Standard

I think any of the small 4" units are a good start, along with a battery box and a clamp-on transducer mount if the main goal is portability. I have rails on my kayak so I just use the Scotty transducer mount, a little flexy but that's been a benefit when I'm not paying attention and run the ducer into rocks... I'm partial to the Garmin units, I had a Striker 4+ that worked great.

I've been using the lime green 15# 832 on my baitcaster and have been happy with it. No fish lost due to main line breaks yet this year. As @Bankc mentioned, the color has faded a bit but that doesn't bug me.

Same with my Garmin 73SV. SI works as soon as I start moving. With a pedal drive, I can easily cruise at 2mph or so and it's a very clear image. I have the scroll speed set on auto, the unit does a good job.

Spent Sunday on Mille Lacs. One 16.75" right away in the morning, then nothing until evening when I got 3 more from 17-19" and missed 2. Spent the day fishing shallow but it doesn't seem like the majority of the smallies have moved up yet.

I've been on a hard bait kick this year.. just gets boring fishing tubes / nerd rigs. Mostly river fishing or Mille lacs. 1. Berkley Choppo, size 120 matte black. Smallies were going nuts over this in mid-late August. Had one day with 6 18"+ on it. 2. Berkley Jointed Flicker Shad, size 7 crawfish color. Got a bonus 28" walleye on Mille Lacs with this. Downside is smaller pike seem to also love it, think I'm up to 3 lost from bite offs. 3. Berkley Wakebull, size 70 black/chartreuse. Had no idea what a wake bait was until I randomly picked one up a couple months ago. Quickly moving up to my #1 spot. Can fish it anywhere from the surface to about a foot down. Smallies will hit this thing like a freight train. Not trying to be a Berkley ad here, I've just been using them more due to the lower cost compared to Rapala, but they aren't as durable. Don't come with the greatest hooks, and the paint gets beat up pretty quick where the trebles hit the body.

I've got a friend who goes down the Mays ledges on the Brule in Wisconsin standing on the gunwales of the rental canoe. Crazy good balance. I prefer standing and fishing. I picked up an Ascend 12t from Cabela's last year, and it was alright. Not the most stable and the seat was pretty low to the deck, so getting up and down was interesting. Picked up a Jackson Bite FD this summer and it's sooo much better. Super stable for standing, and the seat is higher so it's easier to get my old butt out of it. Only issue I have is when I'm floating the river and paying too much attention to fishing. Some of those rocks are sneaky, but haven't fallen out yet. Had a couple of forced sit downs, though.

I mainly do Smallmouth fishing, these are the 4 that consistently make it into the kayak: Baitcasters: Shimano SLX 150 DC / St. Croix Bass X 7' M Fast - Suffix 832 15lb braid flouro leader -- New setup this year that I bought mainly for crank / jerk baits, but I really like it so it tends to get used for just about everything Shimano Citica 200 / Shimano Convergence 6'6" MH Fast - 30lb braid flouro leader -- First baitcaster I ever bought, years ago. Workhorse that keeps truckin'. Bigger lures or throwing into cover. Spinning: Pflueger President XT 25 / Fenwick Aetos 6' 9" ML XFast - 8lb flouro -- Finesse. Tubes, smaller plastics. Sunfish catcher if the big fish aren't biting. Pflueger calls it a size 25 but it's more of a 1000 size reel. Pflueger President 3000 size / Fenwick Aetos 7' M Fast - 10lb mono -- Backup rod, mainly. __ Force of habit that I tend to pick fast action rods. Next plan is to a moderate action setup and see how I like it.

I need some of your luck. Had straight 40 lb braid to a weightless t-rig worm for throwing into pads / weeds. Got to the edge of the pads and watched as a big pike came up, snatched the whole thing in his mouth, turned his head and I felt the slightest tug.. cut through that line like butter. Not a big deal with plastics, but when I'm throwing $8-15 hard lures I'd rather not let the fish keep them.

I'm not sure how braid got the 'pike won't bite it off' reputation, but I've had those toothy critters slice through braid more often than not. I've gone to flouro leaders on both of my baitcasting setups. Started out using a double uni for the braid to leader connection, but have since switched to alberto as I find it easier to tie. Haven't had one fail. Floating down the Miss with a buddy earlier this year, he was using straight braid and I had a flouro leader. I was catching fish, he wasn't. About halfway through the float I tied a flouro leader on for him and he started catching some. Not scientific at all (he's not quite as avid a fisherman as me), and even I didn't think that river smallies would care that much about the line.. but it reinforce my decision to use flouro leaders.

I've had some where I swear they got their mouth on it before it even hit the water. I love river fishing for Smallies. I did have a pike launch itself straight vertical out of the water, tail and everything, in the process of totally missing my top water on the lake this year, that was pretty neat.

Hello all, just discovered this forum. Based out of the north metro here in Minnesota. Been fishing off and on most of my life, decided to get a bit more serious about it a few years ago. Mainly fish out of my kayak, focusing on the upper Mississippi for Smallmouth.