Koz

Everything. I tend to suffer from paralysis of analysis. Tons of options on where to fish and what to throw. Or sometimes it’s the opposite- I just run and gun on spots that look “fishy.” This is where FFS is starting to come in handy and helps me learn more and more.

I have a couple of Weise 100Ah LifePo batteries that I use on my kayak. One is for the trolling motor and the second is for lights, my FFS setup, and my Helix setup. That second will also be an emergency backup for the trolling motor just in case I need it. I bought these on Amazon for about $299 each and they have been great. Absolutely no issues.

Very nice!

For years I coached baseball in rec, travel, and middle school ball and I got to know a ton of kids and their families. There was another guy who was also a single dad who was my assistant coach most seasons and we became friends and our sons became friends. We all went camping and fishing together throughout the year and enjoyed each other's company. I moved away from that part of SC 5 years ago and we drifted apart. Two days ago I received a text from my ex wife with a link to an article. His son is now on the run from the police for attempted murder. The story is he fired a gun at an occupied vehicle and then fled. Thankfully, no one was injured. There was just damage to the car. This kid is 18 now, but I knew him as a happy, goofy kid and a pretty good ballplayer. His father is a good man. and taught his son right from wrong. I could never imagine this coming. I reached out to his dad the other day offering my support and told him if the media gets to him or when things die down he can come out and stay at my house or hotel for a few days to try and decompress. He didn't say much except that his son is innocent, but the last two years have been difficult. I can relate, because my son has had some mental health difficulties for more than a few years now. It has me thinking that there are so many outside influences today like social media and instant communication along with the psychological damage done by lack of socialization during COVID that kids today face far greater challenges than I ever faced. In today's world, this constant bombardment of outside influences and increased peer pressure, anonymity, and bullying (for lack of a better term) due to social media are taking an incredible toll on our children. As mature adults, our brains are better equipped to rationalize the good from the bad and blow off ridiculous people. But studies show that people don't achieve rationalization and critical thinking skills until they are in their 20's. The pressure on today's kids is immense and we see that with increased violence, suicides, self harm, and more. I guess what I'm getting at is that in today's society, kids can be raised by great parents and instill a solid values system, but more and more kids seem to be making poor decisions.

I feel your pain. Most every day we've had winds 23-30+ mph. And of course, on the days when the winds are a bit more manageable at 10-15mph I've been working late. I have managed to fish off my backyard and docks for a little bit a few times in the wind, but it's just not pleasant out there. The good news for me is winds will be under 10 mph tomorrow, but the temperature will be 86. Come summer that 86 will feel somewhat cool outside, but as the first hot day of the year it will probably feel brutal out there. And the boat and jet ski traffic will be ridiculous.

I had some loose minnow baits in one of my boxes and fished them the other day and that bait just got hammered. I couldn’t remember what it was and could not find it on the TW website. So I went to the nearby marina tackle store and I found it - Reaction Innovations Little Dipper. These paddletails also have a little bit of wiggle to them and the bass around here go nuts for them. I bought a bunch more of the Little Dippers and a few bags of the Big Dippers.

My kayak weighs over 200 pounds fully loaded. There’s no way I am portaging over trees and rocks!

Your answer is to carry your kayak on your boat - best of both worlds 😀 You may have missed my opening statement - I have an Old Town Autopilot that comes with a purpose built Minkota with spot lock. The speed scale on the iPilot remote goas from 1-10 and when I travel distances I set it at 8. With that, I go about 3.2mph and I can be out there all day. If I crank it up to 10 (about 3.6 mph) it goes through the battery a lot quicker.

