CountryboyinDC

I use what they call wallets or binders. These are also where I keep my wire baits (buzzbzits and spinnerbaits), although I bought another system for spinner baits I'll try this season. I now have a couple of them. https://mustad-fishing.com/product/mb022?color=Gray%2FBlue&size=N%2FA&quantity=1 PCS https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-tackle-binder-or-replacement-pages The one from BPS is different from the one I have, but I guess they discontinued that one. It has zippered closure and quite a few pockets built into the shell, but this one looks as though it would accomplish the same thing for storing soft plastics. I actually leave the baits in their packages, including the clam shell (Keitechs, Rage baits), but the binder gets thick in a hurry.

It took me a second to track that down - 'Nomadland' is the movie I found. But the fact that Amazon facilitates people that live in their campers to come work in its fulfillment centers is indeed real. It was an answer to an impossible question of how to get an exponent more workforce for a relatively short period of time, and this proved to be an available untapped workforce.

I think it may be 2021, though.

I think you must be talking about the way Amazon temporarily sources employees. I honestly can't remember exactly where I learned about that, but I'd imagine it was in some management/leadership training I had to take.

I'll definitely look into that. Thanks so much!

Holds true for any federal employee hired under Title 5 or practically any other appointment authority. For every veteran in the civil service that I've seen this statement ring true, I can point to 10 non-veteran federal employees that it rings equally true. I'm not trying to derail this thread. I hope you can find some employees @Koz. You might need to get creative in your sourcing. Amazon hires retirees that live in RVs during the holiday season. Sometimes the answer is far from obvious.

Thanks @Bird. I have been camping several times over at Swallow Falls, and have been to Deep Creek Lake a couple times. I've never been to Randolph Jennings. I will have to try that next time we do a camping trip up there. I guess I'll just have to take the kayak, and worst case scenario, it just stays on the car.

I'm going to be with my family on a spring break get away to Davis, WV, and I see about the closest place to fish is Mount Storm Reservoir. The one thread I found on here was about some miserable windy conditions on this lake that's at over 3k' elevation. I was thinking of throwing the kayak on top of the car and maybe trying it out, but I really can't see me fishing 30 mph winds if that's the norm up that way. If anyone fishes this lake regularly, I'd be glad to hear your thoughts on it.

Small problems. I'm definitely not torn up about it. I'll live vicariously through the people on the forum that were on the ball and placed their orders before the first incredibly boring virtual meeting of the day. Yeah, I see that too. Maybe that's the ticket. Thanks.

It weighs a ton, even more than a Hobie PA, I'm guessing over 200 lbs. (with seat, drive, rigging) for the one that I helped a guy load in his truck. It is pretty slow, and if you try to go fast, you get cavitation. And with the stock rudder, it is slow turning, like the Jackson pedal drives (Boonedox makes a rudder upgrade). But it is massive, and the stability is massive. Not my cup of tea, but it was neat to stand in the tankwell, one foot on the gunwale, and other silly antics that I can't do on other kayaks due to me being less nimble than I was a decade and a half ago. I think as a boat it accomplishes what it intends to accomplish, which is to be as close to a bass boat as you can get with a pedal drive kayak.

You called it!

I ordered one through FishUSA, which went through, but then got this message. Which is okay, I just got caught up in the frenzy of this new rod (and I really do want to try it) and bought another ~7' MH/F casting. I've already got several in the attic. I do want to see if it's a worthy successor to the Avid. Definitely lighter, although @.ghoti.'s write up suggested that it fishes lighter too.

Everyone must decide if Hobie is worth the price, and evidently the answer is yes to a lot of consumers. In recent years there have been several price increases within a single year. If stability is the only goal, Hobie is not the king of the boats I've paddled/pedaled. The Native Titan is. And I haven't even seen a Big Rig HD in the water, but the paddle version was quite stable, and I believe it's now grown a couple of inches wider. Another boat, not really a kayak (but if we're being stickers, neither are any sit on top kayaks), but allegedly more easily transported than the monster fishing kayaks we have today are the Blue Sky boats. The Hobie drive allows more efficiency out of the pedal kayaker's legs than do the propeller pedal drives. It can be used in water shallower than mine (Old Town PDL), perhaps more than any propeller drive. The Jackson one has an low draft mode, but I've never done a side-by-side comparison. But the 180 drive, their top of the line until a couple of years ago, had one drawback. You had to pull a cable to go from forward to reverse. Sounds minimal, but when you are trying to hold in a spot without putting down your rod, it's significant. I witnessed this prior to buying my pedal drive. The Hobie guys and gals fished with their paddles in their laps just like us paddle guys and gals, and the Native/Old Town folks had their paddle stowed and only 1 hand on the rudder while fishing. For me, it made my decision, and while I could have purchased my kayak (Old Town Predator PDL) or the Hobie Outback for the same price at the time, I chose the OT. Those were the 2 I was most considering at the time. Now Hobie has the 360 drive Pro Angler. It's better from a performance/angling perspective in every way to any other kayak on the market, bearing the weight concern. It's $5k and whatever sales tax you end up spending, plus PAs have special rails, fixtures, etc. which means that owners typically spend a good bit more to outfit. It has a great seat too, and all these nice little features like a place for a couple of tackle boxes built into the deck.

