MediumMouthBass

Siebert makes a Fogy that has a close resemblance to crappie, my dad and i were fishing one of the top crappie producing/state record lakes in PA (although we were there for bass). He didnt really know how to fish for bass so i let him use that bladed jig, he caught his first walleye, several crappie and a few bass on it. It doesnt seem like many manufactures are making newer baits crappie inspired but they absolutely should. Same thing with rainbow trout painted baits in the northern part of the US, ive been wanting to make a rainbow trout swimjig and bladed jig for awhile but havent order the right colors yet.

Crescent Shoalie river kayak, 11'10" and 77lbs, Pluses. 1. very fast, stable and maneuverable. 2. Can fit 6-8 3700 plano boxes under/side of the seat, as well as about a dozen bags of soft plastics, 4 rods in the front and 2 on the side. (if i put a crate in the back those numbers double). 3. Where the boat can take awhile to get ready, move vehicles around to get it out, and then waiting for people/unloading it at the launch, where as the kayak can be loaded with gear and on the water within minutes and anywhere can be made a boat launch. Minuses. 1. Paddling for hours and hours, pushed around by waves, getting blown around if the winds really high that day. 2. Hooksets and fishing some lures like frogs/jerkbaits are challenging while sitting so low. 3. Snakes.... in a boat or canoe you are higher off the water and can turn around easily and move. In a kayak you are low and mostly in a stationary postion. It scares me going through weeds and lily pads sometimes.

SLX MGL is great for those lighter baits, and if you want to get into flipping/pitching down the road just change the line and put it on another rod because it excels at both. Also a few places have it on sale for $100 right now.

Their ratings on that rod seem off "1/4-3/4" i wouldnt want to throw a 1/2oz lipless on that rod let alone a 3/4oz lure. I use my MH for 1/2oz-3/4oz and my Medium for 1/8oz-3-8oz. A weightless senko weighs around 3/8oz, a 1/8oz jighead with a finesse worm weighs anywhere between 3/16oz to 1/4oz after putting on a worm. And remember for using baitcasters for lures in that range or lighter its more the reel than the rod, i have a Daiwa Tatula SV TW and Shimano SLX MGL and they can throw those lures on that rod or even the MH. I wouldnt go ML i would stick to medium in whatever brand rod you choose. Remember the shaky head jigs have a big strong hook.

If bass dont want the jig im throwing, im not switching size, color, or trailer im switching to another lake. 😂 just joking. Last season i spent an hour in 1 spot throwing different football jigs, several colors, trailers, weights. Spent more time opening and closing soft plastic bags, tying SDJ knots, and switching jigs than i did fishing. And caught no bass. So after that experience i reassessed how and where i fish a jig, because sometimes it might be the trailer, color, or weight arent right for that day, but sometimes it can also be im just throwing everything that i have and there just arent fish in that area. But thats just fishing. I keep my selection really simple now, pb&j, black and blue, and green pumpkin for the jig and trailer colors, and just a few bags of trailers i have confidence in with/without action. For where i fish 3/8 and 1/2 are all thats needed. Also now i move around quite a bit before changing the setup.

