Bankc

Yeah. This is why I have no problems buying off eBay, but I rarely sell anymore. I've been scammed too many times by buyers. As always, caveat emptor.

Ah, the old "prototype" loop hole. "I'm helping the company design a new rod. We're trying to figure out a way to make a rod that fishes like this one, but doesn't require a loan". Most of the top tier "professional anglers" are probably more "professional spokesperson" than angler. And that's not a slight against their skills or performance. I'm just saying that I'm betting a good number of the top names in fishing probably make more money in endorsements than through their tournament winnings on any given year. I'd be willing to bet that the guys on the fringe, just barely making the cut, are probably the guys who are fishing the best gear. They're the ones who are relying more heavily on tournament winnings as a share of income.

The more bodies of water you fish, the more you'll learn. If all you ever do is fish the same body of water, all you'll learn is how to fish in that body. You won't learn how to fish in general. But if you fish many bodies of water, then you'll learn how to fish anywhere. And that information will carry over to your usual lakes and ponds. You don't get better if you don't challenge yourself. Failure is only failure if you learned nothing from it. And success is only success if you earned it.

Same here. I use pool noodles up top with PVC centers for rigidity, and I still have scratches from the hull all over my roof. I like the fee pool noodles because they roll with the kayak, making it easier to slide. The down side is they also dent in my roof when it passes the center. It pops out again when I get to the edges, but it's still not good for my car. Either way, I'm more concerned about my transmission than paint and body. My next car will have a permanent roof rack.

I'm sure they use what they endorse, for the most part. Endorsements are not only big income, but they're a lot more consistent than tournament winnings. Plus, they're usually under a contract that requires them too. Sometimes, you can lose an endorsement if you get caught using a competitor's product. Besides, if you're good enough to be pro, then you're probably good enough to get by with most any gear. And if some piece of gear is bad enough that you think it'll cost you some wins, you're likely not going to endorse it. Usually, if it's that bad, you can talk the company into making a better product that you have faith in that you can endorse. That's usually a win-win for both parties. It's like this in most sports and other industries where endorsements are common. I've got a lot of friends in the music business. They'll play whatever they want in the studio and at home, but on the road, out in public eye, they play what they're paid to play. Privately they'll admit it's not the best product in the world, but if they didn't think it was good enough to get the job done, they wouldn't have signed that contract to begin with. Also, pros tend to worry less about gear and more about practice than most amateurs.

Nothing. I don't want to jinx it.

I thought this thread was going to be about how 78° and sunny is worse than 50° and 90% chance of afternoon showers.

Give that Lighting rod a chance first. That's my squarebill cranking rod (though it's the newer version). I find that for squarebills, I'm never really needing to bomb it long distances. Accuracy is more important. And the medium power works pretty well for most squarebills and shallow running cranks. The moderate fast action is also good for keeping the treble hooks pinned, and good for casting distance. I typically go with a longer MH/F for deeper diving and larger lipless crankbaits. I don't think you need a fancy rod for crankbaits. Anything that's rated for the lure's weight, and has a bit of flex in it, should work just about as well as anything else. Sensitivity isn't really a concern with crankbaits, and they make a lot of ruckus when they hit something anyway. What is important, in my opinion, is matching the line to the rod. I've fished a few where the rod was too stiff on braided line, and it was hard to keep the fish pinned. I've also fished a few where the rod was too soft and the light mono was too stretchy, and it was hard to get enough leverage to set a hook when the lure was further out in the water. So if you find a rod that's good, but not perfect, often times you can change up the line you're using to tweak it into perfection, or close enough.

Let the fish tell you what they want. I usually start off with black and blue. Junebug is my favorite, though purples work well too. Anything that's really dark. If it's really sunny out, or the water isn't too muddy, then I might start off with white are chartreuse. But if the water is stained to less than 2 feet of visibility, I'm pretty much sticking to these colors. I'll usually just try one light color and one dark color. If they don't bite either of those colors, I'll try something else entirely. The only times I'll switch from something like Junebug to black and blue, or white to chartreuse, is if I'm getting some, but not a lot of action on one color.

Three half hitches, alternating the direction (so they lay better next to each other), then I cut the braided line at the knot, and do three more half hitches, alternating directions.