I like kayak fishing and I love my Old Town Autopilot. It's a great fishing platform and I've got a great electronics setup, overkill on batteries for long range trips, and in my opinion it's the ultimate kayak fishing experience. But lately I find that I spend a lot more time getting from place to place to fish on the big lake where I live than actual fishing. Today it took me an hour to get tp where I wanted to fish (no boat ramps in that area) and it turned out to be a bust. Then it takes 20+ minutes to get to the next spot, and so on. On a small lake this kayak would be great. Maybe I just need to trailer to some other ramps and other lakes. But right now, between the kayak, batteries, trailer, cart, lighting, power hub, and miscellaneous stuff I'm in for $8k and that does not include my FFS setup, the Garmin head unit and transducer, FFS mount, and my Helix 7 unit. Lately I'm thinking that $10k or so would have been better off as a down payment for a boat. The problem is my Bronco Sport has a 2,000 pound towing capacity so that limits me to an aluminum boat at a max of probably 17 feet. But I'm seriously thinking about selling my kayak package (but keeping the Garmin unit and Livescope) and buying a Tracker or Lowe boat by the end of the year. It's a tough choice because a boat comes with its own headaches and challenges. I love my kayak, but I wish I could spend more time fishing than motoring around to get to the better fishing locations.

Caught a handful of these 2-3 pounders off my kayak today. Late this afternoon I fished off my backyard and lost a BIG one. Man I hate when that happens. UPDATED: I lost that big one swimming a jig head minnow on a Dobyns Fury 703C. I rarely use that rod, but I picked it up the other day and it felt great so I thought, what the heck. I fished off my back yard again tonight with that same setup and I lost FIVE fish. Yes, five. Granted, these were little bass a pound and under, but it became comical. Maybe it's because I was sweeping my hooksets, but I don't think that's it. I fish braid with a flouro leader on most of my setups and I fish the same jig combo on an Expride and have no problems with hookups. It's probably me, but I'm going to blame the rod 😀 Tonight I banished it to my shed.

You can see everything. The projection is translucent. I have both the DI/SI and FFS. I have not purchased the glasses yet but have researched what needs to be done to make it work. The key is that Active Captain makes this possible as with the glasses I mentioned you can port anything on your phone screen to the glasses. If Lowrance or Humminbird don’t have a similar app I’m not sure how to do it. I haven’t researched it.

You don’t have to “rig” anything. I posted on this earlier. Using the Garmin Active Captain app on my phone I can connect to AR glasses like XReal Air 2 glasses using direct connect, bluetooth or WiFi. For now it’s just proof of concept as I have not invested in it. I would need prescription AR lens inserts and I have better things to spend my money on right now. One drawback of FFS on a kayak is having to frequently adjust where the transducer is pointing. I have some ideas of how to do that with foot pedals both manually and remotely, but I’m it 100% there yet.

As most of you know, I run a lakefront hotel and my kids fishing program and my occasional tournament fishing is a topic with guests. This morning I was talking with a guest who was in town to fish and I gave him a promo card from Missile Baits who sponsors our kids program and we talked fishing. Fast forward to noon today and I was getting squirrelly in my office so I grabbed a rod and went down to our docks to fish for a minute. Winds are a constant 20-30 mph today but I needed some fresh air and clear my head. That same gentleman and his daughter are fishing off our docks so I say hello and head to the far dock to fish. The wind grabs my first cast and I miss my target, but the second cast is right on target about 6” off the seawall. I get bit and land a nice little two pounder. The daughter starts shaking her head and saying, “You’ve only been out here for 3 minutes and you caught a fish!” With that (and the wind) it was perfect timing to wrap it up like a champ and go back to my office. But before leaving I broke down the better spots for them to cast given the current conditions. Considering we all have good days and bad days out there, the timing of meeting the guests and making a quick catch was lucky and perfect. And now those guests said they want to come back and spend time fishing with me. As I walked back to my office, all I could think was the phrase, “Like a boss!” 😀

It’s the anxious time of the year. The weather is up and down, but those warmer days get us excited to be on the lake and catch a lot of fish. But the bass are in a transition period and they tend to be spread out in different stages of winter, pre spawn, spawn, and post spawn. This frustrates the heck out of me. The good news in my neck of the woods is the bait fish are pushing out of mid lake main channel and moving shallow. The bass are about to follow. Unfortunately, winds have been 20-30 mph all week and that gets a little rough for my kayak.

