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I've never fished before, I don't think I've ever even touched a fishing rod outside of walking by them in retail stores. I'm trying to keep things simple, but I don't wanna actually complicate poo poo for myself by trying to keep it simple. My plan is to spend under 50 bucks on a 6-7ish foot long moderate-fast travel rod (probably multipart but maybe telescoping?), attach some line directly to it without a reel rated at the same or slightly lower lbs as the rod, and...I actually haven't thought of the last bit exactly but hook/lure/bait seems like I can figure it out whenever since it is less of an investment and it'll likely be changing frequently. Anyway I want to put that along with a cheap kayak in my car and drive to random lakes, paddle around and see what bites. Is this a bad idea and I should really suck it up and figure out how reels work? Is this a bad idea for other reasons? I'd eventually wanna be able to process and cook some fish right on the water, but that's not an immediate goal, for now I'll just bring lots of beef jerky or something. Brut fucked around with this message at 08:30 on Apr 15, 2024 |
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Apr 15, 2024 07:17
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Southern Cassowary posted:trying to figure out how to go without a reel is going to be more complicated than just spending a little time figuring out a spinning reel, they're not really complicated. watch a couple of youtube videos and you'll have it down in 15 minutes max. if you're really attached to the no reel idea, maybe look into tenkara, but i've never done it. I suppose if I am gonna use a reel, from what I can tell (apologies if the following sentence is terribly wrong) there's a type of fishing where you cast out and then slowly reel in hoping for a bite on the way back, and another type where you start reeling only once you've hooked something (or if you gave up and wanna recast), I am aware that I might change my mind once I'm actually on the water but at least in theory that first option sounds awful, I do not want to sit there continuously reeling all the time, so maybe that narrows things down? Southern Cassowary posted:rod length/power/action are going to be dependent on your location and what fish you're chasing, if you want to eat panfish that's a different ballgame than catfish, for example Southern Cassowary posted:i would also consider how cheap you want to be with the kayak - jumping up to 700-800 dollars for a decent entry level sit on top like a crescent primo is going to be a massive quality of life upgrade over the 200-300 dollar walmart/tractor supply kayaks, and it might hold some resale value. you also might find people's used kayaks on fb marketplace/craigslist/etc, i'd get a used old town/native/other name brand over a new cheap kayak every day of the week. So I drive a Honda Fit that just has a flat roof that's kinda notorious for bending if you try to strap a kayak on it with pool noodles/foam blocks/those $50 softish things from Walmart, and when I look at metal roof racks I see people writing not to buy $100 ones cuz those can fly off and I should get the $250 ones, then I see people saying not to get the $250 ones and I should spend like 600 dollars or some poo poo? ("Thule" gets thrown around a lot) Anyway I said gently caress all that and took a measuring tape to the inside of my car, turns out I can comfortably fit about 103 inches rear-to-dash, and maybe a few more inches if I'm willing to have a kayak sit somewhat on the dash. As far as I can tell, that means I have a few different options: Buying an inflatable kayak, which is between about 90 bucks to infinity, seems like they're fine until suddenly they're really not fine. Buying a brand new folding kayak, which either means handing like a grand over to a company like Brooklyn Kayak Company or one of those other ones importing Vicking Molding or similar kayaks, or trying to import one (or several because container shipping) myself via alibaba, in both cases the price difference is relatively minor to upgrade to a pedal drive model, thus the links I included. Buying a thin-material folding kayak like the $350 Tucktec or their smaller $250 model Boto, or the much more expensive competitor, Oru Kayak. Comedy options: Buying a used "BIC Yakka" (Yes, the lighter and pen company), a 2 piece kayak that has an inflatable component, these are 20 years old and were bad when they were new, the only one I saw sold seemed like the seller didn't even know there should be an inflatable part. Buying a used "Origami Paddler" folding kayak, these are not too hard to find, but seem to be terrible in a variety of ways. Buying a used (or new I guess) folding kayak from the european company "Point 65", the connection between the pieces seems very flimsy and the company itself seems to have non-existent support. I think there's a couple other similar ones from different companies over the years but you get the idea. Buying a different car. (lmao) Or, what it seems like I'm going to be doing, spending at most $180 on kayak because Tractor Supply have 8.5 feet Hydros (known elsewhere as Volt) constantly available at that price, but I'm more likely gonna spend even less by finding a good condition one used, one actually got posted last night for $125 but it is under the old "Volt 101" label