FishTax

I agree to try cutting the supplements. Try eating whole foods (bananas, etc) to get nutrients. Never know what's causing it. I rarely get cramps, when I do it's usually explainable.

I'm with you, really want side scan for Christmas. I think it'd be a game changer over my ancient depth finder. I think I'd like ffs, don't care if others use it, not ready to make that investment yet though. I've got lots of work I need to put in on my presentations and techniques that sonar won't help, just need more time on water.

I've had good success stroking a shaky pretty aggressively off the bottom, especially on points. No shaking on that technique, just ripping it. My biggest numbers day ever was almost totally doing it that way. It's a versatile lure you can do a lot of presentations with. I need to work more on your version, I'm too impatient and always work it too fast.

I lose jigs a lot in brush and lay downs. Straight braid is a disaster, have to cut off and leave line out which I hate to do. I’m in the straight mono camp. Don’t like floro, my knots always fail.

Occasionally I'll have anxiety that keeps me up, usually work related. I've found that listening to audiobooks helps me significantly to relax my mind. Try to avoid screens, that seems to stimulate some people more than others. I'll take benadryl sometimes, but never more than half dose and never more than 2x/week. I also have bad allergies, so half the time I'm taking it for that anyway. Melatonin can have hormonal effects, not sure to what extent but you can research further. It may still be better than other options. Sorry to hear you're struggling with this. I've always said I can deal with almost anything as long as I get sleep. I started saying that when I was up all night with a newborn a few years ago.

I went out yesterday, started a little later than planned because I needed to have a little family time before hitting the water. On a positive note, I caught a great 19" LM on an underspin with a rage swimmer. I was using a M action spinning rod, which is way more fun to me as the fight is better than a MH that I normally am throwing. The bad news is that it was hot. Sneaky hot, for someone used to the heat. I lost track of time because I forgot my watch, so didn't realize how late in the day it had gotten. I drank about 30 oz of ice water throughout the 4.5 hours I was out there, but ended up getting disoriented a little and a headache. I was doing good, having fun, then suddenly was weak and not having fun. Ended up losing a great jig in a tree and had lost the strength to break the line, that's when I knew I had a problem. I cut it and had to leave the long line in the water (which I hate doing) and get back to the marina as fast as possible as I was worried about my health a little. I think dunking my hat in the water and keeping my head cool saved me from possibly bad situation. It was about 92, not sure what the heat index was, when I got to my truck. And that was the coolest day for a while so I guess I'll be staying off the water for a while until this latest heat wave leaves us alone. The whole situation was weird, usually I can handle low 90s without an issue. I'm really not sure what happened, but lessons were learned and I'll be bringing a full cooler next time and paying much closer attention to how I'm feeling. I'm sharing this just as a reminder to everyone to please be safe and always pack extra water on hot days!

NC license is easy to get online, and you can get a short duration as Dwight said. I don't know any small places in that area as I'm further west, but you can probably find a place to rent a kayak or Jon boat as that is very common down here, especially in city lakes.

Black trick worm on shaky head is my go to when nothing else works.

I'm going tomorrow, hoping to see some activity around visible cover because that's what I like to fish. I'm horrible at hot weather fishing, trying to learn from @Pat Brown and other posting about that but summer is a hot skunk for me more than not. Good point about certain weather always being someone's strong suite. I've got to work on my summer fishing. This weekend is a fall fakeout. Classic NC weather, back to mid-90s next week I think. Ugh.

If the weather is mild I'll sometimes have one or two in my kayak cooler, helps me relax and enjoy the experience. I don't do it in the heat, and don't drink more than 2 ever. I'm also on a very calm lake with minimal boat traffic and always wearing a life jacket.

This has to be the winner. What a spread! I do like Waterloo drinks, and of course bacon.. I wonder if the bacon grease transfers to lures and increases catch rates?

I've got some packs of renegade worms still. They've basically melted at this point, but I caught my largest bass ever on one Texas rigged in the early 2000s.

Wow, frozen protein bar and the camelback trick are both great ideas! I quit bringing protein bars because they melt fast and I don't want to fool with cooler on short trip, I just bring a big yeti cup. I'll try freezing one next time out!

I also drink coffee from a thermos if I'm morning fishing, forgot to put that in my original post. I eat while pedaling to next location so I don't miss any casts. I like the fruit idea several of you posted, I'm going to try to do that going forward to be more healthy. Lots of interesting comments on this, keep them coming!

Do you bring food with you on fishing trips? If so, what do you bring? I usually only bring peanut butter crackers and water but am curious to see what others do.

I like to bank fish private ponds in our area. Most of them have basically no pressure compared to the lakes I kayak on. It's nice to get consistent bites instead of going all day for only a few. I can use different baits than usual, etc. For example, yesterday I went to a buddy's 7 acre pond, he's having a grass problem he's upset about, but I happily got on a frog bite almost immediately that lasted longer than I could in the heat. There is never a frog bite at my lakes, they kill the grass because it's a water supply. I also don't understand how that works, but different subject I guess.

Fall is my favorite time of year, but not for fishing. I like winter fishing in NC. A nice 50 degree day, lake to myself, and seems like all the bites are big.

I'd say 3. I usually get a monster backlash at some point when in kayak from being careless, so if only one rod it'd be spinning which is what I did today at a local pond. But my 3 would be spinning m/f, mh/f jig rod, and then probably a mh/f that can be used pretty universally. I think line matters a lot as well, so I'll note that one rod would have mono and one braid, probably, although I'm thinking of going back to all mono but that's a different thread topic.

I'd bring 2 rods, even if rigged very similar, because there's a great chance I'll blow up the first one somehow in first 5 min.

I never lie, but do sometimes take time off to fish. I've certainly taken calls on the water and dealt with issues with rod in hand. I try to carry a Bluetooth so I can have both hands if I have to land one while on phone. I probably would today but I think it's the hottest day of the year so far and I'm tough until real feel crosses 100, after that I love my work more than my fishing..

Adding to this, I just got a mission brand sun hat that cools you when it's wet. I wore it to Dollywood during 102 real feel and it worked great. Highly recommend. I got it on prime day for under $20. Definitely my new fishing hat.

Exactly. I think what I'm saying and @Darth-Baiter seems to also feel is that I'm totally incapable of being ready for some reason lol. When I get a big one my mind goes blank, I don't know where the scale is, my rod is in the way and I'm trying to keep it from falling in and sinking, I can't get my phone out of my pocket, etc.

I need to try this. Didn't know it was a thing, I made a redneck version myself last year but it's clumsy and I don't trust the grip. I hate having the fish out of water while I gather myself. I never have my scale and phone ready for some reason when I catch a good one.

What's interesting to me is at my local lake, last time out it was pretty busy but I only saw 2 people fishing offshore, and one of them was looking for crappie. That is pretty typical from my observations. Most of the locals just burn the banks, even the ones with bass boats loaded with electronics, and I can hear them cussing all across the lake at how bad the bite is, etc. I think next time out I may challenge myself to stay offshore the entire time out. Even with a crappy old 2D sonar unit and transducer that has seen better days and can't even pick up a brush pile unless it's a full size tree, I know where some offshore places are..

Hey Tom I'm reading the Iovino book you recommended, good stuff. I'll certainly be focusing on my finesse worm game the next few times out!