Kayak Koz

"Do you think getting skunked is character building or crippling? " Neither. I can neither control the weather nor where the fish are located and where they are biting. Heck, I've seen MLF guys get skunked during a round of fishing and those guys rely on catching fish to keep a roof over their heads so I'm not going to worry one bit of I get shut out.

Set the hook. You don't have to cross their eyes, but you need to make sure that hook gets good penetration.

Some shows that I can watch over and over again include Psych, Monk, and the Doctor Who episodes with David Tennant and Matt Smith. I have Amazon Prime and they have some great original programming. Some of the shows that surprisingly sucked me in to binge watching were The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Sneaky Pete, and Goliath.

I've bank fished around gators for decades and had both close and very scary encounters. That being said, there is absolutely know way I would be in any watercraft that close to the water. While it's true that most gators leave you alone, I don't think it's worth the risk coming across even the occasional aggressive gator. Once you end up dumped in the water the chances of injury or death go way up. Let me ask you this - have you ever practiced rolling over in your kayak, righting it, and getting back on board? How long did it take you? Could you do it with an aggressive gator or two somewhere in the water around you? Have you ever seen how fast a decent sized gator moves in the water at full speed? My advice to you is rent a boat, even a decent sized jon boat. And if you do kayak and a gator gets aggressive with you then hit it on the snout as hard as you can with your paddle or the edge of your fishing net. If you get grabbed by a gator bash its snout. It is the most sensitive area on the gator and its the best chance of getting it to retreat.

Thunderstorms ruin my day and we get plenty of pop up ones in the south. Wind doesn't really bother me when I fish from the bank, but I choose not to kayak in windy weather. I tried it once and got n about 1/20th of the casts I would have made fishing from the bank. This year will be different for me as I'm now on a big lake as opposed to fishing lagoons and small lakes. I'm sure I'll have a bigger list of grievances by the end of the year.

Speaking of night fishing, believe it or not but until last week I don't think I had done it since I was a kid. For me, the reason was I that I was bank fishing in alligator country and just didn't feel it was worth the risk. However, now that I moved I thought I would give it a try even though it;s still winter and not prime fishing season. I fished from the docks out back of my hotel and the one thing I noticed was my equilibrium was messed up. On many casts I felt like I was going to fall right over into the water. Maybe it's because of my age. With the small safety dock lights I did have enough light to see a bit so I wasn't in pitch black conditions. But it was still an odd feeling out there. Twice there were huge splashes just off the dock that I imagine were probably stripers. But I have yet to catch anything at night. But you can bet when the water warms up I'm going to give it a try.

When I lived in SC there were hundreds of lagoons within a 10-15 minute drive through the community. But now that I moved to GA I just walk out to the back of my hotel and fish off the dock. When it gets warmer I'll grab one of our kayaks or canoes. It's about a 2 minute walk from my office.

That would be great! I'm living in the hotel right now until I find a place so I'm here 24/7. It's really, really hard trying to find a place to rent here. I don't want to buy until I know the area much better. My choices are narrowed further because I have a small dog and I need a garage for my car and all of my tools and woodworking equipment. Everything I find that I like is out in Covington and that's too far of a commute. I have today off and was hoping to fish for a while, but it's 37 degrees and pouring rain. No bueno!

I did land the job and have managed to fish a few times after work on the docks at my hotel. It's still cold and miserable weather here for the most part and while the biggest LMB I have caught was only a pound and a half I catch something just about every time out. The hotel is located in one of the inlet fingers and the water is fairly shallow so I imagine it might end up being spawning grounds. I've only caught males so far so I'm thinking they are staging for the spawn. Hopefully the bigger females move in soon to feed before the spawn. I did fish late at night one night and while I caught nothing, twice there were HUGE splashes just off the dock. I'm not sure, but they could have been stripers cruising. Once the water warms a bit and the winds settle down I'm going to grab one of our kayaks and go exploring and do some fishing. I'm looking forward to a big striper towing me around the lake on the kayak!

Feel free to look through some of my posts regarding fishing the lagoons in the SC Lowcountry. The pre-spawn feeding frenzy is about to get underway. Fishing should be picking up now, but once night time air temperatures are in the mid 50's the 60's it will really pick up. I've caught a lot of 5+ pounders on white beetle spins just before the pre-spawn frenzy starts. Once the pre-spawn starts most of the bigger fish I catch are on white spinnerbaits with dual silver willow leaf blades and a Keitech Swing Impact trailer. The other one that catches big bass for most of the year (except winter) is a 1/2 ounce Strike King Banshee Buzzbait in the Sexy Shad color. Don't put a trailer on it. By far this is my most productive bait post spawn until winter sets in. Chatterbaits catch fish all year long and have been my most productive weapon throughout the winter. My favorite is a black/blue 3/8 oz with a blue Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw. It's a small craw but they are inexpensive and work great. Strike King Rage Craws also work well. I'll also throw 1/2 ounce chatterbaits in green pumplin or bluegill colors and with those I usually go with the larger Berkley Pit Boss trailers. The bluegill with the Perfection color. I've tried different colors with the Pit Boss but without as much luck. I fish other baits including Senkos, Teckel Sprinker Frogs, poppers, crankbaits, jerk baits, jigs, and just about everything out there. But I catch a ton on just buzzbaits, chatterbaits, and spinnerbaits that I rarely have to throw anything else. The caveat is that topwater baits are dinner bells for alligators so you have to keep your head on a swivel out there. I coached in some travel baseball tournaments in the Summerville area and there was a place we once stopped to fish on Alt-17 west of Summerville. There's a big lagoon in front of the ArborGen Corporate Office and it has a boardwalk along some of the banks. We didn't fish for more than an hour there and pulled out a bunch of 2-3 pounders and we only fished along that boardwalk, I have to imagine if we had fished there for hours and covered ground we would have found bigger bass. There are also a number of smaller lagoons immediately west of that big lagoon. If you do fish at ArborGen let me know if you catch anything big out there. We never got a chance to fish there again, but I always imagined it would have been fantastic fishing for some big bass.

