CountryboyinDC

A bow guard like this (the black thing), or a keel guard just for the bow aspect of the keel? I'm trying to understand what to compare it to.

That whitetail is making an example out of that hawk...DANG! Even the other deer is like 'I don't want any of what that hawk got!'

Mine are kind of stuffed everywhere - under the carport, hung in the garage, in the basement. I told my wife that I'm planning to get a Dagger Code (whitewater kayak) whenever they're available around here, and she said 'I guess it will be sleeping next to me, there's nowhere else for it.' I'll find a space.

Sure, give it a try. I think most anglers that use find that flippers will make the propulsion/control aspect a lot easier.

On the Pigeon River? We stay in a place off 441 a mile and a half or so just south of Walmart, Longhorn, etc. I've often looked at the river there and it doesn't look like smallmouth territory, of course we go in late August/early September.

I like the area, last time we stayed in Sevierville. I share @gunsinger's sentiments about Gatlinburg. I think the best parts are hiking, biking Cades' Cove, and a little whitewater paddling on the Greenbrier. The only fishing my family did was at the English Mountain restaurant (my son took his Paw Patrol combo and caught the trout we ate with some Powerbait). I saw a bunch of people with fly rods where we would go hiking casting. Never saw anyone catching. @TnRiver46might have the record for that area. I do like the colorations on that 2nd smallie.

People definitely fish from a tube, and I've fished from a OC-1 whitewater boat, so you can probably fish from about anything that floats. The biggest issue I can see is it's probably going to be awkward, unless there's some suspension system system to make it so you aren't relying on your armpits to keep you in the tube. Sitting in the tube, you'll have no control of where it goes. The biggest issue for me would be where to put stuff. Even if you only fished what was on one rod, where do you put it while you're unhooking fish? This and many other questions would surely come up. It's an interesting thought, but probably the reason more people don't do it is that it doesn't work so well. Truck inner tubes are cheap though, and I've definitely been wrong before.

I don't doubt that being a fishing guide is not big money. Honestly, at $550 (I understand that I also tip), with bait, boat payments, insurance, marketing by whatever means you do, fuel, and tackle expenses, you won't be paying yourself a huge salary. Like a lot of other endeavors, you have to love it enough to suffer through the small pay. Definitely bass fishing guides' rates are a lot less than a saltwater trip. I appreciate the offer on the contact. I'm going to see what else materializes, I don't want to ask any favors from folks that aren't in the business.

It depends on what kind of tire you're pumping up. If you're in a S-10 with OEM tires, one of the cigarette lighter plug in models work. The guys and gals that air down their huge tires for off-roading and then need to pump them back up to drive home either have a compressor that's powered by a pulley that's connected to the engine flywheel or one of the Viair portables https://www.viaircorp.com/portables. The cigarette lighter models can take as long as @TnRiver46's preferred method on a larger tire, especially from full deflation.

I fish the Baby D Bombs most often on a straight 3/0 flipping hook (Eagle Claw Laser Sharp) with a pegged 1/4 oz worm sinker. I haven't had the luck that some have fishing them other ways, nor have I with the Sweet Beaver. Something about pitching them to shallow cover has worked for me, and I use a color that's sort of blue on one side and green pumpkinish on the other. Only 1 fish this year on it though.

Yeah, Nick had said that he would do whatever (shiners or artificial), and obviously the guy knows his stuff. He asked me about what I usually do, and said based on my experience it may be best to use shiners (that'll put a dent in the fishing ego, but I liked the honesty). It's just a shame that he gave up the guiding before he had a chance to take me. That's why I'm a little hesitant to go with Lee Harrelson. It seems like he only does artificial, and my priority there would be to catch fish rather than use a particular bait.

I'm headed to Orlando for a family vacation toward the end of the year, and was looking forward to some guided fishing. I booked a couple of days with Warrior2bass, but he's now moving to Tennesee and getting out of guided fishing. Maybe he plays a mean steel guitar and is headed to Nashville to chase that honky tonk dream, but props to @Revival for pointing out he posted that on Instagram. Chuck Pippen also seems to be out. I've called, emailed, and texted, and haven't been able to get him to tell me if he's available or not. I saw a recommendation for Arti-FISH-al Entertainment/Captain Lee on here not too long ago and I'll explore that further. I wanted to see if anyone else had any other guides that they'd fished with in the area that they'd had luck with. For me, I'm not adamantly opposed to fishing wild shiners, but I don't do it when I fish by myself, and I probably would prefer fishing artificial. I am looking for the chance to catch big fish (not necessarily a lot of fish), am not taking the family (or anyone else) along, want to fish about 8 hours a day, and above all don't want to spend the day with a jerk.

In all seriousness, with 50+ lb braid, you can cut your hands up pretty badly, even 30 lb can be tough (I'm almost always with a leader). The places I fish with the heavy braid I bring an entrenching tool (folding shovel for non-military types) or a baseball bat. They're not necessarily just to break hung braid - they're used on any snakeheads I catch too.

