Kayak Koz

I got back into town yesterday afternoon and was jonesing to fish so despite the heat I went out there for about 45 minutes. Even at 5 pm it was still 95 degrees out there. It's going to be a hundred out there the next few days but I might try and get in some early evening fishing if I don't melt first.

Dirty water = chatterbait + trailer

Coated nicely - just stick him in the deep fryer!

Dang! What did you cast that with, a tree?

As Mike Iaconelli would say, “That’s a biggun’!” I’m actually moving north a bit to the Greenville area in a month or so. I will miss the thousands of fishing lagoons in my current area, but I won’t miss the alligators. I might even take up kayaking now!

You could throw a buzzbait, but I would take the trailer off. Better yet, throw a buzztoad or the Teckel Sprinker Frog. The Sprinker has the traditional weedless frog hooks.

That gives me an idea. MLF should have some sort of All Star Skills Competition weekend. They could have one event like casting at targets at different distances. Then they could have one or two hour rounds where everyone fishes with their choice of one crankbait that dives to the same maximum depth for everyone. Obviously, because of sponsor obligations they can't all use the same exact bait. Then have another round with a frog, another with a spinnerbait, etc. Anglers can win specific events and in each event receive points and crown an overall champion. Hold it in the summer so the anglers can all bring their families with them. Let's go MLF - make this happen!

I really need to invest in some proper fishing gloves, but for now I use bike gloves. They seem to do the trick and have a padded thumb so the bass don't chew up my thumb if they thrash around when I lip them.

I always target the spots where I think that the bigger bass will be located. If they are not there I move on to the next spot. I'm lucky to live in an area where even though I bank fish there are hundreds of lagoons in the community where I fish. So whether I'm in my car or biking I can cover a handful of lagoons (or more!) in the two hours or so that I choose to fish. But sometimes I move on out of necessity. There are days when I might get in only two or three casts before a gator decides he's interested in what I'm doing. In many of the locations I fish bank fishing spots are limited so you can't get away from the gator. Then there are lagoons like I fished the other day where I moved 400 yards away from a big gator and he still tracked me down and ruined my fishing. In that case it was on to the next lagoon.

Conditions like that can be a pain when you're bank fishing. For me one of the keys is trying to get the correct angle on the vegetative mass and I'll throw a buzzbait as parallel as I can along the edge of the vegetation. Another option is to toss a Pop-R along the edge of the vegetation and fish it slow to draw them out. Finally, instead of the traditional frog route I sometime prefer to toss a Teckel Sprinker Frog so that the paddle tail splash gets the attention of the bass as I retrieve it over water and then pull it over the matted grass. Once on the matted grass it's a traditional frog with the occasional turn and thump of the paddle tail.

Once I pick a spot where I want to fish I'll stand well up the bank and fan cast that area. Once I'm certain I won't spook any fish I'll move down towards the shoreline and make a set of casts covering 180 degrees, then repeatedly cast parallel to the bank on either side of me. When it's time to move on I usually turn around, head back up the bank, then repeat the steps above. Sometimes I might get lazy and traverse the bank, but for the most part I don't take any chances in spooking fish along the banks. Alligators are also a concern if there is heavy cover along the shoreline. I won't get close until I'm positive there's nothing hiding on the other side of or underneath the vegetation. Usually a few casts from higher up the bank will flush them out, especially if it's a topwater.

My parents are getting up there in age so I try to visit them a few times a week after work and I usually find 30-45 minutes to fish in their Sun City Hilton Head community after my visit. Today was one of those days, and on the drive over a thought crossed my mind that today I would catch a new personal best. The lagoon I decided to fish is about 11 acres and sees more fishing than most lagoons in the community. There have been a number of 7-9 pounders pulled out of there but I've only caught small bass there with the biggest being about 2 pounds. Anyway, buzzbaits have been killing it in all of the lagoons lately so naturally I started off with a buzzbait. I started at the narrow end of this U-shaped lagoon and on that end there is a concrete stormwater outlet. You know the kind - when the water level gets too high it flows over the top of the outlet and the water releases to adjacent lagoons. My first cast is along the front of the outlet and I got a small, short strike that bumped the buzzbait. I cast back and nothing. Next cast in the same place I get another short strike. A few casts later I start it off a little deeper into the corner behind the outlet and WHAM! This was it - my premonition of catching a new PB today was coming true! She came up like Jaws attacking a swimmer breached, breached the surface, then rolled over the bait with a LOUD tail slap. She was BIG. I'm guessing a minimum of six pounds but she could well have been the 7+ I've been looking for. When she rolled over on the bait I set the hook but then felt a large THUD as she slammed into the side of the concrete outlet while trying to run. The buzzbait popped out and she was gone. For the next 20 minutes I tried different baits in that area but she was gone. At least I didn't see her floating to teh surface after slamming the concrete. But the evening wasn't a total loss. There were schools/packs/gaggles of bass busting on shad out in the middle of the lagoon and all I had to do was get the buzzbait anywhere near the action and they crushed my bait. They were all between 1 - 1.5 pounds but I followed the action all the way down the lagoon and landed a handful of them before it was time to go. I fished that outlet one more time on the way, but no luck. I might have to try again tomorrow night before I have to head out of town for the week. That was just a weird way to lose a fish.

