07Rapala

Thanks for your concern for my wife and her sister. My brother-in-law is from New Orleans and he’s going to be with them some of the time (he’s also working events). My sister-in-law lived there for a couple years so she knows her way around. Apparently they’re staying at a B&B a block of the parade route in the Garden District. I don’t think they’re going to the French Quarter at all, let alone Bourbon St. I though I’d stick around to see one parade before I skip town, to get a taste for it, but I’m sure I’d get tired of it pretty quick and get stir crazy being stuck in a city.

Thanks all for the input. A big part of what I want out of this trip is to experience some real cypress swamps and coastal marshes. I'm going to be bringing a camera long toHonestly, the fishing is a secondary goal... but you know, if I'm on the water, I'm going to be tossing something out there to see who I can get to bite. With that said... I looked at Chicot Lake when I was researching the trip. Apparently the biggest bald cypress in LA can be found in the park. That said, I think its a littler further out than I want to go. BayouSlide, that photo of Lake Faust Point looks amazing to me. Very weird, to me at least, to see a lake that muddy. How does that not settle-out? So maybe I don't spend so much time fishing in that lake, or don't expect much while I explore it. What drew me to that park is that there are some paddle-in camp sites, and overall, it looked like the park and/or the Achafalaya Basin adjacent to it would have some pretty 'natural' swamps. I will also check out Lake Verret and maybe Grassy Lake if I can get up there. Whoever said that Google satellite images would lie to me, yeah I get that. I can imagine tree cover hides a lot and fluctuating water levels changes the landscape quite a bit.

I appreciate your concern. I didn't want to fill my initial post with too much excess text, but perhaps I could have been a bit more clear. I plan to drop-off my wife and sister-in-law in New Orleans, Then I'm going to find somewhere to camp and fish/paddle/hike etc. I will probably go back to get them later. I was thinking of camping at Lake Fausse Point State Park. I could paddle/fish around that lake and the park, or I could launch from one of the boat launches on the other side of the levee into Bayou Chene. I would certainly be open to other ideas where I can get off the beaten path with a canoe... and find fish. Oh, and thanks for the tip about the water possibly starting to rise. I kept reading that water levels would rise in "spring" but I don't have a good frame of reference for when spring is in LA. Up here in WI, the lakes are still solid ice into mid-March.

My wife and her sister want to do Mardi Gras. I'd much rather spend my time paddling my canoe around the Atchafalaya. Being from WI, that's a whole different world for me. Does anyone have any tips on what the bass will be up to that time of year and where (and how) to look for them? I'm assuming that they will be in early pre-spawn and feeding on crayfish around that time? With the shallow waters in most areas (I assume) and ample vegetation and wood in the water, I was thinking of focusing more on jigs, T-rigged soft-plastics and flukes. I'd limit my treble-hooked lures to just a couple lipless crankbaits, maybe a couple finesse crank baits, and a handful of spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. Am I on the right track here? I want to keep things simple for this trip and limit how many boxes of tackle I take. Thanks!

So far I've been happy with the Plano bag to drop into a standard milk crate. I do need to do a bit more organizing inside the box and fix up how I connect the buckles and shoulder strap, including cutting extraneous buckles off. The only real problem I am having is now that I CAN carry more tackle, I AM carry more tackle. Its getting too heavy!

Well, that's a wrap on my Traverse City trip! I caught some big fish, but it took a lot of patience to get them. The area I was in on the Old Mission Peninsula has a shallow shelf that extends 100-200' from shore and slowly descents to about 10' of depth, before dropping precipitously into over 100' of water. A lot of this shelf is just bare sand, but there are areas of rock, boulders and short vegetation. The drop-off tends to be pure sand, but in some areas has biocrust or that very short grass. I was able to catch fish both in the shallow rocks and on the drop. In the shallows, I mostly caught them in the morning. The edge seemed to be any time. I never caught more than 2 fish in the same spot at the same time, though I did find a spot in the shallows where I caught 3 fish over 4 days. It looked just like everyplace else in that rock garden, not sure why they liked that spot. Along the dropoff is where I might catch 2 fish within a couple casts. The spots that held fish were either points or pockets in the dropoff, or areas where the drop was more gradual or created a little shelf of sorts, especially those with some plant life, even if it was sparse. Spot on the spot. Despite trying many different baits, I caught 1 fish on a hula grub, one on a Ned TRD and one on a swimbait. The rest were all on a drop shot, and all of those were on a Berkley Flatworm. Thanks for the help folks.

