CountryboyinDC

It's actually predominatly the older models and the fact that the exhaust systems stay at lower temperatures than a comparable traditional ICE exhaust system. For that reason, in order to catalyze the reactions they're on there for, they need to have more bearing surface, and more of the rhodium, palladium, and platinum that make them so much more valuable. The older ones evidently ran in a hybrid mode (electric motor and ICE simultaneously) a lot more than the newer ones, which tend to stay either all electric or a greater proportion ICE-powered. So the new ones run hotter when they're running and don't have the massive catalysts of the older ones. Neighbors 3 doors down had theirs cut off 2:30 in the morning according to someone's doorbell camera. Can't believe how brazen thieves are. A bunch of the whitewater kayakers put their kayaks inside the car, and I'm not talking cargo vans here. One lady took her kayak when she went to buy cars so she made sure it would fit inside (she has a Honda Fit) and several evenings this summer I saw a guy with his kayak in the passenger seat of his convertible Toyota Solara (not sure how that worked). I'm with you though, the only thing wet and filthy that needs to go inside the car is me.

I take one where I might land a snakehead. Hard to get the snakehead to stay still while you club it with your baseball bat otherwise. In a kayak, mine's always in the way. I find myself taking chances and just taking a folding shovel (e-tool for the military types) for the bycaught snakeheads. Mine's a rubber-coated type with a handle that males it easy to use 1 handed. https://www.yakattack.us/leverage-landing-net-12-x-20-hoop-with-foam-extension-lln122047k/

I haven't been in forever (probably 25 years), but I still think about the bluegrass picking in the old store there. That part of the world is where my soul resides.

Nobody else wants to brag about Virginia? OK, well for all the TN love we heard, there's still been a bigger black bass caught in VA. I don't feel that our reservoirs are better than average, but we have great rivers. For smallmouth, you can catch them out of the New, Maury, Shenandoah, South Holston, non-tidal Rappahannock, James, and Potomac, and many smallee rivers that hold smallmouth that people forget. The tidal rivers (Rappahanock, James, and Potomac) hold largemouth, although I fare far worse in catching them than the river smallmouth. Muskies are now pursued almost as much as smallmouth on the New and Sheandoah in places. For better or worse, there are northern snakehead in the tidal rivers. We have stripers, channel and flathead catfish (and I'm sure some others), and several species of panfish. Virginia may not be the place I'd pick for bass fishing if that was the most important thing to consider in where to live, but overall it's a great place to live. P.S. Agree that the best part of DE is the lack of sales tax - people tell me that the beaches are nice, but I just try to pay the hefty tolls are keep trucking.

It probably would be slicker, and if you're handy you could almost certainly do it yourself. But I'm suspecting that the cost of the waterproof housing and servo motor, plus the need for a power source, switches, etc. is going to make it a non-starter for manufacturers.

They definitely have tried - Wilderness, Jackson, and Native have all built thermoformed boats at different points. They're not that much lighter, maybe 20% for the same model for what I remember, but are close to regular rotomolded polyethylene in durability. They are easier to puncture holes in with sharp rocks than molded polyethylene or Royalex (or T-formex, the 'new Royalex'), but rotomolded and Royalex boats have definitely had holes punched in them too. They still sell a fair number of recreational boats that are thermoformed - I see Hurricanes and Eddylines quite a bit when I'm fishing or messing around at Seneca Breaks. I think that from the perspective of materials, carbon fiber could be fine for a fishing kayak used in reservoirs, inshore, etc. But who uses a paddle-powered kayak in those circumstances? Usually one thinks of carbon fiber as being used when you want the lightest material possible that will offer the stiffness required (a lack of flex for paddles or negligible 'oil-canning' for paddle craft hulls). In most cases, because carbon fiber allows the least amount of material to be used to achieve this, it's the least impact-resistant, even less so than Kevlar or other composite materials. It's not that carbon fiber can't be used in potential impact situations - plenty of people I paddle with have carbon fiber bladed whitewater canoe and kayak paddles. While I see folks willing to risk the impact to race carbon fiber wildwater boats down the Cheat every May, I don't suspect that too many will plop down 11 grand for this thing. Even with it's carbon fiber layup, it will paddle just slightly better than a dock at 3 feet wide.

