MrM_vs_Wild

I have a 12 foot future beach sit in kayak that I'll use occasionally if I'm going out solo. I don't really care for a sit-in kayak though for fishing. I only bought this one cause I found it for 200 bucks on craigslist and thought i'd give it a shot. I also have a Old Town Sportsman square back canoe that I fish from more frequently and much prefer over the kayak. For one, I enjoy having a little more room to move around. Because of the wide base of this canoe, my fishing buddy and I can both stand up and fish from it. I also use a trolling motor which also helps maintain boat position and scoot around from place to place. That being said... If your dead set on getting a kayak.. I'd opt for the sit on top as long as it has a wide base and is stable enough for you to fish from. I have been in a few sit on top kayaks that were so unstable I could never imagine fishing from one. The only real benefit of the sit in kayak is that your center of gravity is below water level, which makes it more stable, and if you are fishing in colder water it'll keep you mostly dry. It's really up to you but if I were in your position I would probably sell one or both kayaks and invest in a proper sit on top that is designed for fishing. You'll be happier in the long run if you make the investment. Besides... as a college student don't you have some loan refunds coming back to you?? Just don't tell mom and dad that you borrowed 1000 of it to go buy a wilderness systems or jackson fishing kayak.

I used to tie the rapala loop knot, but found it to be too time consuming. This past year I have been exclusively using duo snaps for all of my reaction hard baits. I have yet to have one fail me and it allows me to tie a knot that I'm more familiar with and have more faith in.... I use the san diego jam knot exclusively for all applications and line types. I have also removed all of the split rings from my hard baits (crankbaits, jerkbaits, original floaters, etc) and just snap the duo clip right to the ring.

I have the AV70MF and its hands down the best spinning rod I have ever owned. I prefer the full cork grip though and standard guides since I usually use braid with a fluro leader. The only difference that I know of between the standard and the x is the split grip and guides so it's really a matter of preference. Such an awesome rod though. I highly recommend them. Also if you wanna use the rod for stripers I'd probably go with the 7 footer. JMO...

Not sure if you have considered any Okuma rods but I have a few of their scott martin TCS rods and they are extremely light weight and sensitive. I honestly love them. They come with a limited lifetime warranty too. I got my 7'1'' HF online at walmart for 99 bucks. They sell for 159 on tackle warehouse. They have a few other models too if you don't want to go with the TCS series. Don't get me wrong though, I love my St. Croixs. I have an an Avid 70MXF casting rod that I absolutely love... but its 200 bucks all day. I have the mojo bass 70MHF "spinnerbait" model too that I typically use for flipping and pitching since the tip is so stiff that it just doesn't cast spinnerbaits and jigs as well as I'd like. I use my Okuma for spinnerbaits and jigs. I also have a premier crankbait rod 70MHM and I love that as well. I just think that if you can get the Okuma for under 110 bucks its a far superior rod than any in the mojo line. All in all I much prefer St. Croix but only if I'm not worried about the money.

Don't forget about ole` reliable.... the curly tail grub!! I prefer rage tail grubs and kalin's salty lunker grub. Fish it on a 1/32 to 1/8 oz jig head and you can't go wrong. Try to get a jig head with a larger hook though.. 1/0 to 2/0

If you're looking for a new bait casting reel the Lews LFS Speed Spools start at 100 bucks. I have one of the older models the SS1 along with some other varieties, but in my opinion you can't beat the quality and price point of Lews reels. If you plan on doing a lot of cranking I would definitely suggest getting a baitcasting setup. They hold more line and will hold up longer than any spinning reel in my opinion. Get a low gear ratio though. I use the tournament MG 5.4:1 and love it. Their braking systems are great too... very few backlashes if you set it up right.

No problem man... again there is a lot of stuff out there but I've probably caught more on grubs than any other bait when fishing rivers. Paddle tail baits like mister twister's sassy shad or keitech easy shiners work well too.

There is an article posted on Bass Resources by a man named Jeff Little. Its called Afflicted: A Primer for Winter Smallmouth. He produced a good video too if you can find it on youtube. The key to catching winter smallmouth is locating where they go for their winter haunts. What this means for anglers is that it is important to fish that river extensively in October and November, recording data on where you are catching fish. What Little has done, is every time he caught a fish, he put down a way point. When you put all of the way points together on a map of the river, you can see exactly how their locations migrate towards a consolidate area. Now obviously the knowledge of knowing where the fish go doesn't guarantee that you will catch them... Warmer or rainy days will often lead to more action. Little gives a much more thorough explanation, but if you are interested in getting into winter smallies you gotta put in the work.

