TNBankFishing

There are two types of paddlers, those who’ve had that close call and ended up in the bad situation and those that will. Always wear your PFD. You are sitting on a tiny, unstable, low in the water hunk of plastic. Take your boat out empty and flip it. Practice flipping it back over in deep water. Get used to climbing back in once it’s upright. Familiarize yourself with the weight and drag of pulling it around while swimming. I didn’t do those things on my Titan 12 and when a yacht on Norris Lake came around a bend doing 35 it put a wake up to my chest. I had a bad time, lost a lot of gear and had to swim my 150lb boat upside down to shore before it sank. Don’t be me.

Not to sound dramatic but at some point a pleasure boater is going to fly past within feet of you. Be prepared and stay safe.

Now that we covered the most important part, we can get into the fishing. Your feelings about being overwhelmed is normal and expected. You’ve trained yourself over years to attack fishing under a particular set of rules. You’ve become extremely good at producing results within those boundaries. The fish are out there points at the water and you’re here points at the bank. Your skills still translate, the fish are now everywhere.

Slow down your approach on the water and think of how you’d fish a 20 foot stretch from the bank. Imagine how each piece of cover needs to be fished. You do this automatically from the bank, now let’s unlock that same feeling and let your instincts help you. When I walk up to a bank I have a process that works for me. I stay away from the waters edge to not spook anything up shallow. I set down my rods and select the first thing I’ll throw up close. I work my way toward the water casting towards the cover closest to me until I’m at the edge of the water and then fan cast out. After that I’ll repeat the process up and down the available space. No bites? Change rods and repeat.

Do the same on the boat. Target a nice laydown. Start off from a distance and pick the tree apart from tip to trunk. Use small movements of your paddle to keep you in position. Become comfortable making those adjustments mid cast. If you wait until you’re turned halfway around before trying to correct you’ll overdo it and end up spinning in place.

Channels and depth changes are your friends when there isn’t a ton of cover. Points and submerged vegetation can produce year round depending on where you live.

The last thing I’ll touch on is advice I wish I would have taken when I bought my Titan. Do not buy stuff. You don’t need the gear tracks. You don’t need the crate. You don’t need the electronics. You don’t need the pedal drive, or the two trolling motors. You certainly don’t need a two thousand dollar trailer to pull it all around. Beat the brakes off your current boat before you spend a ton of money.

I now fish out of a bonafide ss107. I paddle. I bring 2 or 3 rods. On paper it’s a downgrade but I enjoy the experience of fishing more than when I had the Titan. If I wanted to drop 8k again I’d buy a tin boat.

IIRC the 2500 has felt drag washers and the 3000 has carbon. For JDM models they often include lower gear rations. On Digitaka or Japan Lure Shop just check out the image that shows inches per turn and compare it to the USDM models at alf or tw. 

If you can find one the 873 is going to be the rod you want. Trust me, the extra 2 inches on the BC2 aren’t going to make a difference for pitching and the sensitivity goes on the NRX side. I’ve fished the last season as a co angler after about 5 years in a kayak. I consolidated just like you’re doing, and now keep it simple with 4-5 rods per trip depending on cover and expected presentations. 

Spend what you can afford. The prices may go up or down. I bought two regular and one HD in August and fished them all. 

7’6 MML.
Things you can throw:
BR head swimbaits
Drop shot
Hair Jig
Jerkbait
Squarebill
Finesse 1/8-1/4 jigs
Ned
Lipless
Spybaits
Neko
Free rig
 
 
Yeah, “The One” is versatile and hyper sensitive. 
 

I want to preface this by saying this is like, my opinion man. I feel the best value in the game for high end gear that is NOT technique specific are the Legend Elite/X/Xtreme lines from St. Croix.
 
My normal tourney day setup is NRX+ 852s, Legend Elite MLF spinning, Legend Elite 7’M casting, Legend Xtreme 7’1MHXF, NRX+ 873, Legend Elite 7’4”, Steez AGS XH. If I’m putting those legend sticks up against NRX and Steez competition I believe they perform and do so very well. They aren’t going to be the “best” at anything but d**n they do everything in their weight range so well. 
 
I fish from a kayak so while I have a couple sticks which do 1 thing only I value versatility. 
 
For your direct question of trading for a blade. I’d pass. The p5s are great but you’re already losing $150 in the trade as well as any warranty support. Plus the blade is significantly less versatile compared to the Xtreme. If you need a chatterbait rod in the victory like checkout the rip n chatter. 
 
 
 

My Legend Elite 7’ medium is my absolute favorite rod. I ask myself about the below if I’m needing to fill a slot for a tourney or just to beat the bank. 
 
Senkos? 
1/4 - 3/8th Drop shot?
Finesse jigs?
Topwater?
Squarebills?
1/4oz - 3/8 chatterbaits?
3” - 4”Paddletails?
 
 
The only thing I can’t do is throw an A-rig, frog, or punch with it.