JHoss

This is what I'm thinking it will be useful for. Mark some brush piles or cover and then drop the camera down to really know what's down there. Or drifting a point or piece of structure to see what's hanging out/what the bottom composition is like. I was very tempted to ask her to return it for something more useful, but figured a new rod and reel wasn't worth upsetting a wife who was so excited about finding a cool new toy for my hobby. She said "This is what all the professionals say is the top accessory this year!" Bit my tongue before I said "Well please don't ever believe that about the Hydro Wave!"

I haven't flipped through one in years, but figured any of the technique/product related articles would've been covered on YouTube or somewhere else on the internet. What kind of stuff is in the magazine that you can't find elsewhere?

Wife got me one of the 5.0 bundles for my birthday. Anyone have one or use one? Are they actually useful? Seems like the application is rather limited since you have to be over top of whatever you want to see. Can you control the direction the camera faces or are you just at the mercy of the current?

Good to know. I think that's probably where I go. My Fortrex is rusting in spots and I can only cover it so many times before it gives out. I reckon when that happens, I'll be able to sell the wife on replacing it with an Ultrex easier than when I still have a functioning trolling motor.

We have the same taste in the top 3 on your list. Is the Spicy Beaver really that much different than the Cleanup Craw? This is where I'm at too. I have a 55 QT tub filled with nothing but soft plastics, but I'll use the same 6 or 8 every time. Part of my thinking here is if I can simplify flipping to just a few baits, I'm more likely to cycle through and find out what they want that day. Instead I find myself not wanting to dig through the plastics to then decide between a handful of baits that do about the same thing. I like your strategy of starting with the most action and working back. I do that with moving baits, but never dawned on me to do the same with soft plastics. I tend to start with a 1/4 ounce pegged Cleanup Craw on one rod and a 3/8 unpegged Bronco Bug on another rod. Switch back and forth until I find what they want. But then I get analysis paralysis when neither of those work and often fail to move on to beavers, tubes, or something more subtle. I've just recently gotten turned on to the GP/BB combo and am a big fan. I like two-toned baits and GP and B/B are my favorite single colors, so it's awesome having them combined. There is one lake here that California Craw/420 just out fishes every other color and I don't know why. Interesting strategy. I've never really messed with modifying them too much. I think I'll probably keep a couple packs of GP and B/B Rage Bugs in addition to the other bait classes for that versatility.

I believe it. They do the same on the tidal rivers here in Virginia. Can't say I've gotten on a blue crab pattern myself, but know it happens. Agreed. There's plenty of YouTube fisherman making more than some of the Elite guys. BASS needs them more than they need BASS. I've heard him talk about that before, too. Makes sense, but I'd also think that BASS is going to have challenges maintaining those numbers in the future. I don't see where the value is in being a BASS member? A magazine a few times a year with info that's already all over the internet... big deal. Crazy to think that Texas, New Jersey, and Virginia all have similar fisheries. I've never bass fished up north, but assumed it would be much different than what we have down here.

I bought my boat rigged and it had a double mount up front, which is nice because I'll add another graph at some point. Are you able to move your gas tank or batteries around? I have all the same in the back of my boat, but my tackle storage and livewell are up front to help balance it out. I have a Fortrex. I had an XI3 with spot lock on my kayak when I used to kayak fish. It was great, but I found myself using course lock more often than spot lock. But, I've definitely gotten more confident fishing offshore since I got the boat, so now I'm finding myself wanting spot lock far more often.

Isn't Davy Hite just a commentator for Bass? Why does his opinion mean anything to the decision makers there? I'm not sure what the negative comments were, but who cares if a competitor makes a negative comment about an announcer? I get why you can't make disparaging comments about officials or league leadership, but an announcer? That would be like LeBron getting fined for his beef with Stephen A Smith.

I used to be the same way- everything was thrown on a 3/0 or 4/0. Then I heard Frank Scalish talking about this topic once and how he does much better on a smaller hook, so I gave it a try and it has proven true for me. I see that you're in FL, though, so perhaps that explains a lot of it. It's rare for me to encounter fish over 6 lbs and our vegetation isn't nearly as thick, so maybe there is a greater need for a bigger/stouter hook down there. I'm curious what your craw/creature bait of choice is? I find most of my favorites get overpowered by 4/0 hooks and it affects the action.

Ahh of course the first two comments are the Rage Bug. That's the bait I'm most torn on. I had planned on removing it from the roster in favor of the Bronco Bug which has been doing well for me. They're such different bug styles, though. My craw of choice is the Cleanup Craw (has passed the Z Craw in terms of confidence of the last year), so I figured that claw action was similar enough to the rage bug to make it redundant. But I do like the idea of a having a flatter-bodied bug in the arsenal so maybe I'll include those and the Broncos. I have no confidence in a regular ribbon tail. I've caught some fish on them in ponds, but never done anything with them in bigger bodies of water. I will throw the 10"+ ribbon tails off shore, but that's a whole different ball game.

I didn't do fantasy this year, but that seems about right. I'm hoping someone gets a couple kickers and pushes that 50lb mark. I hadn't heard about this before. I just checked it out. I'm curious what exactly was said about Davy? I would take it by the way he said it to mean Brock Mosley was the guy in the middle of all this.

@TNriverRAT very good point. If you're already moving a unit, might as well move the big one. On my 1448, I have a 9" at the helm and a 10" on the bow. The next upgrade to that boat will either by an Ultrex or another graph on the bow.

