Koz

I have an Onyx AM/24. It costs about $100. I haven’t gone overboard and put it to use, but I did accidentally touch it to the water and it inflated. Resetting it and replacing the CO2 cartridge was easy. There are probably much better ones out there, but this one suits my needs. It wasn’t expensive and it’s comfortable. I think it also came with a whistle that I lost, so I did replace that.

Absolutely. I can’t imagine being on the water without wearing mine. That being said, I know from experience that those foam vest life jackets can get both hot and uncomfortable when you’re out there all day. That’s why I invested in a self inflating vest. Most of the time I don’t even realize that I’m wearing it.

Take a look at the Wilderness Systems Tactical Pro. If I sell me Autopilot, I think that’s what I would buy. But Old Town just crashed the resale value of my kayak.

I saw that. What’s interesting is that if you have the ePDL and the trolling motor it will be a rules violation for most tournaments. That’s because most allow only one motor. If you do get the ePDL and the trolling motor that’s 8 grand! That new motor is One Boat Network compatible, so you can set it to automatically navigate to your way points.

As some of you know, I recently took over the two new Marriott hotels that are under construction at the GA National Fairgrounds in Perry, GA. On the grounds there happens to be some ponds that contain fish. So on two days this week I brought a fishing pole and took a few casts after work. I wasn’t disappointed as in no time at all I caught three 2+ pound spotted bass. On the way home today I was thinking about what bait I should throw in my backyard when zi got home and decided upon an Alabama rig. I wasn’t disappointed as I caught a 5.5 pound LMB. So now I’m excited to fish from my kayak this weekend. If the wind is howling I’ll probably fish the Flat Creek PFA. If the winds are mostly in check I’ll fish Tobesofkee. I’m also switching from a Fishing Specialties FFS mount to the Sniper Marine mount. I can’t wait to try it out.

Along with the signage I would add some strategically placed trail cameras to grab vehicle types and possibly license plates along the road. I would also set up a camera or two where you expect them to park so you have photos of the occupants.

Easy to say when you walk off with a thousand bucks 😁 But you are correct - that was fun. I heard that the Kayak Adventure Series tournament in Ocala was a blast, especially the events off the water. I missed that one, and the remainder of those 2025 events are too faraway for me to consider.

Over the past few years I've been blessed with connecting with some BR members with both fishing for fun and fishing some tournaments. I'm hoping to do that again this year, so I thought I would post my tentative tournament schedule and see if anyone wants to team up on the water or even share the costs of an AirBnB. Also, as I'm working with Marriott again I can stay at hotels cheap if a hotel is a better option. Native Watercraft Big Bass Power Hour Events These are unique, one day events where instead of your best 5 fish, ALL of your fish above the limit count. So if you catch 30 fish that meet the minimum length requirements, they all count. But there is also a $1,000 prize every hour for the largest bass caught that hour. My buddy Nate ( @LrgmouthShad ) took home $1,000 at the Lake Fork event last year. The entry fee is only $130. These are the Native Watercraft events I am planning to enter this year: April 12 - Chickamauga Lake, Chattanooga TN June 21, Lake Guntersville December 6, Kissimmee FL Bassmaster Kayak Series Earlier this year I fished the Bassmaster event at Kissimmee and met up with @FryDog62 and he made the great point that the teams of 5-6 anglers that enter these events have a huge advantage because they can spread out over the water during practice and then report back to each other. The Bassmaster schedule is spread out all over the country this year, and that limits how many I can enter. I wanted to do the Toledo Bend event in the fall, but that's a busy time for the two new hotels that I am opening this summer. So it looks like the only other event I might make is: April 26 - 27, Dale Hollow, Byrdstown TN The entry fee is just under $300 and you need to have a BASS membership. Local Fishing I'm moving to the Perry GA area soon and with that I'm close to Blackshear, Tobesofkee, Flat Creek PFA, Ocmulgee PFA, and a few smaller lakes with boat ramps in this area. But I don't mind traveling a few hours to fish somewhere else. i

GA, SC, TX, FL, AL, and TN. I get around.

I have an Autopilot 120 that I love. But take a look at the Wilderness Systems Tactical Pro 128. It’s designed for a bow mounted motor, and it also has deck storage and pass through wiring plates. https://wildernesssystems.confluenceoutdoor.com/en-us/products/wilderness-systems-tactical-pro-128-fishing-kayak/9751325216

The new Wilderness Systems kayak has two hatches on the deck. I’ve been waiting a few years for someone to do this. We all make mistakes, but I’m of the mind that proper maintenance and planning eliminates most potential problems. My kayak is due for a spring maintenance overhaul. I’ll go as far to pull and inspect all of the wiring. I also have a lighted, fiber optic camera to inspect inside the dark recesses of the hull.

This weekend I was entered to fish the Georgia Bass Nation Kayak event on Lake Allatoona but as fate would have it, I didn’t get to fish. I made the 2.5 hour drive there and was surprised by what I saw. First off, the lake was muddy. Not stained, but so muddy there was only an inch or so of visibility in the different areas I fished. Water temperature was also only 51 - 55 in the spots I hit, even skinny water. But the most remarkable thing was that the lake was down 6.25 FEET from full pool. Some docks were completely out of the water. This is also a lake that features floating docks, and many of the docks were at a steep angle being on a slope and mostly out of the water. It’s not often that you see the roof of a covered dock while sitting in your kayak! So, why didn’t I fish the tournament today? My old hotel called and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. The sale of the property still hasn’t closed, but with me gone they brought in a temporary GM. But they want me to train him for 2 or 3 days and they offered me two months of my old salary to do it. I figured that was worth forfeiting the $70 entry fee and not fishing.

