FishTax

I have the yak attack transducer arm and you can remove it very quickly and switch to another kayak. The biggest challenge is where your battery will sit, and running the wires to that. I put mine behind the seat and could still do the whole switch on 5 min I think, so I'd recommend it for your scenario.

I recommend searching the forum for the posts of @WRB-2.0 and reading every one of them. He was the most successful big bass hunter I've ever come into contact with and shared his knowledge extensively on this forum before his passing. You will gain more from reading his posts than any book. What is your biggest catch so far? If everyone here is saying the same thing, you should listen. Very few people on earth have caught a DD bass, the access here to people who have done it is unparalleled. Look at largest catch on their profile and weigh their advice accordingly.

This describes me well. I haven't eaten a fish I caught in over a decade, but I told my kids we will this year so I guess it's on. I think it's valuable for the kids to go through the experience of eating what we catch.

This pond is directly beside a lake. About 200' from the bank. So if the egg thing is real and I believe it is, it'll definitely get stocked some that way. But I'm here to help it along and curate to the extent I can! Bluegill stocking is the easy part. My kids catch hundreds a year so we'll just have a fishing party with friends to jumpstart things. Other species is the hard part. What are everyone thoughts on adding channel cats?

@Blue Raider Bob your spot is beautiful. In my case, I don't own it, it's a neighborhood retention pond being built. So I won't be able to do a fountain and am not going to pay to stock it. This thread has been very helpful though, as I've learned I need to focus on bait first. My boys will be doing lots of adventures with crawfish trap and throw net as soon as things thaw (yes we're in nc and water is frozen, someone do a wellness check on @Pat Brown 😎) I'm not sure what species the minnows are that are in the shallow of lakes and ponds around here, I assume shiners but have no idea. Whatever they are, they're easy to catch and will be going in the pond along with bluegill. I can probably catch some shad with a net as well.

Awesome! Did you put any structure in it to protect the bait or anything like that? I'm thinking of stuff like that in addition to species to stock.

That is basically exactly what I was thinking. I can get an almost infinite amount of sunfish and shiners in there by the end of July with just my two boys. The challenge is getting decent bass in there afterwards.

I regret buying the regular maps card. Should have bought zlc. My small lake is on there but not hd and it's not even close to accurate.. I guess I'll just buy the card. I've never heard anyone say they regret buying it

Let’s say, hypothetically, there was a new pond constructed which was several acres. In this hypothetical, there is not an option to professional stock it, but it is near other water so you could reasonably guerrilla stock it. What is your action plan? What species first, how many, what strategy, assuming only transplants? This is hypothetical so the only rule is not professionally stocked. The goal is trophy largemouth in under a decade. Hopefully this will be a fun topic as many of us enter icemageddon tomorrow.

Thank you @casts_by_fly . Do you use the computer software Autochart with it, or only the ZLC? The ZLC is much less expensive than the computer software, and I'm not clear on what the software lets you do. It sounds like my use case would be very similar to yours, unless I had a friend joining me kayak fishing and I wanted to share data with them but that seems rather unlikely.

How many of you are using this? Do you like it? I have a small lake and the map card is not even close to accurate, so I'm thinking of buying this to add to my Helix to get better mapping. Would love to be able to map vegetation, etc., in addition to contours, which this allegedly does. Second question, could I buy a software license from someone no longer using it? Sometimes I get a windows key or something from a computer getting tossed, and I'm curious if someone switched from Humminbird to Garmin or whatever and no longer needed it if I could buy second hand and it'd still work on the software side? Looks like it's pretty expensive to buy new, although I guess 'expensive' is subjective...

I've been fishing a rock quarry within my lake.. Deep water, around 50 foot deep.. Historically I've caught white bass and largemouth and crappie in this spot.. Yesterday I saw what I believe was 3 or 4 different species schooling in there. I'm curious if any of you are good enough with side imaging in deep water to help me identify the species pictured here. I'm hoping the larger spaced out ones are largemouth, thinking the tight group is white bass or perch. I saw what I think were crappie also but not picture here.