EJ probably could. OC acknowledged record drop is 77' or something close. I see Jordan Poffenberger in an OC dropping the spout or middle finger at Great Falls pretty often. I do not know why anyone would want that boat though. Why isn't EJ sticking to building freestyle and extreme slalom boats? Who's going to buy that thing? And I agree, not that too many fishing kayaks are beautiful, but that thing's ugly.

I have the Victory, but not the same power/length/taper in the LTB. Definitely a light rod, but for whatever reason, I haven't grown to love it. I still like the Avid series better for the reel seat, handle, and general build quality. I've mostly been of the opinion that the LTB is not a huge step up from the Avid, but they have a lot more tapers. So I only have a couple LTBs. Just with my anecdotal experience with the Victory, I think I'd go with the LTB if those were the absolute only choices you're considering.

Dang, even the clouds cooperated in making for some off the charts eye candy.

Peace for your dad, peace for you.

There's a guy in my fishing club that uses a 14' canoe that he paddles and sometimes stands up and paddles as you would a stand-up paddleboard (with a SUP paddle). It's a fairly wide canoe, and so it's stable, but still weighs in around 60 lbs (it's Royalex). He uses both spin and fly tackle from this set up, and the lack of creases, crevices, and other things to get wrapped around when stripping line make the canoe superior to a kayak for his purposes. If you're determined to bring a bunch of tackle, want something easier to maneuver with a 2-bladed paddle, pedals, or motor, then a sit on top kayak definitely has lot of advantages. The downsides are that it will be heavy relatively to a sit-in kayak or canoe and it will likely be lower performing. I have fished from canoes, but now I pretty well fish from sit on tops exclusively, and rely either on the river for propulsion or use my pedal drive if there's no current. It's certainly much easier, but it definitely adds to the logistics. I wouldn't want to load either kayak (Old Town Predator PDL or Jackson Coosa HD) on top of a car very often. But my whitewater kayaks are easily carried cartop, and a 60 lb canoe could be even easier.

Probably near boiling is not real descriptive. For someone who used to be paid to be very precise with parameters such as temperature, I follow my father's guidance for the temperature of scalding hogs. You want the water to be hot enough that you can take 3 fingers and dip your fingers through it 2 times. If you can do it 3 times, you need to add a little more wood or bring the scalding pot down toward the flame. If you can't make that second pass, you need to cool it off a bit. Why somebody didn't buy a thermometer I'll never know. If you can find someone that has a poultry plucker with the rubber fingers, they're a huge help, but I know they're quite expensive. They can pluck a chiken in about 1/2 a minute pon feathers and all without that scalding water on your hands. I imagine they work like the 'pig peeler' you're speaking of.

Try immersing them in near boiling water. I'm sure there must be YouTubes a plenty to go off of. Shouldn't take much more than 15 minutes to fully pluck one, most of the feathers fall right out. Just make sure you have a 5 gallon bucket of ice water ready to leave them in for about 1/2 hour afterward. I personally like wild turkey better than domestic, but I know some don't. I think that you'll definitely find that you like it better if you brine the bird before smoking, whether it's domestic or wild.

Definitely can appreciate that. Dry bibs really wouldn't have helped that much here anyway. Once you're in above your thigh, if you don't have a dry suit with gaskets at the neck and wrists (and I'd it doesn't have socks, ankles), the cold water is going to be right against your skin anyway. Just be careful out there!

Dang, glad you made it out ok. That could have gone another way none of us want to think about. It's drysuit season. It came all of the sudden this year too. I hate wearing the things, but it's a lot better than the alternative. Don't know that a whistle would have helped, or even a horn when there's no one around. The little Garmins that allow you to send out an SOS might help, or sharing a float plan with someone who can summon help are a couple of other ideas.

