Zcoker

Not trying to push you into getting one, just relaying my experience. Game changer. You can also have the best of all worlds with add-ons like Torqueedo, Newport, Island Hopper, to name a few. Can go all out with a yak, to the moon lol Ultimately up to you.

Never been skunked out in the everglades. Hope I don't jinx myself lol

Yes, it can happen with a motorized kayak. I lost a prop once. The prop bolt spun off (I carry spares now). Yet it was easy for me to paddle back to the launch (against the wind) because I had wasted very little energy in the first place. I can only imagine if I had been peddling all day and then my drive failed, I’d be pretty much spent paddling back, just like you. A motorized kayak is a blessing, believe me!

Optical illusion? Probably just the angle of the shot. Try looking or shooting strait down and they should line up.

Pitching or flipping or just plain punching from a kayak….I just can’t get it right, no matter what I do. I know I could probably learn techniques and so forth but I just don’t like it. Just not in the cards for me. I told myself that the other day. I’d have to force myself to like it.

I fish the everglades, mainly at night. I would not consider using anything less than 50lb strait braid. For one, the thick cover that I'm always fishing around demands it. No way to pull out a 8-9lb fish from the thick stuff without some heavy line to do it with. Same goes for top water, they hit and head for the weeds. The bass that hit at night are usually tanks and I need to set the hook--hard! Strait 50-65 helps with that immensely. When I get a snag, a hard pull always brings the lure home. I can't remember loosing a lure out there....except maybe from an alligator lol Any lighter of line would just be laughed at. Another reason is confidence, no break-offs or sudden snaps. I see absolutely no difference day or night using heavy braid where I fish--they hit with a vengeance!

I have a Tatula 103 SV 7.1 that had some noise issues like you described that eventually became thumb bar issues. I tried lube and all that stuff to no avail. The thumb bar wouldn't pop back up after a cast. Very annoying! This only happened parodically but was enough for me to eventually shelf the reel. I finally got around to opening it to check the bearings. When I got to the main shaft bearings, there was a bearing behind the main gear that was held in place with a cover and two screws. I removed that cover and found the problem: the bearing had completely disintegrated! There was nothing left of it but metal shavings and little bearing balls. The outer race was complete gone! Dusted into oblivion. The rest of the bearing (the inner race) was still attached to the main shaft, held in place by a little C-clip. Needless to say, I couldn't find this bearing anywhere, so I had to order it from Plat in Japan, $10 USD. Hopefully you don't have this same problem and it's something minor like lube but if the reel starts acting as described, then I'd look into what I just posted.

I like a strait braid system with jigs because I can feel the hits instantly. With a sensitive rod it's like direct contact. Often, a jig hit by a large bass can be very soft and subtle, hardly felt. Their mouth is so big, they literally scoop the jig up. Hits like that are hardly felt as it is. And if not acted upon immediately, usually means a missed fish. Braid transmits those subtle vibrations way better than mono or floro, imho. There's also no stretch or leader knots in a strait braid system. All energy is transmitted to the hookset. Strait braid can also be a necessity, like down here in the south Floirda everglades, for example, it's a must in my book! I've tried all the mono floro configurations imaginable with marginal results.

I think what a lot of this thread shows is that big bass can be caught in just about any condition, bright sunlight or high noon being one of them. I recall a high noon bluebird sky day right after a major cold front catching 3 fish over 5lb on a large topwater bait. Wasn't supposed to happen that way but it did lol Surprised the heck out of me. Made me realize that ALL times are good times to catch the bigger fish.

Black has always been a hyped up night bait and is what I used when I first started night fishing the glades. Works well, no doubt. But I can get just as many hits on other colors, white being one of them. I recently caught a 7lb'er on a chartreuse spinner bait with flashy gold willow blades normally used in the daytime. In fact, most all colors work at night which goes against what most hear, that black or dark colors are needed for the silhouette factor. Perhaps there's something to that, maybe so. But I'm starting to see little difference in color and more a difference with sound when it comes to night fishing.

Come to think of it, most of my bigger bass (8lb and up) have been caught at a time that I never would've expected, between 11am and 2pm, when the sun is high in the sky, a bit of puffy cloud cover along with a light wind rippling the water...boom! They seem to come out of nowhere. I've always put my sites on early morning, late evening or at night. Yet the times that I've avoided is when I've gotten my bigger bites. Granted, I've gotten giants around the clock but most of them have come around the high noon hour. Which suggest, maybe, that at least a part of this big fish something may just be simple schedule adjustments.

Yes it does. Was out in the Florida everglades just the other morning about 4am and fished into the noontime furnace. When that sun snuck up, it snuck up with a vengeance! About toasted me! Water turned to a hot acid. I had to take A/C breaks in my truck while loading up the yak and all my gear. I'm just gonna cut it short from now on, getting out there earlier in the wee hours and leaving about 8am. Can't miss out on that sunrise bite! Being tactical about everything can still get the fish and avoid the furnace!

