GrumpyOlPhartte

Related issue is that of trying to yank a misfired lure out of a dead tree. I brought a serious limb down on my kayak and nearly soiled my pantaloons. Was lucky that just a few of the smaller branches actually hit. Gotta admit I dropped my rod and covered my head. Was able to retrieve said rod by grabbing the line still attached to the tree limb. At least I had an opportunity to use a lot of that salty sailor talk that I thought I’d forgotten. Conclusion? Doesn’t take a whole tree to ruin your day!!

Hmmm. No customer reviews yet. Why could that be?

@A-Jay Decided to take your advice! Did a push-up this morning. Good news - the doctor said I’ll be out of the ICU by next Thursday! Seriously, Man. I am impressed with your dedication. Hope you keep grunting, groaning, and showing us what’s possible.

As a kayak fisherman I have solved your dilemma. Since God made my butt a lot bigger than my feet I figure He expects me to use it a lot more.

Just wondering if these casts are being measured in “dog” yards.

Not sure if this is redundant with a post I made earlier; not sure if it applies directly. I’m doing a major attitude adjustment which definitely involves new lures, mostly swim baits and glide baits. I used to land a few bass every year in the four-pound category, but for the last two years I’ve not caught anything over two and a half pounds. So ... this year my boxes are only packed with two types of baits, swim/glide baits up to seven inches and jigs with trailers. Not even taking anything else. Oh, yeah. Nothing over $30.00 ... unless these don’t work. (I know the S-Wavers work ... so do three toothy scuzzbutts who liberated them last fall.) Finally I now have excuses for getting skunked, to boot!

@A-Jay Yeah, yeah, I had a similar collection ... but trying to climb into my 10-foot kayak after loading it was somewhat problematic. ? (In my dreams!)

After two years of nothing but furschlugginer dinks, I have spent the winter getting ready to go big or go home. Even threw in some jigs in case I get bored (or pooped) with chuckin’ and crankin’. I know the lakes around here have some healthy bass ... and Ima gonna find ‘em. Stuff on the left is for my weedy nemesis; stuff on the right is for more civilized lakes. Wish me luck.

In my young and foolish days I learned that strippers were found around structure ... mostly small stages with vertical poles. Been a long time though so this info could be out of date.

Still have my first bait caster; believe I purchased it around 1972 but early ‘70s sometime. Nothing like a Fighting Drag ... and selectable anti reverse! The thing weighs over nine ounces when fully spooled.

Don’t really get to set the hook enough to develop a habitual verbal response. More likely say to myself, “Was that REALLY a bite?”

As mentioned above, the Noqua battery is compact, lightweight, and the 10 - amp/hour version as not halfway discharged after 6+ hours of continuous use. Shown with a Striker 4 Plus. Love this battery.

The way I learned the basics of the Striker 4 series was to watch the series of YouTube videos produced by “1 Cast 1 Fish”. Very decent theory and application descriptions. My personal experience is that in shallow water either setting is really only useful for identifying structure or marking locations where you have caught fish. In shallow water with a kayak, even the disruption from paddling or casting can spook the fish before your Garmin marks them. Of course, YMMV. In murky water or areas of heavy vegetation you may be able to drift over an area and mark fish, particularly in deeper water. For me, the Garmin is a great tool for learning the shallow lakes I fish, but not so much for actually “seeing” fish. In shallow water the cone doesn’t really cover much area so if the fish are spooked they can move just a few feet and you will never see them. Just for fun, sit very quietly in your stationary yak, and watch the arcs as fish and/or other critters swim up to investigate. Very interesting.

While I don’t think I’m qualified to make specific rod recommendations, I do believe @kayaking_kev is making a good point about left-hand retrieve reels. I am right-handed and fish from a kayak. I had a couple of unpleasant experiences with switching hands after casting. Seems that long-handled rods, PFDs, and the tight space in a kayak can create some excitement when a good fish hits your lure as soon as the lure hits the water. I would suggest that you confirm you can get the desired reel size and retrieval speed in a left-handed model for whatever brand reel you are considering.

@plawren53202: Good stuff. I looked at that model but opted to pick up a couple of SuperDuty 300’s instead, primarily because of their aluminum frames and side plates (although only the side plate on the handle side is aluminum). The 27-position external brake adjusts to meet my needs. Works well with baits such as the SPRO BBZ-1 Jr. I have used mine for larger T-rigs and jigs with no problems. So much depends on the rod obviously. One additional caveat. If you use left-hand reels, Lew’s only offers 7.5:1 ratio. I gotta look into Shimano for a slower speed 300 reel.

Does the skill with which one can produce monumentally complex backlashes count toward becoming an expert? If so, ... I’m in there!!! Seriously though, as I read these forums and the articles from this site and others, I find so many folks with knowledge of bass fishing far exceeding mine that I wouldn’t know how or where to draw a line that distinguishes between a knowledgeable fisherman and an expert. I don’t really care; I just steal as much of their knowledge as I can. X = Unknown quantity Spurt = Small amount of liquid released under pressure So ... would an expert be some unknown drip under pressure? Dunno.

Well, I turned 72 this month and got an unexpected birthday present from Bass Resources. It may seem nothing special - just an article about fishing the Allegheny River in western PA. WOW!!! I grew up in Franklin, PA, and caught my first bass in 1965 right below the old 13th Street Bridge. It was a smallmouth and I caught it using an old Zebco spin cast reel on a no-name rod and a little orange and black plug with a front “propeller”. Wish I could remember the name ... it came on a black and yellow card and was the first lure I ever owned. I bought it and a black job with “propellers” on front and rear by saving my allowance ($2.00 a week). That summer I got the bass fishing bug and spent many summer days walking from my home, up Elk Street to 13th Street, then wading and fishing down to the 8th Street Bridge from which I could walk two blocks home. Don’t know if this is the appropriate forum, but I wanted to say, “Thanks,” to BR and especially to Mr. Anderson and Mr. Cartwright for reminding me after all these years of why I started this pastime and why I’m still at it.