My main fishing kayak is a Crescent Shoalie, but also have a Old Town Sportsman 120 (both paddle) so i have some experience with different kayak platforms, the reason i talked about the Crescent is because those 2 kayaks are so far apart when comparing on how i would set them up. I have a Yak Attack cart as well as a Black Pack (crate) and had a fish finder but returned it due to wanting to fish old school. But with the Crescent i only need the Kayak and the cart, it has a Anchor wizzard spot from the factory but i use that kayak for river/lake use where i need to maneuver and get around quickly whether from spot to spot or dodging boats/jetskis so i dont want to put an anchor on it. I dont use the Black Pack crate on it either since it has tons of storage under and on the side of the seat (can fit around 6-8 3700 trays plus soft plastics) and also has 2 side rod "holsters" their term as well as 4 spots to put my rods under the seat running up to the front for quick access and changing setups on the water. But for the Old Town Sportsman 120 i would rig it so so different. This kayak literally feels like a boat once on the water, its so extremely stable. So i plan on putting either an Anchor Wizzard or a trolley depending on which one requires drilling less holes into the plastic, under the seat theres some storage but not much and the rod holders it comes with arent positioned to my liking so the Black Pack crate would definitely be put in the rear tank well on this one. I could carry several trays, bags of soft plastics and 4-6 rods with that setup. Also if i were going to buy another fish finder i would rather put it on the Old Town, and it would be the Garmin Striker Vivid 5CV with the battery in the front storage compartment. I highly suggest looking into the Yak Attack Black Pack for your old town, its a closed crate and can be strapped down so incase you flip the kayak it will stay put and keep your baits and tackle safe, but it also has small holes drilled in for drainage, they make them in 3 sizes and are highly customizable. One of the best purchases i made for kayak accessories. And like Fishtax said check out Navarre, great products specifically for Old town and lots of good info on their videos. Whenever i get into a new kayak i like to paddle around for an hour and then fish out of it after, that gives me a good idea on how the kayak feels, moves, and also its strengths and weaknesses, then i figure out i might not actually need to add something, or maybe i need to but just in a different spot.

@FishTax Check out the Daiwa Aird X medium fast casting rod, can be purchased between $35-55 depending on sales throughout the year. Its a great rod, i have rods from Lews, Dobyns, Abu Garcia, even a $275 St Croix, but usually the 5-6 rods i take on the kayak are 80% Aird X's. Tons of reviews and praises on Bass resource too. Ive hit mine on ceilings, threw them on the ground, caught tons of fish up to 10lbs, wacked them into trees, countless hours of them sliding around the back of the truck bed and 14 out of 16 of them still are like new (other 2 have broken top guide from accidentally shutting tail gate on them).

Some states in the US have pike and musky that anglers like to target because of the size of those fish but most states dont, catfishing can take hours to get a bite, and while panfishing especially for the monster crappies and bluegills whether it be with the fly rod or spinning gear is fun its just not the same as catching a huge bass. Trout (like pike and musky is only in some states) is also something alot of people enjoy but thats more for relaxing on the side of a creek. Where as bass fishing is a rush of adrenaline when you get one on the hook, plus the amount of knowledge you can learn whether it be about the body of water, the fish, etc.... And also the addiction to buying new baits and lures. Bass in my opinion and many others is the #1 freshwater game fish in America, and a quick google search has every state but Alaska having bass. But the main reason bass fishing is so popular compared to the other fresh water species is the amount of advertising, social media/youtube coverage, and the money these major companies, corporations, and big businesses put into it. Just ask yourself how many people do you think would buy a $50,000 boat to fish for trout or bluegill if they had tournaments for that? But for the people that have that kind of extra money laying around its almost normalized to spend that kind of money for bass fishing.

I noticed the Omnia deal says its only valid for "new pro subscriptions", so since i redeemed it last year would that exclude me and many others?

I have dozens and dozens of lipless cranks from 1/4oz-3/4oz and every weight in between, from many different brands. Tried them at alot of different lakes, ponds, and rivers and didnt catch anything with them. Then last spring i figured it try it again and bought some Berkley Warpigs because i got them really cheap on a sale and they had some cool colors. I caught my PB bass week after week fishing these. Before last year my PB was 3 pounds (im in PA so thats probably the average bass size) but last year i got several 4lb, 6lb, 8lb, and a 10lb bass when nothing else worked (i tried other cranks, spinnerbaits, jackhammers etc) but only this lure worked on the lake i was fishing. I consider this lure a magical bait for me. It just has such a different vibration in the water and casts a mile. Weird thing is that i bought way over a dozen of them, 3 different sizes and many different colors, but i can only get the fish to bite on 2 colors.... brown craw and ghost red craw 1/2oz. I was working on my prespawn box last night and filled it up with Strike King, Bill Lewis, and Spro lipless cranks as well so maybe this year ill get a fish to bite on them as well.

