Familiar Waters

 It's been a while since I'd had paddled up this creek and it almost felt like coming home. The current the twists and turns and the familiar sites. We all have our own reasons for loving certain bodies of water and some you just can't quite explain. For me it's a sense of connection and I don't know why, I wasn't raised here. I have no family or personal history with the area. I'm nothing more than a damned yankee in these parts. I love the place and it feels good to call it home.

 Back at the ranch, it was 75 degrees and sunny with a slight chance of rain. Gotta go, the creek is calling. No playing around. Use what I know works and have caught hundreds of fish on in the past. Today I'm catching fish! The water was super clear. This is one of these places where you better have plenty of tackle with you because you're guaranteed to lose some stuff. There is a ton of lay downs and the fish get up in that stuff and if you wanna catch them you have to go in there and get 'em.

 The pattern of the day was to pitch soft plastics against the bank or throw them into tight cover and dead stick it until you get bit. I tried a few other baits but lizards were what was on the menu. I get kinda bored dead sticking baits but it sure beats getting skunked.

  I fished for about 4 hrs picking up about 15 fish all in the 1-2# range with the best one pictured below she went 2.48#. By no means a stud fish but a great day on the water.

 I actually thought I lost that fish; I felt the bite, set the hook and she darted right into the branches of the lay down I was fishing. I thought I was snagged for sure and was telling myself she had come unbuttoned. I drug myself over the top of the "snag" and looked down to see the fish still on the line! Sweet! After about 5 minutes of messing around she swam out of the mess below me and WALA! Best fish of the day!
 The sun was starting to touch the tops of the tree and I wanted to hit one more spot before calling it a day. As I was making my way around a corner I looked up to see this dude staring me down. He didn't seem to be phased in the least that I got so close to him.

 The branch he was perched on extends over the water so I had to get really close to get past. I was so excited about seeing the bird I quit fishing to go take a few pictures before it flew away.
 Until next time.
Tight Lines
H

Puttin' In The Time

 We all have baits and techniques that we don't like, haven't tried  or have tried with no success and have no confidence in and I'm no different. Each year I'll pick a technique or bait and work on it to see if I like it and if I do I'll continue to use it if not, I scrap it. This year has been a little different; I'm working three different baits, one of the three I've never fished and the other two I never gave much of a chance but the time spent is starting to pay off.  I don't want this to be some sort of tutorial, really  it's just a report with a little background. The baits I'm practicing with are the swim jig, bladed jig and big stick baits.
 Thinking of big baits I hit the water Friday afternoon and fished until few hrs. after dark chunking and winding swimbaits. I landed a couple but nothing to write home about.

That's a 6" Little Creeper Trash Fish she tried to choke down.

 I know my writing is like the ramblings of a madman or an ADHD sufferer but stick with me and I'll try to pull it all together for you in the next couple paragraphs. I'll even toss in a bit of fish porn...

 Friday was a lot of work for not a lot of gain so Saturday I decided I just wanted to put fish in the boat. I prepped for another evening of fishing this time loading the stuff I know I can catch fish with and some of the stuff I've been practicing. 

 Once on the water I started out doing some searching with a Strike King Rage Toad; throwing it around heavy grass and some areas that were covered in scum. After about an hour of that with no takers I switched up to a BooYah Bladed jig and made my way into a narrow creek where on the third cast I landed one about 2-2.5#s.

The BooYah jigs have a really nice thump as they move through the water.

 After awhile of not getting any more bites on the bladed jig I switched over to a swim jig but got no love there either so I broke down and started throwing the big stack bait. This year is the first year I've thrown these things and I'm doing it just to follow someone's advice. As much as I hate to admit it they work and work well. I've thrown Senkos as follow up lures to topwater lures and I've used them in pure desperation but I've never gone out and said "Hey I think I'm gonna throw Senkos today!" Just as soon take a beating. BUT these are bigger than the little Senkos so it makes it all better. With all that being said I stuck the best fish of the night on the stupid stick bait.

A solid fish at a hair under 5 pounds.

  Before the lights went out I tossed a big swimbait around for a while and had one follower that I watched take a couple swipes at my bait but I got tired of that and switched back to the toad and made my way to a large flat that holds a ton of submerged weeds. I ended up picking up four or five in that area before leaving there and fishing the main channel of the lake.

Love fishin toads.

  After that it was pretty much over with I picked up three more including this giant that was all attitude. He made me laugh. The bait was about as big as he was.

Who says big baits don't work?

 OK boys and girls that's it for this session, now go get you some.

 Tight Lines!

