CybrSlydr

Stopped by the store after work and came away very impressed. Spoke with two young ladies who were quite knowledgeable about kayaks - one of them even grew up fishing for trout in the mountains of WV. So I got a lot of good advice and info from them as well as learned about their rental/shuttle service. They do self-guided trips on some local waterways with a shuttle service so they can bring the boat to you if you can't haul one. All I'd need to do is call ahead and schedule a day to take one out. Pricing looks quite good as well. http://www.mariettaadventurecompany.com/rentals They also have a 3 month layaway, which I figure I'll utilize once I decide upon a boat. I'd rather pick a boat, PFD and paddle and then pay like... $200 every two weeks until it's paid for than save it up (because saved money for one thing is typically spent on something else... lol). Now all I need to do is figure out which boats I'm going to demo.

http://www.mariettaadventurecompany.com/rentals They even do rentals and tours.

Looks like we actually have a local shop that sells Feel Free, Wilderness Systems, Hurricane, etc. kayaks. Marietta Adventure Company. Think I'll stop by after work and check them out.

Thanks everyone for their responses - I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to get back on here! I've been thinking about the kayaks and doing a lot of reading. I don't think I've got a lot of interest in standing on a kayak. When my brother and I went out on a canoe together (classic aluminum canoe) the thing just twitched and swayed with every movement. I did NOT like that one bit - so staying seated is most likely what I would do. Seating comfort would then be paramount to me - and those Feel Free with the Gravity seats look incredible - but you can stand in them and that's not something I'm interested in. That Vibe Sea Ghost looks incredible for the price - but again, standing isn't really something I'm concerned with. I'd also looked at the Pelican Premium Enforcer 120X but it's only rated for 350lbs and that's a bit close for comfort for someone my size. lol What times of the year are typically good to look for used kayaks? I assume fall/winter when folks are looking to get rid of ones they just bought and no longer want? Aside from Native, Feel Free, Ocean, Wilderness Systems, Vibe, Pelican, etc. what are other good brands? Feel a bit silly saying, "Aside from those 7, what else?..." lol Again, thanks for all your help folks!

Good God. 100 fish in one day. In about 9 months of fishing, I've caught 5. lol

Don't worry - if we catch anything, pictures will be shown! The problem is we just don't catch many fish, if at all. The most we've ever caught on a trip is one and most of the time it's zero.

I use 10lb Sufix 832 with either a 6lb Stren flourocast or Pline CXX 8lb leader, depending on how much vegetation/rocks/etc I expect to run into. Held together with a uni/uni knot. This works great for Neds, cranks, Texas rigs, etc. on my 692SF.

Yes it does! I'm not sure if it's getting used to the act of fishing or what, but I don't get those cramps in my back when I use the Dobyn's vs the Blackout. It's just so natural and light and... awesome.

BTW - fish here was a huge help in deciding which rod to pick up. He offered some outstanding advice and is the main reason I ended up with the Dobyn's over a G.Loomis E6X.

I just picked up a Dobyns Sierra 692SF and absolutely love it.

As promised, we went to Dow Lake today - AND WITH BOTH OARS THIS TIME!!! Absolutely gorgeous day today - but windy as hell! Despite this, we decided to give it a go. Had a bit of a mascot come with us this time! Her name is Fleury - with the weather the way it is today I couldn't say no, so she got to come with us! First, my brother got on the pontoon and gave it a go. Got a good ways out there due to the wind and made it back after about an hour or so. I couldn't fish because I had to keep the dog under control - she's not good with strangers or other dogs. Despite this and telling them, a family decided to plop down about 30ft away and had another dog. Fleury was not impressed. lol So, my brother came back over and I decided to give it a go. Oars worked nicely - but the wind was too strong. Just getting blown all over the place. Tried a Rapala joined minnow, tried a chartreuse chatter bait, etc. Didn't get any hits. After a couple hours, we called it a day. It was just too darn windy. So, it was a gorgeous day and we got outside. Can't really argue with that.

