Bankc

I think the pandemic was definitely an accelerator. But this trend started before that. I think other people, just like me, were growing tired of always being "on". We were worn out from having out attention constantly divided between multiple things at once, and living in a perpetual state of low-grade fear. Fishing is a symbolic rebellion to that. A return to the food chain and life with a single focal point: survival. A chance to unplug, even if only temporarily, and live the life man was intended to live, as he had for millions of years before the anomalous blip of modern life appeared and altered the nature of our meaning. Henry David Thoreau said it best: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."

I use a Daiwa Regal LT 2500 for my Ned rig setup. Zero complaints.

Just stay away. It doesn't matter what the law says. That guy probably doesn't respect the law or governments in general anyway. The world is full of paranoid people who will shoot you for ridiculous reasons, and them going to prison after the fact is of little comfort to your friends and family. And, often times, especially in smaller communities, the local police will find it easier to back the local land owner than follow the letter of the law. They have to live in that community and they often make decisions based on what's less work for them and gets them in less trouble with the community, rather than what's right or legal. Plus, just like that paranoid land owner, they often view outsides with suspicion, and locals with a sense of "that's just who he/she is and everyone knows it and accepts it". Yeah, but if you had common sense AND a brain, why would you run for office? That's the catch 22. And outdoorsman don't always make the best lawmakers either. That's how we got a Big Foot season in my state.

I'd add to this it not being a specialty reel. Something like a BFS or shallow spool type reel. A reel that can handle anything, if it needed to.

My kayak doesn't have a pedal option. So a trolling motor was an obvious upgrade. It makes an enormous difference on large lakes. Being able to travel large distances with ease completely changes how you approach the lake. Also, since I'm in Oklahoma where it's always windy and the weather is unpredictable, having a trolling motor is almost a safety issue. However, trolling motors aren't as nimble as pedals. They're a lot harder to control. And with the added battery, they change the stability of the kayak and eat up a lot of room. So they don't solve everything. I typically only use my trolling motor on bigger lakes. Plus, you'll either need a large, heavy battery or an expensive lithium battery, because trolling motors eat up a LOT of power. Especially when they're your only source of locomotion. So if you go that route, which I do recommend, I'd also recommend not selling off your peddles. You may find them more useful in different situations. Plus, some lakes and ponds may not allow motors.

I'd agree with the fishing shallow. But I'd probably downsize a good bit and slow it down. Try a Ned rig or a small squarebill. The reason being that this time of year, I'm betting the rain lowered the temperature of the water a lot, and very quickly. The mud would push them shallow and the lowering temperature would likely make them less aggressive. So you'd almost have to snag them, as I doubt they'd be in the mood to chase much.

I don't have a Caius 150HD to verify this, but isn't up on the dial going to reduce the brakes and down going to apply more brakes? That's the way all of my reels work. You may have your brakes maxed out, when you're thinking they should be off, which is causing the problem. Double check that, if you don't mind.

You do if it's for a trolling motor. Deep cycle batteries are designed to be heavily drained in between recharges. These are good for trolling motors, powering RV's, and stuff like that. Normal batteries, also called starter batteries, are designed to give high amperage for very short bursts, and then be recharged almost immediately. They're mostly suited for starting big gas engines that require a lot of power to crank start (like a boat or car), but then can run on their own, without a battery, afterwards. Many will even have an alternator to recharge the battery once the motor starts.

I feather the line with my opposite hand. It's going to flip the bail anyway, so it's no extra work. I grab the rod wherever it's best balanced. On some, that's 3-1. On others, it's 2-2. Whatever gives me better control and less effort.

Of you're worried about your retrieve, just keep experimenting. Try anything and everything. Something is bound to work eventually.

Mr. Crappie Slabalicious swimbait with a 1/8oz. underspin jig head. They don't seem to work all that well for me with crappie, but I've caught a few bass and large gizzard shad with it. Also, the Ned rig seems to do well. I caught an 8" largemouth with one yesterday.

They probably just don't want people comparing rods based on modulus alone. They advertise their rods as having that 3M Powerlux resin that's supposed to strengthen and lighten their rods versus others of the same modulus, and they may be wanting customers to focus on that. Whereas if they publish the actual modulus, the rods may be less impressive and competitive with other brands. I have some new PLX Veritas rods, and I can attest to them being more sensitive and lighter than other 30 ton rods I've used.

Both. I'll usually try it one way, and if they're not biting, I'll go up or down in size to see if there's a difference. Sometimes it helps to stand out from the baitfish so the bass key in on your lure. Sometimes it's best to match them, so you don't stand out. Every day is different, and you never know what will work until you try. I have a theory that bass, much like dogs, don't know how big they are. They'll bite something almost as big as they are, or they'll bite something that's so small, you'd think it would be a waste of their time and energy to even try. It seems, to me, that choosing the right size is more about their current mood than anything else.

I just used pool noodles with a PVC pipe down the center to haul my kayak on my 2-door coupe. It worked fairly well and was a lot easier to load than on my Forester. It did scratch the roof up eventually, when the foam got compressed and I was too lazy to replace it (an advantage of driving a 12 year old car). I held the PVC/noodles in place with bungee cord ran through my doors. I ran the kayak up there with my kayak dolly inverted and strapped to the trunk.

