Kayak Koz

I usually try and catch a few of the games every year, but I have a problem with the LL 11-12 year old division that plays in the WS. Let me preface this by saying I'm a long time youth baseball coach in rec ball, travel ball, and this year middle school ball. Our local rec ball plays Dixie Youth Baseball and not Little League baseball. The first problem I have with this division of LL is that the fields are way too small. The 60 foot baselines and 50 foot pitching distances are much too close for 12 year olds. Our 11 year olds play 70 foot baselines and 54 foot pitching distances. Our outfield fences are a minimum 225 feet while LL is 200 feet. The second issue I have is the rules, and this is related to the field dimensions. No leadoffs or straight steals? That's not baseball. We were playing leadoffs and steals in our 9U and 10U age groups. At 11 and 12 years old teh game plays much better with the bigger field.

I don't think bass fishing is any different than any other types of fishing for a specific species. When I was younger if I said I was going fishing that meant I just wanted to catch anything whether it be a bass, bluegill, yellow perch, or anything in the water where I was fishing. Today when I say I'm going fishing it means bass fishing. In fact, I'm generally disappointed if I catch something else. The other day I went back to Bluffton SC to visit family and went fishing for an hour. I was throwing a chatterbait and on one cast as I let it free fall on entry it got absolutely hammered. I set the hook and knew it was a big fish and it immediately put up a good fight. But after getting it halfway in to shore I felt the pull change and knew it wasn't a bass. Sure enough, it turned out to be a nine pound catfish which is a very good size for the lagoons I fish. But when I first saw it my thought was, "Crud - a catfish." Silly, I know. But for whatever reason I just prefer to catch bass.

Here's the answer that I received from Hobie: So you would either need to buy a separate Mirage Drive 180 or try and work out a price for an upgrade.

I watched a few videos on YouTube and they stated that you would need to upgrade the Mirage Drive in order to have reverse. Looking on Amazon I see the Mirage Drive v2 available for $530 and the Mirage Drive 180 for $938 so I assume the upgrade would be about $400.

In reading the description it states: "Mirage Drive Classic; a tribute to the original Hobie Mirage Drive." So then it's not the Mirage 180 drive with reverse that comes with it for that price, and to me the Classic Drive implies there is no reverse. For me, the whole idea of getting a pedal drive would to be able to jog as needed hands free when fishing. If I have a pedal drive I don't want to have to put down my rod, pick up a paddle, then put the paddle down and grab my fishing rod again. Heck, if that's my option I'd save money and just get a paddle only kayak instead. No doubt it's a great price, especially for a Hobie. But I think that a pedal kayak for fishing must have reverse.

Get your revenge! Land some bluegill and then use them for bait.

Chicken. Everything unknown tastes like chicken.

I mostly bank fish and if I'm covering a lot of ground on foot or on bike I usually bring just one rod - a baitcaster spooled with 40 pound braid. I throw everything in that rod, including beetle spins. While other rods and line weights may be more suitable for some of the baits I throw, I throw a wide range of baits and catch bass on all of them from topwaters to bottom lures all with my baitcaster with 40 pound braid.

This is my ride. The kayak won't quite fit in the back

The Lure 11.5 was on my shortlist of kayaks before I even rented this one the other day. I like the idea of a kayak with a pedal drive system, but the drive unit is ridiculously expensive. $1,100+ ? C'mon, son. I can see $400 bucks or maybe $500. Hopefully as this technology feature ages the price comes down. I did see a pedal kayak for $999 but I did not bookmark the website and can't remember the brand. If I go the pedal route it will probably be either the Lure 11.5 with Overdrive or the Pescador Pilot. For paddle kayaks I'm looking at the Lure 11.5, the Bonafide SS107 and RS117, and some of the Vibe models. My primary issue is finding a way to transport it. If I get a pedal kayak I'll need a new vehicle and a trailer. If I get a paddle kayak I'll just need a new vehicle, although I am going to visit me dealer and ask if they know of crossbars that can definitely work with my car. I wasn't planning on buying a new vehicle until next year, and the vehicle cost certainly adds to the price of a new kayak!

Renting a kayak has it's limitations. If I do go ahead and purchase one I would most likely spend a few bucks more for an anchoring system. My biggest frustration was finding what looked to be a good, fishy area with logs and laydowns and spending as much time jogging the kayak than casting and fishing.

