schplurg

I did this yesterday. No bites, but from my spot I could see the freeway jam packed with slow moving cars. I said out loud, "Man I'd rather be here snagging baits than sitting on that hot freeway."

So what? I remove swearing and try and set good examples in my little videos. That's all I need to concern myself with. If some do not - pffft I couldn't care less. People are too worried about what everyone else is doing these days.

Caught my second biggest bass ever last week - 4.75 lb with a $1.97 Walmart crank bait. My PB is 5.25 a month earlier from the same spot on the bank. Used a Zoom Super Fluke there which is actually pretty cheap too. Been seriously bass fishing for two months but been learning about it for about nine. I out-fish my friend and I believe it's because of my watching videos on bass behavior and fishing in general here at BR as well as Tactical Bassin and a bunch of others. He's been fishing his whole life but I learn fast. Knowledge is power

I totally plan on that, that's great advice. I want to make sure I can flip it back over and crawl back onto it. I'm gonna walk, dance and flip around on that thing and see what it can do.

Caught my PB (so far - 5.25#) on a white Zoom Super Fluke 4 weeks ago. Caught a 4.75# yesterday with a Walmart/Ozark Trails crank bait. Yellow with chrome in the side. I do well with a popper. Any popper. I think a turd with hooks would work if it's the right size. I'm cheap so I do a lot of BPS/XPS baits and more recently Walmart ones. They're near the same quality. Caught a lot of bass the past few weeks on several colors of Walmart cranks. The 4.75 pounder didn't bend the hooks and I had to lift her to shore a few feet. So Zoom Super Fluke has been a go to for awhile, and cheap-ass cranks are a new one.

Here is my crate. Used black PVC for the rod holders and painted them after routing out the slot and flaring them. Lid is some plastic stuff I found at the shop, and I made a latch to keep it closed out of some stuff that's like StarBoard. I made a jig for the slot routing. Two pieces of wood clamped down with the PVC in between. Then another taller board for the "fence" to keep the cut straight, like a table saw fence. Flare is just heat the end of the PVC over a heat source then press it over a wine bottle. The frame for it is again like StarBoard. HDPE. $25 in the store or $6 for a homemade 3 rod holder just like it Scupper plugs The yak. I've done work since this. It is nice having a large cabinet shop on the property that I'm free to use

That all makes sense. Thank you so much for all the help. I'm thinking I could go with a 35ah. 55 probably max. Like you said you gotta lift it Good point. I see how the footpedals could be moved closer. Maybe when I buy the aluminum slider gizmo I could just mount it closer. Awesome!!!

These people do not care about the fisheries, they just bring a bucket so they can feed themselves and their families. Some use strings of treble hooks to snag them off beds. We've all seen 'em and we can spot 'em a mile away. So can the authorities. People that do this and litter are not fishermen or anglers, they are 100% douchebags (or pick your favorite term).

I had a nice long answer typed out complete with some math, but my internet sucks right now and it disappeared. Probably a good idea to do some math and figure this out Ride 115 weight capacity 500# supposedly. Don't want to even get close to that. So I'm 185. 10 Crate with 4 Plano boxes and 3 rod holders 6 three rods. Guess probably high. 5 small backpack with extra stuff, scale etc. Weighed it. 8 gallon of water. That's more than I bring so I'll include a couple possible beers/drinks in that weight. My water starts frozen solid so I take no additional ice. 3 food, overestimate 14 seat. 2 paddle 233 lbs so far without a motor. Still less than the average American fisherman probably 15 Minn Kota 30 38 55ah Battery I have in Amazon shopping cart. Still shopping, this weight could change either direction. 10 motor mount, cables, PWM, switches. I'm at a little less than 300 pounds now. When I stand, by shaky I mean that it rocks slightly left or right, like keeping it perfectly centered is hard because it's like trying to keep it on a fulcrum point. That's how it feels to me. It would be easier maybe to just keep it tilted ever so slightly left or right. I don't feel like it will tip by any means. Me falling out is a different story Sitting is perfect. I can crawl around and it's great. I never feel it really lean at all. Putting a battery in the hull may help. The motor will counter that though probably especially when it's up. I actually feel like if I had more weight in the yak it would be more stable as the sides wouldn't dip as much when standing. I could be full of crap there though haha! So, I'm 233 with no motor and 300 with one. Something to think about, but I think I'm okay with that. Most items are tethered - my crate, seat, rods when not in use. Crate latches shut. Battery under the deck. I'm prepared for a capsize. I guess I could throw another 70 pounds in it and see how it feels. I'm glad you brought this up, it is definitely something I should check out. I mainly want the motor for travel to and from any fishing spot that's far from launch (tendinitis) and for maneuvering sometimes while fishing. So I don't need a 100ah battery probably, maybe less than the 55 even. @Smalls I made a flat solid lid to keep a little sun off the stuff inside. I saw the lids made with milk crates but it wouldn't open with my rods behind it, plus I didn't wanna buy another crate I'd rather have a solid box but I did this temporarily. If I find I need a small boat instead of this yak, very possible, I can sell the yak and seat for more than I paid for it, so that helps too. Can use the motor in a small aluminum boat if it comes to that, but so far I love yak fishing. Thank you very much for the advice on weight, Fishingmickey, it's good food for thought.

