Big Water Trout

In the last couple of years I’ve seen my fishing go from a finesse style with light freshwater tackle to a much heavier aggressive style. I think that the Kayak Bass tournaments that I fish have been the major reason for that. In those tournaments you have all day to catch three bass and the three largest wins. Granted, there are tournaments where I wished I would have been fishing an 1/8oz Shakey Head with a finesse worm on 6lb test but overall the heavier stuff has yielded heavier fish. This philosophy has filtered over into my trout fishing too. Instead of my old 5 ½ or 6’ ultralight set up I now use a bit heavier gear because the rivers I fish I know there are some double digit fish and I’m talking pounds not inches.

The tackle I use is a  medium action rod with a 3000 series spinning reel spooled with 15# braid. I’ll run a rod and a half's length of 8-10# fluorocarbon. This is also the same setup I use for sea trout and redfish except I will opt for a 20# fluoro leader. The rod length is very important in this setup because I’m in a kayak. A  7’ or longer rod allows me to fight a fish with a bent rod from my right to my left without the bow of my Jackson Big Rig interfering with the line. The idea when fighting a fish from a kayak is to keep the battle directly in front of you. There are several reasons for this but safety is the key reason. When a fish gets away from the bow and you end up fighting on the port or starboard side you risk capsizing due to the fish pulling you over or your boat striking submerged objects. I also have more control over the fish when it’s off of my bow because I have more options with rod angles thus putting more torque against the fish if it decides to head off to one side or the other, allowing me to turn the boat with  “fish power” .
    The reel I use is a quality spinning reel that’s light weight and won’t wear me out from casting all day. Every major reel company offers a 3000 size reel like this. My line choice is based on the amount of line I can load into the spool, in this case, I can load almost 300 yds of 15# braid onto a Shimano Stradic 3000 reel. The braid also casts much further and is a lot more sensitive. My leader length is based on water clarity and I rarely use less than a 7’ leader but in ultra clear water I may use 15’ of fluoro just to be safe.

Thursday, I’m going down one of my favorite tailrace rivers fishing for trout. My lure choices for trout have also changed in the past few years, when I was a kid I remember seeing a guy in Cherokee NC carrying a stringer of  18-20” trout and when I asked him what they had bit, he showed me a #7 Rapala countdown. That piece of information was eye opening and made perfect sense. The rivers I fish have two main forages, blueback herring and crawfish. My lure of choice is a Lucky Craft pointer 65sp in a blueback pattern. I’d throw a bigger one but they run a bit too deep for that particular river causing a lot of hangups. Throwing the bigger lures generally won’t catch numbers of fish like an inline spinner or a chunk of power bait but a couple of years ago my buddy and I had a 21 fish day using this same plug and every fish measured 18” to 22”.

Fishing this river with a kayak requires some decent paddling skills and the ability to read fishy water and determine the easiest most efficient way to fish it. Trout are finicky so you have to be stealthy. I spend a lot of my time hugging the banks in water just deep enough to float my kayak and making long casts to deeper water. I mentioned that this is a tailrace river that I am fishing which means that I’m normally racing against the dam generation schedule. (Whatever tailrace river you’re fishing the generation schedule is usually posted on line and it is imperative that you know this information.) Don’t get roped into picking apart every single fishy looking spot, you’ll be on the water longer than you had planned and risk getting to ride the generation flow back to your take out...I like to hit the high spots, casting while drifting and fish the pools hard. In most tailrace trout fisheries you can wade a 1 mile section of river paying attention to every detail and catch the amount of fish that I do on a 7 mile float but the float usually gives an angler access to a lot more big fish water and it’s definitely a lot more fun.

Here are a few things outside of tackle that I always have on a tailrace river…
• Always wear your pfd. Always!
• You’ll need a net. Trust me, if Jesus had been a trout fisherman...he would've had a landing net.
• Use a paddle leash.
• Carry a change of clothes, water and food.
• Dress for the season… layers, waterproof clothing etc.
• fire starting kit.

Now it’s time go catch a trout that will drop everybody’s jaw. Use your common sense, check your generation schedule and know your state laws. Most of all, have fun! Peace

Road to the Championship Blog #7 "Ready for the Show"

   Over the past several months as you know I have been practicing for the KBF National Championship. Today the last wrench was dodged and I'm as ready as I'll ever be.

    I've picked new water in an attempt to recognize unfamiliar fish patterns, tried new lures and techniques and made a point to fish in some very unfavorable conditions. The goal was to become efficient at reading water, predicting movements and become a bomb proof paddler, by that I mean, capable of handling my kayak in wind, waves and extreme cold. I feel confident that I have achieved those goals.