At that price budget you have quite a large selection of kayaks from several different models and brands, while most kayaks would work for some river fishing its not the most ideal. My advice is to watch a few videos from manufactures that make specific river fishing kayaks, they are designed much different than the regular fishing kayaks. I would either try to find a used (but in good condition) river fishing kayak for around/under/over $1000 or save up some more and buy one new. Now with that being said and depending on your river and how much you plan on fishing in it a regular fishing kayak from Old Town, Jackson, Crescent, Bonafide or any of the other companies might work. Just do as much research as you can about the differences and find the one that would work better for your water.

I have 23 baitcasting reels, from Lews, Daiwa, Abu, and Shimano. And i agree about the SV reels, mines good for flipping and great for skipping and close stuff but when it comes to distance it goes around 40-70% of what my other ones go to. But if i tied a 1/2oz lipless on and put the reel on the correct rod with the right line i could cast farther that anyone would need with my Lews BB1 Pro (which is made for long casting crankbaits) or my Shimano SLX MGL 70. These arent as expensive as your 2 options but just a thought, they also cast very nicely and dont need the rod whipped out there into space.

@newbiewannabe thats a really nice area out there and with alot of options to fish, i was fishing that area a month or 2 ago and spent over 6 hours on Hammond for that trip. Out of 4 of us on 2 different boats we caught mainly crappie and walleye on bass lures, but out of the whole day only 1 bass was caught (and it was very good sized). All of those 3 are extremely high pressured and can make it a challenge. Hammond and Cowanesque have the RV/Camping parks so the day we were there if i had to guess id say around 500 people were camping at that lake. Most of them had fishing gear and boats/kayaks. Now with that said they are really good lakes, just have to know where the fish are that are willing to bite. What i would recommend is that you spend a few weeks with the fish finder just cruising whatever lake you prefer and map as much of it as you can, then go back to the areas that were holding bait balls or some type of structure. But while doing this i highly suggest you troll some lures behind the boat. You can catch walleye, bass, or those amazing hybrid striped/striped bass (Cow has Stripers/Ham has hybrids). Mark the area you caught any trolling if you do. Hammond was the best crappie lake in PA a few years ago, not sure if it still is or not, but we mainly caught crappies and they were not that big or meaty, (the size of them made me think maybe they were stunted from how many are in there). So not sure if all those crappie being in that lake would do something to the bass population. Before the trip i did alot of research on all 3 and decided on Hammond just because after getting off the lake i thought we would go to the Tioga Res Spillway and fish from the bank, but it was too late for that day. Theres plenty of videos on the Tioga spillway and the Cowanesque one as well, the spillways are probably the best options for catching fish in all 3 of those bodies of water. Huge catfish, smallmouth, walleye, hybrids/stripers, and maybe some musky if you are at Cow.

Im 100% for Walmart 2$ frogs, but the plopper they have is just alright. Not really a good or bad lure but for the price its great if you have pike or pickerel where you are fishing. I have heard good reveiws about their crankbaits and jerkbaits tho, but dont have any of them. The Ozark trail trays are very affordable as well, but not really for taking out fishing. More for keeping stuff in them during the winter or for storage at home or in the garage. That being said DSG has their frogs and spinnerbaits/buzzbaits on sale now and they are $2 as well. They arent good or bad either but for $2 i picked up a few of each. But they arent as good as the one from Walmart.

I dont know about the river by that lake, but 26 miles away there is a place ive fished called Francis E Walter Dam, (run by the Army) the spillway enters out into the Lehigh and people catch smallmouth occasionally when fishing for trout. But if i were going to there today to fish the spillway/river for smallies i would bring a few small and shallow running crankbaits, smaller trout sized jerkbaits, light ned rigs or tube jigs, gulp minnow or a gulp leech on a jig head. That being said its a strange river to me, im minutes away from the Susquehanna river and fish it alot and the Lehigh river in that area is more like a creek compared in width and depth.

