CountryboyinDC

Pitbull cutters. They have serrated edges and really do cut cleaner than even Fiskars kid scissors (go-to before these). Have no idea about longevity.

Lews BB1 would be my choice, followed by the slowest Tournament MB. The BB1 retails a bit higher than $150, but you can find either of them under $150 from a reputable merchant. I have an Abu on one cranking rod and a Chronarch on another, and while the Chronarch does better at casting lighter plugs, I have BB1s on every other cranking setup and like them better too.

Stren Original. For real. I have no idea what other monofil is like, I have only used Trilene and whatever was cheapest when I was a kid otherwise. I use monofil a lot for crankbaits and topwater (which is quite a few rigs), and other things in a pinch. I didn't think this was terrible line, but I don't see it getting much love by serious anglers.

I may live in the concrete (or actually 1/4 acre manicured lawn) jungle now, but I was born in Bedford County (a good part of my family still lives there). I used to fish out of a canoe a fair amount up around Eagle Rock, back when it was the smallmouth destination rather than the New.

That is one ugly rattle trap! Mine would surely be hung up in some grass where I couldn't get it before it got to this state.

I read this and wondered where there were Class IV rapids on the James. I haven't run these, but they're Class II (which can still be on the difficult side for someone just learning a SOT kayak). A lot of other good info in your post.

I've had a bunch of Ugly Stiks over the years, and they are pooh-poohed by a lot of folks. There's good reason - they're not particularly sensitive and they're quite heavy. But I think they retail for about $40 (I never pay more than $25), so they're my loaner rods and if I'm fishing for shad or bream I'll use one. And at the price point, they don't fail as much as the competitors - actually they're about as durable a rod as I've seen. For baits, you can use a 6' M (I think the action is about a M to MF on most), you could use if for about any bait 1/8 oz or so up to 3/4 oz. This wouldn't be what I'd throw a frog or swim jig on, and it's not going to be perfect for much of any technique, but as others have said crankbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater plugs and buzzbaits, jerkbaits/minnowbaits, and finesse baits should be fine (just make sure you're watching your line, you may not get a good feel for the bite).

I don't usually throw topwater plugs on straight braid. About every 3-4 casts, I end up with braid looped around the front treble when I've tried, worse with walking baits than torpeedo baits. So you might want a slower taper than I use. I don't think you need crazy sensitivity, and I tend to end up with my rod tip in the water if I go with a longer rod (I'm 6', fishing standing up in a kayak), so my rod is a St. Croix Premier 6'6 M/F.

That's right - I misspoke that in my post. The rings are surrounded by guide frames, but the rings themselves are not coatings.

I always have the hook point 'pointed' at the head, or the part you have the nail or screw in. My hook is held on by a piece of shrink tubing shrunk with a lighter. I don't know what happens if the hook is pointed the other way. Someone showed me how to rig a Neko rig this way and that's how I've always done it. I don't miss more fish than I do with other techniques, so I've never tried it another way. I get better hookups with a Neko rig than I did with a Buckeye spot remover shaky jig head (I feel like the presentations are about the same).

I didn't watch the whole video posted by Glenn, but it probably covers anything I could tell you. For me, putting the spinnerbait in the exact place I want it is important, more so than a lot of other baits. Often this means casting on the bank and gently easing it into the water. Getting this under a low-hanging willow tree or into some craggy looking cover is what makes this a great bait to use for me. The other thing is that regardless of blade type and depth, I don't do well with a spinnerbait unless there's a bit of cloud cover. I know someone on here surely has the opposite experience, but even with painted blades, I don't get a good bite going under bluebird skies. There are some great spinnerbait fisherman that can use these anywhere at any time and get bites, and I'm definitely not one of those. But if you're not using a spinnerbait, it's like not using a crankbait. You're really missing out on the best bait for a lot of circumstances.

I don't know - I've always tossed them after the paint comes off the head. Generally by the time I've worn most of the paint off, the skirt looks pretty beat up (as does yours), but the hook will still hold an edge. I'm thinking of testing that hypothesis rather than tossing the next one that gets to that state. Now that you say it, there are several baits that seem to catch more fish the more torn up they get (TRD worm, etc.).

The Avids have Alconite ring coatings, I think the Avid X has another aluminum oxide (read cheesy) insert. As for SiC rings, I still wonder why people are so hung up on these. I understand Torzite - it's harder and lighter than Alconite, but SiC is just harder and it cost more. Avids and Avid Xs are right at the $200 mark for your standard 7' rod - which rod offers SiC rings for that price (someone will probably mention one of the BPS lines, and that would be true). In Loomis, I think you have to go to the GLX line, and they start at double the price. For me, micro guides are not the ticket for most of my rods, so the Avid X is not a consideration, but I still think the Avid is pretty solid in its price range.

I don't have a Tournament Pro, but my choice would be similar - a Lews Tournament MB. Ijust bought another one (don't ask how many I have) when I saw them on sale at TW and 'needed' a frog reel. The Curado 70 might feel a little taxed with such deep water applications even if you don't run into line capacity issues using whatever strength braid you're using. I know I put a Metanium handle assembly on mine and that's really made a difference for me. That makes for a pricey Curado if you pay full retail (around $245 total).

