Kayak Koz

OK - I'm going to put this to the test this weekend. I'm headed out to Lake Keowee, a lake that I fished only once before as a back seater in an MLF tournament. I'm running AI queries to target both spotted bass (the predominant bass species on the lake) as well as largemouth bass. I'll run them a few times and see if anything in the response changes as I get closer to the date and weather firms up. My guess is that it spews the same data all week, even if the forecast changes. My hypothesis is that it's simply gathering fishing reports and not using any intelligence factors to account for changes to weather, wind, changing water clarity, etc. I'm also going to compare what it says to data provided by the Deep Dive app. A lot of where I fish will probably be predicated on proximity to boat ramps. I don't mind long runs, but I'm heading up there with my girlfriend to her lake house and she doesn't fish. I don't want to test her patience too much!

My problem is I tend to chuck and wind, especially when the fishing is slow. More appropriately, I run and gun to new spots and chuck and wind. To me, this is the curse of forward facing sonar. I haven't fished much lately, but when I have fished I shut off FFS most of the time and try and pick spots apart. My goal for the remainder of the year is to work on being more patient on the water, with or without FFS. The irony here is that with the rest of my life, I have the patience of Job. But when it comes to fishing you'd think I had a triple dose of ADHD.

It could be varying the retrieve, shaking or twitching the bait, ripping it, lift and drop, popping it, hopping it, or anything that imparts additional action on the bait. This action could be subtle, medium, or aggressive and could be incorporated with pauses.

If it’s in range I’ll throw whatever bait I have tied on. But if I see that there are a lot of baitfish near the surface causing predators to blow up I’ll throw a buzzbait.

I think for a bass it’s a combination of reaction and pattern recognition. How that is weighted may be predicated on how hungry the bass is at that moment. This is why I place more importance on presentation of baits than anything else. It’s trying to get bass to bite out of shear reaction or they recognize a pattern of what might be food. Case in point - top bass anglers don’t heavily rely on chuck and wind as primary techniques. They work the bait.

I haven’t had time two work on it. I just need two small, slotted brackets for each side and hardware to bolt them in place.

But here's the big thing about the FluxJet - they aren't building any right now. Rumor has it that rather than look for investors, they'd like to sell their technology to an existing kayak manufacturer. Hydrofoil kayak? 😄 For me, going from 3.2-3.5 mph to 5-5.5 mph would make a huge difference. I do think that's just around the corner for a motor with the features that I want. It could be done easily if Bassmaster made a rules change, but TD Steve Owens has indicated that he does not want to do that because kayaks are already essentially plastic boats. So no changes to thrust limitations or allowing multiple motors.

I want it all! The issue is that I think that Garmin threw down the gauntlet with there Force motor and if sales are good both they and Minn Kota will react and up the game in two years. I also have to believe that kayak manufactures are going to get creative with hull designs to find more speed.. With all of that, my initial reaction is to wait and see what happens in the next two years. But if I had to choose now I'm leaning towards the XTR130 with the Terrova. But the Native Hammer looks interesting because I can see where a pedal drive can still come in handy. This is my typical wishy washy, confusion stage as I do more research.

I have a power inverter that I can plug into my Bronco. It has cables to charge my batteries, USB ports to power devices, and standard outlets to plug things in. I once used it to plug in my air fryer when the power was out for a day.