which is before Lifetime realized that "101" would be standard naming for a 10.1 foot kayak and not a 101 inch kayak, and cut that poo poo out and renamed it to Volt 85, which means since it is using the old number, it is at least a few years old, but the condition looks near-new in the pictures. It looks like at some point these "Daylite" aka "Lotus" 8 footers were also widely available, but for some reason at least around be they're hard to find now, at least around here Walmart don't wanna stock kayaks at all, it's weird because they have a bit more weight capacity than the 8.5 foot Hydros/Volt so theoretically an interesting option. The main complaint about these things seems to be "they stop immediately when you stop paddling", I'm completely fine with that, in fact for what I'm gonna be doing that seems...good? Anyway if you're wondering why there's a near month gap between my post in the inflatable boat thread that I linked above, and this post now, it's because figuring out all this kayak bullshit above took a lot of time, I'm so tired of looking at websites. Did I mention that it seems like almost every kayak company went out of business or got bought by a different company in the last few years, causing a lot of unavailability as well as a bunch of model renaming cascades that makes it hard to search for anything? Do you want Ocean Kayak Frenzy or an Old Town Ocean Kayak Frenzy or an Ocean Kayak Malibu, those are actually all the same, except for when they're randomly not, even inside the same exact branding:   I mean look at this poo poo, both these kayaks can be anywhere from 8 feet to like 9.5 and I have no way of knowing without individually messaging sellers like "Hey exactly how long is this kayak, no really, measure it, yes I know your ad says 8 feet".Desert Bus posted:Start with a cheap bamboo rod. This one has has everything you need. "2 part bamboo pole, 1 bobber, 1 hook, fishing line with winder and 1 sinker" Interesting. Is there some advantage of bamboo other than price? While I'm looking to avoid initial complexity for myself, I'm not like roleplaying living in previous centuries or something, so I'm perfectly happy making use of modern materials and construction (especially if it means a lesser chance of the rod breaking). Brut fucked around with this message at 12:14 on Apr 15, 2024 |
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Apr 15, 2024 12:05
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ihop posted:Your kayak shopping sounds like an impending case of "buy once cry once." ihop posted:it's going to be downright miserable to fish out of.
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Apr 15, 2024 16:56
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Yeah my last-year's-model closeout Chinook is actually arriving tomorrow, that's definitely not where I wanna be going cheap so it was nice to find a good deal on a high quality one.Southern Cassowary posted:there are livable issues - the seat is worse, the molded footrest positions are a big comfort loss compared to being able to set them yourself with a slider, storage is lacking (not as big of an issue if you're just using a bamboo pole though). Southern Cassowary posted:i think if the choice is compromise kayak or no kayak, though, i'd pick no kayak. you're going to get blown around more so any wind more than a slight breeze is going to be miserable. the difference between a 5mph wind and an 8mph wind is profound even on a big fishing kayak. if a storm rolls in and you're suddenly dealing with 20mph winds on a decent sized lake you or if you get buzzed by a recreational boater it would probably be unsafe. those things have happened to me on my bigger kayak more than once, i can not imagine regularly dealing with those issues on a 9 foot kayak. Hmm, I think I was assuming I'd be avoiding any significantly rough weather by checking forecasts but I guess poo poo happens and if I'm gonna be out all day I can't fully rely on that, I hadn't considered unexpected storms. I'm a small dude so the weigh limit shouldn't be too much of an issue, I'll have to be aware of it of course. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to just pick up a cheap longer kayak, hell in a 3 second search I pulled up a 12 footer that's being sold for $100, but as far as I can tell the only way that's happening is if I attach it to my car in ways that I cannot trust because the consequence of failure (at speed) is too great. charliebravo77 posted:I would suggest getting a 7ft medium spinning combo as a first "do everything" rod setup. The Daiwa Revros LT is available in a 2pc setup and it's a great budget combo, albeit a little above your $50 price point. This will be suitable for basically anything freshwater and even suitable for some light inshore fishing in GA/FL or wherever you end up further south (just be sure to hose it down with fresh water at the end of the day after fishing salt). https://www.tackledirect.com/daiwa-revros-lt-spinning-combos.html Appreciate the links, so, a 2 piece 7 foot rod means that each piece is 3 and a half feet or no? Like my initial instinct is "obviously, yes" but some of the pictures look like there's 3 actual parts, is that actually the case or is that just bizarre photo editing to fit the aspect ratio? Are 4 piece rods to be avoided? I like the idea of something that can shrink down and be stuck in a small bag if needed.
