Bankc

Nice kit! Guitar has been my main instrument, and it's what I played semi-professionally. But I also play a bit of bass, drums, violin, mandolin, ukulele, harmonica, keyboards, saxophone, clarinet, and much more (thought not all of them very well). I had a 70's maple Ludwig chrome wrapped kit for about ten years, but sold it last year, so I am now sans drums. They took up too much room for how little I played them. I do miss them though. My neighbors don't, however. Is that an AC-30 in the background? I always wanted one of those! Several years ago I built an amp that was loosely based on that, but with a 6AU6 preamp and 6V6 power tubes. I also built it with a second channel that's loosely based on Marshall JMP 2203. I still have that guy, but never got around to building a cab for it. Electronics is another one of my hobbies. It's less Zen, and more math though. Fun, but not the same type of "loose yourself in the moment" feeling.

That's it, right there. Worry about reading the water and honing your techniques. If you're not to the point where you know what's wrong with your current setups, and thus would know exactly what you want to change to, then you're not at a point where you need to be worrying about what you have, or fretting over what to get. Plus, it's your first tournament. Don't worry about winning the whole thing. Just focus on learning the in's and out's of being in a tournament. Pace yourself. Have fun. Soak up as much knowledge as you can. Worry about the gear and stuff later.

For a long time, music was my hobby. l loved the feeling of being "in the zone" where the instrument becomes a part of your body and you don't think, you just feel and it all happens. It's like you're simultaneously completely focused and completely unfocused. You have no awareness of your body or what's going on around you, and you just merge with the song. Then arthritis stepped in and I can't play much anymore. It became frustrating instead of the zen-like escape it once was. So I got back into fishing, which I really enjoyed as a little kid. It brings back all of the same feelings. My mind is free to wander, yet I'm intently focused on every detail. I can see the bait underwater with my mind even if my eyes don't. I'm laser focused on every detail of my surroundings, yet I'm not actively thinking about any of them. I notice the tiniest of changes around me and react without noticing that I even noticed them. My response is autonomic like a knee jerk. And that's what I need in my escape from the daily grind of life: A new way of thinking and being. A superposition of total consciousness and torpid ecstasy. A chance to just exist in a moment, outside of my familiar reality, in transcendent bliss. To experience, first hand, the sublime.

A few months ago I was out on a lake that I had only visited once before. The first time I was there, I did pretty well. This time, however, I got skunked. I thought it was just the wrong day to be out on the water. On my way out at the dock, I talked to this guy with a sponsored boat and asked him how he did. He said he was getting bites left and right, maybe 50 in total, but wasn't setting the hook because he was prefishing the lake for a tournament, so he didn't know how big they were. I asked him for any pointers since I was new to the lake, and he basically told me to fish all of the places I was just at, and try all of the techniques that I had just used. He seemed like a really nice guy. But I decided to go ahead and label him a compulsive liar in my mind anyway, since I probably wouldn't ever see him again and I would have to reconcile with my severely damaged ego sooner or later.

I use a Scotty 141 Transducer Mount with the 368 Universal Sounder Mount. All I have to do is screw the transducer mount into the side rail track, and hook up the battery. I even have a smaller battery in an ammo box that I will occasionally use, that doesn't even require me to disconnect the battery. With that, all I have to do is unscrew the mount and unvelcro the box.

Yes, so long as everything has it's own fuse.

This is true. I've used a medium, moderate action rod that was too soft to use with mono. I had to switch it over to braid, or else I had issues setting the hook on fish with a lot of line out. I switched to a medium, moderate/fast and was able to go back to mono. My point being that the speed of the rod will depend a bit on the line you like to use, how deep of divers that you're using, and how far out you're going to be casting. With deep divers where you're going to have a lot of line out, I prefer a fast action with some stretchy line. Slower action rods tend to load up too much while the bait is out there anyway. With squarebills and medium to shallow divers, I prefer a moderate/fast. With topwater lures with treble hooks and really shallow runners, I like a soft moderate with some stretchy line, since I usually need less power to set the hooks, and more give since they're often more likely to breach. It's all personal preference, and that's where my personal preferences have led me.

There's a lot of truth to that. The first time I took my kayak out, it was scary how easy it was to tip over, so I didn't even try to stand. A few outings later, and I could stand, but was always being really careful when I did. Now, I feel perfectly comfortable on it 99% of the time. Every once in a while, a wake or wave will hit me just right and give me a scare. But I have yet to fall out of it. You just have to learn how it balances, and how you have to balance yourself within it. It helps if you keep a bit of bend in your knees at all times and go ahead and tip it over and keep it at it's secondary balance point. It's kind of like riding a bike or skateboard. When you first start, it seems almost impossible to maintain your balance. But after a little bit of practice (not even a whole lot), it becomes second nature, so you don't even have to think about it until something goes terribly wrong. And even then, you will usually recover before you have time to realize what happened.

