Kayak Koz

Are any of you BR members planning to enter the BASS Kayak tournament at Lake Murray in February? I'm thinking of entering. It will be my first kayak tournament, but now that I have my Autopilot 120 I'm thinking it might be fun to enter.

I had a couple of firsts the other day. Late last year I had the good fortune to move into a lake house on Sinclair. I have a big, isolated, deep water dock that looks like a great place to hold bass in the spring and summer, but I haven't seen any bass or baitfish hanging around the docks. When I take my dog out in the morning to do his business I'll bring a rod, skip something under the dock, and cast around but had not pulled a bass out from under the dock. I have caught some casting off the end to deeper water. Anyway, the other day I tossed an A-rig along the side of the dock and a nice 2+ pounder came out and crushed it. So it was my first bass of 2024, first bass I lured out from under my dock, and my first bass on an A-rig. I simply can't wait for the water to warm up and the days to get longer. I'm going to be out there on my dock or on my kayak every single day after work.

For my Old Town Autopilot kayak I bought a Weize 12v 100Ah LifePO4 for $319 and it kills me now that same battery is only $259. Get yourself a decent charger. I have a NOCO Genius10 and it works fine for my needs.

I have a Helix 7 and I run a Nermak 12V 10aH battery. I paid $49 for it bit it's now only $39: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B097BRKCQP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 I previously had a Hook2 5 and used a 12V 7aH Dakota Lithium that I bought for $69. Dakota makes a great battery, but they are pricey. I will probably end up using that battery to power my navigation and deck lighting.

I see people posting about the lack of snow and ice, but in my neck of the woods here in the south we've had longer stretches of cold weather this year. For the past two months we've had freezing or near freezing temperatures each morning. How cold has it been? I keep my smart thermostats at 66 degrees when I'm home and when I get more than 3 miles from home they automatically set the temperature to 63. I just git my December electric bill. $435! I have never, ever, ever had a bill near that high before.

I live on Sinclair and work on Oconee, so those are givens. But I'm scheduled to fish Clark's Hill, Keowee, Hartwell, and Murray. I'm also entertaining Toho and Okeechobee but I'm not sure if I'm up for the drive.

Yes - but if you have the original card and have to show it to DNR they will reject it because it doesn't have a hologram 😀 I'm kidding, of course. But it reminds me of a time when I had to provide my birth certificate for something and the woman rejected it because it did not have a hologram sticker. Try as I might, I simply could not convince her that those were not available in the 1960's.

Just remember that there's more to properly installing a trolling motor on a kayak than most people think. The two things you need to do first are contact the manufacturer of the kayak for any tips or information and look to see if another company has already designed a motor mount specific for your kayak. For example, depending upon the type of plastic of your kayak, the mount placement, and the weight and thrust of your motor the shearing forces may damage the kayak where it is mounted. Also, the weight of the motor itself could cause the kayak to bend or twist. When I bought my pedal kayak, I did put a lot of research into what I wanted out of a pedal kayak. But what I failed to research is the cost and the ability of an upgrade path as I got more and more into kayak fishing. If I had done that I probably would have invested in the Old Town Autopilot in the first place.

I honestly don't see how the paddle guys do it day in and day out. Kudos! I tried fishing from a paddle kayak a few times (rental( and spent more time positioning the boat than actually fishing. But I did end up buying a pedal kayak and enjoyed that for a few years. Positioning with the pedal kayak became intuitive and it was easy to bump the rudder and jog the pedals to get in and maintain position. But for me it became a chore as I spent a lot of time pedaling in the hot sun and covering a lot of distance. That got tiring. So late in 2023 I bought an Old Town Autopilot. Because of the weather I haven't used it a lot. But having the trolling motor and spot lock is a game changer for me.

At this point I'm just tired of being cold all of the time. Daytime temps here in central GA have been mid 40's to mid 50's but it has been breezy during the daytime hours making it seem much colder. Night time and early morning temperatures have been in the 20's. It seems like we've had a much longer stretch of cold weather this winter than the past two years I have been in this area. Fishing? Forget it. I've been out a two times but caught just one crappie. Water temps were in the low 50's but I'd bet they are in the 40's now. Unless we get a warm day I think I'm shutting down for a while. That's too bad because I had just purchased an Old Town Sportsman Autopilot and I really want to put it through its paces. I can't wait for spring. Now I'm off to make some hot chocolate and try and warm up again.

Check with @flatcreek I partner with him on some club tournaments but I don’t know the details.

$15.00 for a 365 day license. Mine is up for renewal in May. When I hit 65 it drops to $7.00.

I launched from my backyard dock the other day and got about 1/4 mile away and realized I did something dumb and forgot my PFD. I turned right around and went back to get it.

If I saw someone doing that or these other stunts we see in stores I have no problem intervening tripping up that person. Decent people need to start taking a stand.