Wanna buy a fully loaded, tournament ready AP120? 🤣🤣🤣

I've had my AP120 for almost two years now and I'm pretty happy with it. I've invested a lot with my trailer setup and modifications, electronics, power management systems, lighting, batteries, mounts, etc. But the more I fish with it I realize it's lacking in some areas that include overall speed and connectivity with my electronics. The speed component is obvious. You don't get anywhere fast at 3.2 - 3.5 mph with a loaded kayak. Whether it's fishing for fun or fishing in a tournament, it's no fun when you're fishing spots are an hour from the nearest boat ramp. And the more I fish, the more I see the need for waypoint navigation. Not so much for long runs from point to point, but more for following contours along the shoreline so I can stand and fish and not have to keep grabbing the remote to alter course. I know I can program a few waypoints in the remote to navigate, but I first have to run the course and plot it. I'd rather plot it on my Garmin or Humminbird and just go. With that, I'm thinking of selling my AP (sorry, not giving this one away) and starting from scratch. With that, I'm wondering what others would consider their ultimate kayak build. Motors - For speed, the Newports and the Torqeedos are the way to go. But they lack spot lock and course plotting. So that leaves the Minn Kota Terrova and the new Garmin Force. The new Garmin looks great on paper, but $3,500 is a steep price. The Terrova is less than half that price. Since I have both a Garmin and Humminbird units, either could handle course plotting. Kayaks - There's a lot of buzz about the Bonafide XTR 130. But it's also a big, heavy barge of a kayak and speed will be at least as big if not a bigger issue than it is with my AP120. Hobie kayaks seem to cut through the water better, but I'm somewhat frugal and hesitant to spend $5k+ on a kayak. On the flip side, lots of anglers use the Torqeedo or Newports for higher speed and rely on the pedal drive to hold position instead of spot lock. But again, you lose course plotting. The Native Hammer and Titan kayaks are interesting as well, especially with their battery and wiring setups. It takes me forever to pull the trigger on a big purchase, so I won't be doing this anytime soon. I'd like to see more real world feedback on the Garmin in the next few months. But ultimately I'd love to see Garmin or Minn Kota come out with a full featured motor that can propel the right kayak at 5+ mph. Or maybe kayak companies need to pay more attention to hull design to squeeze out more speed. That is probably a monster task without sacrificing stability. And before anyone comments 😁, I still prefer a kayak over a bass boat. I'm not interested in jon boats. Plus, I still love kayak tournaments. Getting a boat means I also have to get a new vehicle powerful enough to tow it. The max towing capacity on my Bronco is only 2,200 pounds and that means I would be limited to a small, aluminum boat. So, if you were putting together the ultimate kayak and motor package, what would it be and why?

Don't forget Animal Farm! That's not quite true. What we see in the public scope is different from what is going on behind the scenes with neural networks. I'm related to a bigwig at Nvidia and although he can't divulge to me what is actually going on, he did say that although it's still in development, it's light years ahead of what we see in public. And look out if we ever get to the quantum computing stage.

The irony here is that the data it provided very well could be in part from posts you made here on Bass Resource. As far as your closing comments, I think this will only exacerbate the decline of problem solving and critical thinking skills. Perhaps AI is the backstory to the movie "Idiocracy."

Unfortunately, I've been out on my kayak only once in the past few months as we're getting closer to the opening date of two new Marriott hotels that I am running. Although I prompted it for this weekend, chances are I won't get the time to get out there. That being said, I do plan to give it a try. For example, I want to fish Blackshear in the near future and I've never been to that lake before. When I do go I will definitely see what AI suggests and even upload the GPS coordinates into my Garmin or Humminbird. I'll see if it's possible to drill deeper. I do like that the initial prompt suggested what time of day to fish each area. Again, I think this could be an interesting tool for new lakes, especially when you plot the coordinates on Google Earth and get a view of what is there before you head to the lake. I do wonder if the BPT or Elite anglers have tried to use this in preparation for events. I would bet that at least a handful have tried it and if they had success they are keeping very quiet about it. I get that some prefer old school fishing, but technology is not going away. And if it helps cash a check I'm definitely going to consider it.

I get that. When I'm fishing for fun I would say that 50% of the time the only electronics I use are my maps and the depth readout on that screen. But oftentimes I go to a tournament and have never seen the lake before and I get little or no practice time. I fished an event on the Kissimmee chain this spring (and have another one there this winter) and I have 14 or 15 lakes to choose from. Even with 3-4 days of pre-fishing and map study it can be a shot in the dark. There's no way to cover a lot of water in a kayak, especially with that many lakes or fishing huge reservoirs. If this pans out, it can help narrow down my pre-fishing locations or give me a place to start on tournament day if I can't get in town early enough to pre-fish.

I'm about to open a can of worms here and I'm sure there will be much heated debate. Some will dismiss it outright, and some will embrace it or at least give it a try. This morning, I entered this simple prompt in an AI system: Below is how the AI system responded. I was a bit blown away as I saw it gathering data and then providing the output. In the response below, I did not include the hourly weather forecast that it provided. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to get out and fish this weekend to test out what AI reported, but I plan to try it in the future and provide more detailed prompts. Have you ever tried consulting AI? Do you think the pros do this? If it's accurate, it could really be beneficial along with map study when you go to a new lake. For what it's worth, I think that in the next few years that software like Hummingbird's SmartStrike will incorporate AI. I also think that fishfinders will employ AI for species and size identification. One more thing - AI asked if I wanted to export the coordinates to a GPX file to import into my electronics.

Well, it’s a heat index of 106 today so winter is the last thing on my mind. But for winter fishing my go to bait is a black and blue bladed jig with a blue Vibe Speed Craw. But instead of a straight retrieve I’ll yo-yo it with a lift and drop, but I don’t let it touch the bottom. In this case, a standard 3/8 oz bladed jig works better than a bladed jig.

