Hook2Jaw

Thanks man! I caught a solid 8-9 this past weekend out the same spot but the 13.5 a kid caught last year just won't bite.

I believe that's the knot Gerald Swindle details in one of his videos.

@Bluebasser86 awesome to see you and Lake putting it on some good fish! @WDE I'm a huge dinger fan myself! YUM makes some good stuff.

Vibe makes good, affordable fishing kayaks and they're what I suggest to everyone on a budget. Of course, budget is subjective. Still, they're one of the better more affordable boats. If you end up falling in love with Kayak fishing like myself and many others, go ahead and take the jump into a nice, comfortable boat with features and room for more. It's not unheard of to drop 10k into a fishing kayak.

I tried to come up with an Arthurian joke about pulling the bass out the stone, but it never came. Welcome to Bass Resource!

Have you tried darker shades and gotten bit? The water clarity plays into your color choice heavily.

Welcome! Awesome bass! What was it caught on?

White for movers, watermelon red flake for wigglers, green pumpkin for jiggers. Choosing one color hurts my heart. I try to keep 3-5 different colors available. Minimalist with a little variation.

Did you ask the bass nicely to bite? I've found that actively talking to the fish while I'm fishing increases my chances exponentially. Some big girls like for you to talk a little mean to them, so try that if the first approach doesn't work. Seriously : don't cast right in front of the fish. You probably scared her. Remember, 10' away from your target, it works for structure and it works for sight fishing.

The Shimano Casitas outperformed most other $99 dollar reels in the 99 dollar reel shootout done by TheReelTest on YouTube when it came down to casting distance. The Daiwa Fuego CT is HUGE bang for your buck, casts a few feet shorter or longer depending on the bait in those tests if I'm not mistaken, and can be had for around 70 bucks. Oh, and the Magforce Z brakes are foolproof. Oh, and Fuego translates to fire. It's also interesting to note that the drag was also tested at a full pound heavier than advertised.

I've used garlic and Berkley bass attractant, I can't tell the difference between scented and unscented.

Yessir, I plan on it Wednesday after work! The pond is also eat up with crappie. It's gonna be a fish fry down here.

Why are bluegill attacking my lipless? I caught four this size.

This is so awesome!

Awesome, violent fighters. Hellacious teeth. Slimier than a Krispy Kreme donut but you won't catch me eating one. My grandfather used to shoot every one we caught with a .22 revolver. If you still massacre every bowfin you catch, please go read American Wolf. Draw your comparisons between the coyotes that overpopulated Yellowstone years ago, and realize the Elk did as well..once the wolves were gone, the coyotes decimated the rodent population, the elk were given free reign of the saplings near the water and the beavers were gone, just like that. The birds of prey were gone because all the rodents were gone. Once the wolves were reintroduced, the balance came back. So go ahead and kill the wolves and allow the coyote to overpopulate and watch your average coyote go down in size because when you tip the scales one way, the other side is comparatively lighter. In short, please stop killing bowfin unless you're gonna eat the nasty rascals.

There's no reason for passing a loop through the eye when tying a Palomar. Stick the line through the eye and pull some on through, and put that tag end back through the eye. Voila! Loop. Before I figured that out I used to bite down on the end of my loop and make it a little sharper. To heck with fighting a loop through an eye.

I typically tie a Palomar for light line setups, an improved clinch with heavy lines, and a Kreh loop for jerkbaits. FG knot for braid to fluoro or mono. Bimini twist for mono to fluoro. I do this very rarely. I have been known to tie a Brazillian Slim Beauty Knot with an overhand turn finished with a glob of tobacco spit to get the line to fuse together before I finish it with an Acapulco termination hitch.

Thanks @Fishingmickey, I c'aint justify spending the extra money on Shimano reels. I've got friends who use them exclusively for inshore fishing, while I'm a stalwart Penn guy when it comes to the salt. Yes, I could spend the extra money, but I think I'm gonna get more bang for my buck at 70 a reel from Daiwa and be able to afford some good electronics for the Hobie this year. Yes, they're definitely good reels. I don't believe they're good enough to spend 30 more bucks each, not for me, anyway. Chippewa Classic Loggers here, brother.

Todd Standings is Bigfoot, confirmed. This mystery is solved, now I'm gonna go enjoy some Scooby snacks.

@blckshirt98, it's my OCD kicking in. I've been wearing the same boots for 12 years.

@ClackerBuzz thanks for the honest opinion, further slamming me into Daiwa fanboyism before I've even held one. I don't really flip, but my pitches aren't like your pitches. I do it from a kayak so they're a sidearmed pitch. Still keeps the bait low, still keeps the entrance soft. Still very accurate. I've been doing it with a 7' Medium Heavy and was hoping I could get a bit more distance with 3" added on. I'll try to test a 7' versus a 7'3" before I make the call on the pitching setup. How do you like the Aird-X for cranking?

Buy a Hobie and never paddle again! Just messing. I never break out the big paddle on the PA14, but I do have one of those hand paddles to make tiny adjustments or to back out of a tight spot. It sirs on the deck of the kayak. If I were you, I'd get a hole saw and some PVC, heat it up with a heat gun and shove a beer bottle into it to widen it out. That's what I did for my old Wal-Mart kayak. Shove that pvc into the hole you made and you've got some solid rear rod holders for trolling, as well as taking more setups with you onto the water. If you've got a rear tankwell, get a crate and attach PVC to that. Mine has 9 rod holders on it and holds 6 3700 plano boxes. As far as paddle holding goes, I always liked the taco style paddle clips and had two mounted on my old sit-inside close enough together to still be able to clip into for longer periods or to outright just sit on top of for short periods of time. Unless I directly knocked the paddle off, it wasn't going anywhere. Alternatively : https://www.yakattack.us/YakAttack_Paddle_Holder_p/grp-1001.htm?fullSite=1 Lots of people swear by these guys.

I'm about to ride down that way now, @NittyGrittyBoy. Trophy guy can catch and release these hands! I'm kidding, and understand your frustration. Sorry to hear about your loss.

Here comes the FG knot train. You don't need to hold the knot all fancy with a fancy FG knot tool, just get that braid in your back set of toothers and hold a wee bit of tension on it by letting the rod fall away from you. Wrap that fluoro toward you, then the other way on the opposite side. Wrap that sumbitch 21 times, because 21 is blackjack and that's lucky as hell. You're gonna need that luck. Once you've got blackjack, take your braid tag and overhand it to secure your wraps about, eh, two to three daggum times. Cinch that puppy down until your braid starts to discolor, and then nip the tag of fluoro. Stick two to three more overhands at your clipped fluoro. It's the best braid to fluoro knot. Tied properly, it is stronger than the braid and fluoro individually. Learn it, live it, love it. It's thin, and the thicker end of the knot is towards your reel. No more bamming and framming through the guides on the cast.

@TnRiver46 man, I'd toss them thangs in, pop them up off the bottom with a short upward twitch, and give them a reel turn or two. Seems the fleeing effect set them off every time!