I fish similarly to you – hole hopper who doesn’t use a shelter. I also hate wearing gloves. I like the feel of the rod in my hands… But when it’s really cold, you gotta wear something. I like wearing oversized mittens in that situation. They’re super easy to pull off as I’m reeling up a fish, and once you put your hands back in the mittens, they warm up faster. Usually, I’ll just pull off my left mitten to reel and handle the fish. For those in between conditions, or if the bite is good enough where I’m constantly pulling off my mitten, I’ll wear one of those handwarmers around my waist and keep my left hand in it until I hook up.

I do the same thing as Cameron and tangler. Hook it up to a battery source and just turn off the sonar. I’ve got maps of local lakes on a chip that I made with the cmap genesis (or whatever it’s called now) that I’ve created in my kayak. Go back to the structure in the winter. Those maps are way more accurate for my local waters than anything on the mobile navionics.

Keep an eye on fishusa… They were offering 20% off kayak accessories yesterday. That could’ve been applied to Dakota Lithium batteries and chargers. Buddy got a 10A and charger for $93 with free shipping yesterday.

I’ll also add that don’t buy into everything you see on FB. There are some good days in the marina/lagoon around Milwaukee, but it gets tough on the weekends with all the fishing pressure. Brownies get pretty skittish and you’ll have guys popping holes all over and being loud. I gave up fishing for browns on the weekends. Also, remember that the guides might have 5-10 guys out (15-30 autos) to get 5 fish. They do a pretty good job of marketing…

The auto’s are only necessary if you’re using spawn sacs for bait. If you’re using shiners/fatheads, I’ve caught lots of browns and a few steelies using tip ups. If you really wanted, you could double hitch a rubber band on the tip up to “set the hook” once “X” amount of line is ripped out. This helped me land some fat pike on 6-8 lb fluoro with corner mouth hook sets. I will say, it’s nicer fighting the brownies on rods only because of the thrashing and head shakes. If you have smooth tip ups, you won’t have to worry as much about drops with shiners/fatheads. I do far better jigging anyways though. Hair jigs, small rippin raps, small spoons, etc. Think walleye fishing.

I’m just getting into the lithium game… I got a nocqua this past spring for my kayak at well. I like the weight savings. Question – can the charger I have for an Energized Outdoors battery work for a Dakota Lithium battery? Thinking about ordering a Dakota as well.

I use the red OR-16 clips trolling for king salmon out of my kayak all the time. They work great. I generally use the 8 oz and 12 oz torpedo divers that I have attached to the OR16 clips with a 12″ leader (easier for me to reach when I need to take them off while fighting fish). Very stealthy way to fish on Lake Michigan for kings – I even caught two 27 lb kings while fishing Salmon-a-rama this year out of the kayak. One of them won the kayak division, the other ended up 13th in the boat division. Got a 27.95 lber last year that took 7th overall out of the kayak as well. If I need to fish really deep out of the kayak (80 ft down or deeper), I’ll throw on 1 lb balls.

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I use those gami’s on some of my cranks… Those aren’t like the suresets. It’s just the angle of the picture. Those gami’s are basically a triple grip hook.

You are correct, the 40 hours isn’t for the LX7. I heard from a couple marcum guys at the Milwaukee Ice Show that the lithium with an lx7 could give 14-16 hrs of effective use. I’ve had mine outside for 2 8-10 hr trips in cold (no shelter) and have seen similar results – 50 and 70% life left.

I don’t have a striker suit, but have been using a Frabill icesuit that’s probably 5-6 years old. I have a one man Frabill Commando that I like to use basically for the sled. I fished in -8 air temps (-25 wind chill) Tuesday for 8 hrs without going into the shelter once. The ice on my line is the biggest issue, but it really doesn’t collect all that bad on pline fluoroice. But I’m very mobile when I fish. Give each hole 5 minutes tops. No fish, I’m moving on. So by constantly moving, I’m staying a little warmer and generally, catching a few more fish.

James, I noticed on this week’s show, you and Cal were using the iFish Pro’s with your Okuma bails opened. Do you ever run them closed with the baitfeeder all the way loose for walleyes? Or do you feel that walleyes will feel that resistance (very little) of the baitfeeder mechanism? I’ve tried running bails open from time to time and had a heck of a time with wind blowing line and found the baitfeeder helped that a lot last year.

I actually do generally just put the fish on stringers on each side and bleed them out. If it gets to be too much weight, then I can always throw them inside the kayak. It’s been a while since I did that though… Even when I caught a limit of 15+ lb kings last year, I was dragging them all. It’s a good workout, lol!

