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Shoes for small boats?
If I know I'm going to be doing a lot of dragging the kayak, I use my Simms G5 boots with some neoprene socks. Overkill? Probably, but otherwise they just sit around when I'm not fly fishing. When I'm just going to be getting my feet wet for launching I'll just use whatever pair of cheapy water shoes I have sitting around.
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Favorite or best wakebaits
I only have 2 of them, and I broke one a few weeks ago. I almost cried.. Berkley really needs to start making them again. A close second is the Jackall Mikey.
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Low Water Finesse Lures
I forgot the 😁 It may be different elsewhere, but this time of the year on the upper Miss or St. Croix, smallies are already at or near the shallow water, even with the rivers as low as they are right now. They usually smash anything that gets close, so finesse is pretty far down on my list of things to try.
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The Coike Thief - Northern Pike
Pike are very tasty, I just hate dealing with the slime and y-bones.
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Low Water Finesse Lures
Choppo 120 is my low water finesse lure.. Seriously, we're at the point in the season where big smallies will sit in / near shallow water waiting to ambush anything around. Nothing quite like seeing that big torpedo wake zooming towards your topwater lure.
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Weather apps for your phone - What do you use ?
For anyone interested in the weather, I recommend reading through the forecast discussions provided by the NWS It offers a nice insight as to why the forecast shows what it does, and although it can be a bit technical they provide links for the definition of the more sciencey words.
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Curado
Love the rod, dislike the trigon grip. This particular rod was the first run of the trigon rods, and it was a warranty replacement that just sat in my garage for a few years as I had already bought a rod to replace it - one of the original grip glass rods because they were on closeout due to the new model coming out. I figured I'd buy the Curado and get some use out of the trigon one, only to discover that the reel seat doesn't cinch down tight enough to hold the reel without some play. Pretty disappointed in that. I even tried a 150 size reel I had sitting around, and it still wouldn't tighten up enough to take the play out. Hopefully they fixed the reel seat, I need to get in touch with St. Croix and see what they'll do to fix it. This past weekend, I put the Curado on an Abu Vendetta MF 6'6" that I also hadn't used in a bit, and really like that combo. Lightweight rod that matched up really well with the Curado for flicking jerkbaits and the like.
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Landing Big Bass on a Kayak
Absolutely this! Every time I lose a bass while reaching for my net or even just trying to click my power pole remote, is because I was distracted and lost tension on the fish. A good size net in an easy to grab spot helps out a ton.
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Curado
I picked up a Curado MGL 70 this season and it's turning into my new favorite reel. The only thing I miss compared to my Zillion is the drag clicker. I have it set up on a Mojo Bass Glass 7' 2" MM rod and it's a nice match.
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The Coike Thief - Northern Pike
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Do you land your chatter baits on the bottom?
Why not? Smallmouth will absolutely munch anything on the bottom that resembles prey. Popping a chatter bait off the bottom is a great crayfish imitation.
- Carp has gone shallow, Bass are gone?
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Looking to purchase 1st fish finder for kayak with some questions
I use one of these Scotty transducer mounts: Scotty Fishing141 Transducer Mount with Gear Head Adapter & 440-4 Low P...Designed for kayaks and small boat use - transducer arm telescopes from 11.5" to 18" and swivels 360 degrees - includes 438 adapter and low-profile track.I don't run sonar if I'm river fishing, so it's nice to take everything off and not have to worry about bashing the transducer on rocks.
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Why don't you troll?
Yeah, I'll agree with that. It's rare that I purposely troll, but I'll often do it when I'm lake fishing and heading to a new spot. The few times that I have trolled specifically to target fish (lake trout) I make it about 30-45mins before I gotta switch it up.
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Let’s talk early spring top water
Choppos have always been my go-to, but I picked up a walking bait last year and while it hasn't been quite as productive as a choppo, they really crush the walking bait when they do go for it. I did pick up a few buzz baits to give them more of a try this season.