Wild Turkey. Got to get the 151 though, that 101 is just for small children.

You can definitely eat them - a lot of people do (just not me). They just have to be dead when you take them from the body of water where you caught them. Most people favor an old aluminum baseball bat, I carry a folding shovel. You can definitely eat them - a lot of people do (just not me). They just have to be dead when you take them from the body of water where you caught them. Most people favor an old aluminum baseball bat, I carry a folding shovel. You can definitely eat them - a lot of people do (just not me). They just have to be dead when you take them from the body of water where you caught them. Most people favor an old aluminum baseball bat, I carry a folding shovel.

It's fun to watch. If you're fishing any current, it's not fun to untangle. With clear water you just get mesmerized watching it.

That's a pretty big hook for a finesse jig; I think my go-tos have a 3/0 tops. I use a Paca chunk or a Missle double-tailed grub (I think it's called the Twin Turbo). I've been wanting to try a Baby Rage Craw, but I've got several bags of the others, and they work.

I have a larger river kayak, a Jackson Coosa HD. I usually have 4 rods with me. Almost always, 1 is a Falcon Cara ST (no longer made) 6'10 MH/F finesse jig rod. I generally will have a rod with a monofilament leader for top water plugs, which recently has been a St. Croix Avid 6'6 M/F spinning rod. The other 2 will vary depending on conditions. I don't usually bring cranking specific rods, but there are times when I I feel like a Speed Trap or a Bandit will be the most valuable lure you can have. Mostly I'm fishing riffles and small ledges with soft plastics, and pools with top water plugs or spinnerbaits.

I usually catch them on brand new $12 frogs - they seem to know when I tie one on. They have some crazy teeth - never had them cut 50 lb braid or 17 lb leader that I use if fishing a spinnerbait, etc. Their favorite thing to do is roll and wrap your line around spatterdock stems, but I'm sure the day will come when I'll get my line chewed in 2. The ones @TOXICcaught have some pretty coloration and several are a good bit larger than anything I've caught. Just really impressed that he was able to boat them with 6 lb line. He says they're not picky, but I haven't found them super easy to catch either.

Pretty good to get that on 6 lb.

Depending on level, the South Fork offers a lot of trips that offer great opportunities at smallmouth, generally more in number than in size, although a 14-17" smallie won't turn any heads. The most popular trip is probably the state park to Gooney Creek. The outfitter that will rent you fishing kayaks is Front Royal Canoe https://frontroyaloutdoors.com/. You can go further downriver into Riverton from either their put-in or Gooney Creek if they're renting you a boat. Some of these are better than others if the river is low, so talk to Don or someone so you aren't dragging your kayak. Farther upriver there are several good runs, and Downriver Canoe https://www.downriver.com/ is a good outfit to go with. A word to the wise - these trips can take a while if you're fishing hard or the river is scrapey. I take at least an hour to fish each mile on that river, sometimes 2. Around Hazard Mill down to the state park can be productive. Baits I don't find as important as being on the river when they're biting. I usually will have a 3.3 Keitech Swing Imact tied on, and a Senko is never a bad idea. But I've had 60 fish days on a Vibrax, a prop bait, and a helgrammite.

Not knowing the market for that exact boat, a new one is less than double the price ($4,700 for a camo one at Appomattox River Company). If the 12 y/o boat were in NOS or something, still in the plastic, maybe. But you start putting in a new drive, wish for the newer seat, and suddenly that $2,500 would seem pricey to me.

I did just get it 4th of July (actually Saturday before), and I am taking it down the Gauley (and New River Gorge) for Gauley season end of this month. Usually some water there. I certainly don't fish from this particular one, but I can't worry about some scratches on a plastic kayak. It's like worrying about wrinkling the sheets when making love.