HeavyTwenty

I feel out of place when two bros troll up next to me in a jon boat wearing no shirts. But I hate sunblock lotion. I think the long sleeve shirt actually makes me feel cooler since the sun isn't burning my skin.

That's the exact truck I picked, with V6 + 4 wheel drive. Unfortunately every Toyota dealer said they're sold out, so I have to wait two weeks... I was considering a Chevy Colorado, but the Chevy dealers don't seem to barter at all. "Our Colorados were truck of the year two years in a row so we don't need to lower the price." I drove a 99 Tacoma from 2005 to 2014, so I just went with what I'm familiar with.

I used the foam blocks on my Civic's crossbar. If you do slide the kayak into position, the foam blocks can come off or become damaged. To avoid this, I put an old kitchen floor mat on each foam block, so when I slide my kayak into position it would easily glide on top of the mats. When its in the final position I just lifted the kayak up slightly and pulled the mats out. After about 50 trips, my foam blocks are pretty worn out. But they were mostly damaged early when I didn't use the kitchen mats. With the kitchen mats, I bet I could have easily gotten 200 trips out of them.

What's your opinion on doublecab vs access cab? I was thinking about access cab because of the extra 1 ft bed length and I rarely have rear passengers, but if I could store my 7' rods in the doublecab while pond fishing, that would be tempting.

Repairs for my 2003 Civic are about half of what its value is, so I'm probably just going to sell/scrap it and buy something new. I negotiated a good deal on a Tacoma with 2.7L but it won't be available for a month so I'll continue searching. I'm interested in a truck that will last me at least 10 years and suit my future needs. I've been kayak fishing for about a year but I've been itching to try out larger vessels. I'd probably start off with a craigslist 14-16' jon boat, but I'd imagine I'll ride that for a year or two before wanting something bigger and better. Do you think the Tacoma w/ 2.7L 3500 towing capacity will be enough? Or should I consider a truck with a v6?

Just curious, can people cast a 5" senko the same distance on a MF baitcaster as a MF spinner? I've always assumed with a weightless senko, the baitcaster would be 20% shorter range, but my experience with baitcasters is limited to MH and H.

I used straight braid for 4 months, then braid + fluoro leader for 4 months, now I'm back to straight braid. I haven't really noticed a different in catch rate, but I do think the action has changed on some of my presentations. I feel like I get better action using a stiffer leader when using weightless baits (ksfishinguy mentioned it earlier). I also have to use a leader when walking the dog spook because the limp braid will often get tangled with the lure hook while a stiff leader doesn't. I probably should use a mono leader for the spook, but I only keep fluoro in my bag. Fluoro knots do suck in my experience. I've never had 10, 15, 20, or 65 lb braid fail on me, but 12 and 20 lb fluoro has failed on hook sets (only the 12# fluoro), on backlashes, hitting tree limbs while bank fishing, and hitting my own rods on accident while in my kayak. All of that is user error, but braid can withstand it fine. Not to mention, a lot of those accidents are caused by me having to cast with a long leader (I don't like the knot going through my rod guides). I plan on trying out some copolymer line whenever there's a TW sale.

Basically they wanted you to pay the difference between the sale price and MSRP + $10? Doesn't seem unreasonable to me since its not their problem in the first place... the retailer should have handled the return.

Off topic, but have you noticed any difference with fishing straight braid versus mono/fluoro? Earlier in the week I had some baby bass attacking my braided line because they thought it was a top water bug or something. It just had me wondering if line ever spook fish.

Just caught another really unhealthy looking bass at a different pond. This time I could see the plastic sticking out of his gut. Pulled it out and he could barely swim away. Any idea what causes those lacerations? I've seen them on a lot of other fish.

I've never seen a bass this skinny. Most of the bass I've caught out of this pond were healthy. A lot of them looked like they were still bedding. This one was caught near a bunch of tiny fish, which I assume were bass fry. I seen a couple of other bass doing the same with their own batches of fry.