Weeds have been crazy thick this years at my local lake. I've never seen so many. In fact, I have rarely seen any in the past. It's a water reservoir, and I think they've been treating it in the past for weeds. But I don't know. All I can say is that this year the water in that lake has never been cleaner, and I've never seen so many baitfish just cruising the bank. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of a new trend, because it's got a long history of being a terrible lake for bass.

Right now can be a hard time to fish from the bank. The recent pattern at my local lake has been chasing the baitfish with a crankbait. It's been doing really well for me. I've been slaying them from my kayak every time I go out. But I also do a lot of bank fishing, and I can't get bit from the bank (even though the baitfish are up shallow right now). Bank access for me is limited, so I can't really move around a whole lot, which is what I do on my kayak. My advice would be to keep moving, and not stay in one area too long right now. Try something that mimics baitfish, just stick with it, and keep walking the bank until you find some. Experiment more with retrieve speed than lure presentations for the moment. Though, that's assuming that your lake is in the same cycle as my lake. If it's further along in the season, they may be out deeper, and you may want to try something like a T-rig or a Jig to slow it down.

Ah. I get it now. 10-15mph is windy to you. So it's a semantics issue. To me, that's not windy. That's a calm day. And yeah, that is good fishing weather. Windy, to me, is 25+. 16mph is the average wind speed around here, so 10-15mph is below average for us. I've seen straight line gusts go over 90mph. And I don't think I've ever seen a day that was literally still. I've seen videos of "glass smooth" lakes before. But I've never seen one in person. Even our calmest days will put a little ripple in the water.

Generally, if I'm going to fry the fish in oil or grill it on a plank, then I fillet it. Otherwise, I leave the skin on. It usually tastes better with the skin if you're not going to plank grill it or fry it. If I'm cooking dinner with fresh fish, I'll just use a regular fillet knife. They're much more accurate and fun to use. If I had a particularly good day on the water and have a whole mess to clean for either a big fish fry or to store in the freezer, then I'll use an electric knife. They waste a lot of meat, but they're the only way to go if you're trying to clean 20+ fish at once.

Who can say? I know there are "rules" for what type of weather fish bite in, and what type of weather they don't. But I've seen enough days that break those rules that I don't worry too much about them. In the general, long term sense, I bet they hold up statistically. But as for predicting what will happen on single day in a vacuum, I don't think they're much use. I typically just go fishing when I can and figure out once I've been on the water if they're biting or not. I use the "rules" more for excuses after the fact than excuses beforehand.

That hasn't been working for me. It's been pretty windy the last few days, and the bite has been non-existent. Here's today. 30mph winds with gusts of 55mph. Not even a nibble. On the plus side, your lures work themselves free of snags in this wind.

That's why I use for my kayak stakeout pole. Cost me nothing because I already had everything. It's kind of flexible though. I don't know how well it would work for a push pole if the boat was pretty heavy.

I prefer 3.8:1 reels with a very low IPT for this. I don't like having to crank just small fractions of a turn at a time, if I can avoid it. Though, I can make do with anything. It's really more about what your most comfortable using rather than what you actually NEED. And what's comfortable is up to you.

I have a bunch of crankbaits, but usually just one color of each. Depth, sound, wobble, and profile are what I concern myself with most. As for rods, I just have a M/M composite rod for shallow to mid depth crankbaits. I use a MH/F rod deeper diving cranks, as I find that I usually get bit on them with a lot of line out, and need the extra backbone more than shock absorption. That also cuts down on the number of rods I need to carry. I might choose a MH/MF if I wanted to carry a second rod for deeper diving crankbaits, but I try to limit the amount of gear I have to carry and maintain. I also have a ML/F spinning setup for the light, tiny, balsa crankbaits. They're hard to cast on baitcasting gear. Again, it's a crossover Ned rod to save on gear and space.

I'd say they're about equal quality. I think the Gamakatsu's will be a bit thinner, so they might hook up slightly better, but would also bend out easier, depending on which versions you currently have on your Whopper Plopper. Either way, it's just slight differences and probably not worth your time. I'd save those hooks for other baits if I were you. But if you want to swap them out, I wouldn't try to talk you out of it. Either choice is a fine quality hook.

Right before the rain, yes! That's usually the best time to fish for me. During the rain... eh... I've usually had about as much luck as I do on bluebird, sunny days. More often that not, the bite will be tough. Sometimes, the bite can be pretty good though. You never know until you go. So I usually avoid fishing in the rain, just because it's uncomfortable for me and doesn't usually help the bite. But, if I'm just itching to go out and the rest of the weather cooperates (not too cold, not too windy, and no lighting, which are rare for an Oklahoma rain storm), then sometimes I'll get out in it and give it a go. Last night I woke up to tornado sirens in the middle of the night (and it's late October). Had one run by about three miles south of me. In this part of the country, we don't get a lot of the type of rain you'd want to be caught out in the water on. 30-40 mph winds are the standard in a storm and 70+ mph winds will often pop up out of nowhere. So take what I say with a grain of salt. In other parts of the country I've lived in, it made more sense risk being out on the water in the rain. Here, you don't get a lot of safe opportunities to even try it.