In my family, we have a saying. "If it weren't for Sampson luck, nobody else would have any luck at all!" If you've followed my fishing reports for a while, you know that we finally picked up an inflatable pontoon. Except we needed to get a hand pump to get it fully inflated because the electric pump isn't strong enough (and you saw how terribly sad looking the pontoon looked underinflated with my brother flailing around on it - lol). Thursday, we got the hand pump - while none of the adapters were correct, we made it work today on our excursion to Burr Oak State Park. We thought today was the day - we had the pumps, we hat the pontoon, we had the gear and the lures/baits... Today we were REALLY going to get on the water and move around!!! The eagle-eyed among you may notice something, so I'll give you folks a minute to look at that picture and figure it out. ... ... ... ... That's right - we forgot half of an oar. lmfao The oars for this pontoon are two-piece and SOMEHOW, we forgot the handle-end to one of them, so we only had one functioning oar. Talk about that Sampson luck... So... This pontoon isn't very easy to use or get around in with a single oar. So, my brother tried the canoe trick - this meant he would pivot in place and not really go anywhere. He tried kicking his feet - with shoes on, this was not at all effective. Finally, I told him to try putting the oar between his legs and pull himself forward - extremely inefficient and slow, but... it kinda worked and was the only way we were getting around this place. lol As you can see, the weather isn't that great. It was very windy and overcast with a front moving through. Despite this, we saw lots of little minnows or something skipping across the surface trying to escape something. According to the book we have, smallmouth bass can be fished over by the dam (where we are) so we figured we'd try and land some bronzeback. I threw a white buzzbait, a SPRO baby shad joined crank and something else with no luck. Brother tried a red craw Rat-L-Trap along with a blade bait and something else. Neither of us had any luck. A couple guys on a bass boat were fishing near our launch point and trolled their way along the dam and likely chased off anything we could have caught. So, we decided to move down to this building which I'm assuming is the spillway control or some similar function. After much exertion on my brother's part, he made it over to the spot with me and had to take a bit of a rest. We tried blade bait, chatterbait, a Ned rig, SPRO baby shad and didn't hit on anything. Thought for sure around this building we'd hit something. After hitting here for about 45min, we decided to call it a day. Unfortunately for my brother, this meant rowing his pontoon ALLL the way back to where we started - and that was not exactly close by! That stone building in the background on the right is the spot we fished last and that speck in the middle of the picture is my brother attempting to row back, against the wind with a single oar. lol I took the picture at the top of the dam and we launched from the dam wall - if you follow the rocks down to the corner, that's where we launched. He finally made it back over and we lugged the thing up the hill and packed up to head home. No fish or any bites of the kind this time around either - though we weren't as mobile in the pontoon as we'd like due to the lack of an oar... lol Tomorrow we're considering heading back out to Dow Lake (Stroud's Run State Park) where we've had the most luck catching fish of anywhere except this time we're going to remember to bring both parts of both oars!

About the same size as all the fish I've caught - welcome!

The instruction manual specifically states that they're "Boston Valves" but by description I'm finding they're called "Military Valves". Now you're saying they're a third type - lol The case of the infinite valve! Essentially they're 1/4 screw-in with a sprung stem in the middle that you press down and can turn to lock open. The image below is exactly the kind of valve.

Am I correct in that with a hand pump, I can leave the valve in the "closed" position but still pump air in because the pump can force the valve open? This way we're not losing air when removing the pump in the "open" position?

Today was the day! Today was going to be the day we turned this whole fishing thing around and started landing the big ones (well, anything larger than the 1lbers we've gotten so far...) because... WE BOUGHT AN INFLATABLE PONTOON!!! If you haven't seen in the boat section, we picked up a Classic Accessories Clark Fork 8ft Pontoon in copper. We were so excited that I decided we'd try a new lake! This lake is St. Joseph Lake. According to Game and Fish Mag 2015...

So how does one fill these things without losing a bunch of air trying to close the valve?

I wouldn't say 600 is my budget, it's just what I figured I could come up with quickly. That's why I'm asking what I should budget for a good one. So you think around 850 would be able to net me a good kayak?

So we got my brother the inflatable pontoon and it looks great. However, we can only fit one in the trunk and have no vehicles with which to tow or the like. So I think I'm going to go with a yak - which means I'll need a roof rack for my car. I'm about 280lb, 6"1'. A 12ft is probably what I will need. A sit on top is my preference. Comfortable seat a must. So while I've been looking around the $600 Mark, most reviews are saying they're of questionable quality. So, how much should I budget for a good kayak? Not a top of the line, but something I could use on rivers and lakes? Also, what brands as I'm very new to kayaks in general. Is there anything to stay away from? What do you wish you knew when you got your first kayak? Appreciate your help folks.

We got the $10.50 cig lighter one in the camping section. http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=1168811&type=product&WT.ac=YMAL-1168811&WT.z_pg_ref=prd737234 Mostly because the one we were going to get specifically said to not use with a cigarette lighter. http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=737234&type=product&WT.ac=YMAL-737234&WT.z_pg_ref=prd1168811

All we have is the electic pump we bought - it didn't come with a hand pump.

Yeah, the point at which we took the pic was when the directions said to inflate it partially and attach the frame pieces. So we hadn't gotten it fully inflated. It'd be nice if the valve adapter it comes with would close the valve when you unscrewed it.

Question: It says to not inflate past 2psi - how can you check that? It doesn't have a valve like a tire so what kind of gauge does it take?

Just got back from Cabelas and got it put together. Bro got the copper version. Setup was si.ple enough and we can fit it in the trunk of my car. But we can only get one if we get a second. We're taking it out on the water tomorrow!

This one is pretty short. Went to Cutler Lake and fished from a few spots. Was some nice weather, so we went up after my brother got off work. Water was pretty clear, could see some ******* fish swimming around. Initially we saw what appeared to be a bunch of Bluegill/Crappie chasing baitfish under water (bubbles and surface disturbances). Once we moved to a new spot, I tried one of our Rapala jointed minnows and managed to foul hook what I think was a Crappie - pan-fish shaped and was black/blue/silver. Very pretty fish. I saw one of the surface disturbances and cast near it and drug the Rapala through it - managed to snag the fish on it's "forehead" with one of the treble's. Pulled it out and let him go. Went to a different spot but by now it' was getting dark and the bugs were just CRAZY. So we called it a day and headed home.