Brad Reid

No, Minn Kota has it "about" right. I believe their responder likely was referencing the fact that jon boats, canoes and kayaks all have rather distinctive and limiting theoretical hull speeds. That's likely what he or she was trying to convey. So, imagine a stalled Volkswagen Beetle in a large flat, empty high school parking lot. You get lucky and two large 300 lbs. offensive linemen from the HS football team walk by and you convince one of them you need a push to about 100 yards away. So, one of the two agrees to it, feels little resistance, overcomes the inertia (objects not in motion resisting movement) and starts pushing as fast as he can, gets the car up to 15 mph. Not bad! So, the other 300 pounder is watching and decides to run up and push on the other side of the car's bumper. The Beetle now has two 300 pounders pushing on it. Yes, it "might" move a bit faster but . . . the max speed will ALWAYS be limited by the top end speed of the linemen. So, if the typical offensive linemen (let's say they are all the same) can run freely at 18 mph, you can have a dozen of them pushing on the back of a Beetle . . . and it will never exceed 18 mph. Actually, of course, something much less owing to the resistance of the car (friction, drag, etc.). This is why a 55 "might" not increase speed all that much over a 30. Where would added "thrust" help? If that Beetle is being pushed up a slope? Adding "thrust" will make a big difference. One 300 pounder might not be able to push it up a 45 degree slope, but two will do better, three even better and so on. This is where more "thrust" comes in handy. A 55 will do better (go faster) than a 30 pushing into, say, a 20 mph headwind. It will also overcome inertia a bit better. But, a big top end speed improvement in a weighted down jon boat? Nope. Not likely. Brad

Oh, gosh! For me, it is so simple: a 5" Keitech Shad Impact (the one without the paddle tail, just the pointy tail, so like a soft jerk bait). Color would be anything mimicking a shad, so "shad color." For me? This Keitech works better than a worm where a worm would normally be fished, can be used at different speeds, all different zones in the water, weightless/weighted, like a jerk bait, skimmed across the surface, works year round. My favorite application is thrown weightless, T-Rigged, retrieved like a dying or injured shad. As close to weedless as anything I use. One trick? For absolute fabulous hook setting, the Owner Twistlock Finesse Hooks are so very light and sharp, I have found the highest success ratio of getting that hook snagged in a bass. I use the 1/0 size and it works great with the 5" Keitechs. Add a split shot up 6" or so if you need a bit of weight. It was so successful on my old lake, Lake Athens TX, that I used this 95% of the time. Brad

For competitive kayak tournament fishing, my guess is the new Hobie PA *** 360 models have jumped back into a strong lead as the best vessels. Holding water and positioning is a big deal and these vessels will do it better than any others. A guy or gal who specializes in fishing boat houses, around docks, etc. will be able to pick one apart with great detail and accuracy. Well, from there it so much depends on how one fishes. I still have a Native Slayer Propel 10 and it is an absolutely outstanding kayak for anything but large lakes. You might need more speed to cover more water in those circumstances. But, one can throw a Propel 10 on the back of a truck, no trailer, no bed extender and be on the water very pronto. At 34" beam, it is very stable, almost as much as my much larger Big Rig was. And, oddly, it paddles very well if you need to kick the drive up to work across a weed bed. It was my first kayak and is still my favorite. Just moved from Lake Athens, TX to Galveston Island . . . so I will need to learn how to fish for flounder, reds and sea trout. Can't wait to hit the bays and bayous.

Some more recent ones, too. I like Open Range with Costner and Duvall, have seen it several times. And, the movie All the Pretty Horses based on Cormac McCarthy's work. If you like to read, you ought to read every word McCarthy has ever written. Forgive him for his punctuation (almost absent), and there is an old joke that he might have been abused by a comma as a child. Ha! Speaking of Kevin Costner, if you haven't seen the TV series that just completed its second season, Yellowstone, you are missing one of the best contemporary "westerns" imaginable. The casting choices are superb, the acting off the charts. Do yourself a favor, begin at Season 1, Episode 1. One last memory: Lucas McCain at the end of most of the episodes of The Rifleman giving son, Mark, sort of a lesson in ethics. Whew, did a lot of us ever soak up a lot of that! It was more fun than Sunday School, too, might have been more effective being imbued with such lessons. Brad

That's a new sub-species . . . called a "Trump Bass." It has that characteristic orange hue, a larger mouth than most other bass, first discovered to exist only in NY . . . but some say it is now migrating to Florida. Brad