This is what I did in the before times. It was an old boy scout trick I learned, along with wearing two layers of socks and putting a plastic bag on between layers. However, the last time I tried to buy nitrile gloves, the price was about 7x's the normal price, and they had signs all around it to make you feel guilty for buying them if you weren't a nurse or doctor. And this was in an automotive store! Maybe it's better now. The down side is they don't let the sweat from your hands out either. So after a few hours, your hands get really wet and stinky. It's sweat though, so it's not generally a cold wet. But it is uncomfortable. If your hands are going to be in the water a lot, (like mine are when I'm paddling my kayak) I prefer neoprene gloves. Your hands will still get wet with neoprene, but it does a good job of keeping the water in your gloves warmish. So you'll likely be a bit uncomfortable and have coldish hands, but they stay warm enough that you can go all day with them on. Once a normal glove gets completely soaked, it's worthless. If your up, out of the water mostly, like bank fishing, I really like the chemical hand warmers and a nice set of regular gloves. If you need to dip your hand in the water or tie a knot, just take your gloves off, then immediately dry them off and stick them in your pocket to warm them back up. I've also put those hand warmers in my boots to keep my toes warm, but you have to double up your socks so you don't burn yourself. So to me, there's no single answer that covers everything.

I believe that reel ratio isn't a big deal for most techniques. It's more personal preference than necessity. There are some exceptions, like you'll want a high speed reel for buzzbaits so they don't sink immediately, and a low speed reel for deep diving crankbaits or anytime you need lots of torque. But for most applications, I've found that it's not hard to speed up or slow down a retrieve with most reels to get the results you're looking for. The difference between a 6.8:1 and 7.5:1 is pretty small. The higher speed reel basically saves you slightly over one turn for every six full turns with the slower reel. Personally, those two ratios are interchangable to me. Now I'm not saying that you wouldn't enjoy one over the other. I'm just saying that either ratio would probably work well for you, and neither one would likely cost you any fish, with some slight adjustment on your part. So I wouldn't lose any sleep over this.

Hate it. But I do a lot of things I hate because I know the results will pay off. In the winter time, I almost don't even consider it fishing. I just think of it as casting practice. I lower my expectations to prevent frustration.

Last year had several nice days throughout the winter in which I could get out and fish. I didn't have much luck, but at least I was able to do it. Might just be bad luck. I do remember a couple of days this winter that made me say "if only I didn't have to work today". I even took a week and a half off from work at the end of year (use it or lose it), and spent it all doing chores around the house.

5 rods is my setup in my kayak. 7' ML/F spinning rod with a 6.3:1 for finesse 6'6" M/MF cranking rod with a 5.4:1 baitcaster 7' MH/F or M/F with a 7.3:1 baitcaster for general use 7' MH/F with a 7.8:1 baitcaster for jigs The last is either a 5'5" M/M pistol grip with 3.8:1 baitcaster for topwater or a 5'5" UL/M for crappie.

It's been really windy, all winter long. I fish from a kayak, so winds are especially evil. Today promised the best weather so far this winter (on a day where I wasn't locked into a prior commitment), so I decided to hit the local lake. The weatherman said 48 degrees and winds 10-15 mph. Well, when I got to the lake, they were actually 15-20, with gusts up to 25 (and It was mostly gusts)! Tons of whitecaps. And the direction of the wind didn't leave much protected from it. I fought the wind for two hours and squeezed out about 10 casts. I had to keep my head on a swivel and was constantly correcting my kayak to keep it angled against the waves. I couldn't anchor. I've done that before in high waves and winds, and it's too dangerous. And with the cold water and winds, it was just too unpleasant to push on. I got desperate. Did some stupid things. But I learned, once again, that patience is a virtue. I might have to wait another two months before I can try again. Guess I'll tear down and relube some reels in the meantime.

If you want a better reel, get the Curado. If you want a better deal, get the SLX.

Baitcaster for most everything. I only use spinning gear for situations where I need extra distance with light lures. I use spinning gear so rarely, that all of my spinning reels are set up left-handed, so that the crank is on the same side as my BC reel. I just don't feel comfortable switching cranking hands.

The law of diminishing returns. My theory on fishing gear is there's a minimum price of entry. It's around $30 to get you in the water on something that will reliably catch fish (though it will have flaws). If you double that, you get double the reel. So a $60 reel is twice as good as a $30 reel. The next step up, going to a $120 reel, only gets you around a one and a half times better reel. The next step, up to $250, gets you one that is one and a quarter times better than the $120 reel. A $500 reel is about one and one eight, so very comparable to a $250 reel. But if you want or need the difference between a $500 reel and a $250 reel, you'll have to pay for it. Rods are much the same way. Now, that's just a gross generalization. There are a ton of factors that can skew those numbers around one way or the other. It's anything but scientific. But the over-arching principle that the higher you climb up the price ladder, the less of a difference you experience between products, generally holds true. So I would expect a lot less of a difference between a $200 reel and a $400 reel, than between a $100 reel and a $200 reel, even though on the former, we're talking about a difference of $200 versus the $100 difference on the later. Still, if you want or need the best, you're not going to find it in a $200 reel.