Any brand of popper. I don't find one works (gets strikes) any better than the rest. I only have one year experience but I've caught most topwater with Bass Pro Shops branded poppers. I even got a few on a Walmart popper. I think if I got a small tree twig and put hooks on it I'd catch a topwater bass. I don't care much what color they are either, though I'm going to experiment some time with that.

That's how I do it. Lot of pauses. I've rewatched my videos. Sometimes it seems like they miss it deliberately, like maybe they saw at the last second that it isn't something they want to eat. I've seen fish seemingly "miss" it by several feet.

Poachers remove far more fish from some of my local waters than all gut hooks combined - my guess. Maybe you could ask to meet his parents. That is if you want to continue teaching him.

As others have said, this site has so much info. I especially like the videos. I've barely fished a year and I'm catching them better than my friend who has fished - though not much for bass - for decades. I've watched most of the vids here and many more on Youtube. Hundreds. I think I know where to find them better because of all the help I got on the internet. I am totally addicted to this so I spent a lot of time learning everything I could. I'd say learning to bass fish is actually easier these days due to the availability of information at your fingertips. There is no substitute for time on the water, but learning bass behavior and the basics of where, when and why they go where they do can be learned at home as well. Take that knowledge and apply it on the water. You don't need expensive gear. My first rod/reel was a Bass Pro Shops $25 dollar thing. I still have it. It has caught me 5 lb stripers, and many bass. Was my only rod for 9 months. I use cheap baits, even Walmart stuff. They catch fish! I have some brand name stuff too. tl;dr Learn bass behavior and watch at least 300 videos. Glenn here at BassResource will teach you a lot. Learn the Texas Rig, get some rubber worms, some flukes maybe, and get a few crank baits and go for it. I like the little grub spinners at Walmart too for tough times.

I come here to get away from political forums! I WANT to be checked for my license, and where appropriate, barbless hooks, because I paid d**n good money for this license and follow all the rules and there a lot of poachers and a-holes in some areas I fish. I want them to get caught. People without licenses, people not using barbless, using live bait, taking home too many fish. And people littering, my biggest gripe of all. These people flee when DFG show up but they know who they are and they do get ticketed. I talk to them when they check me and they are very candid about who is doing what, and I tell them whatever I can to help these people get nailed. F 'em. Yes, check my license every day, please. Cost me $60 for two rods. I fished with a guy who got caught without his license two years in a row by the same sheriff at the same bank of the delta. He said the sheriff recognized him and it was deja vu all over again. Dummy. I didn't know he had no license.

Very cool! A few more questions if you don't mind When you're not using the motor do you find it easy enough to paddle with the foot pedals loose? Can they be locked into place? Any battery recommendations? I'm not made of money - seems like 100ah would be the way to go if I can afford it. The again that may be more than I need. I'd like to spend all day on the water, maybe move higher speed from the ramp to the fishing areas, and use the motor sparingly or slowly while I fish. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K898AT6/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_6?smid=A33N703ELCFX8U&psc=1 This one is 55ah which may be enough. Not sure it's the best type of battery or a good brand. My plan right now is to control the motor/PWM with my feet. I can rig up a way to do that. I've seen that guys PWM setups and I can modify it with footpedals and switches or something. I think I want to put the battery in the front hatch for weight. My Ride 115 is setup to accept a rudder and controls easily enough. I'm actually not sure I can reach the pedals well enough to steer though (I'm 5' 10"+) - they are at the maximum front position and if I move my seat too far forward I lose stand-up space. I don't stand much yet though, it seems shakier than I'd anticipated (first kayak, taken it out 3 days now). Shorter arms is a good idea and may help with any reach issues. Thank you very much for your help!

