kenmitch

Nice catch! Those last casts tend to linger on for a while at times. Nice that you got one on the last, last cast!

I can without any doubt honestly say that I've never caught the biggest fish in the lake....Not yet at least.

She looks like she really enjoys her daddy time on the water! Keep her interested and you'll have a fishing partner for life! I can't really think of any better way of making memories than something that you both enjoy doing. Does she actually bass talk yet?

How did you check to see if it is perfectly level when your sitting in the kayak?

I'm confused and maybe others will be also. Was your boat at your house with the cover on and rain water leaked in? Was your boat sitting in the frozen lake which may have damaged your hull causing it to fill with water when the lake thawed?

I don't really look at the max drag setting when looking for a new reel. I'll never fish in a way that it would really come into play anyways. Ripping lips is just a figure of speech....You don't really want to do it.

I've never torn a outboard motor apart, but it sounds like you put it back together wrong. What happens when you put it into reverse? Maybe look at this old thread and see if you can figure out where you went wrong. https://forums.iboats.com/forum/engine-repair-and-maintenance/mercury-mariner-outboards/138859-how-do-you-align-upper-shift-lever-and-lower-unit

You should have long armed them!

Nice going! What do you have to do with the little guy? Pull that tag or do you turn him in? I would have long armed it for the photo also.

I can say from experience that my Cabelas branded one deployed rather quickly. I learned the leaning limit of my kayak the hard way early on when I dropped a rod into the water. I bought the rearm kit and packed it back up just like new. I'd think it'll work again, but don't really plan on finding out anytime soon. I put mine on before I get into my kayak and take it off when I leave the water. I went with the auto pfd in case something out of my control happens. Whenever your driving around town do you sketch on your airbag not deploying if you get into a accident? As long as you take care of the auto pdf it'll come thru in the time of need. If you snag it with a hook, well then you'd have to inspect it to make sure you didn't puncture the bladder.

I see you met baitmonkeys dad the gearmonkey. Gearmonkey has mastered the art of enticement and heavily sponsors events.

Peacock bass look like they'd be fun to catch. I've straightened out hooks and elongated spit rings pulling out snags using 30lb braid before. I've never straightened a hook fighting a fish. This leads me to believe that it's more of a drag issue, unless the hooks are old and weak already. I've caught channel cats on a #12 treble hook while bluegill fishing before. The largest was only a little over 6lbs, but a #12 treble a person could bend with there hands if they could even grip it.

eBay has the 8% back in bucks on $25 or more and 6% back on all purchases. I figure if your shopping anyways and you see the promo at least enable it before you purchase. It's not a huge discount, but every bit helps in the end. It's coming up to the end of the eBay bucks quarter so you'll only need to wait until shortly after the 1st for the certificate.

I got a pretty good sunburn on my legs today if that makes you feel any better.

I'm going to have to go with lipless as it's the only bait I truly enjoy throwing. If I have to be more specific then this years lucky bait is a trap. My 7lb PB took it's virginity and I've caught a total of 9 bass on it so far. I did retie after the 7th one.

Took the yak out today to try my luck again. It was one of those dreaded bluebird days today! The lake was almost dead calm, the heat slowly cranking up, and a very slight breeze. I sizzled out on my yak and caught my 1st case of sunburn for the year! I did manage to put down the lipless and fish a BPS 5.25" speed shad for a while. I've never fished one before and was wondering how it would do. I probably wasn't fishing an ideal color for my lake, but chose to fish a tin foil one so I could actually see what it was doing. It does look like it has some pretty decent action. I was using it on a Storm 360 GT searchbait jig head. I cut off the rounded head part of the speed shad and calculated where the hook would come out, aimed a little low on the shad, and hoped for the best. I actually nailed it as the bait looked perfect and swam straight. I wanted to fish it around 6ft or so, but it likes to rise up in the water column. Maybe not enough weight for the larger size of the speed shad. Didn't get any takers on the speed shad. At least I got to experiment with it and see how it fishes on the jighead, pausing and letting if fall did allow it to go deeper as long as I reeled really slow. I tried out the flatt shad that A-Jay gifted me for a little while. I didn't think it would be effective on a bluebird day with very little surface disturbance so it's workout is on hold for now. Visibility was around 6ft or so in the areas I was fishing. I'll give it a whirl on my next outing if there's some cloud cover or at least some chop on the water. Once again my lucky trap at least attracted some action. The 1st bass that was interested in it was a dink that I watched try and eat it 3-4 times about 12ft from my yak. The little guy tried to inhale it from the side, but was unsuccessful in the end. At least it gave me some hope that I'd have a shot at beating the skunk. Sure enough the trap came thru. It's not a monster at 2.66 lb but at least it wasn't a dink. The trap attracted another bass that was headed in for the kill until it saw my yak, it made a hard left and just missed it. The lake was so calm I actually did a little stand up fishing in my yak. I don't mind sitting and fishing as it's relaxing, but I decided to give it a shot. I caught my 1st bass while standing and fishing. He was one of those slightly bigger dinks in the 1.25 lb or so range. I didn't bother to even photo or weigh him.