Top water baits work all year round. With the shorter feeding windows in the winter it just seems like they don’t work. For me, confidence baits for the conditions you describe would be jerk baits and spinnerbaits. If the bass haven’t moved into the creek channels yet I would fish pockets and points mid lake on the main channel.

I love my kayak, but I also really miss hopping from lagoon to lagoon and bank fishing where I lived in SC. I do fish most every morning for a few minutes off my dock while my dog does his business. I also will fish off the dock and along my backyard after work if I don’t feel like hauling my kayak over the seawall then loading batteries and gear.

Probably more disoriented than angry.

Even with FFS: 1. You still have to find the fish 2. You still have to catch the fish One way to level the playing field in pro tournaments would be to ban practice within 7 days or 14 days or even 30 days of the event. FFS does provide some advantages once you find the fish, but it’s not like XBox fishing as some would have you believe.

Old Town Autopilot 120 Pros 1. It’s a kayak with a motor and spot lock. It’s nice to make a 2-3 mile run and not be tired out like with my old pedal drive. 2. Lots of built in storage for Plano boxes and tools right at my seat without having to twist around to reach my crate. 3. Highly maneuverable in tight spaces and shallow water. 4. Mine is fully rigged and is a true fishing platform. Cons 1. It’s one heavy beast. Even unloaded, it’s tough to get it from cart to trailer with the weight and wide bow. It’s better to load and unload at the ramp like a bass boat. 2. The rails are a bit far from the seat and that can make it tough to reach things like the head unit if you mount it on the rail. 3. I love the freedom that it gives me over pedal and paddle kayaks, but I get jealous of the bass boats whizzing by me to race from place to place.

I went out for an hour or so tonight and spent some time with a Damiki rig but in depths of only 5-10 feet. I was amazed at how many fish came right up to the bait and checked it out for 5 seconds or so and then swam off. I really prefer to power fish along the banks but I’m really focusing on FFS so I can diversify my skill set.

I used to live in the Greenville / Spartanburg area and I can tell you that there are no gators. I can also tell you that all of the little lakes and ponds there are heavily pressured and your days will be filled with little kids running around and casting on top of you. While the fishing is still pressured, try Croft State Park or Paris Mountain State Park. A little further out is Table Rock State Park. There's plenty of room to spread out and fish from the banks. I always preferred Table Rock.

And there you have it. How many FFS units are being sold each month because someone at home watching the event on TV sees Joe Pro Elite Angler catching fish with FFS? That was rhetorical. It's a lot of money. If MLF or BASS threatens to ban FFS the lobbyists from Lowrance, Garmin, and Humminbird will be all over them. These companies pour a lot of money into tournament fishing because they reap the benefits in sales. Threaten that and they will most likely pit one tour against the other and the loser will be out a lot of money, especially in prize purses.

There's no way I would use a clunky headset like that. If I do try this, it will be with glasses like the XReal Air2 Pro glasses. I'm going to hold off until summer or fall and make sure this is something I really want to try. Well, if I hit the Mega Millions jackpot tonight that may change things 😀

It looks like he's sitting and fishing, not standing. I just installed FFS a few weeks ago and have been out less than a handful of times since then, but I have found it fascinating to watch fish come out of nowhere from a brush pile to hit a suspended bait. I used to hate off shore fishing, but FFS has allowed me to see what I was missing (pun intended).

Try fishing out on the lake in the pitch black of night and miss thumbing the line before the bait hits the water or you accidentally hit the bank instead of the water. I have a few Curado DC's that I rely on heavily when night fishing. But I have to say, I prefer my Curado K's and even my MGL for my daytime fishing. Well, I prefer my Team Lew's Pro SP for skipping and pitching.