Brad Reid

I'll see if I can get some stats for you. But, here in north and east Texas, paddlers have done really well over the past several years in tournaments. And, I'd say we have more kayak anglers, as many tournament trails as most states. The first two wins this year on one trail were by paddlers. Likely, too, there are just way more pedalers than paddlers and that would have to be adjusted. There can be a whole lot of reasons to want a pedal kayak, not just better fishing. I do agree. I think power vs. manual (feet or arms) is the way to go. Brad

For sure. Having power doesn't preclude one from doing well in comps. I actually own one of these BSB 360s and it'd be rather worthless in comps without a power option. Too slow covering water. But, powered up, or for small lakes, or for fly fishing and other things, it's a great platform!

At least here in Texas, a fair number of kayak tournaments are won by paddlers, not pedalers. Power over pedals over paddling isn't nearly as "stacked" in that order as we thought. "We" includes me in the past. Winning stats notwithstanding, I do think there will be limits as more "boats" like this one qualify for tournaments. If I were in charge, I'd want a manual category and another for "under power." Brad

I caught about a dozen yesterday evening using a very "loose" version of a T-Rig. I was throwing a 4" Grande Bass ribbed worm on an 1/0 very light EWG hook. Owing to the ribs sort of trapping air and making the little worms float a bit in the beginning (surface tension), I add the tiniest of split shots anywhere from just above the hook . . . to 6 or 12" up the leader. So, really a split shot presentation with a traditional T-Rig hook placement in the plastic. The tiny split shot, maybe a tiny bit smaller than 1/8" in diameter? It will assist my fluoro leader descending through the water column and pulling the worm down. No bites on the drop last night so much, maybe one, as they were feeding off the bottom or schooling up at the surface. I chose what I thought would do best using a plastic worm. I view the process as Toxic mentioned. On the cast, I sort of watch my junction knot. I can clearly see the fluoro being pulled under, my braid still afloat. My attention is "out there" while the worm makes its way to the bottom. Once it hits the bottom, I take most of any remaining slack out of my line, drop my rod top so that the braid is floating near me (kayak) and wait for it to twitch. For sure, there are occasions a bass does something goofy that gives off a hard read, but 95% of the time, if they inhale the bait, say it moves 4" very fast, it will transmit up the line and you can't miss it. It is very distinctive. Using a traditional bullet weight on a true T-Rig, the weight gives a different kind of feed back. But, I am much less likely to get hung up using the tiny split shot method. And, I want to see if they are biting on the way down so I prefer a slower drop than a T-Rig with a heavier nose weight. One of a dozen or so bass I caught near the 2495 bridge on Lake Athens. Most were in the 2 lbs. range, nothing very large. Brad

Todd2 has it correct. I tell people to think of the line coming off a line spool this way: For a casting reel, it comes off like an overhanded pitch in baseball; For a spinning reel, you pull the line off the line spool as if it is an underhanded "softball" pitch. It orients the bias on a spooled line correctly for each version, easy to remember. You know, the bias that, for example, a garden hose keeps . . . forever. Well, that said, you may still hate fluorocarbon as a main line even if you get it spooled on correctly. I'd say well over 50% do. And, I wanted to add that line conditioners might not work for pure fluorocarbon lines since they are relatively molecularly impervious to penetration. For example, they don't soak up water as monofilament lines do. My guess is these conditioners just coat the outside of fluorocarbon lines . . . but I don't know if a coating helps performance issues with fluoro or not. Me? Braid to fluoro leaders. Brad

Take a hard look at the Reign Rods which are essentially St. Croix rod blanks as best I can tell and seem to have similar componentry. I have 6 or 7 St. Croix rods, two Reigns . . . and I can't really tell much, if any difference. $70 or so as I recall. Brad

Alex, I see you have a photo to go by that shows a rather standard sized battery will fit in the open bow area. An S-15, of course has the square stern and it is ready to accept a TM . . . just bolt it on and away you go. What I did to balance my canoe is I extended the wires on my TM so that I can run the TM off the stern, then keep my 55 lbs. battery much farther forward. And, I have a third bench installed from the factory so I sit sort of in the middle of my canoe. I must say that my S-15 paddles very well, faster than my old Jackson Big Rig. This, though, only if out in no to low winds. If it is windy, because of a canoe's high profile, it is tougher. There are tactics, of course, to cut through heavy winds. And, I use a 280cm Bending Branches double bladed paddle and it works great. Show us some photos when you get it rigged up! Cheers! Brad

I found a little video showing the fins and how they are positioned when all the way down as they pass each other. So, I think if they were "fixed" in that position, that if you rocked a Hobie, starboard to port, or vice versa, the two fins (again, if locked into position) would encounter water resistance. Any resistance they absorb takes away from a kayak's left-right or right-left wiggle. Agreed though that it could be negligible. I take your word that it is, for sure.

