CountryboyinDC

Do it man! Just not in May. And not with your 70 lb Old Town Appalachian. Get a canoe light passes through, a paddle that makes a stirring spoon seem heavy, and the lightest camping gear you and your buddies have. It's a great time, some of the best camping you'll ever experience.

I guess it's all relative. Obviously we'd probably agree that there's current on the Ocoee and Gauley throughout the majority of their course, but is there really current on Smith Mountain Lake that affects your paddling? I understand it's an impoundment of the Roanoke River (and Blackwater Creek). But the current is theoretical for the purposes of paddling IMHO, but of course it matters for fishing. So I consider most of the small reservoirs I fish and a lot of the tidal Potomac currentless, even if I realize they truly aren't. If you're looking for true currentless water, there's a bunch of it in Boundary Waters Canoe Area. And mosquitos that make the ones in Louisiana seem docile by comparison.

On a river with decent cover and water level, 10 miles is a long way to fish if they're biting at all, even if you start at dawn. Of course the water you're fishing will vary. But on the upper James, upper Potomac, and Shenandoah, my trips are rarely more than 10 miles, and are often 8 hours or more. On the Susquehanna, I can paddle across the river and back to the put in at times, so I expect those are only a couple of miles, but 0 miles vertically. On currentless water, it's all over the place. I've gone as far as 13 miles round trip, but sometimes I start fishing 100' from the put-in. Most fishing kayaks require a lot of paddling to cover a little water. You might want to look into a lighter (or even bent shaft) paddle if you're going to be doing 8 miles. If you had good luck, it's a good kind of sore, though.

Creme pre-rigged scoundrel. Favorite of my grandma and probably yours.

If there are any Mitchell reel fans, here is a pretty good sale, particularly if you're in the Richmond, VA area and Green Top is close by. https://www.greentophuntfish.com/mitchell-308-pro-series-spinning-reel/ Mitchell 308 Pro for $35.

I don't understand why you can't use a heavier bait either. I definitely have used heavier jigs than that with the Curado 70s, and I don't know of any reason you couldn't go even heavier. Some people just don't like the small body for palming, but I really like this reel.

The SV Tatulas that I have don't have a ton more capacity than the Curado 70, so maybe this could be your frogging reel. I use a 8:1 Lews Tournament MB for my frogging reel, and it's still plenty fast, even if the frog gets swallowed at the end of my cast. As for the handle, on my Curado 70s, I replaced the handles with Metanium handles. Made a world of difference. Hope the 70 MGLs have bearings in the knobs and a little longer handle.

I'm no great distance caster, but I can get a frog out 120' or so (larger Livetarget ones I use). The problem won't be you run out of line, it will be that you're only bringing in 18" or so of line per handle turn at the end of the cast. Not so great for a frog reel. I don't have the MGL, but I really like the Curado 70 on the 2 rods I have it, though.

I use the Lake Fork wacky system and don't use O-rings. The ones that fit a 5" Senko are the large ones, and I think the hook is a size 1 or so. The hook ups are pretty good, mine are not the weedguard type. I don't know that I would use a Neko hook unless you have a bunch of them kicking around. I think that you'll prefer the a hook with a shorter shank. If you go the Lake Fork route, the hooks are pretty substantial. Definitely use a medium powered spinning rod or casting setup.

I don't know the Terminator jigs particularly, but there are a couple of reasons why people say a rod is underpowered for a jig. 1. Hooksets are difficult due to the weedguard being relatively unyielding (good for reducing getting hung in cover) and the hook being relatively large in diameter and thus not penetrating as well as thinner hooks. 2. The cover you are fishing is likely to end up with the fish wrapping itself up, resulting in a lost fish or heartbreak for you at the least. In these cases, you may want a broomstick capable of waterskiing that bass toward your boat. That doesn't mean that a MH rod is underpowered. If you think that or notice either of these things, then it is.

This woman could have done better than the KC secondary.

