Bankc

It depends on the situation. But all of my leader material is fishing line I bought to use as mainline, hated it, took it off, and then kept what was left for use as leaders. So I've got a lot of fluorocarbon line in various pound tests left over from when I was thinking about going all fluorocarbon. Also, if I ever have a bad backlash and have to cut half of it off, I'll keep the other half for leaders or backing. I don't reuse the stuff that actually saw use though. It'll have nicks taken out of it and be stretched a bit more than I'd like.

And sometimes by city. In my home city, the sales tax is 9%. I can drive 1/4 mile south, 1 mile east or 4 miles west and pay 7%.

I don't think you're allowed to bowfish at night. I'm not sure if that's a state regulation or just a city one, but I know in my local lakes in OKC, you're not allowed to bowfish at night. So you might want to check up on that one. I haven't been to the Lake of the Arbuckles yet, so I can't help you there. As for other good lakes to hit up, it depends on how far you want to travel. Konawa is good, and wouldn't be too far out of your way. It's a powerplant lake, so it's usually pretty warm and has lots of vegetation. I'd definitely recommend this one. It's a real nice lake with no launch fees. Texoma would be just a bit further down I-35, though it's more known for stripers. And being a border lake, you'll probably need a Texas fishing license too. But it's huge and there aren't many places you can fish for stripped bass of this size inland. Bell Cow is nice, and it's about an hour and half north of Konawa, but not totally out of your way. It's basically an underwater cedar forest, so lots of cover, though it runs shallow in a lot of spots so it's hard to navigate if you don't take it slow and keep an eye on your depth. There's a creek channel on the west side that you'll want to stick to on that end of the lake. Get off that and you'll find yourself in a foot or two of water with stumps everywhere. On the east side it's a lot easier to navigate. Sooner lake in the northern portion of the state is supposed to be pretty good, and would be on your way. But I haven't fished that one yet either. Those would be my choices unless you wanted to get out further east into the state. There are a lot of great lakes out that way, especially as you near the Arkansas border.

I've used Nikwax on tents. It works great and is easy to apply. For the seams, they make a silicone adhesive that you apply on the seams to keep it all waterproof. The Nikwax also protects against UV rays, which keeps the fabric from breaking down in the sun. After you've applied it, you can't tell that it's there (unlike the silicone stuff for the seams, which leaves a big glob). You will have to reapply it. Maybe once a year or so. It's lifespan depends on use. I just reapply it as needed, which is about every 3-5 years, but being a tent, it doesn't get as much use as something like a jacket or pants. Hence why I think it might need to be reapplied more often.

When I was young, trolling was okay and using fish finders were what was looked down upon as "not real fishing". "Might as well use a telephone", they said. My great grandfather told me that if you don't cut your own bamboo cane then you're not the one who's catching the fish. Zebco is (Or whoever. He didn't believe reels were sporting). But times change. Anyway, I don't care either way. I use fish finders. I troll. I use live bait. I fish without electronics from the bank with balsa cranks. I've even thrown firecrackers tied to rocks in a neighbor's pond (he was doing it with me). It's all real fishing. No reason to get judgmental with what other people enjoy doing. It hurts your own reputation more than the person you're judging. But yeah, in all my years I can't say as though I've ever heard of trolling for crappie. But white bass school, and trolling has always been a popular way to catch them, so I could see how it might not be a bad idea.

5-7 for mono and fluoro in 6-12# test. Less for thicker lines (which I almost never use). 10-12 for 6-8# braid and 7-10 for thicker braid.

I use it mostly when looking at a map of a new lake at home, and then trying to find it later when out on the water. I'll use the satellite image to set up three points as a reference and then try to find them on the water. By the way, GPS is a form of triangulation only with geosynchronous satellites instead of land markers. Cell phones use triangulation too. If you look at a cell tower, you'll notice they have three mini poles at the top, which they use to triangulate the location of your device.

