Sunday, February 14, 2016

"Road to the National Championship" blog #3: Driven


Driven.

   I was sitting here debating on whether I should fish tomorrow...I'm working a 16hr shift but don't have to be back to work until midnight shift tonight. I'll be tired and the weather will be nasty but that's gonna be the norm at the KBF Championship next month. Also, its not like I'm going to be hauling hay or digging ditches, I'll be fishing.

   Just to catch up, I fished yesterday for a solid 6 hours and only caught a crappie. The temp was 28° when I launched and God only knows what the wind chill was. My reels were freezing and I'd constantly dip them in the 46° lake water to thaw them but I pushed on. After, fishing the sheltered coves of the lake with no luck I headed out in the open to deeper water. I marked suspended bait several times and caught my lone non-target fish on a jigging spoon. That sounds like a miserable day on the water and in some aspects it was but I did learn several things that I know will help me when the KBFNC kicks off.

1. Go with my gut. My gut told me to fight the wind and go where I thought the fish were.(deeper water) The only problem was my anchor fell apart. Which brings me to #2...

2. Be prepared for any and all circumstances. An anchor has been a fixture of every Kayak that I've had and will continue to be.

3. I need some good fishing gloves...any suggestions? Lol

   Did I not catch fish because of a faulty anchor...I'll go out on a limb and say yes. I've been pretty successful catching bass on or over deep structure in the past...when I could stay in one place and target the structure...AND, I did mark fish in open water over three different rock piles in 20'-30' range. Another plus that won't necessarily help me for this tournament but it will for some of our local ones is...I had no idea that structure was there. If yesterday was practice for a tournament on that lake...I'd have a new anchor or I'd tie a cinder block to the rope and I'd target the deep structure I found.

  So far for this blog series I've logged 5 days fishing and 3 have been sub par, one had a lone big fish and one netted me a 56" stringer...respectable but it ain't gonna beat the top guys I'm going against on Kentucky Lake. I need more water time so I'll be at it again in thevmorning but this time in the rain, hopefully I'll catch some fish but more importantly I can test my equipment, work on problem solving and I'll definitely check my gut.

I'd like to take a minute and introduce my self to anyone who doesn't know me and/or thinks I'm nuts...I believe every day of my life I've thought about fishing. I was the kid that you see riding down the road on his bicycle with a rod in one hand and a tackle box in the other while also holding on to the handle bars. I started out wading creeks and fishing small lakes from the bank. I eventually bought a 16' Skeeter and used it to chase everything from bass in North Georgia to redfish on the coast. Times got tough...gas and keeping a boat maintained wasn't financially possible so I was forced back to wade fishing but I embraced it. I regularly waded the river, creeks and mountain streams of North Georgia for trout, bass and when possible I'd wadefish the shallow gulf coast bays for redfish or fish from a pier. About 10 years ago I decided to get a kayak...I started out with a used $200 kingfisher kayak and now I fish from the ultimate fishing machine, atleast for me it is, a Jackson Big Rig.
   Not much has changed since I was a boy...I still struggle at being home on time from a fishing trip, I still lose sleep before an upcoming fishing trip and I still want to catch the biggest and baddest fish swimming. Only now I do it from a Kayak...thank God for little plastic boats.




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