Another pic

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A little. I pedal my Hobie, so once I cleared a line and was looking at 400 ft on my line counter and climbing, I actually went and chased it down.

Got out yesterday morning in my kayak before work (launched at 4:15, back on shore at 7:00) and went 3-6 with 2 steelhead and a small king. Lost at least 2 steelhead on jumps and had 2 drivebys. Landed my largest steelhead of my life (boat or kayak), a 14.1 lb beauty!

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I apologize, apparently I can’t throw more than one pic in a reply… file size too big.

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Here’s a few more pics…

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My advice to you is find the best kayak that suits your wants and needs as a fisherman. No kayak is the best for everything. I knew that I wanted an “affordable” way to fish for salmon out on Lake Michigan… the king salmon is what I live for. So when I could finally afford a kayak, I looked for one that was fast and sleek with some stability. My first kayak was a Wildnerness Systems Tarpon 140 with a rudder. Treated me very well – but I quickly realized that if I wanted to be more efficient trolling for salmon, I needed a “pedal” kayak. Not only is it easier to set lines while your feet keep you in motion, but you can eat, talk on the phone, take care of nature problems, etc, without having to pull your lines in. Not to mention once you finally hook up to a fish, you can keep moving so your baits don’t sink to the bottom. I fished a local kayak series in 2015 where the grand prize was a Hobie Outback. I took 1st in the pike tourney, 4th in the bass tourney, 4th in the catfish tourney and then 1st in the salmon tourney – all while competing against “pro’s” in pedal kayaks. I was crowned the series champion, so I won the outback – which I promptly sold and bought a new (2015) Hobie Revo – a little more my style (fast, sleek). I have both my kayaks decked out with rod holders, fish finders/gps, etc to help my find salmon. My first full season yak fishing for kings, I caught 56 (2015). Last year, I managed 104 kings. Hoping to top that this year, but we’ll see how much I can get out and how many kings are around.

Most people don’t kayak fish salmon or troll as much as I do – so usually stability is a major factor. Something they can get into, stand up and fish for bass. So my advice – again- is to do a lot of research into what you need in a yak.

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Thanks, guys. I’ve got some videos I’ve posted before (check my youtube page – markrazzy)
I could do some pics with my setup. I’ve never really fished for bass, not my thing. Love fishing for king salmon though.

Here’s another closeup pic. One “natural” fish, one stocked.

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Thanks Crawdaddy. I understand, and for the most part, my reels are designated ice reels and the reeling I do is very minimal throughout the ice season. I’ve been doing this for about 5 years with some of my reels (sienna’s for pannies) and so far so good. I’ve been doing it for about 3 years with my saharas/symetres (small to medium sized eyes with one Erie trip), and they’ve stayed smooth as well. I fish with a couple guys that actually have been running their reels dry and swear by it. I figured the oil couldn’t hurt, and so far it hasn’t. I might be a little more hesitant if it was my Supreme XT’s or Stradics. I do have the Cal’s drag grease – I’ve upgraded all my drags to carbon fiber. I’ll take a look though at the coldweather grease and maybe try it next year on some of the nicer reels. Thanks.

crawdaddy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mark Rasmussen wrote:</div>
I might just take it into my local Okuma Service Center and see if they’ll re-grease it for me with some lube that won’t gunk up in the cold. I’ve actually had my best results cleaning out reels and using hot sauce oil on the gears (yes I know, you’re supposed to grease gears). I know the oil won’t gunk up on me. I’m not thrilled about taking it in and spending $15-20 just to get it re-lubed.

Mark, I don’t own the Okuma ABF-20B, but I’ve been working on my reels for the last 3 years. If you de-grease and re-lube any fishing reel with only oil on the gears it will still function but they will wear very quickly resulting in a rough retrieve. If I could recommend a product called Cals coldweather grease, also called cals light or cals purple(all the same stuff). It was made for smaller spinning reels and also for guys fishing in Alaska under extreme cold weather. Can use it on gears and also carbon drag washers. I’m going to do some snooping on other cold weather greases used in reels.

I watched that video – and it was fine – but it’s not the same reel model. I was able to get the rubber part off the baitfeeder clicker, but still couldn’t get the cover off the reel to get into the reel. I know I need to get the cap off to access more screws to get it off, but it wouldn’t come off. I didn’t want to break it on day 1 of owning it, so I gave up last night. I might just take it into my local Okuma Service Center and see if they’ll re-grease it for me with some lube that won’t gunk up in the cold. I’ve actually had my best results cleaning out reels and using hot sauce oil on the gears (yes I know, you’re supposed to grease gears). I know the oil won’t gunk up on me. I’m not thrilled about taking it in and spending $15-20 just to get it re-lubed.