I think if someone's not feeling the thump it's either a blade shape thing or a thick wire thing. I've never fished a Booyah spinnerbait, so I could've say which in this case. I've had some spinnerbaits that were designed to be burned back on retrieve that were on the heavy side with slender willow blades, and those had little thump (worked pretty well pre-spawn, but couldn't get a bite any other time, I'm sure they're rusting in a box somewhere). The thick wire thing seems like a good idea except for, as some have mentioned, you can't tell when you're bit. Some thinner wire provokes more strikes, I don't know whether that's true or not.

Definitely good for a lot of things, they are. The wire cutters aren't the best. I remember I couldn't cut the treble on a Whopper Plopper that got stuck in someone's shin. Ended up using a split ring plier to separate the lure from the hook. I usually walk out to the garage and get real cutters if I need some.

I like a Leatherman. You have no idea how many times I use the #2 Phillips in a week.

You guys don't seem to get it - you need a NRX for each technique. If you try to use a shakey head rod to drop shot, it just ain't gonna work. Don't say I didn't warn you.

I like the Santone 'Texas Finesse' jig, and I used to use the War Eagle Heavy Finesse jigs. Both are relatively similar, heavier (probably 2/0 or 3/0 hooks) hooks, with the a standard cast in keeper. Both might need a little more 'oomph' than you can manage on spinning gear, so I use them with a lighter casting setup. I think these run around 3/8 oz or so, so they're probably looking at 1/2 oz with a trailer (usually Missile Baits Twin Turbo or Paca chunk). I don't just fish these when it's cold.

I've probably used Case watermelon grubs to catch more river smallmouth than any single other lure for me. That said, I don't even have a pouch of them now. They didn't sell them much at tackle shops in GA when I lived there, and so I got some Zoom and Big Bite grubs that worked about as well in my estimation. I still have what will be a lifetime supply of them at the rate I've used them lately. Grubs are great river smallmouth baits, the Case ones for sure.

That's a big boat. When I car top my fishing kayaks, I use the Yakima Big Catch saddles. They're not cheap (I think I paid $170 during that sale REI always runs in the spring), but they have enough surface area that they don't cut (or the kayak melts, when it's hot) into the kayak hull. If it's a purpose-built kayak trailer, a carpet bunk system may be the way to go. I've seen some of them and they're nice. If Malone doesn't make one, I'll bet something for a jet ski could be adapted.

The past few sales Bass Pro/Cabelas ran that I bought from, I ordered and the order was canceled. I think the last was a Shimano Stradic CI4 reel or something. So if you think you're getting a deal, don't let it break your heart a couple of days later. Maybe shop in-store?

I'll admit I didn't really think there was any training involved in getting a cat to chase a jig, but it sounds as though you have experience in them catching one. That would be an event I would rather witness as a spectator. Just worming the old barn cats was one of my least favorite chores in my youth, trying to get a barbed hook out of one may have made me leave home and join the circus.

I think maybe @Captain Philis saying the same thing, but pegging the weight to the bait keep the two from separating during a pitch or flip cast. This gives you a more quiet lure entry.

Highly produced indeed. How long did you take to train that cat to chase a jig? Definitely tell us what nominations this video receives.

For cranking, except maybe really shallow squarebill (and traps, if you consider that cranking) I use 5:1 reels. I just feel less worn out after working a piece of structure, etc. and seem to be better at keeping them at the speed the fish want. For cranking below maybe 15', the kayak pedals are doing the cranking. I haven't gotten efficient at trolling yet, but I have realized that I'm just not able to get a plug down where I want it 20' below the surface or more.

I bought a G Loomis IMX JWR/Shimano Bantam reel with the intentions of giving it to my friend as a gift. When it arrived, I ordered a second one, sold both reels, and put a nice Curado 70 on the rod I gave him. It made me feel as though I had given my friend a nice gift without spending "too much", since these were pretty fantastic deals. In reality, that's a nice rod, but it's one of several I have that pretty well do the same thing.

It would be neat to have some of these redeye bass in a pond, but no one seems to stocking the exotics (black bass speaking). If you're successful, that would be a neat project. You could be a trend setter among pond owners. Maybe get folks to stock some of the other redeye bass - Bartram's, etc. It would be a change from the largemouth/channel cat/bluegill farm ponds that are ubiquitous across the US.