There are several for me. I have no use for an extra fast anything. BFS is useless for me. I'd rather go with a spinning setup. And lastly, I have no use for a Heavy power rod. Though, to be fair, most of the waters I fish don't have a lot of thick vegetation, so a MH gets me through just fine. My mind might change on that one if I frequented different lakes, or if I owned a boat (instead of a kayak) and had room for rods that rarely got used. As it stands now, I can throw 60lb braid on a MH, and if I get hung up, just point the rod straight at the bait and winch it in that way, without putting a lot of stress on the rod. Not ideal, but better than leaving behind a more useful rod to make room for that one.

Agreed. But a sturdy frame will keep the body from flexing and keep the gears and stuff from coming out of alignment, which would increase their wear. Plus, it's usually a sign that the reel was designed with durability in mind. Not always, though. And yeah, spending $80 on parts to fix a $100 reel makes no sense. Though usually, a well made reel that's been taken care of will be old enough by the time it needs obsolete parts that finding a donor body won't be cost prohibitive.

That's helpful! Thanks! It seems like every time I buy a new rod, I switch brands. I might be trying to justify the new rod by saying "This one is different in every way from my other rods, therefore it can't be redundant". And the new rod will always have a different action, power, length or something as well, so it's kind of hard to learn much about the brand from that.

Good tips so far! Both tapping it and bending the tip on the floor make sense for getting a better idea. I'm a little leery of asking the salespeople for help, especially in a big box store. I had one talk me into buying a BPS Tourney Special rod telling me it was his favorite rod in the whole store. When I lost it in the lake, I can't help but wonder if my subconscious did that on purpose... Needless to say, I should have got a second opinion before I cracked my wallet on that one.

I'll admit it. I have no idea how to select a rod. I usually just figure out a price I'm willing to spend, determine the power, action, and length I want, and then try to find a few rods that match those criteria. Then it's off to the internet to read some reviews, many of which aren't helpful because apparently they'll let just about anybody on the internet these days. After that, I'm looking at the grips, reel seat, line guides, overall weight, color scheme, whatever, to suss out the winner. To me, the only benefit to buying in a store vs. online is that I can check to make sure there aren't any obvious defects in the actual rod, like misaligned line guides or epoxy blobs. What I can't figure out is things like how sensitive a rod is, how well it loads, how far it casts, how accurate it's lure, power, and action ratings are and how well it balances. I mean, I can bend the tip a bit, but I'm always too afraid to break it to put it under any real stress. And even then, I can't tell much. Are there any things you can do in a store to figure out how a rod will actually fish without actually fishing with it? I know a good rod when I fish it, but I can't make heads or tails of it until then. Anyone have any tips or tricks for selecting a rod in the store? Or is it all just a "when you've held a million rods and fished a hundred thousand, you kind of get a feel for it." type of thing?

I caught a 12 pounder on a Rebel Pop-R. Unfortunately, it was a catfish. That was the only time I've ever caught a catfish on a topwater. I was sure it was going to be my new PB until I got it up next to my kayak. Two kinds of laughs were had that day, just seconds apart.

I found a spool of 30 year old 6lb Stren mono in an old tackle box that I thought was empty. Used it to spool my crappie rod a couple of years ago. It worked great! A lot better than the brand new fluorocarbon that I replaced it with (memory issues on a small spinning reel).

A long lasting reel is more about how well you take care of it than how well it's made. Bass fishing doesn't put a whole lot of stress on them, assuming you keep up with the maintenance. Your best bet for longevity is to buy a popular model. That way parts will always be available, should you ever need them. Obviously, you'll want something that's well made to begin with, but most reels around $100 with a metal frame should last 50 years if you treat them right. I'd probably avoid the DC reels if you're worried about longevity. I know those DC reels seem to hold up pretty well in the near term, but my experience with electronics (and especially electronics and water) tells me 30 years of service is asking a lot. That, and parts might be harder to find in the future, as electronics tend to go through a lot of revisions as time passes.