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Apr 15, 2024 19:48
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Southern Cassowary posted:one thing to think about with adding a seat is you're changing the center of gravity of the kayak, which is going to make it more precarious. people make their seats higher on giant 12-14 foot/36 to 40 inch wide purpose built fishing kayaks all the time, but the effect might be more significant on the smaller lifetime. one of those things that will be fine until it isn't. Yeah, I think this seat is low enough that it shouldn't be a big deal but there's really only one way to find out how it feels, if it seems significantly less stable I'll have to come up with something else, but maybe I won't even find sitting on the plastic that bad  .I'm not worried about keeping the rod in the car, like I mentioned the kayak is gonna go inside the car so anything long can just lay next to it, but depending on where I am I might have some walking between the car and the water with kayak in hand, though I guess if it's just one rod it shouldn't be that hard to figure out some way to strap it to myself as I'm walking. wesleywillis posted:Tying your line directly to teh end of your two piece fishing rod is a good way to lose the end of the rod within seconds if you actually have to fight any kind of fish Yeah here we go! This is the kind of poo poo I assumed could go wrong, basically what I had in mind with "if I have to cut the line I'm hosed" except at the time I was thinking of losing the entire rod, I suppose practically speaking losing 1 piece of the rod might as well be losing the entire rod anyway. Alright, I have been convinced to use a reel, I guess I can still fish directly with that super cheap bamboo rod, could just do both. Frankly as silly as it has been to look at all these kayaks with the renames and duplicate models and imports, what has actually been more difficult is figuring out cold weather clothing, since as of today the water where I wanna go first is 45 degrees (warming up though!), I need to make sure I'm well prepared if I fall. On that note, what do ya'll do with your PFD if you need to take layers on/off? I see lots of people mention doing that but nobody ever demonstrates because, you know, everyone knows how to put a shirt on, but it means I don't get to see what happens with the PFD.
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Apr 16, 2024 04:28
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charliebravo77 posted:I have bad news for you on the budget front here. Cold water paddling is A) extremely dangerous if you are ill equipped and B) not cheap to get equipped for. Bare minimum I would suggest for 45F water is a full wetsuit with hood, booties and gloves: https://www.nrs.com/nrs-mens-radiant-43mm-wetsuit/pcx8. Better would be a dry suit if the air temps are also low: https://www.nrs.com/nrs-mens-explorer-semi-dry-suit/pmed I have good news for you, I don't want to die! I didn't bother listing it out the way I did with the kayak derail but the last month has also been spent looking at cold weather stuff in a similar level of detail, I think the most concise thing I've found was actually this set of pictures:    While there is a lot of info out there in various forms, the one thing I noticed is that nobody mentions specific temperatures, it would've been nice to see someone go like, for 40f water and 55f air I wear this, for 45f water and 65f air I wear this, etc kind of thing, some specific examples, so thank you for doing exactly that just now, love it! I think a drysuit (or even just a drytop) is not happening right now both because it seems like a pretty big pain to wear and for price reasons (I mean, unless something really affordable falls in my lap, I have been looking at marketplace a bit but there's not too much around, and what's there is for much larger people) And yeah of course I'll be wearing my PFD, that's why I was trying to figure out if there's some special method/technique to maximize the time it is on you while you are changing clothes, but it sounds like it's just "put it down and be careful, maybe be close to shore". trevorreznik posted:It's straight up difficult to do. I've fished and paddled Isle Royale when Superior was 35F in july, as well as mid-May boundary waters when the ice had just come off. I wore wetsuits with boots and gloves each time but it gets really hot if the air temperature is warm and I was chugging water nonstop. I chose to gamble that the surface water of the huge lakes I was on was clean enough and just kept dipping my nalgene to drink more (and honestly it tasted great, even though that was kind of dumb).  