I have owned both, too. I find each a poor substitute for the other in particular circumstances. I should have added earlier that I personally detest fishing tandem even in a large canoe. It just feels so limiting to me. I much prefer fishing alongside a friend, each in our own rides. Brad

Well, I am not certain about how you plan to use it, water wise, but just know that most pedalers are due major declines in pricing owing to Hobie coming out with one using its superior flipper system at $1399. Look up the Passport. It comes in a 12 footer, too for a few hundred bucks more. Not only will this put pressure on other pedal kayak prices, it already has, these are priced in the general range of the higher quality paddlers. So, I suspect we'll see paddlers decline in price along with the others. Hobie might be taking over the kayak world again with super aggressive price points on the low end, then a rather unmatched offering at the high end of the price scale with its PA 360s in ***. I don't own a Hobie, never have, but it seems inevitable. Ha! Brad

Sorry to be jumping in late. Just moved to Galveston, TX and lots of boxes to unpack. If you do plan to go out tandem and if you do plan to use a trolling motor, there is simply no better choice than a Meyers Sportspal canoe . . . I'd say S-13 or S-15 (square sterns if you ever want to mount a small outboard or a trolling motor off the rear) or an S-14 or S-16 model where they come standard, as I recall, with a trolling motor side mount attachment. I believe an S-13 or S-14 weighs 57 lbs. so much, much lighter than any tandem kayak I can think of. These are all made out of aircraft quality aluminum. Buy the American version as it is a heavier gauge aluminum than a similar make. And, while some of the other vessels mentioned are stable, two grown men of size can stand and fish from a Meyers at the same time. These Meyers have extremely flat bottoms. Water fowl hunters like them as they can literally grab the collar of an 80 lbs. lab retriever and pull it back on board. I paddled mine with a very long double-bladed paddle. It worked well seated or standing. And, these Meyers are so wide, depending on where and how I was fishing, I often just took out a very light blade footed lawn chair (5 lbs. ???) and sat in it to paddle and fish if I wasn't standing. Comfy, much more so than most kayak seats. Cheers! Brad

For waters you describe fishing, take a look at the new Hobie Passport. A pedaler using the great Hobie system, it'll handle shallow water very well, and less in price than some of the most popular and better paddlers.

I see 2 or 3 sources from just searching Google for Raid Swimbait. Not cheap but they look pretty good. Similar to Keitech? Brad

"I have been pretty good at beating the bait money this year, only replacing lures that I lost (that work and are worth replacing) . . ." Are you experiencing any headaches, developing rashes, hard stools, suffering moments of confusion and despondency? Ha! Ha! Seriously, yes to what you say. Each year I fish, I determine what I need a bit better, narrow it down, less tempted by the bait monkey. My purchases now increase, year over year, arithmetically, not geometrically. I'll take what I can get. Feed the bait monkey, or the symptoms I laid out above will seem mild in comparison. Brad

Me, too! Up in the D/FW area, Houston, too, it is not uncommon to see something large in the middle of the highway. The other day, it was a large mattress or bed box spring. Too busy dodging it to know which one. But, I could see it well ahead, had time to react; it had fallen off a truck earlier. How about the poor drivers right behind a truck that loses a mattress or large piece of furniture, etc.? It could literally cause a chain reaction wreck that could kill or maim someone. I don't want to kill or maim someone. Well, anyway, for truck bed carries, two straps is great insurance. Not that one strap wouldn't suffice as most of the wind resistance never even puts pressure on most carries back there, just whistles by overhead, but if a strap were to snap, the other would hold things down until you could get off to the side of the road. Brad

I'd recommend the #1 grip found on a St. Croix casting rod: PC56MF. I use a 5'6" spinning rod and this one, love them both. Brad

Most of us kayakers here in Texas become experts at fishing in high winds. You almost have to, else greatly limit your time on the water. Ideas I use: 1) If the wind is howling over a dam, there is often a dead air space under it . . . around the rip rap. Fish along the length of the dam; 2) If you have access to small islands, set up on the leeward side where the wind is forced left and right around the island and so is the current. So, you will often be sitting in dead water, wind at your back, but one can cast into the waves on either side; 3) If there are trees on the side of the lake where the wind is coming from, one can almost always get up shallow and the wind will blow over the water for some distance and it will remain rather calm. I'd look to snuggle up to a point where you'll often see dead water on one side, active waves on the other colliding with it. These areas attract fish; 4) And, finally, rivers and many coves. They are almost always studded with trees along their shorelines. And, they curve around meaning you can find places where the wind is coming in perpendicular to the river or cove's primary direction. The wind whistles overhead but the water is rather calm. Rivers are great for windy days. I suppose I'd add that if the bait fish are being blown into the far corner of a lake, if you can get there safely (I often follow the perimeter of the lake to do so), you can beach your kayak, get out, and fish from remote banks that bank fisherman often don't have good access to. The wind will be blowing into your face. You might want to use spinning gear for less casting issues. Brad