Rubber wading boots in the winter. In the summer, I drill holes into the bottom of my old sneakers so they drain water easier. The problem with easy on and easy off boots is they either won't come up very high on your leg, or they'll be so cumbersome that it'll make it hard to get in and out of your boat. Unfortunately, there is no easy solution, unless you can balance yourself on the trailer tongue and then climb into the back of the truck and hop down from the bed out of the water. This is what I did back when I had a truck and boat, and was younger. These days I fish from a kayak, and I can't even load and unload a kayak without getting wet (due to the weight of the trolling motor and battery). So it's back to the holy shoes or wading boots.

I do it according to the seasons. In the winter and early spring I don't really need two MH/F rods, so I'll swap out one of my reels for a M/F which works better for jerkbaits and such. Then, in the later spring through the fall I'm more likely to need multiple MH/F rod for soft plastics, so it gets switched back in. And sometimes if I go to a different lake or have a specific presentation in mind, I'll switch between the two outside of their normal season. I also have a few complete setups that I'll switch in and out depending on what I'm doing and the time of year, but that's not what your asking. I never switch rods and reels on the water though. All of that gets done at home. It's too easy for something to get lost or damaged on the water.

You do have to be moving to use it, but it works well within the speed range of a paddled kayak. It's more useful for scanning areas when you're on the move than targeting areas you've already identified.

Figure out what baits you use most often, and build your rod locker around that. You can pretty much fish any bait with any rod and reel setup in the bass world. Some work better than others. But you'll be a lot better off in the long run if you decide, for instance, that you fish a lot of cranks, jigs, and drop shots. Then you get a cranking stick, a jigging rod, and a drop shot rod, so you'll be in good shape for the three things you fish most often. And if you want to experiment with something else, one of those rods will pull double duty and allow you to decide if that's a direction you want to spend a lot of time and money on in the future. Trying to "cover all of your bases" will mean you don't have anything really covered, and a locker full of rods that don't meet your needs. It's like going to a party and dancing with every girl there. It seems like it would be a good idea on the outside, but that's just a good way to guarantee you go home alone.

Theoretically, I have a 50/50 chance of tying a dropshot hook on right side up. And yet, I experience a 95% probability of tying it on upside down. Even knowing this ahead of time and intentionally trying to tie it on upside down won't allow me to tie it right side up.

I bet you'll like it! Good thing about orange is it's high visibility. On a lake, it's easy to get unnoticed by a ski boat or someone not paying attention to where they're going, especially in the summer when it gets more crowded. You kind of have to keep your head on a swivel at all times. New boaters are the worst, where they haven't learned how to set the trim on their outboard and just run full throttle with their bow sticking straight up in the air so they can't see anything in front of them. I bet you'll like it! Good thing about orange is it's high visibility. On a lake, it's easy to get unnoticed by a ski boat or someone not paying attention to where they're going, especially in the summer when it gets more crowded. You kind of have to keep your head on a swivel at all times. New boaters are the worst, where they haven't learned how to set the trim on their outboard and just run full throttle with their bow sticking straight up in the air so they can't see anything in front of them.

Anything different is good. So I'll target any piece of cover that isn't like every other piece of cover around it.

Maybe that was because there are two Lake Eufaula's, one in Alabama and one in Oklahoma, and they're both good bass fishing lakes of decent size. So it's kind of a way to hedge your bets.

Eastern Oklahoma would be good. Same with Arkansas and Louisiana. Texas looks better on paper than in reality, just because it's so big. You may not have to leave the state to fish other good lakes, but you'll likely be spending the same amount of time on the road. But Texas is still a fine choice. The problem with any of them is jobs versus housing. If you have a job where you can work from anywhere, then eastern Oklahoma into Arkansas and down into Louisiana would be a great place to live. Lots of fine lakes in that area, many of which aren't nationally recognized, due to their smaller size (so they don't host tournaments). But they're still excellent lakes to land multiple double digit bass in a day. Housing is cheap and taxes are reasonable. The problem is, the jobs don't pay well around here, so if you're also looking for a job, it might be hard to make it all work. That, and if you have kids, our public school systems are typically really bad, especially as you drift further away from the larger cities. Also, do your research on any town or city before moving there. A lot can surprise you. For instance, the small(ish) town of Muskogee in eastern Oklahoma (which would be a short drive to many great bass fishing lakes) has more violent crimes per capita than Washington D.C. or New York City. And it's not the only small town in the area with crime rates way worse than you'd imagine.

