CrashVector

This coming spring, I'm going to try to tackle the big girls using ultralights. 4lb mono line only. Why? Because it seems like it would be fun, and Ive already hauled in several 7-8lb bowfin on an ultralight this summer, and it was hellacious fun. Anyone else here do this? If so, what lures do you use? I was planning on 3" pit boss, mini rapalas, etc.

That's probably what's going on. The fishID thing marks them as fish though, and I see the spot on down scan. Garmin said I can't use downview through the hull...otherwise I definitely would have mounted it in the kayak.

Most commonly used are red ear sliders, but snappers are good too.

I've noticed that wherever I see lots of turtles, that's exactly where the bass aren't. Come on over for some Cajun smothered turtle soup. It'll change your life.

Thanks for all the tips! I'm definitely commiting all this to memory. Learning new stuff and trying new things is what keeps fishing interesting for me. I'm planning to try a fluke again this coming Tuesday on a M/F Veritas PLX rod. I'm pretty persnickety about rigging my plastics perfectly straight, but a lot of flukes aren't straight right out of the bag. Not sure if them rolling or corkscrewing matters much in the end or not, but I've only used a fluke maybe three times, and quit because I could NOT get it to swim straight if my life depended on it However, I'll pay super close attention to lining everything up perfectly straight.

Lol!

This fall, I want to try fishing with a fluke during/after the turnover. I've never had much luck fishing flukes, probably due to my complete ignorance of the lure. Just want to keep it interesting and learn something new instead of going to my typical finesse lures or swimbaits. The way I've been trying it: 10lb braid, barrel swivel, 18inch leader, 3/0 EWG or a 4/0 weighted hook with a screw lock. The problem I have is it twists/corkscrews a lot, and on the unweighted hook, it seems to stay right at the surface. So, any of you who are more used to fishing a fluke, post your tips please because I need help with this lure lol

Not really...I use what works. Most of my equipment is Abu Garcia simply because I know what I'm getting when I buy it: top tier performance. All of my high end combos are Garcia. However, I have multiple brands of rods and reels: Shimano, diawa, Pflueger, etc. The only brand im loyal to is the brand of braided line I use: Hercules. I won't use any other brand. Lure wise, I have lures from all different brands, from Ozark trail (Wal-Mart), to Berkley to rapala.

I almost ran over 5-6 of em with my car last Friday ? Never understood the appeal of turkey hunting. They ARE rather leathery and gamey.

My favorite....is rabbit. I'd trade any fish, deer, quail, etc for rabbit. Squirrel is a close 2nd.

Pond bass = always released unless fatally hooked. Lake bass= 2-4lbs go in the cooler. All others are released. Bayou bass: 1-3lbs go in the cooler. Anything else gets released.

What I think I did wrong: I used the Scotty transducer mount, but I THINK I had it too close to the side hull of my kayak/not deep enough. It was only about 6 inches in the water. My kayak sits about 10". I saw very few full arches...which makes be believe my kayak's hull was blocking part of the sonar cone. Okay...the vivid schemes are for the DV only. They actually make it harder to see detail bc the image is on a black background, and the fainter contacts show up as dark colors. For ME, I found running the downview in gray worked MUCH better, and made me more able to see smaller contacts. Thanks to this, I located some small crappie on it. I'll post a more comprehensive review once I make a second trip out.

Sounds to ME like you are "over casting". I'm gonna guess your backlashes are during the first 1/3 of the cast? Basically, you're swinging for the fences when you cast. With braid, it works better if you cast with a smooth "whip", and not a "snap" of the rod tip. I can go into more detail if this sounds confusing lol Basically you are over-rotating the spool in relation to how fast your lure is travelling, most likely bc you are trying to throw too hard.

I clean my Oakley Flak 2.0 S.I.'s the same way after a day on the water, except I use a milder soap....Dr bronner's magic soap.

Fishing = hunting in the water. Imo, it's the same mindset, and shares a lot of methodology.

Sure thing! Soon as I gather all my parts on Monday, I'm going to draw up a few plans and start experimenting with a couple ideas. Shouldn't take more than a day or two.

Abu Garcia Zenon. Best. Rod. Ever.

Thanks I got it mostly for finding brush piles for crappie, and redfish/speckled trout in the big lake and rigolets.

I finally broke down and ordered a Garmin Striker vivid 4cv, a 5Ah lithium battery, charger, and a plastic mini ammo can to house/mount everything in my kayak. I'm going to create my own transducer arm out of PVC so I can easily interchange it on all of my kayaks since two of them do not have tracks. Let's just say I hope I'm the one to get that Amazon box before my soon to be wife opens it ?

I bought a Pflueger Trion combo from bps. I LOVE that thing. So much so that I went and bought a second one in medium light. Now, in my kayak panfishing, I have both. For $70, they can't be beat imo. They're both graphite, so I can feel a light crappie bite on either one. I caught a 7lb bowfin on the medium light a week ago. I tend to use the UL for jigs/small beetlespins, and the ML for corks/spoons. If I had to pick, I'd say I have more fun with the UL.

Dove season opens here on Saturday.

Frogs for grass, etc Devil horse for more open areas Floating weightless worm in pockets in the thick stuff.

I do pretty well in the fall here too. These last few weeks have been BRUTAL. I go fishing 3-4 times a week. I've caught THREE bass this week. I catch that many in the first 20 minutes any other time of the year. We had multiple fish kills all over the place this year though. I can't tell you how depressing it was to see 7-8lb fish floating. Things prob won't recover here til spring.

Yep. Zoom = works just as well, half the price.

I've considered it. I prefer casting gear for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that casting gear is inherently more sensitive. However, cast distance for me is about even. I'll always use spinning gear under certain circumstances, but baitcaster are definitely my preference. That being said, I have none of the issues that the OP listed. Since I switched to braid, I literally cannot remember the last time I had a line twist or wind knot issue, I use 8 carrier braid in 10lb so it casts equally far, and accuracy is on par with my casting gear.