Sorry for the delay. Out and about still. Yes, a PS56MF in the Premier series. Just so great for a kayak anger . . . so great!!! Brad

Just a note to all Hobie kayakers (with drives) that your standing stability will be enhanced if your fins are down, not tucked up. This assumes, and I don't own a Hobie to take a look, that the fin blades are positioned as would be a keel. It'll add just a bit of water resistance to a kayak's left/right wiggle. Brad

I bought one of each last Christmas when they ran a little special, a spinning and a casting rod. They both came as combos with reels. Well, I like them just fine and, as best I can tell, these Reign rods use the same St. Croix SCII graphite as many lower or mid price range St. Croix rods. For someone looking for a rod in this price range, I think you will find them among the better options out there. My guess? St. Croix is trying to penetrate a very lucrative segment of the market (budget rods), is branding rods for exposure here, primarily in name only as these rods' componentry is largely the same as their St. Croix lower cost rods. Just shows the mark up in rods is large enough, that they are selling some here for less profit margin. Sounds like a good business decision to me. Brad

I'm almost exclusively a kayak and canoe angler, use a St. Croix 5'6" M powered rod every time I go out. Advantages? 1) short casting accuracy, 2) fishing under overhanging trees/low bridges, 3) Power (short lever) over big bass, 4) no rod butt in the belly while seated. I could go on and on. Its advantages are just so extreme for the short work we do with finesse applications from kayaks. I am not a home to look, but I think I had to go to a St. Croix 6 footer to get an MH power. It is also a wonderful option. Brad

I just don't fish the middle of the days any more over the summer months, not here in Texas. I have been getting out around 5:30 PM and fishing into the dusk hours, last light. Or, still on occasion in the AM but less so these days. Sun protection: I use sun block on my hands, my upper face area; I have a hat with that "drape" thingy on the back that keeps sun off my neck; I wear long pants and long sleeved shirts; and, I grew a beard and that pretty much keeps my neck and face a bit protected. Brad

From a kayak or canoe, many boats too, for most presentations a relatively shorter rod is the answer. My favorite rod I talk about all the time is a 5'6" M powered spinning rod for finesse. I never leave home without it. But, for power presentations and certainly from an open bank, or making long casts parallel to the edge of grass, a long casting rod will simply put your presentation in front of more fish. Open water casting, too. We'll know soon enough I suspect. Now that longer rods are permissible in some tournaments? If someone like KVD ever gets dialed in with a 9'6" rod, the rest of the competitors will be competing for 2nd place. A power angler will cover more water, also be able to work diving lures deeper. Brad

A Keitech Shad Impact (soft jerk bait) or Easy Shiner (paddle tail shad) allowed to fall down through the water column, then fished off the bottom with just the slowest of retrievals or ever-so-slightly twitching it or full-on dead-sticking it? I have better results with this often times than I do fishing a rather stationary T-Rigged worm. Gosh, we got into them late yesterday afternoon at the 2495 bridge on Lake Athens. Me, 4 other kayaker frineds, two boats pulled in lots of bass. Most all of us were fishing like this off the bottom. Brad

I'd take a hard look at the Native 12XC for both standing considerations and fishing streams. Some of its built-ins include: a dedicated chain anchor chute, adjustable seat height, retractable skeg, under-seat storage, and vertical and horizontal rod storage. This paddle kayak is ready to fish. Too many kayaks, both pedal and paddle types, need hundreds of dollars of after-purchase add-ons to make them fit for fishing. Others? Grab a few rods and a few Plano boxes and hit the water. This one is like that. Brad

Well, not certain what you'd anchor these to on your boat deck, but I find these rubberized wire gear ties to be indispensable and good for about a thousand uses . . . and still counting. What is great about them is just a single twist does the trick for most applications; so, they make for a super fast release, too. I usually have a few just hanging off my kayak's seat to grab if I want to secure something very quickly. They come in different lengths. If not for your purpose, great to have around a boat. Brad

