thinkingredneck

Thanks. The Falcon Lake Craw has amazing colors

I made an order from Seibert that included Rage Tail products and Megastrike. I guess I drank the Koolaide. They look more substantial than similar products. I am excited to try them! Do you guys mostly rage rig them ot T rig them?

I carry a braid cutter and emergency knife on my pfd. I also have pliers. I use a paddle with orange blades. Good idea about the side cutters. I also usually carry a small first aid kit.

Went a little crazy at an outlet website and bought a lot of riptide swimbaits (salt water by culprit) and culprit worms, jig heads. Caught bass on the salt water swimbaits. Fun.. While visiting my daughter in OR, bought maxima mono line and some old cranks I hadn't seen before. I fish from a kayak. Thinking about a jonboat for fishing with friends and family.

A cohiba cigar

EWG hooks, changed to round bend offset hook. Seems to hook more fish lead to tunsten weights, especially heavier sizes mono to braid for most soft baits I found some Mustad mono that I like better than trilene. I really like the Mustad FC leader to yozuri hybrid leader. Alberto knot from double surgeon or blood knot for joining leader improved clinch knot to palomar or Duncan

I am the opposite. I catch fish on soft plastics fished slowly, but am trying to learn hard baits. I think the best way to learn is to focus on one type of bait until you figure it out.

Rubber with cloth over them. Have had no problems. I use a 1/16 wacky weedless jig if I want it to fall faster. I use an octopus hook otherwise. I also hook them Texas style on an EWG hook amd fish like a fluke or worm in pads. That has been more successful for me than wacky, for some reason. One good thing about an x with hair bands is that it is easy to put the hook perpendicular to the bait.

Almost everywhere I fish has muck or dead plant material under the actual plants. I tend to go with weightless or lightly weighted worms or swimbaits and flukes if it is too bad.

I tried using my daughter's small pony tail holders doubled to make an x on the stickbait. Works great, cheap and requires no specail tool. Plus they come in a bunch of colors to creste a hot spot.

I have also gone with shorter butt rods. I don't stand in my kayak, either. I mostly use a St Croix MF BC rod. I also have a couple BPS tourney special, one M and one Heavy. I have an Abu spinning rod with a handle that is too long. A Fenwick that is a tad long. I am embarassed to admit it, but I am having good luck using an Ugly stick spinning rod, medium. Fun to use. The older I get, the less trendy I am.

Nice. The eagle talon has a rear space that is too narow for a standard milk crate. I did mount three rod holders to a cooler. Thanks for the idea.

yes. I have rigged a pole with an orange flag with lights. Thinking of buying a commercially made one, though. Was really in to making my own gear for a while.

I habe contributed one rod and reel to the rez

Nothing I hate more than a theif!

Thanks, I have been using my mh baitcaster for worms, jigs, and frogs. My spinner for treble hooks and weightless worms/ finesse, but sometimes I like the medium BC rod with mono or fluro for cranks, spinners and weightless plastics. I think I just like BC rods better as I have more accuracy with them.

Great replies. I had a friend who flipped in cold water and did not have his pfd on. Almost died. Had to be hospitalized. My biggest fear is idiots on jet ski bearing down on me. I have had close calls. As I have gotten older I have realized that you only have to be wrong once to get in trouble, or maybe I have just become an old man.

I thought it woulf be a good idea to have a list of essential gear for kayak fishing, other than rod, real, baits (if this has been done, I can't find it). I realize that these are not limited to a kayak. Some are sessential (*), some nice to have, some optional. Everything is attached in case of a turtle (flip). I will list what I take, please add to this! *personal flotation device--on at all times, I use an automatic inflatable *whistle attached to shirt or pfd *sunscreen bug spray *cellphone in waterproof container *spare truck key with phone *accessible knife or emergency line cutter *whistle or horn stake out pole anchor and rope +/- depth finder set up *light pole with flag +/- cooler or fish bag *flashlight or headlamp +/- Measuring tape (mine is on my rod) *paddle with leash fish gripper for toothy fish and to attach to stumps for anchoring *dehooker or long forceps *clippers/braid cutter +/- go pro camera set up paracord *Hat or cap +/- rain coat or poncho +/- gps

I fish from a kayak. That limits me to 2 rods, ideally, as that is how many rod holders I have behind me. To carry more gets awkward, and anything that sticks out in front of me, like a rod lying down or in a front rod holder, can cause a wrapped line and lost fish. Don't ask how I know this. I read the "rod selection, the basics" thread and it helped a lot in clarifying my thoughts concerning rod selection. I mostly fish a relatively shallow, heavily stained to muddy reservoir with a lot of pads, wood and other vegetation. Currently, my primary rod is a mh bait caster fast rod with 65lb test braid and 15 lb yozuri hybrid leader--when I use a leader. I also have a medium baitcaster that I have 12lb fluro on and a medium spinning rod with 25 lb braid plus leader. I use the mh rod for single hook baits and toads. I am comfortable with worm fishing, but don't have a lot of knowledge or confidence in "reaction" baits, other than toads. If I were limited to one of the other rods for treble hook lures, and or soft swimbaits, which rod would you suggest? I appreciate any advice.

Thanks guys, very helpful. I like the shower caddy. Very cool. I think the lure box and day box is very similar to what I am thinking. (I have a flambeau hard satchel for hard lures). The reason I am trying to learn new techniques is because my confidence bait is limited to when fish want slowly fished plastics on the bottom. I need to learn other methods. Thanks for the replies.

I personally find trick and finess type worms follow the weight better than ribbon worms when fishing thick stuff. That helps me. I fish in some gnarly stuff. Also, the larger lead weights may push the plants apart better than tungsten, so the plastic can follow.

Can you expand on your lure box and day box, please?

I get a lot of blowups on horny toads but have trouble because I set the hook too soon, I think. Just got some Culprit frogs on sale. I liked the z-man frog but cannot find them.

Thanks. I am learning soft swimbaits. interested in spinnerbaits. Kind of lost, but studying posts. I am leaning toward the confidence box plus something I want to learn. I seem to always wind up catching most on a trickworm. Maybe I should leave it at home and take only stuff I want to learn? Do you guys use your confidence baits to find the fish first and then go to new baits, or just take new stuff to learn?

I fish primarily from a Field and Stream Eagle Talon kayak. A milk crate won't fit in it. I use a craftsman open top tool box. I can put 4 plano boxes or three plus two shallow boxes in that size. I am always struggling with organization. I currently have a box or more for each type of soft plastic or lure, I.e., spinnerbait, jerkbait, top water, toad-frog, trick worm, ribbontail, etc. I also have a binder with nothing but every size and shape junebug plastic and candy bug plastic I can find. My thought was I could work on a particular technique until I learn it. This is working sometimes. However, I always seem to want womething else that I don't have with me. Questions, would you guys organize soft baits by type (senko, ribbon tail, trickworm), color, size, or how? How would you separate hard baits, depth, type (jerk vs. Crank, vs lipless)? I also thought about confidence vs new/experimental boxes. Thoughts? I am way overthinking this. Limited space.