Choose The Right Kayak For Your Needs

Here’s an article that should help anyone looking to buy a fishing kayak.

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/kayak-fishing.html

Video on Flooding River Pattern

Think that when we get 3 plus inches of rain in two days that the river will be rendered not fishable? Think again! It actually provides a window of opportunity for excellent fishing. Here’s the video that explains how.

http://www.youtube.com/user/KayakBassFishing#p/a/u/0/-8bqotyPmu4

20 foot tall waterspout and the reaper in black

Thankfully, Roy, Chris and I were in Chris’s Jet Boat yesterday when we experienced some crazy strong wind. I think that I would have just cartopped the kayak and bank fished if it was a planned kayak fishing day. We saw a waterspout on the opposite side of the river that was at one point even with route 322 some 20 feet above the surface of the rain swollen river. It even pushed the jet upriver despite it being DOUBLE anchored!
Roy caught several in the 17 to 18 inch range on a black reaper style soft plastic rigged on a 1/16th oz darter head. He reported NOT having good contact with the bait as the swirling eddy pushed it around near the bottom. That is something outside my comfort zone. I like to be able to feel the solid connection with the bait as it rests on the bottom. But who’s to argue with success.
Chris caught several more in the same size range with a Backwoods Angler Chris Kringle Worm, something of similar profile to the reaper. He used a 1/4 oz football head to rig that diminutive soft plastic.
I got some good video for the winter patterns DVD. Can’t wait to get out there again guys. Thanks for the ride in your Jet Chris!

Prettyboy Reservoir 80 percent ice

Today on the way back from the Baltimore Aquarium, we drove by Prettyboy. Frog Hollow Cove was covered with ice, but there were cracks throughout. The launch had a small open area, but getting out to the main lake where I could see open water would be a chore. The bridge at Beckleysville Road had open water around it, but jammed up plates of ice above and below. It’s been a while since I’ve fished it, and I’m looking forward to a year of filming reservoir kayak fishing skills there starting in June.

The aquarium was fun with Jessica and the boys. One thing that it made me think of was last summer filming some of the crawfish, sculpins, darters, hellgrammites, smallmouth and other fish in the Juniata last summer. The aquarium, as all aquariums and pet stores do featured very colorful and exotic fish. But I felt that what I was seeing today wasn’t as exotic after seeing locally native species in their environment. When we pull fish out of the water, their vibrant colors dull. Put them back in and they glow like tiny little fish shaped neon signs – royal blues with an electric glow, greens that remind of springs earliest freshly popped greens, iridescent purples and pinks. Like, I said, I can’t wait to start filming underwater again.

Bass Pro Shops Talk Summary

I met a few more Baltimore reservoir anglers there before the talk. Walt, I’ll see you out there bud! The talk was my standard river kayak fishing talk, with some “End of winter” patterns (i.e. talking about whatever was tied onto th six or so rods that were on top when I grabbed them). Jerry said that he would help me set up a viewing of the DVD at the store some time later this year. We tried getting management to let me do my talk from my kayak IN THE TANK. That wasva no go, but we got the ok to use the pond out front some time. I think it would be great to use it that way! I’m itching to get back out again. March 5th will probably be my next chance.