Me, too; I second BoatSquirrel's idea. As much as I wanted to like and actually had some really good results with the little Gamakatsu swivel hooks, and nose hooking plastics, my hook-up and landing ratio went through the roof when I converted to Roboworm Rebarb hooks using a variety of sizes (usually a 1 or 1/0) to best match my plastics. Small roboworms work well for me but I also like to give fish the option to munch on a shad-like plastic. Anything Keitech makes will work. Brad

Worms are hard to beat as are many other of our great standards. But, I can count on one hand the number of bass I have caught over the years reeling a worm in very fast to re-cast. I love them for bottom contact, for sure, find them of no use up higher in the water column unless they attract a bass on the fall. For me, if by versatile you mean the most circumstances for something to work, I have the most luck with a 4" Keitech Shad Impact (other shad and flukes will work, too) typically fished weedless and weightless, else a very tiny bit of lead pinched on about 6" up from the hook to help it sink a bit faster on a light wire 1/0 EWG hook. Why? You can use it: 1) as a soft jerk bait, 2) fish it on the bottom like a worm, 3) fish it across all depths as a moving lure, 4) toss it as a top water beyond schooling and feeding bass and drag it over the surface, 5) and, it isn't seasonal, works at all times over a year at least down here in Texas. I don't ever go out without this set up. Often, it is the only thing I take out. 8 caught in 2 hours two late afternoons ago, then a half dozen yesterday. Every single bass was caught on this set up. This, one of several from yesterday. Brad

Me too, regarding cam straps over ratchet straps. For one thing, when not in use, cam straps roll up into a tiny puck-shaped disc. So, they take up less space. I leave 5 or 6 of them in my truck at all times. Gosh, they are so handy for securing so many things. I also found that ratchets wiggled a bit loose, in my experience, and I have never have had this problem with cam straps. I know this likely varies depending on brands of each device one uses. For my little Native Propel 10, I just nose it up and in to the back of my truck and secure it from tie downs in the bed of the truck that are located near the tailgate on each side. I run the strap over the top of the seat folded down, tug it securely. And as a security measure I run one through the kayak's front handle up near the cab securing from side to side. I'd always recommend a second strap just as a security measure and two securing points makes the kayak less capable of pivoting. For anyone car-topping, I'd be much more thorough and deliberate owing to the amount of wind resistance pushing against the kayak. Brad

Very thorough and I appreciate the effort. I was watching a little video just yesterday with Roland Martin and Jimmy Houston having a little impromptu contest where Roland used only a frog and Jimmy only a spinnerbait. So, what was so interesting is they were in Houston's boat and he pulled into some pads and shut it down, then Jimmy made the shortest casts, really just little 10 ft. or so pitches with his spinnerbaits and was pulling a fair share of bass out of the openings between pads. From a much stealthier kayak gliding in to the pads, this compared to some large boat, one could do this same thing with all sorts of lures . . . including frogs. Gosh, always a challenge getting big bass out of the pads from a kayak, having only 10 feet of line, otherwise some relatively short amount, would make the task much easier I suspect. Brad

Several come to mind and you will know many of them. 1) We generally fish up close to our targets so short rods are better than long rods. More accurate, better leverage. 2) Unless you are in a competition, carrying > 4 rods is often counterproductive. Stick to something and give it a chance to work. Don't carry too much tackle out either. 3) Experiment with trolling when you move positions with some distance between them. Few do this but you can net some fish trolling. 4) Get up and in the pads, vegetation, floating logs, places boat can't go. Brad

A-Jay, my brother, Randy, just returned from Montreal and the World Masters Lifting Championships. He won the silver in the age 65 to 69 age group (he is 65). He lifted toward the very light end of his class, could have dropped a kilo and lifted down a weight class. Anyway, for you and others here, masters training is different and there has to be a rather conscience effort to always work on maintaining joint and general body flexibility. Gotta fight the tendency of getting old, unable to squat down, bend over, walk in correct fashion. It has helped Randy a ton as he can still hit deep positions in lifts like the ******, and his squat clean. So many of the masters lifters are still strong but have lost this range so their lifts decline faster than they otherwise would. A pic or two. Cheers! Brad

