OldManLure

It’s a feature of fishing from a kayak. I have 2 sit-ins and a sit-on, and even my 98lb sit-on spins with a number of different lures. When I started fishing from a yak, it was a little annoying. But I hadn’t thought about it in a long time until reading your post. Thinking about it now, I realize I’ve simply developed a routine of casting, retrieving, and adjusting my position with a small hand paddle that I bought specifically for this purpose. I can imagine it being much more annoying if you’re standing most of the time. It seems it would be pretty cumbersome to drop a paddle blade to adjust your position while standing.

”match the hatch” is the second most meaningless term in bass fishing. A long held credo for fly fisherman, it has been co-opted by marketers for bass bait manufacturers. It is their strategy to convince us to buy 4 or 5 versions of a bait when 1 would likely work.

I have 2 different size sit-ins that I fish different stretches of the river. There is enough flat water between faster stretches that I believed a fish finder could be helpful, but I wasn’t about to sacrifice space for everything required for the more popular FFs. I ran across and purchased a Hawkeye Fishtrax 1c. It is perfect for what I wanted. It fits in a case about the same size as my GoPro, uses AA batteries, the suction cup eliminates the need for cumbersome mounts (the floating transducer is clever) and can easily be switched from one kayak to the other. And it has done its job. I have found holes and deep runs that I likely would have never known existed, and lshowed the fish they held. It was money well spent.

https://water.weather.gov/ahps/forecasts.php This NWS site is excellent and, in my opinion, invaluable. It provides on one graph real time water levels, flow rates, and forecasts rise/fall in levels based on weather forecast. Of course the information won’t be very meaningful until you get on a river and see firsthand how the river looks at the various levels/flow rates provided by the graph. Eventually, and sooner than later, you’ll be able to look at graph and know exactly what to expect when you get to your section of the river.

Grew up too close to Tennessee River and tribs not to take off from school to fish. Heck, isn’t that why it used to be called “playing hooky”?

Rapala RipStop 09. Awesome action!

Have you seen this? https://www.nucanoe.com/product/dashboard-xl/

I helped a buddy outfit his kayak which had very similar placement of tracks. Utilizing two of the more forward tracks (the 10” tracks shown on your pic), we used aluminum angle stock (purchased at Lowe’s) and fabricated a frame that mounted to the track on each side. The legs were about 10” which elevated the cross piece from deck of the yak. We purchased a field ammo box from DSG for his battery which fit below the crosspiece of the frame. It was on the crosspiece that we mounted the display unit (the crosspiece also works great for hanging lures, small tools, scale, etc). The last step was to trim and file corners to get rid of all sharp edges. I think total cost was about $25, and we spent maybe 90 minutes on it. While we put it together using stainless screws, washers and nuts, he had a buddy who was later going to braze the joints. This was 2 summers ago and he is still using it.

Big fish have big energy demands. They can conserve it by parking in areas that have almost no current or in an eddy. I’ve been fortunate to catch quite a few 20”+, and they have all been where the current seems to disappear. Most often, this has been near the bank with structure nearby, and I agree that they seem to use the bank to trap their prey. On a few occasions I have managed to catch a few in the middle of the river, but these have been in pretty large eddies.

I’ve been duped. I’ve fished for nearly 60 years and no one bothered to tell me we’re supposed to keep score.

Two of the most meaningless terms in fishing.

Heddon Hellbender. The 2nd bait I bought with my own money (allowance) 50+ years ago. I think I bought it only because of its name, but I did catch a few fish on it. I can’t believe I still have it.

Once you decide on a name, you might consider stickers with weights, like 3lb, 4lb, 5lb, etc that members could purchase to stick on their yak to display what category of weight they have caught from their yak. The numbers could be colored to signify LM (green?) and SM (bronze?).

It seems to me that a bait the color of a bruised banana in a world of ‘natural colors’ would certainly stand out and be ripe for the taking. I may have to slip a bunch of those into my tackle bag.

I’m convinced it is more about shape/profile and contrast than color. The challenge, I think, is finding the combination of a color that at a given time provides adequate contrast AND has the shape that appears to be something they want to eat.

Intuition is a shortcut to the knowledge we possess. You may not be able to articulate the reasons for a choice you make, but you know it seems like the right one or a good one ( or conversely, the wrong one or a bad one). It allows us to make a calculated decision without having to spend time calculating. It’s invaluable.

Even when the river level allow spots like you describe to be fished, I think they are often overlooked or ignored. It is my belief that the active feeders exploit these areas while those hanging out in/near riffles are more opportunistic. When river levels allow it I’ll anchor my yak where it’s safe above the riffle, and cast in a 180* arc to cover the area. When I have caught one, I have almost always caught two or more. In fact, just yesterday on the Shenandoah I caught far more above the riffles than my buddy caught in and around them. He thinks I’m just lucky.

When we were about 11 or 12, my cousin and I got in a ton of trouble when we were caught using fly rods and poppers trying to catch bats around the barn’s security light.

I grew up in north Alabama next to Tennessee River, and countless creeks feeding it. Then I moved to Maryland near the Potomac, Shenandoah, and a number of smaller rivers and creeks. There have been very few days in 50+ years that there has not been fishing gear in my car or truck for that spur-of-the-moment stop or trip to the water. And always enough gear for at least two people. On more than one occasion while on a bridge or driving alongside a river, a passenger would comment something like “that looks like a nice place to fish”, or “I always wanted to fish that creek”. I’ve shocked quite a few guys with “today’s your lucky day”.

Ditto.

Several years ago on the way to the Shenandoah River, I stopped and helped a fellow much older than me change a flat tire on his truck. He saw my yak and rods in the back of my truck. Grateful for my help, I guess, he told me he would share a secret…cast a craw lure around mud clouds caused by carp. I had never heard this but I tried it, and it worked. It’s a tactic that’s been pretty successful on many occasions since then.

Tennessee Upper Potomac French Broad I plan to travel north more next year, and look forward to adding to, or revising, my list.

Lake or river?

We’re officially into fall and all that this season means for chasing smallmouth. As I was straightening out gear and packing up warm weather stuff, I thought about this year’s fishing so far, and which baits were most productive for me. I spend 95% of my fishing time on the river in a kayak, and since April 1 have been 63 times. My top 3 producers this year have been… 1 - Rapala Skitter Prop shad, 2- Rapala Flat Rap silver 3- Rebel Wee Craw stream While I caught some very nice fish on a number of other baits, these 3 were consistently productive, and each of these produced a PB, with Skitter Prop producing the most recent at 21 1/2”. What were your top 3 producers this spring/summer, and was it lake or river smallies?