Today was not only my first time kayak fishing, but also my first time in a kayak. I was at Lake Cooley in Inman, SC and rented a FeelFree Lure 11.5 fishing kayak. After my time on the water I have mixed feeling as to whether I still want to purchase a kayak of my own. Once I entered the water, even sitting still the kayak dipped to port. It didn't track very well, and the paddle they gave me was too short for use with the raised seat. So instead of gripping the paddle centered, on each stroke I would have to slide the paddle down, paddle, raise, and slide down the other side. I've never fished this lake before and didn't know what baits to bring and I made the mistake of bringing my entire backpack bag. This made it a pain to change baits, and as water splashed the canvas bag got heavier and heavier making it tough to grab from or place in the storage behind me. Eventually I kept it between my legs, but that meant it got even more wet. As for the fishing, I spent a LOT more time either paddling or positioning the kayak than I did actually fishing. Sometimes I hit the sweet spot with the current and others I had to keep repositioning. I also found out that throwing a bait with a decent sized blade would spin the bow of the kayak if I cast off to the side. As for the fishing itself, I caught nothing. I didn't even see a bass in the two hours I was out there. My buddy did manage to catch a crappie. The wind picked up later in the morning as I was heading in and the short paddle made it that much more difficult going against the current. Despite a little bit of frustration today I'll probably try it again. I'll also limit myself to one or two Plano boxes and throw my gripper and fishing tool in my pocket. I'll have to get better at positioning myself, but even then having to jog all of the time is a pain. I think that if I do purchase a kayak in the future I'll splurge and buy a pedal drive kayak with reverse. It will make it much easier to keep the kayak positioned properly and still allow me to fish at the same time. The good news is that it was beautiful weather with temps in the 70's and that made it a pleasant time on the water. But my first experience in a kayak was that it was too much time working the kayak and not enough fishing. Now I understand why some guys are out there on the water for 6 hours. I can get as many quality casts bank fishing in two hours as most probably get from a kayak in double or triple that time.

I've told this one before, but it's a good one. My son and I were fishing and not catching anything so he breaks out the iBobber portable sonar, hooks it up to his line and tosses it out there. Within the app if a fish greater than 18" swims by the fish icon is green and if it's smaller than 18" the fish icon is red. Anyway, he's calling out, "Red. Red. Green. GREEN!" as fish are swimming by the iBobber. I cast out there and I'm not getting any bites at all and he's still calling out fish and getting super excited when a big fish swims by. Still not a bite. So I ask him to bring me my phone so I can see what he is seeing in the app. It was on demo mode. SMH

I’ve fished braid with and without a leader and noticed no difference in catch rates so now I stick with straight braid. Fishing straight braid came in handy today when I hung up a lipless crank. First I tried the bow technique and let the line snap to vibrate the lure free. No dice. So I let out some line, dropped the rod, then began wrapping the braid around my heavily gloved hand and pulled and pulled, then released the line and the lure popped free. If I was using a leader I would have lost the lure.

Sorry, I did not mean it that way. To each his own.

If someone horns in on my honey hole while I'm fishing it I wouldn't be happy, but I could not care less about who fishes there when I'm away. I'd rather be known as the old guy that helps everyone out rather than the cranky old man that yells, "get off my lawn!" Besides, it's a great way to make friends or just make someone's day. It seems there isn't enough of that going around lately. I'm fishing for fun, not to put food on the table. As the saying goes, there are plenty of fish in the lake...

I just don't get that. We talk about the "bass fishing community" and we have a great one right here on BR where we all share experiences and information. Yet when some people are confronted by a real, live person standing right in front of them they won't pass on that same type of information. I have no problem sharing information and what worked and didn't work and what I caught that day. If I'm heading home for the day I'll even point them in the direction where I had some good fishing. I get great joy from a good day of fishing and I would hope any info I pass on helps others do the same.

I don't have any fishing or any other superstitions at this time. But I used to have a few. I played hockey on college (goalie) and in the locker room I never let my sticks cross. On game days I was always the first one on the ice and the last one off the ice. I went on a 2 year undefeated streak and wore the same undershirt every single game, although I did wash it once at the end of that first season. We lost in the playoffs in year two and I tossed the shirt away. I also pitched for my college baseball team and never, ever stepped on the baseline when going to the mound or dugout. It didn't help, though. I got rocked more often than not.

Oddly enough, every red eyed bass I have ever caught weighed exactly 4.20 pounds. (I don't partake in that activity, but I just couldn't resist the snarky comment).