They are both good, one sounds different than the other, one has a hard tail and the other soft. So if you are throwing around docks/rocks/and trees or wood get the soft tail. If throwing around open water or grass either. There was a post asking this a few weeks ago, maybe a month. Search for it and you will find alot more information. And for colors, White (or bone), Black, Frog, Rainbow Trout, or Perch depending on whats in your waters.

To me that makes a huge difference. I have mainly Aird X rods (lower end Daiwas) and i fish with the MH casting rods in 7' and 7'3". When i go fishing on the boat or the kayak, im always asking myself why did i even bring the 7'. The 7'3" can get an extreme amount of distance compared to the 7', whether the bait is lighter or heavier. Same results comparing a medium spinning rod thats 7' vs 7'2".

I dont think having to travel to other states is necessary, because even if theres big bass in florida that doesnt guarantee that you will catch a 10lb or large one if you chose to spend the money to travel there. Heres a good example, i live in Pennsylvania and we are not really thought of for big bass. Mainly 1-3lb smallmouth and 2-4lb largemouth for the average. (Tho my PB for SM is 4lb and LM 8lb in PA). But theres a lake near me thats not very large, its more like a huge pond but for some reason called a lake. There have been several 10lb bass caught there and some bass may even exceed 12 to 14lbs and this is extremely rare for Pennsylvania (especially for how small the lake is). But the lake is fished by around 50-100 people every day from the bank and on boats/kayaks and only around 3-4 times a year someone might be able to get one of these bass. So lets say theres no ice for 9 months out of the year on it, so thats 450 to 900 people who fish it heavily a year, and maybe 3 or 4 people might catch one that size.

Those Aird X rods are a legend for anyone on a budget, i think i have around 14/15 now. I also have a Fury, $275 ST Croix Legend, several Lews rods, and a couple Abus. But when i go on the boat or kayak 4 of the 6 rods are usually Airds.

@DitchPanda First was a Makers Mark, this had a very ethanol smell and taste and i didnt really like it, mixed it with coke and finished the rest that way. Same night tried a Buffalo Trace, the ethanol taste/smell was about cut in half compared to the first, i enjoyed it but i also didnt at the same time. A few nights after i had a Knob Creek, this is were my taste buds changed and really started to acclimate to it. The ethanol smell and taste that bothered me in the first 2 was there, but almost non existent. The flavors and smell i really enjoyed. Within the past few days ive had a few Jack Daniels NO 7. they are good, but they lack alot of the flavors compared to the Knob Creek, but thats to be expected since i went down from a 100proof to a 80. I would like to try the Makers and the Buffalo again in a week since my palate has now changed since originally trying it, i now really enjoy drinking it and appreciate it.

Ive said this a few times on here, i dont like fluoro and i dont like mono for mainline (except when using swimbaits or fishing for panfish). Almost all of my main used casting reels have YZ Hybrid on them, for me it brings the best of both lines but at a budget price and without a tangled mess. I fish alot of wood/rocky areas and also areas where most of the lake is grass and it handles it all great, when fishing a football jig the other day i could feel almost every rock it crawled over so the sensitivity is good enough for my fishing. It has some stretch but i prefer it since its not too much like mono but not too stiff like fluoro. Good balance on the stetch/sensitivity. Ive caught bass from 1lb to 8lbs and havent had any bass break the line, even after a couple dozen big bass bite the lure the line had some wear and tear but kept on going and didnt break.