I have used a Helios SX for a couple of years and agree with the positive comments above. Primarily use it with a 6’8” M/F rod for 3/8- to 5/8-ounce lures and unweighted Senkos. Don’t mean to imply it can’t handle heavier stuff - it just happens to be an excellent arrangement for my need. Solidly built and I love the 100 mm handles. Actually found the reel for $60 less than retail through Walmart online! Only regret is that they only make one speed IF you prefer left-hand reels. Great reels, in my opinion. (Actually have to credit @roadwarrior with clueing me in on these.)

@Ohioguy25: I don’t want to tie up the thread - I can be long-winded. Anyway, I notice you mentioned that you are fishing in a small river so my first question is, “How do you plan to use the fish finder?” The reason I ask is that if you are trying to see fish in shallow water, good luck! I fish a shallow lake where the average depth is 10 feet. Unless I am drifting, I very seldom mark fish; they just move before I get close enough for the sonar to pick them up - even on the wide setting. @MN Fisher covered that part of the issue very well. My personal experience has taught me that “fish finders” don’t find fish in shallow water if you alert the fish by making any noise such as paddling, rustling around in your tackle, or even casting. It’s actually amazing how much ruckus you create with a hard cast from a yak. But, from my experience, I have learned there IS a good reason for having the Striker Plus 4 aboard. First, it allows me to “see” where there are even slight contour changes, underwater structures, weed lines, and so forth - even in shallow water. Second, it allows me to set waypoints so I can return to these specific locations. Third, if I find a spot where I catch fish, I can paddle to where I caught them and set a waypoint. And finally, it allows me to produce contour maps of the parts of the lakes where I fish. I just have to remember that each waypoint marks the location to which I want to cast, not where I want to position my yak. I guess my feeling is that in small, shallow bodies of water, I wouldn’t bother buying a fish finder to actually find fish ... but I would buy it if I want to be able to return to my hot spots on subsequent fishing trips. For me personally that is the value of a fish finder. It sounds like although your water is moving and mine isn’t, we face the same challenges. My thought is that if you use your fish finder as a glorified place marker you will probably put it to good use, but as a tool for actually “seeing” fish, you might be disappointed. By the way, there is a guy on YouTube known as 1 Cast 1 Fish who has an extensive set of tutorials on the Garmin Striker 4 Series of depth finders. Very informative. As a final thought, although I mention Garmin there are other fish fibers in the same price range that have similar capabilities. I would recommend that you make sure the unit you buy has GPS and lets you mark waypoints if you want to save locations. Or, if you just want to locate fish, you can pass on the GPS, but will probably not have much luck in less than 15 feet of water unless there is real heavy cover. Oh, and keep in mind that this is anecdotal info based only on what I have learned in the past year. Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions and I will try to answer.

For what it’s worth, I picked up a Garmin Striker Plus 4 for my yak. Very happy with the ease of use. Chose this model for two reasons; it has a slightly larger screen than the base model and it has a mapping function that, for me, has been useful in the small lakes I fish. Just as important is its readability in bright sunlight. As for the battery, I picked up a Noqua 10 AH battery and am really glad I did. This thing is amazing! I typically use it for day trips and after six to eight hours it has never discharged below 25% - and I usually leave it on from launch to landing. I don’t believe it weighs much more than a pound and measures 4” x 3” x 3”. It comes sealed in a thick rubberized material and a padded case. A recharger is included. Costs more than SLA batteries but in my mind it is well worth the investment.

I tried fishing through my scupper holes but all my bass had turned into eels by the time I got them into my yak. And I recommend 80-pound braid at the very minimum to ensure you boat those suckers!!! ?

Line capacity: 53” - 12 lb. Monofilament IPT: 1 1/8

@Swamp Yankee: Just thought I’d say, “Amen,” to your recommendation of the Zoom Magnum Finesse worms. With limited space on my kayak, I typically carry only Senkos, Magnum Finesse worms, and Biospawn Exosticks. If I can’t get a strike on one of those I figure it’s time to switch to something other than a worm. (I can think of other worms that probably would work but I stick with these.)

@Hammer 4: The information was provided by a local contractor. Just for the heck of it I did go to eHow and look up spacing for Trex decking and did confirm it there; however, I also saw references to 16” OC spacing. I looked up “What is frame spacing for Trex Decking?” and the article said that 12” was recommended. (Joists are 2” x 12” because the deck was originally designed to support an 8’ x 8’ spa which I was removing to expand the free area.) Since I prefer the natural look of wood over plastic, that was all I needed to talk me out of Trex. I guess the only thing I can add is that my original post was only based on my one experience so it would be wise to consult building codes for the area in which the OP lives before converting. I’m surely no authority.

Not sure if this will be helpful (or even applicable) but I replaced the cedar decking on a fairly large deck last year. At first I looked into the composite decking but besides the cost, I was told that the joists for the composite material should be 12 inches center-to-center while my joists are 16” center-to-center. Way too much work to add the joists required. This info was given to me so if it is incorrect, you guys with experience please correct me. I ended up replacing with new cedar. Can’t help with staining suggestions because I do not attempt to stain or treat the decking but power wash it every spring. Here in Massachusetts I could never find anything that really preserved the cedar all that much. Take this for what it’s worth ... if anything. Good luck with your project.