BassKat

Take a look at what you can get a used war eagle 754LDV for. It's 17'10" aluminum shallow V, can handle big water if there's not too much wind. They are built really solid and last a lifetime. On 2-strokes, I'd like nothing more than to have an old Johnson Evinrude, but things are way different on sourcing OEM parts than 10 years ago. The second you put an aftermarket part on it it's not the same. If anyone knows different, that would be music to my ears. Around here, it's gotten tough.

Suzuki makes an extremely light 2.5hp outboard that you could consider vs electric options.

I love fishing wacky rigs in laydowns and have tried numerous weedless hooks, including some of the good hooks mentioned here. I use the Decoy Cover Finesse HD Worm 220 and can't say enough about how weedless it is. However, I'm going to try the Hayabusa Spin Muscle that @RRocket shared above. That's an intriguing and unique approach to weedlessness that may allow me to get even more aggressive than I've been able to with the excellent Decoy HD.

@BrianMDTX I fish them mostly shallow. When the water is in the 55 - 70 range, athough I fish dingy water and can rarely see beds, I often choose a shorter 5" lizard as a pegged 5/16 texas or jika rig. I also fish 6+" weightless lizards high in the column or with a G7 Tungsten 3/64oz Screw Weight to get it down in the column a little as a search lure. The retrieve is usually moderate, so you can't cover as much water as some search lures, but if they aren't taking faster search lures, it can work really well. I think lizard profiles are especially interesting as they look natural swimming as a finesse search lure. The profile makes sense versus things like craw profiles that may look more natural slowly bumped along the bottom.

I'm in the south (central MS). Lizards are a staple for me, especially during the spawn. Also, if you feel your fish have seen what you're throwing in that category a few too many times, at a minimum, I'd recommend adding it as a change of pace lure. Also, it works well when your fish may want a little less bulk than a larger creature.

Not when the lightning strikes!

Mine would be fishing storms and throwing bait casters into insanely high winds. When the winds are in the 25-45mph range, I'm more than just game for it. My kryptonite? Lighting.

@NorcalBassin Sorry for the speculation. I was hoping they went peacefully. Terrible news.

I went on an inshore redfish trip and lots of the guides down there swore by chromapops. I took a lot of different pairs out and Maui Jim HCL bronze performed really well. I wasn't able to compare MJ HCL Bronze head to head with Chrompop but would really like to.

RIP. Has to be carbon monoxide. Let's take this as inspiration to check out detectors friends.

I fish a ton on land (extremely high winds), in a War Eagle 754 LDV (big water), and in my Hobie Lynx and Compass in smaller water or extremely dense cover on bigger water. For me, my kayaks are all about fishing backwater creeks that larger boats cannot access, pad fields, log jams, etc. Hobie's Mirage Drive 180 with kick-up fins was a must because in crossing submerged logs etc, #1 I do not wear out or tear up my drive due to the kick-up fins and #2 I can literally get up high speeds, push one pedal as far away as possible and bring one as close as possible to place my fins against the kayak's bottom to jump over logs. I do this a LOT! With traditional pedal drives, you have to approach a log, pull the drive out, paddle across, put the drive back in, and repeat. Mirage is also quiet and efficient. Hobies are expensive so I don't think that people who don't fish in these places need one. You can find them used at times.

I "think" what AbelG is targeting is Salminus brasiliensis versus the Mahi mahi (Coryphaena hippurus). Both are amazing fish.

@AbelG Very cool picture. There's a redfish lure that looks similar but I can't think of the name. Your posts about Golden Dorados first brought the species to my attention - they are beautiful fish we enjoy hearing about them!

@TnRiver46 My best friend's from Brownsville and is a big hunter with his ear permanently nailed to the tracks. He said there have been 4 west TN sightings verifies by the TWRA. Just so many deer, bound to happen I guess. Check out this video about cougars coming across the MS river into west TN and TWRA saying they're there to stay

@Swamp Girl Your place is absolutely amazing. I'm more of a minimalist than a purist, but have a touch of purist in me. Your life playbook is spot on.