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I'd opt for ML. ML is a bit wimpy for most bass presentations, but a bit stiff for panfish. So it sits right in the middle. Not ideal for either, but it's probably your best compromise. As for rod and reel, it depends on your budget. But I'd consider the BPS Pro Qualifier 2 combo. It's a pretty good rod, a usable reel, and the price isn't too crazy. Plus, BPS is pretty good about accepting returns on broken rods and reels from their own line, so if you have one local that you can visit, that's a nice bit of insurance.

You can try it if you like. But I wouldn't spend my money on that type of thing. One of my older reels tends to leak oil onto the brake plate, and you know it's time to clean it when it start backlashing out of nowhere. The oil renders the brakes virtually useless.

I'll often look for fish on my fish finder. In the lakes I fish, there's not much under the water other than soft mud. So looking for weeds or rocks is usually a waste of time unless you were the one who threw those weeds and rocks down there. What I'm usually looking for is the depth at which suspending fish are holding. Then, I try to find points and stuff that have a quick elevation change around this depth. I'll fish it even if I don't see any fish there on my finder. Often times there will be fish there that are so close to the bottom that your sonar can't differentiate between fish and bottom. So yeah, I tend to use my fish finder to locate fish, but I'm not necessarily trying to catch the exact same fish I see on my graphs. I'm just looking for the depths at which they seem to be comfortable. Now, if I see a bunch or see schools of baitfish down there, I'll usually drop something to see what happens. But suspending fish can be real hard to catch.

That's what I do. Only on the kayak, I tend to go with a double uni, should I need it. I have tied the FG on my kayak before, but it takes a while, and I'm usually in a hurry. With the double uni, I can tie it in seconds. With the FG, I have to drop the anchor so I don't get washed up into something.

I use a trolling motor on bigger lakes. The ability to cover more ground is important, but the main reason is safety. In Oklahoma, the weather is never predictable. I got the trolling motor shortly after an even happened where I was less than a quarter mile from the dock and the wind suddenly kicked up to 35mph out of nowhere. I had to paddle as hard as I could just to make any progress, and even then, it was only about two or three feet a minute. It took me a couple of hours of switching between a dead sprint and dropping anchor to catch my breath before I made it back to the dock. I was scared. I almost turned around to go with the wind to find a bank and ditch my kayak and walk a couple of miles through an overgrown forest back to my car. I don't know how I would I recovered my kayak in that situation. With the trolling motor, I can easily fight the wind, even if it still takes a long time. I still try to avoid high winds like that, but, like I said, the weather in Oklahoma is unpredictable.

Semi-slack just means there's a bow in the line. It's enough slack so that the bait isn't effected by the line, but it's still tight enough that you can see something happening to your line. It won't help much for feel, but you can see when something is going on. You can try going straight fluorocarbon. That has a better slack line feel than braid. So you'll have a better chance at feeling stuff without having to keep the line taught. It may not be enough to help, however, since they're not really attacking the bait, so much as swallowing it. You can also try a circle hook. You don't set the hook on those though. You just wait for the fish to turn and run off with it, and they hook themselves. You're landing percentages will likely go down, but you'll greatly reduce the risk of a gut hook since the hook doesn't point out. Or go barbless. Same thing with the landing percentage. And you'll have to keep constant pressure on the fish or the hook will slide out. But if they do swallow it, it's a lot easier to remove without a barb. Or, you can just cut the line and drop the fish back in the water with the hook still intact. They'll rust out after a while.

I wouldn't worry about it. If you're washing it off each day and only going for a week, I doubt you'll see any problems. The real issue would be any spots you didn't get washed out. Especially if saltwater got inside something and evaporated and left the salt behind. Then every time it got wet again, that issue would come up. With the boat out of the water, the anodes won't do you much good. They need to be connected by water to the parts that might corrode to be effective. Just having one on near a corroding part won't do anything while it out, in the air.

I have an app called "Photo Compress" that I use to shrink down photos. It's not real user friendly, but it is free if you don't mind ads.

While you do need more power to cast further, adding more power alone won't necessarily make you cast further. Casting is more about timing of your joints to the rod's flex than shear power applied. So as long as your timing remains in sync, then adding more power will add more distance. Though if adding power causes your timing to become off, then adding more power will take away distance. And since the rod and lure don't weigh a whole lot, you don't need to apply a whole lot of power before you muscles reach their maximum speed. From there, it's all about timing your release.

I'd try to dropshot a minnow colored fluke. You say the water is pretty clear, but they don't seem to be too aggressive. That's finesse fishing territory to me. Also, if the pond isn't near any roads or anything else that makes a lot of noise, then you'll probably need to be extremely silent and also might not want to get too close to the water. Maybe even try to fish it when it's sprinkling or windy outside. Something to mask your presence.

