CountryboyinDC

I can't imagine ever having a Micro Power-Pole myself, but there are plenty of people for whom the device makes sense. My Jackson Coosa HD has threaded inserts on the rear carrying handle. But you could put one on pretty much put it on any kayak with a small transom with this mount https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/power-pole-micro-anchor-clamp-mount?ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=Shop|Generic|AllProducts|High|SSCCatchAll&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-MTq64_P7gIVFonICh3JqwfXEAQYASABEgLYXfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds. Honestly, if the clamp on transom mount didn't work, I'd probably look to make something out of a piece of polyethylene (cutting board or something like that).

Nikko ZaZa helgrammite (small, usually 1/16, jighead) Yamamoto Senko 4", Texas-rigged with light bullet weight Keitech 3.3 fat swing impact, Tennessee Shad, on a keel-weighted swimbait hook I think jigs and spinnerbaits are hard baits, I've just always thought of hard baits as plugs. Finesse jig Rebel Wee Craw Super Spook Jr Ask me this afternoon and that list could change, especially the hard baits. That took more time than I thought to narrow them down.

My father had something against 4wd too. I think it was that we had 1 truck that we put on maybe 2 sets of hubs and then the transfer case went clunk and locked up. It was an early full time 4wd (NP203), which makes me wonder how some of these autotrac things work. Patience and good tires did not pay off in keeping us unstuck, though. I've hiked back to the barn (funny he never made that walk) for a tractor or the Scout and a chain many a time. And I can't imagine having a truck without it. My current rig would be stuck in gravel driveways without it, it's so heavy up front. That's a nice truck. Much too nice to haul hay or pallets of fertilizer in.

It's a real word among paddlers. Also called weathervaning. You got a good explanation from @MN Fisher and a good remedy from @michaelb. High flotation (high sides) tandems with a solo paddler makes for difficult paddling. Lightly loaded aluminum (Osagians, Grummans) canoes seem the worst to me. A paddle stroke to know in those situations is the stern pry. Keeping the bow pointed in the direction you want to go can be frustratingly hard, and J strokes and Canadians won't work because you have no glide (in fact you may be fortunate to be moving forward). But the other choice is to deem the canoe a sail boat and wait for the wind to die down, which may not work out so well for you.

I bought the Yak Attack Leverage on sale after a couple of nice largemouth got off near the kayak. It's got rubberized, relatively small mesh openings on the net itself, and is pretty easy for me to operate with either hand from the kayak. Unfolded it's pretty huge, and on my pedal drive it was hard to come up with a place it was handy, but out of the way when I needed it. The best I could come up with was a rod holder on my left side, but that wasn't out of the way enoight for me to keep carrying it. It really does make landing a fish much easier after you get the hang of it - a lot more than I imagined. And you don't have to work so hard to avoid the snakehead's (or whatever toothy fish you're catching) mouth. But then I remembered that I'm not keeping any of these fish anyway, at most I want a picture every now and again. Then I just stopped carrying it. I might carry it for the shad run this year so I don't mess up their mouths. Btw, it doesn't float, I use a piece of a pool noodle around the handle, which means it doesn't fold so well, even making it less.compact.

Yeah, Cudas are from that era, and they're like a WS Tarpon, really good all around boats. They do have the framed seats, which make long days more comfortable than the Tarpons. The 14 footer wouldn't be one I would want for rivers, but paddled pretty well.

The non-HD Coosas are definitely even more of the good (or bad) things that the Coosa HD offers. Definitely more tippy, and rigging that is about a decade out of style, but good for technical rivers and streams. I see ads - they're still making them. I just wonder who's buying them.

I have 3 years in a Coosa HD. For lakes, I would say there are far better options. Here's why: 1. It has a lot of buoyancy built into the bow. A lot of whitewater boats are built this way so that the nose of the boat doesn't submerge as you traverse rapids. This makes the boat less efficient than one with a more 'aerodynamic' bow. It does leave you with a lot of room in that bow for storage. 2. It has a good bit of rocker. That's one thing that makes the boat relatively maneuverable at over 12'. It makes paddling in a straight line more challenging and the boat weather vanes considerably (bulbous bow doesn't help this either). 3. For what poor glide it has, it is not blessed with the primary stability of like-dimensioned kayaks like the Bonafides and ATAKs. It does have some useable secondary stability; I can hold it on edge and maneuver in some more technical water than I would with some others. But except maybe in relatively sizable waves, most anglers will have no reason to put a boat on edge, and most wouldn't know how to go about it. I like mine, not planning to part with it. I'm definitely a river rat, running drag chains, anchor off the bow, and have it rigged to line through rapids. I can take this boat through easy class III in most cases with some good scouting. But there are a bunch of kayaks now that are better than this one for reservoirs. In fact the Wilderness Ride 135 that it replaced was better, and I used to consider it a pig. Heard a lot about the Shearwater, but haven't seen it in the wild.

