I have been strictly bass fishing in South Florida from the shore's of canals and Lake Wellington. I got tired of the walking and barriers that prevented me to getting to further waters, so I bought an Emotion Glide Angler Kayak. From shore I usually use swim baits or soft plastics, but I don't know if I should use the same things off shore. The Kayak also has two rod holders and I was wondering if I should try my hand at trolling, and what to use, and how to do it. What would you guys do in my situation for the highest chance of catching fish. Here are some pictures of the lake.

Thanks

I don't know about kayaking, but you can throw the same baits that you have been throwing. Also try some cranks of various depths,spinnerbaits,lipless cranks, and jerk baits.

congrats on your purchase. I have a one man pontoon with some rod holders and I usually put a couple of cranckbaits out when I get it in the water, the way I see it, the longer I keep a lure in the water the bewtter my chances or getting a fish are; I will not catch a fish with the lures in my box but if they are in the water my chances are better.

I have caught fish trolling before also, I think the erratic movement of my rowing must give a good "fish in distress" action.

Good luck and report back what you experience.

Can be a bit overwhelming can't it? Restricted to the shore, you got your "spots" you know how to fish them because you've done it over and over. Now that barrier is gone and you can go anywhere on the lake, a whole new ballgame has opened up.

Take a breath. Go back to the basics, cover and structure. Is there a current at all in the lake? Does the city come through with big machines and cut weed lanes? These are all factors to think about, one of the first things I learned to do when I got off the shore, was follow the weed lines or canals those big machines cut out. Fish will hold in the edges of those, hit the pockets in the weed lines, throw a spinner through there and rip up some grass. Your limitations are now gone... though, don't leave the shore line completely! Your kayak will give you speed to travel those shore lines with more easy and access more shoreline that may not have been able to be reached on foot.

Most importantly, have fun out there! It will all fall into place

p.s.

Go flip that pier!  

Good Luck with your new craft

By all means, stick with the same lures that built your confidence level.

But now you have the added advantages of Accessibility and Attack Angle.

With regard to accessibility, you know more about the accessibility advantage than I do.

As for the attack angle, now instead of dragging your lure through "all" those weeds (and spirogyra),

you'll be casting parallel to the weed-line, a HUGE advantage 8-)

Roger

Congrats on your new purchase.  I too fish from a kayak and aside from not being able to travel as far or as fast, I hardly miss my bass boat.  

Trolling can work in a kayak, and I do it occasionally when I'm paddling from one area of the lake to another, but often it can be a pain (in the neck, literally) to keep looking back at your rod in the holder to make sure it hasn't snagged in the weeds or something.  But if you just want to explore large areas of the lake it can be a great way to get to know the water you couldn't reach before.

As for where to fish and what to use, basically you can use all the same lures you used from shore and even fish the same areas.  If you think about it, there are usually spots along the shore that you caught more fish than others.  Well, you caught more fish in those spots for one reason or another, be it a point, weedbed, etc. even if you didn't know it was there.  You can fish those same spots from the kayak, in deeper water, and now you'll have the advantage of moving out into the lake from that spot and learning what was there that the fish are relating to.  

Good luck with your new craft, and remember to be safe, learn and practice some re-entry techniques.  

Add crankbaits to the mix. Now that you are mobile, you

can retrieve them when they hang-up. Running a Norman

Fat Boy or Bomber Square A just outside those weedlines

might be just the ticket. I would spend some time with the

Rage Tail Shad, Frog and Toads, too! In low light, especially

with a slight breeze, Cavitron Buzzbait, Spooks and/or LC

Sammy would be other options I would try.

8-)

my advice is to just be patient, and remember that the first couple times out there will be a learning curve, just like the first time you fished off the shore and had to find the good spots. even fishing the same spots you're used to, when you're out on the water it seems different.

Get you some 1/2oz traps tied on to some 17# or 20# mono(The line weight will help keep the bait up higher in the water column). rip it through the tops of the hydrilla and hang on. Most of the bites will come when you rip it free from the grass. You will need a stout rod for this also.

Enjoy,

Jack

Well left the shore for the first time on Friday, was out for around 5 hours, and not even a bite. Gave it a shot again today for about 3 hours and still nothing. I tried lots of soft plastics (lizards, brush hogs, 5" - 8" worms, crayfish, senkos), spinnerbaits, a couple crankbaits, a swimbait, a grub, and a jig. I don't know what the deal is, what would you guys throw in this situation? I know there's bass in the lake, and I saw two giant bass floating on top of the lake which looked to be +10 pounders. I even tried trolling some swimbaits and Rapalas, but they ended up getting grass stuck on them. Here's a picture of the route I went.

Just need some advice, thanks.

I experienced this after getting my first bass boat! I thought i was it when it came to catching bass, LOL! I soon found out that it can be very challenging. My biggest mistake was moving way too much on the lake. Fish promising spots thoroughly with different techniques. BEST OF LUCK

Yeah I was thinking maybe I was covering too much water too fast, I'll slow down.  What would you guys throw if you were fishing this lake?

That's my home lake. If I were you I would, slow down and focus on each area a little more thoroughly. Another thing I have noticed, the water has been really weedy and very stained/mucky low visibility. Try using lures with rattles (swimbaits and large crankbaits preferably) In weedy areas go with the Spro frog or any soft plastic bait rigged weedless. (Work the weedlines extensively)

Question Where did you see Two floating 10+ pounders???

p.s anytime you wanna meet up and fish the Lake let me know. I have a 12' Jon boat.

I saw one bass around the first bend from where I launched and another one probably 60 yards further down.  

Went back out today, was working the Storm swim bait in the middle of the lake. Got a hit, set the hook and landed a nice bass. First fish out of the new kayak

What do you guys think she weighs?

Nice fish man, thats a solid 3lbs.