KSanford33

I live in northeast NY, so I'm curious to find out what the primary forage would be up here. I know crayfish (crawfish, crawdad, etc.) will be up there, and obviously bluegill, but what other forage would be prevalent up here?

He makes an excellent point. There's definitely some fisheries where it would help and some where it wouldn't. And his best point is, even if you can see the fish, you still have to catch them.

I did think it was a possibility. I don’t know if the winning weights have increased year over year at the same tournaments. I know there are many more variables than just electronics, but if the weights aren’t increasing, I would struggle to agree that these technologies are really helping. For example, my preferred fishing style is fishing the heaviest cover I can find. That’s a proven strategy to catch big fish. These new technologies won’t help me with that any more than what I currently use (topo maps and a bit of prefishing). Don’t get me wrong, I’m ambivalent about the use of it. I think it’s taking some of the skill out of fishing, but I don’t care who uses it.

I'm with VKB; mine is always attached to the side. I wouldn't fish without it mainly due to the fact that I usually fish the nastiest areas I can possibly find, so I have to pull up my pedal assembly frequently. I use the pedal assembly to get me from one bad spot to another. Only rarely will I fish with it down.

This is how I refer to the LiveScope/FFS sort of thing. The technology where you can literally see the fish take your lure and the like. First, I think this stuff it utterly ridiculous. However, I don't want to turn this post into a rant. Instead, I want to ask the experts (all of you) whether this stuff is even necessary. I look over the topographical maps before I fish an area, then find associated cover near the offshore structure I found on the topographical map. I rarely even take my fish finder with me. Do these technologies really offer a decided advantage over old-school ways of finding fish?

You're not wrong. It's like the advice I give a buddy of mine when he asks me what he should do to improve at golf: "Take two weeks off, then quit the game altogether." ?

Correct. I might be in a different tax bracket than some people on here. ?

Sub $200, as for the rest, I don't know enough to really say. Just something that has a very sensitive tip because I'm not the best at detecting bites yet. Thanks Tom.

I completely understand how you feel. I have a pair of Oakley gas cans that I only wear fishing. The block out light from the sides, so you only see light through the lenses. Absolutely perfect for fishing. But like you said about your pitbull's, mine are on their last legs. I check eBay occasionally for replacements.

Yeah so, a reel I've had for 30+ years finally broke. It was a Quantum Hypercast. I'd like to replace the rod while I'm at it. Any suggestions for a solid spinning rod? I'll be primarily using it for soft baits (Senkos, ned rigs, etc.)

I think this response (and those like it) are exactly what he was trying to elicit. Sometimes it’s just fun to kick the hornet’s nest.

@Darth-Baiter has an excellent answer, so mine will be much briefer. I don’t like people, and my kayak takes me to places where I’m very far away from people.

I got my first kayak last year, a Lifetime Teton, and since I wasn't sure about its stability, I got a set of pontoon stabilizers as well. I didn't think they added much to the stability, they just made it slow.

What do you mean by arm angle? Like, more sidearm than vertical? Thanks BB.

Rolex Rolls-Royce Jose Ole (what can I say, I eat a lot of burritos) Seriously, Hard bait: Rapala Soft bait: @Siebert Outdoors (his jigs are amazing) R&R: Abu Garcia

If you don’t mind me asking, why do you think you haven’t caught the larger fish you’re targeting?

Hahaha! I believe in the industry that's known as your Ranger 15!

For those of you who transitioned from a kayak to a bass boat, what has your experience been?

I fish out of a SeaStream Angler 120 pedal. It's definitely stable, but if you've ever tried to stand on an exercise ball, that's what it feels like when I try to stand up. You really have to keep your weight balanced evenly between your two feet, otherwise it gets to rocking.

I can only imagine the entire time you were fighting him you were thinking, 'Please be a bass, please be a bass!'

I've never posted in this thread before, but I had to post something about today. What a great day out on the water. I went to the Mohawk River in upstate NY (it's 5 minutes from my house) and decided to find a new spot. The Mohawk is a decent smallmouth fishery, but not so much for largemouth. So instead of beating a dead horse and continuing to try to find largemouth in the river, I decided to search for smallmouth. I found an area that had a 30-40ft sheer cliff that dropped into roughly 20ft of water. It also had numerous small waterfalls coming off of it. The bottom was rocky. Everything about this said it was the place for smallmouth, so I gave it a shot. I threw out a Ned rigged TRD craw and caught a rock bass. This was encouraging since most times I've caught rock bass, smallies were nearby. Then I caught a smallie that was just barely keeper sized. Then a small walleye. Then I caught this fella. I've never been a huge bronzeback aficionado, but after catching this guy, wow are they fun! I caught him (all of them actually) on a 5' ultralight rod and 6lb braid. I was convinced that this guy must've been 18-20" by the way he was fighting. Alas, he's 15", but so much fun. Add to that all of the wildlife I saw on the river (a bunch of different bird species and a deer drinking water out of the river) and it was truly a great day out on the water.

Very good info, but I meant flipping as in lobbing a bait into heavy cover. Thankfully neither of my kayaks have ever been remotely close to flipping over.

Is it possible to do this without standing? Despite the fact that I’m still a reasonably ok athlete, I look like Bambi on ice trying to stand up in my kayak. And it’s not the kayak; that thing is a tank.

This is really interesting to me. How do you think people present them that appeals more to smaller fish rather than larger fish?

100% agree! I used a TRD craw going after smallmouth and caught more rock bass than I could count. That’s the only thing I like about larger lures is it usually eliminates the small fish bite.