Subaqua Adinterim

Recovery operation at this point. Details can be read at Syracuse.com Always a good idea to wear a PFD, however, in this case; they were downstream and below a low dam with lots of turbulent water and undertow. Very tragic situation, which educates about the dangers of being in water downstream from a low dam. I looked at one of the you tube videos from the Ohio DNR and learned how treacherous these are, even though the dam is low, it is very misleading how dangerous these are.

Had a 10'Tarpon for a few years and sold it last year with 2 Scotty rod holders for $450. Was o.k. for fishing but not that comfortable after a few hours. Please do not stand up in one of these, especially in rough waters as you will dump it. Manufacturers are coming out with more stable and comfortable models these days with seats that rise up. You may consider a Native used kayak as these are very comfortable and stable yet light weight. Best of luck

I am using 12# Triline xl and so far I'm just practicing and getting good with the cast from the side. More wrist action for me now is making a difference vs. the over the top forearm and shoulder motion I started with. Before I followed the tips and video, I got some major backlashes. The mono line made getting these out more manageable. I can only imagine how hard it would be to unravel braid from a major backlash.

I just want to say thanks for all the good advice and videos on this forum. I too am a life long spinning reel guy that wanted to try something different and bought a bait casting set up this year. I tried it a few times and got very frustrated with the backlashes, lack of distance and control. After reading this thread and looking at the video, I have been practicing in the backyard for a few hours each day and I am now getting it. I'm getting the technique down and am getting more distance, better precision and only a rare backlash. I am determined to get good at this, and the help from this forum has been the reason that I am off to a good start. People watch golfers or someone that is good at something and they think it's easy. It only looks easy because they are using proper technique and they have practiced at it. I will keep practicing until I can easily cast from the seat of my kayak, but at least now I am encouraged to know I will eventually will be able to do it.

Hardshell are ready to go with attachments for fishing already set up. No time spent at launch messing around with inflation and set up. I had a WS Tarpon as well, it weighed just over 50# which was light when I was a little younger; however, to lift by myself overhead now with bad shoulders, I cannot do. I sold the Tarpon last year. If you can't lift something over your head, you will will need a trailer or a pickup truck that you can load your heavier more stable kayak on and also a cart to move it around. If you have help every time you can put it on a rack on top of your vehicle. Each year the kayak companies continue to evolve product lines with more stable, comfortable models that are tailored for fishing. There are some very nice ones out there now from a variety of manufacturers. Most of the comfortable stable models are at least over 70#s. Best of luck in making your chooice.

Went to one of the smaller finger lakes yesterday. I fish out of a light weight 12' canoe so even though I bring a lot of different stuff, it's not easy to switch and try too many things. I had great luck hooking into 11 and landing 8 all largemouths except one rock bass. 3 were over 4#s and the rest were probably 2#s or so except for one that was less than a foot long and of course the rock bass. I don't have a scale so the weights are just guesses, but the big ones were really nice size. I was using a 6'10 Veritas rod and spinning reel with 10# mono and a barrel swivel with two feet of 6# floro with an Owner 4/0 ultra head 1/4 oz. shaky with the built in twist lock keeper and the Gary Y 3&3/4" craw dad in watermelon red&black flakes. It was a fun day and I'm not sure if something else may have worked better, but I got lucky with the shaky head and craw set up. I lost two of the shaky heads - one got bit off (pickerel?) and one got caught on a log; so I will need to get some more as I have just two left. Also saw a deer swim across the lake which was amazing. Two others started behind it but they turned around after about two hundred yards and went back. I was on the shore a short distance away in a small cove eating lunch and it's possible they saw me and that made them turn around or maybe they figured it was too much work to go across. The one that made it across moved at a good pace and made the half mile or so in less than 15 minutes.

I have had some success on black bodied with silver blade rooster tail spinners or the watermelon body with gold blade in NY streams. Also a small jig with a Mr. Crappie black silver tuxedo 1& 3/4" crappie thunder grub.

Thanks for the info on the bass yaks set up. I checked out some videos on YouTube to get a better idea of how their system works. Aceman387 how was the bassyaks install and is it sturdy and relatively maintenance free?

Thanks for the advice. I may do this in stages. I am in New York, so if I do get a motor of any kind, I believe I need to register it and will do as required.

I sold my 10' sit on top kayak last year and I am presently fishing out of a 12' ultralight hybrid canoe. Looking to buy a super stable 11.5 or 12' sit on top that will be more comfortable. At some point I would like to put a small electric trolling motor on it, as I have seen the videos on you tube with one of these mounted on a 2x6 that is attached to a milk crate behind the seat. Will a rudder help on this? I want to keep things as simple as possible and if I can get by without the rudder, I'm thinking one less thing to get in the way when loading or to break. The rudder kit will cost about $170 extra. Thanks for any advice that can be offered from those with more experience here.

