Getting Away On Small Waters

[Southmike1]

I love getting away from the big lake, bass boat deal a lot. Seems the older i get the more i appreciate silence, solitude, and unmolested fish. Here in south ms we are blessed with numbers of small streams and rivers that hold a lot of really stupid kentucky spotted bass as well as some really nice largemouth. Just wondering if anyone else canoes or kayaks these small streams/rivers where you live and how you fish them.

Mike

[Neil McCauley]

Agreed. Some of my favorite trips are to lakes with no road access within miles, and no shoreline development. It is like getting in a time machine to the 1700s. And the fishing tends to be different too, the fish spook easier and fight harder, they've never been caught before.

I've portaged my canoe 6 miles to get to lakes like this and it is grueling but is worth it. I have a few large ponds picked out that would require portages off-trail through woods, which would really be an adventure/ordeal.

On the other hand you can find a similar experience on big lakes if you go at the right time- between midnight-7AM, especially on weekdays. It's something else to be alone fishing on a 28,000 acre lake. You can find almost the same silence and solitude on a big lake as on any of the smaller places.

Either way, if you make the effort, you can find what you're looking for.

[Scott F]

Just about the only fishing I do during the summer and early fall is on small rivers. I float them in my personal pontoon. The fish are always shallow and easy to find because they are almost always found near current. No jet skies, no back up at the ramps, and seldom ever any other fishermen. Just good numbers of unpressured smallmouth.

[A-Jay]

I spend the vast majority of my bass fishing on smaller lakes.

 

Love getting off the beaten path.

 

And the predictable decent fishing just add to what is always a special trip.

 

A-Jay

 

 

 

[A-Jay]

Agreed. Some of my favorite trips are to lakes with no road access within miles, and no shoreline development. It is like getting in a time machine to the 1700s. And the fishing tends to be different too, the fish spook easier and fight harder, they've never been caught before.

I've portaged my canoe 6 miles to get to lakes like this and it is grueling but is worth it. I have a few large ponds picked out that would require portages off-trail through woods, which would really be an adventure/ordeal.

On the other hand you can find a similar experience on big lakes if you go at the right time- between midnight-7AM, especially on weekdays. It's something else to be alone fishing on a 28,000 acre lake. You can find almost the same silence and solitude on a big lake as on any of the smaller places.

Either way, if you make the effort, you can find what you're looking for.

 

X2 ~

 

There's no doubt about it Neil, you and I would get along just fine.

 

 

A-Jay

[flyfisher]

i fish mostly smaller lakes because that is what is around me and most are HP restricted so that makes it even easier for me in the kayak.  Don't get me wrong, I like fishing bigger water too but i feel like i spend a few trips just figuring out the lay of the lake and paddling more than fishing.  The smaller lakes allow me to do more fishing and less time searching.

[Master Bait'r]

I can't even express in words how much I agree.   

 

When I can hear nothing but the bluegills kissing the surface, or the lily flowers opening as the sun hits them first thing...  I'm reminded that the crazy portage I just made through the woods, that thicket of cattails and the 100 yards of pads before dawn was completely worth it.  Of course it helps when I can track down a few monster fish as well but that's just a bonus to me.  Being surrounded by nothing but trees and raw nature is a treat in and of itself- how it really should be IMO.  I've got a few spots like that and a few of them see other kayak traffic but more of hobby anglers than anything and they come and go- but I've also got a few honey holes that take an hour to drive to and another hour to actually get into and I've never seen another soul at- Worth every bug bite, briar scratch and sweat bead.  The farther off the beaten track the better!    

 

 

I like a big lake too, but I always feel like I'm just trying to keep up with the Joneses when I do.  I still have fun on big boats of course but it's kind of missing something to me.  All of the nothing, actually.  I love me some nothing.  

[A-Jay]

I can't even express in words how much I agree.   

 

When I can hear nothing but the bluegills kissing the surface, or the lily flowers opening as the sun hits them first thing...  I'm reminded that the crazy portage I just made through the woods, that thicket of cattails and the 100 yards of pads before dawn was completely worth it.  Of course it helps when I can track down a few monster fish as well but that's just a bonus to me.  Being surrounded by nothing but trees and raw nature is a treat in and of itself- how it really should be IMO.  I've got a few spots like that and a few of them see other kayak traffic but more of hobby anglers than anything and they come and go- but I've also got a few honey holes that take an hour to drive to and another hour to actually get into and I've never seen another soul at- Worth every bug bite, briar scratch and sweat bead.  The farther off the beaten track the better!    

 

 

I like a big lake too, but I always feel like I'm just trying to keep up with the Joneses when I do.  I still have fun on big boats of course but it's kind of missing something to me.  All of the nothing, actually.  I love me some nothing.  

 

Nicely Put ~

 

While heading into these precious places and especially while I'm there - the rest of the world melts away.

 

Always makes me feel like a boy again - and that was such a special time too.

 

A-Jay

[the reel ess]

I'm right there with you. I bought a canoe, then a kayak in an attempt to be ALONE when I go fishing. I started asking and getting permission to private properties. Now I have 4 regular ponds and I also go down a couple rivers, one so small you have to get out and drag your craft several times a trip.

[MIbassyaker]

I have zero interest in fishing large lakes, and almost all my fishing nowadays is done from a kayak on natural lakes a couple hundred acres or less, or on relatively wild stretches of rivers and streams. The less development the better. If other people are around, I'd rather be elsewhere. The good thing is, there are literally hundreds of different waters I can fish within an hour's drive of my house and I have not come remotely close to trying them all. I try out a few new ones every summer -- some are boom, some are bust, but even the busts are worth it. The bad thing is, I live in a well-populated area and virtually every body of water with public access gets at least moderate traffic unless it's well hidden or hard to get to. So I fish mornings from before sunup to 11 or so almost exclusively. I have found even some lakes with heavy rec use are completely empty early.

[MIbassyaker]

 I bought a canoe, then a kayak in an attempt to be ALONE when I go fishing.

 

See, here is something a lot of my friends don't understand. "Oh, you should go fishing with so-and-so..."  No, sorry. I don't need a play date. Lots of people fish socially, but that's not what I do it for.

[Further North]

In NW WI we have thousands of lakes, dozens of rivers and hundreds of streams...

 

I fish the big lakes from my boat, wade the rivers and streams and use a canoe on the smaller lakes.  Sometimes the rivers call for a combination of canoe and wading.

 

Each has its place in my fishing life and for different reasons, depending on what I'm feeling like on a given day.

[the reel ess]

See, here is something a lot of my friends don't understand. "Oh, you should go fishing with so-and-so..."  No, sorry. I don't need a play date. Lots of people fish socially, but that's not what I do it for.

There are only a couple so-and-so's I'll fish with. And they're a lot like me.

[Snakehead Whisperer]

My everyday fishing is in Washington, DC on the Potomac. Far from a peaceful spot (but there are some bruisers.)

 

Just got back from a long weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Nothing like catching 5-10" brook trout on dry flies with no hint of civilization anywhere. The fish are small, but the action is huge. The BNB where my wife and I stayed also had a small farm pond with bass in it... such a peaceful place to fish. 

 

Getting back to work tomorrow is going to be tough, but fishing tomorrow evening beneath low flying airplanes and cars stuck in traffic will make up for it.