Chatterbait. I'd given up on them back about 10 years ago after they burst on the scene and I bought 5 of them. Now everyone's throwing them again (and catching with them), so I've bought a couple and haven't thrown them a ton, but still zero on the catching. I need to get on the fish and switch to a chatterbait, but this far the getting on the fish has been elusive this year.

I use the Falcon Cara T7 finesse jig rod, which is rated MH/F. Power-wise, St. Croix might rate this a M or even a ML. It's 6'10, and I would have to measure the handle, but it's pretty standard for a rod of this length. It's got a Curado 70 reel on it. I can't explain why, but this taper is perfect for me; I feel like I'm able to make the bait do what I intended it to do. I fish the Jewell-tyle finesse jigs a lot in shallow rivers, and this is the ticket for me.

I threw the 130 and non-rattle type 110 on my frog rod 7'3 H/F) a couple of years ago. I stopped throwing them - the river smallmouth for some reason would end up with the rear treble in their eye about 1 in 3 fish. I felt like I wanted a heavy rod - even though we're talking trebles, they're very very thick-wired hooks. But I don't know what another rod would do. I didn't miss a lot of fish, so that's what I stuck with.

I've got a couple, and I don't get the distance I did with say my Abu or Lews reels. The spool doesn't hold a lot of line, so it all works out - don't use it for heavy crankbaits or something like that.

As Allen mentioned, the other options are the Native Ultimate or WS Commander for a canoe/kayak hybrid. Those are very dry when it's cooler out. I've never paddled either of the ones you've mentioned, in fact I've never seen either on the water. I've seen a number of Commanders and Ultimates, so it makes me wonder why the two you listed aren't selling. The OT Topwater is a modern sit-on-top, and I haven't paddled one of these either, but there a bunch in this price range just came to market. Standing and fishing isn't the hat trick it was 5 years ago, so there are a lot of kayaks under a grand from which standing and fishing is pretty straightforward. If you decide which type you want (hybrid versus SOT), that'll help narrow it down.

This is the bottom of the Jackson Coosa HD. I took a couple of pictures of the bow and stern too, but this is as far as I dare reduce the image quality, so I can't attach those. This is not a real popular design for hulls that I see these days; the bottom is relatively flat with only the shallowest of arches. It does have the 2 ridges sort of midway between the keel and the sides where most of the scuppers are. The center scupper is for the transducer, but I've never made use of it. Although not visible from this picture, this is a pretty rockered boat (shaped like a banana) for a fishing kayak. That's great for maneuvering in the shoals but makes for a lot of correction strokes in open water and/or wind. This thing weathervanes like a prospector-type canoe. For the dimensions, this is not a particularly stable kayak (I think I once taped it at 12'6 long and 33 3/4" wide at the widest point). Compared to the Wilderness ATAK or 12' Bonafide, the primary stability is considerably less. The reason I have the Coosa HD rather than one of those is for river fishing. This one can slide over rocks and has a has a shallow enough draft that it makes the stability trade-off seem worth it to me. Hulls with pontoon, catamaran, etc. style hulls tend to get hung up on shallow rocks more, and if you hit a rock on the right or the left, even if the kayak is keeps moving forward it wants to throw you off the opposite side. Many of them have sharp hull angles (the Bonafide in particular) that I worry about the plastic at those sharp angles being drug off on a rock. For the Coosa HD, I can stand in it and pitch from it myself, but there are a lot of guys (and one gal) that have this kayak that never stand in it. I'll take the Predator PDL out in bigger water, but the hull makes this the reason I have this for rivers.

I can't imagine the 70 being a favorite cranking reel - it picks up line pretty fast (I have the slower of the 2 ratios available) and doesn't hold much of it. I wasn't crazy about the feel until I switched out the handle assembly for the Metanium handle. Now I really like it for what I use it for which is on a finesse jig rod. I don't know about picky; when you fish the same 5/16 oz jig and trailer combo, you forget how hard it was a to set up. If you throw lighter baits and want a fairly fast (or very fast) retrieve, this one is really good at this price range. I have a new Chronarch MGL with a slower retrieve for crankbaits. I haven't fished it a ton, but it hasn't blown me away, and I think the retail price difference in these reels is $80.

If we're talking baitcaster, I use it once, and then take the spool bearings off and soak them in isopropanol or acetone. I dry them out, put them back with just a drop of spool bearing oil. Some of the reels come with grease on the spool bearings, and you can't expect to cast far with the spool bearings lubed like that. Everything else I leave until annual maintenance.

You're probably right. They're probably the micro version of whatever is on the Premiers. I know I saw an Avid X once, but wasn't interested because of the micro guides - I use braid to leader setups too often.

The Avid has Alconite (don't know about the Avid X, I usually don't use micro guides) coatings. Not as many guides as say a comparable Legend Tournament or the Legend Glass has, and they're full size rings, but the coating is Alconite for whatever that's worth. As others have said, St. Croix rods tend to heavy on the power side for the rating.

I try to fish only made in USA rods. I had thought of getting a BPS Patriot rod, but never did and it looks like they're being discontinued. The SiC inserts seem to me that they're expensive without a gain for bass rods anyway. Alconite is lighter, and I can't imagine that they're not hard enough for a bass rod. At the $200 mark, I'd say a 7' MHF St. Croix Avid. It may take some looking to find one right at that price, but I find I can use mine for a lot of different baits and don't feel like any are a huge compromise. That's a big plus for me fishing from a kayak.