Turkey sandwich

140 fish! That's about the craziest total I've ever heard of, and I love that river. Congrats on a killer trip. It's a shame you caught every fish in the river and there's no reason for anyone else, under any circumstances to fish it.

Welcome to the forum! If you use the search feature, you can likely find some quality information from other folks that fish out your way. I don't fish Texas and I'm not very familiar with many systems down your way with smallmouth. That said, I also have no idea what the conditions are, or where they would be in their seasonal cycle. I could make general suggestions, but knowing nothing else, they'd likely hurt more than help.

It depends. I think starting out throwing longer casts that land well away from the dock is a good start to work fish sitting well outside without spooking the ones likely sitting right on or under the dock itself. After that, it's time to start taking notes. Where are fishing sitting? Are you catching fish off the deep edge of the dock? Are you catching them in 2' of water near the shoreline? Are they sitting along the shady edge of the dock? In the sunlight? Once you find the fish, you want the presentation to stay in the strike zone as long as possible. If I'm catching them primarily along the shady side of the dock, you bet the majority of my casts are going to be perpendicular and along that shady side. If I'm catching them in the middle of the dock sitting consistently at 4' of depth, I'm probably going to be working that depth perpendicular or at different angles to the dock. Is there a weed edge boulders, or quality laydowns anywhere around that dock? That's also going to be super high percentage and I'm likely going to want to keep my top water in those areas for a while, too. Part of breaking down cover efficiently, to me, is identifying high percentage areas and hitting them until I do so in a manner where I'm likely putting my bait in front of as many active fish as possible at least until I gather enough information to weed out what's inefficient and can establish a quality pattern. And sometimes after putting in all that work and thought, I'll just throw into open water on a crap cast while not paying attention in between two docks and catch a random cruising fish. That's valuable information, too.

Some basic knowledge and skill goes really far, and plastic worms of any variety are ridiculously versatile. I like my odds if I have at least a little bit of knowledge about the lake, and under most conditions on a river. I'm a pretty confident guy with worms and jigs, and for years they were responsible for 90% of what I caught, but confidence/arrogance is besides the point. (though, I think most of us take a simple joy on those days we fish behind another boat or series of boats and pick up fish regardless of what they were throwing at them, I know I do.) I think the underlying problem in all of this is that, as fishermen, we all (to some degree) get caught up in looking at tackle as toys as opposed to tools. And for the same reason that hardware stores sell a ton of adjustable wrenches, many of us can find a ton of ways to catch fish on a 7" plastic worm in a practical color under most conditions. The posts about being able to find fish are likely the first determining factor as to who ends up making money. After that, it's presentation. And in the event that I don't have all of my tools, I feel like that plastic worm can be rigged or modified to mimic more than anything else on it's own. In addition to all of the rigging options, with a pair of scissors it could be a grub, ned rigged, split tail, cut down to a more finesse presentation, and probably a dozen other things I'm too tired to think about, but ultimately if I can stick it in front of fish, I'm confident I'll be able to put at least a few in the boat.

This is how I picked up several smallies last weekend. It's something I've picked up on thanks to fly fishing. Turns out, those guys know a thing or two about fishing rivers. This is also where using high vis braid to leader is really helpful. It gives you the ability to watch your line, mend it to keep your drift in line with the current speed, and watch for strikes. A lot of strikes that come on a drift/swing are going to be difficult/impossible to feel, so a sensitive rod (I'll generally use a MLXF dropshot rod for 1/8oz or less fishing on the swing) and bright yellow or red braid can be the difference between catching a LOT of fish and getting very frustrated.

I see the value in having a shorter rod and sometimes wish I had more in the 6'-6'6 range around, but not enough buy kayak specific rods for things. I sat mostly through last year. After back surgery, this year I'm finally feeling a lot more comfortable standing more.

There was a moment, once, while eating a Wagyu NY strip, I wondered if it was ridiculous that I was eating a $130 piece of meat. I decided, instead, that the $15 asparagus side was over priced and went on to enjoy my night with Padron 64 and several glasses of Lagavulin 16. Seriously, though, I think quality has it's place, but so is knowing simply what you want. A lot of people get like this with Brazilian jiu-jitsu gis and will spend $300+ per gi. I've ordered mine from a company that I just like for the past 12 years just because I like the fit. Ultimately, it's a matter of simply taste with a lot of things. Sometimes I feel like a bottle of Lagavulin 16 (Johnny Walker blue, while good, isn't really my taste in whisky), but I also regularly drink Wild Turkey 101.

I have no idea how I missed both posts. I was curious how no one else provided the obvious answer to this man's problems... Two spools of copoly. We seriously need an Oprah handing out spools of copoly meme for this forum.

The longest spinning and casting rods I own are 7'1 (I believe) and I have no real trouble fishing any of them from the kayak. I'm also 5'11, if height means anything. I have no been so bold as to try fly fishing out of mine yet, though, that'll likely happen this summer.

