Turtle Angler

I’m not a confident skipper. A senko on a spinning rod? Sure, I’ll try to skip that under a dock. A jig on a baitcaster? Absolutely not. I’ve taken it upon myself to get better at skippingwith a baitcaster because I know I’m missing fishing that I should be able to fish. Obviously I don’t want to be throwing jigs at docks and under boats and cause property damage, but I also wanted something bulkier than a worm. Cue the Yamamoto Yamatanuki. It’s perfect for skipping (or attempting to skip) under docks and doesn’t cause any damage when I inevitably hit something. And it catches a lot of fish!

I'll add on more bait to the 6-8" soft jerkbait category that could be used for the technique discussed in this thread: the Savage Gear Dragontail Stick Worm. It's on clearance on Tackle Warehouse, so perhaps Savage Gear won't be making it anymore, but it comes in both a 6" and 8" size and could be interesting?

Decently clear, probably 6-8 feet of visibility

Oh heck yeah!

Great stuff, Scott! I'll be trying most/all of those techniques. So I just went out and tried to the Caffeine Shad technique. It's definitely a pattern! Caught 8 fish (7 bass, 1 pike) in about 40 minutes. That death spiral/tail action on the fall on slack line is amazing. The problem is that none were of any size (my lake is exclusively largemouth, no smallmouth). I wish StrikeKing made a 6-inch Caffeine Shad... Anyone know of a 6" fluke option from another company that has the same tail action?

Perfect. I have a Dobyns Champion XP 734 with a Shimano Curado DC that should work great

Great stuff, FryDog62! I already have a belly-weighted (1/8 oz) 4/0 hook that seems like a decent starting hook for this. What kind of rod do you think is ideal for this technique? What's your desired weight of hook for this technique?

Thanks! What do you mean by “let it swim on its own”? Just reel it in? Let it fall? Something else?

Jerkbait is not a bad idea if I stay outside the weed edge. It's tough because the drop-offs are so steep and the contour lines are not very straight, so I can be sitting in that magical 14-18 ft of water and casting port will be 25 ft of water while casting starboard is 10 feet of water. Drift forward on a straigh line 25 yards and the depth is likely completely different. Would you suggest at typical 5-8 ft-running jerkbait like a standard Vision 110 vs a deeper diving jerkbait? Lol, this is so true for me. How deep-running of a crankbait would you use in my situation? I'll also give a spinnerbait a try. I've also gotten away from a swim jig the last few years in favor of a chatterbait, but I may try that as well.

I've discovered a new pattern on my local lake that I'm really trying to utilize. As you can see in the included map, I fish a relatively small but deep glacial lake here in Wisconsin. Over the years, I've struggled to catch fish of any decent size outside of the pre-spawn window when they are up shallow. Recently I noticed that there is a narrow band of Green Cabbage (white-stem pondweed) growing in 14-18 feet of water on the edge of the lake's steep drop-off. The cabbage grows up to about 1 ft below the surface. This band extends circumferentially around the whole lake and not infrequently there are what I assume are predator fish on sonar on the outside edge in suspended at/cruising in 5-12 feet of water. I'm wondering how you all would try to target these fish? I've thus far tried ripping a chatterbait through the weeds with mild success as well as positioning myself deeper and throwing a shaky head and dropshot back toward the weeds again with mild success. Thanks for any tips.

