HeavyTwenty

Zoom trick worm is my most productive bait. I fish them everywhere (disclaimer: I live in FL, so my conditions are probably very different). Shallow or weedy areas on a light texas rig (1/16-1/8 oz bullet weight, usually on a 1/0-2/0 offset worm hook). The light texas rig allows you to fish it on top of weeds, about the same as a weightless bait. I know a few guys in my area that fish them weightless, but they use light gear to do that. But lately I've just fished it almost exclusively on a drop shot. Normal style drop shot or rigged weedless again on a 1/0-2/0 offset worm hook. You can fish it super slow, super fast, just drag it slow/fast, fast jerks, infrequent little twitches in which the drop shot doesn't even move... there's almost no wrong way as long as you let it settle to the bottom once in a while. If you see a fish bed, just drop it in there and wait. The fish seem to slowly get mad and hit it after 30-60 seconds. By the way, those Amazon prices look inflated. They are usually sold at Walmart for like $4.00 (maybe less, I can't remember). There are also two different versions: original and super salt. I prefer the super salt on these rigs. The original version is better for shaky head, which I rarely use. Your color looks fine. My personal favorites are green pumpkin, watermelon red, and junebug.

Almost every single piece of gear I have comes from different manufacturer because of deals like these lol... just need to find a good Gloomis deal...

Does Lanier have no bottom structure or something? I was actually thinking about taking a vacation in Atlanta and bringing my yak.

Is there any con to using SD Jam on everything? I've seen it recommended mostly for fluoro. After my first inshore trip, I'm trying to optimize my knot strength...

Used an Academy sold "fishing" superglue. Somehow the cap came undone and made a mess. How secure is that Loctite tube cap?

I just put together a 8 ft fiberglass pole. It works, but I need an anchor trolley to prevent the wind rotating. I've been postponing installing an anchor trolley because I was considering a pedal kayak upgrade. Still, unsecuring the pole, pushing the pole into the ground, removing the pole from the ground, and then resecuring it on the kayak, repeating every 5-10 casts just feels tedious. A power pole on a standable kayak could be an answer to the wind rotation.

I've read that boats equipped with a single power pole will spin in the wind. Is the same true for kayaks?

Welcome. What part of JAX are you at? I have experience on the Orange Park side + some Southside spots. But typically I just go to ponds that are either surrounded by businesses, apartments, or community parks. Usually on the bank, but some of them you can kayak.

Wish I could fit a 7'6" in my vehicle. 7'3" was already sold out

I don't have first hand experience with the sub $600 retail kayaks, but I've read they're generally fine except for comfort. They usually have awful seats. Generally the higher the seat, the more comfortable it will be. Fortunately you can generally get "high end" brands close to that price if you buy used. I'm not sure how close this is to your location https://columbus.craigslist.org/boa/6110365703.html. I've heard its very comfortable with a high seat and stable enough to stand on. The width would probably make it a bit slower than a narrow kayak that you can't stand on. I have a narrow kayak, the Wilderness Tarpon 120, and I would trade it in for something wider. Bed fishing would be much easier if I could stand and see 20 feet out... Its a bit over your budget, but you might be able to negotiate on pricing. Also you avoid tax by buying used. It took me a month of craigslist browsing to finally find my kayak at a really good deal. Another thing that strongly influences comfort would be the PFD. I went to the store and asked for the "best kayak PFD". They directed me to this: But it is awful for fishing kayaks because the rear interferes with the seat. Look for either a thin life vest or something with nothing on the lower back like this:

Mostly because of the leader knots. I used my freshwater rods on my first trip and was very annoyed by how the braid to leader (20lb fluoro) knot kept catching the guides. A few times the knot literally got stuck on the tip of the rod and wouldn't reel in. And it definitely effected the cast distance. I guess I could just use a shorter leader and not reel through the guides, but I've heard people recommend having them a little bit longer. I've read the larger guides on inshore baitcasting rods eliminate this problem. I started off with a FG knot which unraveled (first time using, I practiced it for days at home), then switched to a double uni. For some reason, I couldn't tie an alberto knot with the 20lb fluoro. I do it fine with 12lb fluoro. 15 mph wind probably didn't help.