Side imaging. The regular sonar is usually all I need, or even use, for seeing what's below me. It's not as accurate as down imaging with all the detail, but if you know how to read it, you can figure out most of what you need to know.

I try to be really careful with my gear and keep it well maintained, but I won't let it sit on a shelf and go unused. I tend not to buy things that are too expensive to replace as well. My theory is, I own my gear. My gear doesn't own me. And if it's price is dictating how you use it, then it's probably the one in charge.

Most ponds I've fished have a dam. That's usually the place to throw them, as it's usually the deepest part of the pond with a steep rise to the bank. And you're often higher up so you can cast further. Though, if there's a lot of vegetation on the dam, then they don't work so well. Sometimes it helps to go deeper than you'd think, since it's hard to get the distance necessary to get it down. So if the water is only 8 feet deep, maybe throw a 10 or 16 foot diving crank, and really crank it hard for the first few feet of the retrieve. The higher elevation of the dam also helps with using a plug knocker from the bank, should you get hung up. So I do fish crankbaits often on ponds. But there are some ponds where they just won't work. On those, I'm usually sticking to topwaters and T-rigged.

These aren't the exact ones I use, mine were a generic brand. But they're the same design. There's a point where they won't drain, so you have to be careful how deeply you push them through. But at most points, they'll still drain water. https://www.seattlesportsco.com/paddling/scupper-plugs-pair.html Though, if you're only going to be going out on calm waters, then you probably won't need any. Especially if the water is warm and you don't mind getting splashed a bit. With these plugs, the water doesn't drain immediately, but it does a better job at keeping me dry than no scupper plug or the kind that completely seal, at least in the conditions I'm frequently out in. I don't use them for the rear of my kayak, because that's where my battery is (I use a trolling motor so my battery is very heavy), and it's weight keeps the stern pretty low in the water. So it tends to take on a lot of water and needs faster draining. Plus, I'm not back there, so I don't care about water splashing up through the bottom.

As with everything in a kayak, it all comes down to personal preference. Different situations require different solutions. Like I was surprised by how many people responded that they don't ever use plugs. But then I remembered that I'm often fishing in 10-20mph (sometimes more) winds and it's not unusual for me to be out on the water with whitecapping waves. So my preference for scupper hole plugs that still drain is based on the fact that if I don't have plugs installed, I'll have a lot more water in my kayak from the water constantly pushing up through them. For others who fish in calmer waters, there's no water splashing up to block, and plugs will just slow the draining of the water. Same with anchors. An anchor pole does me no good because if the water is shallow enough to use one, I'll be just a foot or two from the bank. And when I do anchor, I need an anchor trolley because I can't tie an anchor to the side of the kayak, or the waves will crash over and try to drag my kayak under the water, and the waves are too rough to reach the bow or stern to tie it off there. So I have to attach my anchor to the anchor trolley when it's next to me, for balance, and then roll it out to the end of the kayak to keep the kayak perpendicular to the waves for safety.

I use some rubber plugs with multiple lips. They do a good job of keeping water from splashing up through the bottom, but still allow water to drain out.

I used to fish with balled up bread pressed on a worm hook as a kid living in Maryland. Worked pretty well. I've got a bunch of other lures and techniques that I came up with myself. None have really caught on yet. Not even with me.

Dogwoods are in bloom in OKC! Don't know if the bass are bedding. It's too windy for my kayak.

I'm going to tell you not to do it, because it's stupid. But I would definitely go after it.