Kayak Koz

I'm in the Lowcountry area.

Backlashes happen. I had a doozy of one yesterday, but it was my own dang fault when I tried to snap it hard for extra distance. It's better to reduce the brakes and cast easy. My suggestion is to be humble and dial the brakes up nearly all the way to start. You won't cast very far, but you'll get the hang of stopping the spool. Within a day or two you'll have the brakes at 60%-80% and gain some distance. It's better to start slow than miss chunks of fishing time picking or cutting out backlashes. Oh yeah - don't forget to set the tension for every lure!

I agree that you probably snagged a carp. FWIW, I have caught catfish on a lipless crank. They seem to like the red ones in my neck of the woods. But they always get hooked in BOTH the top and bottom lip and are a pain to get the trebles out.

Before I bought a scale I'm sure that I over estimated the weight of fish I caught. I never thought I caught a ten pounder, but I was pretty sure that 2 pounders were 4 or 5 pounders. The funny thing is that now that I have bought a scale I usually under estimate the weight of the fish only to be surprised when I put it on the scale.

It happens enough to get me peeved but not enough to get me to stop fishing. If I do get skunked then it's most assuredly my fault: I don't fish for dinks. I'm lucky enough to live in an area where there are plenty of 2-4 pounders as well as a good population of 7+ pound bass. Knowing that, I don't downsize my gear to go for quantity. I power fish. Rarely do I have the patience to slow it way down. But I think that's also because I bank fish in areas with hundreds of lagoons. So if the bite isn't there I move onto the next one. Some day I'll need to bring a chair with me, sit down, and slow fish. But on my feet I gotta move move move! Almost all of our lagoons are featureless, residential, man made lagoons with no structure and very little vegetation. I probably need to take the time to use my iBobber and map out the bottom of some of these lagoons to look for dropoffs and unseen vegetation or structure. Another factor is that these lagoons are interconnected stormwater lagoons and the fish do move through the pipes from lagoon to lagoon (verified by tagged fish). So that feeds into my impatience that if they aren't biting to move on to the next lagoon. My guess is that if I slowed it down and didn't hop from lagoon to lagoon on those slow days I'd get skunked less. I'm planning on fishing this evening and as of this moment I plan to pick one lagoon, bring a chair, and slow it down if needed. We'll see how that goes.

IMHO, to lie about a fish you caught is just ridiculous. What's the point? 15 seconds of glory?

You're welcome!

I've mentioned before that I use both snaps and snap swivels because of my aging eyes and the fact that I bank fish and usually bring only one rod with me (we bike and walk from lagoon to lagoon). I have no empirical data that I catch more or less fish than tying directly. But I catch my fair share of fish and we land 4-6 pounders all year long using spinnerbaits, crankbaits, frogs, topwaters, jigs, T-rigs, and everything else that I want to throw. I prefer the convenience.

That's all I fish down here, except we call them lagoons. My suggestion is to use Google Earth and look at historical satellite imagery to see if the pond existed at least 10 years ago. In general I have found that small bodies of water at least 10 years old are more likely to contain fish. Why 10 years? Well, it's kind of an arbitrary number. But in that time fish eggs are more likely to be transferred (or fish dropped) from birds and if all of the elements are correct (vegetation, food sources, etc) it's enough time for a fish population to establish.

For me, Lake Murray has always been hot and miss. If I had to choose a lake in that area it would be Lake Wateree.

Next time you throw your Whopper Plopper try and land it soft, wait one or two seconds, then twitch it once or twice so it looks like a crippled bait fish. Pause a second or two, then twitch it again one or two times and then pause a few seconds. If nothing blows up on it start your retrieve (straight or stop and go). I get a ton of blow ups on my WP's when twitching them after the initial landing.

I use Strike King KVD for the most part as well, but I think that size and color matter more than anything. My last KVD lasted only 25-30 fish before it broke apart. My 12 year old son goes through a lot of tackle so I bought him a handful of $1 Wal Mart spinnerbaits in the same white color that I usually use. Like me, he throws some sort of paddle tail trailer on it and he catches fish on those $1 lures as well. Once my next KVD blows up I'll probably use the $1 spinnerbaits as well. So my suggestion is worry more about size, color, and a trailer rather than brand.

I agree with those that suggest you drive out of town. My guess is that by the time you navigate all of the local traffic and parking in your area you could just as easily be on the interstate and out of town. Check out Google Maps or Google Earth and plan a route.

Given the choice of catching 5 two pounders or one ten pounder I'd take the ten pounder any and every day of the week.