I like to alternate hands when I'm using lures like the chatterbait. Reeling in the chatterbait on one hand for hours gets it pretty tired. I also prefer to pitch on my left handed reel so I don't have to switch hands.

I bought some BPS Stik-Os during the sale and they're now my favorite stick bait. 90-95% performance of the original senko at 1/3rd the cost when purchased on sale.

I agree. I put a 4" on a drop shot wacky rig and didn't like the action as much as the 5". Could just be the brand, YUM Dinger. It felt stiff. I couldn't find any other 4" brands in stores.

I use braid on everything because its cheaper in the long run... braid is suppose to last forever while the others are suppose to be changed every year. Personally I find the biggest disadvantage of lighter braid is lack of wind resistance. I've been thinking about upsizing my braid to counter that.

I probably should have mentioned that in the last few weeks the EWG has been more like 60-70%. I had about 80-90% hookup ratios in the summer/fall. I think primetime is right. This is my first spring/spawn season (I started lure fishing around last summer) so I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm guessing I started running into issues a few weeks ago because of early spawners, and now that the main group are spawning, my hookup rates have plummeted. I can't see the fish bedding because that lake has about 6-12 inch visibility depending on the area.

I tried rigging trick worms like this (image pulled from a youtube video) and it resulted in me only catching 1 out of 6 bites today (missed a 4 lber too...) and 5 out of 8 on Monday while kayaking. I've done fine while bank fishing, about 80-90%, but that's about the same as the EWG for me. The EWG also keeps that 80-90% while kayaking. I'm probably going to quit using them, but am I rigging it correctly? It seems like its tougher to push the plastic out of the way compared to the EWG, in which the plastic slips off the hook point fairly easy.

You can get used kayaks off of craigslist at 50% retail and avoid tax. I spent weeks waiting for mine though (good deals will close in literally minutes). $550 for 2013 Tarpon 120 (perfect condition) with cart + $120 carbon fiber paddle included. 9 months later I want to upgrade it to something I can stand in.

Love the handle on 7'1" mhxf while bank fishing or seated kayak fishing, but I don't really care for the XF action... too bad the MHF wasn't available when I purchased it months ago @ $90. For $110 I'm tempted to buy the 71MHF and 72MM for crank baits...

Maybe unrelated, but has anyone had issue with braid in the wind? I've been struggling to keep a straight line with 15 lb braid in 15-20 mph winds, but I was watching another guy fish with either mono/fluro (I asked and he said he couldn't remember what he put on) have much less trouble. Both of us were fishing weightless stick worms.

Skunked during another 4 hour visit to Bethesda, but to be fair I spent a lot of time on my new fish finder. 3pm-7pm, sunny with occasional clouds, water temperature of 83. I did a couple loops around the lake with side imaging and casted out whenever I seen something. Turns out they were turtles every single time. At least that confirms that the fish finder works. I might have actually spotted 1-2 fish roaming the bottom, but when I circled around they weren't there anymore. I explored the deepest sections (18-19 ft) and found nothing. I finished the day by casting near the shore with a senko. I think I'm done with Bethesda until fall or winter.

Any tips for Bethesda or Pope? I've put about 12 hours on Pope and 4 hours on Bethesda in my kayak without catching a bass (I did catch a 4-5 lb carp in Pope with a crankbait though). Pope was closed last Sunday, so I went to Bethesda for my first time Tuesday, around 3pm-7pm, fairly sunny with occasional clouds. I was surprised by how clear and deep the water was (I'll probably bring fluro leader next time, I was using braid). The fish seem pretty inactive on Bethesda that day, I think I seen maybe one top water strike the entire time. I didn't see baitfish either. I spent most of my time casting 3/16 t-rig 7inch pumpkin zoom trick worm in the shade, where there were overhanging trees and submerged branches. I know there were bass in those areas because I got snagged on a few of those branches and spooked them when I moved in close to unhook my lure. I just couldn't get them to bite. Later in the evening I switched to a chatterbait, a few smaller fish chased but no bites.