Kayak Koz

Let's say you're out on the lake in your kayak or boat and you come across a spot holding ideal baitfish and conditions to hold bass. You take 4 or 5 casts without a strike. Or maybe you check your imaging or FFS and you see the bait but no bass. Either you know this spot generally holds good bass or all the topography, structure, and cover tells you it's a good spot to fish. Do you hang out there making some casts and waiting for the bite window or do you move on to a new location to fish? Does it make a difference to you if you're fishing a tournament and looking for 5 good bites or if you're fishing for fun? The reason I ask is that I notice that I fish much differently in my kayak than I fish from the bank. There are bank fishing spots where I know I have caught good bass before and I can cast there over and over for 30 - 40 minutes because I know the odds are I am going to pull one or two good bass out of there. But in my kayak I almost always hit and run. Even if I see bait fish on Livescope, if I don't see predators I make maybe a handful of casts and move on. Because I have more mobility on the kayak I get a case of FOMO - fear of missing out. Then driving home I kick myself for not sticking it out. How about you?

She has fished a number of BASS Opens this year. I know her casually, and in talking to her he mentioned that her initial challenge is adapting to fishing out of a boat. She did better as the year went on. So do the kayak tournaments she has been fishing. It's fascinating how unique kayak fishing and fishing from a boat are. Elite anglers like Iaconelli have fished kayak tournaments and found it to be very challenging. Likewise for kayak anglers that have participated in Opens and MLF events.

No AI this trip. I didn't even have Livescope running most of the day. Part of that was intentional, the other part is when it got wonky.

I managed to get out on Tobesofkee for two hours on Sunday. Considering we just had a front move in that dropped overnight temperatures into the 30's I wasn't expecting much. I was fishing a stretch of grass not far from the ramp as I made out onto the lake, throwing an underspins, and my line loaded up and - nothing. Dead weight. It turns out it was a boat seat cushion. The Deep Dive app told me I should fish the backs of smaller creek channels mid-lake, but I didn't make it that far as the forecast called for rain and thunderstorms later so I hung out close to the ramp. I found bait fish, but no bass. It didn't matter though. After working all week it was nice to get out on the lake with temperatures in the upper 60's and only light winds. The disconcerting part of the day was my Livescope transducer was malfunctioning. When I went to calibrate the compass, nothing happened and it stayed at 0% progress. Despite the transducer being in the correct position, Livescope showed the pitch as being way off. I set the pitch manually and that worked until I paused and restarted it. Then it showed only a few feet out and went black. I manually changed the orientation to other settings then back to forward, but that didn't work. Next, I reset to factory defaults but the system showed me in down mode instead of forward. I manually changed to forward and manually set the pitch, but that didn't work. I still couldn't calibrate the compass, either. I reset to factory defaults multiple times and it didn't help. Voltage was good at 12.6V, so I'm guessing that I'm among the many unlucky ones that had the LVS34 go bad. I'll contact Garmin this week. I saw only one pontoon boat and three bass boats out there, so it was relaxing to just motor around and have the lake to myself. Unfortunately, with my upcoming schedule it looks like I won't fish again until mid-December. But it was still nice to get out on the water.

I am the King of Eliminating Unproductive Water. The problem is, by the time the day ends I'm still working on eliminating unproductive waters.

I haven't pared down my soft plastics yet, but I did pare down my hard baits and switched from a 100Ah LifePo for electronics to a 36Ah. I gained 3/10 mph in speed on my AP120 Monn Kota motor running at setting 8 (out of 10). I carry WAY too many soft plastics right now.

Mine was just meh. I fished only one tournament in 2025 and that was way back in February. I was scheduled to fish another in December - ironically in the same place (Kissimmee Chain) but the opening of our new hotels were pushed back to that week. Overall, between changing jobs and moving I didn't fish much this year. I moved from the lake back in March and now I'm landlocked. I have a number of decent options within 2 hours of where I live, but some mornings it's hard to get motivated to make that drive. I went from fishing almost every day to maybe once a month. I only caught one fish over 7 pounds this year and I lost what looked to be a double digit in Kissimmee. That was heartbreaking. I am better learning how to use FFS and when to shut it down completely and just fish. My fishing goals for next year are to find more speed in my kayak by dropping weight (me and the gear!), fish 8-10 regional and national kayak tournaments, and to be more patient in fishing what should be prime spots and stop running and gunning (such as it is on a kayak). I need to trust my instincts more, be patient, and go for 2 good bites an hour rather than worry about not getting bit on every cast. But with a great new job and meeting a beautiful, thoughtful woman and dating her for the past 9 months it's been a great year off the lakes. That's even better than fishing - barely 😉

That's a heck of a low price if it's a good battery. Personally, I have used Weize batteries for years. I have two of their 100Ah and one 36Ah.

This is what the cargo area of my Bronco looks like when I head out for a week of pre-fishing for a tournament. I definitely don't ring all of this when I head out for one day. The red tub is hard baits and then four of the Flambeau's for the soft baits. Rods are in a rod box up top. I tell myself it's because I don't want to run out and buy anything while I'm there and miss time on the lake. But it might be that I have a problem.

One rod? Blasphemy! That's a LOT of combos. I usually load up with 8. If I'm feeling frisky - or indecisive - I'll take 9.

