The Fishing Thread

Dr.Retarded · Nov 1, 2023

TheBeagle said:
I've caught a 30-40 lb gator gar on 20lb mono before and it was impossible to get him on onshore from all the thrashing. He eventually cut my line with his scales. What people don't realize until they actually handle one are that they are covered in fucking ginormous dinosaur scales that are sharp as razors on the edge. Was once holding one up for a pic and as it thrashed it ran a few of those scales against the grain across my arm and sliced me pretty good. A 283 lber could definitely kill a swimmer if they had the predatory instincts of a shark. Thankfully they don't.

There's a large retention pond servicing a couple of neighborhoods maybe less than 10 minutes away from me I used to fish often. Haven't been there in a long time due to the two droughts we had this and last summer. Need to see if it still has fish. Used to have nice sunfish and bass, but at one point got overrun with gator gar.

Last time I fished there was testing a new 6wt I had gotten just throwing top water poppers because of the algae mats. Hooked maybe a 32" gar and managed to get him on the bank. Suddenly realized, fuck I don't have anything to handle him. Reached for my bag with my hand towel and figured I could just wrap him in that, snap my photo and be done.

Get the towel on him, and suddenly thrashes and pops my leader, then slithers out of my grasp and back into the water. First and only time I've landed one on the fly and just wasn't prepared, but was a memorable fight. Need to get one of those light steel leaders for predator fish they make and try my hand at it again.

Honestly don't know the best way to handle them, fish grips maybe? Could always pack some work gloves I guess, that would probably do. I know the big gator gars they use a lasso rope.

TheBeagle · Nov 1, 2023

Dr.Retarded said:
There's a large retention pond servicing a couple of neighborhoods maybe less than 10 minutes away from me I used to fish often. Haven't been there in a long time due to the two droughts we had this and last summer. Need to see if it still has fish. Used to have nice sunfish and bass, but at one point got overrun with gator gar.

Last time I fished there was testing a new 6wt I had gotten just throwing top water poppers because of the algae mats. Hooked maybe a 32" gar and managed to get him on the bank. Suddenly realized, fuck I don't have anything to handle him. Reached for my bag with my hand towel and figured I could just wrap him in that, snap my photo and be done.

Get the towel on him, and suddenly thrashes and pops my leader, then slithers out of my grasp and back into the water. First and only time I've landed one on the fly and just wasn't prepared, but was a memorable fight. Need to get one of those light steel leaders for predator fish they make and try my hand at it again.

Honestly don't know the best way to handle them, fish grips maybe? Could always pack some work gloves I guess, that would probably do. I know the big gator gars they use a lasso rope.

Yep. Lasso and make sure they have zero fight left. To get the hook out treat em like a shark, 10" needle nose pliers.

Dr.Retarded · Nov 1, 2023

TheBeagle said:
Yep. Lasso and make sure they have zero fight left. To get the hook out treat em like a shark, 10" needle nose pliers.

I've always got fishing pliers and bigger forceps with me. I wouldn't be targeting monsters, but shit between maybe 20"-36" at the most. Don't think they grow to mammoth proportions in those smaller bodies of water, unless it's some freak occurrence of one swimming through a deep creek or something. Don't think the smaller ones need very deep water.

Guy I watch on YouTube on occasions fly fishes for pike and muskie in relatively small creeks up north. He's pulled pretty damned big fish out at times, and it's surprising how small the water was. Wish we had cold water down here. Closest thing we have to those are definitely gator gar.

TheBeagle · Nov 1, 2023

Dr.Retarded said:
I've always got fishing pliers and bigger forceps with me. I wouldn't be targeting monsters, but shit between maybe 20"-36" at the most. Don't think they grow to mammoth proportions in those smaller bodies of water, unless it's some freak occurrence of one swimming through a deep creek or something. Don't think the smaller ones need very deep water.

Guy I watch on YouTube on occasions fly fishes for pike and muskie in relatively small creeks up north. He's pulled pretty damned big fish out at times, and it's surprising how small the water was. Wish we had cold water down here. Closest thing we have to those are definitely gator gar.

The big one I got was in a small shallow oyster marsh near Surfside. Was very surprised.

