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Yup was planning on heading up early Friday and getting one last trip in, but seeing more reports of ice so may just go searching for some fishable ice instead.

Ugh I can't wait for some fishable ice. I can't believe next weekend is December and I'm thinking about getting the kayak on the river to chase some muskies..

It all depends on the area. I love low and clear conditions and often have some of the best fishing on those days. On the topic of barometric pressure - I think river fish buck any trend that may be there. They're more opportunistic feeders and as long as they can eat, they will. I've had just as good fishing on bluebird clear days as I have on pattern changes.

It seems like the last few years I've ended up focusing on a different area each season. Not even intentionally, but when I find a new area I tend to keep going back until I really figure it out.

I got a 28" walleye while trolling shallow for smallmouth a few springs ago on Mille Lacs. I've also had a walleye blow up a choppo on the Mississippi, right next to the bank. It actually had a decent fight, was really surprised it wasn't a smallmouth when I got it to the kayak.

The Bite has pockets in the side sized to hold 3600 boxes. My most used tackle goes in there. This is all loaded up for a weekend of camping on the river, so more stuff than I've been taking lately. I'd usually carry 5-6 3600 sized boxes, slimmed that down to 3. Goal for next year is to cut that down to just 1 box. The crates gonna stay, though. Need those rod holders for the fly rods.

With the season winding down (up here at least) I figure it's a good time to check back. Of course, even though both my goals were length related I ended up leaving the bump board at home more often than not. So I'm not sure on the 21" mark. I ended up with multiple 17"+ on the fly, including some 20" fish. All in all, a pretty good year for me with plenty of decent sized smallmouth.

Boring Boring Boring I've stopped bringing any spinning finesse tackle in favor of fly rods for river fishing.

Spent some time on the Mississippi about 2 weeks ago. They had the feedbag on, already moving deeper but still willing to come up to the surface and eat. Ended up using my fly rods most of the time and caught some nice fish. Swinging a streamer through a current seam was almost a guaranteed eat. And that big one smashed I hopper I was drifting with my 4wt, that was a hell of a fight. Headed up again this weekend, we'll see how it goes after the rain and colder weather.

Any examples you could provide? You must follow different meteorologists than I do, because I haven't seen anything like what you're claiming.

Sounds like you don't understand how weather forecasting works. I suggest reading the forecast discussions from the NWS. Novak weather is a good follow on facebook if you use it, he does a good job of explaining what's going on. Read up on forecast modeling and the different systems in use, how and why they can disagree on things. Just stating 'meteorologists lie' is lazy and uninformed. Also incorrect, it's an old and worn out trope.

I've been fishing out of a Bite FD for about 2.5 years now. Been an excellent setup. Plenty stable, no problem standing at all. The flex drive setup is nice for shallow river fishing, it just bumps into the hull when I don't see that rock. I've somehow never busted a shear pin even after thorough abuse. I've beat the crap out of the whole kayak and the only thing that's failed has been the seat straps. You will chase the occasional creak / click / squeak from the flex drive unit. Part of my semi-regular maintenance is to check that all the bolts are tight. Downsides - no internal storage. I wish there was one hatch on it, but it's not a deal breaker for me. The Coosa has a hatch, but I don't want to go that big. It doesn't have a direct power pole mount, you either have to buy the adaptor from Jackson or make one. I made one out of 3/16" steel I had laying around.

This past weekend, I was getting mostly 12-15" fish. Not bluebird skies, but slow fishing compared to the usual. Plenty of fun on my 4wt rod, and then found this guy. So yes, I keep fishing.

I picked up some used Fenwick Aetos spinning rods used a few years ago. Had no idea what they actually looked like, they were just a good deal so I bought them. Probably my favorite looking of all my rods, the blue swirl they have is great. Second place is probably my Mojo Bass Glass, I dig the green. I'm not really picky on the color, though. Just nothing bright. I've got a buddy who has some white rods, I couldn't stand having those in my vision all the time.

Usually, but I have had days on the river when they wouldn't look at a topwater, but would consistently hit a wake bait. Or wanted nothing but a ned rig drug along the bottom, even in the shallows. Of course, I've also had slow days where I said screw it and put on my 120 size Choppo and just hucked it until I found the hungry fish. Late summer and into the fall is my favorite time, usually the big ones will hit a top water no matter what.

Same, although my bass fishing trips far out number any trips for catfish. Got one on a chatterbait this past weekend.

Bed rack with a rod box is my preferred method. I'm usually camping, so security isn't as much of a concern. If I'm away from the truck for any amount of time it usually means I'm on the kayak with all the expensive stuff. Camping gear goes in storage totes in the truck bed. I do get nervous fishing when the truck bed is full of gear, but nothing has walked away yet. There are tonneau covers that have t-track, and you can get bed racks that mount to that. It would give some security to the bed, but they can get expensive quick. The ADARAC series is one of the lower cost options I've seen, been tempted to pull the trigger on one. https://shop.agricover.com/category/coverandrack

Ah, the weekly braid / leader thread.. I run braid on all my bait casters, if I do happen to bird-nest it I can pull it out without worrying about kinking the line. Plus, I just like braid more. I also run flouro leaders on my setups. Usually anywhere from 12"-36" of 20 or 30lb Seaguar blue label. Most of the spots I fish also have a good amount of pike or even musky, and losing a $8-15 lure sucks. I use an alberto knot and the only time it comes apart is if I've been sloppy tying it.

Even at $6k it's really not bad. I think a lot of folks are underestimating the cost of a 36v NMC battery. An Amped Outdoors 36V 50Ah battery is $1,150. Add that to the cost of an AP136 (I know it's 12v, but just for comparisons sake) and you're what, $50 shy of $6k? Plus, the big deal here is the pedal assist. You could probably run 5mph all day on assist and not run out of battery. And even with the battery, it's about 15lbs lighter than the AP136.

It's turned into my favorite time to fish up here in MN. As long as the timing works out, fishing while the storm is rolling in is often fantastic. Afterwards it's hit or miss.

Pretty much every kayak thread airshot has to pop in and say something about boats. Hopefully pricing comes down in a few years when I'm ready for something new. This would be a great setup for river fishing, using the assist to easily get upstream.

This past weekend I was fishing a shallow section of river - shallow enough that I was wading upstream pulling the kayak. I saw what I thought was a dead smallmouth upstream of me, looked at least 16-17". It was laying on it's side in some rocks, right on the bottom in about a foot of water. I took another step closer and it swam off, very fast. Didn't look injured or dying, although I know that's the most likely answer. Maybe just taking a little rest? I hadn't seen anyone fishing in the area, so I don't think it had been recently released. Just thought it was interesting.

Wake bait all day. I fished a shallower section of river this weekend, and while I was able to get bites on most lures I tried, nothing got crushed quite like the wake bait.

I've used a style similar to the bottom one on the river a few times and it would easily get hung up. That's why there's an eyelet on the bottom of the claw anchor - you tie another rope to that and pull that one if it's hung up. But that's a lot of ropes to have in the kayak, and it's not a guaranteed thing. For any moving or shallow water it's best to use a pole style or drag chain. They're expensive, but the micro power pole was one of the best upgrades I've made for river fishing.

I'm the same. Top water first, and work my way down the water column.