Darth-Baiter

I had to get a wake boater to explain the wake boat to me. I had no idea they fill ballasts with water to make the boat run heavy in the water for a fun wake for them. I get it. Looks boring to me, but admittedly difficult. Looks super challenging. Girls in bikinis apparently love love wake boats. Haha. anyways this gentleman was pretty cool and while he educated me, I educated him. He was pretty unaware of how far and wide his giant wakes go and how they affect small watercraft like my kayak. I don’t really care. I point my nose to the biggest wakes. Might be my imagination, but I get a surprisingly noticeable uptick in fish bites when a big wake goes buy. This guy stayed ckear of the tree line I was fishing. I still felt his wakes, but I’m safe.

No way. On the way to the lake we checked. It was bad smoke. Unhealthy levels. We took a left and hit Lake Sonoma and got our butts whupped. We sucked.

No skunk! Well, yes since neither fish was a keeper. Man , my local lake is fishing badly. My friend who always tromps me in numbers; he flat out skunked. it was a quiet drive home. Haha. next time.

I use that hook a lot, when I can find it in stock at my store. Thankfully I have several left. 2/0 size mostly for my 6” worm. The bass swallows it very infrequently. Smaller baits like the TRD craw I have gone down to a #1. But the 1/0 is okay too. 15lb white braid so I can watch my line. 8 lb sunline sniper leader. 3/16 cylinder sinker almost exclusively where I fish. 7”3’ Phenix Maxim med rod, Daiwa 2500 Procyon LT reel. boom. I’m gonna go tick off a bass or two now with that setup. Gotta go!

Sweet! Thanks for the inspiration. I heard Orville, one of your favs is so low the stopped producing electricity. Bummer. Prayers for biblical rains.

Wind toys in Santa Rosa will do a demo.

I pull a lever to go in reverse. I rarely need instant reverse. Regular reverse, yes. Instant, no. I usually pull tiny u-turns to stay casting to a spot. instant reverse is simply pedaling backwards to spin the prop the other way. I’ve been doing it for about 16 months, fishing in my kayak. I’m gonna stay with Hobie fins. It’s simply what I know. Besides. In a kayak, it’s rare that you are oriented perfectly to your target. When I drift, I seem to go sideways where the current and wind has a bigger cross section to push again. Reverse or forward is surprisingly not helpful. The sideways capability of the new Hobie 360 drive is the ticket. Really.

That’s what my bud says. “Gas goes in, key goes in…..”

Bummer about the wildfires. My prayers and best wishes go out to those affected. im gonna try to find bass. Good luck to you all fishing NorCal tomorrow. Let’s do this! Kicking a kayak propulsion system in the smoke may be problematic but I’m gonna try. Today.

The opposite is true. My fins are faster. And it’s like instant acceleration. Less impact from weeds. But no instant reverse. I was with a guy in a big pedal Native. Tide was exiting, and we were fighting the wind. On the CA delta. I almost considered towing him. I had to go back to check on him. He made it, but it was slow.

We talk all day about boats and paddle things. but my truck. 2006 Toyota 4c4 Tacoma. I did three trips to a remote lake at the end of a dirt road. I changed my oil. And then peeked at my air filter. Whoa. It was dirty. I could juuuuussst see light from the sun thru some of the pleats. im gonna change my differential and t-case oil next. Maybe my plugs. you DIY your “get you to the fishing spot” rigs? Me nothing tomorrow no Not tomorrow, I’m fishing Clearlake:)

Haha. I just did that with my whopper plopper. Sent it flying into someone’s yard. The nice ladies frolicking in the yard let me come ashore to sheepishly get my bait back. I think it was an Airbnb. “Thank you ma’am “

The drop shot is my most productive technique by a mile. according to some YouTube guy, it wins the most tournaments. Dunno. I love it. It’s fun and the bite ranges from super subtle to “double fisted hold on tight”. The baits can be varied infinitely.

I love fishing big plastics like the megabass freestyle swimbait. I find myself looking for other flavors. I’m here sitting in an awful WebEx meeting and I started googling stuff. Poof. I found Japan Fishing Tackle. Oh o. What’s this?! The Stealth Swimmer? TW sold out. I ordered them from Japan. Looks totally cool to drag thru grass flats and such. any tips? Headed out this weekend of wildfire smoke clears out some.

My brother has a Viair unit. It clamps directly to the battery with alligator clips. Very solid unit.

thanks. I went in thinking cork was pretty much waterproof. the filler! ahh.

you all have seen cork handle failures? or they just because aesthetically unpleasing to the eye.?

I knew I was going to love it, but I had no clue HOW MUCH I was going to love it. I did okay fishing from shore at local ponds, but nothing spectacular. buying the kayak really expanded the experience for me. I can hit ANY lake I want in my area. big reservoirs are fair game. I crossed Lake Berryessa, and I have really explored Clearlake. I have yet to cross Clearlake, because I haven't needed to. the place is littered with boat ramps, and simply searching GoogleEarth can usually find me a ramp that is strategically close to the area I plan to target. I fish occasionally on a bass boat, and I am much more organized fishing on my kayak. pure necessity to maintain my housekeeping duties while fishing off a kayak. you simply cannot scatter stuff everywhere. in addition, it was interesting to fine my favorite lake is a PIA to even get a bass boat to, and as a result we kayakers get to fish it really all to ourselves. some adventurous boaters will brave the trek and get their boats there. I am still breaking the lake down to manageable parts, but I have already taken some whoppers there - blind fishing. this drought we are having. a boat ramp that is too dry to launch a bass boat is coincidentally easier to launch a kayak. it isn't busy anymore with boats, and the water is perfect to stepping into a dry kayak. easy peasy. I am having so much fun, and I am fishing more than I EVER have in my life. during the "Covid-Lull" I was fishing 3-4x per week!! I will tour the western states when time and life and pandemic allows. I am blessed my wife is totally on board. she loves to hear my fishing stories (or she fakes it well). the one Achilles to my kayak life is WIND. stupid wind. I am a hobby weather man these days. hahah..I watch NOAA like a hawk. wind almost killed me on Lake Camanche. lessoned learned. watch the weather, and know what to expect.

I love reverse. I use it primarily as a brake. I tend to get super enthusiastic when I get to a fishing spot, so I come in HOT! I switch to reverse to stop my forward motion. if not, I will park over the structure/fish.

Blanchard kills them on the finger lakes casting to a bridge there. up against the foundations. looks like a wonderful fishing venue!! great catch bud.

This makes little sense. First person at the spot gets dibs.

Nope. I never heard of the sealant until I joined the forum. My rods get rough looking for sure, but whatever. I don’t ogle them lovingly anyways. Tools.

True story. The Mepps catalog. Reading it as a tiny kid hooked me.

Here is a still shot. Hahaha. he was a nice kid. A newbie. He will learn. No harm done or felt.

I hit the lake this morning. No winds in the morning. Calm. Water was green, visibility about 1.5 feet. I didn’t look at the water temp. fish were chewing! I fished till noon and I got 15 very decent hard fighting fish. So fun. Was going tomorrow, but my friend is sick. I stay home since my day was such a success already. get out there Northern California folks!