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That's what I was thinking. I often go fishing with just one rod and one lure (on my lunch break), and sometimes when you can't get them to commit, just pausing the crankbait and letting it sit there, sometimes as long as a full minute, and then resuming can get a bite. Or doing the opposite and popping the rod on a steady retrieve. Anything different. And sometimes fishing it like a jerkbait works as well. I've fished a lot of jerkbaits like crankbaits and crankbaits like jerkbaits in my life. It may not be the best approach, but I can vouch that it works, at least sometimes. I probably fished the Rapala Floating Minnow for a good 20 years before I even knew what a jerkbait was!

One 24v battery will be easier to set up. However it will be twice as large and twice as heavy as each 12v battery. Two 12v batteries will probably be cheaper. But you'll have to worry about compatibility with both batteries able to run in series. And the wiring at the battery will be a bit more complicated since they're in series. You can also use a 12v charger with two 12v batteries. But you'll probably want 2 12v chargers, or a 12v charger that can charge two batteries at once. And you'll want to add a switch to disconnect the series connection between the batteries while you charge them, or do it manually, if you go this route. Otherwise, a 24v charger might be best. Just make sure whichever route you go, they're lithium (LiFePo4) compatible. But as far as performance is concerned, they're equal. LiFePo4 batteries only put out around 3.2 volts (nominal) per cell. So on a 12v 100Ah battery, it'll have four 3.2v - 100Ah cells. So two of those big 12v batteries will be made up of eight 100Ah cells. And one 24v, 100Ah battery will also come with eight 100Ah cells. So they're pretty much the same thing on the insides.

Twice every cast. Nah, I'm just kidding! With braid, I don't change it. I use it until it runs out. Sometimes I'll unspool it and put a backer on so I can keep using it. That's what I love about braid. And since the water I fish is so stained, I don't even worry about the color fading. Besides, our water is red, and the braid is green, so it's never going to blend in with the water anyway.

I choose the blade size, shape, and count based on how and where I'm targeting fish. Spinnerbaits will rise out of the strike zone if fished too fast or fall below it if fished too slow. So I tend to use whatever will stay in the strike zone the longest at the speed I'm aiming for, and that usually requires a combination of balancing the blade size, number, and shape with the jig head's weight. Single Colorado blades are best for slow rolling in deep, stained, water, in my opinion. So, for me, they only get pulled out in the middle of summer and winter. And most all of my single Colorado spinnerbaits are at least 1/2 oz. Most are around 3/4-1oz. And they're all either white, chartreuse, or black. Since I'm fishing these in deeper, stained water, I want high contrast colors. Though I do have one Luck E Strike Redman in 3/8 oz. I had it for years and only pull it out when fishing smaller ponds from the bank. It strikes a good balance that allows me to downsize for the pond AND keep the bait down in the water. The funny thing about spinnerbaits is, they seem to have good years and bad years. For some reason, they become one of my best producers one year, and then be useless the next. And I have no idea why that is. But they seem to ebb and flow more than anything else in my tacklebox.

There are ways around all of that. I mean, I'll agree that a long handle can be cumbersome, but it can also work to your advantage. Bury the end of the handle into something, and you've got a pivot point. That gives you a lot more leverage for hooksets without needing to use your body. Though, I will often lean forward to allow my body room to back up, and to adjust my balance so I'm not sitting in the same position for 8 hours straight. Now, where to bury the butt of the rod depends on the angle of your rod in relation to your kayak. I'll switch that up on almost every cast. Sometimes I'll bury it in my inner thigh. Sometimes I'll bury it into my hip. Sometimes I'll bury it under my arm pit or on the edge of my seat between my legs. And sometimes it helps to hold the rod sideways, so the handle faces up. Just whatever's comfortable. It complicates things, for sure. But it's not something that can't be worked around. And with enough experience, it all becomes second nature. And while the longer handle presents challenges on the retrieve, I still prefer them for the increase leverage on the cast. With a heavy swimbait, being able to generate most of my power by using that leverage instead of using my muscles really helps out.

The best way to describe what sensitivity means to me, when it comes to a fishing rod anyway, is the ability to "hear" what's happening at the other end of the line. It's like hearing with your fingers instead of your ears. It's hard to explain, but with a sensitive rod, my brain wants to interpret the vibrations as a sound. Whereas with a less sensitive rod, my brain wants to interpret them as some kind of resistance or movement. A more sensitive rod just feels crisper. And yeah, usually the higher end rods will be more sensitive. But not always.