I hear you brother! I'm in my early 50's with a 12 year old son that has been keeping me active for the most part. But this spring I opted not to coach baseball and that took away some of my regular activity. I still manage to cover a lot of ground biking and walking when we go fishing. But last week was another story. We were biking from lagoon to lagoon to fish and while the temperature was in the low 80's the humidity was around 75%. By the end of the afternoon I thought I was going to stroke out despite drinking a ton of water throughout the day. I had to sit in the car for 20 minutes with the AC on before I felt well enough to lift the bikes onto the bike rack. It wasn't as bad for me today, but the humidity still clobbered me as we again biked from lagoon to lagoon. In past years the humidity slowed me down, but now it's knocking me on my butt and that's no fun at all. What's happening is that I'm not even enjoying fishing at that point. Today I found myself wishing for a shaded spot, a cold bottle of water, and a chair to fish from instead of ripping around from spot to spot.

Dick's Sporting Goods has $15 off on Lew's Combos today. You can get an American Hero combo for $69.

My first baitcaster was a Lew's American Hero and for the price it was a great combo. I got it on sale at Dick's plus I had $10 in points to redeem and that made the deal even sweeter. In my opinion, the sensitivity of the rod was very good. Whether it was the slight tick-tick of a fish or bumping structure the vibration transferred well. I'm not one of those folks with a specific rod and reel for every bait and purpose and for me this one worked well as an all around combo. What I really liked is that it was easy for me to dial it in and hook sets were rock solid and predictable. Recently I upgraded to a Lew's Mach II SLP combo and while the reel is a noticeable upgrade over the American Hero I still don't have the new combo dialed in like my old one. Hook sets with my new rod feel mushy no matter where I set the drag. Maybe it's that or my 5'7" frame trying to leverage a 7' rod. Anyway, even with the new combo I still throw the American Hero - my comfort combo - from time to time. I'm sure there are other great combos out there under $100 that are as good or better than the American Hero. But it is a combo that I have enjoyed using and one that I trust out there on the water.

My response to @Vin you was just in fun. I hope he's not upset with the ribbing that he's been taking. I'd really like to see the photo.

My son and I did a little early evening fishing yesterday on Somerset Lake in Sun City, Hilton Head (more like a giant pond). We've never had any luck there, but members of the fishing club at Sun City said that they tagged a dozen or so 8-10 bass there. Anyway, we talked with a few people while fishing and one said that some big bass were caught there using slightly cooked hot dogs as bait. I know hot dogs can be used for catfish, but I've never heard of using them for bass. Have any of you used hot dogs to catch bass?

Dude, that's nothing compared to the one I caught yesterday. Take a look: I'd say mine was at least 12 lbs! Whaddya think? j/k

And yet another irony: today is World Turtle Day.

A funny thing happened this morning... When my son took our dog out for a walk this morning there was a smaller (not as big as the one I hooked) painted turtle on our doorstep. I went to check it out and the turtle looked in my direction. At that moment all I could think about was the turtle saying something like, "You hurt my Daddy!" Then the turtle turned around and headed back out across the yard. Ironic and funny! Not in a million years would I wade or swim in gator laden waters. That's especially true now that I am older and a parent.

When in doubt, throw a Texas rigged Senko or Yum Dinger.

Mostly they are just annoying hanging out just off shore waiting for you to catch something. If you move they usually slowly move your way after a few minutes. The juveniles are a pain because they think every splash is food. Occasionally it can get a bit more exciting. I've had one try and hide along the bank and slowly stalk my position. During mating season they get more territorial and I've had a few chase me up the bank. The scariest was when for our five starting crashing a concrete fishing pad we were on after I caught a fish. We got out of there and a few minutes later they had climbed on that pad. A few things I keep in mind when heading out: 1. Check the banks as we approach. Stomp the ground as you approach (gets rid of snakes, too). 2. Use polarized glasses and check under the water near the banks. 3. If a gator even hints at being aggressive go fish the next lagoon. 4. Never turn your back to the water when alligators are nearby. They cover water and ground pretty darn quick. 5. Even if you don't see a gator, assume one is around. Keep scanning the banks and water when you fish. 6. Personally, I NEVER bank fish at night. Too scary. Those orange eyes are creepy. 7. Don't do anything stupid. Don't tempt fate. I'll admit I've been scared more than once out there. I'm too chicken to kayak fish as well. The alternative is to give up bass fishing, so we learn to live with it.

Actually, last year a baby gator came crashing up through the slop and hit a frog I had cast. Luckily the hook wasn't set too deep. He spun around for a few minutes and then let go. If a bigger gator hits I'd just cut my line. No sense messing around.