Thanks Dwight. I've been watching some videos and looking closely at maps. Lots of structure in the 5-10' range near where I'll be (East Bay), rocks, boulders, weed beds, maybe even a sunken ship? Then it drops quickly to the abyss. I'll take a second look for structure a bit deeper. I may have found some weed beds. When people talk about fish up "shallow" vs "deep" what depth range are they talking about? How deep is the thermocline typically?

I'm heading up to Traverse City MI later this week. Where to start looking for fish. I'll just have a canoe and my eyeballs for finding fish. Water temp is about 71° right now. How deep are they usually this time of year? There is a moderate amount of shallow (6' or less) structure in the area I have access to, and a good amount of deep structure (10'-30').

I'm more and more sold on the Plant Kayak Crate Soft Bag. I should be able to fit at least 8 3600 boxes in it. That allows me to sort out my tackle by type. Can't carry everything, but anything I would need for a day. It will be lower profile and more stable in the boat. And I can bring it in the house to re-up with new tackle and into my dad's boat just as easy. I don't think I'll ever use the side bags (that's where my rods go), but it will be nice to have that top pocket/lid to keep everything from falling out.

I’m not sure what I’m looking for either. I’m imagining a bag that fits the exact same stuff as a crate, so I could just move the boxes from one place to another. Or… do I just make the crate my go-everywhere tackle holder? I saw that Plano crate bag, but I don’t think the side flaps would be much use to me. Even if I just toss those in a corner, could still be an option. On the one hand, I’m definitely over-thinking this. On the other, I’d like a good system because currently my tackle management is a mess.

TLDR: Does anyone have a good recommendation for a system to easily transfer tackle in 3600 or 3700 boxes from kayak to boat? On caveat: I will have the tackle behind me in the kayak and won't be able too see it, so it needs to be easy to access behind my back and grab-able by touch alone. I have been doing most of my fishing from a small pack-boat style canoe for the past 3 years. My dad just gifted me with an old, home-built 17' cruiser kayak. I think it will be great for covering water and fishing on the 3,000-10,000 acre lakes near my home, but the cockpit is fairly small so I need to organize all my gear carefully. Meanwhile, my current tackle bag holds 5, 3600 boxes. I need more space for the tackle I want to carry and even this little box won't fit in-front of me in the new kayak. So, I'm going to start using my Mk.1, stolen-from-behind-the-grocery-store milk crate for tackle storage. This crate will fill either 7, 3700 boxes or 7-9 3600 boxes. I like the lower profile of the 3600 does and they would be easier to secure under a bungie. But, since I sit on the floor in my solo canoe and kayak, and the crate will be behind me, I will have to reach blindly behind my back to grab the boxes, so it would be easier to memorize the locations of a smaller number of larger boxes. But, also need to be able to dump all this in a tackle bag to take with me when fishing with my father in his boat or in the family canoe. But it's hard to find a tackle bag that will fit as many boxes as the crate (particularly if I stick with the 3600 boxes), without a lot of unnecessary bells and whistles. So, does anyone have a good system for moving your tackle from a kayak to a motorized boat and elsewhere in-between?

Rod, is medium power I think just a bit under 7'. I have stolen an inline spinner, beetlespin and spare pliers from my daughter's tackle box. I'll but them back before she needs them. As for keeping things from melting, I have a compartment under the floor in the back, and I've got some little insulated pouches. I think putting one of those pouches in the compartment should be enough insulation to keep it from getting to a melting point. But we'll see.

I’m putting together a small kit for my car flow when I pass by a good looking steam or lake and have a few minutes to spare. Lakes around here are very weedy, stream can be muddy, weedy, tea-stained or crystal clear and rocky or sandy. I’ve already got a collapsable rod and old spinning reel, but what lures? I’m thinking mostly finesse stuff, such as: senkos rapala minnow, maybe a shad rap square bill ned craw Swimbaits toads tubes and/or grubs Any other ideas? It’s a lot of plastics, but I think I have a compartment in the car that won’t get too hot to melt them.

Thanks for all the replies. A couple thoughts after reading them: Yeah, last night as I was going to bed I was thinking about my casting technique. I still default to a spinning rod casting technique and have to mindfully apply a more bait caster friendly technique. It's also possible I was over-spooled... but that problem has now solved itself as I had to toss about 30 yards of line last night due to damage from the wind knots. I'm still not sold on Floro as a main line. I was running a spinnerbait yesterday with a big blade and I couldn't feel whether it was spinning or not. I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to tell when a crainbait is bouncing off something and when it's a fish strike. I've been spoiled with the sensitivity and response of braid for a long time.