My budget is I only buy things that are on sale, and things I may use eventually one day.

First - Welcome from another NC bass fisherman. What brand shaky head are you referring to? There are so many options, it'd be helpful for us to know exactly what you are referencing. I've never seen a separate spring supplied with a shaky head but they are always coming up with something new.

I don't think I have much to zip tie to. We'll see. I'm gonna have to get deep in there to the extent I'm able.

Would auto zone have that? Or Amazon ? Not sure what an auto body supplier is, forgive my ignorance. I'm definitely interested in trying that..

I've somehow bulk ordered super glue, so I may try that for now as prepping with alcohol and adding super glue is very easy and all in my inventory. Then if it fails, I may go nuclear with some heavy duty adhesives, etc. I think I'm going to deal with it this winter though. I can't keep my kayak in my shop, there are fish to catch and this job could become time consuming fast I think. I'm going to replace most of the wiring so I know it's done correctly, and then I'll try new 3m deals with super glue. Thanks everyone!

For those with kayaks and electronic wiring in the hull, I'm curious how you are managing the cabling. I had 3m adhesive cable management things in my hull to hold wiring up, and many of them failed. I believe it's from humid heat in the summer just wrecking them. I probably need to rip it all out and rewire the entire thing at this point, which sounds like a winter project, but currently my lights and trolling motor don't work so I'm down to pedal drive and fish finder only. I'm ok with that setup honestly and it's certainly sufficient to fish with, but it sucks to have other features you can't use because cables fell down and then disconnected or shorted because the cable management failed. There are just wires laying in the hull at this point, which drives my OCD crazy. Last note- I inherited this from prior owner so I can't speak to the quality of the initial job, but based on some solder work I saw it probably was going to have a short lifespan either way. Thanks!

H/F - heavy jig rod. 3/4-1 oz. Mh/F - versatile rod, can do jigs, TR, or Spinnerbait, buzzbait, etc. Mh/F - Same as above (I usually have 1 heavy and 1 swim jig tied on, and a TR worm/creature. sometimes throw a bladed jig or spinnerbait, etc. on one of these also.) M/F - shaky head Sometimes a M/m for jig head minnow, blade bait, certain cranks, etc. That's pretty much it. I like to keep it simple and not bring too much stuff. I can change trailers and try many different things with this setup without excessive retying or rods everywhere. I also usually go out less than 5 hours, and tend to hit a spot with 1 or 2 lures, then keep moving.

I use the KVD stuff and can definitely tell a difference when used on big game mono and on various braids. Mono loses memory and is easier to manage. Braid casts smoother with it.

I like h2o worm hooks. If they're dull I sharpen them. The price is right and I've never felt like I missed a fish because of that hook. The only thing I really hate is when the eye is open and the line snags in it. I forgot what brand it was but I have some that do that I'm going to toss next time I remember.

I don't think Pat owns 8 lb line lol

No relief yet here. RealFeel is 98 where I am, actual is about 90. I guess that's relief in that it's been over 100 (realfeel) more days in '25 than I ever remember. Still waiting on the cold front I thought was coming yesterday. No fishing for me for a while unless we can at least get a good breeze going to keep the bugs off. With that said, fall is sort of starting here as well. I've got leaves falling like crazy which seems early to me. Shadows are getting longer, and in my mind I keep reminding myself this is false fall #1 (out of 6-10?)

I think they're an apex predator for the most part outside of birds and otters, so sometimes they just kill things that are annoying. Maybe not. They won't answer me when I talk to them. But their behavior seems to indicate to me sometimes that they attack things when they aren't feeding. Regarding beds, they definitely pick things up and move them without swallowing on a regular basis. I've watched it happen many times. The ole suck and blow.

Yes they eat it all. Size matters. Don't over think it. Color matters less than size and weight I think when it comes to lure selection. Right when you think you have it figured out, they change. Sometimes they eat things not like the prey. Sometimes they only eat things very specifically. The best thing to do is carry 30 rods and throw the entire bait store at them.... Or just throw a senko and forget all the other stuff. It all works. But most of the time none of it does.