FishTax

BP on Huffman Mill Rd. I just called them and confirmed they do have it. You pass it on the way to Mackintosh Alamance Marina location.

I lost 3 last week on the 'improved trilene knot' on 10 lb hybrid line. I believe I wasn't cinching well. Got very frustrated and started cinching hard and after wetting the line and didn't have further issues. Been using this knot my whole life without issue so I was surprised. The line may have contributed. I may switch to Palomar, I use that on braid but never have on anything else. I was thinking it'd be easy to kink the line which may weaken it?

Funny this is posted because I just saw a wall of different varieties of this in a gas station in the middle of no where today. I was admiring them but also noted very small hooks, doesn't look geared to bass. I have some in my old unused lure stash as well. Have only thrown a few times but it seemed to go all over the place. Interested in retrieve styles others use with success but I don't see me using them anytime soon tbh

I've been wanting to get a weedless ned but am still in recovery from bait monkey damage. That needs to be in my next order though because I want to throw them from the bank around some wood at some new water I've found in VA mountains.

You just had to post this right when I'm firing up my night fishing expeditions 😅. I hate hate hate copper heads! Guess I'll load up rat shot in the 38 and try to look at it as fun target practice

Sounds like a good day, keep us posted! Someone told me last week that they met kvd at a classic or something a few years back and he told them randleman is his favorite lake in NC, which I thought was very interesting. I haven't fished there but want to soon. Mackintosh is my back yard.

I tried night fishing for the first time in about 20 years tonight. Caught one that shook off when I tried to flip it onto a bridge. Looking back, not my best idea. Otherwise very few bites if any..I was in New water and didn't see it before dark so that was a true adventure, both with almost falling in and having no idea how deep or what structure was there outside of trees overhead. On the duck topic, they can be very loud, or very quiet. They were both at times tonight! They crashed my spot twice, which didn't help any. Pretty cool hanging out with a mallard, staring each other down in the moonlight.

Hello from Burlington! Glad to have you here!

Try some of the 'better' Evan Williams. Bottle on bond or single barrel. Still cheap, but not bad considering price point.

I have a Magellan kayak fishing foam vest. Pros: I'll definitely float with it on The pockets are convenient for a few items I need handy. Dive knife, line cutter, phone, etc. Warm on a cool day, blocks wind Cons Hot on a warm day It occasionally gets in the way fishing, in a minor way and only occasionally. I pretty much always have it on, except when in a very shallow cove taking a break to eat or something. I may eventually look into a new foam one with different pocket layout or more convenient padding. I'd consider inflatable I think but I don't trust myself to maintain it. One of the best parts of kayak is no maintenance, I like to keep things simple when possible..

I've read your night fishing thread twice 😎 I'll be starting from the bank unless someone goes with me bc wifey won't let me go alone. She's the smart one around here 😄 I know it's not magic. I do have a touch of ADHD and I think it will help reduce distraction and focus on what my lure is doing.

I'm definitely going to try night fishing soon! Seems like that may be the closest thing to a cheat code in rapid skill improvement

Beetle spin and road runner catch everything. They are always with me when I have an ultralight rod in reach. If only targeting crappie, all the guys I know who do it a lot seem to throw 1/16 or 1/32 jig head with plastic, or something like a beetlebou

Academy (Magellan) just announced a new line of budget pedal kayaks. I'm interested to see reviews on those. Pretty inexpensive so they're cutting costs somewhere on it.

I only fish small lakes, meaning 1k acres or less, about half of which is electric only. I had a boat come up on me in a cove, and we started chatting. There was a tournament and I hadn't been in danger but had been rocked by pretty hard wake several times in a row when totally unnecessary and I was irritated because it seemed pretty intentional. He told me he throws less wake wide open than going slow, so I shouldn't complain about people going 20 yards from me wide open because that's better. I didn't respond because I didn't know what to say to that, I think I just stared at him.

I got on a great swimming worm bite last fall just burning it down the center of coves in 2-6'of water. No idea what made me throw that, probably a YouTube video or something, but it sure was fun! I still generally definitely to a rage swimmer over a worm, to me it looks more real like a shad which is primary forage here and it gets bit in a variety of conditions.

As it warms up I like to throw a frog, then when I get tired of them sending it airborne and not getting hooked I switch to a spinnerbait or worm, depending on conditions and the pond anatomy.

Our wardens are also too thin. I was told by Marina staff they see a warden once a year, on memorial Day. Otherwise he's dealing with hotter fires elsewhere. I haven't encountered one in about 20 years. I had several encounters in high school. They weren't bad, but one did follow me to a tree stand and blow up my spot for the afternoon checking license which was irritating but he was just doing his job I think.

Y'all should hit Norman, it was on fire yesterday. Throw wacky rig or 1/8 shaky head with white or silver ish senko and they light you up in the shallows.

I'm not willing at this time to buy expensive gear. I can feel a spinnerbait blade turning on my $100 rods, airdx, etc. I can tell bottom composition with my rods. I'm not saying it wouldn't help or be enjoyable, I just can't spend the money at this time. I know modern gear at $100 is probably more sensitive than anything available 30 yrs ago (maybe?) and guys like @WRB and @Catt have been slaying for decades without today's high end modern gear, so for me I want to hone my skills before making huge investments. Maybe one day, but for now I'm good watching and feeling the line, and doing some night fishing soon to establish better feel. Thanks to everyone for great replies and discussion!

@Pat Brown that lines up because I'm pretty sure we were mostly catching males, and the ones chasing always looked bigger than the one hooked. I guess we should have backed up a bit to try to catch the ladies, but we were having fun with those male spots, they get fiesty when you pierce their lip!

I don't throw it a ton, but do have confidence in it. For me I throw shaky head if I can.. then if it's too thick, I go jig, then TR as third choice. No idea why. I may swap out with the jig in that sequence now that I think about it, I'd probably get more bites. Wacky is what I didn't have confidence with. Makes no sense, but I have a mental block on it.

Yesterday I think we caught about 10 fish that had another one follow it to the boat trying to steal the bait out of it mouth. I'd seen it before but never so consistently. There were beds all around, some active some not. I wasn't sure what to make of that, but tried not to overthink it and just keep catching them until it turned off! Now looking back, I wonder if it was as simple as them feeding, or it was related to the spawn somehow? These were decent sized spotted bass 1.5-2.5 range for most of them who had the followers.

Yes my wife and I watched it recently and really enjoyed it as well. Very good movie

Wow what a fish! Great job Katy, please bring the scale next time you're torturing us