Dr.Retarded · Nov 1, 2023

TheBeagle said:
The big one I got was in a small shallow oyster marsh near Surfside. Was very surprised.

Didn't realize they were in brackish water, too. Pretty cool.

Kobayashi · Dec 1, 2023

I'm planning to finally pull the trigger on a fishing kayak. I'm thinking to go the buy once, cry once approach and get a Pro Angler 14 with the 360 pedal drive. My minimal research I've done so far is giving me a little pause though. I'm seeing a few complaints on YouTube and reddit about hull issues and issues with the 360 drive.

Any opinion on the 360 drive as well as other options to look at?

I'm on a pretty small lake that doesn't allow any motors whatsoever, so, I'm primarily targeting something completely human powered, but it's not a bad thing to have transom or other provision for a trolling motor in case I want to take it somewhere else.

TheBeagle · Dec 3, 2023

Kobayashi said:
I'm planning to finally pull the trigger on a fishing kayak. I'm thinking to go the buy once, cry once approach and get a Pro Angler 14 with the 360 pedal drive. My minimal research I've done so far is giving me a little pause though. I'm seeing a few complaints on YouTube and reddit about hull issues and issues with the 360 drive.

Any opinion on the 360 drive as well as other options to look at?

I'm on a pretty small lake that doesn't allow any motors whatsoever, so, I'm primarily targeting something completely human powered, but it's not a bad thing to have transom or other provision for a trolling motor in case I want to take it somewhere else.

I have an Outback with the 180 pedal drive and everything has performed flawlessly after a year of pretty intense use. Can't really speak on the 360. What kind of issues are you reading about?

Dr.Retarded · Dec 3, 2023

Kobayashi said:
I'm planning to finally pull the trigger on a fishing kayak. I'm thinking to go the buy once, cry once approach and get a Pro Angler 14 with the 360 pedal drive. My minimal research I've done so far is giving me a little pause though. I'm seeing a few complaints on YouTube and reddit about hull issues and issues with the 360 drive.

Any opinion on the 360 drive as well as other options to look at?

I'm on a pretty small lake that doesn't allow any motors whatsoever, so, I'm primarily targeting something completely human powered, but it's not a bad thing to have transom or other provision for a trolling motor in case I want to take it somewhere else.

If you're not having to lug the proangler around, that's probably the Cadillac of fishing kayaks.

Bonafide makes pretty nice boats too. Jackson has good offerings. Think just about every maker has a peddle system now. Could look at the Native Watercraft Titan series. They're huge boats, too, but have a regular pedal drive so you can reverse easily. Might be a good alternative to the proangler, but on that same vein.

Hell I even think I can get a retrofit pedal system for my Nucanoe Frontier 12. There's just so many great boats out there now.

What's fucked up is I went to go pull up ACKs website and find out they closed their entire empire last year or something because of covid shit. We had one 20 minutes from the house.

Kobayashi · Dec 3, 2023

TheBeagle said:
I have an Outback with the 180 pedal drive and everything has performed flawlessly after a year of pretty intense use. Can't really speak on the 360. What kind of issues are you reading about?

Seems to mostly be issues with bearings, getting gears to mesh, or belts. The more I look into it, it seems the majority of the issues date back to 2020 when it first came out, so, probably some teething issues. When you search for info about the 360 drive, you get a lot of clickbaity youtube videos with scary titles - it's a pain in the ass trying to get any information out of that stuff since most of these guys filibuster their videos with bullshit to improve their video's monetization. Suffering through a few of them, seems like Hobie honored their warranty and it wasn't a huge deal.

I think I'm ok with it, my lake isn't big enough to worry about being stranded if for some reason it did fail.

Now the hard part - do I save a few bucks on an end of season closeout or do I buy the latest - seems the 2024s have an updated 360 drive system.

Best I could find with the upgrade:

- Readily Accessible Control Module - Allows for on the water tool-free gear and tension adjustments.

- Directional Drive Lock - Now lock in Forward or Reverse for long distance or high intensity pedaling.

Drive lock seems kind of interesting - there were some guys talking about breaking things when really goosing the pedals, maybe that would help with that. I can't imagine the gear/tension adjustments need to be done that often so, the other feature doesn't seem like a must have.

