Kayak Koz

Good job. At first when I saw the tongue hanging out in that picture I thought Miley Cyrus was posting on Bass Resource. ?

I lost a few 6+ pounders earlier this spring the first few times I used my new Lew's Mach II SLP. For some reason I just could not dial it in. The drag always seemed off, hook sets felt mushy, and for a guy that stands only 5'7" I was having a hard time getting the proper leverage with a 7' rod (I had always used 6'6" rods). Despite the heartbreak, my consolation is that I'm doing the right things to find the bigger bass, and I know where they have been lurking. I know that if I get enough time to fish, things will even out - especially now that I have that rod and reel dialed in.

I have one and it's not all that long. I usually wear it pulled over my head and under a baseball cap and my neck is a little exposed. But I wear it to keep the mosquitoes and no-see-ums out of my ears more than I do for sun protection.

I'm pretty sure you have more gear and tackle than my local Dick's Sporting Goods.

I have two goals this season. The first is to catch a bass over 7 pounds for a new PB. I've been close this year, but haven't one that big - yet. The second kind of goes hand in hand with the first - throw a jig more often and learn to fish it well. The main drawbacks to that are that I bank fish only, there is no structure and very little cover in the lagoons I fish, and most of the lagoons have a soupy, algae covered bottom. The good news is that I recently found a larger lagoon with some big bass and the algae is at a minimum. So the past few weeks I've thrown the jig a little more and have landed a handful + of 3-4 pounders. Typically I throw a Rage Tail craw as a trailer, but the other day I put on a Havoc Pit Boss and the bass blew up on it. Unfortunately the lightning came and I had to pack it in. If we get a break in the evening thunderstorms this week I'll be at it again.

I was back at that same big lagoon today and as I was setting up a jig I noticed that same alligator a few hundred feet away. By the time I made my first cast he closed the gap and wouldn't you know it I felt an immediate tap-tap but didn't even bother to set the hook. Why tempt fate again? I just packed up and moved on to another lagoon. BTW, I'm sure the tap-tap that I passed on would have been my new PB

I like my Booyahs for normal frogs. I bought the Teckel for weedy spots where I want to make some noise and I can't throw a Whopper Plopper.

Same thing happened to me yesterday. I went in planning to spend $8 on plastics and spent 4X that when I walked out of the store.

For me, what I notice when differentiating between structure and a fish is that when it's a fish I feel a vibration along with the tap, while when it's structure I just feel a solid tap or thud. Maybe I'm missing out on a lot of bites. Then again, I've landed my fair share of tree branches

Around here 3 weeks post spawn is when things start to really pick up, especially with the warmer water temperatures in late spring.

We have a lot of sediment laden lagoons around here and despite the old adage of dark lures in dirty water in early spring I was slaying them throwing a white swimbait with a white Keitech trailer. I tossed a black swimbait and caught nothing in that same time frame. As mentioned about, noisy lures and forage also come into play. But I think the best advice is to keep experimenting. What works for me in SC might not work for you in MO.

The post spawn lull just finished in my area. Things are starting to get fun again!

Were they on beds and still spawning in your area? Or has the spawn just finished?

Because I like to catch big fish, but not fish big enough to eat ME.

Yeah, I've thought about it. I actually work in the field of stormwater management and that puts me around retention ponds now and then. It also makes me hyper vigilant every time I'm near the water. I stay clear of reedy and tall grass areas when working and fishing. When working, if there's heavy aquatic vegetation around the shore I always check it out first or toss something in there before approaching (spooked plenty of bass that way!). Today I fished a small lagoon out back of my dads place and wouldn't you know it, the same thing happened again today when I caught a 1 pounder. But this was an even smaller juvenile gator, only about 3 feet long. I managed to grab my tackle bag but left a plano box behind in the rush. Stupid gator camped out right over my plano box. But when I set the fish free I tossed it so it made a big splash and the little guy went back in the water. But the worst part about today was a 6-7 pounder blew up on my Teckel Sprinker frog and I MISSED THE HOOK SET! I hat the Teckel. I have no idea why I throw it. I've never landed a fish with that topwater. I tried for another hour after that and couldn't get it to bite at anything.

If it was an adult gator I would do that. But this is just a juvenile that doesn't know any better - yet. The SCDNR area is not proactive in removing alligators unless there is an injury. They leave it up to the HOA to handle critters in their communities as well. I will mention it to the HOA later in the week.

