Kayak fishing the Oconee

Fishing for sanity….at this time in life nothing could be more true! So much happening in life for all of us and most of us working harder than ever for less than ever. So fishing, and kayak fishing especially, is such an inexpensive hobby. A pack of $3 Zoom trick worms and you’re all set for a day of fishing! Don’t believe me? Check this out…

Teg and I have done two floats down the Oconee River, a 7 mile stretch each time. During our first trip we expected it to be only a few hours and ended up in trouble with our wives when we got home 8 hours later. The next trip we planned for a full day, had an idea where some of the better spots would be, and had a great time. A full day of fishing and we didn’t get in trouble with the wives…what could be better? I’ll tell you. Teg to my amazement landed large mouth after large mouth and even a what we’re thinking was a striper (small mouth making us think hybrid but had the body a striper) check it out..

What do you think, Hybrid or Striper?

Kayak Kart

After only a few floats I realized dragging my kayak to the water was a real drag! My Cuda is 74lbs by itself and after I've loaded my gear it's...well heavy! Therefore the next project was a must have.

Take this...

Turn it into this..

and turn that into...THIS!

Secret Fishing Hole!

As the title suggests I discovered a secret fishing hole all thanks to kayak fishing. Of course I'm not about to tell you where it is! But, I will share my story in hopes others interested in kayak fishing will be encouraged to take it up and see what they can discover.

On father's day weekend Teg and I took off to a spot we've fished several times before. This time, we set out to head up stream to see what we could discover. While I love kayak fishing, I also really enjoy exploring on my kayak so I was excited to get started. As we paddled from the lake into the river feeding it there were several places that it was so shallow we could barely paddle through. It was awesome!

Determined to see how far we could go, we fought through the shallow spots and found

Making an Anchor Trolley

First let me say, what a great project! And one easy enough that anyone who can operate a cordless drill can do.

The kayak anchor Trolley

Here’s a step by step on how I did mine. This is a must have for your fishing kayak so pay close attention and feel free to comment below with questions and thoughts.

Here’s the parts I gathered to complete my trolley system. Ignore the orange carabineer as that’s something for a later project.

Contents:

Pad-Eyes w/ screws and rivets
Stainless Ring about 2” dia
2 Stainless pulleys
Shrink tube
Para Cord
Grippers/Foam sticker

First Mod coming up!

After my first time out on the water I found that very little wind or current can push you around a good bit in your kayak. I was really surprised how much you are affected by these elements while in your kayak. 

But to be completely honest I discovered this “problem” when I rented at kayak on one of my trips to the Palmetto state...... 

I was used to my boat and having a foot controlled trolling motor to fight current or wind to position the boat and myself exactly how I wanted to be. And since I’m being honest, I probably scared more fish away with that trolling motor than I helped myself by using it.

After all my reading, and of course my own opinion, I’ve decided the best first mod for my kayak is to add an anchor trolley! I’ve been doing plenty of reading, checking out how others have done theirs, and now I’m ready to do my own. 

I’ve decided to NOT purchase a premade kit and to instead make a custom anchor trolley system myself. You can find kits like this one to the left HERE for a little over $30 plus shipping. But for me, I like to do things my own way and I enjoy customizing things so I'll be doing things myself this time. Don't worry, I'll share exactly what I do and what I use so if you too decide to blaze your own trail you can copy what you like from me if you choose.

So check back in later and I should have instructions how I do mine. 

Scupper what?

As I mentioned in my introduction post, I want to document my experiences as a beginner kayak fisherman through wherever it takes me. Some of my questions and experiences might be pretty embarrassing but I'm going to attempt to bring them all to you just the same. Hopefully it will help others with learning, and save them some embarrassment. With that said let's start!

In my previous post I had a question about scupper plugs. 

What are they?

 

Why do you need them? 

Why didn't Jackson supply me with as many as I have holes in the bottom of my kayak? This post will be an attempt to help others with answering the above questions.

