Alex from GA

I bring home an Alabama Bass, 15 or 16", every couple of weeks to eat fresh. My wife usually sautees it in butter with Lawrys and pepper. She usually serves it on rice with a vegetable.

usually 2 and 2, sometimes 3 forward 1 behind.

I just did as MickD said last week. I ran over the rod with the trailer when it fell out of my boat and crushed the handle between the butt and the reel seat. The reel was toast. It worked fine until last week when I set the hook on a fish and it split more and flexed a bunch. I removed the butt cap, measured a broken rod for a fit and epoxied it inside the blank. Installed a new cap and have a working rod again.

I used to wear a fly vest in my kayak to fish shallow rivers and that held more than enough tackle. I wear a PFD with pockets now and I'm a minimalist so don't carry much anyway. Roland Martin had a show a few years ago with him in a float tube and catching big bass.

I watched my buddy land a 7+ standing in an Ocean Kayak Caper. I first met him going down a class 1+ standing and thought he's nuts.

Make sure your lower unit doesn't have any water and is tilted all the way down. In fact you can drain it and leave the plug out.

Now that's funny.

Here are a couple from yesterday. Spoon and a worm.

I thought I was well enough to go fishing; had a shoulder replacement. Launched the boat and threw @ a blowdown and caught a 12" Alabama Bass. Had to go to the Drs so I quit that day. The next day I tried it again and caught 2 Alabamas in about 2 hours and couldn't cast anymore because of the pain. Took a few days off and tried again this time casting with my left hand. Caught a LM, 2 Alabamas and a cannel cat last evening. Missed a couple more because of my hookset with my left hand. BTW I did catch 3 trees and a boat dock also, need more practice with my left hand. I did learn to wipe my butt left handed.

I live in the south and can't fish in the heat on a lake but rivers are different. The water is about 15* cooler and if I'm too hot I get out of the kayak and dunk myself. In the summer I'll go out @ dawn and quit when I get hot, usually about 11. About December I go to central FL and usually stay until April. BTW I'm retired.

I finally got to fish for 10 minutes yesterday again after under going shoulder replacement early June. After I finish this I'm going until dark. Usually fish at least 4 times a week.

Floating down rivers in the kayak 6-10 hours. Like most of the older guys my days have gotten shorter with age. In the boat 4-6 hours now.

Cast to open water the first cast so I don't catch a fish.

A neighbor took me to the Santa Monica pier when I was 6. I read magazines, mostly Outdoor Life, and learned from them. Joe Brooks was my hero. @ 10 my folks signed me up for fly fishing lessons @ a local park and bought me a rod, reel and a Ned Grey fly tying kit. @ 13 a friend from my dad's office took me yellowtail fishing on a charter boat out of San Diego.

I'm near Inverness and there from December through winter. Harris chain is OK.

I learned how to fight a fish by catching bonito in the Redondo Beach Harbor in the 50s. I started with 8 lb Stren switched to 6 when that got to easy and ended with 4. If the fish didn't wrap in an anchor line it wasn't hard to land them. Tried 2 lb line and failed every time. Caught my biggest striper on a worm and 6 lb line in Lake Lanier, GA while bass fishing. 24-12. When I'm in FL around lots of grass and pads flipping I use 60 lb braid and a heavy rod to get them out and keep em coming. Like Tom said salt water fish are much tougher and fight much longer than any bass.

I think the OP is talking about a tire changing jack. A scissor jack with a long handle is the smallest and lightest to carry and they get very low if needed.

I'm around them when I'm in FL and haven't had any problem. When they see you they either go down or swim away. I did have to nudge one with my paddle one time in my kayak.

The way I do it is put in 3 gallons of gas, put in 8 oz of oil, put in 3 more gallons then 8 oz of oil and so on until it's full. I'll jerk the boat a few times to be sure it's mixed.

For a couple of years before covid I went with a biologist from UGA to tag Shoal Bass on the Chattahoochee River. A shock boat couldn't get there so we used kayaks. There were usually several of us to catch fish and bring them to him to fin clip tag and record. We usually caught some tagged fish from previous taggings. I forgot how many we tagged but it was several hundred before covid hit in February.

Hitting something is when I get bad "professional over rides".

I've caught all 8 species of black bass in GA several times, a swordfish on the top in CA, bonefish flyfishing at Ascension Bay and salmon in the Pacific NW. Never caught a bass over 6-11 which is my goal. Maybe next winter.

Caught a 6-0 @ Lake Castaic in a tournament in 1980, 40 years old. Next was a 6-10 @ Lake Lanier about 6 years ago on a worm. Largest was in 2020, 6-11 in FL on a buzzbait, 79 years old.

A few years ago @ a ramp a guy just came in and said his boat was scaring the crap out of him. It just stood up and wouldn't plane. I asked if he gave it full throttle and he said he was too scared to. I explained that's the way to get it to plane. It was a tiller motor so I adjusted the tilt to the lowest peg and he tried it and he asked if I wanted to buy it. It hauled butt. Some people need instruction BEFORE they try new things.

If you fish where I do there's a good chance you'll get dragged into a hornet's nest eventually. I use a 2' section of 3/8s chain through the front handle of my kayak with a clam cleat to secure the rope. I think I've only lost a couple of fish to the anchor line and have caught hundreds of fish in the kayak.