Darren.

Welcome aboard!

No idea, sorry, but welcome to the forums!

LOL, floored at about 70mph, eh? You musta loved that scale I have lost too many digi-scales to Davey Jones' Locker over the years that it pains me to buy another. Yet I did, via eBay, and it is a simple luggage scale (recommended on the forums) and I also bought a grip like in @A-Jay's photo. It works well, but the other day it got wet and suddenly stopped. It's back working now but I was so thankful to have my super-accurate Boga with me that day.

Welcome aboard, Ricky! Quite a number of Indiana fisherfolk here. I'm sure some will chime in soon.

Beastly brownies, man!

Well, the whole thing boils down to "sort of" to answer the kayak role question. I started down the road of baitcasting with Quantum Accurists, which I could never get dialed in right but they were serviceable. Got a Lexa years later and loved it. Decided I wanted to go all casting - part in conjunction with a terrible case of fisherman's elbow - so I bought 2 Chronarch 50e reels, upgraded to 7.1:1 and set about learning to cast the lightest baits I was using for spinning. Got pretty good at it, but over time I started thinking about why I was doing this. I was skipping into an area I love to target and ended up grabbing my spinning rod, which made it look easy. That kind of started the unraveling of casting for me. I love(d) it, was good at it, if I do say so myself, but spinning was just a lot less work overall. Yes, techniques do play a roll, but I was able to do 98% of them with a BC. I get the whole "it's another tool in the toolbox" and "best tool for the job" thing, but I fish for love of the sport, outdoors, and relaxation. I'm not making money, fishing tourneys and so forth. I fish techniques I like and produce fish spinning gets me there more easily. I'll still use my one remaining Chronarch for stuff, though. I still like it!!

I'm probably 90/10 maybe 95/5 in favor of spinning now.

Welcome aboard!

Congrats to him, and grandpa! I've got a nephew who wrestled this year and absolutely killed the field. Now one of my sons going into 10th grade wants to wrestle. He more wants it for the workout/awesome body that comes with it, LOL.

I seem to drift a little on the rod front. And some of it depends on my wallet, to be honest. That said, I've made purchases (Legend Tournament Walleye) that were on the over-my-budget-but-can't-resist-end, with the vast majority settling in the $99-120 range. Of those, I have loved the BPS Carbonlite range, but the latest, a St. Croix Premiere 6' MLF rod is a current favorite. Especially with the Ned rig becoming a staple of mine of late. It fishes it well, in addition to wacky rigging, drop shotting and so forth, all in my wheelhouse of techniques. Though I'm hopeful I'll kick the addiction, I suspect I'll rather succumb to another rod one of these days.

Actually agree with your life-span assessment. I was suggesting a shorter time if there was a confidence issue, but that shouldn't be the case.

When the color is fading after a year or so, or even sooner if you need to, tie the braid off on a tree or something an walk off to the end on the spool. Cut that off, walk back to the first spot and tie that on your spool now, then reel in the rest. You'll have "fresh" braid that you haven't used now.

LOL. So many places we could go with "Manley Rods" but shouldn't.

Another nice one!

Welcome aboard!

Pretty cool idea, priced about right, I suppose. Only issue for me is nothing shorter than 6'9".

Not sure where you can find them, but I have the #8 gammy circles and used them all the time for panfishing with long poles (no reel). My only beef with them is they are too easy to gut hook when fishing under a float. Even though they're circle, I the offset makes it easier to gut hook than an inline would. At least that's my sense, but haven't used an inline that small. I've used inline Nautilus circle hooks for catfishing, but not down to a #8. Don't know who makes an inline that small.

Love it! And yeah, I'm with @Bluebasser86, quit extolling the value of the Ned Rig. I'm only a month into it and haven't been skunked once! Wait, just kidding. I'm sure I've been skunked since using the Ned........nope. Of course doesn't mean it won't happen, just sayin'.

I've seen either these, or another brand that does something similar. But yeah, fun for vacations and stuff, probably to the annoyance of other kayakers, LOL. I don't fish waters that allow gas locally, would certainly add them to my list though. That said, I couldn't afford one as it stands. I love my DIY electrified Native Ultimate, though I do want to upgrade from a 30# thrust...

True. But when I've ordered rods/reels and leave them in the cart, by the next day or two I have a "dude, don't leave a good thing behind" discount that makes it worth my while. usually...not for small stuff, though.

I don't do much, if any, fishing purchases on Amazon. Just not worth the effort even tho I have Prime. Should clarify re: effort. Effort on Amazon Prime is as simple as clicking buy. Issue I have is with what I want that is available. I can usually find better deals on ebay or ... gasp ... Bass Pro.

Wow, well she was right around the 11 pound mark then! Congrats again!! Beastly gal you caught.

I'll let others chime in on your question as I have zero experience with any of the reels/rods, so I'll just welcome you to the forums!

Download and keep that chart handy. It has helped me when I didn't have a scale, but was able to measure the fish.

Congrats! 16" is around 2 pounds, I'd wager, unless it was a real fatty. Chart below is a general gauge, not the be-all-end-all. There are other charts out there which differ slightly, but put 16" in the 2+ pound range.