SLA and AGM are usually the same thing. Though, not always. It can get confusing if you want to go deep into the weeds. SLA describes the housing technology and AGM describes the chemistry, but most batteries labeled as SLA batteries will be AGM. SLA can also refer to GEL batteries and regular flooded lead acid batteries with a special housing and valve that seals them off. Though GEL batteries are typically just called GEL or GEL cell batteries not SLA, and the other kind of closed flooded lead acid batteries are usually referred to as maintenance free (a term that also applies to GEL and AGM) batteries. It's not a well thought out system. But, as for YOUR batter, the one in your link, that's an AGM. So set your charger to AGM and you should be fine. I've got a few of those batteries under different brand names, but you can tell by looking at them that they're all made in the same factory. And they're all AGM.

I am. I couldn't fit a 100Ah in the hatch of my kayak, so I opted for the 50Ah. My reasoning was I had used a 100Ah lead acid battery (stored on the deck), and never really drained it below 50%, since you're not supposed to. LiFePo4 batteries do okay down to about 10%, so a 50Ah effectively equaled the amount of usable power from a 100Ah lead acid. Plus, I could in theory fit two 50Ah batteries in my hatch, equaling one 100Ah, if it turned out that the 50Ah wasn't enough. But it's proven to be plenty for me. That being said, my trolling motor only pulls 30 Amps at full speed. So it's not a big motor. Still, it's not uncommon for me to be out fishing for 8 or more hours at a time. So I put it to work. Personally, if I were looking for a 24v lithium battery, I would buy two 100Ah 12v batteries and run them in series. 100Ah 12v seems to be the sweet spot for LiFePo4 batteries, as far as value is concerned. HOWEVER, make sure the batteries you buy can be run in 24V. Most, but not all can, including some of the more popular like Renogy. Lithium batteries have a circuit in them called a BMS (Battery Management System) that may or may not allow you to run them in series, depending on which one you buy. So do your research on that first. Plus, if one fails prematurely, you only have to replace the one that went bad. Unlike lead acid batteries where you don't want to mix and match old and new batteries, the BMS in these lithium batteries should allow you to do. Balancing cells is the job of the BMS, after all. Of course, if it's far out of balance, the BMS will just shut the whole thing down. But the BMS will also make the whole system work as poorly as the worst cell in the system, so there's a point where it makes sense to replace both batteries if only one fails. Check out Will Prowse's YouTube channel. He breaks down a lot of these LiFePo4 batteries and tells you what they're capable of and how well they're made. Even though his channel is focused on solar energy storage, it's the same batteries that we use for trolling motors, so while the applications are different, all of the details and information translates over to our uses.

"The jungle" is the right word for it! Who knows what you're getting or who you're getting it from? That being said, that's where I got mine too. Weize brand, 50Ah. For the price, it was worth the gamble. And so far, I won. I guess I'm coming up on two years now of regular use with never a hint of a problem. However, looking at them now online, I can see that they are now being sold in a few different plastic housings. That could mean they're rebranding other makers batteries. It could mean they just switched plastic housings. Or it could mean they got bought out. So I hesitate to fully recommend them.

April of 2021 is when they began to impound the lake. It appears as though they've been stocking it pretty regularly. Here's a link to an interesting map: https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/lakes/fish_attractors.phtml Scroll down to the link for the habitat structure viewer, and it'll take you to an interactive map that shows what the area looked like before it was flooded. It also has locations of timber piles, fish attractors, and gravel beds. That's pretty handy. But you might need to open up a second map in Google or something so you can see where the boundaries are of the actual lake. Using these two together, you should be able to find plenty of areas worth checking out.

So you DON'T have an outboard? Is that right? If so, get a pair of Group 24 AGM Deep Cycle batteries. That's the easy way out. Brand doesn't matter. They're pretty much all the same these days. Just find whatever's cheapest. But, as noted, make sure your charger will work with them. Not all chargers have an AGM mode. Though most do.

This has been a terrible fishing year for me. The weather has cooperated better than most years, but I can't catch a thing. At first, I blamed the weather, but now, it's got to be something wrong with me. It's really taken some of the joy out of it. One thing I've learned, and it's something I already knew but for whatever reason I have to keep relearning throughout my life, is that if you're heart's not in it, don't do it. I pushed myself too many times this year to go fishing, and that's what's lead to burn out. It's a hobby. You should go because you want to, not because you feel an obligation to go. So I've taken some time away, and the burnout is slowly starting to lift. I got involved in some woodworking, and that helped. My relationship with fishing has always been as an escape. And at some point, it became too regular to be an escape. If you're doing it in every spare moment you have, it's not an escape from the ordinary, but a part of the ordinary. In order for something to feel special, it has to be rare enough to make it special.