We have a winner.

"GoPro, take picture." My GoPro is voice activated. I have a battery box to power all of my accessories (FFS black box, 2 head units, 3 transducers, bow lights, deck lights, heading indicator, keypad for my wiring harness, and a dual USB port). That USB port is where I plug in my GoPro. This way I can keep my GoPro powered all day. My GoPro is mounted to a Yak Attack pole off the tank well in the stern,. So I can simply tell my GoPro to start and stop recording or take a picture. "But Koz, you never post any videos or pictures here." Yeah, I know. I rarely mount my GoPro and when I do bring it I usually forget it's there. One of my resolutions for 2026 will be to take photos and video.

I ordered the 10” Kenda 205/65 five on four and a half tires from eTrailer.com. Just make sure you get the ones with the galvanized wheels since you'll be backing them into the water. I was amazed at how much wider these tires were than the 8" tires that came with the trailer. It really leads to a much smoother ride. It's hard to tell in the picture, but these tires look real bad@$$ compared to the old tires. They make me want to paint flames on my trailer!

I got bit hard by the Bait Monkey in the past month. My first purchase was a Kistler Helium 7' 6" 5H casting rod. Then I purchased an 8:5:1 Curado M rod to go along with it. I really like the Kistler Helium rods as they are light but still have enough backbone. I already had a Kistler KLX heavy rod and another MH Helium rod. I go through my gear every now and then and change up some of my rod and reel combos. When I did this a few weeks ago, I noticed that other than a few old Curado DLC rods I didn't have any reels in the 7:x range that I liked to use. So of course, that meant buying another new reel. Most of my reels are various Curados, with a Lew's and a few Daiwa's mixed in. I'm really not a fan of the Daiwa's. I looked at another Lew's reel, thought about another Curado, but instead decided to give the Kistler Chromium casting reel a chance. I have to say, I was surprised. It's a very light reel at only 6 ounces. It feels nice, but maybe it being so light makes it feel a bit cheap. However, its performance has been great. It does take a little bit to dial in the brakes, but this thing casts a mile on my MH Kistler rod. I usually don't care about distance on my kayak, but this was from the bank and the extra distance helps. I have to say I was actually impressed. While I still prefer my Curados, I would not be opposed to buying another one in the future. ***Update: Since posting this earlier today I purchased a Kistler Chromium spinning reel. That’s it. I’m done. I’m serious this time 😀

Email yourself the photo from your phone and choose a reduced file size when sending. You can then post that emailed copy of the picture.

Whether it's a right hand retrieve casting rod or a left hand retrieve spinning rod, I cast from my right side. My right hand controls the line and my left hand is down at the butt end of the rod. Pitching and flipping is one handed, again on the right side. I can back hand cast from the left or even turn the rod and do a bit of a roll cast from the left, but that's when I'm likely to bird's nest if I don't crank up the tension or add brakes a little bit.

I have a Malone Ecolight kayak trailer with bunks and it comes with 8” tires. But those tires are rated to only 65 mph and I put a lot of highway miles on my trailer. I worried that the tires might not hold up as long with the 70+ mph speeds and long road trips, So I recently upgraded to 10” Kenda 205/65 five on four and a half tires with galvanized wheels. Although I put them on weeks ago, I had not been out on my kayak for a while and had not tried them out. But I did fish for a bit today and my trip included some highway driving. The first thing I noticed is that the trailer rides a lot smoother. The difference was noticeable. The trailer bounce on big bumps seemed to be a bit more pronounced, but the trailer landed softer. I still need to come up with a larger bracket to put the fenders back on. And as you may notice in the photo below, the spare tire is the old 8” tire and I need to purchase a third 10” tire. But overall, this was another good investment in my kayak fishing. Unfortunately, I don’t have any long trips scheduled until December.

So does motoring to another part of the lake in a boat. We've seen the Elite guys launch and make 60-90 minute runs to a spot and then they have to be back to the dock for weigh in. The beauty of kayak tournaments is that depending upon the lake we can have dozens and dozens of ramps to choose from. We also don't have to be at the dock at lines out. In a boating tournament you get one ramp and that's it. If I jump to another ramp I'm not pulling anything out of the kayak. I'll pop the motor out as well as my livescope pole and lay my rods down on the deck. When I get to the new ramp I set the motor back in and I'll set my rods back in their holders while I'm motoring to my next spot. I could leave the rods tied in their holders, but I'm always afraid of that rogue, low hanging tree branch. That being said, the speed of boats is a huge advantage over kayaks. But there are ways we can make up for that on some lakes with our kayaks.