dickenscpa

I highlighted the above because it reminded me of a funny story. Me, my wife and our two kids are just outdoors people. We LOVE to go hiking. I work horrible hours most of the year but try to preserve my weekends for us four to be together and have fun. Our kids have these passports and we get them stamped at state and federal parks, etc Anyways we spent half a day driving to a park to go hiking and obviously would have a half day drive back. We get there and they are having some type of trail run going on and the public wasn't allowed on the course.

KVD is only 4 years older than me, so when I was 15 or 16 he was starting on the pro tour or thereabouts. He was my first "favorite" and still is. I know he's earned the right to fish as long as he wants or stop when he wants but it's a bit bittersweet to me to see my GOAT lay'em down.

We just answer a bunch of questions about the deer we shot and guesstimate the weight. It's an app thru TWRA. Actually when you take it to the processor you go back in and correct the weight. If you process your own I guess most have a scale and gambril.

I've never fished or hunted without buying a valid license. My Dad bought me a lifetime sportsman's license when I was in jr high. I graduated high school in 1990 but when I was in jr high (either 7th or 8th grade) one six weeks of our PE class was Hunter Safety. Everyone that passed got to shoot a 20g at clays on the football field. My have times changed, LOL! My license was one card kinda like a flimsy credit card but I only had one. From March-Sept it stayed in my tackle box. Deer season in TN starts 3rd Saturday of Sept and it stayed in my hunting pack and if I went fishing in the Fall had to remember to get it out of hunting pack and into tackle box and vice versa. Shoulda made a copy but never did for some reason. There was a time or two I'd hunt or fish and realize license was was in the wrong pack. Never been approached while hunting and only once fishing and I was a junior in college and had my license on me. Now my license are on my phone and we tag deer on our phone so I always have it with me.

All above is great advice. I don't mind fishing in the wind or fishing in the cold, but I won't fish if it's really high winds and cold. If things go bad everything is harder if it's windy or cold but put the two together and it's disaster. You can just never predict how your body will react to something like that until it happens and most don't get desirable results. I recently sold my boat after it not getting wet for so long after falling in love with kayak fishing. Obviously a bit more risk in cold/wind in a kayak so I won't mix the two and will call a fishing trip short if things start changing on the water. I'm really thinking about looking into a quality wet suit. Even in Fall or Spring we can have a day in the South where temp hits 60-70 but water might still be 45 or a bit lower. I always remember the rule of 120 - water temp plus air temp have to equal at least 120, but remember there's a difference between surface temp and just a foot or two deeper.

Every multi day tourney I've fished had a different identifier for each day. They don't use the one TourneyX generates they publish it 15 minutes before lines in. As a matter of fact, I have a place I like to put in that has ZERO cell coverage for Spring and mid Fall. I have to pull over on the side of the road about a mile and a half before the ramp and wait on the identifier before launching. By mid day I'm usually out far enough to get a signal and upload my fish. If I'm finishing up and heading back for check in there's a possibility I could catch a decent one and cull back in no cell zone. When I fish there I have to always make sure I got time to get back and get loaded and a mile or two down the road to upload fish before the deadline. You know that had to really suck for that guy, he didn't do anything wrong. I wonder how many times MLF'ers have caught the same fish in a day, but when you got an official in the boat doing the weighing and watch you put it back it's easy to defend compared to a kayaker out by himself.

The judges for most CPR tourneys are pretty slick. You'd be very surprised at just how different markings are on very similar fish and they'll pick it out almost every time. As far as carrying a "tail" with you they remedied that by where you can put your hand on the fish when you photo. There are some that don't allow a hand on the fish and you just hope it doesn't flop. Some allow two fingers but most say hand behind the gill and so far up the tail. On some 12' fish you can only get 1 or 2 fingers on it to be within the approved area. Someone else already commented on bending the board but that was when we only had Hawg Troughs. I don't think any of the local tourneys around me allow them any more, but you're not bending a Ketch board poly or aluminum. I'm SO glad Ketch came out with their board. I can't tell you how many Hawg Toughs I broke every 15 minutes of a tournament. Bass fishing is just like drug testing in MMA or sports in general. You have one group over here working tirelessly trying to beat the system and another group trying to fend it off. The ebb flows in favor of the cheaters to the non cheaters and every so often we'll have a small window of even playing field.