I mean, this is a strong argument in my mind. Same with trolling. Trolling is seen as taking the sport out of fishing. It's so despised, that even amateur anglers who don't tournament fish often look down on it. At least in the LMB and SMB world. In any case, you can't deny that less effective means of catching fish than FFS have been banned for being too effective. Though, I doubt we'll see a ban on FFS unless it gets enough grass roots steam behind it that most people view it as a form of cheating. Either that or it becomes so effective that it does some serious damage to the bass populations of a lot of famous lakes and rivers. A lure company makes a maybe a dollar or so off selling a single A-rig. Meanwhile probably $100 or more are made off each FFS unit sold. And we all know that money talks.

Yeah, the more stuff you put on a kayak, the more you need a trailer. Not for the haulin', but for the loadin'. With my single trolling motor, it's still about a 15-minute ordeal at the ramp. And I've got it worked out like a well-choreographed ballet, without a single wasted movement. I typically look for lesser used ramps or try to hit them at times when they're less busy. But the tradeoff is I can fish more spots and more often with a motor. I avoided getting one for the first year because I wanted the exercise, but the ability to fish comfortably in 20mph winds with 30mph gusts is HUGE in windy Oklahoma. That's at least an extra 10-15 days of fishing per year, if you only go on weekends. Still, I do envy those with simpler setups. Not on the water. But definitely at the ramp. They look so relaxed!

I haven't checked, but usually McMaster-Carr is good for this type of stuff. Also sometimes eBay or Amazon.

It probably is. I'm not heavy into the hobby. Hence why I use a meat injector! I like to use Durham's Hard Water Putty instead of Plaster of Paris. I'll let it dry and then "cure" it in the oven for a few hours at a low setting, gradually raising the temperature to 250°F to get all of the water out and then coat it in 5 minute epoxy. It holds up better than Plaster of Paris and retains better detail, but it's still much more fragile than metal. Still, you can use the meat injector on the store-bought molds if you want. Depending on the connector, you might need to fill the gaps with something. I haven't had that issue yet with either of mine (I have 2oz. and 4oz. or 60ml and 120ml sized injectors). Just push them down into the hole and they seal well enough. I cut the needle part off of one of the caps and just use that.

I use a stainless steel meat injector. It cost me maybe $15? They're usually smaller than the typical bait injectors you buy, but if you're just doing singles, they're plenty. You might have to block off some worms (maybe using clay or something) or use multiple injections to fill up a 4-worm mold. Any open pour mold will have a flat side, which isn't something I'd think that you'd want with a Senko/Dinger style worm.

Here's what I do on long runs in my kayak with my trolling motor: troll. If I've got a 30-60 minute run to my next spot, I'll troll on my way. I'll often catch a fish and/or scout out some possible other locations. It's a good way to make use of otherwise wasted time. Now, instead of wasting 45 minutes, or 30 with a second motor, you're fishing and perhaps learning something about a bite pattern that you might have otherwise not known about.

Did you replace it with break-in oil?

I'd probably skip the second motor too. Going from 4mph to 6mph is just a 2mph jump. Yeah, it's also technically 50% faster, but the difference between a 30 minute run and 45 minute run isn't huge. Either way, it's still a long run. You're spending a lot of money, adding complexity (increasing the odds of something going wrong), adding weight, and adding time setting up and tearing down. And at some point, it's going to make more sense to get out of a kayak and get a jon boat with a gas motor. In a jon boat with a 9.9hp motor, you can hit 15mph, which will turn that 45 minute run into a 12 minute run, which is starting to approach something more significant. At that speed, you could actually fish some extra spots in a given day.

That's good information. But there's no way I'll be able to set the panic aside long enough to recall and put this information to use.

They've got waterproof storage hatches. You could cut a hole on your deck and install one of those to store your baits in. You might want to line it with some plastic to keep things from rolling around in there. You could use thick plastic bags, or a Tupperware type container and either plastic weld it or use silicone glue to secure it. Though, if your kayak is like my kayak, there's a solid core Styrofoam frame below the deck for rigidity and quietness. So you'd probably want to reinforce the floorboard to keep the kayak rigid. You could build that out of fiberglass reinforced wood, plastic, or aluminum. Or, and hear me out, stretching exercises. You can definitely lose mobility as you age, but you don't HAVE to. You're going to lose strength. That's just a fact of growing old. But I've seen plenty of old yogis who have proven beyond any doubt that you can remain flexible well into your senior years. It just takes a few minutes of daily stretching.