With just a few minutes left in today's round over 2 days Ott Defoe has caught 89 fish for 130-11 pounds, an average of 1.47 pound per fish. Granted, the biggest fish for half of today's field is less than 2.5 pounds so the anglers have no choice but to turn and burn on small bass and catching 89 bass is a huge feat. I'd just like to see them used a mixed format each tournament so it showcases the versatility of the anglers. It was also pretty cool when they got up at the crack of dawn and had no idea where they were fishing that day.

Go to Florida and hire a guide to take you out. Be prepared to pay big bucks for the live bait (and the guide) you'll need to catch your PB.

A points system for the size of each fish might work, but there would need to be big points for big fish or guys will still grind on the small bass. Again, the old MLF format was great because the anglers had no idea where they were fishing each day. They'd get up early in the morning and an MLF official would drive them to wherever they were fishing for the day.

Pennsylvania?

This year's MLF format has become kind of a bore. Just turn and burn and catch as many one pounders as you can. The old format was better when they had a sudden death round where they would set a weight goal and the first X number of anglers that met that goal moved on. What I'd like to see is the pros showcase more versatility by having different formats for different rounds of the tournament. Have rounds like the current format, sudden death, and keeping their top 5 fish. So some rounds are who can catch the most, some rounds who can catch them the fastest, and some rounds where it's the quality of the catch that counts.

I use the Strike King and Jawbone spinnerbaits found at Dick's and even the $1.00 Wal Mart spinnerbaits all with success. I find if I put a Keitech Swing Impact trailer or even a cheap Zoom paddletail trailer I usually get more strikes.

I bank fish as well here in SC. Earlier this spring chatterbaits were a top producer in stained waters with either a Pit Boss trailer or a paddletail trailer depending upon how deep I need the bait to travel. For the past few weeks (except tonight!) a white buzzbait has been landing them include one over 5 pounds last night. Willow blade spinnerbaits in white and chartreuse/white are always good here in the spring. especially with a Keitech trailer. We have plenty of alligators here as well, so in some lagoons it's not always possible to throw a buzzbait without attracting unwanted attention.

Love the buzzbait! In fact, for the last two weeks I've been throwing it almost exclusively because the bass have been crushing it. I managed to squeeze in an hour of fishing last night and caught 3 including a 3 pounder and one over 5 pounds. No trailer, just a trailer hook. For me, the Strike King Banshee in Sexy Shad has been the best, although a black and blue Cavitron has done OK for me as well. The Banshee is all bent up and chipped from taking so much abuse this spring. I need to head to the store and pick up a backup and maybe a few other colors as well. I think I'm also going to pick up a Strike King KVD Toad Buzzbait as well. If you haven't thrown a buzzbait I'd suggest adding it to your arsenal. It's a great spring bait, especially in choppy water.

I understand that some people have reservations about drones, especially because there are a bunch of people who fly them irresponsibly. But they are a great tool for aerial video and photography. The photo below (reduced in size and quality) is one I took that is actually comprised of 12 aerial shots that I stitched together. I will say that I've had some white knuckle flights as well. Flying $3,000 worth of equipment over the ocean or salt marshes and having a battery or equipment failure. Using a drone like the one above that is waterproof greatly lessens that anxiety. In the situations you describe, drones aren't the issue - it's the drone operators. And as for the noise, with the ones I have used you really don't hear them until they are right on top of you.

That's my great fear in life - catching a double digit bass and no one around to record it (/sarcasm). I guess I've been lucky enough to be fishing with someone or someone is passing by and is willing to take a photo. I guess that if the situation arises I'll try and take a selfie, but I imagine that trying to take a selfie holding a 7+ pound bass is a pain in the rump.

Remind them to look before they cast!

?? In reality I'm too cheap to spend money like that. Once the free period of the app is over I'm done with it. Besides, none of it's good days or bad days have panned out for me. I spend my money on foolish things like food, shelter, retirement savings, and my son's desire to further his baseball career.

It does cost about $150 to get certified to fly now. It did need to be done because there were way too many idiots out there doing stupid things with their drones. You'll also find that many towns now ban the use of drones in public areas. I did some commercial drone flying a few years ago taking pictures and video, but it ended up being too much of a hassle and we dropped those services. Still, I know one small lake where I fish where the big bass tend to hang in deeper water feasting on the shad out there and it's too far to cast. Maybe a long range RC boat with a servo would do the trick.