the reel ess

Almost every pond around here look like what you described. I use a frog and a weightless Trick Worm around the edges. I bought an XH/F combo just for frogs and it always has one tied on. Straight braid is a wise choice. If it's not completely matted I'd probably throw a weighted T rig out beyond the mat.

I like the evenings when it gets really warm. I also happen to love topwater fishing so that's a good match. My next favorite time is early morning. I love catching the sunrise. But as Bill Dance once said "The best time to go fishing is when you can."

I picked one up in Dick's yesterday but I put it back when I saw the Sprinker Frog.

Sometimes it's just like that. Some days, bass will just pick it up and swim around with it. I'm no jig expert either, but I know a way you can increase your bites. I rig a plain 3/16 oz. weedless black Arky jighead with a Berkley Chigger Craw-any craw will suffice really, I just love this one because fish will hold onto it a long time. I get some bites on this bait almost every time out and big fish will smash it as well. It will do wonders for your jig confidence and give you good practice. And the craw will last a lot longer on a jighead than it will T rigged. The Yamamoto Hula Grub is another great bait for this rig but fish will yank the curly tails off it more easily.

How about people that worship the bass as a sacred animal, but take home the limit of crappie every time they go. Why is a bass more valuable than a crappie?

That's also a pet peeve of mine with people I'm fishing with. I don't want to hear a radio. I even had one friend pull out his phone and start streaming. He asked me what I wanted to hear. I said "What I was hearing before you started streaming music." Can't you ever just have silence? It's not uncomfortable with me.

i prefer to have a matching number of rods and reels. But I do like to keep some slightly mismatched combos so I always have an excuse to buy another. I pared them down to only the ones I used a while back. But I still have an UL reel on a light rod. Hmmm...

I think that's the issue

People yelling at me when I'm fishing and expecting me to answer. I'M FISHING, DUDE!!! I try to use sign language. This happens to me when I fish a friend's pond. He'll yell at me from his house asking questions. I can't be rude because he lets me fish there. But he demands silence while we ride his golf cart around the property checking hog traps and hoping to sneak up one some to kill. Well, it's his place. And he'll routinely drive down to the pond and toss me a beer while I paddle the kayak around. Bassboats with out of state numbers that feel the need to fish ahead of you or between you and your target or fish their way into a cove then blast all the way out of it past everyone. or motor around you using their electronics. Other humans in general

Well, if you thought you might want a truck, you could buy one and put in the bed to haul. But I guess a trailer is cheaper.

Fish will still bite the Pop R and you can almost get two for $10. I'd probably get the silver/black and baby bass colors. I actually have the bone and silver/black now. I doubt fish care much about the color. I was just noticing the same bait. It has all 5* ratings on the site.

All the same stuff I use all the time. I catch dinks on everything I use. I even catch dinks at my buddy's pond on the SPRO Rat. But for numbers, Ned, small stick worm, 4" Zoom Finesse Worm and Rooster Tail will get 'er done. At that same buddy's pond, I'll sometimes tie on a tandem rig of a plain crappie jig in front and a Beetle Spin in back on my ultralight combo and try for bream and bass. It keeps you busy.

I accidentally caught some bass on a curly tail grub in crappie size when I was young. A nightcrawler might move them from panfish to bass/catfish. But catfish are a hassle for little kids to get off the hook. I think my first casting bait was a Mepp's Comet or a Roostertail. These catch everything and are some of the most likely baits to keep a kid's interest. If they're cathing nothing, they're still gaining skills by chunking and winding. Put a quality swivel on them because they twist line like nobody's business. The aforementioned Beetle Spin is another. Most kids at that age just don't usually have the manual dexterity to detect a bite on a soft plastic and react in a way that ensures a good hookset. One of my earliest bass-specific lures was a Rebel Deep Wee R crankbait. It enabled me to catch bass without a good hookset, but it will also get hung up a good bit. Maybe start with a medium or shallow runner. Understand I probably never even cast a reel until I was about 7. I really didn't get fanatical until I was about 10. God made bluegill and crickets for little kids to cut their fishing teeth on.

