Bankc

I use a modified Uni. It's basically just a regular Uni, but I loop it through the eye hole twice in the beginning. It works pretty well with braided line too. Though I'll say I haven't had issues with the Palomar on FC Sniper. The trick is to keep the line from getting twisted so the knot lays flat. Though that's often easier to say than do, so I don't use it that often.

I like short handles for crankbaits when targeting suspended bass where I won't be bumping into structure. I feel like it's easier to impart action on the line naturally with a shorter handle. It makes the motion of reeling less comfortable and more erratic. It makes sudden jerks and pauses with the handle easier, sometimes to the point of where it happens even when you're not trying. Swimbaits can be the same way, though usually I try to impart their action by bouncing the rod tip, so I don't necessarily prefer shorter handles for them. But if I wanted to try a different technique, that's an option. For most other applications, I prefer the longer handles. It's easier on my forearms, even if it is more motion (and wasted energy). It just makes things more fluid. Though, I'll be honest, back in the day when all handles were short, I didn't have that problem. I think you just get used to something, and then using something different that interferes with your learned muscle memory can be frustrating.

Growing up, all we ever used was 6 or 8# mono. Braid and fluoro wasn't really a thing (I mean there was silk, but nobody used it). You could go up to 10#, but that's where the line started getting thick enough for the fish to see and start being weary of. Plus, it messed with your lure's action. So 8# was usually the tops. Besides, that's what the drag was for. I think the softer, fiberglass rods helped too. But losing fish wasn't really an issue. I mean, it happened. But it rarely happened because your line snapped. And usually if it did, you did something wrong. These days, everyone's used to super stiff and responsive rods, heavy duty line, and power fishing techniques. The only reason reels still have drag is to protect the ultra-fragile rods we use. Otherwise, how is a 10# bass gonna break a 30# line, let alone 65#? Sometimes these days I'll see someone land a bass and just ski it back to the boat. No fight. No play. Just yank it in as quick as a crankbait that got fouled up on it's own line during the cast. I'm not saying the old way is better. In fact, I prefer the new ways. I'm just saying that it worked back then and it still works now. Sure, you have to set your drag a bit looser, let the fish run a bit more, and work them a bit better to keep them from getting themselves tangled up in stuff, and let the rod do more work for you. But that's all easy enough. And, if you're anything like me, and you're fishing a finesse rig these days, you're probably doing it because you have to and not because you want to. That means that any fish you lose because your line is too thin or whatever, you probably wouldn't have even gotten a sniff from on your power rig. So it's not so much "losing a fish" as it is "almost getting another bonus fish".

You've had multiple offers already. So, it's safe to assume that when you are ready, you'll be able to move the boat fairly quickly and easily. So I wouldn't mess with anybody right now. At this point, any "pre-deal" you make has a good chance of backfiring and causing more problems than you need. In fact, I'd take your listings down. Leaving it up will only anger potential buyers and limit the pool of possibilities when the time comes for you to actually sell it. Yeah, I know it's a bit of a headache to post, unpost, and then repost. But it's worth it. The last thing you want is to anger the wrong guy, who then decides it's their mission to mess with you. So they offer you a ton of money, and then drag you around for a while, making you jump through hoops, until you finally get angry yourself, and decide to try to find someone else. Then they contact you under a different name, and replay the whole game, keeping you on the hook thinking you've got a sale, until they get bored with their revenge and finally move on. People are crazy these days. They will literally waste their lives just to bring misery to others. It's best to be straightforward and honest. And while posting a boat that's for sell that you're going to hold on to for another two months is honest, it's not straightforward. At least not in the "I need it now and shipped next day" world that we live in.

October 5, 2019 to May 20, 2020. That's about 7-1/2 months. I probably made 30 trips, averaging about 5 hours a trip, and didn't get a single bite. Granted a lot of that was in the winter. And they were all at these two local lakes which are notoriously difficult to catch anything other than catfish in. And they were lakes I was unfamiliar with. But I eventually learned them. What threw me off was the lakes are really dirty. Visibility is often under a foot, so I wasted way too much time using loud or vibrating lures. It turns out that because the lakes are within city limits and heavily pressured, the fish had grown wise to the noises and learned to avoid anything that made them. I eventually learned that if you want to catch fish on these lakes, you have to use silent lures, choose your color wisely, pick apart every square inch, and move fast and far. And even then, you're not gonna threaten a limit. But at least you'll feel a tug on your line a couple of times before you're done for the day.

I lost one a few months back. I got hung up on a submerged stump and paddled my kayak over to area above it to try to get it free. It was next to some tree branches that extended out over the water. Anyway, I wound up having to cut my line and when I pulled away, the tree branch grabbed one of my other rods that was sticking up and pulled it out. I didn't even realize I had lost it until I got to my next spot, about 30 yards away and couldn't find it. I went back to look for it, but the water was about 8 feet deep and there was a bit of a current. I spent a good hour dredging the bottom and searching on my sonar, but never found it. I returned home early and angry that day. The good news is it gave me an excuse to upgrade! So all in all, it was a positive experience!