Coming from an angler who's caught 0 bass (1 snakehead) on a chatterbait, there must be better people to answer this. I used the Lake Fork (non-boot tail) at first. Someone that I fish with occasionally that has pretty good luck with a chatterbait asked to see what I had tied on. He watched it swim and said that the tail action was not synchronous (my words, I can't remember his) with the blade action and that was a problem. He used Zakos and a bait from Hog Farmer (I've since got some). Once I saw the action, I knew what he was saying. The LFT baits did their own thing, regardless of what the blade did. I didn't throw a chatterbait much last year, but I stopped using the Live Magic Shads. Still no bass.

I don't shoot much period anymore, funny how little time you end up with. When I met my wife, one of the topics that got us chatting was that she shot on her collegiate 3 position smallbore team. I shot benchrest, I like @Goldstar225, wasn't going to keep a Tony Boyer up nights worrying about how good I was getting. What got me into the sport was that it was accessible. Nobody has a shirt looking like they're racing motocross (or I guess you could say bass fishing) emblazoned with sponsors' logos. And the cost, even when cartridge components were much lower than now, was far less than when I dabbled in shooting bowling pins. I got a local gunsmith and benchrest competitor to blueprint an action I got reasonably priced and bought a couple of Doublglas barrels chambered in 6 mm PPC. I used a simple RCBS press. I offset my cost by loading custom hunting ammo for people (this was when you could find so much as a Partition in factory loads). Before I drag this out further, I didn't spend a great deal of money to participate (I won't say I competed, because you won't find my walls lined with benchrest trophies). I think that we're too often quick to feel that a competitive event is won simply as a function of money when we don't try it. Just as golf cannot be won by buying clubs (or lessons, or quitting your job to practice all the time), IPSC events can't be won by customizing pistols, and bass can't be caught by buying $1,000 combos, benchrest events cannot be won by throwing money at them. You have to put in the time, learn to cope the wind, control your breathing, etc. It's different mechanically from other disciplines. Lord knows I struggled with the transition to CQB shooting once I made it to my Ranger Battalion, whereas guys who'd started shooting in their military careers seemed to have less trouble learning. But it still takes skill. Otherwise you could just take 50 grand, buy everything in the Sinclair catalog, and go start winning events and setting records a couple of months later.

I'm not really constrained by space, and I've carried 10 at a time, but I usually carry 6 for the tidal Potomac and small reservoirs I fish around me. For the river, 2 bait casting setups, a top water and finesse jig (although they certainly get used for other things) are the norm for most of the kayaking year. I also bring 2 light to medium powered spinning outfits. In the spring, I may substitute a crankbait setup for the topwater. Anyway, that's 6 on minimal to no current water, and 4 on shallow slow to moderate rivers. When I bring more, I just end up washing more line.

I haven't exhaustively tried yellow crankbaits, but I did get a yellow craw pattern Wiggle Wart (a crank that did okay for me in other patterns), and fished it spring to fall on occasion without a fish. I still have it in my box for that day when they only want a yellow craw pattern crankbait. Brown craw patterns haven't been the best either. I've caught a few off the DT-6 that I used to have, no others come to mind right away. The exception, and these are not exactly traditional in pattern or shape, are the Rebel Wee Craws. Brown, tan, and greenish brown have been the best colors for me for these crankbaits.