I fish late afternoons in the hot summers here on Lake Athens in Texas. Almost too hot for this about now each year but September is coming and it'll begin to get a wee bit cooler. But, the daylight hours are shorter, can't stay out until 8:30 PM and later and still have plenty of fading light. But, oh, how I used to love to get up early and go to Wheeler Branch about an hour away from where I lived, get there in the dark and wait for the park to open up, then be on the water at or just before sunrise. The drives down in the dark, the empty roads . . . the anticipation! Brad

Well, a Shimano Ci4+ is "to die for" as they used to say. In the low $200s but, gosh, they last a very long time with almost no maintenance. I'd likely get a 3000 series since it is the same size as a 2500 with different spool capacity as I recall. Rod? I have lots of St. Croix rods. Rod Length is an issue of how you fish, for me, how far you will be casting. But, I prefer M over MH for spinning rods. You should want a spinning rod to fully flex, the more it does so, the shorter the lifting point becomes and the less resistance passed up to the angler. Odd: fish pulls harder, lifting point shortens, pressure is less on a shorter rod than in would be on a longer rod. Brad

No doubt in my mind that M is better and has wider applications than a MH for spinning rods. Even a ML is a very fine choice and I'd likely prefer it over the MH. I'd choose the exact opposite for casting rods where MH would be my choice over an M or ML. I caught two just under 25" LMBs several weeks ago now, about 50 yards apart, 30 minutes apart. The first was a veritable bull and I was using my favorite kayak rod, a 5'6" MF, as it is intended to be used and it worked great. Intended? Yes, where the rod fights the fish, not the reel, then as you are able to pull the rod tip high, you reel down on the line to take it up. I try to never reel against line being "dragged" off my spool. The second big bass was lazier, came in much easier but I had to be careful as I was fishing in thick pads. So, control was the issue, turning its head by swinging my rod around. Rod length? On spinning rods, go as short as you can get away with for the intended length of casts you will be making. If you are fishing finesse, say from a kayak or canoe as I often do, and my finesse casts are rarely more than a 100 feet, and a 7 footer is just a waste of length. A shorter rod will give you much better leverage. A 6'6" MF would be hard to beat. Very versatile!!! Brad

We have a smaller lake above the lake I live on, and a FM (farm to market) road serves as a dam of sorts with the lake drain underneath it all. Back in 2015 when we had the heavy rain year here in Texas, it failed. Quite a lot of water escaped the 150 acre lake and ended up in our 1799 acre lake (Lake Athens, TX). But, the smaller lake didn't drain empty, not even close. And, Big 'un from Oklahoma will likely recall that a fellow Oklahoman, Jimmy Houston, has a wonderful stocked private lake on his ranch that had some sort of dam failure years ago and it devastated a lake full of big bass. Lots of fish ended up downstream. But, what I don't recall is whether it wiped the whole lake out . . . or if it maintained small pools of shallow water where some didn't wash away, survived. Anyway, almost without exception what the real issue will be is the time it takes to fix a broken dam or make repairs to the drain mechanisms. I suppose any fish remaining in small pools, assuming the water isn't totally drained, will survive better in fall and spring months than they would in extreme cold or hot weather. A already mentioned, the fix is going to trump the fish, so if you or your in-laws have any leverage, it might be making a few calls to find out whether the entirety of the lake will be drained and, if not, the timing of the repairs. Brad

Just an odd note here that Alabama QB sensation, Tua Tagovailoa, is actually right-handed, born that way and right-handed in everything he does . . . other than throwing a football. His father is a leftie and liked the action of lefite QBs, converted Tua when he was very young. Go figure. Rare; it usually goes the other direction: untold numbers of lefties have been forced or encouraged to use their right hands. But, most of us southpaws are at least slightly ambidextrous since so much in life is set up for righties, things like zippers, buttons, butter knives. In angling, if there is any advantage much at all, it'd likely be in favor of lefties since we can cast with our dominant left sides and reel right-handed using both spinning and casting gear. Say! When I am using casting gear and casting left handed with a right sided reel handle, my left hand DOES move. Once my lure hits, my thumb is no longer required to regulate out-going line, I rather seamlessly move my grip forward on top of the reel and off the handle as most anglers hold casting reels. Brad