H

One Of The Reasons

  Five years ago my wife and I relocated to Alabama and one of the things I got excited about was the fishing and the classic lakes located here.  I had all of the notions that I was gonna be out galavanting around the state fishing these lakes every weekend. Well it just hasn't happened that way. I have been able to do a little fishing here and I have fished a bunch of different places but I don't think any have made me feel like Eufaula has. This was my first trip there and I felt something special about the place at the first sight of water. I just knew this was going to be a good weekend.
 There are places that get ranked as top bass lakes and Eufaula is no different and some fall out of favor and there again Eufaula is no different. I think she maybe taking a back seat to some of the other lakes right now but I don't know that you could convince me as to why. With quite literally miles of lily pad fields this is a kayak anglers dream.

Lily pads run for miles here.

 For the people that know me they know one of my goto techniques is fishing a toad. This place fits that bill perfectly. We spent the weekend chunking and winding toads. I did get a little tired of that so I tossed a wake bait for a while and picked up one about 2# but the toad bite was so good I had to go right back to it.

The only non-toad fish of the weekend caught on a Mikey SR.

  I won't bore you with a bunch of selfies of me with fish I will just suffice it to say that if you like to fish lily pads and you want to fish a storied lake with a good history then do yourself a favor and give this place a visit.

Ok one more selfie. 

  There was a two day tournament going and the boat traffic seemed pretty light even with that happening. They also restrict people from skiing and using PWC in the wildlife management areas, which is a major plus. I can't think of anything I hate more when I'm trying to fish than some ass monkey on a jet ski. Just a couple more things to appreciate about this place.

A Long Weekend

  I burned a vacation day Friday and it sure did feel like I was getting away with something as I was paddling my way down stream Friday afternoon. The weather was just about perfect in the low 80's a mostly sunny, No complaints at all! The water levels have dropped quite a bit and it's starting to clear in the backs of the creeks and with that the bite is also picking up.

This little dude didn't even know I was there.

 I caught five or six dink's Friday afternoon which was cool but the real fun started Saturday night after the lights went out. I got on the water about 6:00 and started catching fish right next to the launch. None of them were that big but I caught some where around 20 fish with the best one being roughly four pounds with several in the two pound class.

One of the nicer 2#ers.

The best fish of the night/weekend.

 It's really tough to beat an evening of fishing ninja style, cruising though the water after dark not really being able to see all that well and nobody else being able to see you. Once the night fishing bug bites there is nothing in the world as cool as being on the water and the chirp of the tree frogs so loud that you can't hear yourself think. Other times looking around and seeing the eyes of the gators glowing in the beam of your headlamp. Not to mention getting on a top water bite tracking your lure as much by sound as by site having a monster fish explode on it feeling your line tighten as the fish tries to run off with your bait. Fishing at night is one of my most favorite things to do and I'm grateful I get the opportunities to do it.
Tight Lines
H

                                                                                     

A Busy Weekend

 It all started with a couple deliveries from Santa's rejects. Not the gifts, the people that deliver them. Ya see I thought Santa only came once a year but I found out with a Discover Card and a little time he will sub-contract that work out to just about anybody willing to drive a delivery truck. The first elf brought me some carbon fiber goodness in the shape of a new paddle.

The performance difference is really noticeable between this paddle and my old one.

 I always thought elves were little tykes man was I wrong. The next one was probably three inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than me. Polite enough but definitely not feeling the Christmas cheer I was. My guess is he had been sitting in that hot assed truck for about 12 hours and had all the human contact he could stand for one day. Any ways he dropped of a box of really shiny stuff mainly in bream patterns. The one I was most interested in looks as good in person as in the pictures online.

Dude these are so cool!

 Well my normal Friday pattern held up and I got some time on Friday night to get on the water for a couple hours. I start off tossing a toad around and stuck one about 1.5lbs. no biggy but a fish none the less. I wanted to throw this new bait for a while before the lights went out; so I tied it on and BAM!!! on the first cast! A three pounder! Normally I'm not too excited about threes but this time I was.

To give perspective that is a 6" bait.

 Saturday morning I met with Hobie Pro Staffer Aaron Rubel and MBKFA member Elana Carson to be presenters on kayak fishing at a function called Becoming An Outdoor Woman. The program was sponsored by the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Foundation. This is a great way for ladies to get involved in outdoor activities in a non-threatning environment.

Nice legs.

Elana's enthusiasm is infectious not to mention she cracks me up!

Aaron is a great ambassador for the sport. It was a pleasure working with him.

 After the classroom time we got on the water and the girls seems to have fun and a couple even caught a fish. That may not sound like much but to be able to control a kayak and fish at the same time is a skill that takes some practice to get good at. I was honored to be able to be a part of this and looking forward to next year.

I think I was more excited about the fish than she was!

This gal had a fish get away boat side but she seemed to be excited about hooking one anyway!