If you're about to change out the cartridge and throw the old one away anyway, jump in a pool and let it go off on you once. The only way I can explain it is it's "different." You can't swim your normal way when it deploys. Doesn't hurt to make a test run so that surprise isn't under duress.

First off thank God you're ok. Second that is a very scary incident. I'm an EXTREMELY strong swimmer but I'm an absolute stickler for a PFD because if I'm passed out my swimming ability goes out the window. You're extremely fortunate your PFD type had you floating face up. I've always tried to follow the 120 deg rule of water temp plus air temp needs to equal 120. However, I have never had an aversion to temps hot or cold to one extreme or the other UNTIL I had a heart attack in 2017. They put me on blood thinners for about 4-5 months back in 2017 and I haven't warmed up since. I love to swim but it can be 105 deg outside in the summer and I can't hardly get into the pool. I can mow and weedeat and be so hot I can't see straight and will still dance around the pool for an hour dipping a toe in. After getting in it will still take me a good half hour to get acclimated. I bet my wife and I haven't slept in the same bed 5 times in the last 5 years since my heart attack. I use an electric blanket and weighted blanket year 'round and just about smoke her out of the bed. And my heart attack was Dr induced because of HIS mistake, I'm healthy as a horse but have to live my life with the after affects.

I have quite a few that drive me crazy yet won't do anything about it. I so love to bass fish and since I got heavy into tournaments about May 2020, I've had to come to grips with I'm really not that good compared to a lot of people around me. 1) I'm bad about not setting the hook hard enough in fear I'll jerk it out of their mouth. This results in getting fish all the way to the boat before they come off. 2) Won't give up on my confidence baits when I know they're not working and everyone around me is drop shotting and slaying them. I hate drop shotting. 3) Bad about not retying. 4) When they're deep I keep beating the banks and shallow laydowns. I have quite a few others that are mainly due to stubbornness.

I'm self admitted barometrically ignorant but I fished as a co-angler last summer of 2021 and the pro I got teamed up with pointed out all of these sticks we saw floating in the water. None of them were floating horizontally, they were all floating straight up and down. After pointing that out he said the barom pressure was too high and fishing would be horrible. It was a lousy day and hardly anyone caught anything. A ridiculously low weight won. Wasn't sure if it was a coincidence or what he said was true.

When I first got into kayak fishing I wanted to see how hard it was to get back right if I flipped. I'm a very strong swimmer and used to be a lifeguard and it wasn't a huge deal to me. It was a 13' pedal drive kayak. I have a Hobie PA 12 now and they're roughly the same size except the Hobie is about 3" wider. What I didn't count on was how much harder it was with the kayak fully loaded to fish. My H-Crate is strapped down and I put some old Plano boxes in there and zipped it up and some old lay around cheap rods/reels I had and lashed them down like you're supposed to. MUCH more difficult to pull off the recovery. Everything strapped and secured makes all that weight bottom heavy. So, I don't want to lose my stuff 'cause my main rods and reels aren't cheap and my plano boxes aren't usually empty but you just have to know it is more difficult. First off if you're in less water than the length of rods they can bend and when that stress is relieved they "whip." Nice little welp on the ole inner thigh. Second of all you do need pfd at the right tightness and to top it off, no matter how good of a swimmer you are, without the help of that pfd it is VERY hard to tread long enough to get your bearings, release the adrenaline dump and get right to get it back upright. It's very tiring and without a pfd can get sticky, even if you flipped intentionally to practice. If you have rod tips digging into the bottom they can work against you as well. I no longer use leashes that secure my rods tight into the holders. I use a single line leash that hopefully they come out and float or sink but stayed connected. When I get upright I'll worry about dragging them in.

As I was reading the replies I had planned on posting exactly what you said above in bold. Another thing that happens is if you have a certain strength when you fish, even on a specific lake. If the tournament is on that lake at the wrong time of the year you can struggle. I fish KBF kayak tournaments and I was really looking forward to them having a tournament on my home lake. We did this year and it was mid summer and the temps were triple digit and the water temp was 89-90*. Now this is my home lake and where I have the most confidence but I'm more of a shallow water, laydown, wood cover, crankbait 10' or less guy. When we fished it this year the fish weren't where I'd normally catch them and I'm just not very good out ledge fishing or drop shotting in 30' of water. That's what separates people like me from Elites and MLF'ers. I'm sure they have a super strength but are more than adequate with most other techniques as well. I watched a video with KVD a year or so ago and they asked him about his run when he won everything and asked him to compare it to Wheeler today. He said that most of the pros are capable of doing the same thing he had done. He said there was a lot of luck with everything coming together just right and hitting each lake at the right time for how you fish. He said when he was on his run it just seemed like they hit every lake he knew well and the way he fished it at just the right time.