I agree with @Stasher1, if you're going to be doing more recreation than fishing, a rec sit-in kayak (SINK) will stand to be more satisfactory for you. The framed seats are more comfortable in general, but that is a very broad generalization. A couple of SINKs with very good seats that are not framed seats are the Wilderness Systems Pungo (would be my choice) and the Old Town Loon. They are both used by anglers quite often. If you're determined to get a framed seat there are SINKs with those too. Bonafide makes the EX123, which I still haven't paddled, but my cousin has so I may get to before the year is out. It is supposed to be a decent paddling kayak. Jackson makes a couple - the Tupelo and the Tripper, which is realistically just a Kilroy (discontinued) without all the bells and whistles. These boats all paddle better than the boats you've mentioned. If your primary focus is fishing, and not paddling around, the recommendation would change. Some people also hate the feeling of being low to the water, or 'inside' a kayak, even with the enormous cockpit openings of all the SINKs mentioned. In these cases, there are limited kayaks with a frame seat that paddle better than poorly. The Crescent Litetackle is about the only one that comes to mind (there are others that paddle as well or better, but have no framed seat). Jackson made the Cudas, Wilderness the Tarpon 130X, and Native made some in the Slayer line that were fair paddlers. These are all discontinued, because anglers now demand more stability and use pedal drives or trolling motors to propel the latest 'floating dock' shaped kayaks. I'm guilty of it myself. Both my fiahing kayaks, an Old Town Predator PDL and a Jackson Coosa HD, have about as much glide as a stick of firewood. They're also heavy. If fishing becomes your focus, kayaks like these start to shine. But if you're an occasional angler, there are better choices. And the ones you've mentioned are mostly 10', which really don't paddle very well.

Definitely don't make the mistake thinking this only happens to people that are inactive - pretty much anyone can get altitude sickness. I treated several Rangers who were physical training (PT) studs in Afghanistan (one traced back to having malaria which looked like altitude sickness until we got him back to Bagram). 7,000 feet is not super high, so I doubt you can ask a physician to prophylactically prescribe Diamox, but it may be worth talking to your primary care physician about it if you're worried. The biggest thing is giving your body time to adjust - at least a day or two - before you set off climbing mountains.

I can see how it might read that way - I often write in a way that merges thoughts without giving the reader a clue that I'm doing it. When I fished Briery Creek at night, I was an undergrad, working one summer for a framing contractor and we spent a couple of months in Farmville framing apartments. It was a long way from where we met up mornings to the worksite, so for 4 or 5 weekends I drove to the worksite and brought my canoe and camped Thursday and Friday nights at Briery Creek, fishing into the wee hours of the morning with another summer worker, although he would almost always bail on Friday after work. I have been back several times more recently, and I'm not sure that camping is allowed anymore, but everything else seems to be the same more than 2 decades later, except the slot limits have changed. I'm too old now to work all day and fish half the night, and I have only fished a few times at night from a kayak here, and those were on the tidal Potomac and Burke Lake. I guess it depends on the body of water - for example today I didn't use the anchor, but I often use anchor pins, an anchor, or both, even with the pedal drive kayak. I find it's easy to forget how much you're moving when you're focused on something else, especially in the dark.

No, you can fish 24 hours from the bank, and I believe for an hour after sunset unless that's changed.

Headlamp is key, really need an anchor light (or whatever they call that on a kayak, mines a folding one from YakAttack that has a flag mount too). Still, you shouldn't expect that power-boats travelling at speed will notice you, so consider that. I'd also bring along an anchor for the same reason as you do during the day - it's even easier to end up in a tree while you're tying on baits at night. I used to fish a smallish lake with a 10 or 15 hp restriction (Briery Creek), and night fishing was a lot of fun. I'd keep the bright lights in front of you to a minimum unless much of the lake is lit. Once your night vision is gone, it stays gone for a while.

Just get you some Dickies like EJ. https://majorleaguefishing.com/angler-columns/2018-09-13-jumpsuits-patches-and-bell-bottoms/ I agree that the shirt in the picture might be a little too nice to fish in.

Having the Zoom floating toad, I'd say don't get your hopes up too much, even though this one is hollow. I used that one with a bunch of different hooks, ended up with a 5/0 swimbait hook texposed with the hook past the surface maybe 1/4". Still missed quite a few fish. If they somehow have the body collapse to allow good hookset like a hollow body, it would be a bass (and even more a snakehead) magnet at times. But the body collapsing is mighty important, the only reason I use Livetargets over Pad Crashers.

Looks like that hurt. I hope the hand surgeon (I would go see a hand surgeon over a general orthopod for that) can get you straight. I know that I get frustrated easily with the quality of parts (from auto parts to plumbing fixtures and everything in between). We (collectively, maybe not you and I) have asked for it. We want cheap with free delivery, and then when it's made from pot metal and poorly moulded plastic, we complain but don't speak with our pocketbook.

Since you're done here, you can start on my emails. Outlook says I have about 12,000 unread ones (of course work archives the ones over 365 days old, so I'm sure there are more).

I use a trailer - a trailer hook. I mean you have what looks like a prop wash behind the bait, squealing...what else could you need to make a snakehead or bass angry enough to take a swipe at it?

Tatsu is buy 2, get 1 free at FishUSA. I'm not sure if that's anything special - but I need some fluro and this brings it closer to Trilene 100% (although I almost never buy that stuff at full on retail). https://www.fishusa.com/?utm_source=bm23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=FishUSA&utm_content=07/13/2021&utm_campaign=2021.07.13+AM&_bta_tid=37269055211401964119075097201804546440422780610143623215864676581121190740455387874017432803231432526789896

Honestly I think that jighead baits and exposed hook points are asking for a headache in grass or heavy current. I use an offset 1/16 oz Owner jighead and I'm sure I miss more fish, but I'm not getting snagged every cast. Shakey might be another way to go about it, just not with a 2 1/2" stickbait.