It sounds like you've decided you need a different kayak for fishing. If I may make a suggestion, don't go too cheap. I bought one for $500 that has served me well and i still use it. But I can see the need for a better quality one next time. I'd like a stadium seat and an all-around more stable kayak. I wouldn't dare stand in mine (Pescador 120-not the PRO). I tried to use one of those seats you take to FB games and even it sat too high to be stable. The Pescador mold is the old Wilderness Systems Tarpon mold. It will do the job, but technology has passed it by.

Most people use their lap for the paddle. About the only way I could see needing a paddle holder is if you had a pedal kayak. They make rod holders as well. But a fishing kayak will make everything easier. Mine has 2 flush mount angled rod holders. I took a milk crate and zip tied a bunch or PVC pipes inside it for 5 additional holders. I put it in the rear well and use the bungee that came on the rear well to hold it in and down. I can take up to 7 rods without holding one. And the crate holds used baits and empty bottles, etc. until i get back home. I usually just put several bags of soft plastics behind my seat. It is a little awkward to reach all the way to the bottom of the crate from the seat.

It's an evil larg mouth spawned from Hades! Be careful. I used to see fish way more beaten up than that one-bleeding even. Now that I mostly fish private waters I see way fewer beaten up bass.

None. I like how anise smells the most. Fish seem to like whatever Berkley Powerbait is called.

Or a junkie

Don't drink coffee before you go. Take 1 bottle of water to sip. Don't drink beer. Leave if you have to. As I get older, I pretty much know when it will call again and plan for it. I usually have only 1 cup of coffee then visit the facilities before I leave home. I won't start drinking water until a couple hours later. That usually will buy me 4 hours with no bathroom breaks if I'm in a really public place. If I'm going later in the day I'll not drink anything for a couple hours before I go so I can have water when i need it. As an older friend told me some years ago, "I used to walk into a bar and check out every female in it. Now I look for the restroom."

I haven't used a 7'1" for frogs, but I do use a 7'3" XH. I guess the idea is to have a longer fulcrum because the power is all in the rod when you try to drag a bass to the surface. The longer it is and the less it flexes, the farther you can move the bass by lifting the rod. So, given two rods that are identical except for the length, I'd take the longer one. I kayak fish, so I'm already at a lower angle. Every little advantage helps.

Super sharp hooks and braided line have greatly improved my hooksets.

Yes, I have when the first was mushy. Sometimes they're just coming too fast in your direction for you to catch up, reel down and get a good set. This has happened to me with jigs and T rigs, but more often with spinnerbaits. That's another reason I like the trailer hook. I bought a hook sharpener a while back and put a good point on a lot of the lures I use regularly. It helps.

You need to persecute those small bass and large bluegills. You probably can't reset the balance on your own. Bring along others to help you out. Pond experts recommend feeding the bluegills because it helps them spawn more, thereby adding smaller bluegill for the bass to eat. They've gotten so big that they are competing with the bass for the same minnows. I have a friend with a pond that is out of balance like this and I fish there a lot. He's more of a hunter so he doesn't help matters with the pond. 15-20 bass with none or maybe one over 1 lb. is a normal day there. I have caught 50 small bass in a day there before. I went yesterday and caught 10 and missed several, mostly because I decided to only fish topwater because it was overcast and misting rain. I went back today with another friend and we caught about 25 bluegills and a couple bass. We even discussed us rigging up a shocking device to remove a lot of bass.

3/0 is the perfect size for these, T rigged. 2/0 is a better size for the smaller Zoom Finesse Worm. But you could probably get away with 2/0 for both.

For the Trick Worms, grab a bag of bubble gum color. No, make that several bags. I catch more on that color than the others combined and I have 5 colors. I just checked. But the two you mentioned are good. I also like limetreuse. You can always tell which colors work by going to WalMart in the spring and seeing what color they're out of. That's bubble gum.