FishTax

Wow, frozen protein bar and the camelback trick are both great ideas! I quit bringing protein bars because they melt fast and I don't want to fool with cooler on short trip, I just bring a big yeti cup. I'll try freezing one next time out!

I also drink coffee from a thermos if I'm morning fishing, forgot to put that in my original post. I eat while pedaling to next location so I don't miss any casts. I like the fruit idea several of you posted, I'm going to try to do that going forward to be more healthy. Lots of interesting comments on this, keep them coming!

Do you bring food with you on fishing trips? If so, what do you bring? I usually only bring peanut butter crackers and water but am curious to see what others do.

I like to bank fish private ponds in our area. Most of them have basically no pressure compared to the lakes I kayak on. It's nice to get consistent bites instead of going all day for only a few. I can use different baits than usual, etc. For example, yesterday I went to a buddy's 7 acre pond, he's having a grass problem he's upset about, but I happily got on a frog bite almost immediately that lasted longer than I could in the heat. There is never a frog bite at my lakes, they kill the grass because it's a water supply. I also don't understand how that works, but different subject I guess.

Fall is my favorite time of year, but not for fishing. I like winter fishing in NC. A nice 50 degree day, lake to myself, and seems like all the bites are big.

I'd say 3. I usually get a monster backlash at some point when in kayak from being careless, so if only one rod it'd be spinning which is what I did today at a local pond. But my 3 would be spinning m/f, mh/f jig rod, and then probably a mh/f that can be used pretty universally. I think line matters a lot as well, so I'll note that one rod would have mono and one braid, probably, although I'm thinking of going back to all mono but that's a different thread topic.

I'd bring 2 rods, even if rigged very similar, because there's a great chance I'll blow up the first one somehow in first 5 min.

I never lie, but do sometimes take time off to fish. I've certainly taken calls on the water and dealt with issues with rod in hand. I try to carry a Bluetooth so I can have both hands if I have to land one while on phone. I probably would today but I think it's the hottest day of the year so far and I'm tough until real feel crosses 100, after that I love my work more than my fishing..

Adding to this, I just got a mission brand sun hat that cools you when it's wet. I wore it to Dollywood during 102 real feel and it worked great. Highly recommend. I got it on prime day for under $20. Definitely my new fishing hat.

Exactly. I think what I'm saying and @Darth-Baiter seems to also feel is that I'm totally incapable of being ready for some reason lol. When I get a big one my mind goes blank, I don't know where the scale is, my rod is in the way and I'm trying to keep it from falling in and sinking, I can't get my phone out of my pocket, etc.

I need to try this. Didn't know it was a thing, I made a redneck version myself last year but it's clumsy and I don't trust the grip. I hate having the fish out of water while I gather myself. I never have my scale and phone ready for some reason when I catch a good one.

What's interesting to me is at my local lake, last time out it was pretty busy but I only saw 2 people fishing offshore, and one of them was looking for crappie. That is pretty typical from my observations. Most of the locals just burn the banks, even the ones with bass boats loaded with electronics, and I can hear them cussing all across the lake at how bad the bite is, etc. I think next time out I may challenge myself to stay offshore the entire time out. Even with a crappy old 2D sonar unit and transducer that has seen better days and can't even pick up a brush pile unless it's a full size tree, I know where some offshore places are..

Hey Tom I'm reading the Iovino book you recommended, good stuff. I'll certainly be focusing on my finesse worm game the next few times out!

That's pretty cool!

@Darth-Baiter I actually got an inflatable 2 person kayak for $100 I'm going to start taking him on to see how he does. Will probably be rough for old dad to paddle that thing, it sucks by myself because it's basically a glorified air mattress but I already confirmed I can catch bass out of it so it'll do! If that goes well, we'll see about getting him a real one. I saw a cool thing someone rigged up in their Old Town front storage hatch, basically turned it into a kids seat. I think I could do that if I clean it out, not sure I want to clean it out though

Back on topic... I have an old town pdl 106 and love it as well. I can stand in boat wakes most of the time as you said. I don't have location of everything figured out yet, still getting it set up but I am not tempted by a bass boat at all right now. I think as my kids get older I may want to get a Jon boat so they can go, but that's the only reason I'd change. And I may just get them yaks and solve that too!

@Pat Brown incredible fish! Great to see a monster come from local waters, especially this time of year, that's nuts! Motivated me to keep getting after them even mid day. What an awesome story and fish!

I dangle my feet while I fish from kayak. I also wear a mission hat that works like a snap towel so I wet it when I get hot and it cools me off fast. I'm relatively comfortable up to low 90s in that setup and with sun clothes covering everything else.

Bass talk live podcast just did a good episode on these and talked about different ways to use nail weights on toads along with retrievals, etc. I'm going to try to find the video version because I listened in the car and felt like I missed parts from audio only.

I made a little trip to academy after work yesterday. You guys convinced me I need to try spoons on these fish who don't like me, so the bait monkey won this round. Also going to try a much larger lipless (5/8) than I usually throw (3/8) to see what the fish think. If only they'd tell me...

I have a crappy one and can see it. Try going to deepest part of lake, turn sensitivity up, and look for it. I just saw it for the first time this weekend and was more excited about figuring that out than catching a fish haha.

I love @Team9nine Dr. P shirt, clearly the bass did too! Maybe he has it dialed in on the fashion side and we need to get on board with ripped jeans and Dr. P shirts to catch more bass!

I lose mine in wood too frequently to wear them out. I do have one I may need to sharpen soon, checked it this weekend and it still drew blood but not as fast as the others…

Thanks! I don't have a spoon but have several lipless. When you say flutter, do you mean just let it sink for a few seconds? I could burn a lipless through the shad ball also, right? I've never caught one on any type of crank so I need to build some confidence there for sure before I invest much more beyond my one box that's full of skunk baits! Now I'm excited to try these techniques, thanks guys! Funny thing, I saw probably 15 people fishing besides me, everyone else was burning the shallows, I've noticed no one fishes off shore on this lake except crappie guys which seems weird since I can clearly see the bass on my sonar. Everyone also says this lake is really tough, which just motivates me more to catch them! I'm hoping with these tips I can hit some much less pressured fish and start increasing my numbers each trip. Thanks again, y'all are the best!

I've run a toad with 4/0 ewg hook in shallows for a morning top water. I prefer black. Caught several that way. I like to run it where is just barely breaking the surface, with some pauses, and sometimes I'll even kind of pop it for something different. To set the hook, I try to give them a couple seconds after the hit before I yank it hard...