I just went on my first inshore trip and I'm hooked. I still prefer freshwater because dealing with tides, current, and wind is a pain on a yak, but I'll definitely be doing inshore in the future. My inshore needs are kind of light. I want to be able to cast a 1/4 oz jighead with a plastic, so I'm guessing total lure weight 3/8 oz. Targeted species for inshore is trout and reds. Rod needs to be 7'4" or less to fit inside my vehicle. A longer 2-3 piece could work. For freshwater, I'd use it mostly for chatterbait/spinnerbait 1/4oz-1/2oz + trailer, so more like 3/8oz to 3/4oz. I would prefer larger guides to pass a leader knot. I'm not sure if that comes standard on inshore rods. Budget isn't really set or firm, but considering I don't need much sensitivity, I'd prefer to keep it under $150. I fish off a kayak if that makes a difference. The *** *** Green 2 7'2" MH seems to fit my needs, but I heard they have durability issues. The St. Croix Tidemaster 7' MF seems to fit as well, but I haven't found that many reviews on it. There aren't any Mojo Inshores with my lure rating requirements. I've heard the Redbone rods are well regarded for inshore, but I don't know how they compare to freshwater options.

The thing about kayaks is you don't really lose money on them if you find a decent deal, used off of craiglist. So even if you move in a year, you probably won't take a loss unless you have to get rid of the kayak ASAP instead of waiting for a good buyer.

Yeah, I've used braid before. The sound is coming from the line roller area. The line roller looked fine, so I'm not sure what's wrong. edit: sounds pretty much like this My reel is brand new, 0 minutes fished. I'm assuming a bearing replacement is all I need to do, but I'd rather just return.

I think you're right. I tied my line to another spinning reel, pulled some other braid and it was still making the noise. Took a look at the line roller, oiled the bearing, still making the sound. Since its a brand new reel, I'll be returning it. Thanks for the tip.

Just got a new Pflueger spinning reel for inshore and bass use. Sounded fine out of the box. After I get done spooling Sufix 823 15lb braid and take it out, every time I retrieve it sounded like sand was in it or something. I took it apart and everything looked fine, but it kept making that sound. Then I tried to just retrieve without the braid touching the bail/line guide and it sounded fine. Has anyone else experienced this? It actually drives me nuts while fishing, so I'm not sure what I'll do with it.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Earl+Johnson+Park/@30.267923,-81.6371157,976m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x1f7ae70fc20d0805!8m2!3d30.2683868!4d-81.6361212 Haven't been out there myself. Looks kind of weedy.

Bass Pro Shops Speed Shad 3.8" when they're on sale (I have a bunch saved). Zoom Fat Alberts if I want to be cheap, but they tend to work good. I think they're underrated. I just bought some Zoom 4" tab tail grubs. They claim the "tabbed tail" imitates a crippled bait fish.

I've been catching a ton of bass lately because its mostly post-spawn. Unfortunately, I think my best in the last 2 weeks has been maybe 3lbs. Stopped by a retention pond on my way back from the gym. Caught this one on second cast w/ zoom black horny toad near a drain after noticing a top water hit there. Weighed in at 7lb9oz. Didn't measure, but probably 24". Releasing her did make me sad. I'm pretty sure I lost a larger bass (26"-28" but also skinny) last Friday on Alligator Lake. The bass was ripping drag and pulled my yak over to some brush... got pretty close to landing her, maybe 4 ft away. Wish I had my anchor ready.

Its soft, thin plastic. A medium or medium-heavy fast action rod with a strong hookset will tear through the plastic. The only time it has failed for me is when I set the hook into a really tiny bass (6-8 inches).

Wow. That's a huge difference. I read some other forum posts where people said it might be 10-20% more clarity, but that looks 100% better. My reads are pretty similar to your top image.

Yeah. I know there's a HD transducer available, but I thought it was only marginally better.

I'm assuming this is suppose to be a brush pile. My drop shot weight kept getting wrapped around a branch or something, but I could usually pull it back up. Is there any way to improve the image? It is mounted on a kayak arm, so its not really that stable while I'm paddling. Would a hull mount work better?

Just went out to Alligator Lake in Lake City for the first time. I really liked most of the features of the lake, but there seemed to be a ton of dead spots. I caught most of my 7 bass+3 misses in the same area (mostly bottom right in this image). Everywhere else was extremely slow, maybe 1 bite per mile and I fished the brush and shaded tree areas well. I wonder if the sink hole killed a bunch of fish? This spot is fishable by the bank (I seen some walkers going through the area, I assume they come in through the park), but there are a lot of brush/trees in the water near the bank. I lost a trophy bass because he pulled my kayak 25 ft into the brush...

I think FC helps when in wind. Personally, I haven't felt the need to use FC in Florida. Maybe one texas rig setup.