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Even with my pedal kayak, the paddle gets plenty of use. I picked up a Werner Tybee quite a while ago - I wanted something decently lightweight, but with standard 'plastic' blades as I'm mainly on the river, and slamming carbon blades on the rocks just doesn't appeal to me. It was a nice upgrade from the cheapy paddle I was using before.

Fished a river in the Brainerd area this weekend. Usually pretty decent smallmouth river, but it was slow. Fished a familiar stretch on Saturday, and only managed two smallmouth. They didn't want anything to do with the upper 2/3's of the water, and I only managed to get them once I switched to the fly rod, with a crawfish pattern and a sink tip leader. Swing through the current with no movement, they were pretty lazy. Also managed my first walleye on the fly with that technique. Fished a new section upstream of that on Sunday, and saw why. Lots of beds, most with smallies actively guarding them. Got my one bed bass of the year.. I don't normally try for them, but the water was so clear that it was fun to watch it interact with my jig. Saw a giant walleye mixed in with a bunch of river redhorse, but it spooked before I could get a lure down there..

AKA when I get the crap scared out of me and almost fall out of my kayak. Seems like it only happens when I'm starting to zone out.

My Bite FD has one in-hull holder at each side of the seat, and I have a crate with 2 rod holders on it. At the start of the day, my favorite / most used setup goes in the left hull (I'm a lefty), second choice for the day in the right hull. Backups go in the crate. They'll rotate through positions depending on what's working.

I've been looking at those but feel like the first thing I would do is snag the pull cord and trigger it accidently.

I do, mainly the west side of WI targeting smallmouth. I may try some spots around Hayward this year.

I picked up that same reel from Digitaka 2 or 3 years ago. It quickly became my favorite. The finish has help up really well, and I'm not too gentle with my setups.

I've had an SLX DC for a few years now. Although it's not my most heavily used reel anymore, it's never let me down. Only rebuilt it once and all the internals looked great.

MN and WI for me.

Sometimes I wish my kayak had hatches, but never having to worry about a situation like that is nice. Water can get in the hull through screw holes and such, but I've had maybe a cup or two of water in there after a full season of use.

Very slowly and carefully, any sudden movements may spook it. For lakes, I'll check the DNR website and see what the latest fish survey says. Check out their depth maps if they have them, and also look at the depth chart from Garmin if they have one. For rivers, I usually just check out the satellite images on Google Maps and do some searches for any fishing reports.

Fishing my normal spots.. 0% as it's a river and I don't bring electronics. If I'm on a lake with my sidescan setup, I'll keep an eye on it while moving spots to look out for structure. Ice fishing.. I'm staring at that thing so much I think I have livescope screen burned into my retina sometimes.

Exactly. Side scan isn't for finding fish, it's for finding structure. I use it while trolling with my kayak, more than once it's shown some structure out to the side and I've been able to change course, run the lure over the structure and get a fish or two.

Yes, although Amped doesn't recommend NMC batteries for a boat application: "NMC batteries were build for portable fishing electronics use. They have higher energy density which means they pack more power in smaller space. These are intended for kayaks, portable shuttles and ice fishing. These are not intended for on board or boat use. Remove them after use and bring indoors, charge only indoors and between 32-80 degrees. For on board or boat use, you want to use a LiFePO4 (12.8V or 16V) and they can be safely charged with the proper waterproof on board charger. " https://ampedoutdoors.com/products/32ah-lithium-battery-14-8v-nmc-with-charger-1

Mentioned on another thread, but I run the Amped 32ah NMC battery for my 73sv and LVS32. Also run my power pole off of it. Unfortunately looks like it's out of stock until late feb / early march.

I use my 73sv with Livescope for ice fishing in the winter, and run it with the GT54 transducer on the kayak in the summer. It works fine. I'd upgrade to the 9" if I found one cheap, but they rarely pop up. Buying new to upgrade would cost way too much. The one bonus is that it lasts forever on a 32ah NMC battery.

I just lay mine across the front, especially after I used it to scoop a little bird out that was struggling on the surface.

Fishing from a pedal kayak, I almost always troll when I'm moving spots if I'm fishing a lake. I've got some nice bass over seemingly featureless spots while trolling.

Bought my 73SV a little less than 4 years ago when Cabela's had them for $400. It gets used on my kayak when I'm lake fishing, and hooked up to a shuttle and livescope for the ice season. As it's not really permanently mounted to anything I tend to chuck it around a bit, but it's held up great.

It all depends on where you fish. I primarily fish shallow rivers and the micro power pole is a game changer. I think I'd give up the pedal drive before the power pole.

The Hybrid is usually my next step if I'm not getting any interest in the wake bait. Depends on where I'm fishing, but I usually start with topwater and work my way down through the water column.

Love the Wakebull, although I only have 2. I didn't realize they were discontinued until I tried to buy more... Speaking of KVD, I really like their Hybrid Hunter. It's versatile, fishes a little deeper than a wake bait but I've had really good luck with them. Checking the website I see they have a Shallow Hybrid Hunter now, I'll probably have to pick up a few of those.

When the conditions are right, I have more fun catching bass on the fly versus a lure. But there's a fine line between the fun and frustration factor with fly fishing for bass, especially out of a kayak.

https://www.startribune.com/search-on-for-duluth-man-who-left-home-to-go-ice-skating-on-bay/601189606

Much like @papajoe222, I stop throwing topwater once they start bouncing on the hard water.