Dr.Retarded · Dec 3, 2023

Kobayashi said:
Seems to mostly be issues with bearings, getting gears to mesh, or belts. The more I look into it, it seems the majority of the issues date back to 2020 when it first came out, so, probably some teething issues. When you search for info about the 360 drive, you get a lot of clickbaity youtube videos with scary titles - it's a pain in the ass trying to get any information out of that stuff since most of these guys filibuster their videos with bullshit to improve their video's monetization. Suffering through a few of them, seems like Hobie honored their warranty and it wasn't a huge deal.

I think I'm ok with it, my lake isn't big enough to worry about being stranded if for some reason it did fail.

Now the hard part - do I save a few bucks on an end of season closeout or do I buy the latest - seems the 2024s have an updated 360 drive system.

Best I could find with the upgrade:

- Readily Accessible Control Module - Allows for on the water tool-free gear and tension adjustments.

- Directional Drive Lock - Now lock in Forward or Reverse for long distance or high intensity pedaling.

Drive lock seems kind of interesting - there were some guys talking about breaking things when really goosing the pedals, maybe that would help with that. I can't imagine the gear/tension adjustments need to be done that often so, the other feature doesn't seem like a must have.

lurkingdirk · Dec 3, 2023

Dr.Retarded said:

What would you haul that on? Does it have a dedicated trailer? It would probably be a pig to pick up and put in a conventional trailer.

TheBeagle · Dec 3, 2023

Kobayashi said:
Seems to mostly be issues with bearings, getting gears to mesh, or belts. The more I look into it, it seems the majority of the issues date back to 2020 when it first came out, so, probably some teething issues. When you search for info about the 360 drive, you get a lot of clickbaity youtube videos with scary titles - it's a pain in the ass trying to get any information out of that stuff since most of these guys filibuster their videos with bullshit to improve their video's monetization. Suffering through a few of them, seems like Hobie honored their warranty and it wasn't a huge deal.

I think I'm ok with it, my lake isn't big enough to worry about being stranded if for some reason it did fail.

Now the hard part - do I save a few bucks on an end of season closeout or do I buy the latest - seems the 2024s have an updated 360 drive system.

Best I could find with the upgrade:

- Readily Accessible Control Module - Allows for on the water tool-free gear and tension adjustments.

- Directional Drive Lock - Now lock in Forward or Reverse for long distance or high intensity pedaling.

Drive lock seems kind of interesting - there were some guys talking about breaking things when really goosing the pedals, maybe that would help with that. I can't imagine the gear/tension adjustments need to be done that often so, the other feature doesn't seem like a must have.

Dude, I go 3 or 4 miles offshore in my Outback. Keep a spare paddle strapped to your yak and you'll be fine.

Dr.Retarded · Dec 3, 2023

lurkingdirk said:
What would you haul that on? Does it have a dedicated trailer? It would probably be a pig to pick up and put in a conventional trailer.

You'd have to haul it on a trailer or at least toss it up into a bed with a tail extender.

Kobayashi said he's on a small lake though so I'm assuming he's not having to pull it around and will just have it parked close to the bank. That's why I don't have a boat like that though because I don't live on the water, but if you're right there on your fishing territory, then bigger is better at least in my eyes.

Could be the same circumstance with the Hobie Pro angler though. Pretty sure that's even bigger than the Titan with it being 14 ft and I want to say it's got one of the widest beams on a kayak, maybe apart from a Frontier 12.

Kobayashi · Dec 3, 2023

Dr.Retarded said:

Dang, that thing is impressive. If I was going to go the motorized route, this would be a no brainer. Even though I'm not, that seat seems really well thought out and makes it kind of tempting. Definitely in the running. That fully rigged weight is pretty wild, 30ish lbs more than the Hobie.

Kobayashi · Dec 3, 2023

lurkingdirk said:
What would you haul that on? Does it have a dedicated trailer? It would probably be a pig to pick up and put in a conventional trailer.

I think a conventional trailer would be awkward, but doable. Definitely wouldn't be roof mounting it.

For my circumstances, I don't have a dock, but I'll just be wheeling it a couple hundred yards to a beach to launch.

