Preytorien

I recently bought the Vibe Skipjack 90. It's hard to beat the features included for the price. I took it out a couple times for the first time this weekend and while it doesn't explicitly say that it can be stood in, I'm 5'11" / 170lbs and stood in it easily. http://vibekayaks.com/products/vibe-kayaks-skipjack-90-kayak-package?variant=16538692422 The model I got has the "Deluxe Seat" and was $499. You can upgrade the seat for $85 extra but I never had any issues with the basic one.

If you're talking returns and exchanges....for just simple logistics it'll probably be Gander Mountain for you. It's almost certainly closer, since you'd have to either travel to Cali or pay shipping to send something back. Additionally some retail stores can do more bending of the return policy rules if you're there in person and able to state your case to an actual person. I tend to buy basic things like terminal tackle, line, etc at close retailers, then save the specialty or hard-to-find items for TW.

The best one I've ever seen is my buddy's boat. He seems to always have trouble with the motor. It's aluminum and he's had to seal a couple rivet holes every year since he's had it. The trolling motor "works" - in that it spins, but the steering is sketchy. He's got 2 graphs, one at the bow and one on the console. I don't know that the console mounted one has ever worked. The carpet looks like Earl and Randy went at it with a weed-eater. It costs him a fortune to put in at our $35/per launch lakes and sucks gas like an anorexic mosquito. I'd say he dumps a ton of money into it.....but as for me.....it's hassle free! Sorry, I had to....back on topic. I fish with a guy who's particularly picky about his boat. He's got a Stratos 201 and it's immaculate. I don't think he's got any secret formula he just keeps up on the maintenance and cleaning very rigorously. He's timely about motor maintenance and since he's very mechanically inclined he can easily quickly spot problems and fix them himself. I'd say overall his had great reliability. He uses Evinrude motors and MinnKota trolling motors and seems to have great luck with them.

I'd say mine was probably the Z-Man TRD used as a Ned Rig. Z-Man plastics are notoriously tough, and with the hook keeper that's added to the Shroomz head the TRD is almost impossible to lose. Some of mine would barely creep up the shank so I put a dot of glue on it and that held it tight. I have yet to lose one from even my first pack. So I'd consider that pretty good.

I bought one and received it some time ago. I can't really say I'm blown away, and I haven't actually used it but my observation is this.... I think when you step back and assess the concept of a topwater lure it's designed to make commotion on the surface, and hopefully entice a bass who may or may not be looking up, to thinking "oh that's food, time to eat" While each bait may have functional reasons to use it (ex: frogs are very weedless), I think the concept is the same - convincing the bass that it's food. While finish and body is important to us, the tiny little brain in a bass probably doesn't differentiate and say "oh a frog, I want that, but not that sunfish over there" - bass will pretty much eat anything, and if it's making a surface disturbance, even more likely. I've gotten bites on every single topwater lure I've ever used, and many on lakes I fish frequently. I'm sure some are the same fish. So it may be that body style or color isn't quite as important as we think for a topwater. Important? Yes, but probably not worth fretting over. For me, the sunfish isn't going to be a game changer, I wish it was, but it'll probably be another "frog". But what it will do, if other reviews are correct, is offer me an insanely good skipping lure. My skipping skills are lacking, so this fills the void for an easy-to-use skipping topwater. Maybe my points aren't totally scientific, but that's the characteristic of this bait that hooked me the most We'll see later if it was worth my $13

I don't typically do well either with jigs in the river. I've really given it a good shot too, but my river is quite rocky and I hang the jig so frequently it's maddening. When I use bottom contact lures, if any at all, I use weightless and weedless soft plastics.

My ability increased significantly after I did some outings with a friend of mine who's now on the Bassmaster pro side. I think it was his intensity and attention to detail that impacted me the most. After that I invested more time and education on how to be better. Granted everyone has their own definition of "great" but in my own eyes I always look back at my season the year before and think "man I could've done so much better if I knew what I know now."

I have the newest Sustain....the FG series. I came from a Stradic FJ and while the features list don't really justify the price it feels a bit more solid to me and crazy smooth. I would agree if money's a factor to get the Stradic Ci4+ since the features list are the same. I only bought the Sustain because it was on sale for a lower price than the Ci4+

Based on a couple of reviews I've read, you *can* but it's not really designed for it. I have a Vibe Skipjack 90 and while it's not designed for it, many users say they can easily stand in it.

I can agree with this. I own 2 crucials and a Zodias. The Zodias is a better rod all around, but the Crucial is no slouch. I've tended to use my Crucials though as a spinning rod setup with the Zodias going to casting. Either way, I've been happy with both and would be both again in a heartbeat.

I'm not nearly good enough or exposed enough to be considered for any kind of fishing sponsorship, but I had a couple chances when I was younger to join sponsored or semi-sponsored cycling teams. It all sounded good, but I decided against it. It meant a lot of travel, required product use, and a team and its management ordering your next steps. I didn't want to take something I loved doing for sport and fun, and make it into something I *had* to do. I feel the same with fishing. I would be afraid that any kind of success would make me too serious about fishing. I don't want my love of outdoors and fishing to be quite that serious.