That's how I aspire to live life. For me, work and family commitment, actually a bunch of other commitments keep me from fishing. Don't get me wrong, I'm not prioritizing fishing over family, church, etc. But I do have a bunch of time off hours, and I'm using it so I don't miss the 'roaring 40s', shad run, or anything else I missed last year.

Even though the Chronarch's spool diameter is greater, they make a slightly slower retrieve reel (the 6:1). It's still not as slow as I wish it were, and at the end of the cast, might not be any slower than the Curado 70. I honestly don't like the 'plasticy' feeling of the Chronarch, but I've got it and it'll probably stay on the rod it's on for a long time. If I were doing it again, I'd get some of these tackle enthusiast we have on here help me get a low gear set that fits the Curado 70. I don't have the MGL version, but I really like the 2 little reels I have.

The Coosa. HD may be a good boat for you, then. I guess it depends on where you paddle. If you were around, say Maryville, the maneuverability might come in handy. And since you're on smaller lakes the lack of glide that you might find in a sleeker boat might not be missed. Another benefit of the Coosa HD on these shallow, rocky rivers is the relatively flat bottom. The Bonafides, Old Towns, and others I've tried have some form of pontoon built into the hull design. This gives them superior primary stability over the Coosa HD. But especially with the Bonafides, they have some relatively sharp angles built into those 'pontoons'. I'm sure that over time (maybe a lot of time) this would be an unintentional wear point. A pedal drive may not be all that beneficial, but if you were thinking of one, the Coosa FD that @bulldog1935mentioned might be interesting, as would an Old Town Topwater. The Coosa FD has a pedal drive that allows it to be used in relatively shallow water, and the Old Towns' pedal drives can be taken out and replaced with a 'plug'. I rarely do that with my OT Predator PDL, but if someone wants to hit the river and doesn't have a kayak, it's an option for me. If that Coosa HD is still available, better get to it soon. It looks like a repeat of next year. No inventory anywhere.

The Heritage you have is pretty well where SOT fishing kayaks stood maybe 15 years ago, and so most of the newer models except maybe the Wilderness System Tarpons or Ocean Kayak Tridents will seem more stable. I have a Coosa HD, and it's more stable than a Tarpon, and likely yours. The downside is that it's a pig to paddle. Unless you're doing a lot of shallow river fishing, there are better boats out there that paddle as well (or poorly, depending on how you look at it). What kind of water do you fish, and have you considered a pedal drive?

Yeah, I was kind of curious, and I definitely don't know the answer. It could well be, as @WRB eluded to, that these fish don't have a category in IGFA. That would make sense, if they are as rare as this discussion suggests. I did feel as though if a fish that had the genetic testing to determine it a smallmouth/largemouth hybrid in 1993, the angler that caught it might be the type to jump through those hoops. I'm fairly certain that that genetic testing of fish was not routine at that time, and probably used some archaic technique like Southern blotting. Definitely more information in this thread than I found from a cursory internet search. Interesting stuff for sure.

I didn't realize that largemouth and smallmouth produced a viable F1, and aside from a 9 year-old In-Fisherman article, didn't find much info that I would consider authoritative. Interesting that we don't see more of these. Anyone know why the bass caught in PA in 1993 wouldn't be the IGFA record?

I got all amped up and went Wednesday after a few warm days around here. The water was a bit colder than I expected and the fish were not feeling the same excitement I was. Maybe this weekend will be better!

For the cost per fish, I think you'll find the Nikkos are the winner. They just last so much longer. For the places I throw them, these seem to be as effective as the Case ones. The BPS ones are a good way to dip a toe, I guess.

I've done a couple replacements with them. My fault both times and I let them know that they were. Both times it was like $100 and I had to send them the section that has the model number. For me, they tried to replace a Cara T7 with a new Expert last time because the Caras were out of stock. I told them I'd wait for the Cara, and I think the wait was 4 months. They treated me right both times.

I was a big fan of Case helgrammites, I guess you could say I still am. The BPS ones are okay, I would say the Case ones are better. I haven't fished a Case Helgrammite since buying my first pack of Nikko ZaZas. I have zero largemouth bass to show from fishing them, but I would guess a hundred river smallies on them. Nothing over 15", but for what seems to be left on the Shenandoah and upper Potomac these days, a nice fish. The biggest draw for me is that I put on a bait and fish several times. I've yet to wear one out, I get the baits broken off somewhere I wished I hadn't thrown it. Think a more durable TRD with a very different consistency. But like the Elaztech baits, you can't get them near any other soft plastics. The way I like to rig them is on a 1/16 oz Owner Blockhead jighead with the wire keeper cut off. Believe me, these things will stay on without the keeper, and you'll say bad words if you try to thread one on without removing the keeper. Their performance Texas rigged leaves a lot to be desired. They simply will not allow the hook point to move through the bait. I know a couple of guys that leave then Texposed without skin hooking on a small offset worm hook with good success.

I think he's referencing UL 62841-3. The reg states that a table has to be a certain size for blade diameter to increase. It led to many compact table saws being updated to a 8 1/4 inch blade. For those size saws, it's probably a good idea, TBH.

What in the world would the 'original' Stren manufacturer do with the formulation if they're not selling fishing line? I definitely don't know the backstory, and I can understand that Berkley changed the manufacturing, but formulations are about like KFC's herb and spice blend. If you ain't selling chicken they ain't worth much. Any patents they had would have long since expired.