If you are going to use your kayak a lot do not cheap out on the paddle. Get a good one that is light weight and comfortable. One with an aluminum shaft and plastic at the ends works but is no where as enjoyable as one that slips togehter easily and is lightweight (graphite). Spend the money well the first time and it is not wasted. You can get a great paddle for $150 or so that will be good for the rest of your life - money well spent. Also, make sure you get a paddle that fits you and the kayak you are using it on.

I dumped my 10ft Tarpon Kayak a number of years ago about a hundred yards from a boat launch on a small lake. I was heading directly into some small waves and a boat sped off from the launch area creating a wake that hit me sideways. Waves from the front and wake from the side are not a good combination. Thankfully, I was wearing a PFD - sometimes listening to the wife has benefits

Sounds like an ideal set up for you. There are probably plenty of other spots for others that want to use live bait, etc. Here in upstate NY there are the 2 smallest Finger lakes that are part of the Rochester, NY water supply. I fish one quite a bit from my kayak. They allow 10HP. or less motors. Have to laugh when I watch the trailers being backed down and the vehicle tailpipes in the water; then the boats speed away and they are running a half dozen or more poles on planer boards and downriggers trolling up and down these little lakes.

Drove to the new Cabela's in Buffalo, Tuesday afternoon with my wife to check it out. The grand opening is on Thursday; however,Tuesday was a special invitation day for those who made catalog purchases or had a credit card. Not all that special of an invitation; as there were a few hundred people there, which was expected. The initial impression was that the store was much smaller than anticipated; having visited a Cabela's store near Phoenix,AZ several years ago which had much better animal and fish displays and was considerably larger with more merchandise. I would compare this store to the Bass Pro store near Auburn, although that BPS store seemed a little bigger with more of a fishing selection. The prices at Cabela's for the most part were at retail, which I consider to be inflated, and there may have been a few specially priced items, but not many. I was able to test out an Excalibur Matrix crossbow and my wife purchased a few items of outdoor clothing, so the trip was somewhat worthwhile, in addition to finding out what the store was all about. The store was well staffed, which was no surprise for a new store and some of the staff were very knowledgeable, but most were just helpful and friendly. I don't think Dick's Sporting Goods will be affected much in the long run by this competition, as DSG seems to periodically run sales on some of the fishing, hunting and clothing merchandise; and it's larger stores, such as the one in Henrietta has a good fishing selection. It was good to make the trip this one time from Rochester to check out the Cabela's store; however, I'm not sure that I would venture to that store unless there was something else that I needed to go to Buffalo for.

My wife has a Little Swifty and loves it. I like it as well, as it only weighs about 30 lbs. and I can carry it easily to and from my truck and to wherever we need to launch it. She doesn't fish - just paddles around a little and eventually goes to a shady area to read while I fish. I bought her a small anchor - the kind that umbrellas out with four sides, weighs a few pounds and is quite compact. Get some polyester rope about the size of clothesline, about 40 feet to tie to the anchor. Go to the dollar store and buy one of those foam noodles and cut it down to about a foot with a bread knife and you can wrap the anchor line around the foam, which will work well to store your anchor rope on. and will float if you drop it in the water. You may be able to mount a Scotty rod holder in the middle of the plastic top about arms length in front of you. Also, you can buy a clip on plastic cup holder at the sporting goods store, such as Dick's for just a few bucks, where you can keep a water bottle handy. Best wishes on your fishing, hope this helps a little.

I have only kept one fish to eat over the last several years. It was an atlantic salmon that I caught in Cayuga Lake a few years ago. I remembered seeing someone catch a decent size trout in the Delaware river and he just grabbed the fish under the nose/top of the mouth and just pulled straight up and back. It must have snapped the spine because the fish died instantly. I remembered this and tried it on the atlantic salmon and it died instantly, Not sure how this would work on fish with bigger heads than trout; however, I can attest that it did work when I tried it on a trout/salmon type fish.

I do it all the time in my kayak. If I'm going from one spot on the lake to another, as long as I need to get there, I usually put on some type of crankbait. Usually a small floating rapala or a Thin Fin. Although sometimes I just drag what I was casting. Caught a huge smallmouth once when trolling a gitset tube. I have the best luck when going across a small lake vs. parallel to shore. The kayak provides stealth as well as a more erratic movement of the lure as the paddling is not very constant vs. a trolling motor. I have my poles mounted in front of me in the kayak so I can see if I get a hit. I'm not proud when it comes to catching fish - just trying to catch something and to have fun. I just hope to get something that puts up a fight before I throw it back.