I think this sums it up. Brendan's are good. Some are more stories rather than actual instructional videos. They definitely appeal more to younger folks. * is fun to watch, but them being from Cali and me being from Central IN makes it tough to relate. I could fish these waters all my life and not catch fish they frequently catch. Throwing a 12in swimbait would be hilarious around here.

I just got a Vibe Skipjack 90 for $499. Nice size for me and at a great price. I'm sure there are better kayaks out there, but in the $500 price range there weren't any I saw with as many stock features. Give em' a look.

I agree, I have one as my general purpose panfish rod and it's great for the money.

Not sure if it's habit or a superstition, but I will not throw a line unless my sunglasses have been very well cleaned. I hate them dirty. Not sure but that seems more like a habit/ritual. I listen to old timey country on the way to fishing - none of that new candy country stuff I'm talkin 50's-80's Unless I have a good reason, I almost can't fish without any one of 3 of my favorite hats

It sounds fun. I've seen guys doing kayak tournaments on our local lakes, they all use the token method and use their cameras from phones, GoPro's, or whatever. I may pass on it for now as I literally JUST got a kayak, as in less than 7 days ago, so I'm quite a newbie at it, I'll still need some practice just maneuvering the thing. Maybe next time.

Occasionally our local river will be similar to your situation. I find it very very difficult to fish that way for a couple of reasons. Maybe mine are different than yours, but here's what I've found. First, the water is muddy. River fishing is aided a lot by clear water since bass will sit in low current areas and wait for prey to ambush. Their sight gives them their first inclination of food. Muddy water makes it just that much more difficult. Not that it's impossible, they'll still use their lateral line, but it's just that much harder in faster moving muddy water, even if you find the eddies, you have to drop the lure right in front of their noses. Add to the muddy water the fact that the river is up and probably moving quite a bit faster. I use a handy app that gives me streamflow data for USGS stations along our river. You have to do a bit of historical plotting, but you can see what's considered slow, moderate, and fast flow for your river. If the flow is anything above Low-Moderate for me, I don't give much thought to fishing it. Your choice of baits will be limited to very heavy jigs or crankbaits. In my river fishing experience, crankbaits are asking to be hung and lost in a muddy, dirty, fast flowing river, and for us, anything less than a 1oz jig will just be quickly tumbled downstream, and that's a heavy enough jig to get caught up on bottom debris. As you said topwater is out, and would be pretty tough too with fast flow. So, in these cases I try to find still waters, or just take the chance of warm weather to do outdoor work needing done so when the water's more friendly I can take advantage. But if you're wanting just hit the river, go for it, I'm in Indiana, so I understand the need to break out the gear after a long winter. Here's a link to the app I use. Like I said I have used it a while and created custom levels as to what I feel are effective and (more importantly) safe levels to wade, since that's what I do a lot of. It's a big help to be able to glance at my phone when I wake up on a Saturday morning and instantly see if wading or kayaking will be in my fishing plans that day. Good luck! http://www.rivercastapp.com/

No nothing heavy. Like I mentioned, just a paddle clip and a couple d-rings that will be used to attach the anchor and/or used for the roof tie-down point. So there might be a little tension on it, but not more than several pounds.

Perfect. My local Ace Hardware has a variety of them in stock. They're all different lengths and widths. I see most places with kayak mod tutorials using 3/8in versions. Is this what you guys would recommend or should I go bigger/smaller?

Ok that answers my question. Additionally the very few items I want to add (a couple d-rings and an oar taco) are going to be well above the waterline, I just didn't know if they'd be okay. Thanks guys for all the help, I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go along.

Hey everytime I fish I'm fishing a Bassmaster Classic in my head. Ha!

True dat....here in Indiana I've seen 10lb/5fish limits blow everyone else out of the water. Sometimes that's a single fish in the southern states. Maybe if it were regionally specific, but like Clayton said, you can't expect size/length limits to be equally fair across the country. Add to that the fact that there's still a lot of us northern folks that JUST recently had ice out, some in the far north/northeast STILL have ice. Of course if you're talking May/June-ish that wouldn't be a factor. But you'll need to also factor in regional temperatures and weather patterns. Point is, the only way to have a level playing field is to have everyone on the same body of water.

Lately I've done well with a wide wobble deep crank. Reel fast to get it down deep, then slow crank it. Not sure why they like it like that but it's the only thing that's caught anything for me so far this year. Even jigs and soft plastics have failed me

I agree, I probably won't start slapping stuff on it for a while. I think my first item will be an oar holder. I think it's called a "taco" or something like that. Another question - when talking well nuts, some tutorials recommend a silicone to seal it, others say not to use silicone because when you're tightening the nut it will slip. What's your experience with these?

I agree, and for me it's so bad if people ask where I like gift cards from I tell them several other places on my list before I get to BPS