Kayak Koz

Yes, Hampton Lake.

I just did some more reading about the Tiger Bass they stock at that lake. The crossed a northern strain of male Gorilla Bass with female Florida bass. They say they grow at a rate of 2 pound per year. I also found out they crossed White Bass with Striped bass and added them (Wipers) to the lake at a rate of 5 per acre. I haven't been able to find out if they stocked them more than once or if the population took root. Since they don;t reproduce their time in that lake could have been short lived.

My ex wife once asked me for the phone number for 1-800-Contacts (Think about it...)

It was back in 1980 and my parents bought me a puke green, 4 door 1975 Dodge Dart for my birthday. It was an all around terrible car. Sounds like a good deal for me getting a car for my birthday, but back then we had a Cadillac, Corvette, and a '69 Camaro SS convertible in our garages. All were off limits to me. However, there were some positives. Back then if something broke on your car you could go out and buy a Chilton's manual, buy some parts, and fix just about everything yourself. I remember rebuilding a carburetor, replacing a thermostat, and changing my own oil and filters. When the tail pipe cracked I even learned how to weld it back together. Those were the days!

Like a lot of folks out there, COVID has upended my life. I lost my job and being a hotel GM and so many hotels closing because of the virus there have been very few jobs available where I need to be at this moment. My father has been ill the past few years and I need to be within 3 or 4 hours driving distance when he needs me. Some of the ways I cope with stress are fishing and wood working. Well, the bass fishing is lousy where I am now as I was previously spoiled living in the SC Lowcountry. But this week things started to turn around and I had a second job interview to take over a hotel back down in the SC Lowcountry where I used to live. So I got to spend time with mu dad and do some fishing while down there for the interview. I fished for an hour or so the afternoon I got there. The weather was cloudy and breezy with temps down in the 60's. I went to one of my favorite spots but someone was already fishing there and I did not want to horn in on that location. I hit another favorite spot and caught a couple around 1 pound before Mr. Big Gator stopped by to let me know I wasn't welcome there. So off to lagoon #3. The wind blowing put some nice chop on the water and there's a nice aquatic weed line down one side where the bait fish usually hide so the conditions called for a buzzbait. For most of the year it just kills in this location. I can cover 100 yards of bank and easily land 3 or 4 2 pounds or more. But heading into fall it's not the ideal time to throw it in these waters, but what the heck. I'm glad a did because I landed the 5 pounder in the photo below. As I was removing the hook I has two cars pull up to check out my catch and one of them was kind enough to snap the photo below. The next day I went back to the first lagoon and caught a couple under two pounds until Mr. Even Bigger Gator told me I was done fishing there. So it was off to lagoon number two again. Now as I have mentioned before I prefer to power fish with my baitcasters and rarely use spinning gear and I hate fishing slow. But with the fall transition I forced myself to give it a go. I didn't bring spinning gear with me so I grabbed a rod and reel from my dad's garage. Both the rod and reel were Skeet Reese models, with a medium rod and to me what was an under powered 200 reel and some 10 pound mono. I wacky rigged a beefy Bass Pro Stick O Worm and the fun began. I ended up catching 11 in just a few hours, but what was odd was nothing was over 3 pounds. Most were under 2 pounds and I even caught a juvenile 6 inch bass on that giant worm. Normally it's rare to catch anything under two pounds in those lagoons. But hey, it was fun and lifted my spirits. I hit that spot again the next day and had more success. Unfortunately I blew it when I latched on to something bigger. I horsed it too much with that medium rod and 10 pound test and snapped the line. I don't think it was a PB, but knowing that lagoon there's a good chance it was 5 or 6 pounds. I definitely need to fish more light gear and get my touch back, especially if I plan to fish throughout the winter. The good news is the second interview went well and now I just need to talk to the VP and the CEO and will hopefully have an offer by the end of the week. If the money is decent and they offer a good relocation package I'll take it. Otherwise, I have a less desireable and lower paying job lined up here for now that will at least pay the bills. If I do get the job back in the Lowcountry I'll be moving to a community where they stock Tiger Bass in the main lake every year. From what I understand if you can get them to bite they put up a good fight. But word has it at this lake live bait is about the only way to catch them. But I'm up for the challenge.

OK - another new project this past week. That coffee table that I built earlier needed something on that big empty space on top. So I built a simple serving / display tray to for a couple of plants and to hold coasters or the remote as well. There's not a whole lot to it, but because it's an eight sided join the miter cuts have to be precise so you don't have any gaps where the side pieces join. Normally when I stain a project I sand it up to only 220 grit so the stain absorbs well in the wood. But for this project I wanted to give it a distressed look and with that I didn't want the stain to absorb as much. So I sanded it to 1000 grit, put on a few coats of Polystain, then distressed parts of it with a Philips head screwdriver. When I added another coat of stain that stain settled into the distressed marks making those gouges darker. Fun fact - if I left the handles off I could have also stood it on end, added shelves, and had a wall display case.

