buzzed bait

the frabill conservation net is the way to go in my opinion. i have a yak attack one for the kayak, heavy and not fast in the water but ideal for one handed leverage. on the boat though the frabill conservation is what i prefer. it telescopes, has a big flat net perfect for landing the fish and it's light in hand and quick in the water. i've used mine for about 18 months with zero issues.

In

Need to step this one up! IMG_4360.mov

In

Slow crawlin’ in 55-57 degree water, let’s go!! IMG_3959.mov

YES!!!! Glad to see you go back to back TJ!!! Can’t lie about the video weigh in…

In

I sure tried to pull something out today!! It got super windy and that’s when I found the bigger ones slippin!! Landed 5 fish today these were the better ones at 6-3 and 8-1 both ate the PB rat cranked subsurface. Now I just gotta find my way back in this thing for a 3rd year in a row!!

About to launch and give it all I’ve got one more day! I logged 49 hours on the water between Friday and Monday, all at a new place I’d never been to before. Probably not ideal, but I knew the place had the quality I’m looking for. Had a damn blast, especially since they wanted to eat the crawler all day long! Caught some healthy 2-3 pounders but managed a 4-5, 4-6, 5-7 and a 6-6. I mean you can’t be mad at that…. Hoping to land a new PB today, would be the most epic day to do so!!

Service sucks and was having trouble loading the video last night. IMG_3392.mov

Missed like 6 fish on the new wooden battlewing crawler first half of the day. Got smart and went to lighter ST-36 hooks like I should have all along and landed everyone after that including this 6-6 South Carolina beauty!

with glide baits i usually try them out both with and without a split ring to see how the action differs, most of the time i prefer them without. on multipiece jointed swimmers, i'm always tying direct to the bait and on lipped baits i'm almost always using a split/solid ring combo. i'm just doing whatever i feel gets the better action out of the bait, for the stress on the knot, i just try to re-tie as much as my brain will allow!

I really like the LDC white label ML for the tiny klash and frankly for any treble hook baits on that "lighter" side of the weight spectrum. casts the bait with ease and still has enough backbone to get a good hook set towards the end of a long cast.

i would consider buying some 6.75" rising son top hook line thrus from 3:16 baits. i've tried to turn a few baits into top hooks and could never really keep them from wanting to roll to one side or the other. best thing about the rising sons is you can fish them fast, medium or dead slow and they still have the desired action....

Had my PB for a while on the pink workhorse. That thing gets hammered in late winter and early spring, clear/stained/dirty water doesn’t really matter…

Let’s go, waited all year to say “in”!!!

if you're talking about a champion 807 they're like $270 and the LDC is gonna run you $350 so the price difference isn't quite as drastic in those terms. I know you said it's out, but if i was only able to leave the house with one single rod for soft baits it would absolutely 100% be a LDC Heavy White Label. it's the most versatile rod in that whole lineup it will set the hook but also just enough flex to keep them pinned.

i'm kinda opposite of others here, but i've fished out of a kayak since like 2010 and used to it by now. i have a hobie pro angler 12 and i sit much more than i stand, just way easier to keep the kayak in the right direction while seated. i usually always have rods behind vertically and never really lob or cast overhand, much more of a roll cast from the side than anything else. i'm often fishing for 10+ hours out of the kayak and am usually no more fatigued on it than my boat or the bank or anywhere else for that matter.

I literally never fish where there are smallies, but a pink glide is a go to for me… held my PB for a while with this 7.5 pound largemouth.