Kayak Koz

I honestly don't care. How it feels and its performance are the most important factors. In fact, the only blingy gear I have is a KVD baitcaster reel and the matching rod (both red). They may look snazzy, but because of feel and performance they are the least favorite of all of my gear.

Saturday was the first warm weekend of the season and the boats were flying up and down Lake Oconee. To complicate matters just a bit, it was also a windy day out on the open water, making positioning a bit of a challenge even in my pedal kayak. Last week I nabbed a couple of 4 pound LMB fishing riprap in the coves, but if they were in the same spot this weekend they ignored everything I was tossing. So it was back to open water to contend with the wind, wakes, and waves. I wasn't up to a long distance pedal in those conditions, so I stayed within a few miles of my hotel. I caught a handful of dinks and a two pounder, then started heading in. There's a causeway on the way back with a rocky shore, and while I've never caught any LMB there I have caught some stripers so I usually fish it on the way back in. The stripers seem to love a good beetlespin, but I with the wind howling I didn't feel like digging one out and tying it on so I just tossed a spinnerbait. I'm glad I did. I caught two hybrid bass (male striped bass / female white bass) and both were just under 3 pounds. But they put up a heck of a fight - much more than an LMB or the typical striped bass we have in Oconee (we don't have the big ones like at Hartwell or Murray). They were fun to catch, so I'm going to read up on them and try and target them next time out. So far the fishing on Oconee is decent this year, unlike last year, Let's hope it stays that way throughout the spring and summer.

Your question led me to doing some more research. Here's an article that talks about posture when kayaking: https://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/htposture/

That would be too risky for me. We have a lot of forks in my lake that create some odd seawall angles and there's one stretch that I hate to traverse because of the boat wakes moving towards the seawall and the wakes rebounding off the seawall. I have a very stable kayak, but at times it feels like I'm stuck in a washing machine when I pass that spot.

Before you spend the money on a new seat, have you tried changing the angle of the backrest? You might be sitting a little too far back, and that raises your thigh level. I would either shorten up on the straps and make the seat more upright or find a way to raise the height of the back of the seat while keeping the front the same. I have a Seastream Angler 120 PD with the same type of seat and have no problems. Then again, I'm also pedaling all day and keeping my circulation moving.

But I would say all of us posting our bass pictures here are a lot more interesting than someone posting on Instagram a picture of their lunch from Panera Bread.

Woohoo!!!!!!

I made up a baseball game using three dice. Then I used a paper and ruler to make my own scoresheets for the games and seasons. I had stacks of them and even calculated player batting and pitching stats. I had the Bronc Burnett books as well. For the geek side of me I had the Tom Swift books as well. I was lucky enough to play baseball through college. I was never a stud player, but I was decent and I could throw strikes and get ground balls. But I got lit up, too. I was out of baseball for a lot of years until my son was born. Then I coached rec, All Stars, and travel ball. My son has a gift when it comes to playing baseball, but between the lost COVID years and being a butthead teenager he lost interest. Too bad, because at 16 he throws in the upper 80's with good secondary stuff and he can hot the ball out of the park. He had scouts and recruiters following him at 13, but for now he has walked away from the game. I don't get it. Most people would kill for that kind of talent.

Rob Manfred is the worst thing to happen to baseball. The MLB and MLBPA should have been having informal talks months ago instead of waiting until the last minute. I saw that Bryce Harper had a photoshopped image of himself in a Yomiyuri Giants uniform. It turns out that if the lockout continues the MLBPA will let players play on foreign teams. That might be fun, especially if the Nippon league temporarily removes or modifies its gaijin policy.

Fun fact: My family is from old Russia including what is now Ukraine. My family escaped during the Russian Revolution (lots of cool stories), ended up caught in WWI in Europe, got separated, and ended up in Canada. For over 10 years the family tried to reach out to missing members, taking out ads in Russian language newspapers until they were reunited. The entire time they lived less than 15 miles apart. But it was the 1920's and communication and transportation were limited. I'm the first born in the US in my family.

I'd do it, but trying to identify the particulars of each fish I don't know my bass from my elbow ?

So far this season I have purchased a Shimano Curado 200k, a Curado 150 DC, and just last night I ordered a Curado 150 MGL. See the pattern? Before that I enjoyed Lew's and other reels, but after I bought the 200K I'm hooked on Shimano quality and performance. I'm not even tempted to try another brand, even though there are other great brands out there. THAT is how much I like my Shimano's.

I always give them MY out the door price. They can take it or leave it. When it comes time to sign paperwork, if they try and hit me for any additional fees I stand up, shake their hand, thank them for their time, and walk out the door. In the end, I only pay my price for the car even if I have to go to a handful of dealers. I have found that if you offer a fair price, the dealer will always come around.

This is my plan for the coming summer. I took my kayak out in the dead of night once last summer and frankly, it was a bit creepy out there on the big lake. On the flip side, I don't have to worry about party pontoon boats and jet skiers. And without as much wind and all of the boat wakes it means less jogging my kayak and should make it easier to pick apart certain areas. I foresee more than a few nights when I'm out there at 2 or 3 am, then pull into my hotel dock around 7 or 8 am, change my clothes, and then go to work.