As a solo kayak fisherman I got to long arm my fish to get a photo. It's really hard to tell how big the fish really is in the end. Photos do usually come out pretty good at least. Same fish looks much bigger posing for the camera. She was 7lb's and my new PB. 1st fish I've caught that was worthy of the hawg trough.

What kind of boat did you purchase? What waters do you intend to fish? The above questions may determine how prepared you really need to be, as well as how much of the stuff you can literally stuff in your boat. You'll want some room left for rods and tackle. Your 1st step in rigging your boat should be to do some research on what your legally required to carry on your boat in the waters in which you intend to fish. When shopping for life jackets make sure you purchase something that is comfortable to wear all day if needed. A life jacket can't save your life in the time of need if your not wearing it. I'll add a few things I didn't see mentioned above already. Anchor and rope/chain that's the appropriate size, style, and length for your boat and the waters you'll be fishing. Toilet paper for the times of need. Blowing nose, soaking up fish blood, along with it's the normal use. Baby wipes are great for cleaning your hands, wiping the sweat out off your face, etc. They're also better than the cheap smears all toilet paper you'll find in most out houses and restroom facilities. Navigation lights. A couple of those boat fender/bumper things. Emergency air horn. Your boat has a horn I'd assume. If you have a electrical issue it might not work when needed.

You should post a photo of the lock to see if somebody can ID it for you. I'd guess the slot is to insert a key to remove the cap while the 15 digit code is for key replacement purposes.

Different is something I struggle with. I've got lot's of different offerings to entice the bass into biting, but I just haven't gotten into fishing them. I've tried before on numerous attempts and have always reverted back to the lipless offerings in the end. I'll rig up 5-6 combos with different offerings before heading out, but in the end the combos with the lipess on the end of the line always get the majority of use. I'm hoping I'm capable of being different this season as it's one of my goals. Hmm....Sets off at least thinking about being different.

Here in SoCal we use our gloves to protect our hands from sunburn so I might not be of much help. Have you guys checked out gloves for bikers and bicyclers? I'm sure there's waterproof options available that would also offer some protection from the cold. Comes down to how cold is cold.

But, but,but.....It's got a intensive care livewell sytem. Bass ambulance!

For anybody needing some #2 Gamakatsu round bend short shank treble hooks Cabelas has them back in stock for $1.88 per 9 pack. Standard shipping charge of $5 unless you go over the $50 threshold. They did fire up a new sale it looks like so maybe some other stuff a person needs to get over the free shipping threshold.

If I was a big guy wanting to get on the water without going the boat route I'd be looking at something like the Blue Sky Angler 360. It's up there with the Hobie pro anglers in price, but it does look like a safe to fish platform for bigger guys. I guess technically it's more of a fishing catamaran than a kayak, maybe more of a floating dock. I look at the people powered fishing platforms as a multi tasking device. You get out on the water to fish while getting some much needed exercise while doing it. You just need to figure out how you want to fish in the end. What works best for you in the long run. Good luck on your quest for the perfect for you vessel that gets you off the shoreline!

The wind blows in more ways than one! My kayak cuts thru the wind pretty easily, just takes a little pedaling to stay in place. All hell sometimes breaks loose once I hook a fish as I pretty much just go with the flow until I land it. It's just hard at times to get some productive casts in at times. Nice thing about being a lipless fanatic is they cast into the wind pretty easily. Just gotta keep the thumb warmed up is all. I'm on vacation starting Sunday and need to get my on the water fix at least a couple of days during the week. It's looking like I'm going to have to just suck it up and make the best of it. I guess there's lot's of shallow water to play around in if nothing else. My B-day's on the 21st and the weather report is showing possible AM rain which is somewhat depressing. It's a wait and see on that day. Last year I had one of my best days on my B-day! On another note I really wish they'd put the dang weather station back online. I'm not sure why it's no longer reporting data. First time I've ever viewed Canyon Lake on google maps. It wasn't what I expected to see. I figured there would be waterfront properties, but didn't think that most of the lake would be developed. How is the fishing? Would be fun to maybe someday join you on a kayaking adventure there. The upper undeveloped arm of the lake looks interesting too me.