What kind of person does something like this? https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/florida-deputies-search-for-bass-pro-shops-fish-thief

Don't get me wrong - when I was a kid I loved the cold weather, snow, and playing pond hockey with my buddies. It was magical to have a fresh snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. But now I'm a cranky getting older geezer and I'm not a fan of the cold weather. Lows have been in the 20's here at night with highs in the 40's and mid 50's, but breezy. I'm tired of being cold. But it looks like my Christmas wishes have come true. Not only has my son moved back home (long story, private matter) but temperatures are going to be in the mid to upper 60's this weekend! You can bet your you-know-what I'm going to be getting some extended time on the water with my new Autopilot 120. I even rigged up one camera mount so I don't have to hear any more from the, "no picture, it didn't happen" crowd 😀 And since I haven't sold my old pedal drive kayak I'll try and get my moody teenage son out on the water. He used to drag me out every chance he got to go fishing, but you know teenagers - if dad likes it then it can't be fun. I hope that everyone here has a wonderful Christmas. I'm blessed and thankful this year and hope everyone else is as well.

I just ordered a Wilderness Systems cart on Amazon that was on sale for $188.

It looks like the Bonafide has a nice recessed area for the transducer. I would use that instead of the Switchblade. I use the recessed area on my Sportsman Autopilot and I have no problem with side imaging. In fact, I think the side imaging is clearer because it is a more stable mount than the Switchblade. I utilized the Switchblade because my Seastream did not have a protected, recessed area to mount my transducer under the hull. Underside of the Bonafide SS127:

Small spinnerbaits along the sides of the docks works well for me. I prefer to skip with one of my baitcasters and for that I'll use a wacky rigged Senko or an underspin with a Keitech or a Rage Swimmer. Underspins actually skip pretty well.

Too bad you don't live in my neck of the woods. I'm going to be selling my old Seastream PDL, Lowrance 5" DI SI, YakAttack Switchblade, YakAttack Cellblok, head mount, and a 7Ah Dakota Lithium battery in a package deal.

I will, It's just been too dang cold and windy to get out on the lake lately. It's frustrating to have these new toys and not be able to use them. I'm really looking forward to the long, summer days and fishing for hours after work.

There's lots of good advice here, but let me tell you my story and maybe that will help. Three years ago when I moved to a big lake I decided I was going to buy a pedal kayak. I did a ton of research and looked at a lot of price points and decided upon the Seastream Angler 120 PD. I think I payed about $1,400 for it including shipping. Then came more purchases - a paddle, a crate, and rod holders. I also needed a Railblaza cart to move it around. Since my hotel is right on the lake, I stored my kayak at the hotel and only had to transport it around the property to the lake. Then I decided I wanted to add electronics. I made a good decision and bought a refurbished 5" Lowrance with both down imaging and side imaging right from the Lowrance website. But then I needed a battery, the head unit mount, a transducer arm, and battery storage. Fast forward a year later and the 5" screen wasn't cutting it for my aging eyes and I bought a Lowrance 7" with DI and SI and upgraded my battery. This year I decided I didn't want to keep the kayak at the hotel and I wanted to launch from other areas so I bought a Malone trailer with bunks. I also bought a kayak cover. I've enjoyed my Seastream Angler a lot. It's been a workhorse. But it gets tiring and it pedaling 4 or 5 miles to go somewhere to go fish and then have to pedal back, especially in the summer heat. I toyed with adding a trolling motor to my kayak, but the deeper I looked into it the more I decided not to do it. First off, there are weight considerations with the trolling motor, mount, and battery. Run the numbers. You may find your kayak may not support the weight or you have to pare down elsewhere, especially if you're not using a lithium ion battery and those can be very expensive to power a trolling motor. Second, you have to worry about shearing forces created by the kayak when it's in motion or even just pushing down on the bow or stern of your kayak. Contact the manufacturer and see if they have any information or suggestions. So, what did I do? About a month ago I bought an Old Town Sportsman 120 Autopilot. It was on sale for $500 off so I bit the bullet. But that $500 "savings" was spent elsewhere. First was buying a 100mAh lithium ion battery. Next, because this kayak is so heavy I needed to modify my trailer and install rollers so I could get it off and on. I also had to buy a keel roller for my dock out back of my house so it was easier to get it in and out of the water. If I had to do it all over again I would have bought the Autopilot and the trailer right out of the gate. But that's hindsight. There's no way I could have convinced myself three years ago to drop that much at once on that setup. So my advice to you is to spend a LOT of time thinking about everything you might want on a kayak and then buy a base kayak that can eventually meet all of your needs. For example, can that paddle kayak easily upgrade to a pedal kayak and then a kayak with a trolling motor? Maybe it is better suited for a lighter motor like a Torqueedo or something similar than a trolling motor. Or do you want a motor with spot lock? BTW, the answer to that is probably yes, you do. My mistake was winging it and not having a planned upgrade path that included the fact that I'm in my 50's and only getting older and weaker. I would either go all in on an actual fishing rig like the Autopilot I just purchased or find the best base paddle kayak that I could with a clear upgrade path.

You need to be like Billy Dee Williams - SMOOOOOOOOOOTH 😀

First off, I really miss bank fishing the thousands of lagoons back in my old stomping grounds of Hilton Head island and Bluffton, SC. My hotel is on Lake Oconee (19,000 acres) so most of my fishing was there this year. But I recently got a house on Lake Sinclair (15,000 acres) so that will be my primary lake. But this year I also fished Lanier, West Point Lake, Keowee, and Hartwell. Next year I have plan to try Clarks Hill for the first time and I'm tentatively planning to enter the BASS kayak tournament on Lake Murray.

Your bio is a big hint. I call that lake The Death Lake. I really dislike fishing that there. I know many love it it it can be productive, and more power to those people. I'm just not a fan.