My paddle is in halves clamped down on the back of my Hobie. I'm not even sure I've ever connected the two halves. I always want a paddle with me just in case, with that said if I forgot my paddle and drove more than 15 minutes to the ramp I'd still fish. When I launch or come in I use my stake out pole to push off and get in and prefer that to scraping up my paddle on a concrete ramp or rocks.

YakGagdet is local to me. One of the owners of YakGadget is part owner of our local shop. We had a fishing expo back in January and they set up a booth and I bought one for my Hobie PA and the way it screws in and then attaches to the rear rail, it's not going anywhere. I love mine and one less battery to charge. I would suggest getting their Sidewinder I think it's called to manage your line.

I've got three pair of water shoes, the good kind that drain, etc and after a couple trips they stink so bad I can't take it and they drain slow and I get water in my truck when loading and leaving. I don't have a foot odor problem, it's nasty lake water. I also have three different pair of Crocs, all terrain, etc. If I spit and step in it I hydroplane and bust my tail. Mossy, slimy boat ramp and I've went under a time or two. Barefoot is a no go for me. Too much glass and rock loading and unloading. Plus I tan well but I will only sunburn in two spots. Top of my ears and top of my feet. Seems liberal sunscreen does little to help. I wear long sleeve fishing shirt, gloves, hat and a buff. I have moles and don't want cancer. The only good thing I've used is NRS neoprene boots almost knee high. JUST ALWAYS WEAR SOCKS. But when the weather gets hot those black boots will cook your feet and taking them off is hard to store while fishing and back to sunburned feet.

All I drink is coffee and water. I drink my coffee black and mostly decaf. I used to drink 3 pots a day but after my heart attack and switching to decaf maybe a pot and a half. Basically all my water comes from the spout in my refridgerator door. I keep that cannister thing replaced when I should that filters. I may do some of my water with Soda Stream and use one of their non sweetened 0 cal fruit flavors some. I like pink grapefruit. I used to have kidney stones BAD from 2000-2008. but I drank 0 water a bunch of black coffee and all Dr Pepper and Coke. Gave up sodas and the kidney stones left. I've got a 32oz Yeti and the door prize at one fishing tourney was that lid and built in coffee cup. So I put that on the Yeti and when I fish a tourney like this past weekend I make a full thing of coffee and drink it all day. This past Saturday was on the water at 4:00 lines in 4:30 and lines out at 2:30. No WAY I was doing that without coffee! LOL! I also had 60oz of water on board.

I just discussed this with my best friend the other day. My boat hasn't got wet since Aug '19 and I bought my first Kayak Sept '19. The reason I got put out with my boat was the hassle. I've about turned my kayak into that as well. I have a kayak trailer and a Hobie with onboard rod storage so when I decide to go, I back the truck into the garage and hook up and take off. Mere seconds. When I get home I back into the garage and unhook, that's it. Here's where I have problems. With the kayak I've gotten SO much more serious about fishing and started doing tournaments. I had 3 rods on a 21' bass boat that were cheap and got thrown in the rod locker. I had one Plano tackle box that had one crankbait, 3 spinner baits, one frog and maybe 3-4 packs of soft plastics and a wad of tangled up hooks. Now I fish with 8 rods that aren't cheap and 8 higher end Abu Garcia reels on each and I have tackle coming out of the ying yang. I have a Hobie H-crate FULL of plano boxes full of tackle. Two Bass mafia coffin boxes full and two of those Bass Maffia tube thingies that's awesome for crank and jerk baits. Then a box of soft plastics, maybe 30-40 packs. Now the storage of my tackle is no problem. Where my problem comes in is when I get to the ramp I have to take all those rod socks and reel protectors off and store them in the truck. Get the micro anchor set up and then launching isn't too bad. Getting out of the water is different. I can either pull up to shore and unload quite a bit or pick all that up in one motion and get it on the trailer. Then I HATE re-sleeving and reel covering and putting those rods up. Stowing my power pole, etc.

