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It's always hard to say because it's not just related to the size and weight of your kayak, but also the design of the hull, the balance point of the kayak, and where you install the motor. Minn Kota suggests that you'd need a 30lb trolling motor. They recommend that for up to 14' in length and 1,500 lbs. Therefore, I wouldn't go above 45 lbs, as you won't likely gain much (if any) speed, but definitely lose a lot of battery life trying to power anything bigger. I use a 30lb TM on my 12' kayak that weighs about 350 lbs., everything included. I don't fish rivers, but I've used it on big, open lakes in 25+ mph winds with white capping waves. It's plenty enough to get me back to the bank, against the wind and waves, in bad weather. It's also heavy enough that between it and the battery (which sits behind me), my kayak is unbalanced (stern heavy). Not enough to be dangerous, but enough to notice. I have no desire to go bigger, as I don't think it would offer me anything other than less money and range.

In my experience, price is a better indication of how easily a rod will break than power. Usually, more expensive rods break easier than cheaper rods. And it's not so much due to the price, but to the sensitivity and weight. More expensive rods tend to be more sensitive and lighter. More sensitive rods tend to be more rigid, so as to transmit vibrations better. That increased rigidity makes them more fragile (they transmit rather than absorb vibrations), as does the decrease in the amount of material used (which makes them lighter). Cheaper rods tend to be made out of fiberglass or composite materials. That makes them less sensitive and heavier, but it also makes them more likely to sustain abuse. And even the cheaper graphite rods tend to be made of less dense graphite, and thicker layers of it.

When I was a kid we used to fish a sewage lagoon about a mile through the woods behind our house. We'd catch small trout and freakishly large minnows there, usually using bread as bait. Not exactly an impressive story, but certainly I certainly won't ever do that again in my lifetime.

In Oklahoma, I'd recommend bucking down and learning one lake at a time. We have a lot of diversity to our lakes. So learning any one of them will take some time, but trying to learn so many different types of lakes at once would take forever. What you learn from one lake may not translate to the next six lakes you fish.

I've got a BPS Pro Qualifier 2 MH/F 7' in 2 piece. It's the nicest rod I have. That's not saying much, though. Since I'm stuck with 2 piece rods, I don't really get the option of using any of the high end stuff that people rave about. It's really sensitive and fairly light for a 2 piece. I did have one snap on me during a cast about a week after I got it. But, being BPS, they took it back with no problems and gave me a new one. The new one hasn't let me down.

Agreed. The biggest pro to a jon boat will be the ability to take others with you. If you don't do that, then a jon boat won't provide you much over a kayak. If you need a longer range, you can get a trolling motor for your kayak. Being able to stand in a kayak is nice, but it's probably not as useful as you think. I can stand in mine, however, I rarely do. There are a lot of advantages to sitting so close to the water. For instance, instead of flipping and pitching, I just roll cast with the rod parallel, about a foot above the water. Skipping is easier from a seated position in a kayak. And while it's nice to be able to see further, it's nicer to be able to sneak up closer without making any noise. But ultimately, you're best off saving for what you really want. You've already got a stop gap that's got you this far. Getting something that's closer to where you want to end up, but isn't still quite there is a waste of money that delays your end goal.

The cheaper the lure, the more likely I am to throw it into cover. And the more time it spends trying to get hung up in the cover, the more time it spends inside a fish's mouth. So I actually find cheaper lure more productive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_generation

To me, color falls into two categories. Contrast or natural. Either they're looking for a lure that looks like bait, or they're looking for a lure that stands out. That's about as far as I take it.

Cleaning and lubrications schedules will vary wildly depending on use, design, exposure to conditions, and the types of lubricants used. However, if you are familiar with your reel and pay attention to it's performance, it'll tell you when it needs to be worked on.

I whish I had adapted to the seasonal patterns better. During the first half of the year, I was too eager to ignore what worked in the past and switched my game plan to what I thought would be the new seasonal patterns, before they actually arrived. Then, in the second half of the year, I stuck too long to what worked in the past, and didn't change things up to account for the seasonal changes. Next year, I'm going to try to spend more time targeting deep water bass, and try to get better at dissecting lakes that I'm unfamiliar with. You can read maps all day and think you know what you're getting into before you arrive, but then you show up and the water temperature and clarity is different than you expected, as is the amount and type of cover. Suddenly, your old game plan is rubbish and you have to improvise a new one based on your old map studies and all of this new information being thrown at you.

The only good way to target bass over bluegill, is to fish in locations where bass will be, but bluegill won't, or use bigger live bait. So if all you have available is stuff like minnows and worms, then I'd fish an area, and if you're getting bit by bluegills, try a different area. And guys, it's a pond. Overfished, underfished, it doesn't matter. A suburban pond is basically an outdoor aquarium. It's a totally different scenario from a lake or river.

I fish year round. But for a lot of people around me, this is hunting season. That, and most of the locals don't know how to deal with cold weather. So this is the time of year that I can have an entire lake to myself.

