I finally got back on my kayak and headed out at 6:30 this morning. We had some decent rain last night so the water temp was down to 86 degrees. Air temp was 78 when I launched, but the humidity was at 4000 (hyperbole).

 

For the past week or so I’ve been studying depth charts and marked some places to try as I’m trying to get better at reading maps and finding fish. Sure enough, I found baitfish but no bass. I remembered I had Smartstrike on my Helix and fired that up. Smartstrike showed my waypoints as hotspots for today, so I guess my map reading was adequate.

 

But spot after spot revealed tons of baitfish, but no bass. Nevertheless, I fished those off shore spots in case a bass came cruising through or was hiding on the bottom. No dice. My waypoints were scattered and I spent considerable time just going from spot to spot.

 

By 8:30 it was starting to get hot and knowing we had a heat index advisory today I started heading back home and targeting docks on the way.

 

I found one dock with a nice shade line holding bigger fish and landed one just under 2 pounds while skipping a soft minnow.

 

Since I sit instead of standing, skipping is a bit difficult out of the kayak. I need to learn to stand and not fall in.

 

Despite the calm winds and water, spot lock while fishing docks on a kayak is a bit of a pain. I probably should have used my spot lock jog a bit more. I’m seriously considering adding a power pole this fall.

 

By 9:30 it was too hot for me to fish comfortably and I called it a day. I’m sick of this heat already.

 

We had my kids’ fishing program at the hotel yesterday and we had a blast. We had about 16 kids and every kid caught a fish. The kids caught at least 80 bluegill on the day. I spent my morning running back and forth baiting hooks and unbuttoning fish. It was a blast.

 

 

It’s noon now and the heat index is 112.

Sounds like fun.

Btw, it was 47 degrees here when I went with the dog this morning at 7 am. 

You can keep that heat thank you.

😎

A-Jay 

Thanks for working with those kids, Koz.

Nice report. I skip way better/more

easily from a seated position on kayak 

23 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Nice report. I skip way better/more

easily from a seated position on kayak 

I don’t as I sometimes start my downward angle too soon when I’m trying to skip it a long way under the dock.

On 6/30/2024 at 6:07 PM, TnRiver46 said:

Nice report. I skip way better/more

easily from a seated position on kayak 

I do from my inflatable. With spinning rigs. Baitcasters? It’s a crapshoot. But I’m getting better. 
 

Yeah, the heat is no joke. One of these days I’m going to go out at night. 

On 6/30/2024 at 12:03 PM, A-Jay said:

Btw, it was 47 degrees here when I went with the dog this morning at 7 am. 

You can keep that heat thank you.

 

That's my position too.  Still haven't even hit 90 here either.  No heat in sight.

 

I could defintiely see skipping being more difficult from a sitting position.  I do it 100% standing.

We have hit the 90's a touch in the past few weeks. Back down in the mid 70's this week.

 

Sunday it was 57 degrees when I hit the water. Water temps right around 80 degrees. Beautiful day!

@DaubsNU1  With a baitcaster I’d say it’s definitely more difficult sitting (to me). But with a spinning rig, I can sidearm cast and skip easily. I just need to practice more with my baitcaster as I’m not skipping jigs under docks, etc. with my spinning gear. 

@gimruis The reply above was in response to you. 

When it's roasting out, gotta go where the fish are and where they are is under a starlit, cool night sky. All my big hits during the hot summer months come between 3:30am and sunup. The smaller fish start feeding after that. When I say big hits, fish are usually 7-8lbs with bigger ones very possible. I can pretty much bank on it every time I go out. Don't know how this plays out in other areas but I would probably do the same thing, staying clear of that roasting sun, especially while kayak fishing.

4 hours ago, BrianMDTX said:

@DaubsNU1  With a baitcaster I’d say it’s definitely more difficult sitting (to me). But with a spinning rig, I can sidearm cast and skip easily. I just need to practice more with my baitcaster as I’m not skipping jigs under docks, etc. with my spinning gear. 

@gimruis The reply above was in response to you. 

I just get the hang of skipping with spinning gear. Right now I have only one spinning setup in my arsenal and it’s on a medium light rod.