I'm wondering how much tackle other kayakers bring on the water. I'm on a quest to pare down. My previous load out consisted of four 3700 trays that I store next to my seat in my AP. In my YakAttack crate I had two extra large, double side trays and five speed bags filled to the brim with soft plastics. I also had two small trays for various jig heads. Come tournament time I also carry two tubs of hard and soft baits in my Bronco if I want to swap things out. The soft plastics were the worst at taking up space and weight as I would carry multiple colors of worms, soft jerk baits, minnows, and creature baits. The same could be said for some hard baits like bladed jigs and crankbaits. I never wanted to be caught short by not having the right color or size. But with winter approaching and the water getting colder I want to lighten the load on my kayak. I tried this before, but tackle creep happened again. So now I'm back at it. I've cut it down to four of the 3700 trays and swapped out my 100Ah electronics battery for a 36Ah battery. Next is to pare down the soft plastics. I'll still use 5 speed bags to keep them sorted, but the goal is to remove 50% of the baits in each. If I run out of something and need it that bad I'll head back to the ramp. Just for fun, I may weigh my crate before and after I pare down. So, how much tackle do you guys and gals bring on your kayaks?

I'm quite content being here in the south and being able to go out on my kayak all year long.

"I'm beginning to know bass." You just jinxed yourself. 😀

In that price range I have a few of the St. Croix BassX rods that I really like. I know - some people aren't fans, but they have never let me down.

I have an AP120 kayak and utilize a trailer. Launching is more difficult than the retrieve because I have to push the kayak off carpeted bunks. That usually means getting a little wet and climbing on the trailer frame. If the ramp has a small slope and the bunks are high off the water I get just about to the back of the trailer to let it in the water gently. I have a bungee dock rope ties to the bow and I'll usually clip that to the dock walkway or a dock cleat. When retrieving, I pull the kayak to the shallows, clip my winch cable. then push the kayak out beyond the trailer and then winch it it. In warmer water I wear some Skecher's slip-ons, but in colder water I wear muck boots.

Then I must be a real outlier. Every year I purchase an in-state license for Georgia and out of state licenses for South Carolina and Florida not to mention at least temporary licenses in Alabama, Texas, and Tennessee. If I'm fishing a state more than once in the year I usually buy an annual out of state license.

Rods - Kistler Helium and Kistler Z-Bone. Bait - Reaction Innovations Little Dipper - It's a paddletail with a nice side-to-side waddle that generates strikes.

That’s too brutal for me. It was 42 degrees out when I went to work this morning. That’s about my lower limit for kayak fishing. Water temp here is nudging into the 60’s. It’s time to break out the muck boots. I think that temperature is relative when it comes to bass activity. Those northern bass may treat 50 degree water temps like it’s picnic weather, but these southern bass are wearing scarves and sweaters.

You can always tell that winter is coming because the member activity on Bass Resource slows down. Woke up to 42 degrees here in southern Georgia this morning. The days are still in the 70's and 80's but it's getting chilly overnight. I have been fishing sporadically, but my girlfriend is away for the next few weekends so I'm hoping to get out and do a decent amount of fishing. But before that, I'm going to rig my kayak a bit differently. First off, I added some sun visors to my Garmin and Humminbird units. But my next project is to shed some weight and see what kind of speed I can gain. Normally, I run two 100Ah LifePo batteries, one for electronics and one for the motor. I alternate them each trip so one isn't getting a heavy draw all of the time. But for my next trip I'm going to connect the electronics to a 36Ah to reduce weight. But it's my crate and soft plastics that probably weight the most. So now I'm going to really pare down on what's in my speed bags. I'm also going to cut down on the number of hard baits I bring. The truth is that I never use most of it out on the water. Instead, I'll put the extra baits in a tub and put that in my trunk. The other part of shedding excess weight on my kayak is me! I recently joined Planet Fitness with my son and we have been working out together. I've been at it for a few weeks and if I can make it for another month it will become a habit and get easier to get out there 3-4 times a week. It helps to have him pushing me to get out there. I already fixed the nav lights on my kayak and gave it a good deep cleaning, but unless I buy a new kayak I really don't have any winter fishing projects this year.

Knobel Barrel Strength

I'd throw a small, popping hollow bodied frog. But I'd throw it into that shore grass and then gently pull on it into the water and look for an immediate reaction bite. If I didn't get that strike I'd pop it once or twice, let it sit for a few seconds, reel it a foot or two, then pop it again and repeat.

I may fish it slow, I may speed it up. I may do a straight retrieve or pop it once, two, or three times in a row during the retrieve to try and trigger a bite. I never use a trailer on my buzzbaits because I don't want to speed it up too much to keep it from sinking. I don't like clacker buzzbaits as they have never produced for me. But a buzzbait with a good squeak is priceless.

I swear that A-Jay is using AI to create videos of these monster smallmouth catches. 😁

I've been fishing Keowee a lot lately and thankfully I haven't had any problems. Then again, it's October and not June.

How does perspective mode in Livescope compare to 360? I tried perspective mode a few times when I had my Fishing Specialties pole. It was interesting, but I never really gave it a chance. I now have the Sniper Marine pole, but the mount is static. I need to add a $250 mount if I want to be able to switch to perspective mode.