NYWayfarer

I bring a bag with me when I am fishing for the express purpose of picking up trash I find. My favorite spot is littered with plastic worm cups and chicken liver containers. That's fishermen trash and that's the most depressing part of seeing it strewn about. Fisherman should know better. I don't ever confront anyone over littering. The most I have done is pickup a can immediately after someone dropped it and deposited it into a trash can less than 5 feet away. The litterbug looked at me like I had 2 heads. Confrontations can go south real quick nowadays and who needs that aggravation anyway? I fish to relax. Oh and be careful picking up others trash. Use grippers or thick gloves as to not get injured.

Beautiful fish!! Sorry about your hand. Those will be battle scars to remember that gar.

That's wild! I have never seen one in spawning colors, thanks for the pic!

He actually hates the fishy smell on his hands after touching the fish. I wear that smell like a badge of honor.

That is a Mayan Cichlid, not an Oscar. Still an awesome catch, especially one over a pound! Nice job little man!

If you can afford the MB over the LFS I say go for it, especially if you can find it around $100

If you are asking about Baitcasters, my vote is for the Lew's Speed Spool LFS series ($99.99, brand new on Ebay for $72-$79) Aluminum frame, 10 bearings, 15 pounds of drag, and my favorite feature an external lube port.

I have set the hook on the bottom more times than I care to admit.

I have to chuckle at this question. Why? Because I wash my $224 kayak after every trip and spray it with a UV protection spray at the end of the season. I can only imagine what I would do with a boat...

They both look great. I like the original Winn grips as well as the all blacked out look of the replacements. The originals get dirty fast so the all black are a nice alternative. Those black grips would look a whole lot better if the Lew's logo was in black as well. like they are here: https://www.lews.com/accessories/handleknobs If the logo was orange or green would look cool.

I catch most of mine by hopping it. Hop, pause, hop, pause. I have watched a fish in shallow clear water come up and examine the bait when it stopped moving, then attack it when I started my hop.

Years ago I used bobbers and live Shiners or a slip bobber and Nightcrawlers for Bass. Since switching to artificial baits the bobbers have sat unused. I might have to try a grub and bobber someday.

A family friend came to visit this weekend and asked me to take him fishing. We asked my son to come along and he did. While we were fishing my friend suggested we have a competition to see who can catch the most fish. My son is very competitive. Little did I know that was all it took to get him into fishing. We fished 2 days with my friend and 1 day together after he left. So far I am winning by 1 fish. I didn't have to use my excuse that I am the knot tie, snag and tangle person on all our trips. Luckily we are doing quantity over quality because he had the biggest catches.

I caught my eighth species for the year this weekend. A Fallfish. Fought like a demon on a light action rod.

When trying out a light reel (size 500 - 1000) for the first time I buy a pony spool of Berkley Trilene XL 4#- 6# and fill it with that. The pony spool is 110 yards of line which is just enough line not to overfill the spool. It avoids line jumping off the spool, wind knots and line getting under the spool. When I switch to fluorocarbon I prefer a hybrid over straight fluoro. It tends to behave better.

I use a lot of Plano boxes. I would have also voted "other" as I have come to love the trays I purchase in the dollar store for bank fishing. They are slim and hold just enough tackle for a few hours of fishing.

It's whippy for sure. I have been fishing a lot of exposed hook baits (wacky rigs, neko rigs, jighead grubs, etc) so the hook setting has not been an issue for me. I originally bought it for Trout but I have been using it for Bass fishing as well. It has handled LMB's in the 1 pound range just fine. I will eventually get a medium action as well.

Thanks. My hope is Kastking will come out with some ultralight reels now that they have an ultralight rod series in the Calamus. I hope they come out with some 500 size reels. Right now the lightest reel they have is a 1500 size Sharky II There size 1000 Kodiaks and Sharky III appear to be larger in size than the Sharky II

#1 priority in a kayak is transportability. Doesn’t matter how comfortable the seat is if you can’t get it to the water or back on your vehicle after a few hours of paddling and fishing. I learned from this site, easy gets used hard does not. If you are car topping your yak you need something light. Pedal drive are not light. What we want and what we can realistically use are two different things. When I went to purchase a kayak, the one I wanted would mean purchasing a new vehicle with a roof rack or a trailer. Neither of which was in my budget. in the end I chose a yak that I could car top on foam blocks. While it might not have the most comfortable seat I can manage it for 4 hours which is long enough to satisfy my fishing itch.

I have the Kastking Perigee II (casting and spinning) and Kastking Calamus Rods(spinning) I have nothing but good things to say about all three of the rods I purchased. With Kastking I find that you get a product that is far better than it’s price point would have you believe. That was true with their reels but it is especially true with their rods.

My motto is if you have to ask the question you already know the answer. Yes it is a bad idea. It puts thermal stress on your gear. No reason not to store it inside and take it with you when you think you are going to go fishing.

I just ordered a Lew’s Mach II speed spin size 100 reel for my 6’6” light action Calamus rod. The rod deserves a reel just as tough as it is.

I would pair the 7’ medium version with a size 2000 reel. The medium rods are ultra light in weight not action.They are literally feather light so a smaller reel balances well with them. I would spool the 2000 reel with 8# line. After having this rod since April I can vouch for its toughness. I have dropped mine in the rocks, snagged it multiple times bank fishing both on trees and submerged cover and it is still going strong. It’s Ugly Stick tough. I think it it would be safe to get him one.

Kastking Sharky 3 size 2000 reel will run you $51.98 It would be hard to find a reel with as many features as the Sharky 3 at that price. Direct drive handle Water resistant design Fat bail wire Braid ready spool It is my favorite spinning reel at the moment. It beat out my Pflueger Supreme for that spot.

Thoughts and prayers for a successful operation and a speedy recovery.