Darth-Baiter

great story. I always wanted to catch a snakehead!! they put up a great fight right?

I like some wind. It seems to hide my approach from the fish.

Yea. I quit hunting out of a tree stand because of the potential for falling. And I have a great harness. I’m just not a great climber. Awkward almost. im glad you are okay.

I’m not super experienced with swim baits. But yesterday. Post spawn, lots of bass cruising around in five feet of water, and aquatic plants growing to just about a foot from the surface. I was hammering them with a drop-shot and my new friend, the Shaky-Head. I would see bass in the murky water. I tied on a weedless swim-bait. The MegaBass MagDraft Freestyle. OMG.!! My first hit I captured on my GoPro. I sounded like a bumbling idiot. The excitement took over!! It was so exciting. Lure swimming slowly and BAM! It stops cold. Stops solid and you almost instinctively set the hook. Total pandemonium. I don’t have the right setup. Med-Heavy rod. 12lb flouro. Slow swimming a swimbait thru the grass was so fun. My mouth dried out from the anticipation. Heavier line would have been good insurance. funny true story. I was doing so well I handed my buddy my spare. Second cast, his knot failed and the lure sailed away. The apologetic look on his face.....so funny. I gave him a rash of Krap. I love the swimbait. One bass shredded my lure. Literally tore the face off. But it still worked

This. I once caught a smaller bass with its mouth filled with senkos. The greedy bass had 4 in its mouth. I had to gently pull them all out. I Hate losing one overboard.

Everyone moves them around differently. I have a solid plan. Usually I don’t put my truck at the boat ramp. I unload my kayak, put the wheels under it, toss everything back in haphazardly and roll it all back to the truck. yesterday the lake was quiet and the ramp was empty. I took my truck in to the ramp. I put away gear and then lifted my kayak into the truck. now my back is tweaked! Sore and tight. Nothing serious. Nothing rest and sticky pain pads won’t fix. Plus time. I’m gonna lay off kayak fishing for now. We are in a hot post spawn too!! Bah! I visited stupidity, now I’m paying the cover charge. lift smart, fellow kayakers. Don’t let the afterglow of a great trip erase your wisdom. Like it did me.

Yes. I slipped in over a super shallow section and found deeper water just out of reach of the boats. They were yelling questions at us, “what do you see? How deep is it? Wait, how big was that bass you just caught?” it was fun. I had to get out of my kayak and walk it over the shallow section. Today was a good day.

A very humble 4lb fish. Hit like a freight train ! I was throwing all sets of stuff successfully EXCEPT the chatter bait. Boo chatter bait. Total dude for me. swimbaits. Shaky head, drop shot. Boom boom and boom. The fish were chewing. I cannot wait to get a 7 or up. But baby steps I suppose. I’ve gotten a 6lb before but that was on a boat while standing next to a great fishing guide. DIY fish are sweeter victories for me. I appreciate this one more. Thanks for all the help, advice and pep talks.

Shaky-head bass caught. What a great technique! I got some hard enthusiastic hits.

See my post above where I realized my error.

Yamamoto swim SENKO. I do have some old Mann swim baits I’m gonna try.

Jan 1 2021. I had to pee so I reached for my paddle to go to shore. In doing so , I punted (paddle knocked rod out of the dumb factory Hobie shallow rod holders)my spinning setup into 45 feet of dark cold water. Just out of reach. It sank as I watched helplessly. Crushed my spirit and basically started my new year with a black eye. I proceeded to complete the day with a skunk. went home, turned on my computer and ordered the exact same setup. Since then those factory rod holders are dead to me. Nothing goes into them ever. Well I stuff food bar wrappers into them to dump later.

wow. not sure I could have even guessed the weight!!

YAY!!! I'm launching at State Park if you want to join. couple of kayaks.

Very little visibility. My fatty z is water melon red.

Thanks. I’m strangely nervous and excited about it. My zoom trick is green pumpkin

The spawn is probably a distant memory to the Clearlake Largemouth bass. i want to try the shaky-head. picked up some gama 1/8 heads. Looks to be a 3/0 hook. I have: Zman FattyZ Zman floating worm Zoom Trick worm And various 4” finess worms. am I too late? I was told it’s a prespawn technique? I’m hitting Clearlake Sunday. I want to try. Any tips?

Hahaha

Ouch. I’ve done that. Major birds nest. Same result if the lure hooks a branch behind you right before a cast. Epic.

The sweet thing about the nocqua battery is the Velcro flap. I simply wrap the flap around the inside tube the sail kit stabs into. It’s inside my front Hobie hatch. No need to buy that kit to store batteries. the thing about the Nocqua dual battery setup. It doesn’t run the batteries in parallel or anything. It runs down one battery to a predetermined level ( I was told 10.8 v) then it automatically switches it to the other cell. I can run my hook5 reveal for around 10 hours. I have two nocqau batteries for multiple day trips. They do require a thoughtful approach to charging. if I did it again I would get the 17ahr battery that guy sells on a kayak forum. About $180. Cheaper than two nocqua units.

No love on a jig?

When is the closed season? The Spawn? No fishing during the spawn?

I;m a one trick pony at this point. drop shot. for sure. I was pulling bass up below huge bait balls at 60 feet in Lake Berryessa. honestly, I was shocked it worked. I nose hooked that plastic shad looking bait, the Hazadong shad. killed them.

I was so skeptical of my friends Nucanoe F10. it is so stable. either he is ignorant of danger or it is SUPER stable. we got caught out in Clearlake in a windstorm. he was fishing in huge waves, while I was picking my way back to the ramp. last trip he was standing up in the wind. its a little wonky where you have to set the seat in the rails and screw it down, that takes time, but that is it. done. push it into the water and go. it is more canoe looking than a kayak. but me, if I were in the market..I would get. a pedal thing. the Native Slayer Pro 10 or whatever their brand new boat offering is. I bet it is crazy stable. worth a look for sure.

Thanks you all. I do love my Phenix Maxim. It’s the reason Phenix is the front runner. ‘The sucky thing. It’s completely sold out. Boo!