I'm not too worried about damaging the battery. I've got 100 AH to play with, and probably won't run it for more than an hour per trip. That leaves me about 2/3rd left in the battery. Plus, I can't get a car battery to last longer than three years, so if I get two out of this one, I'll be happy. Also, any idea why this Minn Kota suggests a 50 amp fuse for this motor? That seems really high for a 30 amp motor. All of their recommendations for their other trolling motors only go about 8-10 amps over the normal max draw. I'm gonna try a 40 amp fuse and see how it works. I've got a bunch of them already anyway, so that would save me a trip to the store and a few bucks. And if it doesn't work, then I know how to fix it. It just seems odd to me, unless the actual draw is actually a good bit higher than what's published.

You're not wrong. I guess I was just approaching it from a different mind set. If you approach it by model year, you're right, they definitely hold their value better. Your typical ten year old boat will have much more value than your typical ten year old car if they cost the same amount when new. However, a car with 3,000 hours on it is probably going to be more valuable than your typical boat with 3,000 hours on it, if they both cost the same new. So when you factor in the initial cost of purchase, the value of that time you used it, the cost of maintenance and ownership, and compare that to it's resale value, I feel like boats don't really hold up that well. Now, I'm not saying boat ownership is a bad idea. I'm just saying that if you don't have a lot of money, then there are probably better ways to spend your limited funds other than a boat, unless you really, really love being on the water.

My Bass Pro seems to be getting large shipments in of certain things from time to time. Back in June, I went in there and they were almost out of fishing rods. Then went again in July, and they were stocked up about as full as ever. They were low on reels though. The lures were hit and miss. They'd have a bunch of one brand and be completely out of another. My local Academy and Walmarts are hit and miss depending on their location. One Academy is so bare, you'd think they'd stopped selling fishing gear if it wasn't for all of the empty shelves and labels still up. The other, which is newer and smaller, is stocked like it's a normal year. Nothing is in short supply. Same with Walmarts. Some are pretty well picked over. Others are pretty well stocked. I think it's just a matter of hitting up the areas that most anglers wouldn't think of. Kind of away from the heart of the big cities, but also away from the small towns. The suburbs on the outskirts seem to be the best bet. Especially if the stores aren't near a highway or interstate, and are a bit more difficult to get to.

Get a kayak unless you have a ton of money. Boats are crazy expensive. And they don't hold their value well. Kayaks seem to hold their value pretty well and are a lot smaller investment up front. Plus they're less costly to maintain. And, owning one will give you a sense of whether or not it's worth investing even more money into a boat later on, plus it'll tell you more about what you'll be looking for in a boat when the time comes. If you can't afford to waste $2,000-3,000 on a kayak that you only use a few times before deciding that it's not enough for you and you really need a boat, then you can't afford a boat. That's because new boats are crazy expensive and old boats that actually seem affordable almost always need more work done to them than what they're worth. Even a slightly used boat that's in great shape will cost you an arm and a leg just to get into, and it'll still depreciate faster than a gallon of milk. You'll be lucky if you finish making payments on it before it starts needing regular repairs. I'm not saying that boats aren't worth owning. I'm just saying that if you haven't owned one before, it's really easy to underestimate the financial burden they can bring.

I think that's because for most people, a square bill doesn't go deep enough to go after the bass off the edges, and it get's caught up in the weeds too easily to be fished in the shallows. So I think for most people, they probably aren't a good choice until the weeds clear out a bit later in the year. But you're right in that they certainly can still be effective. It all depends. There's a lake near me that doesn't have a lot of vegetation, but has plenty of dead wood in it, and I'll fish a square bill there all summer long. It's not usually the most effective method at my disposal, but some days it can be. I always give it shot, because you never know until you try.

For me, it's because money always has a way of spending itself. And if you don't spend it on the stuff you want and enjoy, it winds up getting spent on the stuff you don't enjoy, but need.

Try respooling the reel, and this time do it under some tension. It helps to keep the line from digging in too far when it does try to dig in. You still have to keep the line tight while you're casting and reeling under normal circumstances, but I find that keeping the bottom portion of the spool really tight limits how deep the line will dig into the spool, and causes less problems. With braid, I don't change out line but once every few years. But I'll have to respool the line every few months to keep it tight and even. I like to use an empty saltwater reel for that, as it allows me to smoothly pull off the line, and I can set the drag on it and use the tension created by that reel's drag to give the spool a nice, even tension when I take it back up.

Always!

In my experience, with live bait it's best to find a good spot and let the fish come to you. With lures, you're best off constantly moving. Though there are so many other factors that can come into play that I wouldn't make that a hard and fast rule. It's just a gross generalization. My only rules would be, if you've sat there a for an hour without a nibble, it's time to move. And if you caught something on your first cast, you gotta throw a second.

