Kayak Koz

Darting action is the phrase I was looking for.

My tombstone will read, “Just one more cast!”

Have any of you fished the Big Blade bladed jig? I tried one out today for a few minutes at lunch on a clear pond and it was interesting. If you try and burn it, it comes right up to the surface. Fishing it slow gives it the standard bladed jig action. But if you crank it quick for a turn or two it has a funky action that should trigger reaction bites. I only had time for a few casts and didn't catch anything, but I'm looking forward to trying it out this weekend.

I fished Keowee this past fall and had success in shallow waters with a baby bass squarebill and an underspin with a blue and white head and a bluish paddletail targeting spotted and largemouth bass. I caught one 6-7 pound LMB throwing near timber on that underspin. Headed out to Hartwell this weekend targeting points and ledges.

I have both 7' 4" and 7' 6" rods that are part of my rotation depending upon where I am fishing. The 7' 6" rod comes in handy when I'm standing and pitching into cover. Most of my rods are in the 7' - 7' 2" range as I feel I get better accuracy with the longer rods. However, I also like to skip baits from a seated position and in those cases I have a 6' 9" rod. I'd like to step down to a 6' 6" rod for that purpose, but I haven't found one that I like.

At some point my brain says "Enough!" and I start heading back to shore, usually at full speed (which isn't saying much on an AP120 kayak), But I may slow it down a bit and take a cast or two on the way back to the ramp.

When are you going to build that little cabin in the woods?

I feel you, brother. Winter is going to be brutal here this week. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we're supposed to have temperatures in the 80's! 😀

Hartwell it is. Let me know the ramp location. Your new Kistler is here. Bring a spare reel for it. I have a gel cushion attached underneath the seat with zip ties in my AP120. This way it doesn't slide off.

Forget the Bait Monkey - you're now in Boat Monkey territory. Just wait until you start rigging that kayak!

I'm up to a 95% chance that I will be up there next week. If you're available, we could meet at Keowee or Hartwell in the 22nd. Your new Kistler will be delivered to me this weekend. If you can't meet I'll send it off to you.

I start with Google Earth and look at historical imagery. This can be especially helpful to find structure when the water level was down. If the imagery is clear enough you can also see where there is aquatic vegetation, laydowns, stumps, rip rap, etc. You can also see where points have formed, where there are feeder streams, etc. Since you don't have electronics, you can use Google Earth on your phone and drop pins for any of these locations and then check them out once you are on the water. Being that small of a lake, there may not be any depth maps. But you can always try a Google search for one.

I actually like my adaptive cruise control. While it can be a pain in highway traffic, it's great on these rural Georgia roads. I take a lot of back roads, and a lot of these small towns have up and down speed limits. Having my sensors read the speed limit signs and automatically slowing me down has probably saved me a few tickets. I can also set it to automatically cruise at X miles above or below the posted limit. At my last house, I didn't have a garage. So, in the winter it was great top open up an app on my phone, remote start the vehicle, and get those seat warmers going. I like the sensors on the rear of the vehicle that warn me of cross traffic when I back out of a parking spot. I can take or leave the rear camera. Oddly enough, if I try to use that camera to back my kayak trailer down the ramp, I just can't do it. But if I grab the passenger seat and look over my shoulder I can back down the ramp at speed. I like my Apple CarPlay and I prefer Apple maps over the built in Ford nav system or Google maps. I like that my cargo space area has a place for me to plug in a power inverter. As someone whose first car was a fairly new, 1975 4-door Dodge Dart, I like the conveniences of modern day cars.

Will you have it the weekend of the 21st? It looks like I will be in Keowee that weekend.

I fished in an MLF tournament on Lanier and when we launched it was 24 degrees. By the time we made it to our first waypoint I was a popsicle. Every baitcaster I had froze up and I had to fish spinning gear most of the morning. In a kayak tournament, the coldest it has been at launch was in the mid 30's. I'll fish when it's that cold for a tournament, but not for fun. Somewhere around 42-45 is my lower limit depending upon the wind.

It gets worse with this guy. He submitted the same fish in multiple tournaments. He was also DQ'd at the Bassmaster Kayak event on Susky for fishing out of bounds. He was caught catching fish out of fish ladders on the river.

That's exactly why I would only do it with a lighter kayak. No electronics, and very little gear.

I'd need a different kayak, preferably a lighter weight pedal driver with fins or a kayak with a shallow stern drive motor. From what I've seen it gets much to shallow for my Autopilot to safely navigate unless I stick to locating deeper pools and hoping there's a ramp nearby. But I think that defeats the fun of going up there.

Well, there was this one tournament on Guntersville...

If you've seen Kristine Fischer videos, she stands on her kayak seat and fishes. Of course, I've also seen her set the hook and fall in once or twice!

Here's what's on tap for 2026: Feb. 7-8 — Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Kissimmee, Fla. April 18-19 — Caddo Lake/Lake Bistineau, Shreveport, La. May 30-31 — Santee Cooper Lakes, Clarendon County, S.C. June 6-7 — Clear Lake, Lake County, Calif. Aug. 1-2 — Susquehanna River, Bloomsburg, Pa. Aug. 22-23 — Wolf and Fox Rivers, Appleton, Wis. IN past year, the Championship was held in February of the next year at a lake close to where the Bassmaster Classic was being held. This year it will be a stand alone event in October. There's also some scuttlebut that an event or two may be televised using drones, camera boats, and Go Pro cameras transmitting through Starlink. My goal next year is to fish the first three events, hopefully with @FryDog62 teaming up with me so we can cover water in practice and translate that knowledge to good finishes. Caddo will be tough because it's a one day drive out and a one day drive back that I have to fit in around work. For Kissimmee and Santee Cooper I can leave on Thursday night and get in one day of practice on Friday. The other tournaments are just too far for me to drive with my work schedule. As it is, since I'm new to this company I have only one week of PTO this year. Hopefully, this series continues to grow. For the events Texas and eastward, the fields average around 210 - 220 per event. West Coast tournaments have been in the low 100's. If it grows, especially on the west coast, it would be nice if they had an East Series and a West Series and a combined championship. That way there would be more tournaments close to where I live. Kissimmee should be a blast in February if the weather isn't cold. Caddo and Bistineau are beautiful lakes with all of the giant Cypress, and Santee Cooper is Santee Cooper. Everyone seems to love Susquehanna, but it's a far drive more me and my Autopilot is not a good option for river fishing, especially as shallow as it gets up there. I've heard a lot of people rave about Clear Lake, but that would be a 40 hour drive each way! I have never heard of the Wolf and Fox rivers.

Maybe it's different fishing in a kayak because it takes us a bit of time to get somewhere. In a boat, you can be 5 miles down the lake in 10 minutes. In a kayak, it takes an hour to get that far. The more kayak tournaments I fish, the more I hear the top finishers say they stayed within a 100 yard stretch for most of the day looking for that one good bite an hour. I tend to roam, and if it should take me 20-30 minutes to get to my next waypoint I invariably end up pulling up to a few places along the way and fishing them. My thought is that I need to be more disciplined in my fishing if I want to improve my results. It's something that I plan to practice this winter.

You'll be standing in no time. It's daunting at first, especially for older folks like us as balance can be more of a challenge. I brace my feet against the gunnels on the deck and in calmer waters I have no problem standing while the motor is running slow. But if there are a lot of waves and wakes I tend to stay seated.

Welcome to the (kayak) Club! I expect that a few of your canoes will be on Craigslist by next summer 😀

Lamenting about catching "only" 1,451 bass. 😀 You're my fricking hero!