This year, it's been a Strike King Tour Grade Football 3/4 oz. jig in black and blue with a 6" Zoom Lizard (with the head ripped off) in Junebug as the trailer.

That's mostly what I do. Except its with 4 rods and I keep two 3600 boxes under my seat. I typically limit myself to what I might use. That's mostly based on water clarity, so I have my stuff divided into two groups based on color. So if I'm fishing a dirty lake (most of the time), I'll bring along a bunch of chartreuse and black and blue lures. If I'm fishing clearer waters, I'll take along my more realistic looking lures. If I don't know what the water is going to be like, I'll bring them all in the car, and just pack what I think I might use in the kayak once I get there. But I always bring an assortment of cranks, jigs, spinnerbaits, plastics, spoons, topwaters, etc. You never know what's gonna bet bit until you throw it. I try not buy new stuff unless it's to replace old stuff. I don't have any lures that I haven't thrown in a year. If it goes a year without getting wet, I'll just give it away. That policy keeps me from wasting money on magic bullets, keeps me organized so I can find what I need, and keeps me from collecting a bunch of junk I'll never use. Plus, it gives me more courage to throw into places that I might lose a lure. I always have a few lures that I'm not too fond of, so I have incentive to try to lose them to allow me to buy something new and different that I hopefully will like better.

To me, it's less about technique, and more about water clarity. But even then, there's no real "must". About the only technique that I can think of where I wouldn't ever want to use a particular kind of line is fluorocarbon with topwaters. It can mess with the action. But even then, I'm sure I could make it work if I had to.

Half my lures are crankbaits. When the fish seem to ignore everything else, I can usually get at least one to bite on a crankbait.

Power fishing. Most all of the lakes near me are somewhere between heavily stained to muddy. So I pretty much stick to crankbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater, pitching jigs and occasionally jigging spoons. Though desperate times call for desperate measures. So nothing is completely off the table.

Every business has it's catchphrases and buzzwords. Just be thankful you don't work in the marketing department for a tech company. Then your job would be selling dreams that the average person never thought to have, using words they aren't meant to understand. In other words, it would be a hyperlocal, holistic approach towards user buy in of digital transformations through actionable insights to sync up core competency of the the end user in an effort to leverage greater return on investments.

I might check out the Berkley Lightning for that. They offer a 7' and a 6'6" medium power, moderate fast action that should work pretty well for jerkbaits. You won't get the indestructibility, but you will get a much lighter and more sensitive rod.

Always! If my kayak retains a lot of water after a trip, I'll usually tip it forward and drain out the water with a wet/dry shop vac. Though, most of the time, it stays pretty dry on the inside. It's usually the flush mounted rod holders that take on the most water.

I use a Bending Branches Angler Classic. It's a good paddle, durable, fiberglass handle. A bit on the expensive side, but not ridiculously so, and right around your budget. The blades are firm, the paddle is light weight, and it's held up to some abuse without showing any signs of wear. The only issue I've had is the two sections can be a bit hard to pull apart due to the tight fit. A little grease or oil fixes that though. I'd definitely avoid any metal handled paddle, if for no other reason than they can get hot in the sun, and cold in the winter. I'm 6'2" but have relatively narrow shoulders and short arms for my height. My kayak is about 32" wide. I went with a 260cm paddle. That's longer than what's recommended, but it allows me to paddle while standing up and makes paddling a bit easier on my back (which has problems). I can't generate as much power from my torso as some people, or I'll hurt myself. My seat also sits higher up than on a lot of kayaks, so the extra length is good for me. My point being, those charts telling you what length paddle you need don't really factor everything you need to consider into them. Your standing height and the kayak's width obviously play a role. But so does the height of your seat, your shoulder width, arm length, and torso height. Plus, your paddling style matters. They're a good starting point, but you really need to decide for yourself. Plus, those charts are usually designed with sit inside kayaks in mind, rather than SOT fishing kayaks. You just have to get some experience and figure out what works for you. Since you're replacing an old paddle, you have a baseline to go against. If your old paddle was too short or too long, then you know which direction to lean. If it seemed about right, then just get another one that length. Trust your own experience here. You'll be happier if you do.

I bought a bunch of different types of clips a while back. I've found the Mustad Fastach to be the easiest to use and most versatile. You may also consider using a needle or bobbin threader. It's just a compressible wire loop that can make tying knots easier. The problem with a snap is that you can get complacent about retying your knots, which can lead to a lot of knot failures. So a snap doesn't eliminate the need for knots, just reduces them.

1-1/4" ID PVC will hold many split grip bass fishing rods pretty tightly. 1-1/2" ID would probably do most of the rest unless your rod has abnormally large grips. I use 1-1/4" ID PVC for rod holders in my kayak. I cut out two notches at the top, one a bit lower than the other, so the trigger and part of the reel will sink below the top of the PVC pipe, giving it a bit more stability. They're probably about 1-1/2' long. It seems to work for trolling and just general rod holding. They don't rattle around much in there which helps to prevent them from getting dislodged by accident. However, without much clearance, you have to pay attention when placing the rods into the holders.