I have both a pedal drive with instant reverse (Seastream Angler) and a motor drive (Autopilot 120) and I can make a case for both of them and none of them. 1. With the pedal drive I felt more connected to the lake and to nature. Holding position by jogging the pedals and bumping the rudder became intuitive in no time. I could cover a lot of water at 2.5 - 2.9 mph. But in the southern heat it was brutal out there in the warm months. I was either completely spent and on the verge of heat exhaustion or I simply chose not to fish as much. Weight limitations forced me to make choices. I trailered this kayak. 2. The Autopilot with spot lock was an immediate game changer. But it was a beast to load and unload until I was smart enough to add a winch to my trailer. Now I am quickly in and out of the water. Absolute game changer. My pedal drive was stable, but this is levels above that. This is important not only for standing, but also with big boats and rough weather on bigger lakes. Spot lock can be both friend and foe. You have to plan your attack angles with wind and currents. Shifting winds can drive you nuts. With my moisture wicking pants and shirts, hot weather is no issue because the motor gets me where I want to go. But with the motor up front, weeds can be problematic even with a weedless prop. Lakes like Guntersville and Toho took a lot of patience with their heavy weeds. On the flip side, I can carry a ton of gear, batteries, and electronics. The only real issue is speed. With a tournament setup I max out at about 3.3 mph. My competitors with the rear mount motors go 5 - 8 mph meaning they can cover a lot more water. Another downside with that front mount motor is that it’s not suitable for river fishing. That’s why I still have my pedal drive. I’m not about to get rid of my Autopilot, but if I had to do it all over again I would buy a 12-14 foot pedal drive kayak that was also purpose built to add a fast, rear mount motor. I would sacrifice the spot lock for the extra speed and use the pedal drive and/or an anchor system or Power Poles to hold position. And before you think about adding a motor to a kayak, make sure you understand how it mounts, if it will cut down on your cargo area, how you will run the wiring, how much or how many batteries you need, where you can place those batteries, and how they will impact stability, center of gravity, and tracking.

I fish out of a kayak, but I would fish differently if I had a boat. If I had a boat, I would spend a considerable amount of time running the lake using side scan and marking structure. The speed of the boat makes that possible. In a kayak, I don’t do much of that because I’m moving so slow I would just rather fish. I do have Livescope and I use it extensively. But there are also times when I shut it off and take the transducer out of the water. Whether I use it or not depends upon the depth I’m fishing or if I’m fishing heavy vegetation or even what kind of mood I’m in. I run two graphs and I just about always keep my SmartStrike maps running.

My superpower? I can tell you where the fish are NOT located. If you see me on the water, your best bet is to fish somewhere else 🤣

Thanks for the great info. It seems to fit my needs as pivoting the handle on my FS can be a pain and I want something that can stow on the rail. I need to check out that mode shift bracket as well.

Are you still satisfied with the Sniper Marine mount? I’m thinking of replacing my Fishing Specialties mount,

The first thing that I suggest is finding a kayak shop that offers demo days and try a handful of options. Second, don’t cheap out and plan ahead. Sure, you can fish out of a paddle kayak. But unless you’re anchoring you are going to spend 50% of your time on the water just positioning the watercraft. If you do buy a paddle kayak, make sure that it later be fitted with a pedal drive or an electric motor. If you don’t plan ahead, you’re flushing money.

Not wearing a life jacket and not clipping your kill switch. We just had two people die on Lake Oconee that neglected these safeguards.

New hotels have issues as well, but this property has many advantages including two strong Marriott brands. I start March 10th, so I’ll have a few weeks to relax and fish.

I’m going to hold you to that. The only big tournaments I may fish later this year are Bassmaster at Dale Hollow (June?) and the Native Big Bass Power Hour event in FL in the winter. But I do hope to fish 4 or 5 GA Bass Nation kayak events this year.

Part of not moving right now is that the fishing is about to get really good on the lake I live on. And I don’t mean jump in my kayak and make a run. I mean skip a bait under my dog or drag one along the seawall while letting my dog out. Second, I really want to scout the area and find the right house and neighborhood. I’m going to find a place within 40 minutes of the hotel, so there are a lot of places to look at. Oh - and did I mention that my new hotels will also have a Beer Garden?

I saw that. I like Ocmulgee and caught a 21.75” LMB there last year. On the map I also saw Lake Joy and Houston Lake both have boat ramps. It’s not as great as having a lake in my backyard like I have now, but at least there are nearby options.

Many of you know that for the past four years I have run a hotel on Lake Oconee. I was brought to this property to turn it from a dump to a boutique property. But between Covid and the primary owner getting cold feet, that never materialized. My job is to maximize the profits for the owners, and a few months ago I told them that enough is enough with the stalling. They had only three options. The first was to spend the $2.5M needed to turn it into a boutique hotel. The second was to make it a budget hotel. That meant firing me because I earn to much to run that type of property. I also would never run a budget property. The third was to sell the hotel, which also put me out of a job. They chose door number three, and the hotel is supposed to turn over to the new owners on Thursday. But frankly, for many reasons I think that deal falls through. If it does fall through, the hotel will still be for sale and the owners still won't renovate. With that, I had already begun looking for a new job. Today, I signed a deal for a new job. I will be running two Marriott hotels that are still under construction. The hotels will open in September or October, but I will be on site in two weeks. You can't imagine how much there is to do to get ready to open a new hotel, even if it is still under construction. These hotels will be in Perry, GA on the Ag Center grounds. Since the hotels don't open until the fall, my plan is to still live on Lake Sinclair for another 2-4 months and then move to the Perry area. I hate that the job on Oconee was never completed, but I'm thrilled to be back with Marriott and opening two new hotels.

GA Power cut that tree apart for me for free yesterday and a few hours later the power was back Thankfully, the power wasn’t out for days. I would have had to make a 5 mile kayak run to a convenience store for food!