A similar thing happens to me at one of my local lakes. Only it's jet skis. Those things are everywhere, and every time I pull my kayak up to a spot, they come out and start doing doughnuts right around me. Scares the fish away every time, and knocks me around a good bit. It's not only annoying, but it's dangerous for me. I can't even yell at them, because they couldn't hear me over their motors. It is what it is though. It's their lake too. I just do my best to remember that I'm there to enjoy myself, and not get angry at others. Other anglers in boats will crowd me from time to time as well. Then, when I don't get out of their way, they'll crank up their engines and speed off at full speed, scaring the fish, and leave me fighting their wake. It's rude, and I know they do it on purpose because they think that they're serious anglers and I'm just a know-nothing amateur that's in their way. But again, I focus on the good and try my best to not let it bother me. I think it's just the times we live in. Everyone has got this attitude that everything belongs to them. But we all need to learn that we have to share. We have to share with people we like, and we have to share with people we don't like. And sometimes, that sharing is going to threaten our enjoyment of that experience. But, like all things in life, we don't choose what happens to us, but we do choose how we feel about it. The experience isn't under our control, but our perception of the experience is. So it's best to just make the best out of each situation we're given. They can only ruin your day if you let them. Because if you really think about it, having a bad day of fishing is a lot better than having a good day in the ICU.

Yeah, it's big enough that I'll probably hook my fish finder up to it as well. I have a little 7AH battery for it and I was planning to continue using it to preserve the trolling motor battery, but it looks like that won't be an issue. I'll still keep it for some of the smaller lakes and ponds. There's not need for a trolling motor or messing with that heavy battery for them. Paddling them won't wear me out. But on a 3,000 acre lake it becomes pretty useful. Especially with a lot of these local lakes that are surrounded by dense trees or have poor shore access for other reasons that limit the number of places where you can launch from. There are areas in some of these lakes that I've never even seen!

Thanks everyone! I went with the Endura C2 30 and a 100 AH battery. The price difference between all of the deep cycle batteries wasn't much, so I went with the biggest they had.

Don't I know it! Yeah, that's why I was thinking 50AH. And hour is probably all I'd need it for. I typically don't fish more than six hours, and the idea of spending more than 1/6th of my time on the water riding around doesn't appeal to me. But we'll see what sizes are available within my budget when the time comes. 50AH is the minimum for me. I wanna get the motor and mount squared away before I worry about the battery. And yeah, I still plan on using my paddles and drift anchor primarily. I'm just looking to add a bit more speed and range.

And take lots of pictures with your cell phone or digital camera. Every time you remove a part, take a picture of it first. That way you'll have a list of where everything goes, which way it goes in, and the order in which it was removed. I also do this over a white bath towel. The reason is because sometimes small parts like to jump off and roll away. The fibers of the bath towel keep them from scattering off, and it being white makes those tiny parts easy to find. I also line up each part across the top of the towel in a few rows, keeping their orientation the same. Doing that prevents me from having to even access the photos most of the time. Though, sometimes I'll lose the order or orientation when I'm cleaning a part. That's when the photos come in handy. And if all else fails, you can usually download a schematic online. The point is to have a system and stick to it. That way you don't have to remember anything. Reels are not high precision machines like a wristwatch, nor subject to high levels of stress like an automobile engine. So they tend to tolerate a healthy level of neglect. The reels I inherited from my grandfather who was not known for his diligence towards maintenance will attest to that. Still, the more care you put into them, the longer use you'll get out of them. So how often they require maintenance is a function of how hard and often you use them, how they're stored, how much and what kinds of lubricants you use, how they were constructed, and how long you expect them to last. For me, once a year for teardowns is about right. That usually gives me something to do in the winter anyway. Other than that, I just address problems as I notice them.

Thanks! That's the one I'm leaning towards. It's the cheapest and has the least power draw. Plus I most familiar with the Minn Kota name. I'll probably get a 50+AH battery for it. But I'm not too concerned with battery life. I'll still have my paddle, should it die on me.

I'm looking to add a trolling motor to my kayak. I have to keep it under $200. Currently, I'm looking at the Minn Kota Endura C2 30, the Motorguide R3-40 HT and the Newport Vessel 36lb. Kayak series. I don't need it to do typical trolling motor duties. I'm basically just looking for something that will allow me to explore more of a large lake, without wearing myself out. So it'll probably only be ran a full speed, so I'm not certain that a digital speed controller, like on the Motorguide, would be of any benefit. I just need something to help me cover larger distances. I will still use my paddle to move around an area once I've gotten there. Does anyone have any experience with these cheap trolling motors? Any advice would be appreciated.

Original packages stored in Ziploc gallon bags stored in clear plastic storage totes. Everything is organized by type, color, and then size and then brand. So as long as I know what I'm looking for, it's easy to find. If I just want to browse around and look for something that inspires me, it's not too useful.

I'm not a brand loyalty kind of guy. Then again, I've never had a bad reel, so I've never had a company leave a bad taste in my mouth. Neither have I ever been paid to endorse any brand, so I've never had any motivation to stick to just one company. I pretty much just decide what I want in my new reel, find a few reels that meet my needs in my price range, and then go try a few out and buy whichever one seems to meet all of my criteria best. The name on the side isn't of any concern to me.