Fishingmickey

Sure, Welcome to San Antonio! Judging by your favorite lakes on your profile. You already have an idea of whats in the area. We've got some pretty decent bass fishing IMHO. How far are you willing to drive/travel? Choke Canyon is about a hour and a half south, Canyon lake has been good last couple of times I've fished there. Coletto Creek can be pretty good. Medina lake is out west of San Antonio but it is way low (under 20%) or has been. Not sure how much recent rains have helped. Fayette county lake is a power plant lake. It's about a hour and a half east and it can produce some serious bags. Very good winter and spring fishing. Lake Bastrop is north east about the same driving distance. Calaveras and Braunig lakes are local and have stocked Redfish. Both lakes used to produce some seriously good bass twenty years ago. You could still probably catch a few if you tried. There is also Lake Amistad and Falcon lake to our south along the border deserve mention. to the north around and above Austin, You've got Buchanan, LBJ, Ink's and Lake Travis. They are all Colorado river chain lakes and are capable of producing serious big bass (7-10# fish). That should be enough to get you started. FM

I gotta say for a second post that's a doozie. My experience with Kistler has been the exact opposite of yours. There are quite a few serious anglers on this site that have given kudos to Trey and his shop in Magnolia TX. I have several Kistler rods Like 10 or better. I have had one Helium break on me on the hook set and I thought it was my fault. I called them and sent a pic of the broken rod. They shipped me a new Helium 3 rod and I didn't have to even ship them the busted one back. I had the rod the next day. Fishingmickey

It has to be a publicly accessible ramp. Not sure about this Tourney but on the Hobie BOS trail, I think they have a allowable ramp list for you to choose from. It varies, but it has to be accessible to everyone/anyone in the tournament. I always read the rules for each tournament a couple of times. FM

Both fall under the category of Purple worm in my book and that's always been a favorite with me. Strike King's blue fleck is on that favorite list too. Dark red, dark purple, tomato tomahto. I think rate of fall and presentation are as or more important then color. FM

I've got the Rebellion in a MH and it is a "soft" rod. Two others to consider is Dobyn's Kayden or the Shimano Curado Glass. I have both of those two and Kayden 744C nails it for the Chatterbait. I have used it for crankbaits as well. 5XD or DD22 is it's sweet spot for deep diving cranks. The Curado glass CB rod is no slouch at either bait also.

Without knowing (fished with) the Diawa rod. it's hard to comment. Crankbaits and Chatterbaits are two different animals in my book. Cranks have trebles. I prefer a moderate action rod for them. More parabolic bend to keep them pinned on the jump. The bigger deeper divers (XD6 size and up) need a rod capable of casting a 1 oz or larger weight long distances. So your looking at a heavy action longer rod. Smaller/shallower divers like MN said 11-12' or less a MH will do. Chatterbait's with the single hook I prefer a fast action for hook setting capability. The Diawa rod Seth uses is a regular action and might work just fine for both. FM

I got nothing, other then 10# braid is very thin and slippery when new. FM

Try going outside and tying your line off to something solid and walk away. Maybe like at least 50 - 75 yards plus. Heck empty the spool if you can. Then tighten your drag down and reel the line back in "under tension". Ditch the swivel and get a 1/4 or 3/8 oz worm weight and tie it on the end of your line. Leave about 6"s hanging from the tip. Go give that a try. FM

Yes, they will work.

Grande Bass Rattlesnake by chance? FM 7" Berkley power worm Pumpkin seed, 3/16th weight and 3/0 Gammy round bend worm hook.

That is finer than frogs hair.

Okiboji or Storm lake? Okiboji is a long way up there. FM

I'm guessing the only cast control on that reel is the tension knob by the handle. It's before centrifugal or magnetic brakes came out. FM

Beware of the free boat, they are always more expensive then you think.

I'm in the same camp as Mike L. I use Fluorocarbon almost exclusively. It took me a couple of years to find which lines work for me. There is a big difference in between brands and price range. The cheaper lines don't perform nearly as well as the premium brands. I try to offset the cost by spooling half of my spool in mono and then top off with Fluorocarbon. I can get a extra spool off a 150 yrd. roll and two extra off of a 200-220 yrd. spool. I have switched to buying the larger bulk spools since I've found good performing (for me) Fluorocarbon. The brands I prefer are Seaguar Invisx, Seguar Tatsu and Diawa Samurai. I'm currently trying out Shimano Mastiff now. I used mostly 12, 15, 17 and 20lb. I don't use the KVD line conditioner. It's on the list of things to try. Fishingmickey p.s. Freshly spooled, I feel is much more prone to bird nesting then after it has been used for a day or two. Overfilling your reel is another issue too. Both of the above combined can really make you wonder about your casting ability and fill up the swear word jar quickly.

You do pretty dang good, from what I can see in your catch pic's, Ol'Crickety. A five or six pounder in Maine is a truly big bass. FM

Long time popper and top water fan too. I have found the cast and let the ripples disappear before even thinking about twitching method does well. I will give it another twitch or two and the wait and then pop and then start to pick up the pace. Like stunned bug/frog that is recovering and fleeing. Rinse and repeat. FM

I had the thought that video might be a You-tuber ploy for sensationalism or increased hit's. Due to the way the boat was being video-ed long before it got close. Then I checked the number of subscribers and hits. Made me think it is legit close call and not staged. I do know about "lake lice" PWC that have the let me get close so you can look me while I wing-ding circles around you syndrome. I've been kayak fishing pretty religiously for over 10 years on a lot of lakes and some of them are very crowded at times. You get all the slices of humanity on the water. Some of them are less intelligent then other's in their boat driving habits. I feel I am the one ultimately responsible for my own safety and make my decisions accordingly. FM

Sniper, since ya made me choose between the two.

Sounds like a Algae bloom.

August, You might look into the NuCanoe Ultimate. It is a very stable and modifiable (add motor or pedal drive) kayak. MSRP is or was 1,799 new. With the 360 swivel seat you can mount a transom mounted trolling motor on the back without all of the complications of adding steering or additional mounts. That's how I use my PA14 with the Torqueedo on the back. Motor for travel and pedal when fishing. FM

Braid is more sensitive then fluorocarbon only when it is taut. When braid has slack in the line (due to it's being very limp) it doesn't transmit vibration at all. Fluorocarbon is a much stiffer line, therefore transmits vibration much better when it isn't taut. There is no comparison between the two. FM

Seriously, with a Bass Buster boat if the wind comes up and your battery is low it may be very difficult to get back to the launch. They just don't paddle very well and have high windage. Going with a deep cycle Lithium Ion or at least the 100AH deep cycle battery is the way to go. FM

Uummm... They have them for sale on Tackle Warehouse, Blue. I've got some 4/0 & 5/0 EWG's on the way. FM

How did you know I ordered four packs of the nano's yesterday from TW? 😲 FM