Serpent Mound

I'm alone about 90% of the time. I have a lifelong friend who I will fish with on occasion, or to taxi kayak launchings, but unless I'm fishing a dam with lots of people around or a tournament with lots of other people on the lake I'm by myself. I really like it that way. Fishing is a loner's obsession and if you aren't someone who is comfortable and happy being by yourself for long periods of time fishing is definitely not for you.

Rivers 110%. Around me they are by far the best option for size and numbers of fish. The fact that they're brown bass doesnt hurt either!

Ultimately it comes down to quality vs. quantity. If every new person joining the sport was a conservation-minded outdoorsman with a genuine interest and care in fishing then I'd 100% be for it. Unfortunately, that is on the high end of the bell curve and the average bum going out to leave a basketball sized backlash of 20# big game is always going to be the majority. I agree with the points stated earlier in the thread. If someone organically wants to get into it and figure it out, more power to them. But stop evangelizing to people who will ultimately be dead weight on the hobby.

The other part of the equation is that they are using rods that are extremely heavy. You can find some muskie setups for spinning that have broomstick rods. Besides that and offshore jigging rods/surf rods, the domestic market in the US is generally medium to medium light with the occasional MH. Because the general US fisherman is not pike fishing primarily

As a fellow southwestern Ohio angler I definitely understand what you're talking about. The months of December to May are absolutely the most challenging months for smallmouth in our local rivers. I haven't totally figured them out yet and the coldness and wind of this year so far has not been helping things in the slightest.

It all depends on the context, but when I think of larger lures one of the primary factors that I'm taking into account is the hook gauge as well as the weight of the lure. A chatterbait, buzzbait, or flipping jig with an extremely heavy gauge wire hook can be fished with spinning gear. However when compared to the efficacy of baitcasting outfits I can't justify saying that they are effective. The same way that a smaller car with a hitch can tow a boat or a trailer but cannot truly tow it effectively in the way that a truck can. I hope this answers your question.

Yeah large enough for any sort of connector knots if that's your concern

So far I'm a really big fan. Casting does take a bit to get used to if you're only using graphite normally but it's not too difficult. That's the target cranker model cause I throw a ton of 1.5 squarebills and DT4-8 on river riprap but I've found it handles flatsides and crankbaits in the 10-12 range pretty well. For the price I don't think you can beat it, $160 for a quality glass rod is pretty fantastic in my opinion but I'm biased toward St. Croix obviously. I'm sure dobyns or kistler has a comparable model in a similar price, but I like to keep it all in the same company. Can't speak on them for chatterbaits though. I prefer a carbon MH F for em. Hope this helps.

This is what I'm going into 2022 with as a tournament/recreational kayak fisherman. Maybe one or two more.?

Ditched the ascend 10t and finally got in a nicer ride with some upgrades. 63CV, cellblok with switchblade and sonar mount, power pole. I'm mostly a river guy, but it works on lakes as well. It's a really flat so the wind takes it for a ride but the power pole helps with that a lot. Once I get an anchor trolley setup itll be sweeter than sweet. Any ideas/thoughts on what else I should do?

I truly believe so. Around here, as far as I can tell, the larger (18.5"+) smallmouth transition from a diet of predominantly invertebrates to a diet of primarily baitfish once they hit that size if they are to become truly monstrous, so a lifelike imitation of a larger shad (but not too large) should be just the ticket to select for larger river smallmouth.

"You learn to adapt" Is the main point here. I'm not going to sacrifice throwing ned rigs on a medium light because of perceived loss of hookset power. If a rod is the right rod for a technique I wouldn't beef it up simply because I'm in a kayak. People do too much with their hooksets 90% of the time anyway Also, an easy way to alleviate these issues is simply to trend towards lighter wire hooks rather than changing your whole rod and reel schematics around, in my opinion.

I've recently picked up some baby bull shads and megabass I-slide 135s to try for smallmouth in the rivers around me. The bull shads especially I think will be extremely effective but only time will tell. I have no experience with glide baits so far but I have high hopes for sure. At the very least for the rivers around me I'm sure that they haven't really seen anything like them before.

From a Floridian I can understand, but in my area of the country finesse is the name of the game and a spinning rod is at least fifty to sixty percent more useful in bass fishing than a casting rod. I think it's a geographical distinction more than anything else.

Now that's just plain weird

Buzzbait and DT6/Squarebill is probably the best searchbait you can use in a river as far as I'm concerned.

If you are a river kayak angler, trust me, once you go power pole you never go back

Shhhhhh....... that's the one we keep secret. Send people to the LMR instead.

Figure I'll add my two cents to this discussion. If the situation is wading a river with one rod, it'll be a spinning rod 110% of the time. That being said, I think both absolutely have their place in smallmouth fishing applications. A large 1/2 oz buzzbait cannot be thrown or hookset effectively on a spinning rod, the same is true with half ounce football heads with larger gauge wire hooks. The way that I see it, it should be 50/50. Finesse baits will always be a producer in a river, plain and simple, and therefore a few spinning rods will always be with me. Casting gear, however, is much better for heavier baits and moving baits. If you aren't utilizing both for the techniques in the times where they are best suited then you're missing out on fish.

Seconding the BassX, a 7' Medium light should suit the majority of your needs

Medium Xtra Fast is a good topwater/jerkbait setup. I use a similar setups for spooks, poppers, and jerkbaits with a bread and butter SLX, actually.

For lake smallmouth I really can't say. I agree with the above post that spinnerbait smallies is mostly about speed. I would target weedlines (if you have any) with them specifically. In the rivers I would certainly advocate for them, as it seems that those with the chartreuse blades seem to be especially effective. One thing to be aware of is that they are a big fish selector, they're a quality over quantity bait for sure.

I would definitely look at the St. Croix Mojo Bass "Wacky Style". It's under $150, can be great for neds and really finessey lures but can also be used for a wide range of applications. A lot of times a medium light ned setup ends up being pigeonholed as just a ned rig rod, the Mojo would allow you a lot more options while still being a ned rig workhorse.

There is definitely a necessary element of consistency when it comes to fishing gear both in rods, reels, and arguably line as well. As others have mentioned in the thread, the differences between ACB and SVS braking systems are significant, and rapidly switching from one to another is bound to lead to confusion in your muscle memory at best, and constant backlashes or lackluster casts at worst. Same thing with rods. I'm a St. Croix fanboy, but keeping all your rods in the same family is important. When I go to buy a rod online, I know how a MH will feel, for instance, versus a H. Whereas in another company like Dobyns or Abu the ratings will feel completely different and act differently with different lures. With spinning reels the difference is not as pronounced, but if you're considering this question from a perspective of having a lot of casting gear, I recommend finding a company you like and sticking with it.

I have used the marabou dressed drop-shot hook by jigmasters in the past. I have had some success but I feel that in almost every situation the powerbait maxscent flatworm, hit worm, or flatnose minnow is about as good as gold on a drop-shot.