kayaking_kev

Little trip to Walmart, can't help but to hit the fishing section up. I usually clear them out of those nail weights for $0.88 cents each, but I have so many now, I only grabbed two this time just out of habit.

Is that the Fort Loudon Lock? Her parents live on Conkinnon Drive, the river looks pretty wide right there. Is the current pretty strong?

I'm going to go see if I can find any footage of that, thanks!

That's not bad, I might have to look you up next time we are down there visiting my wife's parent's. They live on the Tennessee River in Lenoir City. Is that part of the river right there any good for fishing?

How far are you from Lenoir City?

I've never had a problem with weeds caught in the tail, but trying to avoid dead leaves with the trebles that have fallen in the Fall, can be very frustrating picking them off after every cast, especially in a narrow river lined with trees on both sides. But, I guess that probably happens with every top water lure. I can't tell any difference from the pics though.

I spent a lot of time yesterday using the forum search engine looking for this post and never found it, and here it is posted today, LoL, thanks!

I only got room for 7 rods on my kayak and the most I've taken at once is 6, but most of those were cheap setups. I will most likely only take 4 good setups with me if that and they will all be leashed down, but I do a lot of bank fishing also and have a Rod Mule from Cal Coast that can carry up to 10 setups. If I was throwing a 1.5 squarebill in heavy cover, I definitely wouldn't use my normal 1.5 rod, the 704 Glass, so probably the 705 Glass, it has a pretty stout backbone for a glass rod and weighs almost a full ounce more than the 704 Glass. I've said before I think I could probably jig fish with the 705 Glass. The Fury 703c is a great 1.5 rod also but not for heavy cover. The 13 Defy Black is a nice cheap composite crankbait rod also, it's a 7'3 Heavy / Moderate Action and weighs a little less than the 705 Glass and balances even better.

The Ci4+ is kind of like how the NRX is for me, I've never had one, but I feel I must own one someday.

I bought the last two reels I was wanting today and think I'm finally settled on a lineup. I was coming from fishing an Ugly Stik GX2 6'0 with a Abu Garcia Black Max my first two years fishing. But, it's done me well and I caught well over 500 fish on it this past season, but decided to upgrade this year. Let me know if you see any holes or would change any reels to different rods, always interested in more experienced opinions. CASTING Dobyns Xtasy 755c Mag-H / F Daiwa Catalina Left Hand 7.3.1 Jigs and some Frogging. Dobyns Xtasy 723c MH / F Daiwa Tatula 100 Left Hand 7.1.1 T-Rigs and Plastics, but versatile up to 1/2. Dobyns Extreme HP 702c ML / F Shimano SLX MGL 70 Right Hand 6.3.1 Finesse, mainly Ned Rig Dobyns Champion XP Glass 705cb MH / F Shimano SLX DC Right Hand 7.2.1 Medium Cranks, 2.5's, & Bladed Jigs Dobyns Champion XP Glass 704cb M / F Shimano SLX XT Right Hand 6.3.1 Shallow Cranks, 1.5's Dobyns Kaden 744c H / F Daiwa Tatula CT Type-R Left Hand 7.3.1 Versatile Dobyns Fury 703c MH / F Lew's Tournament MB Right Hand 7.5.1 Jerkbaits, but versatile for 3/8 & under. 13 Fishing Defy Black Crankbait 7'3 H / M Abu Garcia RevoX Gen4 Right Hand 5.4.1 Deep Cranking Lew's Hank Parker Speed Stick 6'10 M / F Abu Garcia Pro Max3 Right Hand 7.1.1 Jerkbaits, Ned Rig, Light Jigs, Plastics Ugly Stik GX2 6'0 M / M Abu Garcia Black Max3 Right Hand 6.4.1 Topwater, Bladed Jigs, & Shallow Cranks SPINNING St.Croix Panfish Series 6'9 UL / F Daiwa Revros LT 2000 Left Hand 5.2.1 Light Lures for panfish. Lew's TP-1 Speed Stick 6'9 ML / F Shimano Sienna FE 2500 Left Hand 5.0.1 Finesse, mainly Drop Shot Shimano FX Glass 6'0 M / F Penn Pursuit III 2500 Left Hand 6.2.1 Moving baits only. I also got a couple extra rods and reels that I'm getting rid of. SLX 7'2 MH/XF + SLX 7'5 H/F + 13 Concept Z RH 7.3.1 + Daiwa Fuego CT RH 8.1.1.

I seen this today. Does anyone know what kind of stuff is usually included? Tackle Warehouse 2020 Classic sale begins March 6th and ends on March 10th. Save 25% on Select Items!