Chartreuse is my No. 1 color. Just about every lure I own, I own a chartreuse version of it.

Casting too hard will cost you distance, and create backlashes. Think of it like a golf swing or baseball pitch. You want smooth acceleration for ultimate power. One thing that will cause a backlash and loss of power is decelerating at the end of your cast. You should be reaching your top speed at the point the line is released, not just before. The cast itself should feel effortless. Start it off slow, slower than what initially feels comfortable, and accelerate through the cast. The key is to let the rod do the work. You get your distance by loading the rod and releasing it at the proper timing. It's the slingshot effect that gets the bait out there more than the speed at which you move your hands. Over time, you'll get the motion down into muscle memory, then you won't have to worry about all of this. That's when you can start to add more power. Because you have the motion down, when you add more power this time, you'll keep the smoothness. You'll be loading the rod properly, and can feel what it's doing and instantly react accordingly. Also, like other's pointed out, setting up the reel is important. As is using the proper rod. A rod that is too strong for your bait will cause you to try to cast it too hard and result in a backlash. You need to let the rod do the work and not try to overcompensate for it. A rod that is too wimpy will load too much and not release when you need it to, and cause an instant backlash.

Brand names mean nothing to me. I'll even buy a rod or reel that I hate the looks of if it fishes well and the price is right. All I care about is function. I don't have a problem with people who feel differently. I've got a background that's pretty heavily steeped in the arts, so I understand the importance of aesthetics. A lot of stuff that I own, like furniture, appliances, clothes, and cars, aesthetics are a very high priority, if not the most important feature. But fishing stuff, to me, is all about function and price.

All of the lakes near me. It's always windy, until the temperatures hit 100°. The water is always muddy. There's no cover and heavy pressure (being in city limits of a large city that loves hunting and fishing). I used to think it would make me a better angler, learning how to catch fish in these tough conditions. But all it's done is made me forget how to catch fish in good conditions.

The only real harassment I've had to endure on the water is from local police officers. But I learned that if you lie and tell them you're a lawyer and politely ask them to write you a ticket because you'd rather argue your point in front of a judge, they let you go pretty much immediately. I also have fake business cards printed up saying that I'm a lawyer, because in reality, I'm a printer and that's easy for me to do. Also, it's perfectly legal so long as you don't give legal advice or legal representation while giving the impression that you are a lawyer.

Add blade baits to the list. I'd try a spinnerbait and crankbait first, but I wouldn't leave blade baits out of it. You can toss them far and they can thump pretty hard.

Try the audiophile community. There are people who will spend over $1,000 on a power cable. As if the hundreds of miles of power cable between you and the power plant don't matter, nor the hundreds of feet between your transformer and outlet, but that last six feet can make or break your system. And how about spending a few hundred bucks or more on rocks to tape to your cables and set on top of your amplifiers. Not diamonds or sapphires or some other rock with at least a monetary value, mind you. Just regular old quartz. Lots of people swear by them, but no one seems to agree on how they work. My opinion of XPS is hooks is that they're good enough for me. Really, the only brand of hook that's let me down is Eagle Claw. Anything other than that seems to be fine.

I can't see myself every throwing a rod into the water. In fact, I rarely get upset while fishing. That's a big part of what I love about it, is that it's so relaxing! But I have lost a few rods to Poseidon's keep. Usually, it's due to one of his minions, dressed up like a tree, who just stand there motionless and silently pluck a rod out of my rod holder as I pass by. The only reason I know it's them is because I've accidentally caught them trying that in the past a few times. The times they succeed, I usually don't even know it for several minutes to hours later, when I'm long gone.

Agreed. There are two types of anglers you'll meet. The kind that will be glad to help you (with is most of them), and the kind that see you as a threat and won't say much more than "hi" (which is just a small handful). I've talked to a lot of anglers at the docks and such, and many won't give up their personal secret spots or techniques, but they'll be more than happy to tell you about all of the places and techniques that are kind of common knowledge to the area. And there's often like 20 spots that everyone knows about, and just one or two that only they know about. So they won't be holding much back from you. And most anglers love to tell stories and share what they know. It's kind of an ego boost to help out the new guy. Human nature and all. Talk to a few of them, and that's usually enough to get you started, especially in unfamiliar waters.

That, and I can car top a kayak. With a jon boat, I need a trailer hitch. Back when I drove a 2 door coupe, car topping was my only option. Also, like I said before, I can paddle my kayak easily, whereas a jon boat isn't a lot of fun to paddle in waters were motors aren't allowed. And I don't need a ramp to launch it. Plus I can store my kayak in the ceiling of my garage, so it doesn't take up any additional space. A jon boat and trailer would have to sit in my back yard, which means it would ruin my lawn. That also means it would be a lot more likely to get stolen. And kayaks are more stealthy than jon boats. Though I would like a jon boat to have the option to take a buddy. With a kayak, you have to convince your buddy to buy one of their own. Plus jon boats give you more room to move about and carry stuff. There are advantages and disadvantages to each. It's not like either is a one size fit all solution. You just have to figure out which makes more sense for you. Or get one of each.

