Scott804

A lot of the tournament kayak guys I know, including me, have a second kayak just for running rivers. Either to float with or one with a bow mounted trolling motor like a newport or a torqueedo to launch and go upstream with. I run a jackson coosa I got for cheap and it is a dream on the smallmouth rivers near me.

Most of the time I just take wire cutters and snip the second off a double willow, but this also works. Just depends what size you are going for.

Single blade. I truly believe single blade spinnerbait is probably the most underrated bait in bass fishing. Esp on tidal water. The issue is there aren't a lot of manufacturers making them. The new berkley single blade colorado is good, I have used the compact one a lot this year. I really like a single willow in the summer though and they are not easy to come by.

Whatever you do, stay away from the bass pro brand ascend kayaks.

Follow your own style. Everyone fishes different. Do what works for you

Wait till ya catch em on floating dead weeds... bite like no other

I mostly just don't like how they're screwing a lot of their guys. So many guys jumped ship because they were promised a league "by anglers, for anglers" and yet they had no say in this decision. Anyone who does not make the cut is put in a very tough position the following year, and the guys who just qualified have a very tough path ahead to stay in.

Under the seat pullout drawers are my main method

Probably not if you did it correctly. But I still wouldn't personally, I would try to figure out a different solution even if convoluted.

100% agree with this. I think anyone who pond fishes for long enough realizes that one of the best ways to stay consistent and successful is to continue rotating baits. Sometimes on those tough days all it takes is something a little on the funky side or something you don't throw often.

https://www.bassmaster.com/how-to/slideshow/how-to-id-grass-and-fish-it-effectively/

Now that I have been in a pro angler I will never go back. Just the horizontal rod storage alone is a big one for me, not having to transport rods from truck to kayak over and over, just get to the water & throw it in and go. That being said, it sounds like your wants are more geared toward an outback or a lynx. I would probably go outback personally. No offense but guy who said a pro angler isn't hard to flip might be living on mars

The reason I didn't go to a motor is stealth factor. Your water displacement in a kayak is already incredible and a massive advantage, I have always felt like having a motor running all the time negates some of that. That being said, same could be said about your sonar constantly pinging... I turn that off in shallow water too.

It bends pretty comfortably and deep into the blank after the initial hookset, I wouldn't call it brittle

Megabass Orochi Brailist. It is to the point where I can't even use anything else if I wanted to.

Keitech Football Beast Coast 3/4 Football War Eagle Heavy Finesse (This is my main jig, if I could only have one it would be this one.) Missile Baits Finesse swim jig (New one to my roster, fantastic with the mini D trailer, a tidal water favorite for me) Megabass Uoze Swimmer (Caught my PB on this one... that little blade makes the difference for me sometimes I feel like, especially when they've been beat up on a spinnerbait. Fits great with the 4" spark shad)

Out of places I have been? Santee Cooper. All day. That place is magical. Largemouth disneyland

Dobyn's Kaden 744 or 745 on sale

War Eagle River Rat Megabass SV-3 War Eagle Wake Colorado War Eagle Finesse 5/16thoz Also had good luck with the chart skirt / chart blades berkley compact spinnerbait I bought on a whim. Smallmouth hit that thing HARD. And a hush-hush one, Berkley DEX Spinnerbaits

18lb Sunline Fluoro. Bigger line is more sensitive. On a jig specific set up I will use 20-25lb occasionally, you can make a jig fall real darn slow with the right trailer, line, & jig.

I really like Rod Sox. I use the colors to help me know which rods are which at a glance.

Poppers in my popper box ; Popmax - Walks good. I almost exclusively walk that one. KVD Splash Pop - Has always been good to me on rivers. Good for small profile and I like the colors. Rico/Yellow Magic - I use these as a duo. I feel like if they aren't into one sound a lot of times they are into the other. They both act a little different but they are both 10/10s. There are others, but these are certainly my essentials.

Wow! I really love rods 2 & 4. I am a sucker for brown rods. I have a lot of Zodias rods, but yet an Expride. I really like how the Zodias looks, it's almost edgy. I love those rods, need to get around to trying the Exprides to see what I am missing. It is definitely the effort you put forth imo. I use nice, pretty rods but I am at peace with them bouncing around in my pro angler horizontal rod storage 'lockers'. It's just too much easier and worth it to me. In my last kayak where I kept them in the truck while transporting all my rods still looked primo at the end of the season.

What is your favorite rod aesthetically? Do you care how your rods look, or just care about performance?

Bagley B1, 7/16oz and 2". Comes through cover like a dream and hunts like a hound dog. For smallmouth, Spro Rkcrwlr 50 is my favorite outside of a my out of production bagleys. 5/16 and 2", truly tiny and perfect size for a smallmouth. I like cranking on a glass rod, tip is soft so I can throw the more difficult to cast ones and it feels like for me it hangs up less because there is some bend that happens before you end up hung up. One of those MGL reels will make casting the lighter baits a dream compared to the 200k though, I made that jump this spring and it has been so nice. SLX MGL 70 can toss 1/4oz baits like they're 1/2oz. My smallmouth cranking set up for those smaller kayak/raft rivers is a Shimano Zodias ML Glass 7'0 with a Shimano SLX MGL 70, 14lb fluoro. It is awesome for the 1/4 to 5/16th size crankbaits. I use it on some largemouth fisheries too.