogs. Most people don't train their dogs too well in my opinion. Like I said they can be trained just fine. I don't really know A-Jay but he seems like a very responsible guy who does things right. My friend's Malinois is like a (good) person - so smart, so well behaved. A great dog that I honestly love more than most people I know.

I don't buy a lot but everything I've needed I order from the nearby BPS for store pickup, or Amazon. Tracking down a kayak locally was a pain. "Locally" means 180 mile drive for the only store with Sportsman PDLs in stock. That's cool, saved me a few hundred in shipping, and I wanted it THIS year. Store owner says the stores gotta get in early on the orders, and they had to order a truckload due to higher shipping costs. Everyone else was backordered for a month or two.

I found a worm once that had seen better days. Kinda cracked and brittle. That sucker had awesome action though because of it. I'll fish a plastic worm until it falls apart or can't be rigged on a hook. Old worms rule!

My creeks are pretty shallow. Cast next to cover, on mats, next to cover, and sometimes next to cover Also deeper areas. Also shaded areas are good. I caught the same fish 3 times in 10 months in the same exact spot. I don't know if they migrate or not. Some probably do.

Tendinitis taught me to fish left and right handed. Jerk baits, heck just about anything can get tiring. Some days I'm fine. I'm working out and getting treatment for the arms, hopefully it helps. And I got a new pedal yak haha

Give me any flimsy piece of plastic and I'll catch a bass with it!

I've creek and pond fished the past couple years. They're all connected. One day one spot produces, another day a different spot produces, some days nothing produces. Caught two of my biggest bass ever out of one pond, same spot. Haven't caught anything since for a long time there. Not a single fish. Spot seems different too, More grass, etc etc. Lotta reeds so extremely limited access. It's not easy here though, but the creek was pretty steady until it dried up recently. Without the creek I'm screwed here, so I bought a better yak and hitting better fisheries. Worth the drive.

I can't always find what I need in stores these days, so I buy extra packs, especially if on sale. I also bought a bunch of cheap crankbaits when Covid started. My board is for extra stuff, like I have 4 packs of green pumpkin YUM Dingers, stuff like that. I'm renting a room for now so it's hard to keep boxes where I can get to them, and not forget where they are. I like seeing it all in front of me. And I'm single so no woman to complain. I like it Might be the first time I actually helped anyone here! My fishing skills are still up and coming.

There ya go! I got 4 inch but they're kind of long. I have a bunch of different types actually, they came with the Home Depot kit. Have fun, I enjoyed organizing my board. I'm not an organized person either. The Home Depot kit has some spacers and screws for hanging, but you can use whatever you want.

Thanks for all the info on this kayak, Koz. It helped me a lot even if I didn't end up buying it (I'm picking up the Old Town Sportsman PDL tomorrow). Other than the rudder issue it seems solid. For the price that pedal drive unit seems very good. Have fun with it!

I have 2 x 4 foot pegboard on a wall with all my bags of plastics, plus extra packaged baits and terminal. I have limited space and want to quickly see what I'm running low on.. You can buy the pegboard for $12 at Home Depot. I ordered the hangers from Amazon, and bought a small pack while I was at HD too. It came with the mounting hardware. Here is a weird photo of part of it (from a Youtube thumbnail)

I'm pretty good during the day. At night, watch out man! But I do find that the more I try to steer my bait at night the more likely I am to cast off target. If I cast relaxed and don't worry about it I'm way better. I usually cast sidearm at night off a dock with a canopy btw, so they can go pretty wild.

My best friend has a Malinois (she's sort of half mine, at least the dog thinks so) and she had it trained professionally for a while. There are a few personality types (some more aggressive), but they can all be trained. I always trained dogs myself but he really did a great job. She was difficult at first. The cops in San Jose told me they call their department Malinois "MalinEvils", so be aware! Very intelligent dog she is like a well behaved perso...scratch that, shes a great dog! I love this dog to death. She's my phone wallpaper. Congrats A-Jay! You will have a loyal and awesome companion!

Tequilla usually exits me well before reaching the lower areas.

Thumbs up!

Intuition = experience, nothing more. No magic, no mystery.

I know, that poor dink. Well I like to keep it honest and show at least some of my mistakes haha That's what happens when you're the first fish caught after a 5 pounder! The person I was talking to was my Dad's friend sitting on the dock. I could have caught it from the dock probably.

I'm tellin ya, the place is great! Caught her when it had just turned completely dark. About 15 minutes after I started. Vid should start playing at the cast that catches her. I need more practice at handling fish in the dark, but she got released safely. I hold her up in the light a few times for a good look. Just shy of my PB.

I took a quick trip to my Dad's to try my paddle yak one more time to make sure I want to upgrade to a pedal one (make sure I want to kayak at all really). Caught a 5 pounder pretty quickly and solved that problem! Should be getting my Old Town Sportsman PDL 106 this week

David's my middle name! I posted "No" above