Bluebasser86

I fish a jerkbait out of my kayak a lot during the winter. Sometimes I stand, sometimes I sit. My kayak is rarely stationary while I'm doing it due to the wind or my impatience. I hold the rod off to whatever side is most comfortable while sitting and twitch to that side. I'll often use one hand and turn the reel handle with the same hand, never putting 2 hands on the rod unless I hook up or until it's time to cast again. I think it keeps me from moving the bait too fast most days or over fishing it.

Any local kayak guys looking for a last hoorah for 2024, we've got a little group meeting at Lake Shawnee in Topeka this Saturday. PM me if you want the details.

Assuming the OP is actually talking about catching channel cats and not snagging them while bass fishing, I catch well over 100 of them fishing for bass every year on a wide variety of baits. Caught one just last Saturday on a blade bait in 40* water mixed in with a school of white bass. One day this fall, I caught 13 of them on spinnerbaits and bladed jigs. It's a rare day that I spend much time fishing a Ned rig and don't catch one. Same thing for a bladed jig. One of the biggest I ever caught was on a suspending jerkbait. The other biggest was on a jig which was also a lake record. I've had dozens of them explode on buzzbaits, poppers, even through matted grass on a frog once. So yeah, it's more uncommon that I don't catch one while fishing for bass.

If I’m in a kayak tournament, give me all them long, skinny fish. If I’m fun fishing, I’d rather catch the fat ones.

What are your water temps? I fished in the snow and 30* air temps Saturday but the water was 48* still. The bass were very active, even chasing baits in to the boat still.

Almost always

Below 40 for me. I lose all confidence once the water temp starts with a 3.

I’d rather be a little slower to my spot and be more effective when I get there, than fight my boat position but get there faster.

Went out Saturday in what was supposed to be light winds and some flurries. The wind was way stronger than expected and those "flurries", sure accumulated quickly when they were coming down so fast I couldn't see across the lake. The fish didn't mind, biting from start to finish. Over 30 largemouth, several trout, a couple white bass, 2 walleye, a couple drum, even a little flathead in the 48* water. One of the bass was my heaviest of the year at 6.02lbs, a full .01lbs heavier than my previous heaviest of the year.

I have a Simm’s Challenger suit and it’s been amazing. I’ve had a couple 100mph suits and they’ve been underwhelming at best. Both fell apart (returned the first after less than a year of use and the cuffs coming unstitched), and then the same issue with the second pair. First pair was a hassle to return so I didn’t bother with the second pair, just kept them for a beater set.

I find so many ploppers, it’s usually that color or bone. A lot of time they’re tied to very light line and way up in a tree too. I always wonder if they were cast up that high or line broke on the cast and they landed in the tree.

I've got a lot of fishing buddies who won't go out when the temps get below 50* 😂 "But the winds gonna blow and then it feels colder on the water, I think I'll just stay home". I guess I shouldn't complain, those fairweather fishermen are the reason I enjoy winter fishing so much, just me and the fish out there.

That's a great find, a pre-Rapala Chug Bug. Those are fish catching machines. I still have a couple and still put them to work. I've been slacking on my posting here, but it's the time of year when I really find a lot of baits now and even makes trips just for finding baits. I went fishing/lure hunting 3 times in 3 days a couple weeks ago. The fishing was good and so was the lure finding. I found the first big swimbait I've ever found, even if it was just a BPS glide. This Black Label balsa was just floating next to a laydown. I actually yanked a nice largemouth out of the tree right as I motored over to pick it up. It was a little dinged, but I coated up the cracks so it should be good to go. They're very nice baits, and not cheap, so that was an exciting find. I found one of these one day, and the other the next, 2 Megabass 110's in 2 days isn't bad. The 3rd day was more of a lure hunting day than a fishing day. I didn't find as many as I'd hoped (never do I supposed), but the quality was good. Know what's better than 2 Megabass in 2 days? 3 Megabass in 3 days! The almost brand new 110+1 JR was snagged in some water willows 10' off the shore. Looked like someone must have been shore fishing with it, which I'm sure they now realize was a terrible idea.

RES 2 tap takes the cake for me. 6th sense did make one in the Quake lineup in a color called "Merthiolate Flash", that was a killer in cold, stained water. I have one left but I'm afraid to use it. They had kind of a blue crappie pattern that I really liked also, also DQ'd. Only have one left of those also. The Clayton's Shiner color is a solid pattern, not that I'm biased.

I've had good luck with them just doing a straight, fast retrieve with them. They're a much better smallmouth/spotted bass bait than they are for largemouth (unless they're really schooling), imo.

Got out to one of my favorite little cold water lakes this past weekend. There was a bad algae bloom an the water was still just a little too warm, but I caught quite a few healthy fish still and had a good time. The Besotted jerkbait was on a pretty good tear in the morning and I finally caught one on one of the ABS Bull Shads.