There are two main categories: 1) Grubs I like Kalin's lunker grubs and the Strike King rage tail grubs (4 inches in size)... favorite colors for the rivers I fish are smoke salt and pepper, watermelon red flake, blue pearl salt and pepper (blue glimmer flake for rage tail), and pearl. I usually rig them up on an 1/8 or 1/16 oz jig. I like football jigs for fishing the rivers just because I seem to get less snags but the round heads work great too. I like to buy jigs with a 1/0 or 2/0 hook. Check ebay for deals on jig heads man... don't waste your money at Cabelas. I just picked up 50 football head jigs with a 2/0 hook for 10 bucks. You'll probably pay between 3 and 5 bucks for a 3 pack at Cabelas. Rig them along the seam with the tail pointing away from the turn of the hook. Check out youtube for some good videos from the guys from Uncle Josh's baits (makers of Kalin)... they have some great tutorials on how to rig them and fish them. Basically all you want to do though is make a long cast and as soon as the jig hits the water start reeling nice and slow... 2) Hardbaits Minnow stick baits I can't tell you how many monster walleye and bass I have picked up on the Allegheny river using the Rapala original floaters. I usually use the F13 size for walleye... bass tend to like the F09 size. Really just depends on how big the river is that you are fishing. The Allegheny is a large river and thus has larger forage species. Good colors for me have been silver w/ black back, gold/black, blue/silver, and firetiger. I use a duo snap while fishing these so I don't have to tie a loop knot (Rapala knot) every time I want to change baits. Haven't lost a fish due to a snap failing. Just make a long cast and vary your retrieve speed until you develop a pattern. I also recommend jerkbaits such as the rapala x-rap (pearl ghost), or the husky jerk (same colors as the original floater). There are hundreds of companies making jerkbaits, but these are the ones I have had the most success with and they are relatively affordable. Again, depending on the size of the river you plan to fish you're going to want to adjust size accordingly. I usually fish these exclusively on the Allegheny. Craw style crankbaits I have also caught a bunch of fish using the Rebel craw cranks. They have an assortment of colors but brown and orange bases seem to work best for me. They are really light baits so you'll need a spinning rod with a moderate action to cast them well. For the smaller rivers that I fish (Shenango, Youghiogheny) this bait has been a great producer. Again there are plenty of options out there that will produce fish.. I didn't mention the senko, which is another great bait. So are tube jigs. If you are just getting into river fishing and don't want to break the bank, get yourself a nice medium action graphite rod (6 1/2 to 7 foot) with a 2500 size reel (don't care what line you use, but I prefer braid w/ flurocarbon leader) and pick up an assortment of grubs and jig heads. They are probably the most efficient smallmouth bait out there.

I have to agree with hookdUP on the black dog shellcracker G2... if the lake you fish has a lot of bluegill and bream its hard to beat this bait. I am also a big fan of the rapala dt 1 fats.

If you like the St. Croix Premier spinning rod then I would suggest picking up their Premier series graphite crankbait rod. I use the MHM which throws 3/8 to 3/4 oz baits. I have it paired with a Lews Tournament MG 5.4:1 ratio reel. I like low ratio reels for cranking because it allows me to keep my bait in the strike zone just a tad longer, also it helps with low end torque and bring the big boys out of cover or from down deep. I will throw smaller cranks on my avid series rod if they are too light to throw on the Premier, but with the Lews reel that is rarely a problem. If you didn't want to spend the money for a St. Croix, you could pick up a Berkley Amp rod for much cheaper. This was the first rod I purchased for graphite cranking and it works well, just not as sensitive as the St. Croix. I have had it for 4 years though and haven't had any issues, only I don't use it as often now that I have the Premier. They also make a MM Premier rod that is much better suited for light weight cranks. Just depends on what you want to spend. Check out www.fishusa.com, they had a MM Avid crankbait rod for sale on there last week under St. Croix specials. I think they wanted 110 bucks for it which is a steal for an Avid. I just don't like cranking with the MM because they are a little too light for my liking.

Thanks for the tip man.. that probably explains why I've been having so much trouble with it in deeper water.

I currently use the grapnel style anchors and they work ok if you're in shallow water but anything over 15 feet and they really just can't get the right angle, even with 30 feet of line out. A buddy of mine uses one 25 lb iron plate and it really works well for him. The other thing about the grapnels is that they will occasionally get stuck and are hard to get out when you're in a stronger current, especially if you have to paddle back upstream solo.

I have been fishing from an Old Town Sportsman square back canoe for the last 2 years and its been perfect for me. I typically fish Pymatuning reservoir on the PA/Ohio border (yeah its a huge lake and even I've been surprised at what I could handle when the wind picked up and the rolling waves got larger). Either way, I don't use outriggers although I do have them, but I don't feel like it makes much of a difference in such a big canoe (15.5ft). My buddy and I stand up and fish from it all the time and we've never gone over. The only downside is that I can't really take it out when I'm by myself and I'm a pretty big guy. I think it weighs like 110 lbs.. just tough to manage getting it up onto the roof rack without damaging my vehicle. I also have a kayak that I will take out occasionally but I much prefer the canoe. I use a 45lb thrust trolling motor and take 2 batteries when I know I'll be moving around a lot. It moves slow, around 4 or 5 mph, which on a big lake like Pymatuning limits my ability to cover a lot of water, but for hitting specific area it has been really effective, especially when I go places the big boats can't get too. I also use this canoe to float the Youghiogheny, Allegheny, and Shenango rivers. I have been debating on getting something bigger, but honestly for the money you really can't beat this canoe. I think I paid 500 for it at Dicks brand new when they were having a spring sale. After watching Keepingitreelfishing's video on the sportspal I must say that I would probably recommend something like that over the old town just based on weight differential and ease of use. But if you don't want to deal with outriggers and want a big space to hold your gear then a canoe is definitely the way to go. You should PM keepingitreelfishing on youtube, hes pretty good about getting back to people and he lives in Jersey. Maybe he'll show you the ropes. Tight lines!

I fish a few small rivers here in western PA and probably my best overall bait is a Mepps Dressed Aglia #3 with black dressing with a hot firetiger blade. This bait alone has accounted for more 4+ lb fish than any other lure in my "river" tackle box. They are hard to find in the stores though (at least around here) so I recently stocked up. Gander Mountain seems to have the best prices. In fact on my last float trip of the season I lost mine on a snag early on in the trip... my buddy who was throwing the same bait caught a 19 incher and a 22 incher later on in the day. If I didn't have the Mepps then I'd probably go with a tiny tube, a 1/4 to 3/8 oz swim jig, or a Keitech swing impact swimbait (the smallmouth magic and bluegill flash work best for me). Best of luck to you guys.