 A

   

2014 Kick Off

 It's bee a long cold winter and the fishing has suffered because of it but not all is lost. I've been able to get out some just not as much as I would like. Honestly last year ended really well, on Christmas Eve my new kayak came in which was awesome and shortly after that I caught my first true swimbait speck.

While it's not much of a catch the rewards of fishing swimbaits can be nice, catching fish on these baits is a lot of work.

 Like the rest of the country our winter has been one of the hardest we've had in decades and an ice storm that shut the area down for a few days. Even with all of that I was able to get on the water and catch some decent fish. Three weekends in a row I was able to pick up on a bite and catch some solid bass. No record breakers and none close to my personal best but solid fish none the less. For the most part my fishing has shifted to throwing bigger baits and focusing trophy hunting so I don't get to see a lot of numbers but the fish I am catching are better on average than the fish I was catching over the last couple of years.

I want this fish's great great great grandma.

 While I will fish a few tournaments this year my main focus is going to be trying to catch a double digit bass this year. Along with that I will also be looking to catch a couple fish on my bucket list. The main two are a cobia and a tuna, past that it's all gravy. The cobia are starting to move into the area now so if I'm going to do it I need to get after them soon.

You never know how goofy a hat looks until you see a picture of yourself in it.

  The fishing season is starting to ramp up folks get out there and yet a line. You have 100% chance of not catching fish if you don't get out there, so get out there! Your t.v. will be waiting for you when you get home...

 

Big Game II Anchor Trolly

 This will be one of the few actual rigging items I put on this kayak. So I figured I would try to chronicle it. I decided to blog this after I had already had it started the project so the front block was already on the kayak and the rear was tied to a pad eye so that I would have a trolly to use until I got around to finishing the project.
 Before you start any rigging project there are a couple things to keep in mind. 1. Don't put anything in the way of your paddle stroke. 2. Make sure any holes you make are above the waterline and water tight.
 I chose to use the Hobie Anchor Trolly kit. Keep in mind this kit was designed for Hobie Kayaks so you may need to purchase some hardware to complete the install on your kayak. I ended up needing a few countersunk screws, locknuts and washers. One thing I do like about this kit is the pulleys (blocks). I like that they hard mount with two screws and seem to spin pretty freely with no load on them. We'll see how they hold up with some use.

                                         

 Take some time and think about how you want the trolly to rundown the side of your kayak. Do a mock up of the system and get your layout the way you want it.  As you saw in the video the first thing I did was mounted the front block. I did it because it was the easiest one to get to. After that I moved to the rear of the kayak and cut the hole for the rear hatch.

 With the hole cut in the tank well I mounted the rear block. I decided to run my blocks as far fore and aft as I could and still have the trolly function correctly.

 Once you get your blocks mounted run your trolly line and tie it with the line fairly taught. The line will stretch quite bit when wet so make sure there is some tension on the line.

 The last step is to do the final placement of the line guides and installing them. I used a spring loaded center punch to mark the spots I wanted the guides.

 The guide that came in the kit was too short to clear the cut away in the hull so I use a fairing washer off of an old CBR 600 Honda. It actually worked out really well because the outer diameter of the  washer is large enough that it holds the line in place really well.

 The last step of the project was to install the hatch cover. Pretty straight forward put some sealant around it and screw it in place.

 One last thing. Don't throw stuff like this scrap away. It can be used to patch holes if the need ever arises.

                                     

Here is a short video of the completed project.

                    

A Couple Sundays In January

 So here's the deal. I had been watching the forecast since the beginning of the week knowing that I was going to have at least one day on the water this weekend.  The forecast looked good outside of a slight chance of rain. SWEET! I woke Sunday morning to the sound of rain! S.O.B. I can't catch a break.

So what's a guy to do?
 I know! Troll the internet for fish porn and drink coffee! That got old quick.

 As the sun came up I saw a beautiful clear sky so I got loaded up and headed over to one of my honey holes. When I got there the water was almost completely slick. Really stained but definitely clearing up. I tied an 8" Huddleston on to start the morning but got tired of pulling weeds off of it after every cast so I switched up to a Weedless Hudd 68 and went to work. I noticed some birds diving on baitfish so I started casting in their direction and picked up my first fish of the day.

She measured about 18''.

 I got bored dragging the 68 and my gut was telling me to switch up so I tied on an 8" BBZ1 and made my way over to a channel that normally holds fish. When I got over there I notice a "wolf pack" had baitfish corralled in a corner and were just hammering the snot out of them. On back to back casts I caught fish. I haven't had that happened for me throwing swimbaits since mid-summer last year.

Other than a messed up back this fish seemed to be in good health.