I have a little, friendly dog and when I walk him I always make sure the poop bag I am carrying is visible so people don't get freaked out and think I leave my dog's business behind. My dog is also trained to walk by my side when we are moving, stop when I stop, and stop when we come to a road or the end of a curb. To be on the safe side anytime we approach someone I lock down his leash so he can't pull. I see people all the time with out of control dogs that go nuts every time a person or another dog gets near them and the owners are yanking their dog around. It's actually easy to train a dog to walk on a lead and prevent the dog from jumping or pulling, but I guess most people don't take the time to do that. I agree, there are a lot of terrible dog owners out there.

The entire Affordable Care Act was a fiasco for most people and the people it was intended to help the most still didn't sign up for insurance. A few years ago the company I worked for was sold and I was out of a full time job for a while and had to drop my insurance because I needed a roof over my head and food to eat. The government penalized me $1800 for that. One of the biggest problems with the insurance industry is that competition is discouraged. It's ridiculous that companies cannot sell insurance across state lines. That's why we have entities like Blue Cross of South Carolina, Blue Cross of Connecticut, etc. I don't see a national healthcare system working because as soon as the government is involved prices will skyrocket (the old $300 hammer issue). If the government is involved it should be in price controls, not managing the program. But even then there will be lobbyists and kickbacks and a bunch of members of Congress will suddenly add millions to their net worth. As long as we allow lobbyists regulations and laws will benefit the pockets of politicians and big corporations. I'm not against most big companies, but every year consumers get screwed a little more. As for drug companies, a lot of them spend a ton in researching new drugs and as soon as it hits the market the rest of the world copies it and they lose sales. But even with that, they charge way too much for crucial drugs. They also spend billions in advertising. I've written my Congressmen on a few occasions asking for a bill to be passed that prevents drug companies from advertising on TV. There's a lot behind me reasoning and I won't go into it here, but it is not good for consumers in the long run.

People that are jerks have been around forever, but I think that these days people are more aggressive about it. And for all of the technological progress we have made we certainly seem to have regressed when it comes to the basics of humanity. In a lot of cases we live in an age of jealousy and despair and a lot more "me" than "we". Case in point, when I was a kid I lived on a dead end road about 3 miles long and there were 40-50 homes along the road and everybody knew each other. Not everyone was friends, but all were friendly. Today people don't seem to take the time to meet their neighbors. I just moved to a new area and I walk my dog every day and say hello top people I pass and I'd say 50% give a terse reply like they could not be bothered. I personally try to combat the negativity by performing random acts of kindness at least once a week. It could be as simple as holding a door for someone when they are still 30 feet away or help someone unload their shopping cart in the grocery store. Just do something unexpected and kind for someone whether it's a big or small gesture. If they express gratitude I remind them to pay it forward. If you have a Twitter account I suggest you look at and follow the account of Bill Pulte (@pulte). He's a billionaire and he has started what he calls Twitter Philanthropy to help out those in need. He'll randomly give out $100, $1,000, or $10,000 to people on Twitter or travel to a place like Detroit and randomly hand money out to people. He'll rally his followers and ask celebrities and politicians to help by a car or medical equipment for veterans or those in need. Every day I'm fascinated by the things he does and how he tries to rally people to reach out and help others. It's amazing.

I just moved to the Greenville-Spartanburg area and I can confirm that there are NO alligators in this area. You nee to be south of Columbia and near or into the Lowcountry area of SC before you start seeing alligators.

Yep, and that's why you need to be very careful, approach any foliage or cover with caution, and keep your head on a swivel when fishing. I've been chased and surprised by alligators more times than I can count. But with so many lagoons and retention ponds even if you get chased off by a gator on one lagoon there are plenty more to choose from. There was one lagoon that I fished for a number of years and at most I could get in 10 casts before having a big gator camp out by my feet. But this year that gator moved on it it was by far the most productive lagoon this year.

In most areas of the southeastern US there will be a trade off - the winter weather is mild enough to get out there and fish, but the summers can be brutally hot and humid. It also depends upon whether you prefer to fish from the bank or the boat. For example, here in SC if you like to bank fish then you want to be in the Bluffton / Hilton Head area where there are THOUSANDS of stormwater retention ponds that hold big bass. But if you have a bass boat it's just about useless there and you need to move further north and west to find bigger bodies of water with boat ramps.