@MIbassyaker, I run side imaging on my pedal drive kayak with the entire graph setup contained in a Yak Atrack Cellblock. It allows me to take the whole thing off easily and can be mounted on any kayak with 9" of track or so. There are 2 things I might consider with your Lure before using this setup. 1. Will the mounting of the entire fish finder setup interfere with the normal function of my kayak? With my Jackson Coosa HD, the kayak listed noticeably and the contraption interfered with my forward paddle stroke (sweeps, rudders, and every type of draw were okay, though) severely. With my pedal kayak, neither of these issues shows up, the kayak is much more stable and the rails are farther forward the seat. 2. Does using the pod allow you to remove the head, transducer, and battery while fishing? I know that my SI transducer is huge, and while it would mount on many pods,.you wouldn't be able to take off the pod with everything mounted from the deck side. This is important to me because I get gunk on the transducer fairly regularly, and I can reach the transducer to remove it. Also, I pull my kayaks in shallow several times while fishing to tie on a lure or to fish a given area thoroughly without anchoring. The matter of how deep the transducer needs to go may be a matter of trial and error, as @Dens228 found. I know from error that it can be in too little water on a swing arm. At first I got some artifact, which I fashioned a baffle to try to do away with (didn't help). When I put it on my pedal drive, I could only see to the keel of my boat on the side opposite of the one I mounted the transducer. I bought a piece of 1/2" aluminum round stock cut 4" longer than what came with the swing arm (18" was stock, if memory serves), and both the side beam hitting the hull and the artifact disappeared. I personally prefer the Ram ball mount to what Yak Attack uses, but again there are differences among users there. I simply don't care for the connection point Yak Attack uses (I realized this after using Omega rod holders for a couple of months), and find the Ram to be utterly reliable and trouble free.

I'll be watching the 'Show you rides' thread carefully, and if someone from Michigan posts their new Basscat Jaguar, we'll know we have a half-billionaire in our midst.

I agree with @scaleface, that plug knocker seems fine for most things and will be really simple to use/keep with you. That one even comes with 30' of line. I use a different one with some chains on the end for Alabama rigs. It might be slightly better for really hung lures, but I think it runs $40. Either way, let someone show you how to use one or watch a video on the subject. I thought it was intuitive enough, and ended up getting my first knocker stuck beside the lure the first time I tried it.

I ran into this back in the spring - suddenly we were at home all day every day and I needed something for my 7 year old to do when I needed to focus on work. I bought a Nintendo Switch for $475 from scalpers and the Ring Fit Adventure game for $130. I probably had some not-so-nice thoughts about the scalpers. Once the Playstation 5 came out, Nintendo Switch is in plentiful supply with deals to be had. Do I wish I had waited? No, it was something that I could give him to do when I and my wife both had an important meeting that couldn't be interrupted. I like that notion. Are you volunteering? I'll bring him by, his own kayak and all?. To set expectations, his attention span is slightly less than a fruit fly.

I made light of it, but it is good to reflect on why we enjoy certain things so much. it sounds like you have taken that time and have some really good reasons.

I do REALLY enjoy fishing. How else to explain the sign my sister got me for Christmas? It is as sure as I am the #1 Dad - my son painted that on a coffee cup. Or that I am the world's best lover, as per a Valentine's Day card from my wife years ago.

I think your sentiments are shared by many. That's why kayaks like the Bonafides are so popular. The higher seat does make a difference in even relative short times on the water. Going from a WS Ride 135 (which, while considered comfortable in its day, still left you sitting on the deck) to a Jackson Coosa HD drove that point home. Using a stand up assist strap is pretty adaptable to a lot of boats. I don't know that I'd recommend the Jackson Coosa HD for your purposes; it really is river-biased and has a lot of volume in the bow, quite a bit of rocker, and is a pretty featureless shallow arch hull. All of this makes it good for maneuvering boat that pops up after going over a small falls, etc. but really doesn't paddle that efficiently and isn't nearly as stable as some boats of that width. In the Jackson lineup, the Liska is a good place to start ( @TnRiver46 has one or his fiancee does, and he shares advice freely), and a used Big Rig might be the bees knees for what you're trying to do, @GTN always speaks highly of his. The Big Rig will definitely set you back more thank $1,400 new, though. In Old Town, either the 12' Topwater or Predator XL (or whatever replaced them in the new Sportsman lineup). Native has the Slayer XC 12 (I think that's the name) that's river based, but not to the extent that the Coosa HD is, and is far more stable. All either have or are easily adapted to a stand up strap. And I'm sure there are others across other brands that would be good candidates as well.