charliebravo77 posted:Yeah, I have a farmer john wetsuit and a neoprene jacket for spring paddling and have thought about getting a dry suit to give lake trout fishing a try on Lake Michigan but never got around to it. I have rolled in some pretty cold water before and was only mildly prepared for it. I was wearing wool layers and a PFD but fortunately it was in a shallow area that I could stand in. After that incident I got the farmer john. While the water temperature is 45 (or "44-48") right now, I'm thinking by the time I'm fully set up and ready to go it should be a few degrees warmer. Also if it helps this first lake is about half a mile across at it's widest point and has a 20hp motor limit for boats, I don't know if that sounds it a bit safer than what might come to mind when I say lake. Hekk posted:You could always just do what the vast majority of the rest of us do and shore fish until water temps get high enough to not have to worry about dying from hypothermia if you fall in. As I mentioned fishing is not the primary motivator for me, it's just a mix of something to do while I'm already out there, and hopefully eventually would contribute to being able to stay out longer by eating what I catch. It is likely that my first time out I won't even have any fishing stuff at all (maybe that cheap $5 walmart bamboo thing) since I want most of my attention to be on getting used to the water. It seems like Darn Tough Socks are great wool socks so I'm gonna order a pair or two, but I think if I want equivalent wool full outfit it's gonna cost me around a hundred bucks if not more, so it might end up being better to go with some wet suit with some cheap synthetic bullshit on top of it as needed, but I'd still need to find an affordable one of those. joem83 posted:Solution: Move to SoCal Edit: Eh wait a minute charliebravo77 posted:Better would be a dry suit if the air temps are also low meowmeowmeowmeow posted:dry suits are really nice for hot air cold water conditions because you can just get in the water to cool off and get out and still be dry inside, you dont get wet and clammy like a wetsuit. Brut fucked around with this message at 07:42 on Apr 17, 2024 |
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Apr 17, 2024 07:36
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Hi it's me, deathwish guy. Remember when I posted this?Brut posted:as of today the water where I wanna go first is 45 degrees (warming up though!) Math You posted:Wait til June and plan for next year when you know what you're getting into Like 5 days later the water was showing 55, and yesterday and today it is showing 59 (per omniafishing.com, lakemonster.com says 57-61 today). The air was...I dunno, loving HOT, I think got up to 90. Seemed safe enough to wear basically whatever, in hindsight even what I ended up going in was way too much, nearly everyone there was basically in bathing suits and often I could not actually see anyone else that had their PFD on. I was there on an ancient Lifetime Hydros I picked up from some dude for 80 bucks, pretty sure it was physically impossible for me to flip this thing without actively trying, and I did try for a bit just to see, even while getting hit by (Sub-20-horsepower) motorboat wakes. poo poo I wish I knew: Put sunscreen on the backs of your hands! This was never an issue when going to swim at the beach, didn't occur to me, but in hindsight yes of course the back of my hands are gonna be exposed to the sun all day, gently caress. The hour drive back after (leisurely/casually) paddling for 5 hours is some of the sleepiest driving I've ever done, didn't see that coming at all, very confused. I thought I would pass out as soon as I got home but now I feel fine? Is this a water thing? Long exercise thing? Just a me thing? Why are there so many bugs in the water? I think some were those invasive red lanternflies but there was a bunch of different looking ones, seemed like everywhere I went there were drowning bugs. Or are they all just chillin rather than drowning? Anyway, FISHING! I didn't have any gear with me this time as my main focus was making sure the kayak wasn't slowly sinking or something weird (in case there was damage I didn't notice), making sure I don't lose any gear or gently caress up in some other way, no regrets on making that call. Next time though I do want to go out with fishing stuff, which means I need to hook up a crate to the back of this thing so I can mount a pole to it. As far as weight, it looks like I'm coming in at around 195 (bit less but rounding up to be safe) including clothes, drybags and contents, paddle, PFD. Even if I get several fishing rods and a poo poo ton of tackle there's basically no way all of that adds up to another 10 pounds, right? So I think I'm good on the weight capacity thing. Will I think it'll be comfortable to fish out of this thing? lmao probably not. Hopefully next post I'll have some fish pictures for ya, or at least pictures of a janky fishing setup. Thanks goons you're the best!