My cousin lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida and he wasn't so lucky this past week. The storm took out his dock and boat, his garage, two cars, and a couple of jet skis. Luckily the house is OK. He's still without power but has a generator and plenty of fuel and food and the family is unharmed..

It sounds like a few rounds of "Never Have I Ever" are going to break out. Does everyone have a beer handy?

As the bad weather arrives the squirrels will seek shelter in their dens, usually in trees. Unfortunately, many will die due to drowning, falling trees, exposure, etc. during and even after the storm. But enough will survive and over time they will usually rebuild the population. We used to have a large fox squirrel population where I lived in the SC Lowcountry but after a number of tropical storms and the occasional hurricane their population has dwindled in some areas where they used to be prevalent. In other areas they are still thriving.

I get tired of my thumb getting chewed up so I use a bike glove and fish grippers. The bike glove actually works well all around when fishing. Like fishing UV gloves they are fingerless but they offer padding in the palm and part of the fingers. They also help with grip when it gets hot and sweaty out on the water. When it's cold out I'll wear one bike glove on each hand. I almost always use a baitcaster, so putting the padded bike glove on my left hand also helps with the comfort level when fishing all day. I'll wear a think UV on my cranking hand. The only drawback is they smell pretty ripe after an outing or two so I add them to the wash once or twice a week.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this here before, but her is my 9/11 story. Some 8 or 9 months before 9/11 it was a busy morning at my hotel and I stepped behind the front desk to give my crew a hand checking people out. I remember one man in particular that morning. As part of the checkout process we always engage with guests in some chit chat and ask them about their stay with us. This guest wearing a cream colored, short sleeved dress shirt and dark pants. When I tried to engage him he stared back at me and said nothing. I thought he may have been displeased with something during his stay so I followed up with a question and he just glared at me. I handed him his receipt and told Mr. Atta to have a great day. Little did I know who Mohamed Atta was at that time. But I remember his glare. Perhaps I have distorted it over time, but I believe it was hatred in his eyes. He made enough of of an impression with that glare that I never forgot his name. My hotel was about 8 miles from the airport and my best guess is that he was in town scouting airport security and operations as a possible launching point for one of the terror cells. When the 9/11 attacks happened I had taken over a new property and that morning we had our annual Marriott inspection. Within a day or two the when the TV reported Atta's name a chill went down my spine. I immediately called my old hotel, told them to pull all the records and contact the FBI with the information. In an ironic twist I have another connection to the events of 9/11. Earlier in my career I was GM for another Marriott in Scarborough, Maine. On the night before 9/11 some of the hijackers stayed in the at the Comfort Inn there that was managed by one of my friends.

The best way I can describe it is that when a fish takes the bait it feels "alive". The vibration that is transmitted to my line, rod, and fingers feels different than bouncing or dragging off underwater structure and surfaces. When I taught my son to fish I had him use nightcrawlers and drop his line in the water and watch and feel the smaller fish attack the bait. He progressed to bobber fishing for a brief time and then on to t-rigs and wacky rigs. To this day he's still a much better wacky rig angler than I am.

The answer is "never."

I never, ever rule out the small lagoons. The photo below is a kidney shaped lagoon about 1/3 of an acre behind my father's house. I've caught three 6 pounders in there, a handful of 5 pounders, and nothing less than 3.5 pounds. My son also caught a white crappie in there that weighed a tick under 2 pounds.

"...and be brought back via golf cart." Was some enterprising kid out there making a few bucks shuttling boaters?

