Bankc

I have caught a lot of bass on a spinner bait on the initial fall. I'll sometimes pitch them into cover like a jig. I can work a bank faster with a spinnerbait, if the fish are in a more aggressive mood. So I definitely recommend going for a soft landing when working in close quarters. I don't pitch chatterbaits. They need too much room to get started, and I don't target timber with them. I throw them around grass fields instead. As for trailers, I almost always use one for any skirted bait. However, I've caught fish without them as well, so I don't think they're absolutely necessary on any of them. I focus more on retrieve speed and cadence. Though sometimes a trailer is helpful for controlling depth and speed (so it doesn't blow out).

I don't know how grease or oil could be formulated for saltwater. Salt doesn't really react to grease or oil. So to me, that sounds more like a marketing thing than a technology thing. Maybe it's thicker, so it's less likely to get displaced? That's all I can think of. But that'll hurt the reel's performance. Your best protection is to regularly clean your gear after each use. Beyond that, it might be wise to invest in rods and reels designed for saltwater use, as some materials handle the corrosive effects of salt better than others.

I have a few rods that max out at 1.5oz., and I routinely overhead cast 2oz. baits like glide baits and umbrella rigs with them. They get mushy and don't cast well, but they're not going to break. I've only broken one rod on a cast. And that was while casting a DT-10 (3/5 oz. lure) on a rod rated to 1-1/2 oz. It was a brand new rod too, which lead me to believe it was defective from the factory. So I say give the rod you have a try. If it doesn't feel stiff enough, then you might need a new rod. If it feels okay, then save your money. But you won't damage the rod by pitching and flipping weights like that.

I haven't had any problems with the Z-man Ned heads with the wire guard. I fish a lot of willow weeds with them, and they do a great job of getting out without getting hung up, so long as you ease them through. Hook up ratio seems about the same for me.

Noodle with a glove? What's wrong with people? The only things you need to noodle are cutoff jeans and a mullet. That's why it's so popular, because you already own everything you need.

In California, they don't specify a type, so long as it is USCG approved. You also need a Type IV (throwable PFD) in any boat 16 feet or longer. They do have a law about the PFD being the correct "type and size" for the conditions and activity. What you want is a Type III. That's what most people on a lake will have, as they're generally a good balance between comfort and effectiveness. Either one of the two you have linked would work.

I use snaps sometimes. Not snap swivels. I like snaps especially for crankbaits, as they give it better action than a normal knot. Also, like you mentioned, it's easier to change them out. The downsides are since you're not retying as often, you run the risk of weakening the knot to the swivel and breaking off more often. Also, some snaps can work themselves loose. The Eagle Claw snaps swivels are especially bad about this. I prefer the Spro Duo Lock snaps. Also, they can effect the balance of some lures. Topwaters especially can be effected by this. And sometimes they're more of a pain to use than not use, like on jigs and terminal tackle. And sometimes the snaps can slide around where a knot won't, and cause issues. This is especially true on spinnerbaits, though often a good, hard tug to start the retrieve will realign it correctly.

I used a math equation to determine the best place to place my battery, as it's a heavy lead acid type. It's pretty easy to do. Just figure out a couple of places that you're willing to put the battery and measure their distances from a set point, preferably at the end of the kayak. I chose the front. Figure out the weight of everything (close approximation is fine), and measure the distance of where everything goes from one end. From there, the formula is: (W1D1 + W2D2 + W3D3....) Total Weight of Everything The answer will give you distance from your original starting point where your center of gravity is. W1 is the weight of the first object, and D1 is the distance from your starting point of the first object. W2 and D2 are the second object, and so on. Put your kayak's weight in there as well, and put it's distance as the center. You can ignore light stuff like the fish finder. Everything will stay the same in this case, except your battery distance. When you come up with a number that is close to, or just slightly aft of the center of the kayak, then you're good. Or you can experiment on the water. That works too, but it's more difficult and time consuming.

FG in the living room. Double Uni on the water.

