Functional

Actually did just this for a quick 2 hour trip this weekend. Visiting my parents and had an opportunity everyone was going to be out doing something so I borrowed a 6'5 MF spinning rod and my father only has soft plastics. My father really only fishes soft plastics so I took 3 types and picked up my BILs kayak. Missile baits D-bomb (green pumpkin) - big profile on a 1/4 belly weighted hook. Lake Fork Worm (purple) - smaller profile but with the "ribs" would give off more water movement if it was stained water (ended up very stained and this was my best producer). 3/16 weighted hook 8" purple worm with ribbon tail - smaller profile but slim if water clarity was decent. 3/16 weighted hook Just because its light and slim doesnt mean it needs to be fished slow. It can be fished both ways.

I'd say flex it open and squeeze some Shoe Goo in there. Flexible, water proof. At one point (potentially currently) Marines use it when attaching their jute to ghillie suites. If they cant destroy it then I'm pretty sure it should hold up for you.

My vote is a Ranger/Colorado/Tacoma with a Diamondback bed cover. Thieves will go for convenience and smashing a window or cutting a soft cover off is more tempting than a locked aluminum cover or trying to drill the locks. I traveled a LOT with firearms for competition and that was my pick since at the time I couldnt find any reports of theft with this cover. Easy to pull off and you still get all the benefits of a pickup.

I dont know if you are fishing a fluke like a t-rig or swimming it but something not mentioned here is retrieval rate if swimming. If you are swimming it try speeding up and also try slowing down your retrieval speed. This can change depending on water/weather/fish preferences day to day. Some days they prefer faster vs slow and vice versa. You can get a lot of half-A bites which would cause your success rates. If you get the speed in their preferred zone they should engulf it and get a better hook placement in the mouth. 3 seconds is definitely too long if you are feeling an active bite, slack line suddenly, etc.

I've got some staples that never change but the ones that are weather dependent I leave from the last trip and change the morning/day of. The weather here (at least the places I check) are wrong most times enough to matter and I got tired of rigging twice. My pre-trip involves charging batteries, checking if I need to retie and re-loading the boat with snacks and spare water.

thats how I started with my father until I was in my teens. row boat or on foot with 1 rod and a hand full or lures. Then one year in my teens my Dad bought a 11.5' bass tender with an 8 or 9hp motor and electric TM and we thought we were royalty. Didn't fish out of a bass boat until I bought my tracker when I was making adult money at my first real job in my mid 20s. Really good memories doing it the old way.

you sure it wasnt just screen burn in? 🤣

Glad you are finding the bigger fish in your pond! Looks like its producing well and has potential to hold some even bigger fish.

this, action is excellent. I toss it into the thickest stuff and just twitch it out getting it to spit water and they just engulf it.

Caught one on a vision 110jr the other day. Lure was just about as long as him. I often wonder if they hit these larger lures more out of aggression than they do to eat it.

I havent tried the original yet. Bought a Trophy Series and had some of the best frog fishing and hook up ratio ever using a frog that year and just kept buying them. The body material and shape just work excellent. One of the few frogs I never have the hooks dig into weeds on a retrieve but has no problem hooking into fish. I fished hollow body frogs a lot in NY and always had mixed results, all those frogs sit in my tackle box now unused....should probably pull them from the box.

ironically I almost lost an entire seat trailering my boat home this past weekend. Took the riser bar off so it sat as low as possible in the receiver on the deck (inches off the deck) in the back. Hit one of those dips crossing a bridge and watched the whole seat pop straight up, do a flip and land on its "head". Only thing that stopped it from being completely ejected was the motor. I'd have doubled back though, even if the rods werent useable I'd bet the reels would be if they werent run over.

scum frog in chartreuse and black. Only 2 colors I've needed.

my tacker (13 model so YMMV) had no seal around the handle cutouts for the hatches. I got some clear silicone and sealed them up from the underside and sealed the drain in the channel around inside lip and havent had any water in my hatches since. Mine wouldnt "fill up" though, just any water splashing over or rain would get the inside good and soaked.

Only one lake I go to charges a fee on the honor system and its $10 a visit IF you use the boat launch. Kayak fishing and row boat are free if you launch from the shore somewhere. Unless the lake was nearly guaranteeing a 10# bass on that trip I dont care I'm not paying $40 for a DAY trip. For reference I'm on the other side of the state as you.

I read it as 1-4" tall grass leaving a lot of open water above. Personally I havent had luck throwing frogs unless veg reached the surface or was within a few inches of surface. If I read it wrong I completely agree with it.

How I imagine the fish looking at my lure.

I might still be in Tball 🫠 spot looks awesome. Walk in looks really cool too!

I'd hit the spots with hard cover and live grass. First pass would be with a swim jig or weightless fluke twitched over the top of the grass, possibly a spinnerbait/chatterbait. Second pass would be a trig/jig to get down into the stuff. If I get fish on swim jig/fluke around the cover I'll go back and rip the swim jig through ALL the live grass. If its a bit overcast or early morning, dusk I'll throw a popper. I have never pulled a fish out of dead grass.

The Columbia seem to be a fan favorite. Still have one or 2 to look up suggested here. Anyone try these pants? Not trying to cheap out, I want these to last a few seasons but $40 to $90 is a few jerbaits I need to replace. https://www.academy.com/p/magellan-mens-profish-pro-angler-technical-pants?sku=monument-34&gmc_feed=t&&ogmap=SEM|PLN|MSFT|SHOP|m||IM|AudienceShopping2024|||638565934|1&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0_WyBhDMARIsAL1Vz8vE3mxEgB2D1kJV_2-P1UQh1wEbIjrS4tYZOabqo8mp7JrbSPUjEncaApxuEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I can tell you how not to fish it...and thats in a light sit in kayak with only a paddle and not anchored. I think I was stuck more than the fish at the end of that 😂. Seriously though like @Choporoz I go very light if fishing plastics to near weightless and start far out and work in. They don't tend to get deep down into the bad parts of the mess but still wind up where it needs to be. Never exposed hook, and contrary to what some may say I go light gauge hook so its easier to bend out if I do (rarely) get hung up. I'd rather recover a bent hook and throw it out than leave something behind if I can help it.

This came up a couple months ago but for the life of me I cant find it. Anyone have recommendations for very light weight SPF rated fishing pants? Bonus points if they are convertible? Preferably ones that dont make me look like MC Hammer

I think the phone thing is multifaceted but honestly I feel like it makes it less real for people to video it and watch it through their phone than paying attention to the actual act. If anyone spent any time on social media its like a world of make believe, everyone says stuff they wouldnt be caught dead saying to someones face. The screen takes the humanity out of it. As for not wearing their PFD I'm honestly shocked more people dont drown than the amount that already do. Among many other things I watched 2 separate paddle boarders go out in 15mph winds on a cloudy storm ready day way out into the middle of the lake crossing boat traffic to islands with waves crashing onto rocks. No PFD, no bright color bathing suit, no whistle. I'll admit i fished a spot way longer than I needed to making sure the young girl got back safe. Not even a parent on the dock she came from watching. I did dumb stuff when I was young but not like what I see today.

I want one bass to not be skunked, them I'm trying to hunt a new PB. If I have someone with me I just try and find any fish to catch. I wont subject them to my self torture.

I've got a crap ton of Siebert's jigs but I like the Dirty jigs I have. Another one I've dabbled in is the 6th Sense Divine series and particularly love their Divine Swim Jig. Screw bait keeper really makes the trailers last, particularly my favorite the FAT impact.