CountryboyinDC

Good to see there's still some monsters lurking in VA. Almost certainly the New, although I haven't heard about this one yet. Like everyone else said, congrats this guy.

Hi Hugh - are you new to the area or just new to freshwater fishing? Welcome.

I think this all great advice. I've used this Santone swim jig (I think it's 5/16 oz), and it does great for swimming or just pitching around grass. I only use mine with a Rage craw, so I don't know if you'd want the heavier one for a paddle tail.

Hi Randy, I can't help you much with guides in that area, but there are several members in the Lynchburg-to-Powhatan region that might know of someone. I haven't been fishing down that way, but smallmouth fishing there is supposed to be pretty much like it is up here - not good. Bruce Ingram talked to our club a couple of months back and said that the spawns didn't go well the past few years and it was taking a toll on the smallmouth all over Virginia. So if you can't find a guide for what you were originally looking to do, it may be a good thing. The fishing may not be what you remember it was. I've been fishing lakes and the tidal Potomac more this year due to how bad the smallmouth fishing has been. If you want to catch a bunch of fish, the tidal James or one of the reservoirs around might be a better bet.

If the seller stops dragging his feet, I'd go with the Predator. Outfitting-wise, the Predator has the edge. I've never paddled the Topwater, but looking at the hull, I can imagine what the experience would be like. There's a guy that fishes in a group with me out of a Predator, and he uses it in the open as well as on small slow-moving rivers with no problem. It may not be great for creeks, but neither is a 12 footer. When you're in really skinny water, a 10 foot kayak like a Tarpon or something becomes the best tool for the job. I used to use a 13 foot kayak (Ride 135) for everything, and it's a good overall length.

I'm not a big fan, but the outfitter I get to shuttle my kayak uses bungees on his trailers for kayaks and canoes. He's a big outfit too, 6 buses I think, and a couple of vans for the longer trips. He uses the black rubber type, not the type that have a mesh covering a bunch of small elastic bands. With the insurance that I'm sure he has to have for that outfit, they must be acceptable to underwriters (to say nothing of the staff). They can't be overtightened like a ratchet strap and they hold tension even if the boat moves (a little) and they . Again, I personally like cam straps that make a continuous loop around an anchor point of some type, but that outfit has shuttled hundreds of thousands of canoes and kayaks, and so it goes to show that there's more than one way to go about it.

That's more than I've learned about frogging from a kayak for sure, nice write up. All I know is a bass a foot long has the advantage over you and your kayak in a tug of war in places I throw frogs. That heavy rod, fast reel, and 50 lb braid do you absolutely no good if he gets dead in front of you.

@Choporoz I pretty much always have a finesse jig 1/4 oz or better for the deeper places like before the Karo rapid, etc. I use the War Eagle or Santone ones with the heavy hooks and a Paca chunk trailer. Still haven't gotten a citation out of that river, and this year people are calling me lucky when I catch 1 or 2. I sure do hope there's a recovery in years ahead. @Steveo-1969 I have 2 ML rods that I generally take with me, and I consider the ALX (the model is 'Shake') to be more powerful and faster. The other is a Falcon, and it's closer to a moderate and feels less powerful, so I use it for Aguilas, Wee Craws, and soft baits on a jighead with no weedguard. I suspect the problem is the person holding the rod in my case, rather than any of the tackle.

That's for 2. For the size of these jigs they're not super cheap. They're made in the US near where I grew up, so there's that. You get to glue in the skirts too, so you're helping with the assembly process. Where I'd miss most of the fish (also where I catch the most) with the Bitsy Bug is in the trailing pools and eddie's. I've found that I miss more with some baits in those places and so I sometimes have to adjust or just quit using a bait if I get too frustrated (ie I always Texpose rather than Texas rig Senkos). For the Bitsy Bug, I'm sure I was using a ML spinning rod with braid (I think 10 to 15 lb) and a fluorocarbon leader 6 or 8 lb. I used the same setup (or a similar one) with this jig, but with only 1 fish, it's hard to say how well this one is working.

I used to tie my kayaks down pretty ridiculously, but I've found that in a truck bed, at least, you don't need a whole lot. I leave the tailgate down, and use a ratchet strap on the front handle which is attached to the truck bed D-rings at the front. I have a box, so these are under the box. As @J Francho mentioned, ratchet straps tend to get over tightened (I see creases in canoes and kayaks pretty frequently too, particularly in the sun), but I never bought a cam strap with hooks, and the continuous loop type would be a pain here. IMO, the continuous loop types are best for kayaks and canoes because you don't want them too tight, and they won't come off from being too loose like the hook type. So I have a continuous loop cam strap in the rear of the truck bed going through the carrying handles, if everything lines up. Add a flag, and you're ready to go. This is the only picture I have, and I don't bother with the rope on the stern anymore.

@craww, those look a lot different than the small Paca chunks I bought. Those might be better suited for a finesse presentation like this. Right now, I haven't had the fishing conditions to test it, and may not for a few years around here. @waymont, the hook on this jig is a good bit smaller than the Bitsy Bug, it may be a size 2 or so. I was thinking that the weedguard on that jig was maybe what was making hookups less than ideal, but @Bluebasser86 (who's obviously tried a lot of baits in his day) believes it's the hooks. I had the idea that I could use this bait pretty much everywhere on the river, but the jury is still out for me on this one.