I've been having a hard time finding any decent fishing since I moved to the SC Upstate. When I lived in the SC Lowcountry I was spoiled with having thousands of bass filled lagoons to choose from where I could easily bank fish. In the Upstate where I live I have not found any accessible ponds and the lakes have very few bank fishing spots. There are a few lakes where I can rent kayaks, but the fishing there has been lousy. Due to the COVID crisis I'm not in a position to buy a kayak, and even if I did I'd have to come up with a way to carry it on my Genesis Coupe. Even though the lakes near me are close as the crow flies, with traffic it still takes 30-60 minutes to get there. So with that in mind I scanned Google maps looking for accessible bodies of water off the main highways. I found some town reservoirs down in Clinton, SC that were only 40 minutes away. Two had good bank access and the third was in a wildlife preserve that boasted trails around the water. So I made the drive down and decided to hit the two bodies of water off of the same road. But when I got within a mile of the first one there was a locked gate across the road and signs saying it was closed and there was no trespassing. I'm not one to break the law or jeopardize my fishing license so I turned around and headed to the third reservoir. This one was down a rut filled, dirt and gravel road and with my low car clearance it took a while to get down there. Next to a small out building there was a small pond, then up a steep hill was the main reservoir. I bypassed the pond and headed for the main body of water. When I got to the top of the steep hill my heart fell. There was heavy, aquatic algae like weeds all around the basin. But I made my way down the hill anyway and decided to give it a try. My baitcaster had a spinnerbait already tied on, so I decided to toss it out there and see what kind of hunk I was dealing with. I couldn't even come close to clearing the aquatic vegetation, and when the spinnerbait hit it pancaked on top. It made an audible thud sound. That's not good. Thinking maybe I hit something just below the surface that I could not see I started fan casting. Same result. I tied on a hollow frog and cast out. It bounced. As far as the eye could see this vegetation ringed the basin. There was a trail near me but it led away from the water so I decided to push through the dense woods. I found a few areas that allowed me to cast, but it was the same result everywhere. Dejected, I made my way back to the small outflow pond and cast around for about 20 minutes. I didn't even see a panfish or a baitfish. But that wasn't the end of my adventure. I packed up the car and started off home. But first I had to get up a soft gravel hill. With a rear wheel drive sports coupe. With wide, soft summer tires. Oh joy. The car is an 8 speed automatic, but at one point I smelled clutch as I tried to rock the car out of the gravel trap. While I can see vehicles out th back of the car on the road, the way the car sits low and the shape of the back window it's hard to see the road behind me. So I'm trying to manuever the car in a narrow area to find the hard pan and not back down the bank in the woods. What I forgot to do is turn off the traction control because once one wheel spins it locks down the car. I don't know how many times I've pulled out quickly and one wheel slips on the sand on the road and it locks down one wheel car trying to sync the rotation as I pray I don't get t-boned. Anyway, I found the hard pan and managed to get enough momentum to get through the gravel and up the hill. It took any a few minutes but it felt like 30 minutes. I really enjoy fishing - specifically bass fishing - but I'm ready to give up fishing in this area. I think I'll head to the Lowcountry for a few days next week to get my fix. But as for fishing up here I think enough is enough. I guess I'll focus on woodworking for a while for my relaxation.

In the areas I fish I've caught a lot of bass and crappie under and around the fountain. Usually this is when there is little wind and it's hot outside. My best guess is that in lagoons without a lot of cover the floating fountain base and even the disturbed water provide some cover and shade. The fountain would also oxygenate the water more in that area.

Can you cast to the fountain? I'd throw a beetle spin there and around the inlet and outlet structures. You'll find a channel develop flowing to and from the inlets and outlets. Bass sometime hunker down in those lower spots are use them as cruising pathways to feed along shore. I've also had luck throwing bottom baits under fountains. Just watch for the rope!

I'm the same way. I used to be a crack shot with spinning gear. But no more since I began relying on my baitcasters. Now with spinning gear it's like my finger hangs up on the line all of the time. The balance of the rod also feels off and with those things I yank most of my casts. I was planning to head out and fish tomorrow and tonight I spooled up some spinning gear in case I need to pull out a ned rig. We'll see how it goes.

This question got me thinking. If I was fishing for food my choices would be a weightless Senko, a T-rigged worm, and a ned rig. But since I fish for sport I prefer a chatterbait, buzzbait, and spinnerbait.

I used to work in print media with a company that had been around for decades. Like many, I saw the future shift of magazines once smart phones came around. I told the publisher my vision of where the industry was going. He balked. This was before prepackaged publishing software and building block apps so I went out and wrote the code to supplement our print version with digital publishing. The publisher still balked at the idea. After a few pay cuts my job was eliminated completely as their debt climbed and circulation dwindled. A few years later he had to sell the company because of crushing debt. The new owner went digital.

That's better than sticky. Or squishy.

When Cat 1/2 Hurricane Matthew came through my area it took over a year to remove all of the downed trees.

The point is that with clear water and great visibility I saw only 2 bluegill all day. No small baitfish, no bass, no fish activity whatsoever. At the very least, normally you would see lots of baitfish around the laydowns and there were none. I would have also thought at least one other angler would have been out there but there were none. If I head out there again I'll ask a park ranger about that.

That was in Sun City Hilton Head. It's a private, gated community.