I have a wife who helps me keep my tackle collection organized. If I tell her I need a new crankbait, she asks me if I already have one. When I tell her it's the wrong size and color, she reminds me that bass are colorblind and baitfish come in different sizes. I could catalogue every lure from memory and tell you exactly where it is, case, row and column.

Sometimes those heavily pressured ponds are the ones that produce the biggest bass. Especially if people are removing the bass they catch. One of the biggest problems we have in Oklahoma is there are no real predators for bass, outside of people. So, especially on small bodies of water, a bass population can outgrow it's food source and that will stunt their growth.

I car top mine, and it weighs 85lbs, and I have a slipped disc in my back that never healed. Hence my need to be able to stand from time to time. Six hours straight of sitting in one position will put me down for a week or more. The thing about car topping a kayak is if you can get it up on a pivot, it's not that difficult to lift a heavy kayak, since you're never lifting even half the weight, and that weight is supported against the pivot. I use that truck bed extender now as a pivot, but in the past I've used my kayak cart, flipped upside down and strapped to my trunk... Kind of like this guy: https://youtu.be/s7gQKKBV648 But yeah, if you have stability issues normally, then trying to stand in a kayak is dangerous. There's no point in dealing with the hassle of all of that excess weight if you can't stand up in one.

For me, a lot depends on the technique you're fishing. For bottom contact, more expensive rods really have an advantage. With a jig or Texas rig worm, sometimes you need a really sensitive rod to detect those bites, or you'll miss fish. With moving baits like crankbaits, spinnerbaits and chatterbaits, a whole lot of cheap rods out there will translate everything you need to know. At that point, to me, it's more about how much the little things mean to you, like attention to detail, quality of components and rod weight. I don't believe you'll actually catch more fish by going from a Berkley Lightning rod to a G. Loomis. or Megabass with those type of techniques.

I have a couple of the Veritas PLX rods. I like them a lot. Very light, sensitive and well made. However, they do have a few drawbacks. First off, the white handles will get dirty, quick. I don't care about that myself. But other people might. Second, they're heavier than their power rating implies. For instance, my medium-light feels almost like my medium rods, but perhaps just a hair shy of being a full blown medium power. And my heavy, I use for glide baits and A-rigs. Even the lure rating seems to be a bit lighter than reality, in my opinion. Like my ML/F says it's for 1/8oz. to 1/2oz. I'd say it's more like 3/16oz. to 5/8oz. An 05 Shad Rap is about the lightest lure I can comfortably throw on it, and even then, you can tell that the rod doesn't quite load as well as it should. But so long as you know those things going into it, I think you'll really like these rods.

I have a pair (actually 3, but one is a "parts reel" I bought off eBay) Abu 5000D's from 1974 that I still use. It's hard to find a reel in 3.8:1 ratio, and occasionally those super low ratios come in handy. I like them especially for poppers and walking baits, as one full turn of the handle is just about right to pick up the slack on those. It makes "burning" a popper or Zara Spook really easy. They don't cast well though. You have to be on point with your thumb game. But they are bulletproof. I inherited them from my grandfather, and he never once cleaned them, though he did occasionally put random grease and oil in them. He was a farmer, so my guess they got whatever his tractor or pickup got.

People do this all of the time. It's fine. Your state may require you to put a red flag on the kayak since it's sticking out of your car. Check that out first, so you don't get a ticket. Exhaust won't be a problem since the car is moving. In fact, it would probably be safer to keep your windows up and run the vent on your dash instead. Due to Bernoulli's principle, an increase in wind speed (like what you'll have as your car drives down the road) equates to a decrease in pressure. So the faster you drive with your windows rolled down, the more of a vacuum your windows will create against the air pressure inside your car. Of course that principle also works on your open back hatch, so it's not like it's going to be sucking huge amounts of exhaust into your car due to the windows. And there's more air back there than there is exhaust. But the vent forcing air through should create more pressure up front to push more air outside, keeping less air from coming in. Back when I was in a similar situation, I car topped my kayak and used pool noodles with PVC pipe ran through the middle of them to give them some extra strength. It worked pretty well, but eventually the noodles (which are cheap) compressed and I started to scratch up the roof of my car. Not a big deal on a car with 170k miles and hail damage. It's just a cheap way to car top a kayak if you're don't care about getting scratches or dents.