I’m in the same boat. Got my 20 today, gave it the old freezer test and was pretty stiff. Cannot figure out how to get the plate off. I think I need to get the baitfeeder drag clicker off, but don’t want to break it. I also planned on using it in the cold, I’m not much of a ice shack guy.

I use my sienna’s strictly for ice fishing – mainly pannies. I’ve upgraded the drags to carbon fiber with a little cal’s grease and I clean them and relube with hot sauce oil. I then test them overnight in the freezer to make sure they stay silky smooth. Work great. All my ice reels get this treatment… I’ve tried grease on the gears but they still tend to get a little sticky in the freezer. The one or two reels that do double duty (open water and ice) will then get cleaned out and regreased for the summer. No complaints on my end.

Thanks guys. It can be a little bit of a cluster in the kayak, but also very rewarding.

Thanks guys. 80% of the time I’m with other kayakers and on this day, I launched with 4 others in the dark. My dad was out for his first time and caught his first 2 kings out of a kayak. One of my buddies actually flipped his kayak out in 90 fow, but other than losing a bunch of gear, was ok. He bent over too far to grab his big king he had just caught and before you know it, you’re in the drink. My dad was beat and my buddy caught a 21 lber he wanted to get weighed in, so we took a break at 8:00 and I was the only one to go back out at 9:00ish – just in time for the wind to die down.

Pics of my dad’s first king and my 17 lber from the early morning, and then my two that I caught on the double (those were the 3 at the end of the video I weighed in)

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Thanks Lundo, it is. And it’s completely addicting. I’d rather be out in the kayak catching fish than on somebody’s boat. Nothing like it.

______________ wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TripleA wrote:</div>
It has to be more than a software issue effecting shallow water performance… otherwise it would have been fixed years ago.

I don’t mean to keep saying this, but calling the digital units woes a shallow water problem isn’t 100% accurate. The near transducer readings are bad shallow and deep, it performance gets worse the deeper the range.

It’s a numbers game with this unit. MOST people don’t fish that much really and when they do, they typically fish in about 20′ and target fish near the bottom of the column. MOST people think the unit is the best. MANY people fish shallow too, so they are affected. MANY people think this needs to be improved. In comparison, relatively FEW people target fish near their transducers in deeper water; most folks wives and family just aren’t that understanding.. So only a FEW people are sharpening their pitchforks.

Just curious, what’s the deep water issue? I was hoping to take the LX7 out for Lakers this weekend… I hadn’t heard about the deep water issue. I’ve used mine from about 6 ft out to about 40 ft and everything seemed ok, other than going to open water mode in 6 ft and messing with the sensitivity.

I still run a Stone Legacy Revolution bag. However, all my fishing is done on foot. I can store up to 8 rods in it (all covered with rod slicks), but it’s much more comfortable with 6. Holds a ton of stuff, but I’m not sure it’s around anymore. I’ve been kicking around buying a hard-sided case, but will probably keep using the Revolution until it wears out.

I have had my lazer pro since 2011, wit a 10″ drill unit. Worked great. But for most of the fishing I do, the 10″ is overkill, so I sold it and bought an 8″ lazer unit (as well as a 10.25″ chipper drill unit).

My first hole popped, it dropped me to my knees. It wasn’t really breaking through the ice, but rather continuing drilling down (I wasn’t able to pull the auger straight back out with the auger spinning). I wasn’t putting any pressure on the auger at all. After almost breaking my arm the 2nd time, I learned I had to pull up on the auger as I was getting close to the bottom and it worked great. My last trip out, I popped about 15 holes, then I realized my auger wasn’t drilling as fast. Shut it off and one of my blades was missing. Wtf. Found the blade, but didn’t have my wrench with me. So I’m wondering if this bottom issue was related to a loose blade. Never thought to check it, but will be doing so regularly now. And these aren’t the China blades either.

I’m looking into a hobie revo 13… it’s a fast boat with the turbo fins. I do some inland fishing in weeds, and that propel drive will get tangled up pretty bad. The mirage drive might not be the best in that situation, but it’ll be better. Reverse isn’t all the important to me… and I cartop my kayak on my equinox. The revo will fit much better with my tarpon if I take both yaks.

I believe Keith and Chad have a Slayer 13 propel, but I’m not 100% sure. Check out Keith’s videos at

Watching his videos inspired me to do what I do. He’s an awesome fisherman… there’s a reason he’s always up on top of the leaderboards of tournaments.