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Apr 30, 2024 00:11
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Hey quick question, why are fishing landing nets so expensive? is there a good reliable cheap one ya'll recommend? Feels like it should be under like $10 but maybe there's some reasoning behind it
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Apr 30, 2024 22:37
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Hekk posted:If you are practicing catch and release, a cheap net can damage the fish you are landing and reduce their likelihood of survival. Oh I see, yeah maybe one of those things to check out in person. Btw I dunno how fast this is gonna be a nationwide thing but it seems like Dick's are converting to just being an apparel store, I have to go pretty far to find one that actually sells all the stuff I'm used to seeing in there. I stopped by at basically every sporting goods store around here when I was looking at the kayak stuff and while REI seemed kinda nice everything was super expensive, I think my favorite ended up being Sportsman's Warehouse, so I'll probably just stop by there. I do wanna visit the bass pro shops pyramid some day though. Edit: Meanwhile I'm trying to make sense of the rules here, seems like quite a lot to keep in mind, I should probably have some kind of printed version of this with me right? or at least Pages 10 and 11. Brut fucked around with this message at 14:07 on May 1, 2024 |
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May 1, 2024 03:08
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Hekk posted:The vast majority of the information in the fishing regulations for each state are around restrictions on keeping fish caught. If you have no immediate plans to try to keep whatever you catch, you can safely ignore a lot of what’s written there. The most important information there is the fishing season for each species. Yeah keeping the fish is exactly what I mean, I'd just need to know what a regulated species looks like, that's why I'm thinking best to have the document with me (and not in electronic form because pulling out my phone while a fish is flopping around sounds like a recipe for disaster). Wonder if I can integrate a measuring stick in to the boat, some kind of waterproof paint? idk. Still need to buy tackle, I'm tempted by these kits that seem to have a lot of different stuff for like 10 bucks but I have a feeling there's a lot in there I won't need, if there's a good starting tackle set you're aware of I'm open to suggestions.
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May 1, 2024 22:16
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wesleywillis posted:Your state probably has a printable version on the DNR/Equivalent agency website. Print the poo poo off and keep it in your box. Yeah, that PDF I linked seems pretty printable and that is the official source (no idea why they use "fishandboat.com" instead of a pa.gov subdomain), but come to think about it when I was at the state park office getting the launch permit there were a bunch of different flyers to grab there, I bet one of them was this thing, I should've looked closer.
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May 1, 2024 23:42
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Hey I have a question, I'm figuring out kayak crate/rod holder stuff and the ones I'm seeing online are basically this shape:  , I was thinking if it was open a little in each direction at the bottom of the slot, the reel could naturally slide in there and the rod will be less likely to pop out on its own for whatever reason.Anyway, I had some old paintball pods so I took a knife and scissors to one of them just to see if it works and...kinda? See attachment. From what I've seen commercially sold rodholders (mostly track-attached) seem to have some kind of clasp above where the rod goes in to secure it. What do ya'll think about this? Do you think the upside down T would work okay? Should I go with that and a velcro strap? Wouldn't be too hard to glue one on.
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May 6, 2024 00:22
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I have line on a reel on a rod!  and it is freespinning on the reel when the drag is set tight 
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May 6, 2024 07:29
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charliebravo77 posted:Find the little lever/switch on the bottom/back of the reel and flip it. Nah that's not it, I'm saying when I lock it down and pull hard the line is spinning but the reel isn't, my understanding is that I should have either put some electrical tape around the reel first, or started with mono/fluro before tying it to the braid. Good chance I messed up the initial knot too. I'm thinking what my most hassle-free way to redo this (in a small space) would be, well, specifically the getting the line off the reel part.
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May 6, 2024 15:24
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Getting the line back off the reel wasn't actually much of an issue, flipped the switch and just pulled on the line by hand, but now I still have to secure some tape here and then tie a knot that actually holds around this thing. Except, I don't have to. I'm not gonna waste any more of my time or especially yours, sorry. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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May 7, 2024 00:04
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