Long time fisherman, picked up my first (Daiwa) baitcaster last year, which I use with braid-to-leader. Just picked-up a Shimano Curado to use with moving baits, so I put 12lbs SPRO Gouken Fluorocarbon on it. I'm having issues with the line kind of exploding off the reel when I cast. I'm 90% sure this is a memory issue, because the line seems to burst off the reel and unspool whenever there is not tension on it. Though it could be a brake issue since the Shimano braking system is different than what I'm use to. I put some line conditioner on it, and I've cast it maybe 100 times now. The problem is getting better, but not going away. Any thoughts?

I was asking a similar question last year and folks pointed me towards the Denali Kovert spinning rod. I got the 7'6" medium-moderate model. I like it a lot, but I think the 6'10" would be ideal.

In the bucket it looks like it’s about 60-degrees nose down, I swear it was more out on the lake. Looks like the original hooks. I’m going to put a bit heavier hook on the back, it’s rising faster than I would like anyway.

Mine is down more like a 70 or 80-degree angle. Maybe I messed with the weight distribution too much. I'll check it out tonight.

Senko. Texas rigged, unweighed. Local lakes are pretty weedy. This fouls less than a whacky rig. You can also drag it over lily pads (I prefer a Yum Dinger for this due to the hook pocket), drop it at cover, treat it like a low-slow fluke, or sweep it through flats. I think I've caught half my fish over the past 3 years since I've gotten back into fishing on an unweighted stick bait. I'm surprised so many people replied with spinnerbait. Though I've had a few good days, under certain condition with a spinnerbait, they generally produce nothing for me. I've always chalked that up to fishing in highly pressured waters.

I was using a Vision 110+1 Jr. yesterday and noticed that the lure held a vertical orientation in the water. Is this normal? I'm 90% sure it was nose down, but can't remember exactly right now. I may or may not have traded out some hooks last fall to adjust the buoyancy and get it to sink very slowly. Maybe I messed something up?

I'll be passing through NW Arkansas in early April to do some mountain biking. I think I'll have a couple mornings free to do some fishing, and I'm not sure where I would start. Beaver Lake is right there and some of the creeks there look like they have some smallmouth. I'm mostly a canoe or shore fisherman, so hitting the creek makes sense and it looks like there are some places to rent a kayak. I'm from WI, I really don't know what to expect in AR in early April. Will the fish be pretty close to spawning? Where are some good places to hit-up? Any input would help. I plan to bring a pretty limited kit of 1-2 rods and a very small box of tackle, so any help narrowing down my tackle selection would be helpful

Thanks for all the input guys. Yesterday was a case in-point. I don't think the fish were in a mood for a shad rap, but even if they were I was having a hard time getting it to them. It was fine when I was casting with the wind behind me but cross-wind casts didn't get very far (medium-light, extra-fast rod spinning rod). I bought a flicker shad and tried to silence it by drilling into it and super-gluing the beads together... ended up with a bunch of water in it. It cast great! But sunk pretty fast. Fish are really slowing down up here so crbnkbait season, even for shad raps, is probably over. But I'll spend some time this winter playing with a few and seeing if I can add even a little weight. You guys proposed a lot of good-locking options... even if some are a little pricy!

Seems like some typo or auto correct there. Loading the what? Are you talking about heavier split rings or weighted hooks? I started another thread to talk about rod set-up. What I'm asking here is what other lures are similar to Shad Raps in performance, but easier to cast? Surely there must be some more "modern" lure that does the same job?

The user name is more about nostalgia. I still regularly throw #9's and #11's, which are still pretty darn light. I am afraid that IMX Pro is way outside my budget. I want to keep it under $200. The 13 Fishing rod looks closer, but I can't find the specs if it's a fast or a medium-fast. A few months back I bought a Denali Kovert 7'6" medium-medium specifically for this purpose as it was rated down to a 1/8oz lure. However, I have found that to be a bit of a stretch, it is firmly a medium power rod and really more of a medium-fast action. It's a great jerk bait rod, but no better at tossing the Rapalas than the rods I already had. Living in WI, I have a fondness for St. Croix Rods. Their Premier fast-action rods have a pretty soft tip, so in absence of a true medium-light power, medium action rod, maybe I just pick up a medium-light Premier and call it a day? I already have a ML extra-fast Victory rod which does toss the Rapalas fairly well as well, but usually when I'm using finesse jigs on that one I want to be using the Rapalas at the same time.

A couple rods I use I have a 7'3" medium-light, extra fast and a 7'6" medium power, medium-fast action both with 2500 reels and 8-10lbs braid to floro leader. I feel like it's the light weight of the lure and the wind resistance that's the main challenge. Sometimes you can plan to cast with the wind at your back, but not always.