Kayak Koz

I was a big fan of The Who back in the day and loved the version of Summertime Blues on the Live at Leeds album. I haven't listened to The Who in years after the Pete the Pedo stuff came out.

Actually, The Who did it as a cover song. Eddie Cochrane performed it forst. But I prefer The Who version.

Maybe it's just me, I don't know. I spend most of my time bank fishing and when I do I cover a LOT of ground. In most the areas where I fish there are 2-8 lagoons within a mile or two walking distance, but even if I stay put and fish one or two they are in residential areas and that means I can cover a lot of shoreline. What I find that I do is cover a lot of water by casting and walking, but I'm always fishing moving baits. I try to fish slow with a ned rig or a jig across the bottom, but invariably I don't have the patience to fish really, really slow when I'm on my feet. I do get on a boat now and then and it's then I find that when I sit down I can fish slow presentations. What about all of you? Can you slow it down way down walking the bank and fishing? I think one of these days I need to bring a chair, a few baits to fish slow, and plop down in one spot for a long while.

From what I've read here on BR there are some northerners a bit jealous of those of us that live and fish in the south. But let me tell you, about this time of year it's us guys in the south that are jealous of you! For going on 6 weeks now it's been ridiculously hot and HUMID with the heat index around 105 every day. And that means the bass fishing here is just awful. Whether you fish slow, fish fast, fish the top, middle, or bottom columns the bite is few and far between. Meanwhile, I visit BR and see photos of all of the lunkers that you northerners are catching ? We did have one week where we had a ton of rain and it did cool off for a while. That was the one good week of fishing this summer and my son and I landed a handful of 5 pounders. Bank fishing at night is a "no go" where I live. We bank fish hundreds of small and medium sized lagoons and there are a ton of alligators in our area. DNR doesn't remove them unless they get really, really aggressive (apparently getting chased by one is not enough!). Kayaks, canoes, and boats are not allowed where we fish either. So for me, all of this constant heat and humidity is giving me the summertime blues. I still head out there and fish a few times a week, but the trips are short, hot, and sweaty. Most of the other anglers that fish where we fish have packed it in for the summer season. But this evening it will be partly cloudy and "only" 95 out - so maybe I'll give it another go. I, for one, can't wait until October rolls around and things finally start to cool off and the bass are more active again. Stay chilly, my friends...

I haven't found that one retrieve works any better than another. Sometimes they blow up on it when I pop the lure after it lands, sometimes a steady retrieve, and sometimes stop and pop. Sometimes they follow it in and sometimes they crush it right away. When it's hot out (90+) they never hit it. But once the weather is in the mid 80's or lower they crush it.

Love the Havoc Pit Boss on a chatterbait or jig!

For me the Whopper Plopper is always hit and miss. Somedays it won't get a single bit and other days the bass will blow up on it every other cast. I seem to remember that in a bassresource video about teh Whopper Plopper they mentioned that the designer of the Whopper Plopper, Gary Dahlberg, stated that the WP is more effective when fishing it over rocky bottomed basins. It had to do with the way the sound bounced off of the bottom and drove the bass crazy. We don't have any rocky or hard pan lagoon basins around here for me to test that theory, but if you have a lake or pond that meets that criteria you may want to give it a try. I just happened to throw a WP tonight for about 30 minutes and not one bite. Then again, the bass weren't hitting anything this evening.

The first time I used a baitcaster I spooled it up with 30# braid and had no issues. That's because I set a lot of brake and made sure I had the tension set correct. As I got more comfortable with it I decreased the brakes. I didn't go out there the first time with the goal of long bomb casts. I did try mono on my baitcaster and hated it. Now I only use either 30# of 50# braid. I rarely get a big bird's nest, but when I get too whippy I do get some line gouging and overruns, but have only had to cut things out once or twice. I love my baitcasters and use them almost exclusively now - even though I'm a bank fisherman.

For sure the weightless, weedless t-rigs are an option. Depending upon how thick the weeds are you may be surprised how well a spinner bait gets through them. Of course, a topwater frog is an option. But lately I've been throwing more Teckel Sprinker Frogs than Booyah Pad Crashers. That Teckel tail slapping the water and the weeds has proven effective for me.

I mainly use my machete to take down vegetation in some spots where I fish. When the vegetation gets thick there's a very real chance of surprising an alligator - or getting surprised by one. I have also used it to take down a few tree limbs to open up casting spots and especially egress points in the event an alligator charges. I never, ever chop down trees - only thickets of limbs and vegetation. Beware though, it's a lot more work than you think it will be. Also, you need to be mindful of property owners. I wouldn't go hacking away in a residential neighborhood. If the land is state owned or a park you need to check with official sources first.