And that's the thing - the CEO of Ford has stated he will take action against dealerships that price gouge, so their prices are still reasonable. Subaru's in my area are $4k - $5k over MSRP. To me, that's ridiculous. I've never paid even close to MSRP for a new car let alone over that price. I'm unbelievably stubborn in that I don't want to pay any more for a vehicle than I feel it is worth.

I've been in the "I almost bought a Subaru" club for a while now. When the BRZ first came out I was on my way to the dealer to order one and stopped off at the HYundai / Genesis dealer and ended up buying a Genesis Coupe because I got a ridiculous deal on it. I've been in the market for a new car for a while now and the Crosstrek and Outback are on my shortlist, but recently I saw the Ford Bronco Sport and may go that route. I don't think I'd go wrong with any of those vehicles, but I have a problem with the Subarus selling for way of MSRP. I just can't pull the trigger on that.

I was excited when @flatcreek asked me to be his back seater for a local fishing club tournament on Friday out on Lake Oconee. Oconee fishing has been terrible for the past year or so, but we hit an area that's usually holding bass. We caught a lot of dinks and weighed in with only four, but ut was still fun being out there with good company. I also played hooky from work, so that was great as well. True story about the boat that won - their boat broke down and while waiting for a tow they caught all of their keepers. They managed to have someone drive their truck to where they were towed and made it back just in time for the weigh in. Unbelievable. But wait - there's more. They caught their keepers down near my hotel, where last year the LMB stayed away and it was striper and catfish territory. There's nothing like adding insult to injury with beating us in my own back yard. Water temp was in the low sixties, and with only light winds I decided to break out my kayak today. I was planning to wait until the water warmed up a bit more, but I got fishing fever yesterday. So naturally I fished in the region where the winners fished. Rather than run and gun I took a methodical approach. I started by fishing the docks and wood sea walls in open water. Nothing. Then I moved to the grassy banks and stone seawalls in open water. Still nothing. I fished a few points and flats along the way and still drew blanks. I had planned to kayak a few miles o a feeder stream area, but the wind and clouds changed and I did not want to get caught too far away from my launch point. So I ducked into a small, narrow cove and started fishing the rip rap. Wouldn't you know it I landed a 4 pounder and a 3.5 pounder. For Oconee that's pretty decent size. It was great to fish with @flatcreek again and it felt good to get out on my kayak as well. And after the poor LMB fishing on Oconee last year it was not only nice to find some bass right now, but it was also great to find them close to where I launch. I also realized how much I love my Curado DC / Expride setup. For years I've been content with the stuff I would buy from DSG and BPS and could not understand spending more than that on rods and reels. I was wrong in so many ways. Of course, now I'm afraid that after moving from $250 combos to $400 combos I'll be tempted to try out some $800 combos. Baby steps.

I usually use a set of fish grippers, especially if I catch something using treble hooks. But as luck would have it, yesterday I did not grab the grippers and as I I went to grab a dink it did a big shake and it ripped open my thumb.

Yeah - I'm going to have to disagree. Here's about a 7 foot munching on one of my former Booyah Pad Crashers.

I have that one and I love it as well. And while it's not a popular rod because it's designed for kayak anglers (like me), I like my St. Croix Mojo Yak - but not as much as the Expride.

I've had more than my fair share of gator encounters while bank fishing, some of them funny and some of them scary. You can find them looking through my previous posts. A few years ago I also posted a mini guide in these forums about fishing in gator territory. Rule #1 is "head on a swivel."

I used to be a huge NASCAR fan. I went to Charlotte, Darlington, and Rockingham every year. But then things started to change when big money got involved and ticket prices skyrocketed. I stopped going to races and my interested waned. I turned on the 500 race yesterday for a few minutes and did not recognize the names of most of the drivers.

I fished as a kid, but then didn't fish for about 30 years. I never really thought about fishing as I was off doing other things. Then when my son turned 5 or 6, it was time to do the fatherly thing and teach him how to fish. It's odd that I hadn't fished in a while, especially when I moved back to SC. I was surrounded by thousands of lagoons in the area, and as it turns out they all held bass. Lots of bass. As it turned out, I found that I NEEDED fishing back in my life. Sure, it was a great thing to do with my son, but it was more than that. It provided me a way to turn off the rest of the world and decompress. I went through a lot of tough stuff for a stretch of a few years, and in part fishing helped me cope. Things are good now, and fishing still plays an important role in helping me keep my life balanced. I now live on a big lake and I miss bank fishing all of those lagoons. But last year I bought a kayak, and that's opened up another outlet for me. I always bring a few fishing rods when I head out on my kayak, but even when I'm not catching anything I just enjoy being out on the water. Boats are great and all, but being on my kayak just slows things down for me and relaxes me, and that's what I need to be able to put work aside. I used to do that with golf until it became more about the competition within myself and with others. So what keeps me going is that fishing helps me find more peace and balance in my life. Unlike golf, it's not a competition for me. Being out there and being able to clear my mind and slow down is enough for me.

As luck would have it, I bought some Huk rain gear just the other week.

Around here it's 33 degrees in the morning, but 65 degrees in the afternoon. But for the next week it's going to be in the 60's to 80's during the day and 50's and 60's at night so hopefully we'll see some fairly rapid warming of the water and kick off the pre-spawn frenzy. The timing couldn't be better - I'm fishing in my first tournament on Friday.