I just get so much better hook ups with straight shanks over offsets and EWGs. The hook point is positioned perfectly to come bounding out of the plastic for a great set. One to consider would be the Roboworm Rebarb hook in a 4/0. I mention the size because these hooks seem a bit on the small side to me . . . so go big for most worm fishing. If you go to the Roboworm website, you will see that this hook comes in two different wires sizes: a medium and a light wire. Too, for really small hooks, they may an Aberdeen style hook in a #2 and #4. Too, though slightly different, I believe Owner and Gamakatsu both have really good versions of this sort of hook. But, I really, really like the keeper on the Rebarb hooks. For a weight, I'd be inclined to just pinch on a light split sinker. Brad

I believe the OP is or was tying a Uni knot. It is my primary knot so I think I am recognizing it correctly. If I tie my terminal tackle on to straight braid, after I form my the knot, with braid I have to pull it down to form the knot . . . slowly. Braid of any sort doesn't hold form all that well being so loose, so by pulling the main line from both ends and the tag end, it sort of gets pulled back into the proper barrel rolls "look." With mono or fluoro, I can just pull away to set the knot, slide it up tight. Not so with braid, at least not to the same degree. I have seen messes like this with braid and a uni knot. Made one or two myself!!! Mea culpa. What I see on the braid, itself, is what appears to be a very loose braidings. Weird. It sure looks good on the spool, looks like a totally different line in the user's photo. What could account for loose or elongated braidings way up the line, well away from any area sensitive to fraying. Very intersting. TW will solve the issue, but we likely will never know the 'why' behind it. Brad

My big fish vs. small fish theories have melded into sort of an overall thought comprising a few ideas. One is that smaller fish are more energetic. You throw something at them, they simply react faster. So, around a fishy spot, maybe there are half dozen 2 pounders, one 5 pounder. I'm betting the big girl just doesn't react as fast, especially in open water, especially on smaller presentations. So, we catch the smaller fish more often because the big one didn't get a chance to bite our presentation. And, bigger bass might have gotten that way by being just naturally more shy. If you take a litter of six 4 week old puppies, sit down on the ground to engage them, 2 will be licking your face, 2 in your lap, and one or two skulking and rather shy keeping more distance from you than the others. Could be some bass are wired just a bit different, helps them live longer lives resulting in more size. Funny thing that the size we like to fish for often defines what we fish for. If an angler really likes a whole lot of activity, he or she might be more inclined to target white bass, crappie or other panfish. An angler who cares not a whit about numbers might be one casting those really large swimbaits, sacrifices numbers for that one big fish. Like most, I waver back and forth a bit. Sometimes, I want the bites; at other times, I use presentations to target larger fish. Brad

The easiest thing to do? Just raise the official weight to score a bass from 1 pound to 2 pounds. Something like that. Brad

Ah! Squid, of course. Thanks for the correction. I might take one out this afternoon, give it a go! Brad

Gosh, I had "one of those special days" with a Fat Ika on a private lake in Oklahoma back in 2015, will never forget it, but have never been able to reproduce the results, not at that level, since. Still I try. Like several others here, I'd also place them in the above average durability category. I'd say as Yamamoto plastics go, they are priced pretty average. There is just a whole lot more plastic to them so more material cost. Thoughts: 1) Pronounced "eee-ka" for anyone just curious, not "eye-ka." I think I recall it means "whale" in Japanese. 2) Getting the hook figured out correctly is a very big deal because these little fatties are so dense that it seems harder for the hook to fly out of its plastic to snag a fish. *I once had a very long fight with a large bass, lost him after a long struggle, even a jump or two, only to find out my hook point had never been exposed, still skin-hooked. That danged bass was fighting me just biting down on it and holding on. 3) Fat Ikas cast a mile. For you guys claiming you'd cast a heavy sinker at another encroaching boater getting too close? Using a Fat Ika would be like shooting them with a rubber bullet. Ha! (kidding, not recommended). Finally, I have a feeling a Fat Ika could be slightly modified with a razor blade to make the hook set work better. Fat Ikas likely deserve a whole thread all to themselves. Secrets to share I bet! Brad

Thanks! Note, too, that none other than the great Hank Parker has been promoting a pistol grip casting rod on his TV fishing show. Hank grew up with these and so did I. We are both the same age as I recall and they were popular years ago. Hank can cast his short rod into places that are hard to hit with a longer rod. I think he pulled in a 7 pounder on one of his shows. Yes, go get a 10 ft. rod, make it a stiff one, and have a ball catching one pound bass that feel like double digit monsters. Or, heck, if you aren't using the rod to make long casts? Go short. Brad