 The second cast into the school I got a solid hit and the fish definitely felt better than the last one. She was by at least twice the weight. I'm all pumped up and in my excitement I wasn't paying attention to where I was and drifted into the school, spooked the fish and killed the bite. GRRRR!

   

 The following Sunday I tried a repeat the previous with no luck on the big baits but the pattern was the same. To get bit I had to downsize my baits from 6" & 8" baits to 4" baits.

 

All in all not bad for a couple weekends in late January. Now if spring would just get here...

                                 

The Reality

  I had this vision that I was gonna get this new kayak and the stars were going to align and fish were just going to jump into my boat and I'd go home a hero propped up on my friend's shoulders. OK that was a bit of a stretch. What I had in mind was I was going to go to my "Honey Hole" toss a 68 for a few hours stick one good swimbait fish and brag about how cool I am and feel like a king for a day. That was "The Plan". Here's the reality; I get to my "Honey Hole" there is no clear water to be found, my line guides had ice building up in them and after an hour it felt like my finger tips were on fire and if I bumped them they would fall off. Oh yeah can't forget no bites…. Great.
 Plan B. Wait for it to warm up and go to my favorite flow in the area and fish with traditional bass tackle stick some fish (hopefully not get skunked) and go home write a report and brag my ass off. OK, so I didn't get skunked and my favorite flow didn't let me down. Good because I hate getting skunked, but it's part of the game whether I like it or not.

A little slime to knock the new car smell off.

  The next chance I get to get out I figured I would run down the road to a place I know that the specks stack up during the winter. It would be an epic afternoon I'd big crowned the "Big Fish Daddy" I'd write an awesome report and my buddies would bust my balls for fishing "there" but still love me even though I "cheated" by fishing in an aquarium. NOT QUITE SO FAST SKIPPY! The reality. I get there  the water looks like a latte` and I can't buy a bite. Well I decide "GO BIG or GO HOME"! So that's what I did. I tied on a "real swimbait" and went to work. Now I only caught one fish and I was actually making my way out of that area on my way back to the launch but I'm pretty proud of the fish. It was my first "real swimbait" speck not my best and definitely not my best fish ever but my first speck on a swimbait 6" or larger. So I was pretty pumped up about that.

My first swimbait speck.

  The reality things didn't go as I had fantasied but I had two good afternoons on the water and I got to "break in" my new kayak. More important than the fish and the kayaks is the actual time on the water. That's my "church" it's where I count my blessing and where I talk to God. It's where I'm reminded that I have a wife that supports my pursuit of fishing because it makes me happy. For that I'm truly grateful.

The Big Game II

I had seen some pre-productions pics of the BGII so I had an idea of what it looked like but I've got to admit it looks a lot cooler in person. I hate to sound like the total "homer" but this thing has some really cool lines that I couldn't see in the pics of the pre-production model. The two main visual cues I'm talking about are the towers the seat rails are in and the cutaways towards the rear of the hull. The original Big Game has the cutaways but add the other details like the seat towers and the rigging boards and it's a pretty cool boat to look at.

 My very first impression on the water was "WOW this thing is BIG" and it is. It is 12' 9" long and 34" wide. Coming from a kayak that is 12' long and 29" wide it took a few minutes to adjust but once I got settled in she started getting a very "familiar feeling". I think it's because I have recently fished from the Old Town Predator and the O.K. Trident 11. In case you didn't know Old Town and Ocean Kayak are owned by the same company Johnson Outdoors.  Back on the water….

 I would say the speed is ok for a kayak this wide but what I like the most is it's stability and the solid feeling this thing has. I'm telling you this kayak is a tank. In fact I was joking about naming it Abrams after the tank. I was standing and fishing within minutes of being on the water and it "poles" nicely. So sight fish is going to be a pleasure. 

                                         

 The hatches are standard O.K. hardware but I'm good with that although it would have been nice to have the hatch from the Ultra as an option. The way it is now it is what it is. With that being said what was most important to me was having a place to store my rods to and from the water and the center hatch that it has does the job just fine so I'm happy with it.

Standard Ocean Kayak hatches.

 With a 500-600lb load rating I don't think I'll be maxing it out anytime soon. In fact I was thinking that I needed scupper plugs but I was clearly mistaken. I got on the water with my normal tackle load and I don't think water even came through the scuppers. 

 So all in all I like the Big Game II and the more I'm on it the more it's growing on me. When I first started looking for a new kayak I had three main requirements.

1. A comfortable seat.

2. The ability to stand and fish.

3. Vertical rod storage.

Item three has changed to good in hull storage and the BGII has all three in spades. The vertical rod storage has been figured out too so it's just a matter of a little rigging and that will be handled too.

 So far I'm digging it.