michaelb

Try them with a screw lock hook instead. I do prefer belly weighted.

Another key technique is just to throw the senko first.

Yes i swap inline singles for trebles but mostly for dealing with pike. Bass are pretty easy to release generally but i still hate having tail trebles swinging around. I’m on a kayak so ease of release is important. I haven’t noticed a big dif in hookups but i use single hook swim baits spinnerbaits and senkos all the time and they hold fish.

Don’t we mean inline singles not circle hooks? If so, yes.

Have you looked at the Jackson bite? Looks like one of the best "simple" kayaks. Crescent lite and their boats too.

How tall are you and how much do you weight. A 12 ft boat is much larger than a 10 and so one reason to go to 12 is to better fit you. The other reason to go 12 is they paddle farther faster and handle waves better. But for an extra boat you take out on smaller water for local trips, the 10 may be adequate.

Yes i do. You can keep the front treble and just put a single on the rear too. I do this for pike and singles catch bass just fine too. And way easier to release pike and the net (bass are usually easier to release generally)

Why are blaming the pickerel for this? Are u seeing them hit? I would think pickerel usually hit hard and would gobble those up hook and all. Unless this is what remains after u land it? I thought i lost my tails to perch nibbling.

The disco is a real nice boat. And if you can fit it could be paddled backwards. But i would be more likely to do that on flat water when you need to cover distance. Is there moving water on the river ie current? Moving water and eddies can be very deceptive. with the weight difference and river current he may losing control of the front of the boat and once it starts coming around it is hard to stop. If there is current you may need to help. So “draw” to pull the boat your side and to “pry” to push it away. Plus he does need to rudder to hold the boat in line.

As hinted at above by the canoe experts, there are three factors at play here: trim, wind, and skill. Trim refers to the weight balance of the boat, front to back. You want that even, or as even as possible. Can you paddle your canoe backwards, so he in the back on the front seat and you in the front on the back seat? that moves his weight in and your weight out. Adding weight to the boat may help too. When there is wind, the canoe will spin so the heavy end is upwind. This is called weathercocking or weathervaning (if balanced trim, the boat still turns into the wind). This is a constant battle in any canoe and one main reason to balance the trim. If you were paddling into a strong headwind, you may actually want him in front and you in the back, since then your weight in balance counteracts that effect (or paddling as you are when running with the wind). For skill, the boat (canoe or kayak) turns away from the side of the paddle stroke. I assume by spinning to the rear, you are spinning to your paddle side and away from his. A major reason this happens is because the positions are not balanced by definition: the rear paddler is stronger and the front paddler weaker, by where they sit in the boat. One way to fix what you are seeing is for the front paddler to paddle harder, or for the rear paddler to skip a stroke every other stroke. Or for the rear paddler to know how to correct for this effect, using a j stroke or a stern rudder.

The simple answer is to put you in the back yelling at him up front to paddle harder.

Why would we think off shore bass in different locations feed at significantly different times? That doesn’t make sense to me, but i haven’t figured this out either. Fish may hang at different depths at times during the day so finding that at any time may be the answer.

I don’t have pedals i move my kayak the old fashioned way, but i think boat speed is determined by length and width. So its not a matter of gearing to go faster your boat needs to be longer and more narrow. I can paddle my fishing kayak to cruise around 3.5 but not for more than a mile or 2.

I use the vmc ones. The 1/2 has a 5 0 hook and should hold a big ez hopefully. I use skinny dippers but did buy the big ez before. https://www.rapala.com/vmc/jigs/swimbait-jigs/sbj-swimbait-jig/SBJ+Swimbait+Jig.html?cgid=vmc-jigs-swimbait&taglist=VMC|Jigs|Swimbait Jigs#start=1&cgid=vmc-jigs-swimbait

Does this mean you tie a loop on the main line and a loop on the leader and then join them using a loop to loop? Fly fishing rigs may do it that way.

I only use closed loops. I am glad to see there is a supposed reason for open loops though; i have never noticed a difference in catching fish or vibration. I use a leader and a snap because I use my pike rod and that has a leader tied on. Pike and bowfin can easily straighten open loops and leave you with pieces and parts. I like the strikeback spinnerbaits that have the swinging hook too. Not sure if that inceases vibration but it definitely helps catch and hold fish.

Car topping and stable don’t go together. Many of these kayaks can be a beast to get up on roof alone; but not impossible. How far are you paddling and how skinny is the water you want to paddle? How big and strong are you? jackson bite or crescent lite??