Me and this guy started talking on a saltwater forum like Bassresource and then it was by text and sooner by phone, many a day and many a night with exciting conversations about fishing tactics for Florida. Months went by like that. One time I was going to the Keys and he said he wanted to go. I was, like, what? You're hundreds if not thousands of miles away and I'm leaving very soon. He said no problem and caught a plane to Miami. So, on my way down, I picked him up at the airport and we both headed to the Keys to spend about three days, hopping my favorite bridges and fishing for big sharks at my favorite spots. I didn't care in the least about what I taught him or the crazy spots that I shared with him, furthest thing from my mind. Our friendship grew into many more such exciting trips all over Florida, from coast to coast. We still conversed by text or by phone when he wasn't in Florida, but the conversations grew less and less frequent. His text replies became very short lived, one or three word replies. By that time, he knew most of my fishing spots as well as my fishing tactics all over the state. Yet I never thought in the least that there was something final about it. One time I was waiting for him to arrive at a new spot and I told him that once I knew he was on the road I'd give him the directions to the spot. Well, as it turned out, I was at the spot fishing, waiting for him to contact me when, lo and behold, there he suddenly was, walking down the beach toward me! I had no idea in the world how he found the spot. I never told him. Maybe a lucky guess? Or maybe he used the metadata on one of my photos that I had previously text him to locate exactly where I was at? Humm I never asked. Something wasn't right. I felt funny about the whole situation. I started to wonder what the heck was going on, why so sneaky, why so short worded, and why so unfriendly lately? Things slowed and became slower with hardly any conversation until nothing at all--gone! Once he got got what he wanted he split for good. Hard way to learn how some folks are. Rather emotional, I might add. They're only in it for their own gain or benefit. Yet I'd still probably do it all over again!

Seems like you are in the same boat lol But I'd suggest keeping the reliable transportation that you have. Getting into another vehicle right now is looney for someone on low income. Even if you can get the extra cash for your Ford, in a relative way, that extra money is just gonna get swallowed up! Figure out something practical with the boat deal, either that or just get a Jon boat or something easy and inexpensive to deal with...plenty of stuff out there. The last thing you need right now at your age and health condition is a bunch of headaches and unnecessary stress....imho.

Just hop skip and jump from Orlando to Lakeland a place called Tenoroc Fish Management Area. Many choice lakes to fish from. Great day trip!

I don't fool with it anymore where I fish, which is the everglades or marshlands. I've broken off more lures on floro. Even on the cast with a full spool of the stuff, the line can snap at any point from the slightest bend or imperfection, taking the entire cast with it and putting the setup out of commission. As a leader I've lost some nice fish on it with the hookset. And I've given it the fairest of shots, using the best of fluorocarbons. Plain cheap mono does the trick for me, that or just strait braid. And I haven't noticed the slightest difference with hits between floro, mono, or strait braid, nada. The fish don't care lol

Or rods. I've snapped more expensive rods fishing from the bank. Mainly from dead sticking them up onto the bank for a quick grab. I hardly break rods on the yak, only one time that I can recall on a hard worm strike. Probably had a hair line crack in it.

It's not only the coastal areas that are threatened by major hurricanes but also the inland areas that they pass through. Lotta these inland folks feel safe, or unthreatened because they live way inland or high on the hill. They brush off the threat. The don't prepare. Not our problem. I bet they're scrambling now because hurricane Idalia is expected to be a Cat 2 entering the Valdosta Georgia area and beyond, like almost the middle of that state! Way inland! No storm surge but Cat 2 winds, tornados and flooding which is all bad enough. Those folks are hardly prepared and can often sufferer serious problems. Hopefully it all works out for everyone with no one killed. Damage is damage and can always be repaired. Life cannot.

$125, is that all? lol What about the MacDaddy Lure. It's going for cool 1 million bucks! Made out of gold, platinum diamonds and rubies. And it has gotten trolled a few times. There's no end to it, both in freshwater and saltwater, there's always gonna be pricey lures. Some of them are worth it, some of them are not worth it, and others like the MacDaddy are just plain looney tunes. $1,000,000 bucks...imagine losing that to a fish lol

It's the same way for a nice fishing kayak. I recently got one that cost over 3k when all was said and done. Prices like that would be considered laughable years ago for a plastic kayak. There's really no way around it. If you wanna play, you gotta pay!

There’s definitely blocks of time in a 24hr period that have the least weather drama. I’m a night guy here in Florida with hardly any issues with bad weather effecting my trips. Sometimes the weather can be downright nasty when loading up to leave but once I get to my spot it settles down, like with afternoon storms that start off dark and menacing but eventually calm and move away as evening nears. I’ve called off trips many times at the onset of a big nasty storm only to curse myself later on when it’s beautiful out! The early mornings are nice as well, getting on the water at 3am with nothing but a sleepy world to contend with and fishing through a spectacular sunrise into the cooler morning hour and then getting out while the gettin is good!

I started getting serious about bass fishing back in 2020 and do very well whenever I go out. Takes a lot of mental honing to get the knack of things but once figured out, it starts coming second nature. Before that, I was probably rookie of the year lol I went bass fishing on a wing and a prayer, never did well at all. I recall spending whole days out in the churning sunshine only to come up with a few dinky fish...along with a terrible sunburn! Finally gave it up and hit the saltwater side of life and went to the moon with that. Nowadays, it's a combination of both. We have so many neat situations down here in south Florida, hard to stick to one thing. Always nice to have that ace in a hole. When the swell is massive, I warm up the kayak hit the glades. When the tarpon or sharks are running, I'm right there along the beach running with them. Both aspects of both types of fishing keeps me in check with things and makes me a better fisherman all the way around. Everyone in every regard is a rookie at first light!

When the going gets tough, time to change out to a big weightless worm, ala south Florida style and cast around any visible structure. That simple change is a guaranteed fish on!

The moment when you couldn't buy a bite with green pumpkin and switched over to purple red flake is the simple answer. The determining factor. Sure, there's norms out there, colors for this or that. Take black at night, for instance. I can get as many bites on white! In a nutshell, color selection is a dynamic process, imho.

Down here in south Florida the guide service is off the charts for both fresh and salt, like all over the waterways and getting bigger daily. They comin out the woodwork, one day catching a few fish and then next day advertising themselves as the end all guide service. Has completely softened the market by just having so many to choose from. Lotta the experienced guides have thrown in the towel or have gotten buried under the stampede. Takes some skills other than fishing to be a good guide!