I thought I’d add a review of the (relatively) new Brooklyn Kayak Co. Foldable Kayak since I didn’t see much information about it on here. For starters, this is my first fishing kayak, so read this review through the lens of a kayak fishing novice. As background, I had struggled with the idea of buying a fishing kayak due to space and transportation constraints. I have a small 100+ year-old 2-car garage at home and no garage up at our cabin and thus didn’t really have anywhere to put a traditional 11+ foot kayak. Moreover, we have a sedan and a compact SUV without a trailer hitch, so getting a kayak from point A to point B would be an issue. So when I stumbled upon this folding kayak, many of the barriers to purchase were gone. Purchasing was easy (online) with a cost of around $1,200. Shipping took about 2 weeks for “white glove” delivery. Unboxing was no problem, but there was no paperwork or instructions about assembly. Instead, I guess they rely on you watching their introductory Youtube video on the subject? Normally, I wouldn’t have cared about this except there were multiple quality assurance issues. I received two right-footed pedals (rather than one right and one left) and the screw used to secure the rudder handle was missing, causing multiple trips to the hardware store before finding a matching screw (hint: its a metric system screw). In fairness, BKC was quick to respond to my email about their QA issues and they will be sending me a new left-footed pedal and rudder handle screw. From here on out, I’ll just give my likes and dislikes after one week of use: Pros - Price: on the lower end of the fishing kayak price spectrum - Portability: folded in half, it easily fits in the back of our mid 2010s Nissan Rogue (with seats down) with enough room for all my other fishing accessories as well. It is also light enough (~60 lbs) for me to carry and easily lift into the SUV. - Despite only being 8 feet long, I don’t feel cramped while fishing in it - Has four build-in rod holders and two dry compartments - The chair is actually quite comfortable (and this is coming from someone with chronic low back problems) The flipper-style pedal system works as designed Cons - Rudder system: this may be a product of having to find a screw at the hardware store to secure the rudder handle, but the rudder system can be quite finicky. Sometimes mine lists to the left when the rudder handle is pointed straight. Sometimes turning the rudder handle results in the rudder not actually turning, forcing me to turn the handle multiple times before the rudder actually catches - Quality assurance: as mentioned above, but there were some QA issues (screw missing, wrong-footed pedal) While it feels plenty stable while sitting down, it feels tippy when standing up - No option for pedaling backward: as I said before, the flipper-style pedal system works well for what it’s designed to do (going forward) but there is no option to pedal backward and at this time there is not option to purchase a pedal drive that fits the BKC foldable kayak (though BKC just told me there is plans for one in the next year) I have purchased or plan to purchase a few items to pair with this kayak - YakAttack Leverage Net and YakAttack RotoGrip Paddle Holder: there isn’t a lot of space to lay a net on the floor of the kayak, so I’ll be mounting it - Storage system with rod holders: I’ll likely buy the 13 x 16 YakAttack BlackPak. This will solve storage issues while also make it so I don’t have to use either of the front to build-in rod holders on the kayak (which seem to get in the way when casting) - SwitchBlade, CellBlok, and 20ah Battery Combo Kit: ultraportable solution for mounting a fish finder and a small battery to go with it 0 Fish finder: 7” from one of the major brands with side imaging. I welcome any and all suggestions! Overall, I’m very happy with my first kayak purchase. For those like me who value portability and easy storage, this kayak should be taken into serious consideration. I think this kayak works very well for smaller lakes or rivers with little current. It will likely struggle on bigger bodies of water (some stability issues) or rivers with strong current (sluggish rudder and no ability to pedal backward with current pedal system)

Thanks so much, VolFan. All of those are great ideas. Interestingly, I emailed the same question to Brooklyn Kayak and got no response.

I’d rather not drill holes if I don’t have to (I’m not the handiest guy), but will if that’s what it takes. Unclear if the interior can be accessed

I took the leap and purchased the Brooklyn Foldable Pedal Kayak. I am hoping to put a YakAttack BlackPak (or equivalent storage unit) behind the seat, but I’d like a way to secure it with bungees. I'm new to kayak fishing, but is seems that most bungee systems mount on a track. The problem is that the back part of this kayak doesn't have a track. Do you have any suggestions (ie what could I purchase?) that will fit within the existing Foldable Kayak architecture and will allow me to secure a storage unit behind the seat? Thanks in advance

Of course. I should have said “the more *willing* fish it will hold.” And with smaller rivers, I can often fish the entire width of the river from the bank and thus can access the entirety of a section of river. That’s obviously not true on a river like the Mississippi or St. Croix that may be more than 100 yards wide.