So let's break down Scupper Plugs in layman terms:

·         A scupper is the holes in the bottom of a sit on top (SOT) kayak.

·         Scuppers drain water that gets in from waves, paddling, etc.

·         Scupper Plugs stop up these holes which allow water to drain out

·         The purpose of scupper Plugs are to keep water from splashing up from them onto you. Generally this happens in rough water.

·         Mostly scupper plugs are used during colder weather when you want to avoid getting wet in your kayak.

·         But an added benefit to scupper plugs can be to assist your kayak in sitting higher in the water while carrying a heavier load. This means you might want to use 2 scuppers because you're a heavier guy or maybe 4. The trick would be to use enough scuppers to keep water from constantly coming in the scupper holes while still leaving a couple open so water can drain when splashed in.

What you really need to know is this: Water IS going to get into your kayak, period. You could duct tape every hole in your kayak and water will still get in when you paddle, when get into your kayak, when landing fish, from waves, or ocean spray, etc. There's just no way to avoid it. What you need to avoid is consistent water coming in from the scupper holes everything else is normal. If this is happening you need to use at least a couple scupper plugs and then test it again to find the right amount needed. But the bottom line is it will be trial and error how many you need based on how rough the water is/conditions and how much weight you're carrying on your kayak that day.

And now you have a basic understanding of scupper plugs from a total beginner! I hope it helps and saves you from having to call your "Teg" to ask what are they are for.

Disappointment?

I woke up yesterday with thoughts of hitting the water in my new kayak for the first time and reeling in that big bass. After getting ready for work I went to my Android to take a look at weatherbug for the day's forecast. All at once my heart sank as if someone had punched me in the gut. Anyone who saw the radar and or read the weather report for N. Georgia yesterday knows what I'm talking about. Rain! and a lot of it.

So I decided to go about my day and keep watching the radar in hopes the storm would clear out. Well at about 3 o'clock the skies cleared up and I was txt'ing Teg about hitting that small pond after work. A couple text messages back and forth and my boy Teg didn't let me down. Heck I think he was as excited as I was! Quitting time couldn't get here fast enough as the minutes seemed to drag by until I was finally rushing home to open my new toy!

Buy(ing) a kayak!

I did a lot of reading about kayaks prior to making a decision of which one to get. I visited and viewed many of the youtube reviews, blogs, and retail/manufacturer websites. Let me save you some time in this area of research, they are all the best fishing kayak. Or at least that's what they'll all lead you to believe. The best advice I received was this: The best kayak for you is the one you buy. Initially that doesn't really seem to help. But when you really spend some time thinking about it and talking with others who fish from kayaks you'll learn that every one of them is like a custom suit. Most are outfitted to best suit the person fishing from it. So what you need is a decent platform to start with. Luckily, most of the manufacturers of kayaks have put some thought into them and understand that you'll need to add your own custom touch to it, so they build that into their design. Ultimately I narrowed my choices down to three brands: Hobie Cat, Ocean Kayak, and Jackson. I did this because I know me fairly well after 38 years together (ha!). I like to have a product that is respected in the industry and that is produced by a very reputable company who will be around for several years. Also I wanted to be sure the kayak would be able to be used very well with little or no additional products/tools needed. Let's be honest, everyone has a budget and I knew I would not be able to add any new stuff to my kayak for some time. I also knew that as a beginner I probably wouldn't know what I would want until I'd fish from a kayak for some amount of time.

Before we talk about what I ended up with I want to spend a little time talking about buying a used kayak.

Introduction..

I'm MJ and I've been fishing for several years, most recently from a bass boat. I finally made the decision to change to kayak fishing. I plan to document my transition from a beginner at kayak fishing to wherever it takes me. I'll be covering all my experiences, good and bad, and bringing them to you in hopes that you can recreate all of my good times and avoid some of the mistakes I make along the way.

I guess the best place to start is to give you a little background on me and how I came to the decision to make a change from bass boat fishing to kayak fishing.

I grew up in California and Colorado but learned to fish with my dad in the rivers and streams of Colorado.