Dr.Retarded · Dec 4, 2023

Kobayashi said:
Dang, that thing is impressive. If I was going to go the motorized route, this would be a no brainer. Even though I'm not, that seat seems really well thought out and makes it kind of tempting. Definitely in the running. That fully rigged weight is pretty wild, 30ish lbs more than the Hobie.

Yeah it looks like they basically took the seat design Nucanoe. One of the reasons I bought mine I think back in 2016 was because it was the only yak on the market with a swivel seat. The frame on the Titan seat and mesh even looks the same. If I had the space and lived on the water, I'd probably upgrade to one, but then is probably have a John boat too.

Kobayashi · Dec 4, 2023

Dr.Retarded said:
Yeah it looks like they basically took the seat design Nucanoe. One of the reasons I bought mine I think back in 2016 was because it was the only yak on the market with a swivel seat. The frame on the Titan seat and mesh even looks the same. If I had the space and lived on the water, I'd probably upgrade to one, but then is probably have a John boat too.

It's funny, I was taking a look at your Frontier 12 after watching the video about that Titan and actually thought the same thing. They were really hyping it up as this new, world changing innovation in the Titan video.

That Nucanoe is pretty cool, the pedal drive they're advertising looks a little wonky though since it's all cables back to the transom.

If I had a dock and this lake allowed even electric motors, I'd have a 14 foot jon boat. My entire childhood was spent fishing from one of those, putting around a small lake with a trollling motor. I really miss that.

Dr.Retarded · Dec 4, 2023

Kobayashi said:
It's funny, I was taking a look at your Frontier 12 after watching the video about that Titan and actually thought the same thing. They were really hyping it up as this new, world changing innovation in the Titan video.

That Nucanoe is pretty cool, the pedal drive they're advertising looks a little wonky though since it's all cables back to the transom.

If I had a dock and this lake allowed even electric motors, I'd have a 14 foot jon boat. My entire childhood was spent fishing from one of those, putting around a small lake with a trollling motor. I really miss that.

Yeah I toyed with the idea of getting the drive, and it seems like it works pretty well but having all those cables and everything retro fitted in the middle of a deck is just kind of odd. I've got to stand up assist bar setup on mine because I like to be able to stand up in sight fish especially when I'm using a fly rod. The pedal system would more than likely get in the way, and I'd have my fly line Tangled all up in it. I'm also not real keen on the $1,000 price tag for a stupid pedal system. If it was half that I probably go ahead and get one but it's just way more than I want to spend. I'm better off just registering it and slapping a little trolling motor on the back. It is one of the reasons I got the new canoe because of the built-in Transom.

I will say I've been on other kayaks and the new canoe is by far the most stable platform I've ever fished off of, which is the predominant reason as to why I bought it. I never feel like I'm going to tip over even when standing. It paddles like a barge though, but for taking out on the small lakes that's perfectly acceptable. I have a Jackson Kilroy for my wife, and if I need something a little quicker if I'm going to paddle longer distances that's what I'll just go ahead and take out.

I also grew up fishing with the 14 or 15 ft jon boat that my step dad and I had when we lived in New Orleans. He got it from his boss when he was working at NASA, and I couldn't tell you the number of hours we spent out in canals and the marshes fishing. I think it was called the coonass 2. I don't remember why we ended up getting rid of that boat, but for just the two of us out fishing it was perfect.

BrutulTM · Dec 4, 2023

Do they have trolling motors with built in Lithium Ion batteries now or do you still have to pack around a car battery? I just bought a lithium ion jump start pack and it's so awesome compared to the ones with the lead acid batteries. It's not much bigger than a Ti-81 calculator and it can jump like 12 cars between charges plus I've used it to jump start tractors on multiple occasions and you can charge your phone or whatever with it as well.

Dr.Retarded · Dec 4, 2023

BrutulTM said:
Do they have trolling motors with built in Lithium Ion batteries now or do you still have to pack around a car battery? I just bought a lithium ion jump start pack and it's so awesome compared to the ones with the lead acid batteries. It's not much bigger than a Ti-81 calculator and it can jump like 12 cars between charges plus I've used it to jump start tractors on multiple occasions and you can charge your phone or whatever with it as well.

Maybe, not really sure. I know there's a bunch of kayak specific electric motors out there like the torquedo, but don't believe it's a one and done unit. Wouldn't be surprised though that there is one on the market.

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