I know what you're thinking - Koz has another alligator story today. But it was a good fishing day, too. We were fishing one of the larger lagoons in Sun City Hilton Head this morning. It was cloudy and the water was still, so I started off throwing a Spook. Sure enough, within the next few minutes a juvenile, skinny, 5 foot gator comes cruising out of nowhere so I ditch the spook and put on a purple and green Rat-L-Trap. I hook up on the first cast and start to bring it in. The gator is interested and starts to move slowly in my direction, so I slide ten feet to my left to create some distance. As soon as I get the fish to the shoreline the gators goes full throttle at the fish, so I move further up the bank. At this point almost every gator will just stay in the water a few feet off shore. But not this guy. He crosses the vegetation on the bank and keeps coming. He hits the short mowed grass and he's still coming at me. I don't even have time to pick up the fish and I'm dragging it along the bank and that stupid little gator is still coming at me. I keep moving and he finally stops - right in front of my tackle bag. Neighbors are yelling for my son to go check on me as they see a 50+ year old guy dragging a fish and trying to outpace a small gator. Finally, I'm about 100 feet away from him now my son comes over to unhook the fish - my glasses are in my tackle bag and I can't see where the hooks are embedded. My phone is also in my bag so I can't get a picture of the gator guarding my gear. I head back towards the alligator to scare him away and he just sits there, but he's not on his belly. His chest is above the ground and his head is high with his mouth open. That's a warning for me. He's not budging. Five minutes later and he's still not moving. I finally had to grab some small rocks and bounce them in his direction to get him to go back in the water. Good times. After landing that 2 pounder we moved around the corner to the far side of that lagoon and I managed to land a 3 pounder and a 4.5 pounder, although I lost 2 with poor hooksets on a jig. Went to another lagoon and landed about a 6 pounder to end the day. But there's a story with that one as well. I've lost a few fish recently near the bank when I got the rod tip up and the fish breached. So when I saw the size of it, this time I kept the rod low and dragged him on shore. He snagged a bit on the way up but I muscled him onto the bank. As it turns out, I snagged the snap and bent it open. When I went to grab the scale the fish flopped right off that snap and landed in the water with my chatterbait still in his lip. I fished for another 45 minutes after that trying to catch him again, but the heavy rains and lightning came and we had to pack it in for the day. I feel bad about that. But I will head there tomorrow and with any luck I can catch that one again. Anyway, it was a good fishing day and at the same time I managed to get in some cardio. Not a bad day at all.

Tragic news from Florida regarding an alligator attack: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/06/08/florida-woman-reportedly-dragged-by-alligator-into-pond-confirmed-dead-authorities-say.html She was walking her dogs along a pond and a witness saw her dragged into the water by a 12" foot alligator. They captured the gator and found human remains during the necropsy. It was noted that one of her dogs was injured, so my guess is she was walking the dogs too close to the water and the alligator went after one of the dogs. She then put herself between the gator and her dogs and that was that. I never walk my dog near any lagoons. One of our neighbors let her lab swim in a lagoon and was then surprised when a gator came barreling across the water. Luckily she had enough time to get her dog out.

That's exactly why I don't buy a kayak to fish down here. Kayaks sit way too low in the water for my comfort level with the gators around. If I was younger I'd probably give it a go, but I'm not as fearless as I once was now that I'm older. I fish in open areas where I have a good line of sight of the water. One thing that I won't do is fish in a small opening in a heavily wooded area - I want quick egress. Also, when I approach the bank I check out any vegetation in front of me.. In warmer weather they tend to hang out in places like that to ambush prey. A few weeks ago a BIG gator came out of the woods and over the rip rap near where I was fishing. Scared the poop out of me. He was fast enough over that rip rap that I didn't have enough time to pull out my phone and snap a picture.

Like most of you guys and gals in BR land, I love to throw topwater baits. Frogs, poppers, spooks, and of course the Whopper Plopper. But lately there a 5 minute or less time limit on how long I can throw a topwater. Why? These guys: The gators have been a real PITA lately. Every single fricking lagoon there's one, two, or three gators that converge any time a bait scoots along the surface. The juveniles you can fish around. But the 6-10 footers you can't. If you throw a normal underwater bait they'll sit there, but throw a topwater and they get all worked up. If you hook a decent sized bass there's no way you'll get it in before the gator grabs your line. It doesn't help that it's mating season and they are VERY territorial. Over the past few weeks we've had a handful of them cruise across the water, not stop, and come right on shore. To make matters worse we've had some nice gray sky days and the weather hasn't been brutally hot. Perfect days to throw my favorite topwater baits. We'll be back at it tomorrow night trying some new lagoons. With any luck we'll find one without the dinosaurs.

My son and I have both caught a lot of LMB on beetlespins the past few years, but none of them over 2 pounds. Still, when the big ones aren't biting it's fun to throw.

Deep water is a relative term. Down here almost all of the fishing we do is in man made lagoons that are 6-8 feet deep and have very little vegetation (they are in residential communities) and no structure (like docks). Unless there are sedimentation issues the depth is fairly uniform throughout the basins. Sediment is an issue in these lagoons, and in most visibility ranges from a few inches to a foot, although there are a handful of clear water lagoons. To complicate matters, kayaks and boats are not allowed so you can't paddle around with electronics and look for low spots or hidden vegetation. Most of the lagoons (and there are 300+ in the one community that I mainly fish) are connected by the stormwater system. Tagged fish show that they do move from lagoon to lagoon. So for me, locating fish post spawn can be challenging. Some days you pick the right lagoon and the fishing is decent. Other days you work on your tan.

In my area the lagoons that I fish are in the post spawn slowdown. It's frustrating. None of my favorite baits or tactics are working. Not even a Ned Rig is drawing interest from the bass. But I fish anyway. Why? Because I know that in the very near future the bite will be on again and the big girls will be feeding and I want to be fishing the day that it happens.

I started using a baitcaster last year and since then I rarely use spinning gear. However, a lot of this is because of convenience. I bank fish and in the places that I like to fish there are dozens of lagoons to choose from. You also can't drive and park at most of these lagoons. So that means most times we bike or walk from lagoon to lagoon. It's not that easy to carry multiple rods, a tackle bag, and water when we cover a lot of ground. So I usually bring only one rod, especially when biking. And if I'm fishing only one rod I choose my baitcaster. My son also seems to like my spinning gear more than his, and lately he's commandeered it for his own use.

Lately I've been using these VMC Duolock Snap Swivels in black.