I use the Yum umbrella rig as well. It's just easy that way. One thing I do, that might be a bit of an outlier, is I use thin wire hooks on my A-rig. I prefer to use jig heads around the size of a Ned Rig or maybe a really large wire crappie jig head. Two reasons. One is weight. 1/16oz. is about as big a head as I want to use, as it gets harder to cast as you go up. And if I can keep the rig around 1-1.5oz in total, it makes a big difference when trying to throw them all day. And two is, with a thinner hook wire, I can often bend the hook to free the rig if I get caught. Use heavy braid, like 50#, and thinner hooks, and even if you do get snagged, you can usually winch it free to save most of your money. I do have to bend the hooks back fairly often. And you might lose some big fish doing that. But in the lakes I fish, you rarely see a bass over 3lbs, so it's a risk I'm willing to take. I'm not gonna lose a double-digit bass on these lakes, because they don't exist out here. And this way, I won't lose a double-digit (in dollars) lure chasing these small bass.

Rather than start a new thread... I found an antique store with a bunch of old lures. Some were behind glass and priced as collector's items, which means they're not for me. But some were just a buck or two, and these were the ones that interested me. I have a hunch that with the increased fishing pressure, throwing baits these fish haven't seen has to be some sort of advantage, right? First up were some Rapala Fat Raps. I guess they make these again, but I haven't seen one in a store in decades, so when I found these at an antique store, I bought them out. Great for slow cranking. I consider these to be a finesse crankbait. Kind of like a Shad Rap, only a little different look. These were some of my favorite lures as a kid, and I'm glad to finally own some again. Next, I bought a bunch of Heddon River Runts, Midget Digits, and whatever other names they sold this profile under. I'd seen these in tackleboxes of every adult as a kid, but no one threw anymore them by the time I was learning to fish, so I was familiar with them, but didn't know anything about them. I was surprised to find they don't float. So I guess they're kind of a cross between a lipless and squarebill? Anyway, while timing the countdown, I discovered that they have a really nice motion on the fall. So I figured these would be excellent for jigging for suspended fish or fishing bait balls. I haven't had any luck with one yet, but they definitely fill a niche that nothing else I own really does. And once the baitfish start balling up and heading into the shallows (should be soon now), I bet these will kill! Lastly, I bought a bunch of Heddon Hellbenders. I guess they're making these again, or never stopped making them, but I don't think I've ever seen one in a store in all my life. I've seen plenty in tackle boxes though. But again, no one uses them anymore. So after some experimentation, I found out they don't cast very well for their size. That's probably why I don't see people using them. But they do pull cleanly through just about anything! Rocks, weeds, submerged timber, it doesn't seem to matter with these. So I started trolling with them, and sure enough, they catch fish! I dragged them through the nastiest stuff I could find (because at $2 a piece, I figure why not), and never lost one! I was really impressed by these. Being a kayak angler, I spend a lot of time slowly moving from spot to spot, so trolling is a way to make use of wasted time. I'm gonna get a lot of use out of these.

An anchor saved my bacon once. I went fishing when a huge storm popped up out of nowhere, which happens from time to time here. No lightning, but heavy winds and light rains. I was stuck in my kayak about a half mile from the ramp with 40+mph headwinds between me and the ramp. Every wave was crashing over my bow and flooding my kayak, and the only way I could make progress with to paddle at a dead sprint, which I couldn't keep up for more than a minute without running out of breath. I alternated between that and throwing my anchor out in front of me to allow myself a moment to catch my breath and the repeat the process over and over again. It took a couple of hours to make it back, and I was completely worn out by the time I did, but it worked. I had contemplated going with the wind and current, banking my kayak and just walking back to the car, but that was a something I hoped to avoid. It would have been about a 5 mile walk back to the car through thick, poorly managed, forest and brush, and then, eventually, another 5 mile trip back through it to retrieve my kayak once the weather calmed down, if someone else hadn't found it and run off with it before then. On the plus side, I used this experience to convince myself that a trolling motor on my kayak was a safety issue, and not just me wanting to be lazy and avoid exercise.