I rarely stand on my kayak, though I don't have a problem doing so. I like to fish on the move, and it's easier to control the kayak while sitting. And there are a lot of new techniques that open up to you when sitting so close to the water. Like I can "pitch" while sitting with a side-arm cast, just keeping my bait a few inches above the water throughout the cast and get the soft landing I get from a normal pitch. Plus, it's easier to skip and "pitch" under low hanging obstructions from a seated position (for me anyway). I also find landing the fish easier if I'm already down there. Though, sometimes, you get a better angle or view if you stand. And it sure is nice to be able to stand from time to time to stretch out your legs and back. Or, as often in my case, retrieve a lure from an overhanging tree branch. So I view being able to stand in a fishing kayak as a necessity. Though I it's not what I primarily do.

I didn't even know these existed! Shows what I know!

Also remember any current will effect where you bait lands after it's hit the water. Pus, it's hard to pinpoint an area when all you have to go by is the water and your imagination. Marker buoys and triangulation are helpful for this. Also, the pointer on your GPS is no good if you're not moving. It cannot tell which way your boat is pointed. It just guesses based on which direction you're moving. At least mine does. It'll point the direction I'm drifting, or lasted drifted, as the front of my boat when I'm trying to stay stationary.

This time of year, I can get on board with that philosophy. But in the summer, I always start shallow with a topwater. It's been a proven winner for me, even when the bite is tough. Then I move deeper as the day progresses. But in the colder months, I do like to start deep. Let the sun warm up the skinny water for a bit before heading over there. By 2:00-3:00, I might start heading shallow to see what I can pick up, if the sun is out.

Not necessarily. Look into a truck bed extender. The middle section can be hooked up in reverse, so instead of pointing out back, like you'd want for a truck bed, it can point up, level with your roof rack. Then you can lift up the bow of the kayak onto the extender, walk around to the stern, and lift it up and push it on top of your kayak. That way you're never lifting more than half of the weight of the kayak at a time. It's still some work, but it's much easier to go that route. Of course you'll need a trailer hitch to attach it to. That's what I do with my 85lb yak, and while it still wears me out, I can get it up and down with my bad back and skinny arms. A word of caution though, the bed extender will likely be pretty floppy. So you might look into a way to stabilize it, both at the joint in the middle, and at the hitch connection. I just used some shims I made to keep it relatively stable. It's not a perfect solution, but it's a lot cheaper than a trailer, and you won't have to store a trailer.

Mine tackle bag weighs about 30lbs. It's fine on my kayak. It's a good idea to keep the weight down, but so long as you're not pushing the maximum weight of the kayak, I wouldn't sweat it. The PWR 100 hold a maximum weight of 350lbs. However, if you're adding a trolling motor and battery, it might be wise to look into a lithium battery to save some weight, as they can get pretty heavy. It also might be wise to no get crazy with the trolling motor. A trolling motor can weight 30-40 lbs, plus another 60 lbs for the battery, if you go lead acid.

Don't use anything with silicone on your tires. It won't hurt them, per se. But it will make it harder to clean off the brown gunk that's caused from tiring blooming.

The only time I give up on a cast, is if I snagged something and can tell it's stuck to the lure. And even then, I have my doubts. I often wonder if I shouldn't just continue to reel that willow root in slowly, so as not to make a bigger disturbance.

I just dip something highly visible, like a white jig or something, and see how far it goes down before it disappears. I'm not generally looking for an exact number, just a relative frame of reference. Small differences don't effect the way I fish. A Secchi disk is more useful if you maintain rigorous records, which I do not. It's very possible that all of the lakes you visit have a very similar level of water clarity. They may be around the same depth, exposed to the same weather, and have a similar bottom composition. So it wouldn't be strange at all for you to see very little variation.