It's time for a major tackle cull. I'm at the point where I'm carrying so much tackle that my boat struggles to get on pad when the live well gets full. I think my opportunity is to limit myself to one bait in each style instead of going the Tactical Bassin route and carrying 8 different craws for 8 slightly different situations, so I'm asking y'all to check this logic. For my shallow Texas rigs I need a craw, a bug, a beaver, a creature bait, and a tube. Beyond those, I still have senkos and finesse worms which crossover to other techniques. I'll carry four main colors in each; green pumpkin, black and blue, white, and a laminate like California 420, GP/BB, or Bama Bug. Am I missing anything? Do you carry multiple baits in one style or stick to the one that's been good to you?

I'm shocked no one has started a thread for this absolute slug fest yet. I hear they're expecting some double digits... bags. Personally, this is one of my favorite venues they fish. It reminds me a lot of the Northwest River here in Virginia where I do a good bit of fishing. Cypress everywhere and plenty of fish, but good luck finding them over 2 lbs.

I tend to go EWG as well just for the versatility. If I think there's a high likelihood the speed worm will stay on all day, I'll use a round bend, though. Same logic with weights. If I'm likely to rotate plastics on that rod, I'll peg a tungsten flipping weight. But if I'm expecting to speed worm all day, I use a screw in worm weight.

If it was me I'd consider one of two setups. 1) The 12" up front and the 9" in the back. You absolutely want to be able to graph from the driver's seat. It's far more efficient to run sidescan with the big motor at 5 mph than it is to try and do it on the trolling motor. 2) The 12" up front and a cradle for the 9" up front and at the helm. Then you could pop it out of the back when you're ready to jump up front. A good buddy in my Jon Boat trail does this. He has 2 9" on the console and a 12" plus second cradle on the bow. When he's ready to fish he brings one from the console to the front with him.

A 2/0 or 3/0 EWG is perfect for standard size speed worms. If you're going to an offset round bend, then a 4/0 or 5/0 is perfect. IMO too many people use oversized EWG's when a 2/0 works for 90% of baits. When you go to a 4/0 or bigger EWG, you increase the height so much that the hook has to rotate in an average fish's mouth for it to get closed. That results in poor or missed hookups. My rule of thumb is to use the smallest hook that still has enough gap for the plastic to move down and create clearance for the hook point to latch in.

@Team9nine hit the nail on the head here. You may want to consider moving your transducer inside your hull, though. Makes it much easier to transport/setup, reduces drag, protects it, and can center your cone to the middle of your kayak. The only downside is a slightly less accurate and slower-to-adjust temperature reading. I had my Ascend setup this way with the Striker 4. Just make a nice base of Duct Seal inside the hull and press the transducer into that being careful to not leave any air bubbles or pockets.

Definitely put the 12" up front. You'll want the extra size when you're standing and your eyes are 5-6 feet from the screen. Not as big of a deal in the back when you're sitting close to them. Plus with LiveScope, screen size makes a big difference. Agree with others that your transduce is too deep. Try to get the bottom level with the bottom of the boat instead of the top.

KVD Toad Buzz with a ham bone colored horny toad is the ol faithful for me. My only knock is that the hook seems to rust quicker than most and there's no different blade options. I'm experimenting with some Brazalo, G Buzz, and MegaBass baits this year.

We were set to go there in August of 22. I think we were fishing the lower end neat the Conowingo Dam if I remember correctly. Instead we fished the Pocomoke and it was a struggle compared to what the Susky should have been. It was too blurry for me too. I had to do some googling to find it: https://www.pa.gov/content/dam/copapwp-pagov/en/fishandboat/documents/fishing/regulations/summarybook.pdf

The Sharelunker program is another great example. They literally take every fish over 13 and move it to an entirely different lake. But like you said, they keep churning out monsters from the lakes the fish are taken from. I did not know that. Do you expect that regulation to stick considering the rebound that system has had? I've never been up there, but it's definitely on the list. I was supposed to fish a kayak tournament up there a few years ago, but it got moved to the Pocomoke in favor of better cell reception. I suspect it's like the Upper James on steroids? I fish that a couple times a year and have a blast, but fish over 16" are a rarity. And now we're seeing more and more spots where they've never been so I'm sure the smallies are in trouble.

I agree that if your goal is to reduce mortality as much as possible, then immediate release is the best option. But the point I'm trying to make is some mortality is good for the population. Most lakes (and I can absolutely confirm its true for the ones I fish), have an overpopulation of bass which is adversely affecting them. I do everything I can to ensure they're released in good shape and I'm not trying to kill bass when I take them to a weigh in, but I'm also not upset if some don't make it. Most of the fish that do die in the livewell, die because they were hooked deep- those fish are going to die whether they go straight back into the lake or not. We can't pretend like cheating doesn't happen in bass tournaments, and there's plenty of documented cases of people cheating in CPR style events. Bringing live fish to a weigh in doesn't eliminate cheating, but it does help reduce it. So if a few bass die, which helps the rest of the population, and it cuts down on a fraction of cheating, I'm all for live weigh ins. I'm sure there are some lakes out there struggling with recruitment, and for those lakes I would agree with placing regulations in effect that will help improve that recruitment. Surprised we didn't get it shut down already, but seems like things are getting back to civility.

I'm sure there's variance from fish to fish- not all are built the same. Most of the kayak tournaments do a 1" deduction for an open mouth. They do a length based Speckled Trout tournament locally every fall, but because the organizers lack experience in CPR formats, there's no rule about a closed mouth. In fact, they can have boca grips or a lure in the fishes mouth while its on the board. I've seen a few cases of someone losing the event or placing a spot lower because they measured with an closed mouth and someone else measured with an open mouth. That's the standard with measuring most fish for harvest size limits too, so that's how I've always done it.

@Swamp Girl Did you ever get around to conducting your open vs closed mouth experiment?