Sunday, May 26, 2019

A Game of Thirds.....

You know how there is a common saying that things happen in "3's"? Well today was that in full effect.  What do I mean?  Let's review......

There was the Three Stooges segment:

  1. Driving away from my house with a full mug of ice and water for the day, only it was still atop my vehicle when I left the house and promptly fell and popped open losing all of its contents as I left the neighborhood.
  2. Launching and getting halfway to my spot before I realized I had left the water I had purchased in the car to replace the lost water and ice spilled earlier.
  3. A lack of concentration later in the morning that resulted in a massive tangle of line, treble hooks and crawling all the way to the back of the kayak to unravel the mess.
Later, there was the Get Smart (Missed it By That Much) trifecta:
  1. The first fish of the day was a largemouth bass and sure to be a miss simply because I had paired the wrong bait with the wrong rod - the action was too fast for a hookset that required more power (topwater frog should not be placed on a traditional topwater rod (Moderate) = wrong action = bad hookset = lost fish)
  2. The second fish of the day was another largemouth bass and sadly a partial hookset, but at least it was with the right rod this time.  The fish just spit the bait as fast as it had swallowed it.
  3. The third fish of the day was an over 30" snakehead that waked like a torpedo chasing the Ribbit only to barely swipe at it and spit it again before I could set the hook.
Then there was the Murphy's Law episode:
  1. The winds picked up and started blowing 15+
  2. I launched at the peak of outgoing current (my primary spots were not fishable)
  3. The carp and gar were in a full frenzy clouding up the water with their shallow water antics 
But, it wasn't all bad.  There was the trilogy of positive things that happened on the day:

  1. When I saw the fish were not hitting the Ribbit with full vigor, I changed up my frog presentation to the Evolve Hollow Body frog (has a rattle inside) and paid instant dividends
  2. I caught a 18" fat largemouth bass on the Evolve frog
  3. I caught and landed my first ever VA snakehead at 23.5" on the same Evolve Frog  

All in all a successful day even if Mother Nature decided to kick it up a notch on the wind scale by the time I was headed in - winds were gusting to 20+.

As with all of my blog posts moving forward, I will divulge what I was using in the hopes that some may find it helpful.

Technique: Targeting backside of spatterdock pockets that protruded away from the shoreline in current. I also targeted weed lines and any clear water. For the spatterdock part, I also apply the same technique for traditional lily pads, rocks, water shield, lay downs, grass, etc..  Basically, I was looking for likely ambush points where a predator fish could get out of current but still have access to any nearby forage.

Today's shout out to my sponsors:

Electronics: Lowrance Elite 7 TI2
Accessories: YakAttack Omega Rod Holders, Panfish, Panfish Portrait and Lowrance FF Mount

Non-sponsored equipment that I was using:

Lures: Stanley Ribbit, Rebel Pop-R and Evolve Frog
Line: Sunline FX2 Frog & Flipping Braid (60lb) and PLINE Fluouroclear 20lb Fluourocarbon

Tight lines, stay safe and hope to see you on the water soon!

Sunday, May 19, 2019

2019 YakAttack Tournament Wrap Up

Every year since 2012, I have participated in the YakAttack annual kayak charity fishing tournament to benefit Heroes On the Water and Project Healing Waters.  The format for the tournament is a catch, photo and release tournament with five divisions - bass, crappie, sunfish, slam and big bass.  For each of the species divisions, your best two fish combined length is your entry.  For the slam, you need to have at least one fish in each of the three species for a combined total length.  Finally, the big bass is simply that - the biggest single bass is your entry with the one limitation of a person can only win one of the five divisions.  Each year kayak anglers from literally around the US flock towards this event to fish the likes of famous bodies of water like Briery Creek Lake and Sandy River Reservoir.

This year my plan was to fish quieter waters with less water traffic and revisit a lake I hadn't fished in over 5 years - Bear Creek Lake.  I also was interested to check out some new toys - my newly installed Lowrance Elite 7 TI2 paired with my new Nocqua YakAttack power supply, as well as my new Lithium Ion Power-Pole battery, as well as the new ANGLR Bullseye Fishing Tracker.  You could say that it had all the makings of a potential disaster, but I am happy to report that all of them worked amazingly.