Words to live by.

Flouro is more dense and a lot stiffer than braid. So straight fluoro will almost always have more slack line sensitivity. However, if you're using a hi-vis braid, then you don't need the slack line sensitivity. That's the point of high visibility, is being able to see the action, rather than feel it. I prefer the hi-vis braid when using light line, as light fluoro doesn't conduct vibrations well anyway. It's my preferred choice for finesse fishing. When going to a heavier line, the advantages of straight fluoro start to become more important than high visibility, like when fishing worms and jigs in deep water, where you won't see much line on the surface anyway. They're two tools that accomplish the same goals, but in different ways. Therefore, they each have a purpose. Kind of like a screw and a nail. Sometimes you can use either. Sometimes one is superior to the other. But both will always have a time and a place.

I've developed a hybrid approach. I cut out social media. Don't want it. I prefer to think of my family members as the good and decent people they used to be, and not the radicalized wackadoos they've slowly become in the last 15 years. It's easier to do if I limit my exposure to them and consciously steer their thoughts and conversations towards positive things. On social media, I have very little control over all of that, so I avoid it. But in person, I have more control. Plus, if I leave when an uncomfortable topic comes up, it makes an impact in real life, where on social media, no one notices you left. As for news, I scan briefly each day, but I immediately turn the channel or close the window if I get the slightest hint of bias or anything that will enrage me. Basically, if I can tell the journalist has an opinion, I'm gone. Gimme facts, not speculation. I can speculate on my own if it need speculating. As for forums, I tend try my best to avoid any with a toxic community. If someone goes off online on something that makes me mad, I try to avoid it, and remind myself how lucky I am that I don't have that much hatred in my heart. Even a measured reply will do more harm than good. Just realize they have issues and you're not there to fix them. Forgive, forget, and move on like it never happened.

Thanks for the review! I may add on one day, if I ever decide to permanently mount my motor to the stern. But right now, I have it mounted to the side, and the handle is just too convenient. If you want to, you could rig up another DPDT switch to bypass the PWM controller, and give you a direct connection option. Kind of like an overdrive switch to maximize efficiency at full power. Just wire it before the input of the PWM and have the two outputs wired so one runs to the PWM's input, and the other to the PWM's output (where the motor is connected). It might be wise to hook a pair of diodes in series at the output so that the bypassed power can't feed in through the output of the PWM. It probably wouldn't be an issue, but a little extra safety wouldn't be a bad thing.

Because their millionaires and custom bats only cost a couple hundred dollars.

Fuego CT. Nothing wrong with an SLX. But I am of the opinion that the Magforce Z and Air Brake braking systems are the best ever invented for BC reels. Then again, I fish in a lot of windy weather, so there's no such thing as a "set and forget" brake for me. If the brake isn't externally adjustable, it's disqualified. Even the SVS Infinity isn't as nice as the Magforce Z, in my opinion. But that's just my opinion.

Personal preference. For me, it's 6'6" to 7', with a preference towards 7'. But if all I can find are shorter rods, I fine down to 6'6". Even 7'3" would probably be acceptable.

Agreed. The hull on the Kokanee is designed for speed, not stability. If you look on the bottom, you'll see that it's got kind of a hybrid design. Most kayaks built for fishing use tri-hull designs for stability. So even though it's wider, that doesn't mean it's more stable. So figure out that first. You may find that it gets dangerous with a higher seat. You'll also want to figure out where to place the seat before installing anything, because that kayak was designed for two people, not one. So you'll likely be looking sit somewhere in the middle, between the two seats, or else the kayak might become unstable. If you haven't use it yet, you might consider taking it back. You can get a Lifetime Teton Pro or Yukon, which is a bit more costly up front, but it already comes with two rod holders, a track for mounting accessories, and a comfortable stadium seat. So it might not be that much more expensive in the long run. Plus it's going to be a lot more stable, as it's designed for one person, and it's rated for 350 lbs (though I've seen some literature stating 375). It's also designed to allow you to stand up in, though not everyone can. But the fact that it's designed for that speaks to it's stability. You might also check used kayaks in your area. You might find one that while the Kokanee is rated for 425 lbs, it's rated for 425lbs that are spread out in two areas, not concentrated in one. So while it might not sink, it might roll pretty easily, or not track worth a darn.