I have the pedal drive Predator. For me, the first thing I would do is mount some track rail to the mounting plates (particularly the far forward ones) or swap them out for the Yakattack ones, which is what I did. That way you can try accessories, move/adjust them, and take them off. Swapping them all out for Yakattacks will set you back over $200 at full retail, but it sure does make it easier to figure out the rigging. As @Darren. mentioned, a crate is something you'll probably want. If nothing else, it keeps all your gear together rather than making 10 trips from the truck to the kayak when you launch.

I just wanted to thank you all and let you know how the jig did. I hoped to have caught a bunch, but we're having a pretty rough year for the river smallmouth here. I've been 3 times using this jig, and caught 1 dink on it. My total with all baits is 12 (none a foot long), with about 20 hours of fishing. So there's not a lot to tell; hopefully the catch rates of years past will return so I can do a worthwhile test.

You can take a swimbait hook without a keel weight and add what weight you want with the Bass Pro Shops hook weights. They're kind of hard to crimp on, I use lineman's pliers. You'll get snagged less with the swimbait hooks, but miss less fish with jighead, and so I only use the swimbait hooks in places the jighead gets snagged.

Whenever you get frustrated fishing, think of the traffic you'll be facing to get home. You'll make a few more casts, trust me. Welcome.

I'm glad that I read this just to learn from @WRB that Vixens still are being sold again. It looks like they're more expensive now, but so is everything else. I don't really know as I have an opinion on the feathered trebles, I don't always swap out my trebles, and some of my favorites have feathers (Rover), and some don't (Sammy). Interesting some always make sure there's feathers, some take them off if the bait comes with them.

I'm surprised so many are using the same spinnerbait as I do. I use the one where the larger blade (not quite a Colorado blade, but not a willow either) is gold, the rear blade is silver, and the skirt is white, orange, and chartreuse. I have one that has some grey tint to it with the blade color reversed, and have never gotten a bite going with it, go figure. This seems to be about the perfect size for the rivers I fish, although I use spinnerbaits in bigger water.

I have a St. Croix Premier, 7' MH/M. Honestly, I used it for almost everything from traps to spinnerbaits at one time. Then I got a great deal on a Legend Glass ($150) on a closeout at Cabelas, and since then I took the reel off the Premier to use for another rod. I don't know the Mojo line, but if other glass rods are like the Legend, you don't want graphite. The fish stay buttoned up better, I feel like I get snagged less, and the feel is perfect for a crankbait. I can't describe it well, but it just is.

Koppers certainly puts a realistic looking paint job on one. Traps aren't my favorite baits, and these are more than twice what a Rat-L Trap or Red Eye Shad cost, but if I see them on sale, I'll get one or two. It might give a little more confidence in this bait if I could get some consistent bites.

Gotta love someone says 'howdy' in their greeting. Whereabouts are you all from in VA?

I've seen one that's 280 cm, and that's a Cannon that adjust from 260 to 280. I have no idea what you use it for - maybe those Blue Sky boats? I know that some people like long paddles. I swapped with a guy who was fishing the same kayak as me in a group last weekend (he wanted to try my wooden bladed paddle), and he couldn't stand that I had it adjusted to 240 cm. His paddle, while a really nice carbon bladed job, was way too long for the way I paddle at 260 cm, and he's probably 2-3" shorter than me. With a normal forward paddle stroke with my seat in the high position, I probably had 2" of shaft in the water. Different folks hold paddles different ways, even kayak paddles.

@smalljaw67, I was planning on putting on a 7' ML spinning rod with a 6 or 8 lb flurocarbon leader and braid mainline (I think 12 lb, but I'd have to go look at the original spool, I just know it's yellow). I went out to the shop last night to see what kind of trailers I had on hand because what I ordered didn't arrive. I didn't have much, just some grubs that I could use for panfish. The way I plan to fish them, I was thinking the weed guard would just keep them getting pushed into something by current. If you see any flaws in my plan or anything else that might help, please let me know. Thanks.

I don't think that there's a lot of other ways to get an accurate ways to measure something that weighs that much. If you have live near a highway, you could ask the nearest truck weigh station if you can run across the scales and they give you the weight (doubt they will). Almost all truck stops have scales - when I was in the service, I did what they called do it yourself (DITY) moves. You get paid by the weight, and you get the weight from running the moving truck or your personal vehicle across truck scales before and after the you loaded it with your belongings. I think it costed less than $10 then, but I haven't used one in 10 years. This is the main company whose scales you find at truckstops (aroundnthe southeast, anyway). https://catscale.com/cat-scale-locator/

I think you might be talking about Eric Jackson. I know he fishes professionally now, but in his younger days he was one of the very best whitewater kayakers in the world.

It does look like a Ned rig jighead I use (Owner Blockhead), but even though the head of the jighead is lighter, the hook is at least a 1/0, maybe a 2/0, I don't remember. This micro jig has a tiny hook; I'm going to say a size 2. I plan to get some small craw chunks, but if there's nothing else that looks better in my plastics binder, I may try a TRD worm or something.