FryDog62

It was on Bass Pros but don't know what episode.

Not sure what kayak you have - but I searched for the most powerful lithium battery that would power my 93x and Livescope - and it would still fit in the front hatch storage of an Autopilot. The answer is 2 batteries - Amped Outdoors 32ah and Norsk 32ah. I opted for Amped Outdoors because of the longer warranty of the two.

9 inch is fully adequate in a kayak/small boat. I had a 10 inch in my 18 foot bass boat. Did not feel I needed to go larger. The visual acuity on Livescope+ (which is 3rd generation) definitely helps. I wasn’t as impressed with Panoptix or MegaLive and with those you may consider a larger screen.

GrandeBass makes 3 worms with an air bubble in the tail that makes them stand up at a 60-90 degree angle. I think the bulbous tail “undulates” at rest better than Elaztech worms. GrandeBass Airtail Shakey/Neko GrandeBass Airtail Rattler GrandeBass Airtail Wiggler NetBait T-Mac worm is good too, very similar to the Airtail Wiggler. Big Bite Baits make a flying squirrel worm that has the floating tail.

Consistently, the biggest bass I have caught in the last 10 years on these: 1) 5 inch Caffeine Shad on a 4/0 Owner Twistlock LIGHT hook (weightless or 3/32 oz depending on your targeted depth). Weedlines, shorelines, skipped under docks. Give it a couple twitches, let it swim and spiral on its own 3-5 seconds, twitch again, rinse & repeat. 2) Grandebass Airtail Rattler worm - rigged Neko style. Best dam skipping lure I've ever used - gets both a reaction bite upon the fall, as well as when soaking. Undulates on its own. The air in the tip of the tail gets it to float more vertical upon rest. Like flipping the middle finger to nearby bass, it also has a thicker presence and gets bigger bites. Great in open water too when casting to targeted bottom locations. Both of these lures have air bubbles in their floating tails - they have an action/profile that other plastics just don't.

Its the equivalent of catching one of those 50 pound bags they do in Texas...

I fished 5 decades in Minnesota - best options are: #1 For largemouth, fish in the southern half of Minnesota. Slightly longer growing season - in general, shallower eutrophic lakes (but deep enough to hold big fish). Mankato, Faribault, Waseca areas have some tanks. #2 Study the DNR Lakefinder that Gim suggested. Look for recent Fisheries Lake Surveys with a higher concentration of 20+ inch fish present. Six pound fish are rare in Minn, 7 is just about nonexistent, but a few people catch them every year. You gotta be smart, disciplined and lucky but it can happen. FWIW, I like South Dakota for less pressure and some of the bigger LMB and smallmouth in the region. Check out Big Stone for LMB in the spring before it turns too green to fish effectively in the summer. Horseshoe and Cattail/Kettle are known waters with 6 and even 7 pound smallmouth. Then, there's always Mille Lacs...

Would be interesting to see how an 18 foot version of the Savage would compare with either the Lund PVB 1875 or Vexus AVX 1880 - layout, features and price, etc. Vexus starts at $42k, wonder if a similar Tracker would come in under $40k?

Surprised no one has mentioned it so far - the Berkely Stunna was designed as a knockoff replica of the Vision 110 to get the same darting action. Hank won 2 Classics with it. Comes in the standard 112 size, but also a slightly downsized 100. A few bucks less and I have found it just as effective as the Megabass Vision. I'm also a fan of the Zumverno when downsizing and/or when tossing on BFS. It works great when longer pauses (hence flash boost) are the key.

We got quite a laugh out of the 1.5 inches of snow received here is Greenville, SC. Of course our perspective is from being natives of Minnesota for decades. Our housing complex here in Greenville sent a notice out that - kids should not play outside because snow may slide off the roof and hurt them. That dogs should not go outside because road salt might irritate their paws, and that we should open the cabinet doors in bathrooms and kitchens so that warm air can get to the pipes and keep them from freezing. Grocery store shelves were wiped out for almost a week before this “Snowmegeddon” hit, and people had their generators out and tested them to make sure all was in working order. Lastly, they called school and work off all day on Friday due to the inch of snow. It was 45 degrees the next day on Saturday and all was melted by noon. However, many schools and some businesses were still closed the following Monday. Haha, but the warnings of 90 degree days in Minnesota are just about as silly. Somehow we survived both climates all these years!