Jim Thanks This forum group has been great. I never would have considered the FeelFree Lure until it was mentioned here. I have done a ton of research on that one today and it really interests me now more than the others. Rich

Thanks for the additional ideas. I put together an excel spread sheet of the various options that I am looking at now. The spreadsheet did not paste in the proper format, however, the basic info for each mfg. & model are below. MFG - Model Retail $ Length Width Weight Capacity FeelFree - Lure 1,099 11' 6" 36" 74 425 OK - Prowler Big Game Angler 1,249 12' 9" 34" 70 600 NuCanoe - Frontier 1,159 12' 0" 41" 76 650 OT - Predator MX 1,199 12' 0" 34" 82 400 Jackson - Big Rig 1,499 13' 2" 37" 98 450 WS - Ride 1,099 11' 6" 33" 81 500

I just looked at the Old Town Predator specs and reviews. It is sweet. If i decide to go that direction, I will probably go with the 12' MX Predator. Definitely a lot more options now than when I got my Tarpon several years ago. Looks like many manufacturers have made advancements in the stability and comfort areas and are making better SOTs for fishing.

I will mostly be on lakes. I fish the smaller finger lakes close to Rochester and if the conditions are right (very little wind) I can make it out on Lake Ontario. Also spend about 3 weeks in the Adirondacks on lakes up there. I don't do much river fishing. I am looking for stability and comfort. I guess you can flip anything, however, the Tarpon is not as stable as I would like. I dumped it once when I put a small pillow on top of the seat for more comfort and I got caught from the side by a boat wake. I am trying to keep in the 12 foot length size as my truck bed is six foot and with the gate down, I have seven feet to work with in transport area.

Jim Thanks for the information. There are some dealers here in the Rochester area that carry these and I will be checking the various models out over the next few weeks. My Tarpon is not totally uncomfortable, but it could be more comfortable. What peaked my interest in getting a more comfortable SOT kayak was an article in the Syracuse newspaper outdoors section a few weeks ago. The guide was in a Jackson and he looked really comfortable, almost as if he was sitting in a nice lawn chair while fishing.

I presently have a Wilderness tarpon 10' that is set up for fishing and that I have had for about five years. I am looking to get into something that is a little more comfortable and stable, with a higher seat. I have a Ranger truck that I put my kayak in and transport it in the bed of the truck. I am considering the Jackson Big Rig or the NuCanoe Frontier in the models that are about 12 or 13 feet. Any pros and cons to these options that you can tell me about would be appreciated. Also, should I consider something else. Thanks

Went to one of the fingerlakes near Rochester yesterday. I try to go there at least once a week. Have been having some luck in prior weeks on Senkos Caught just two yesterday, LMB that we're small. Also caught a good size pickerel. I fish out of a kayak and whenever I cross the lake, I troll a small crank bait. Yesterday morning, I put on this thing that I got when I was a kid about 40 years ago, looks like a full size bass shrunk down to the size of your thumb with a plastic lip and two hooks on it. Never caught anything on it, but it looked good and yesterday as I looked at the stuff in my plastic box, I figured I'd give that lure a shot. About halfway across the lake, my pole bent over (I keep my rod holders in front of me when I troll so I can watch the pole when trolling). Grabbed the pole and I knew I had something big on. Got towed around for about ten minutes and I was finally able to get it up and next to the kayak. It was a huge lake trout, close to two feet long. Tried to net it but it was too big for the net, since my net is only about 16 inches across and about the same depth. The trout was barely hooked on one of the small treble hooks, so when I tried to net it, the hooks got caught in the rubber mesh and the fish got off. It took a few seconds for it to figure out it was free and then it just swam down toward the bottom. It was a pretty neat experience that can be chalked up to dumb luck. There were a few boats around that we're trolling lead lines, and they watched me fight the fish and try to land it and were just as amazed as I was. Since I release everything I catch, I was glad that it got off after it got up near the kayak so I could see it. This is not the first time that I've had luck trolling in my kayak, just the first time with a laker.

Hey - you're catching some nice fish and having fun. Whether or not what you're using is the best quality, has the best packaging, biggest name pro endorser etc. - does not matter. There is no denying that some of what you pay for in a name brand lure is for the name and in most cases, not all, you get better quality. What matters for you is that these are affordable and productive. Keep catching fish and having fun.