Zebco is better than Hannay, bar none. But I must admit, I’m very impressed with Lew’s. Especially their bait casters. I’ve got 3 of them, I did have 4 until I lost one in the lake haha (don’t ask). Spring is almost here! That means whopper bass are about to be moving shallow. What is your strategy? What worked for you in the past? What do you even fish for? I’ve been researching drop shot rigs, Texas rigs, Carolina rigs, because it seems lotsa folks have killer results with plastic worms & creature baits & such but I’m still a crank bait guy. I like to troll crank baits from the kayak, mainly because it has proven to be more successful in my experience & I get to do some ‘kayaking’ too while I go fishing haha. But always looking to try a new approach & for some reason, I just might trust some of y’all’s advice.
I’m fond of a collapsible ultralight and fishing my way down a whitewater river, stopping to hit a few eddies for smallmouth or sunfish. The Panther Martin spinner 1/8 oz is my favorite.
Oh and I like the triggerspin reels, simple and foolproof one handed.
Good stuff dude! Do you just troll with the current?? Or cast as you go? I prefer open faced reels over anything with the lid on it; it helps me spot loops & twists in the line before they become a problem.
I’ll pull over and find a good spot. These days I’ve been using our personal whitewater raft so easier to fish while moving vs my kayak.
Roger that. That’s a good looking spinner bait! Probably would work great for trout around here.
Oh, let’s see. Early spring I’ll be mainly throwing spinnerbaits with double willows and a swimbait on it for a bit more “substance” for the fish to see. As spring moves on and into summer I’ll pretty much always be throwing a Texas rig, wacky rig or tubes. Mix in some topwater frogs here and there just depending on how the bite is. My personal favorites are creature baits like craws, salamanders, and of course I use senkos. Late summer I’ll probably be mainly throwing a crankbait trying to get a few more bigguns on the boat before it gets chilly again. Not much for deep fishing so when they go deep I’m pretty much done. My buddy is just dying to take me walleye fishing so I’ll probably give that a go this year at some point. Never caught one before.
A wacky rig senko is almost cheating. Get yourself a wacky rig tool and a bag of o-rings and you’ll be set.
I’m personally pretty much always fishing for bass but I’ve had decent luck with the same baits on quite a few different species. Got a nice bluegill last year on the tiniest little rig I carry.
You got it goin on sir! Of course you like the Texas rig haha… My uncle was a die-hard Walleye fisher. He used a thing called a Man-O-Lure or something like that tipped with a worm. Jig it & let it fall. It was basically a silver spoon but there is definitely a flow to targeting Walleye. You oughtta go man! I believe the frogs just might take me to the next level this year. I’ve got a feeling…
I hope you meant ‘Onion Rings’ haha, cause that’s what I’m gonna use.
O rings are for people that work.
Do you use a drop shot with it? Where do you put the weight?
I probably will. He was trying to get me to go last year but we just never linked up to make it happen. Are they good eating?
Lol the o-ring wacky rig tool makes it easy. No work to it. Just put the bait in the tube and roll an o-ring down the tube and onto the bait. Can double up the o-rings to change the orientation of the hook to help make it a bit more weedless too.
Dude, I’m a total catch & release kinda fellow but Walleye are supposed to be the best fish you’ll eat outta fresh water. If I was gonna eat something from around here, it’d have to be a trout. They are stocked & probably not as contaminated as everything else but Walleye do reach a decent size. The state record here is like 25 lbs or so. That’ll put a bend in your rod.
No weights on a wacky rig senko. Well for me at least. Like I said I’m mainly targeting 15’ and shallower in the kayak so I don’t need any weight to get down there with a senko. I guess you could rig up a weight if you wanted to go deeper but not sure how effective that would be. Only thing down deep like that that I shoot for is cats feeding on the bottom. Love fried catfish!
This is wonderful. I hate work.
Same here. Catching fish is enough work for me lol
I’m mostly fishing 5 feet or less but I do catch catfish off artificial lures when I least expect it. There is definitely a timing factor as to what kinda fish will be in the shallow waters at X time of year. Looking fwd to the season! I might get me a fancy boat next year after I get rich & have the pizza guy meet me at the boat ramp.
Had to give it a Google… these wacky Senkos just look wrong, like a Ford Escort going sideways down the interstate.
Lol yeah they’re funny looking but the bass absolutely love the action they put out. Only bad part is the senkos take a beating and they’re not cheap.