With a full moon phase in effect, I had a feeling the bite was going to be tough once the morning pressed along.  I also learned that the bass were also still spawning, which for me personally, is one of my biggest weak points - I am not a bed fisherman.  I don't have the patience to sit there and stare at a fish for potentially hours on end trying to entice one bite.  I'd rather explore an area and see if I can figure out the puzzle.  With my new toys, this approach is much easier now with respect to acquiring information - now I just need to learn how to piece it all together to get better.

As for my setup on the day, it was as follows:

Kayak - 2019 Hobie Outback
Rods - Bull Bay Rods, 5wt Fly Rod and a couple Ugly Stik ultralights.
Lures - Powerteam Lures Sick Stick and Finicky Tickler (Kitchen Sink color), Squarebill, Whopper Plopper, Stump Jumper Road Runners and a black ant
Accessories - Power-Pole Micro, YakAttack Omega Rod Holders and Lowrance FF mount
Sunglasses - Hobie Polarized Mantas

I started the day off with a flurry - 3 bass in the first hour but nothing any larger than 11.5".  I missed several larger fish, too. And then the bass were not being cooperative, so I switched over to the ultralight and started slinging a little white grub in the hunt for crappie and landed one at 8.5" shortly thereafter.  I couldn't find another in the brush piles, so I switched over to the fly rod and literally slayed the bluegills and redears on every cast for the rest of the day the biggest checking in a 8.25".  I was so immersed in how many fish I was catching off of the bluegill beds that I forgot to keep pressing the ANGLR Bullseye for about an hour.  Every bluegill landed was over 6.5" with most  checking the box at or just shy of 8" - not enough to improve my total length to turn in.

At the end of the day, as I was loading up I ended my trip on the ANGLR app on my phone and let the data synchronize.  Of the catches I remembered to actually record totaled 78 catches, but like I said, I was still catching the bluegills and redears off of this one massive bed in the back of a creek and forgot all about the Bullseye. I was still catching so many gills that I literally was slinging my little fly without even hauling or stripping the line and catching a fish every cast, unhooking and casting again immediately with sometimes up to 3-4 fish per minute.

While the day in total was a success with literally over 100 fish caught, it lacked in quality which is what is needed to win any of the divisions.  Here are a few highlights from the day:

Looking back on the day and reflecting on what could have been, I think my biggest mistake was not being flexible in my approach.  I had in my mind a plan for how to target the bass, but once I arrived at the water, I failed to adjust my plan and modify my approach.  Hindsight as they say is 20/20.

Once I was loaded up, I headed back to the weigh-in to turn in my scorecard with fish in each category and enough to turn in a micro slam, bass division and panfish division ultimately not large enough to place but still fun.  Once the awards had been announced and supper was all done, the stage was cleared and the raffles began.

I normally don't worry about the raffles too much, because there is very little that I need at this point, but I did see a few items of interest this year - including a fly rod set from Orvis, a couple Nocqua battery pack kits, a couple PFDs and the new Hobie Livewell v2.  When the ticket numbers began being called out - my prizes of interest quickly started to disappear.  Then one of my numbers was called, and I noticed the fly rod setup was still available, so I quickly made my way forward and gladly selected that setup for my prize.

The setup was comprised of:

  • Rod - Orvis Clearwater rod - 9' 8wt
  • Reel - Orvis Clearwater Large Arbor IV reel
  • Line - Orvis backing and floating line and tippet
  • Other - Orvis Tacky Fly Big Bug Box filled with flies

I also heard my numbers called two other times and selected a set of YakAttack Kayak Straps and a YakAttack shirt giving the straps to a friend who needed them and giving the shirt to my son.

All in all I can't complain because the fishing, the raffle and the food are just added bonuses for me.  I look forward to just sitting down and shooting the breeze with fellow kayak anglers many of whom I am friends with and don't get the chance to share the water with.

I'm already looking forward to next year's event and the chance to share some stories and reminisce once again.  Until the next time I'm on the water, tight lines and stay safe!!