If you're just wanting a trolling motor for a spot lock, you might try using a drift chute first. Or maybe a stakeout pole. Stakeout poles are a lot easier and quicker to deploy than traditional anchors, but only work in shallow water. A drift chute will allow you to control the speed and orientation of your drift, so you can make use of the wind and current, rather than fight it. Plus, if you use a drift chute along with an anchor or stakeout pole, you can control which direction you're facing (with some practice) when you're anchored, which isn't something you'll be able to do with a trolling motor with spot lock.

They're owned by the same people as OKC Kayak, I believe, which is near me. Good, knowledgeable staff. Prices weren't the cheapest, but were competitive. Definitely worth stopping by. But they didn't have much in the way of lower priced options. The last time I went in, the cheapest fishing kayak I saw was $1k. I might get my second kayak there, but I wasn't prepared to spend that much on my first kayak. Though, they do sell some used kayaks sometimes, and have very large selection. So you never know.

You'll want to remove everything from your kayak before you load and unload it onto the roof. Not just to make it easier, but to make it safer. I have everything on my kayak attached with some kind of quick release lock, so I can get it all set up or tore down in just a few minutes. You'll want to get the weight down as much as possible, and reduce the wind resistance as much as you can. Also, make sure your roof rack is rated for your kayak, not just the static load rating, but the dynamic load rating. Your kayak will put a lot more than 95-105 lbs. of force on your roof rack under normal driving conditions, and a whole lot more if and when you have to slam the breaks or swerve hard. Most roof racks should be able to handle a big kayak, if properly secured, but not all. So you'll want to check ahead of time before you commit to buying one. Especially on a sedan. I use a roller (actually my kayak cart strapped upside down on the trunk of my coupe) to get my kayak up and down from the roof. My kayak is 85lbs, and I'm about 180lbs. For me, it's doable, but it's not easy. My initial impression is that you could probably do it too (I was 145lbs/6'2" when I graduated high school), if you don't have any back or health problems, but it'll be tough. It's probably going to be a bit like lifting 60-75lbs up to your chest.

Oklahoma is pretty windy. I'd recommend something a bit bigger and wider than what $250 will get you. You'll want something with some stability so you can fish in the wind without worrying about being flipped. You don't need a giant ocean going kayak, but something around 12 ft with a weight capacity of around 350 lbs would be a lot more useful, as you could still safely take it out on those days when the wind is blowing in the 10-15 mph range, which seems to be most days around here. If your kayak is small and inheritably unstable, I don't think you'll find too many days on which you can take it out, unless you plan to stick to the wind protected coves, assuming you can safely get to one.

I usually go 30#, but I have a rod set up with 15#, and it works just fine. I find that with braid, if you spool it on tight, then digging isn't really a problem. It only seems to dig when you've got it loose underneath, and then crank something heavy on top. As long as it packed in tightly down below what you're casting from, it usually works fine. Now I wouldn't recommend going 15# with something like 10XD or anything where you're going to get hung up frequently. Also, don't set your drag too tight, or you'll dig that light braid. I occasionally will respool my braided line, as it starts to loosen up. I just tie it to an old saltwater reel, and reel it up, then set the drag on the saltwater reel, then reel it back to my main reel. I also find that if I tighten the line on the spool, I don't need a mono backing or electrical tape to keep the braid from slipping. Just let it spool up loose the first 5 or so revolutions, and then begin tighten it down after that.

I'd say it depends on what you're getting hung up on. What works well for rocks, won't work as well for stumps and grass. What works for stumps, won't work as well for rocks and grass. What works for grass, won't work as well for rocks and stumps, and even some types of grass. That's kind of why they make so many different types of jig heads. Besides the type of jig, you also have to adjust how you retrieve it through the cover. If you can rip it through the grass, I'll fish a lot more aggressively. If it's something like wood and brush, I'll retrieve it a little more gingerly, so I don't get it wedged in place. That way, I can let some slack in the line and have it slide out, and give it another hop to get free. In rocks, I'll hop it more than slide it. If it's thick grass, that I can't rip it through, then I'll try to find pathways through it or fish the edges.

How's your water clarity? That determines color for me. Most of the lakes I fish are stained to muddy, so my choice is either black or chartreuse, no matter what I'm throwing. If you water is clearer, I'd go with something that looks more like what the bass are feeding on.