Aha! Great photo! Thank you very much for providing that. So you just hack off part of the mount then. Can do! Can the motor be easily removed for storage or transport? Maybe it doesn't need to be. Thank you!

Cool thanks. I plan on using a PWM too and design a foot controller for hands free use. So the mount part is sawed off okay thanks. Not sure how it's attached to the plate. I may go with a more "traditional" mount - well one that has a vertical piece for clamping the motor. Not sure yet. What I don't want are those 2x4 mounts that people stick in their rod holders. I want the motor in the back and I'd like a nice look. I've heard of people shortening the shaft, maybe I'll do that too. Thanks guys for the replies.

What I'm wondering is where is the part with the two hold-down butterfly bolts? They appear to be inside the boat hull, though I'm guessing that part is actually part of the mount and the bracket that came with the motor was removed. I hope that makes more sense. Here is a link to the image - I am having trouble seeing it in this post.

I've looked for a photo showing how it works and can't find anything. Specifically, where is the rest of the mount that comes with the motor - the hold down hardware? It appears to be buried inside the hull but I doubt that is the case. Does this mounting plate come with a "sawed off" version of the actual motor mount built onto it? I see many photos of the mount but not how it works. I am going to make my own mount. Another photo on a Ride 115, same as my yak. I can only assume that the mount is to be removed from the motor and discarded and that this mount has its own altered version on it:

I came close to buying one too and heard the same about the seat and plastic. There are easy ways to fix it if you are just a little bit handy. It also may be more of a problem with overweight folk than with more normal sized people. I don't know how many times I see a guy talking about how unstable or weak his plastic kayak is under his 300 pound body. In the end I waited longer than I wanted too and found one on CraigsList - a WS Ride 115 for 500, with an AirPro max seat, I'm glad I was patient. Great deal!

My wrist hurt bad enough a few times that I tried fishing my spinning rod that way, the one with this reel on it. Tendinitis. It didn't really work. I ended up switching to lefty. One thing about this reel - I've showed it to many people and they don't mind this color of pink so much. I mean it isn't hot pink it's more like a salmon. Nobody has ever commented on the color. My friend that gave me a hard time about it at first has been fishing 40 years and so far my one-year of experience is out-fishing him every time, with this reel I should buy him one haha! I actually find this reel to be very light, but that's probably due to my limited experience. My BPS combo setup is like a brick compared to this, and with my tendinitis I can fish so much longer with this pink one. Could be the rod too. Mine arrives tomorrow, can't wait! I'll have 3 decent rods to use instead of 2.

I'm wondering if I should buy the 40 as well as the 35 I already got. I don't have a rod for it yet but that's fine.

I think you covered all watercraft when you said "boaters" ;) Canoes, kayaks, the Titanic - boats.

The Lady President is on clearance again at Pflueger's website!!! $21 for the 35 $30 for the 40 I've learned a lot from this site and thought I'd return the favor. It is a great reel and I use it several days a week. I picked up another 35 for myself. I saw it on clearance a few weeks ago but it was for $39 I think, so I kept a browser tab open and refreshed that page every few days. Sure enough, it went down to $21 again Link to page: http://www.pfluegerfishing.com/pflueger-reels-spinning-reels/pflueger-lady-president-spinning-reel/1363902.html#start=4 It's an insanely good deal if you can handle the color. If not maybe you know someone who can. It isn't that pink either. I caught my PB on it a few weeks ago - 5.25 lb so I don't care what color it is! I have zero complaints about it.

I ordered this paddle, not fiberglass but it's lighter than the fiberglasses I could afford. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06W9M3NMC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I wanted the 160 cm which limited my choices. See if I like it. I will probably cover the hook retrieval notch, maybe not. I hear they tend to pull up grass. Blades are bigger than the cheaper model I had selected. For distance I will use the trolling motor a lot anyways. Tendinitis and all that. I wanted an enclosed crate but went with a milk crate for now. Making my own 3-rod holder set with black PVC pipe and some hard plastic material I found that handles like wood. I don't know what it is right now. Painting it all. That was my project last night and I should be done today.