    I've fished on 11 different lakes and 5 different rivers in the past 6 months. I haven't necessarily mastered every one of those bodies of water but I have logged a lot of information that I can use in scouting future water and it helped me to catch more fish over 20" (a 20" fish averages 4lbs) in the 6 month period than I've caught in my lifetime.

    I have broadened my lure selection and feel more confident in my use of swimbaits, crankbaits, soft plastics and when or when not to use them. I still feel most comfortable in trying to "match the hatch" by duplicating exactly what the fish are feeding on instead of using bright colored  alien or fad-ish baits. What I found was the more natural baits out caught the others by a long shot.

   I used a technique that dog trainers use...in every trip onto the water, whether I caught fish or not, I made sure to focus on the positive improvement that I gained. It is a difficult thing to do when you paddle and fish for 10 hours on one of the nation's best bass lakes in gale force winds only to draw a skunk or go fishless all day in sub freezing temps. It's hard but I learned a lot about myself, my boat and my equipment and on those fishless days...I knew where the fish weren't. Several times I went back the next day and caught some very big fish because of the water and lures I had eliminated the day before. I also know exactly what my limits are when it comes to weather and my own paddling skills....it'll have to be petty dang rough to keep me on the shore.

   I've written in my blog not only to share my experiences with you but also to help sort my thoughts and build ideas...So, what does all of this mean? It means, right now...(to use pro fisherman Tim Horton's words) I have a 55 gallon drum slap full of confidence going into the KBF National Championship. I am confident in the skills I've developed, the information I've gathered, my physical strengths and even more aware of my weaknesses. I also know that when I launch onto Kentucky or Barkley lakes Sunday morning for my first day of practice that most of the technical stuff I've learned will not apply to that water but the problem solving skills and increased mental awareness should be very beneficial. I also know that the best kayak fishermen in the nation will be there just as ready as me but most importantly... this is fishing and it takes some willing fish to do this dance. Peace

Jackson kayak blog: peace of mind

This article was posted on the jackson kayak site on christmas eve...Merry Christmas to me.
http://jacksonkayak.com/blog/2015/12/25/finding-peace-mind-home-water/

The fish catching-est lure I've ever owned...

I bought a new type lure a few months ago and although it's design has been around for ages, I personally have never used one. I discovered this lure while researching for an upcoming tournament I had entered. Every article about the lake I would be fishing mentioned this particular bait. The lure is a "blade bait", simply a piece of steel, a molded lead body and a couple of hooks. It is actually an ugly lure compared to the choices offered in tackle shops these days. It has no intricate detail, as a matter of fact it resembles something of a spaceship from a 1950's SciFi movie rather than a real fish. At first glance I was turned off by the "blade bait" but at $3 I decided to try it and if it did not work there would be no big loss. The following day I loaded my Jackson Big Rig up and headed to my favorite fishing hole. This fishing trip was solely to test my new lure and to go about it I had a sort of scientific method I would use. I had formed a hypothesis, which was ...there were several lures already in my box that would do the same thing as my new bait and probably do it better. The two lures I would use to test against were tried and true fish catchers. One was a very popular lipless crankbait and the other was an equally popular lipped crankbait. Both of these baits are much more life-like than the "blade" I would be throwing. I started out fishing with the lipless crankbait and after an hour I had caught quite a few white bass. Next was the lipped crankbait and it was a little less effective with only about half the number of white bass caught. Now for the real test...I tied on the "blade bait", cast it out and caught a fish. For about the next 30 minutes I caught white bass on about 80% of my casts, at the end of the hour I had an answer to my hypothesis. With twice as many fish including 3 very nice largemouth bass caught, I was a believer in my rediscovered old school bait. Since that day I have caught largemouth bass in the 5 pound range, walleye, stripe, crappie, smallmouth, gar and a big buffalo. This blade bait is a great lure for scouting water, you can fish the entire water column at different speeds. It can be thrown and worked like a jig or lipless crankbait and jigged vertically for suspended fish or those hugging the bottom. The blade has a tight, powerful wiggle that drives fish crazy, plenty of flash and enough weight to make super long casts. It is not species specific but if there are fish in the area that eat shad you will more than likely find them. With that being said, the blade bait can cause a couple of problems. It's hooks easily get caught in your rod's eyes and it is heavy for it's size causing it to be prone to snagging bottom but at 3 bucks the payoff is nice. I now have a box dedicated to blade baits and keep one tied on one of my rods, I usually start the day fishing with it and use it as a verifying tool...when I am not catching anything on another lure I will throw the blade just to make sure there really isn't any fish around.