NYWayfarer

I am a weather watcher first and foremost for safety. Second for optimum Bass fishing conditions. I have caught some my biggest Largemouth Bass in what the rule book says were less than ideal weather days to go fishing. Go figure. As long as it’s safe, just go fishing. You never know what can happen.

I go with short rods 6’6” to 6’8” in my sit inside kayak. I have no issues with fish that swim across the bow. I chose the shorter length after having to feed my line through the guides after a nasty break off while jig fishing. No fun dipping my reel in the water to reach the top guides. The shorter rods parked in the yak rod holders are better for fishing areas with low hanging trees. Where the hook keeper is also a minor consideration of mine. I don’t like hook keeper on the split grip rod butt as this interferes with putting baited rods in the rod holders.

I have the spinning model made for dropshot/finesse fishing. It’s a nice rod and I have caught many Trout and Smallmouth Bass with mine.

Maiden voyage of my new kayak today. Finally a nice day, low wind and no rain. I launched at my local river which is running high and fast. I paddled upstream and floated down hitting my productive spots. The most useful tool was my brand new backwater assault hand paddle. I wish I had bought one sooner. It was helpful making minor corrections while holding my rod. It fit nicely in my front bungees. No giants today. I managed to christen my new yak with fish slime instead of champagne.

If we get anymore rain here I am building an ark Last week, raincoat was a mandatory accessory when going fishing

Primal Roots red blend wine is the drink tonight.?

My current favorite cheap reel under $40 is the Abu Garcia MaxZ spinning reel. A Walmart exclusive in sizes from 10-40. 8 bearings and 14 lbs of drag. No anti reverse switch.

My guess is if you send that reel in for repair they will replace it with a new one. That’s the way they operate in my experience. Excellent customer service.

A quick fishing session on my rain swollen local river this morning before work. I thought it was going to be a miserable trip as all I caught in the first hour was 2 Sunfish. I tried my luck at the top of the Dam and glad I did. Caught my biggest Bass of the year. A beautiful Largemouth over four and a quarter pounds on a wacky rigged GYCB 4” green pumpkin black flake Senko.

Hour north of Albany.

Whopper Plopper 90,75,60 in Bone. Followed closely by a Rebel Pop R and or the Rapala Original Floating Minnow when twitched on the surface.

That’s my method with my wacky worm of choice, Berkley Max Scent, the General. I can get more than a half dozen fish before I repurpose the worm by cutting it in half and make 2 Ned baits.

I had my first at 50. The nurse came in and told me I looked familiar. With my butt exposed for the procedure I grinned at her and said, “what part of me are we talking about?” I think we both blushed at that one. She was my son’s karate sensei when he was in the Lil Dragons program at our local YMCA. It was stupid to tease her, she could whup my butt easily.

If it doesn’t stop raining soon I am going to build an ark. I bank fished this morning in the pouring rain on my local stretch of river. I was throwing a Rapala Original Floating Minnow F07 in Perch color. Abu Garcia Max Z 20 reel 8# mono on a Lew’s TP1X ML 6’9” finesse rod. I caught 6 Smallies and a couple of Sunfish before calling it a day.

I love mine. I could not justify the price as I am clumsy and have broken a few rods in my day. This rod is my Dad’s. He is 83 and not mobile enough to fish anymore so he gave it to me. After using it for 2 seasons now I would buy another one in a heartbeat.

Berkley Max Scent the General in Green Pumpkin/Watermelon wacky rigged.

Anything by St Croix is my recommendation. My current river Smallmouth setup is a 6’ ML St Croix Avid paired with an Abu Garcia Max Z size 10 spinning reel. Crazy ? $200 rod paired with a sub $40 reel but it works for me. Most productive combo I have.

I have the same rod. Still have not used it. It didn’t fit into my smaller suitcase during my Florida trip this year. I didn’t want to carry it onboard so it stayed home and I brought telescopic rods with me instead.

I flew out of Orlando at 10:30am Wednesday back to NY. Got out of dodge as Elsa was coming in. Ironic name for a storm hitting Disney World… Glad your Ok.

I am so sorry A-Jay.

I passed on this companies products for the dumbest of reasons…I can’t pronounce the brand name.

My family took our Florida vacation last week. I am disappointed we didn’t get a chance to take any guided fishing trips this year. I did fish from a pier on Lake Toho for the first time with my son. Can you fish on Disney Property? We stayed at one of the resorts and when my friend called the front desk they informed him we could fish by par three of the golf course. We fished there 3 times on 3 different days. 1st day we asked to leave by a cast member because there was an alligator sighting on the course. Last time a cast member came up to us and asked if we were staying there. When I answered yes he told me there was no fishing allowed anywhere on property. I had caught 6 fish up until that point and it was our last day there so I wasn’t all that unhappy. We had a great time and I was finally able to visit Galaxies Edge in Hollywood Studios It was hot so I bought a Sprite there. This is how a Sprite looks in a galaxy far, far away.

Kastking waterproof floating scale. This is the scale I use when kayak fishing. You can get it wet and if it falls over the side it floats. I thought it was broke last year after 2 years of use. Turns out it just needed a new battery ?

Shimano Metanium DC Since I don’t have a DC baitcaster yet.

I caught one of my biggest largemouth Bass on a Mitchell Avocet reel paired with an Ugly Stick. It was back when I bought 99% of my fishing gear from Walmart.