Bassmasters Classic in New Orleans

Last weekend I attended the Bassmasters Classic Expo in New Orleans. The city was colorful, moist and full of interesting sounds. I have to admit, being there without a large group made me a bit uneasy. Chad from Kayakbassfishing.com picked me up at the airport, and when we checked into the hotel room, I turned on the television to see news footage of a Mardi Gras party goer being mugged for his cell phone. They have cameras all over and they still don’t care. Crime is a business, and business is booming when the city is full of people who don’t know it. I was one of them. Nothing happened, just an uneasy feeling.
I taught many people about kayak fishing at the Wilderness Systems / Masseys Outfitters booth. I found myself gravitating to dads with kids, showing them photos of me with my sons in kayaks. I planted more than a few seeds in that regard.
The expo was fun, but to be honest I felt like it was a bit more of a business trip than a fun, check out what’s new and exciting in the world of bass fishing. I was looking for sponsors for future DVDs. I got a few leads on some products and companies that make items I would feel comfortable marketing. I guess we will find out in time if they feel the same way about me.
The Koppers Live Target crankbaits have caught my eye since they came on the market, but I know that it’s more about how a lure moves than if it’s an exact visual match to a specific species. I’m hoping they do both. I have a nice big suspending jerkbait to try out and see if it suspends in low to mid 40 degree water temps. They have some crankbaits that seem like they would dive deeper with a smaller profile than anything else on the market. The only one’s that I know that go consistently in the 20 foot range are the Norman’s DD22′s. They have a crawfish profiled crank that has a big bill on a Bandit sized body. I don’t have any yet, but will be ordering some soon. The yellow perch suspending hard baits also caught my eye. They might become a staple item for fishing Piney Run once it opens this spring!
I found a braid company that I think I can be loyal to. Fins apparently makes braided line for a lot of other companies, and has decided to market and sell it directly. What caught my eye was the yellow braid I like. What Dave at the Fins booth showed me that was impressive was that he tied an overhand knot with some doubled over braid, drew it tight, then pulled it free. My experience with braid is that it binds into itself the more you pull on a knot. This essentially a birds nest knot came free nicely. I have a spool fill to try out and will report back on it’s performance, but it seems to be similar but better than PowerPro at a lower price point.
Ouzo is a soft plastic bait company that had some good reliable standards, but also some unique designed baits that I think will fit well with the belly button rigging that I’ve been doing for the last 2 years. Many of their baits, like their Goby have flat bellies, perfect for the belly button rigging. They also had a senko knock off that cut in half would go equally well on my float n jig rig or nose hooked with the octopus hook. They had a color that I’ve needed to make myself. It’s a watermelon with gold fleck. They also have several of their baits in black, just black, something that is hard to find at times – no red fleck, no blue fleck, just black.
I spent some time over at the Do-It booth with my buddy Jerry. They had the new worm nose weight on display, a version of what I’ve been doing with paddle tail grubs for a while – pouring a jig head without the hook and rigging an octopus hook away from the head. I think I’ve heard it called a sabiki rig. I tail hook them, letting the worm nose weight dive down on the opposite side of the chunk of plastic.
I met Gene with a website called The Ultimate Bass Fishing Resource Guide. Good guy who understands what the average weekend warrior bass angler is all about. I’m sure that his site and videos reflect that. I may contribute to that site soon.
I also met Gerad Cawhorn at the Daiwa booth, and shared some insight on why I like Daiwa spinning reels. I turned the handles on quite a few spinning reels there, and realized that my big monkey paws fit on a Daiwa better than the others. On many other brands, my knuckles get whacked when the bail swings around. It seems like a trivial thing, but handling many brands in rapid succession made that apparent to me. They are a good company who have St. Croix like customer service, which is certainly a compliment.
I finally met Rich Belanger, someone I’ve spoken to on the phone a few times, and had much email correspondence with over the years. Rich is the pro staff coordinator for St. Croix. He showed me some of the new Walleye Series split grip rods they have. I’m a smallmouth guy, but I seem to gravitate to some of the walleye specific rods that they’ve produced in the past.
I wish that I had more than just the two days there. My flight back took me through Chicago, where I saw the craziest thing. It’s something that I think you only see if you are in flight. A red, blood red moon rose on the horizon as we approached O’hare. It morphed into a splotchy mango red and orange sphere, then orange, yellow and eventually white full moon. With all of the wild colorful things I saw in New Orleans, that moon is the lasting impression of the trip. I hope to return some day, maybe with a group of people so I don’t feel uneasy in the big easy.

Heading to Bass Pro Shops to talk Kayak Fishing 2-26

I’ll be speaking at the Baltimore Bass Pro Shops on Saturday February 26th. The subject of the talk will be an overview of kayak fishing for river smallmouth, with an emphasis on the most successful patterns of the upcoming month of March. Here’s one I caught in February: