James Engle

Nice! I’ll give them a shout . Thanks for the info ??

I do the same thing. Always have an excuse to fall back on soakin a senko around thick cover . I fish around the house mostly , arrowhead and smaller places around southern Maine. I’ve always fished out of a kayak until last week . Now that I have a nice boat I’m looking forward to fishing some bigger water and expanding my skills offshore. The handful of times I’ve got into em good out on deep structure have been on a smallmouth bite @ places like winni, great pond, andro lake, north pond. Places I could find the offshore stuff pretty easily. And knowin that’s how they catch em there always helps my confidence sticking it out till I put my thumb down on em. Arrowheads the hardest for me , it’s got some of the best shallow water cover / forage you can dream up. I get worn out quick fishin all the junk. lately been enjoying fishing very slow, searching for unicorns in the tight channel .

Looking for a local tech or shop to get me squared away with my 2000 carbureted Johnson outboard on my 2001 tr-186. I just bought the boat last week, and she’s practically mint for her age. Purchased off the original owner, and he babied the thing pleasure fishing . If anyone has any recommendations for a shop, I’d greatly appreciate it! I’m out of Lake Arrowhead. Called southern Maine marine, Portland yacht service, both a month + out on labor. White rock threw me a ballpark few hundred bucks to go thru all the carbs and tune her up nice. Seemed fair, only a week out . Reviews seem great too. I’ve asked around a bit & figure my last stop be here. Thanks !

We moved a year and a half ago into the lake arrowhead community in Limerick, Maine . It’s a wonderful place to live, we love it. The association manages 13 private beaches around the lake which are great for carry in access. I do all my fishing out of an old town predator PDL. There are tons of ponds and lakes in this area, I’m sure if you looked around you could find a great place for your dream cabin. There is actually an island on lake arrowhead for sale , and also I’m not sure if it’s still listed but there is a parcel on another one of the islands that already has concrete piers in place to be built on. let me know if you need somebody to build ?

I’m still learning a lot going into my 3rd season fishing competitively , so I’m no expert but this is what’s been working for me. Up in southern Maine, Suspending jerkbaits , shallow and deep. If they aren’t biting I’ll soak it , like get it in strike zone and smoke a cigarette and snap it . Brutally slow is sometimes the most effective. I look for spots holding timber against steep bank lines , or ditches with vegation on both sides / not a lot of big rocks or anything else where I’m fishing so I stick to wood and vegetation, or a cut with gravel . I usually start seeing fish in shallow weedy areas when the water gets up over 45 and the suns out, sunny side of the bank and some wood , finding slick water in coves on a windy day or those spots where the grass is still green & figuring out where the warmest areas closest to their winter spots. I’ve been doing well with ecopro tungsten swingshads on owner screw lock size 4/0 w/ 3/32oz belly hook. Haven’t been able to get on a bladed jig bite , lipless or spinner baits yet but those are coming out tomorrow. Also got a few cranking shallow a couple weeks ago. For me, when the water is low 40’s - finding the fish isn’t too hard, it’s gettin em to bite where I struggle. Any other time of the year I can usually pick em off with a dropshot and some power bait or a wacky rigged senko . But lately I won’t even get a sniff and if I drop it directly on em they’ll spook. Reactionary baits that I can let dwell in a strike zone are where i have most confidence .

You have any luck yet? I’ve been seein homies crushing it this weekend in NY, Adirondack crew, fish all had good guts on em . I’m up in Southern Maine, it’s been a tough start to my season. I got out on open water March 10 this year, over a month sooner than ice out 2019. mild winter and a streak of abnormally warm days followed by rain late feb into March. But the weather turned back around for a few weeks . Most of March was a bust for my skills. I’ve had a few flurries jerkin over the last 2 weeks but I’ve had to fish that thing like a wacky rigged senko to get bit. Friend of mine been wearin em out with silver buddies . don’t own any but maybe that woulda been the ticket , I was on top of bass stacked out deep a handful of times in March and couldn’t get a sniff with dropshot, ned or jig. Timing the bite window right might’ve helped me out better too. I’m gonna wipe the slate and get after em tomorrow. Finally got the peepers chirping at night and suppose to be upper 50’s next 2 days. I know they’re itching it get moving because I’ve seen some bigs glued to rocks baskin in the sun last week , reckon they’ll be cruising up and around tryin to get fat tomorrow

bonas were a big hit last year , seems like a lot of people got on em. That being said, there was/is a lot of companies making mods . Ive been out with Ss127 guys in wind and they don’t last long paddling those boats. One objective bass fishing makes some nice motor mounts for them. Bonafide , native , and liquid logic merged recently, so perhaps you will see bonas incorporating propel drives soon

I’ve got a pair of old town predator PDL’s. Awesome awesome boats. My previous kayak was a native slayer 10, it was much slower, less stable, cheaper quality, and my customer service experience from the remaining dealers closest to me was poor. I went to old town and haven’t looked back. I will say the kaku voodoo has always caught my eye and I would love one of those one day. The nucanoe lineup is a similar style as the voodoo so you might like them as well.

thats awesome, welcome to the kayak fishin world. My kit is similar to a co-anglers - a grip of rods and a backpack. You’ll have a better idea of what mods would improve your rig after some time on the water. I’ve met a lot of really great people around the country with KBF.

No doubt man!!!

I’ll be down there coming from Maine. Really excited to fish guntersville. We got a heavy crew rolling down this year. I’m flying down solo... hopefully like 2 weeks before the event. We rented a house for like 10 of us up in Langston for the week of the event . I fished Caddo last year it was busy but you could get away from the crowd easily .

More exposure for the sport, more opportunities.... Hope to start seeing a page or 2 in bass times every month, with kayak results and featured anglers. KBF is a family, they’re here to stay. I don’t know the stats, but up in the northeast a lot of the bigger kayak clubs are kbf partner trails. Seems the clubs making moves on local and regional levels are all part of a pretty tight network. And big things happening next year . 2021 kbf national championship is back on Caddo... and I mean they just had 1/2 the kayak population there last March and also have their own region on the trail series . Texas sounds nice right now! icing up here in Maine ?

shallow water !! Last Saturday we fished the first of the year Maine Yak Anglers trail event , on square pond. I found smallies on rocky points with sharp drops in the morning , by 11am there were big largemouth lurking around sandy beach spots close to soft bottom and deep water. The north end of that pond was stacked with big fish. After the tourney I went to a little spot I call ‘breeding grounds’ I fished fast around the main lake channel points with timber, and did well pumping a craw colored red eye shad under or as close to wood as possible. The wind died down at around 7pm, and the cold water stopped pushing into the back coves. I got on a great frog bite, big bass were tucked way way back in thick grassy swamp areas 1-2’ of water. So far this week, I have been seeing more bass cruising the shallow flats around points and inside coves , doing well with spinnerbaits, red eye shad, and when it gets dark throwing a frog out and just letting it sit on top - almost like dead sticking a senko with a frog...? I dunno but it’s workin ! I have seen some absolute tanks cruising around at night. I finally had one giant take my top toad last night and I failed to set the hook on er’ ?

Amazing ! Can’t beat it.

Dude! I was scratching my head trying to figure out who. I actually tried getting in touch with you last summer , Wayne Berry was telling me you were gettin into some bass. yeah I always tell people that it’s not only learning techniques on how to find and trick the fish, it’s the time management to get on the water . Honestly though if I invested as much effort into building a business as I used to rather than working to become the angler I’m reaching to be... maybe I’m doing things backwards at the moment but I’m hooked and have been scraping by. Definitely should link up again. 207-321-8400 shoot me a text sometime , keep up the hard work I’m sure you’re crushin it like always!

I hear it’s great kayak bass fishing. A friend I occasional travel to tournaments with during the winter runs the NEBassin trail for Rhode Island. John Decenzo , he’s a great guy, if you look him or NEBassin up, I’m sure they’ll be happy to help you out !

No kiddin! That’s awesome, those guys were cool. I was pretty excited to see some guys out there with gopros bass fishin. I’ll have to look em up and subscribe !! Anyone gettin after it this weekend ? I sampled some smallies in square pond on Saturday and set up a game plan for the kayak tourney this weekend.

No doubt thanks brotha ! That’s awesome. I’m really liking little O. I will most likely pick your brain about that place at some point. I have my work cut out for me this season, trying to focus on the local trail events. Excited because we do have a stop on little o in August. So I have some time to get more familiar with it. I’ll be on square on Saturday trying to figure something out for the following weekends MYA tournament. Also neee to cull some on the KBF State monthly this weekend, I’ll prob end up on Estes to work on that. I’m excited, Every weekend since ice out I’ve been scrambling around trying to coordinate/host a trip with a friend, this weekend I’m jumping in my truck solo and going hard, nothing to slow me down. Need some 5lbrs in my life right now...

Hey man! Thanks for the advice !!! Wow I have never thrown a bait like that, but will absolutely add it to my arsenal this weekend . Looks like it’s a match the hatch bait. I have been doing well on little O. I found some fish there a week and a half ago, on the upper basin. I was able to key into a jerkbait bite around timber. These bass have been very particular, I’ve seen giants on multiple occasions traveling the shoreline in groups of 3 , I’ve seen them spread out around larger schools of small to mid size bass, and I’ve seen them traveling slowly around shallow flats leading into coves. Saturday the water temp had warmed to 55° by noon, it appeared that the bass had begun moving around the lake a bit. I caught about 20 bass in an hr around emergent grass patches in 5’ of water. I even caught double 16”s on a shadow rap. It was a hot bite for a minute, thrilling action. I haven’t been to Estes yet this year, looking forward to getting back out there, I have a lot of confidence there this time of year . Will have to try that shad out. Been trying to get out to arrowhead after work throughout the week. We just moved into he LAC and I’d like to take advantage of the 15+ beach spots and get to know that body of water better. My PB came from arrowhead last summer and I’ve heard stories of 9lb’rs. Friday I’ll be heading to Lewiston to get certified for the new state milfoil inspections. Saturday I’m planning on square pond, getting acquainted with the water and hopefully have a good game plan established for the first Maine a Yak Anglers trail event the following weekend . Its been a grind grind getting caught up with life after a crazy winter of work, travel, moving, etc.. working on developing a stable routine over the next few weeks so I can get the most out of this season! Anyone else going out this weekend? I need to rig a drop shot rod and keep it on my kayak indefinitely, I head it will always work. I need to grab some terminal gear , and get something set up. I was catchin’ em on the fall pumping a red craw rattle trap , on Saturday morning. I’m gonna get my gear staged and rigged for this weekend , I’ll post everything beforehand and be glad to hear any critique! Hope you all are off to a good week and get some lines wet ! Thanks a bunch ??

I’m definitely going to have to try the ned rig on these fish. I went back to the spot on Monday evening and after work today. Monday the weather was not great but I managed a few , and lost a nice one at the boat. So yesterday I rigged up a few different jerk baits with new hooks. Got out there today, decent conditions, calm enough to ease in and site fish. I had the fish following everything I threw. They just would not commit. At one point I had 2 closing in from the outside and a giant coming right through the center directly at it. I was dragging a curly tail soft Swimbait on the bottom , I thought I had her , she came in and nipped the tail gently and just stopped and stared at it for 5 seconds then slowly turned off. Pressure has risen a bit since Sunday/Monday, and the water is still 49° in this area. Man, there is no joke 100 bass in this 300 yard radius against the shoreline. Most of them look to be 16-17” ranger but there is a handful of BIG girls lurking around the outskirts and occasionally right inside the juice. I’m not sure exactly yet what it’s going to take to trigger this group. I feel like if I can get the presentation right, i could stack 100” off this spot . I’m pretty confident that these fish will remain on location for a bit. I’ll probably try to get back out here Friday. I think I will go about them differently next time , work some small finesse baits within 6” of the bottom really slow . I’m kind of curious about the powerbait max scent. From the things I’ve heard in the past , something like that may be the hot tip. We will see !! Haha nothing like staring at a group of nice bass staring at your bait !