I'm sure it will help the few that don't already know about this deal, but I think a lot of people have known about this sale for awhile now. It started back in September and went out of stock for maybe two weeks recently, but then now back on again. I got the SLX and SLX XT combos, then later picked up the DC from TW on the BF sale. The reels are nice, although I just sold my SLX and SLX XT, but I'm just replacing the XT with a another XT in a lower gear ratio. I also have a SLX MGL 70 on the way, but I'm not replacing the regular SLX. It's a nice reel, I just prefer external brakes. I like the XT and DC though. As far as the rods go, they are decent rods. They are very light rods and well built, but not balanced very good, at least on the 7'2 MH and 7'5 H that I got. So, I'm trying to sell the rods. If I were to buy the combo again, I'd go with the 6'10 Medium with the DC reel, and maybe it would have a little better balance.

I have both and have used the Fury 703 for squarebills and it does really good. It's almost a full oz. lighter than the 705 Glass, but I recently picked up a 704 Glass that I will probably use for 1.5's from now on and 2.5's on the 705 and jerkbaits on the 703. The Fury 703 is pretty versatile for anything 3/8 and under, it can just about throw anything, including treble hook lures. The 704 Glass is also just under a oz lighter than the 705 and has a lot more parabolic bend to it. It's definitely a technique specific rod for lighter cranks and squarebills only and a lot slower action than the 703 or 705. My 704 Glass rod weighs less than it's 704cb graphite counterpart.

Rapala's came the other day. I should of got a couple more of the glass.

I have a box of terminal tackle, one for jigs & bladed jigs, one for topwater, one for cranks & jerks, one for panfish, and a KVD worm bag full of plastics, but a lot of times I will just grab a few things from each and put it in one spare box and just take that. And, if I really want to travel light sometimes when I'm walking the bank, I'll take a bag of Senkos and throw some hooks and worm weights in the Senko bag and that's it. I do need to upgrade my 3700 crank and jerkbait box to a 3700 deep though, I've ran out of room thanks to the sale thread.

Off topic a bit, but since we're talking about line. Is there a line that the T-Wing system from Daiwa likes or doesn't like before I spool them up? Thanks!

I have a cheap Old Town Vapor 10 sit in kayak that I got before I started fishing 3 years ago and it's what got me addicted to fishing while seeing all the fish swimming in the rivers I was paddling. I only paid $300 for it new and have put it through major abuse by using it in shallow rivers where it often scrapes against rocks on the bottom, but it's held up nicely on hundreds of trips and I haven't flipped it yet. It's pretty light and easy for me to put on top on the car or in back of my truck. I modified it with some rod holders, paddle keeper, and few other small things. I was wanting to buy a Native Slayer a few months ago, but I had a brain surgery that left me handicapped in my left foot and was unsure if I could even operate a peddle kayak, so I spent the money on a bunch of rods and reels instead. I hope to be able to find someone with a peddle kayak this year that will let me give it a try to see if I can do it or not, but regardless I would probably still take the Vapor 10 with me on the shallow rivers, just because I wouldn't be able to use the peddle drive and it would take a lot of abuse. With my current kayak I'm able to go on the river when most won't because it gets to low and they don't want to damage their nice kayaks scraping on the bottom. I've dragged mine for miles and it's still going strong. I have been thinking about getting a cheap Lifetime Tamarack though, just to have a sit on top for lake fishing, just to feel a little safer.

What mono do you guys like using? I haven't tried a bunch, but so far what I have tried, Trilene Sensation seems to be pretty good.

I have setups with braid to a leader, and setups with str8 floro and str8 mono. Sometimes I prefer the sensitivity of braid for bottom contact applications, and sometimes I want the stretch of mono for topwater, and sometimes I want floro to get a bait down deep faster, or a rod might have microwave guides that don't like leader knots, and I sometimes I just don't like tying an extra knot.

I've had the SLX, SLX XT and SLX DC. I just sold the SLX and SLX XT because I wanted a lower gear ratio. I still got the DC on my 705 Glass rod. I probably won't replace the regular SLX, just because I prefer the SVS braking system. I love the XT and actually liked it more than the DC, until I put the DC on the 705 and started casting 2.5 squarebills and cranks with it, and now I'm liking it more. AFL usually has good prices on used XT's in excellent condition.

I decided to get both, the MGL for the DX 702c to replace a Concept Z and the XT for the 704cb.

What's the average cost of sending a reel in to be cleaned?

Dobyns Rods 20% off with code DOBYNS20 at Sportsman Outfitters thru Feb. 28th, excluding the Fury Series. https://www.sportsmansoutfitters.com/collections/bass-rods/brand-dobyns

Do you need a new one within the next month? If not maybe you could save another $100 or so and wait and get the new 2020 Metanium.

Thanks! I seen one of his where he also said the handles have some slop in them too. The Ming Yang definitely seems like the better buy for about the same price. I rarely fish for catfish, I might fish a couple of times a year to eat a few, or to try to get a 26" for the Fish Ohio Pin, but I usually catch them mostly while bass fishing, or even on panfish gear on accident. This past season I had to fight two huge cats probably close to 10 lbs. for over 45 mins. each while panfishing with 4 lb line in thick hydro from a kayak when they bit my 1" Gulp Minnow, once in pitch darkness, lol.