So, for the 100th consecutive thread on this, someone has to suggest copolymer. I guess I'm that guy today. I keep a bunch of spools around for different applications, but generally, Yo-zuri Hybrid is my leader material 90% of the time because It's ridiculously strong, has incredible knot strength, maintains some of the reflective characteristics of FC, is pretty much neutrally buoyant, and 600 yards of it costs like $4. Also, that 8lb diameter line will have 11.5-12lb breaking strength.

I had the kayak on the river yesterday and caught around 20 smallies. I was hoping to get out again today from 6-2 or so, but work up to thunderstorms and decided that sleeping was a better idea. I was surprised. Not a whole lot of boats out, and the only kayakers were large groups either doing the family thing or drinking their way down the river. I actually ran into the fish commission at the launch and they were pretty shocked to not see a lot of folks on the water anywhere. Also, yesterday I became a believer in the Ned rig. I fished behind three guys in a boat throwing Senkos for a stretch and the TRD picked up 4 fish after three guys hammered the spot for an hour. The TRD, drifted in current like nymphing for trout, might be my new favorite helgramite imitation.

Double check when you see that "vegetation" growing out of fish. It's not uncommon to see all sorts of stuff growing on a tag. Awesome day on the water!

what lake is it? and it depends on a bunch of things. there is no simple "fish spot x with a crankbait" answer.

Cheers!

I recently picked up some of Siebert's jigs and really like the options he provides. I haven't had a lot of opportunities to fish them yet, but I'm very happy with the quality. I will be buying more, for sure. That said, I agree with the above posts for grabbing something with an Arky style head because they're ideal 70% of the time and fish almost anywhere (I would argue 95% of the time in smaller ponds and lakes without large rocky structure). As for weight, 1/8-1/2 oz (and the weights in between) are ideal for most conditions that don't involve smashing through heavy vegetation. I throw, basically, three colors and try to keep it very simple. Green variations. brown/orange variations, and blue/black. (I also like white with variations as well as bluegill variations for swim jigs, but that's a different topic) As mentioned above, you can always accent with different colors trailers, but I still tend to stay pretty similar. The exception (and reason why colors like purple, chartreuse, etc have their place) has more to do with water conditions, depth, and clarity. When fishing deeper, and especially in darker colored water, you want colors that will be more visible, and strands of bright colors like chartreuse, or colors on the blue/purple end of the spectrum tend to stand out more. ( think very dark water or depths over 15' with stained water). This is also when rattles come into play. TLDR: buy jigs in 1/8-1/2 oz in the Arky style in green, brown, and blue black. Fit them with trailers colored to match the natural forage. Learn to feel structure and cover. Catch fish.

I'll second the post about weight not being the most critical factor. I think balance and what's comfortable to you are likely much more important. As for leaders/knots - most of my rods now have micro guides and virtually all of them are spooled braid to leader and for 90% of techniques, it causes no problems at all. Having good leader knots (whichever one you like best) and confidence in it are super important. I prefer Uni-to-Uni, but most are really good when tied well and god-awful when tied poorly. I'm with @WRB as far as making recommendations directly because I have no idea what most rods weigh. I generally tend to focus on the above. In terms of balance, the reel is likely just as important as the rod weight when it comes to the gear, and how you actually hold and fish the combo is probably more important than either in terms of balance.

I do't disagree, but Leathermans aren't cheap, either. And I hate being the preachy guy (I absolutely suck at it and kind of revile it). I just didn't immediately interpret the post the same way, I guess. Still, good tools are a good thing. Most of my bass "tools" consist of KVD gear, needle nosed pliers and wire cutters from Home Depot (I can't tell you the brand), and a few pairs of stainless Kelly forceps I've taken from family/friends who are EMTs, doctors, nurses, etc. lol

It's a good stick! I really like my Mojo, Rage, and Avid X rods. It's a really good blank. I've never really fished Daiwa, Dobyns, or Loomis, but for the price point they're very difficult to beat.

I accidentally lost/dumped easily $100-150 in crankbaits from my kayak and posted about it recently (in addition to lots of other expensive bad luck that weekend). I'm not going to bang on anyone else on here for spending what they can afford on good tools. It's just something that happens on the water. Similarly, I'm not going to bang on anyone else for their loss, or what they choose to spend money on. jealousy/contempt just isn't a healthy mindset. Props to @Redlinerobert and hopefully his never dump into a lake. I've probably spent more time and money replacing cheap stuff that's broken/failed than I have on high quality gear.

Congrats! That's a killer day. And Rapala makes killer hard baits. Also, the Bass U Rapala discount is ridiculous.

? I've had Premier series rods for nearly 20 years that I still fish, but the Mojo is just made from better components straight across the board. I have both in the same power and action and it's not even close. Unless you really dislike micro guides, or $130-150 is not in the budget, there's no benefit to buying a Premier. If I were to compare a Premier to an Abu rod, it would likely be the Veritas.

I have Presidents on most of my spinning gear and still use a few Shimanos. I've had older Saharas and Sedona that have been quality reels without breaking the bank, but can't comment on the new line up.

Welcome!

He's sailing!!!!!

There are also some pretty good channels available. Check out Glenn on the BassResource channel. He generally does a good job explaining how to rig and present lures.