So it was a slow weekend, but I managed to put a pattern together. Saturday didn’t go as planned, my buddy didn’t get down here until 1 and i had plans for the afternoon so we spent 2 hours on the water and it was very windy. I knew the water temp would be warmer today, so I had my gear packed and ready to go last night and hit the water early this morning. I spent 3 hrs looking at my sonar , trying to find anything that looked appealing. I worked my way from the deepest point of the lake to the shallowest flats and eventually I spotted a bass! And not only 1... dozens. They were tightly grouped , relating to submerged timber , in 5-10’ of water - right beside sharp drop offs leading to 20’ of water. They weren’t real spooky, but slow to respond. Initially I soaked a senko hoping that I could pick away at them with a subtle application. They weren’t into it, so I grabbed the jerkbait and set up to cast parallel with the shoreline . 1st cast landed a nice 19” strong largemouth. I ended up pulling a few more smaller largemouth and a smallmouth out of this area. It was painful, because I must have seen 4-5 that were between 5-6... maybe even 7lbs. Unfortunately I could only get a few to bite today. But I believe that this spot will pay off well this summer during our trail event here. Water temp was 48° when I left , 10° warmer than this time last week. I’m feeling a little bit more confident about getting some good #’s on the leaderboard for some online challenges this month. I will apply this pattern to some areas I’m more familiar with and should be quick to get on some fish next time out on the water . Thank you guys for you advice, it’s greatly appreciated ?????? Here’s a Quik edit from today! Mid April jerkbait action

Thanks ya guys ! I got a buddy coming down on Saturday, and he’s a hammer. supposed to be 70° Saturday. I’m going to take your advice and think about the warm water . Hoping to see some of the bass moving up , I’ll definitely be throwing a jerkbait, craw style jig, and I’ll try and track down a silver buddy. I’ll post our results !!

Hey everyone, I just joined the forum figured I'd get a post under my belt. tons of open water in southern maine as of now (april 10) been out a few times on my kayak, just quick 1 hr sessions. Mostly marking waypoints on my graph, water is extremely clean and finding tons of timber, rock piles, etc. that will be buried with milfoil all summer. got into some deeper water today and saw quite a bit of activity on my raymarine. thinking this weekends weather will get em fired up. Im planning to fish little ossipee and/or estes. I dont have much (basically none) past experience with little ossipee, but from what Ive seen so far, looks clean, stumpy in areas, nice grassy flats, rocky, deep middle and lower basin... all the fixin's. Estes I have more time on than anywhere else, may be a good place to fall back on if I do not figure a pattern on lil ossipee. Im hoping to find some stacks deeper and get them to light up on a jerk bait or rat'L'trap, or if theyre not going to budge drag a jig or a shakey head. Have never thrown a ned rig - but could see them performing well this time of year. other baits Im curious about for Maine's early spring bite: pumping spoons, a rig, deep cranking, damiki rig's with or without underspins, dropshot flukes. Basically hoping I can get something working with a moving bait. But maybe the trick will be to find the bass on sonar and present them slowly with finesse. I know a lot of guys going directly to a chatterbait for some reaction bites - I have a hard time getting them to run deep - need to dial in with that. I dont know if anyones got any hot tips. but Id love to bounce some ideas around of what to throw this weekend. I generally film my trips and I will post any results. below is a few sonar snapshots I took today. thanks everyone!