It's most likely a summer algae bloom. As stated above, blue-green algae can be toxic, but there are other types of algae. Is it sort of a bright green that looks like little flower type buds when you pick it up and examine it? If so, it's not toxic. But it does get thick on the surface. If it has an inlet pipe or two then it's a stormwater retention pond and by Federal law (EPA) the owner needs to remedy the situation. Well. to clarify, if the pond is in a municipal area (not the entire township, but areas considered the town proper) of 10,000 residents or more it falls under MS4 guidelines.

Bring a machete or a crosscut saw. I've opened up more than a few spots with these.

I agree, but I would also add a small paddletail trailer like a Keitech.

Thank you for spelling "losing" correctly. My faith in humanity is restored.

Other reasons: 1. Follow the inlet pipes and take a look at those sources. You'd be surprised how much sediment is in inlet pipes and catch basins that eventually makes its way into retention ponds. 2. Sloughing on the side lopes. While the slopes may look green with vegetation, many times the soil underneath runs off into the basin. 3. Feeder streams may bring sediment from rain events earlier in the week. 4. Loch Ness Monster actively feeding can stir up large amounts of sediment.

How much I fish depends upon the weather. This time of year it's ridiculously humid out so even after 6 pm the heat index is close to 100. We also usually have popup thunderstorms just about every afternoon or evening. For the past two weeks the culprit has been torrential rain. That being said, if weather permits I'll get out 2-5 times per week depending upon work and my son's baseball schedule. Each outing is between 1 and 3 hours. I did manage to get out tonight after the downpour and before the next round of thunderstorms. I fished for about 45 minutes before my lightning warning went off. But the good news was I managed to land a 5 pounder in that time (OK, it was 4.98 but this one was worth rounding up). It was nice to catch a decent fish for a change. Fishing has been S-L-O-W for the past month and I had not caught anything over 3.5 in that time. I just might have to head back out tomorrow evening...

I had a big painter turtle come up from underneath and hit a topwater treble hook. He was hooked GOOD and it took me probably almost 30 minutes to get the hook out. He kept ducking his head into his shell. Not wanting to hurt him, it became a fairly gentle game of tug of war until he tired and I could get the hook out. I had never realized how strong turtles were until that episode.

Don't get me started about gators going after me or my bait...

Geez, I have no idea. It depends upon the season. Spring is ridiculously good while summers are slow. Although I fish frequently, it's only for an hour or two at a time. The humidity in the summer is brutal here and that cuts down on my fishing time. Frequent pop up thunderstorms (every single day of the summer) can also put a damper on things. I would say the most common sized bass I pull out is 2 - 2.5 pounds. We also get more than our fair share of 3 - 5.5 pounders around here. And while I haven't caught one yet, I've seen plenty of pictures of many 7-12 pounders pulled out of the lagoons that I fish. There are some lagoons around here where you can pull out dinks cast after cast, but I concentrate on targeting bigger bass. So far the biggest one for me this summer is 6.5 pounds, butlots of 4 and 5 pounders this year. One of the challenges is that groups of lagoons are connected by the stormwater system and the bass do move around from lagoon to lagoon. Because these lagoons are in residential communities they are maintained for both aesthetics and meeting stormwater code requirements - and that means vegetation is at a minimum. And even on the larger lagoons there are no docks and boating or kayaking is not allowed. Almost all of the lagoons are only 7-10 feet deep, but in the summer the bass head to the deeper pockets and that usually means out of casting range from the bank. An abundance of alligators makes bank fishing at night frightening. All this talk of fishing makes me want to head out this evening, even though the fishing has been slow.

I've had a big red tailed hawk grab a Whopper Plopper 130. Good times.

I haven't fished in the Greenville area but that area is only 90 minutes from Lake Murray and only an hour to Lake Hartwell. Down here in the SC Lowcountry we have outstanding bass fishing in our thousands of stormwater lagoons.

Since my first week evaluating the combo I've been able to dial it it to my liking. And unlike the American Hero combo, with this one I've found it's best to be conservative with the tension and the brake settings. I don't get big bird's nests with the reel, but I do get my fair share of the line overrunning itself and locking down the line - even with 50 pound braid. Probably my fault for getting too whippy with my casts. Overall, I like the combo. But someday I'd like to compare it to a $200 reel and see the difference.

The small lake I fish here has a lot of those boils but they are usually in deeper water. In fact, early this evening when we fished the pier you could see four or five going on at the same time in our vicinity. Occasionally you'd see a small shad break the surface. The birds here are great at spotting those boils. As soon as they spot one they start dive bombing the water. When the boils are in reach I'll cast beyond them and drag a lure through them, but no matter what I throw I've never had a bass bite at that time.

We have some lagoons like that around here and I know that they are a pain in the butt to fish. One thing that has worked for me in those conditions is a Teckel Sprinker frog. It glides over that stringy stuff well and doesn't get gunked up like a treble hook bait. Sure, you could throw a plain old frog or a popper, but sometimes that paddle tail action on the Teckel is what the fish are looking for.