I can say with little ego that I'm a pretty decent bank beater. My friends and family go to me for fishing advice. I can land upwards of 30-40 fish on a good morning. I've recently made the switch to focus on kayak angling and the transition has been humbling. I'm dealing with a lot more variables. There's suddenly more surface area to fish in front of me, I've got information coming in from a fish finder, I'm drifting post cast, there's wind, there's current, I've got an anchor line to consider, other watercraft to deal with, I'm having to consider how to rig my boat, etc. A good day for me is now five fish out of the yak. I hooked up this morning with a good sized bass (3 lbs-ish) and he shook loose of my crankbait at the side of my boat. I get blown into cover I'm trying to pick apart and blow my spot. I'm a grind it out kind of guy, so I'm not giving up. But man, it's been really eye opening. For those of you who transitioned from shore to kayak/canoe what got you back being successful? Maybe I've just got a case of the yips or something.

There are two types of paddlers, those who’ve had that close call and ended up in the bad situation and those that will. Always wear your PFD. You are sitting on a tiny, unstable, low in the water hunk of plastic. Take your boat out empty and flip it. Practice flipping it back over in deep water. Get used to climbing back in once it’s upright. Familiarize yourself with the weight and drag of pulling it around while swimming. I didn’t do those things on my Titan 12 and when a yacht on Norris Lake came around a bend doing 35 it put a wake up to my chest. I had a bad time, lost a lot of gear and had to swim my 150lb boat upside down to shore before it sank. Don’t be me. Not to sound dramatic but at some point a pleasure boater is going to fly past within feet of you. Be prepared and stay safe. Now that we covered the most important part, we can get into the fishing. Your feelings about being overwhelmed is normal and expected. You’ve trained yourself over years to attack fishing under a particular set of rules. You’ve become extremely good at producing results within those boundaries. The fish are out there points at the water and you’re here points at the bank. Your skills still translate, the fish are now everywhere. Slow down your approach on the water and think of how you’d fish a 20 foot stretch from the bank. Imagine how each piece of cover needs to be fished. You do this automatically from the bank, now let’s unlock that same feeling and let your instincts help you. When I walk up to a bank I have a process that works for me. I stay away from the waters edge to not spook anything up shallow. I set down my rods and select the first thing I’ll throw up close. I work my way toward the water casting towards the cover closest to me until I’m at the edge of the water and then fan cast out. After that I’ll repeat the process up and down the available space. No bites? Change rods and repeat. Do the same on the boat. Target a nice laydown. Start off from a distance and pick the tree apart from tip to trunk. Use small movements of your paddle to keep you in position. Become comfortable making those adjustments mid cast. If you wait until you’re turned halfway around before trying to correct you’ll overdo it and end up spinning in place. Channels and depth changes are your friends when there isn’t a ton of cover. Points and submerged vegetation can produce year round depending on where you live. The last thing I’ll touch on is advice I wish I would have taken when I bought my Titan. Do not buy stuff. You don’t need the gear tracks. You don’t need the crate. You don’t need the electronics. You don’t need the pedal drive, or the two trolling motors. You certainly don’t need a two thousand dollar trailer to pull it all around. Beat the brakes off your current boat before you spend a ton of money. I now fish out of a bonafide ss107. I paddle. I bring 2 or 3 rods. On paper it’s a downgrade but I enjoy the experience of fishing more than when I had the Titan. If I wanted to drop 8k again I’d buy a tin boat.

Getting through the transition from bank to kayak

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5 hours ago5 hr

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33 minutes ago, Zcoker said:
I haven’t lost anything to them. I’ve hooked them a number of times, and, surprisingly I’ve gotten my lures back every time, even on a tri treble jitterbug. I can’t for the life of me know how that’s even possible. The weirdest one was when I hooked a 10 footer on a jig and brought that sucker right up to me. I had that thing hooked well enough to pull its entire mass strait up to me yet the hook still popped right out of its mouth.

That's wild! Luckily my part of NC is gator free, but I'll keep that in mind down by the coast.

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3 hours ago3 hr

@Zcoker Thats surprising! I hope your luck continues! Do they ever attack the fish you’re reeling in? My luck one would bite my PB in half at the side of the boat.

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2 hours ago2 hr

1 hour ago, 10,000 lakes Bassin said:
@Zcoker Thats surprising! I hope your luck continues! Do they ever attack the fish you’re reeling in? My luck one would bite my PB in half at the side of the boat.

No, I’ve never had that happen….not yet, at least. I’m very mindful of it. I usually get the fish in the net as quickly as possible. Quick photo and quick release. None of that moving them back and forth underwater with a slow shove-off. Thats just asking for it where I fish.

Ironically, I usually seek out the gators at night. Find the gators, found the fish. So anything is possible.

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Getting through the transition from bank to kayak

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