You're right, you will get blown around in the wind, but hull design plays a big factor into how much and then your ability to turn quickly is going to be a big factor in your ability to fish effectively. You might want to do a little bit more research into the tournaments you're planning on fishing. Are they associated with BASS? If they are, you can likely qualify for the Bassmaster Kayak Classic through them. I fish the state circuit here and qualified through the championship the last 2 years (2nd place last year and 1st this year). I actually qualified my first year of fishing tournaments from the kayak (won the championship again), but didn't fish it. Part of that was because I didn't understand how everything worked and was a little overwhelmed, and partly because I wasn't in a place financially to go to Louisiana and fish the tournament that year. Had I done my research, I would have been prepared in the event I qualified and been able to fish it. Knowing what I know now, I feel bad because I took the only qualifying spot for the club from a bunch of other guys who probably would have gone and fished it. Just something to consider before you jump into them so you don't end up in the same situation I did. If you're going to just jump into a small group like a jackpot club or weeknight tournaments with no affiliation to BASS and no chance to qualify for a larger tournament, then I would try to go look at both boats in person. Preferably, find a dealer that carries both and does demo days so you can actually pedal both of them, stand in them, rock them, move around in them, sit in the seat and decide if you could sit in it for hours, pick them up, whatever you want to do and look at to determine which would fit you better. I took almost a year of doing research before finally pulling the trigger on mine. It's resulted in me getting exactly what I wanted and not jumping around to different boats like I see so many guys doing. I've been in the same one since I bought it in 2019. I know exactly where everything is, where it goes, and what it's capable of. It makes it so much easier when I'm on the water when I don't have to learn a new boat every year. So do as much research as you can so you can "Buy once, cry once".

The extra weight will help a little with how much you’re blown around in the wind and you should still be able to load it easily enough in a truck bed. I bed loaded mine for a few years until I got a trailer with gear in it, which would be way heavier than the hulk of either of those boats. Imo, if you’re seriously considering buying a kayak to tournament fish, look at one you can put some kind of motor on, you’re at a serious disadvantage without one and every circuit allows for at least one per boat anymore (some allow 2). I’ve tournament fished over 20 years and kayak tournament fished for 4 years now, I’ve never felt at more of a disadvantage as I did fishing against a bunch of guys with motors while I was pedaling, especially in the wind. Last years kayak classic was the final straw on my holdout against the motor. I fought the wind for days and in the end, missed walking the Bassmaster Classic stage by 1/4”. I know of at least a couple fish I missed or lost that would have done it for me if I hadn’t been trying to fight the wind and boat position. Maybe there’s no wind or current where you fish, but after a season of fishing with a motor on my yak now, I’ll never tournament fish without one again unless it’s just physically impossible because of the water I’m fishing.

Actually snagging them or them eating the bait? It's unusual for me to go a trip without catching at least one. I had a trip just a few weeks ago I caught over 10 of them on spinnerbaits and bladed jigs. Only time I snag a bunch of them is fishing around outlets with jigging spoons in the winter. They congregate in the winter in huge numbers and there's just no way to avoid it, especially with their soft but tough skin.

That's the closest thing we have to muskie here. Big ones are a blast, and we get some monster longnose gar here.

I've caught a ton of trout on Ned rigs, very few on pink or chartreuse though, mostly on natural colors. Lots of them on jerkbaits, and not small jerkbaits, just standard 110s. Most of the fish on 110s are bigger fish too. I've caught quite a few on wiggle warts and square bills. I've also caught them on jigs, T-rigs, and chatterbaits. The Micro Chatterbait is a killer trout lure, the tiny 1/8oz with the minnow body, but the hook is awful. I flipped 2 out of brushpiles one day this past winter on a Rodent. The same day I also caught one on a Freeloader. Big ones love jerkbaits and hit them crazy hard. They also love the wart.

I wish I could be a muskie guy, but the closest ones are 3 hours away from me 😔I love chasing them, I'd fish bass a lot less if I had them closer. I still make time to go chase them at some of the stocked lakes the next state over. Been to Minnesota and Canada both fishing for them, didn't move a fish either time, all 16 I've caught were in Mizzery. I just went a couple weeks ago to try and catch one out of my kayak. Managed to get 3 of them in 2 days. I won't be going 10 years between trips again.

Pulled a couple screen shots from 2 of my muskie this past weekend. If you want to see those, a bunch of little bass, and a couple not so little bass.

I don't pay much attention to the rattles or no rattles. I pay more attention to the color and my retrieve cadence. A rattling bait isn't going to make much noise if you don't move it very fast.

A lot of the lakes I fish don’t have a spot in them 25’ deep 😂