When BFS rod/reels started to become more mainstream a lot of the new information was on YouTube. It did influence the equipment I ordered, although I buy 3-4 at a time to compare weight, balance, action, etc and usually just keep one and return the others.

I was a fluorocarbon hater of epic proportion for the first 10 years I occasionally used it. Now I fish straight fluorocarbon on about half my rigs. Uniform sink rate is a big reason why. Also it does stretch as much or more than mono/co-poly… but less so on the initial hook set, then if it stretches more near the boat helps keep the fish hooked. I’m a tad stubborn and it took me time, but I changed my mind, so there !

I was a St. Croix fan boy for many years… owned 20 some rods… Many LTB, Mojo, AvidX. Quality build, good warranty. But the rods tended to be heavy, thick, cumbersome and tip heavy when you get into the MH and Heavy models. Looking back, it’s hard to believe St. Croix publishes the weight of their rods on their web site, that’s an eye opener. Expride also are a great build quality and good rod actions, but the handles are disproportionately long. If your using it for heavy, winching applications that can be good - but if doing anything where you impart action for walking the dog, frogging, jerkbaits, finesse - they are awkward to fish.

Expride baitcasting rods, MH and Heavy St. Croix rods, Shimano MGL spools, and the Tokyo Rig.

I’m a fan of the 843 MBR for its versatility in a kayak… I’m not a fan of the 6-10 Expride for jerkbaits with that long of a handle in any boat, but especially a kayak.

I’ve only snapped 2 rods in 50 years of fishing - Orochi Braillist and Perfect Pitch. I thought both rods were a bit tip heavy as well for the price range.

Gets cold here in the winter in South Carolina too. 48 degree water at the launch, but 43 down by the dam today. But the Dry-Tec gloves make it quite comfortable !

By the time we got to late Oct/early Nov in Minnesota was end of season… water temps mid 40’s (air temp too) was time to cash it in. Water became hard shortly after that… So no I wasn't casting lures into an ice hole in sub-freezing weather!

I fished in extreme cold weather in Minnesota for years. Only one thing ever worked for me - Fish Monkey Dry-Tec Thinsulate gloves. Thin and good dexterity - you can cast, thumb the spool, reel, lip fish, thread plastics on a hook, get’em wet, etc. … and basically do anything with them on with the exception of tying line. I just take them off momentarily for that and fish the rest of the day with them on. Warm down to 40 degrees or so. Game changers - - https://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Fish_Monkey_Stealth_Dry-Tec_Light_Weight_Glove/descpage-FMSD.html

It works, and yes it’s an old technique. Jimmy Lindner and others “Moped” and won tournaments in the old days. Spinning is great, but doesn’t mean you can’t with BFS either. Retrieves vary, the key is that it looks different and hovers or retrieves slowly at the right depth. 23 incher hovering on BFS hooked me.. yep it works -

In my opinion - celebrating Christmas for 2 months is the problem. You walk into a store on Nov 1 and it’s already decorated and Christmas Carol music overhead. And here we are about the same still on Jan 1. If I had any say, I’d make Christmas a 3 day weekend and Easter the 2 month deal. It means more - plus think of the long Spring Break (fishing) trips!!

I was only in FL for 18 months and just started looking around at off the beaten path lakes and ponds for my kayak. Never really got much traction, just a couple abandoned quarry pits in SWFL. The two things to be mindful of on the primitive lakes, are getting stuck, either your vehicle, or kayak in the shallows… and encountering gators in lakes where they aren’t used to being around people.

There’s a balance here, and it’s probably different for everyone.. For me, tying and retying a few rods all day long for different techniques is inefficient and a PIA in my opinion. That said, I might only fish 4-6 different techniques any given day. The challenge is, you don’t always know which technique(s) will prevail before you set out on the water. In my boat, I had 15 rod tubes.. I always felt if I had more rod/reel combos than that, then I was inefficient and over-thinking things. It seemed to work well -

Might be one of the best slightly under-the-radar Chatterbait rod. The only glass-composite rod I own.. I tested St. Croix, Dobyns and ALX composite-glass rods and they all seemed thicker/heavier than the Chatterbound.

Black. Because even in the lowest light, a bass is looking up towards the surface. The surface is much brighter than below - and a black/dark colored frog against the light background will get noticed and it’s location locked in easier…