I have never financed a boat for sure and have taken out only 4 (soon to be 5) loans in my life, but I do research things to try to save as much as possible. For example, when we bought our last car, we looked into financing to see if we could get an incentive which would make the car loan cheaper (in terms of rate) than what our mortgage was. In that case no, so we just paid cash for the car and continued paying the mortgage. I think that it's possible that there are instances where your experience could match that of @Logan S or @jbsoonerfan. While logic would have it that the lender will give you the best rate based on the common perception of risks (shorter length and higher down payment equal lower rate), but that is way oversimplifying things. I've learned this from listening to a few finance and banker types at gatherings I attend (as long as beer and food is provided and there's chores at home, subjects like these seem fascinating). There are some loans that you'll find that conform to a set of rules, like conforming mortgages (mortgages that are likely bought by Fannie or Freddie). Most are a matter of trial and error or telling your lender what it is you're after if that lender wants your business. The rate is the primary thing people concern themselves with, but there other things to concern oneself with. For esamplenl I've always been concerned about is early payoff penalties. These and other terms can make a loan much more expensive to you. Also, rather than focus exclusively on APR, actually look at the amortization tables and see what the overall loan increases as you add years to the terms. Most are surprised by what they find. And lastly, don't go broke buying a boat. Go broke doing something for which you're not the principle recipient of joy, like paying your kid's tuition, building an in-law suite so your in-laws can feel comfortable when they visit, or for that timeshare at the place that you can't wait to leave the end of your vacation. If you go broke buying a boat, you're never going to hear the end of it.

For me, motors are just not something that I want to get into, unless something changes with me personally. I have an Old Town Predator PDL, and I had reservations about going the pedal route. I have paddled for a few decades for fishing, to get to camp sites, and the sake of paddling alone. The pedal drives certainly take less skill and make covering distances less exhausting. As for my perceived advantages of the pedal drive: 1. I get exercise using them. 2. There's less rigging involved. 3. There's less maintenance. 4. No registration. 5. Less weight ( @Dens228has a great setup, but to get the range of a pedal drive, you have to add batteries. Even lithium phosphate batteries have some heft to them). 6. Like @Choporoz, I use a paddle less than I think I would with a motorized kayak. 7. Money - this is not black and white. I have a friend who has less in his Sea Ghost with a transom mount TM than I have in my Predator, but in an apples-apples comparison, the overall cost is usually lower for the pedal drive. I don't fish tournaments, so I don't hate on the motorized kayaks. They're just not what suits me.

If you have a Sea Ghost (not sure which Vibe you're speaking of), the WS Recon should seem very stable, even with a high seat. I like @HookInMouth's suggestion to take a gander at the Perception Outlaw. That's a lot of the qualities you're looking for at a low price. I've not even seen in person what either of these look like, let alone taken them for a spin. I'm less enthusiastic about the Yupik for most applications. You could have a rotomolded paddleboard such as the Liquidlogic Versaboard or Crescent SUP+ that would offer nearly the functionality at much less cost. If you're paddling (not powering by trolling motor), I'd recommend getting a stand up assist strap over looking only at kayaks with seats the height of the Bonafides. I have one on my Jackson Coosa HD, and it really helps me stand (and return to my seat more softly) more easily, even with a far lower seat. A high seat is almost as much a deterrent to efficient paddling as is the width it takes to make the high seated kayaks stable. JMTC. If you end up with the Recon or Outlaw, I'd love to know your thoughts on them.

These are relatively simple DIY upgrades. There may be others, and usually the best place to do a little research is a FB user community or kayak fishing forum. So this may not be the very best solution as of right now, since the development of kayaks and accessories is on a crazy fast bent. The rudder itself is https://www.boonedoxusa.com/product-page/n-rudder. It is considerably larger than the stock rotomolded one. Unfortunately, that stresses the stock rudder cables to the point that some fail. This is a kit that certainly has more than just the cables, but the ones that I've checked out with the cable upgrade didn't have all the components that are listed here https://www.berleypro.com/product/native-watercraft-titan-steering-upgrade/. This is obviously a further upgrade increasing the allowed rudder swing angle, but at more than 3X the cost. You may be able to buy just the rudder cables if you call BerleyPro directly, but they're not listed on their website.

I use the Picasso Smartmouth swimbait jig heads. I looked at a picture of the SK one, and I believe you'll find the Picasso keeper considerably smaller. That said, I don't use particularly slender soft plastics on mine. Usually a 4.3 Keitech fat or a 3.5 or 5 inch Yum Money minnow. I rarely use over 1/8 oz on Alabama rigs, but I will run the bottom wire with a heavier jig than the others.

I've fished that section, putting in at White House. Being a river rat, it isn't my favorite part (if you're in a canoe, there's a lot of paddling). It does offer the opportunity to put in at Massanutten and not do a float, which is good for folks like @Choporoz. If you do put in at White House, make sure you fish that first mile or so stretch thoroughly, it was pretty good to me. I've been using that Bombshot in 'Fishalicious' and have a few smaller fish off it in about 3' visibility water too. Good report OP!