Update. Ive tried a few more bourbons and whiskeys this week, the really cheap stuff isnt that great but the more higher end ones on the budget side im starting to really appreciate. I do not taste any ethanol, and when i smell it i only get a very small percent of the ethanol, so im starting to acclimate to it quicker than i thought. Im learning more with each sip on the flavors and different scents and starting to put together an idea of what ones i prefer to buy a bigger bottle of. I now understand why so many of you have large collections and spend lots of money on it, once you get past the ethanol tastes and smells its a very very good drink. But i can only drink it mixed with soda or neat, i liked it with soda but i actually prefer it served neat, i just really like the taste of plain bourbon (or whiskey). For some reason i cant drink it with ice added to it (except for mixed in soda) but plain bourbon with ice i just cant bare the taste. Odd right?

Not many reviews on the Halo rod so i cant give any advice on it, but i have 1 KVD cranking rod already and 2 regular KVD casting rods out for delivery. I was using the rod the other day throwing Big Blade Chatterbaits weighing anywhere from 1/2oz-5/8oz-3/4oz and the lure couldnt load the rod up at all. Now its a heavy rod and ratings are 1/2oz-2oz but still those lures are definetly in its ratings but the rod wouldnt load up, even for a moderate rod. Very unusual. Now these rods are not worth the full price, there are a ton of rods that are much better than the KVD's for the same price and also ones for less money but if you can get them on sale they are good rods. I got my first one for $66 and the 2 i ordered this week for $56 on sale, for that price they are good but not full price. They arent very sensitive rods and are extremely stiff. Only other Lews rod i have is the TP1 and if that rod were on sale i wouldve bought 2 of them instead of the KVDS. Edit. If you are doing flipping the rod should be good for you, very stiff.

@KBACPA Midway USA, the rod is under open box category. Several of us on this forum have bought their open box stuff recently including myself, the items are practically brand new maybe just with a small dent in the cardboard box. All items come with manufactures warranty as well.

I dont know much about saltwater fishing, but ive gathered an extreme amount of knowledge and information on bait/tackle/rods/reels/etc.... along with extensive research on videos and reviews of different rods and reels. Like i said above im not sure what you need for salt, but for bass heres my suggestions, 1. Medium Fast spinning rod between 6'6" and 7'2", 2500 reel with either 8lb mono/fluoro or 10lb braid to the leader of the above mono/fluoro lines. (now for using in salt may want to upgrade to a 3000 but after that the combo will become extremely unbalanced. I have a rod with a 4000 size reel on it for salmon and catfish and its not my preferred combo since the reel is so heavy it severely overpowers the rod. 2. Medium Heavy Fast casting rod between 7' and 7'3, there are plently of good reels on the market right now but those Curados have some lets just say interesting reviews on TW so i didnt pick one up when they went on sale. For the same price the SLX MGL 70 is a far superior reel with much better reviews, the SLX XT is also a great option if you want to save $20. I have dozens and dozens of baitcasting reels from Lews, Daiwa, Abu, and Shimano and very few reels made me think wow this is great. The ones that did were the Daiwa Zillion, Lews BB1 Pro and the Shimano SLX MGL 70. The MGL is the most budget friendly option and will out perform most of the reels i bought before it. For line depending on what baits you are throwing and where you are throwing them, 10-17lb mono or fluoro or 30-50lb braid. Above i talked about how much i really like my SLX reels (i have every SLX reel in the series but the BFS one) but those SLX rods dont have the best reviews. For the money at the low end the Daiwa Aird X $55 is one of my favorites and ill usually bring several on the boat or kayak (and i have St Croix rods worth almost $300 but the cheap Daiwa rod is one of my favorites), after that the Lews TP1 rod $110, but i buy them when they are half off. (Lews rods can be hit or miss with quality, but this ones been holding up very good and has became a rod i almost always bring with me. The TP1X Black has been talked on here a bit as well, a better upgrade from the regular TP1. Next the Dobyns Fury for $130, very good rod. Sensitivity is good and so is the quality, and if it breaks they have an excellent warranty program (costs around $80 to get a new one though). This is one i dont own but many on here have and have also been talking about it recently, the Daiwa Tatula rods (they are on sale now for around $90).