I have an Onyx auto inflate that gets the most use. I've got an NRS Chinook and an NRS Raku and I've tried to force myself to wear one of the NRSs and I just hate them.

Back a number of years ago one of the Bassmaster tournaments was held there. It was supposed to be in Memphis and there was bad flooding so they moved it to Old Hickory. Rick Clunn actually won the tournament in the Barton's Creek area. But it's almost too shallow to launch a boat there, you have to launch at Flippers and come from the backside. I was gonna fish it in my Hobie.

Fishing has been tough in TN in general this year. Last year in a kayak tournament 95-102" to win. A lot of one day or 2-day weekend tournaments and even the month longs have seen 80-86" win this year. 86" won the May month long tournament. So far in June 87.50" is leading and he has a 10.25" advantage over 2nd place.

That's the funniest thing I've read all week and maybe month! I was at that Barton's Creek boat ramp off Coles Ferry Pike. I never saw anything on the news or read anything that shed more light on what was going on.

Well, I took my boat to another ramp and floated for a few hours. Caught nothing.

The normal weekend tourney this week end was quite a drive to a place I've never fished. I didn't have time to prefish or really even take the time on the weekend to fish it either. So after Church I decided to work on fishing local for the month long tournament. I get to the parking lot, park and start setting up before backing to the ramp. All of the sudden 6 sheriff deputies roar in there's a guy across the lake coming out of the woods with only underwear on screaming for food and water. Screaming he hasn't eaten in 10 days or had water for 3. He passes out and falls into the lake. Deputies get on these people's pontoon boat and get him out. A few more deputies, an ambulance and fire truck and I'm blocked in and stuck. They're taping off a crime scene and I barely inch my trailer back and forth enough to get out and around the firetruck before spending the day there. Apparently he was an escaped murderer from I don't know where that escaped 10 days ago and wound up in the woods around the lake. Never know what you're gonna see just trying to relax and fish.

My very first kayak tournament was a comedy of errors. One mistake I didn't make was I actually read all of the KAST rules (or what ever rules your trail follows) My first tournament TourneyX had just made the app obsolete and went to TourneyX Pro. I took my pics thru the app instead of regular thru my phone. So I lost all my fish. I had to download the Pro version mid tournament and skunked the rest of the day. Take MULTIPLE pics regularly thru your phone BEFORE letting the fish go and check you have a good pic. Identifier is visible, mouth is closed, etc. Then you can choose the best pic and upload into the app. If you take it thru the app and have a problem with the app you could lose all your fish. When you pre-fish, make sure the area you're fishing has cell coverage. If you took the pics thru your app and no cell coverage your pics could have a problem. Maybe not but no need for extra stress. If you took pics thru your phone like normal you can add them at a later time when you get into good coverage. I find if I leash the fish and let him breathe while I'm getting everything ready and dip my board in the water it relaxes them a bit and they don't flop so much. Also, if you angle your board nose down ever so slightly they close their mouth and keep it closed better. If you have a newer Ketch board this is no big deal. If you still have the flimsier original Hawg Trough some trails won't let you do that because they bend so easy and it makes it look like you're trying to cheat and get an extra 1/4". Remember your board is out in the sun and gets hot. So when you take a fish out of water and lay him on a fying pan, he's gonna flop. I have found out the hard way (and still get lazy with this) if you're in an area and no fish, pack up and move. Another thing if when the tournament is over there is a common ramp everyone has to meet at and sign out at a certain time. DON'T underestimate your pack up time and possible traffic. Nothing worse than stressing and speeding worried about getting DQ'd. I've only had one tourney that I came close and I made it but it was stressful. Even if you're not in the money you don't want to lose your AOY points with a DQ. Another thing I self admittedly get lazy on is I fish with 8 rods. I rig them beforehand on what I think is gonna work. If it's not working, re-tie new lures. I get lazy sometimes with that and try to force feed them what I want to fish with. LOL! Bring snacks and PLENTY of water. Most all states that have bass have a month long tournament that's a lot less stress and helps you get your bearings on pics and measuring, etc.