Yes x1000 but what about the stress of staring out at another month of ice???

It seems like there are even more opinions about fishing lines than there are fishing lines. And there are a lot of different lines to try. But I have mostly decided that I like Advance best as a mono, so more than Elite or siege or the various p lines and copolys and monos I have tried. It definitely has less stretch (than elite for example) and seems pretty tough (but not as tough as siege or cxx), while handing pretty well. It did coil up more at the end of last season, so that may mean I may need to change it up once during the summer (which may be normal for a mono).

Yes, it does. Fishing SUPs generally consist of a larry chair or cooler strapped to the top. This has kayak shaped hull on the bottom though for rough water and waves. As a design for fishing, a flat top you stand on is clearly better than a bath tub you sit in. I don't have one, but self rescue (the act of climbing back on the boat and also getting it back upright) is much easier on a paddle board vs a kayak, and can be a major safety issue with hobies, as they are so big and heavy that it can be challenge to get them to flip upright, and the more bath tub shaped the boat, the harder it is to get back over that side. You can stand on top of that lawn chair. You can also sit on top of the back and fish. No other boat (that I know of) offers that, so yes, that is the best designed kayak fishing seat that money can buy. Other brands have followed this design somewhat so there may be some other seats you can stand on and fish as an elevated platform (I don't know if Kaku really invented that idea, but seems to have certainly pushed it forward). That seat slides on track, which is a hugely important feature that many boats skip, and allows you to push the seat back and fish from the center, and adjust the seat and the boat trim if you have gear (or a dog or a kid) on board.

As i said above, i agree with the idea of trying renting and testing kayaks for fishing. Because we all have different preferences and needs and there are major differences in between boats. i think the kaku zulu is the coolest/best fishing kayak money can buy. I don’t have one though and would love to try one. It can come with peddles. There may be situations where a hobie pa is better, but i am not sure about that, and pa costs twice as much. A core question is how much are you going to stand (almost always better for the fishing) and how well suited the kayak is for standing and fishing. Flat and smooth and simple, like say a bass boat, is better for the fishing vs a heavy plastic bath tub.

Salt strong tested the gt vs the fg and the gt was much weaker. But the difference may have been the lines. I think the igfa results mentioned here are for 50 lb braid to 80 lb mono. Salt strong tested 10lb braid to 30. plus there can be variations in how skilled someone is at tying each knot. The gt knot doubles the flouro/mono line into a knot so it cant be as small as the fg.

I know everyone here is looking to spend your money, and I love shopping for more kayaks and these are all really nice boats, but I would much rather have you try some first before you drop $3000. Is there any way you can demo or rent to try some first? If you were nearer to me I would take you out in one of my five kayaks (Highland silver lake looks really nice and just perfect for kayaking). Everything is a trade off in terms of cost and weight and speed and size and features and I can change my mind back and forth about what I think while I am actually sitting on my boat.

Maybe not, but it can be hard to tell too. When trolling on the kayak, lots can go wrong, so I have to put the paddle down and get the rod out of the holder and not have the boat spin the wrong way, plus sometimes the fish decides it is going to charge toward me and I think it is off. So while I may lose fish at times, that may be user error. When I first started swapping, I would leave the front treble on, leave the middle empty, and just put the single on the back. That works great too, and I have caught tons of fish that way, pike almost always on the front treble (and bass often on the rear single). Last summer I did the swap on the big pike/musky lures, so suicks, but did use them very much and didn't really catch anything. For casting, I mostly use single hooks too, so senkos, swim jigs, spinnerbaits, and those catch and hold fish just fine. But for releasing, the singles make a huge difference. Way easier way safer. Pike usually release themselves once in the net, and so there is nothing I have to deal with. But for me, a mouthful of trebles + tail hooks slinging around + teeth and gills and other nasty stuff + endless tangles in my net= not going to use multiple trebles again.

Koz is giving lots of good advice. Your budget opens up most of the best kayaks but what is available this year may be limiting. However most pedal kayaks weigh a ton and getting even a 80lb kayak on a roof rack can be very hard (alone). The types of water you are fishing are small right? And so you don’t need to travel far to fish and wont be dealing with wind and waves. so you may want to think about getting a boat that could be converted to peddle later. Maybe you will prefer a trolling motor instead. I would look at the nucanoes. I like the jackson yupik and the bite. Generally i like open boats with clean simple decks and rails for rigging.