I've been in the hotel industry for over 20 years. Some of that was Controller and CFO but most of it has been as a GM. With Marriott properties I was the guy who was called to turn around under performing hotels and I'd spend 12-24 months getting them going then move to the next assignment. This is the first independent hotel I have run and it's proving to be quite the challenge in that there are no brand standards, training programs, or corporate to fall back on. In a way that could be fun, but I literally need to write all of the standards and training manuals. The inmates have been running the asylum here and there are no standards. With most hotels I rarely have to turn over any staff members, but with this one I probably need to clear out 50%. That's going to be tough because this place is so rural. I have many associates that travel an hour just to get to work. If anyone knows of an experienced Maintenance Chief that wants to work at a lake front hotel send them my way. It will be the challenge of a lifetime.

As some of you know, I recently took a job as GM at a hotel on Lake Oconee in GA. It's not just at the lake, but on the lake and we have four docks right on property. And for the time being while I try to straighten out this mess I'm living at the property as well. Anyway my day started at 7 am and I wrapped it up at 5:30 this evening and took my dog for a walk down by the water. The next thing I know I see the telltale sign of a bass breaching the surface so immediately I went back inside and grabbed a rod and my tackle bag. Three casts in and I land a one pounder on a white spinnerbait. A few minutes later I tie on a chatterbait with a paddle tail trailer and land one at just about two pounds. That's not bad for 30 minutes out there. The weather is warm tonight so I may even head out for some night time fishing later this evening. This hotel is a real handful, but at least there are some great benefits. When the water warms up a bit I'll grab one of our kayaks. Once tourist season starts and the days are longer I'm going to have a "Fish With the GM Night" and teach young kids to fish.

Nope.

I finally got outside to fish off the hotel docks for about 30 minutes today and caught my first Lake Oconee bass. It was a dink that I caught on a beetle spin, but I'll take it. The lake has a ton of inlets (or fingers) and our hotel is located in one of them. It's nice to know at least one bass is cruising them. Since the water is shallower here I'm wondering if these inlets will be spawning grounds or if even minimal boat traffic will have them spawning elsewhere. The water here is really stained, at least in this inlet. I wonder if it will clear up after the winter rainy season. We're going to have air temperatures in the 50's at night later this week, and I may try some nighttime fishing on the docks. Our docks to have some warning lights on them and it provides enough light to see what you're doing out there.

I have never fished at night but now that I'm out of gator country I want to give it a try. Last night when I ran out to the store I saw a couple of guys bank fishing on Oconee. They had a generator and massive lights to light up a huge area in one of the coves.

Wouldn't you know it - I have a job on the lake and docks out back of the property and I haven't had time to fish yet. I've been too busy and even when I found some time it was cold and really windy out. Maybe next week.

I enjoy cooking and trying to come up with new, tasty dishes. Nothing fancy, though. I’m pretty handy on the grill as well.

A fish grip is one of the best fishing investments that I ever made. Not only do they save me from potential injury, but they also make it easier to get out tough hook sets.

LOL! I am having a hard time understanding the drawl of a few people.

The no alligators thing is going to be nice. I do have a few ideas regarding the BR community but I need to discuss those with Glenn first. Even with that we’re 60-90 days away before I start actively marketing this hotel. With it being off season and with Covid it gives me an opportunity to make a physical impact on the property first.

That’s a great idea. Three days in and we’re making progress. Staff is not used to being accountable.

Sometimes the camaraderie in this forum is more important than people can imagine. We’ve seen that with those that have had medical issues but it even goes beyond that.

Like it has for many others, COVID took a toll on me from losing my job to losing my father. There were other private, devastating issues as well. There were times I was in a pretty dark place. I had been looking for a job since last spring. But between COVID and hospitalizations with my father and stepmother and their being 4 hours away and having to travel to care for them it was tough. Then dad passed and with the winter holidays it made things tough once again. I couldn’t even get interviews for some jobs because I was overqualified. No one wants to invest in hiring and training when they know you will leave when a better job comes along. With other jobs in my field there were always 400 or more applicants and you’re lucky if they even opened your resume. But even though things were bleak I persisted and it paid off. I landed the General Manager job at The Lodge at Lake Oconee in Eatonton, GA. Right now this hotel is more than rough around the edges and needs a lot of maintenance and training but it has the potential to be a gem. There’s a LOT to do to get this hotel up to speed, but I live for that challenge. I really, really need to find a maintenance chief to help me turn this place around. The hotel is right on the lake and we have four docks on property. Oconee supposedly has good largemouth and striper fishing and I can’t wait to get out there. The hotel has its own kayaks and canoes and I plan to take advantage of that. With any luck I can find a house to rent on Oconee or nearby Lake Sinclair. I know my story is not unique and a lot of people around the world and right here in our Bass Resource community are struggling. For me, interacting on these forums and the ability to go out and fish were integral parts of my coping with the situation, so thank you to everyone here for that. I guess what I’m getting at is with so much hatred going on in the world and with social media it’s great that Glenn and all have put together this community and we should all be thankful for that. For those out there struggling I can’t promise it will get better, but perseverance will pay off in the end. This pandemic won’t go on forever, and doors will open.

The bass have started moving from their winter locations. I caught a nice 5 pounder close to shore the other day. But as luck would have it, I just moved to Georgia today and it’s still cold here. It will be below freezing tonight. Looks like I will have to wait it out some more.

We don’t have pickerel or pike down here.