Understandable. It's hard to beat a bass boat on a lake big enough to accommodate one. However, there are a few ponds, small lakes, and rivers near me where motorized boats aren't allowed (electric or gas). And paddling a jon boat is a chore and a half. So you're pretty much stuck with a kayak or canoe. It's like anything, where the right tool for the job makes the job easier. If all of us had unlimited funds, we'd probably all own a bunch of different boats for different purposes and a few kayaks, a canoe, and a jon boat or two. We'd probably have a submarine as well! One does not replace the other, but one can often be used to make do in imperfect circumstances.

With a lithium battery, it will read a near constant voltage until it is dead. So a voltmeter or ammeter won't tell you anything other than what the battery is doing at the moment. That's unlike a lead acid battery, which will gradually lose voltage, so you can estimate how much time you have remaining based on it's resting voltage. What you need for a lithium battery is a power analyzer, sometimes called a watt meter. Something that reads the amount of current and voltage that passes through the device and measures it against time. That will tell you how many amp hours you have used, and from there, you can subtract it from your batteries capacity to estimate how much power is left. Be careful, as many aren't waterproof, so you'll need to waterproof it yourself. Though, if you just get a battery that has more capacity than you'll ever use, then you don't really even need that. Just make sure it's charged before going out. But if you're getting a combo voltmeter/USB port just for the USB connections, then that's fine. The voltmeter itself won't consume a meaningful amount of power, so it won't hurt anything to have it. Just don't rely on it for telling you how much power is left.

I fish in high winds all the time in my kayak. It can be frustrating, but if you plan right, you can still have a good time. Here are some things I've learned. The wind will usually blow your kayak sideways. Use that to your advantage. Find banks that run parallel to the wind and use drift socks to slow you down. Then, just cast to the bank while you drift along, facing the bank. Get a couple of drift socks of different sizes and play with the rope lengths so you can have better control. If the waves are too high, then you don't want the waves hitting you on the side, or it can roll you. So it's not always an option. I will often pitch from a seated position if the winds are up. I do that by roll casting while keeping the lure about a foot off the water, and then killing it's momentum with my thumb right before it enters. It's hard to do while standing, but not too difficult when your sitting level with the water. I can actually pitch further this way than the regular way. Set out into the wind, so the wind pushes you back to the launch as you fish. That way you fight the wind when you have the most strength and let the wind take you home. Use an anchor and anchor trolley, along with a drift socks to keep you better in position in high winds. You can also use two anchors. Just attach them at opposite ends of your kayak. Be careful with anchors, especially two, however. Too high of waves can wash over your kayak if your anchored. And always anchor at the ends, not the middle of the kayak in current and waves. If you regularly fish in high winds, use a trolling motor. I use a 30# model, and it has more thrust than I need. There are times I've been out on the water where with a trolling motor, the wind is inconvenient, but without one it could be deadly. It once took me two hours to travel about a quarter mile going against a 30mph wind. I had to sprint at full speed with my paddle and drop anchor to catch my breath, before attempting another sprint. With my trolling motor, I can zig zag so the waves hit me at an angle and relax and troll a spinnerbait in those same conditions. A peddle kayak is a good too, but will still wear you out in really high winds. And of course finding areas protected from the wind really helps. Remember, with a kayak you don't need a ramp to launch, so don't be afraid to launch, fish a small area, and then load up and find another spot to launch from to fish a new area. Know your limits. Don't put yourself in a bad situation. Always wear your PFD. Keep your phone on your body and make sure it's waterproofed. Get a weather app and check it often. My plan is if I'm ever caught out in dangerous winds is to go with the wind, run the kayak aground and walk back to the car. So I always keep an "escape route" in mind. If I have to ditch the kayak and all my gear, so be it. I won't risk my life to save it.

I'm right there with you. Only it's been wind for me. Sunday is supposed to be 17mph with gusts up to 22mph. That's the calmest it's been since April 18th. March 28th was the only other calm day this spring. This Sunday, the chance of rain is 75%, and there's a good chance of heavy thunderstorms as well. But I'm thinking I might go fishing anyway because the weekend after this one looks pretty bad again.

That's my philosophy with topwater. Colors matter a lot more with submerged baits. With topwaters, all the fish see is the silhouette or the flash. Topwaters are more about the sound, size, cadence, etc.