Pimped My (Kayak Electronics) Ride

[Koz]

Kayak: Seastream Angler 120 Pedal Drive

Electronics: Lowrance Hook2 5 Tripleshot (Sonar, down scan, and side scan)

 

Today was the first time I got to spend more than a few minutes out on the water with my new electronics. I headed out around 7:30 a.m. and made a 2.5 mile run to a location I had not fished before. I managed a steady clip of 3.3 mph in the calm waters. Along the way I experimented with the sonar, down scan, and side scan but didn't stop even when I located fish as I was intent on trying out this new area before weekend boat traffic picked up on the lake.

 

After all that pedaling I got there only to find baitfish and no predators among the flooded timber and the flats. Disappointing. There was another large inlet area devoid of homes that I wanted to try, but once the water depth dropped to 1.5 feet I backed out. It was hot and I wasn't in the mood to lift the pedal drive and paddle in there. There's a creek on that far side, and I'd bet the water deepens a bit there so one day I'll have to give it a try.

 

So after striking out there I pedaled to within half a mile of my hotel, got tired from the distance and cruising all of the boat and jet ski wakes and decided to fish a bit and rest. So of course I caught a couple of small stripers and a 1 pound largemeouth close to my launch point. I should have just fished there in the first place.

 

But today was mainly a day for learning, and the biggest think I learned is that I need to put the Lowrance on the other side. Being right handed I thought that being able to reach it easily would be important. As it turns out, I was wrong. Having it on the right side interfered with setting the hook and fighting fish back to the kayak. Lesson learned.

 

I also learned I need to tighten the transducer arm as it kept twisting back and forth and was not parallel to the hull. I should probably drop it down a few inches as well.

 

I was targeting shoreline today, but next week I'm going to cruise some deeper waters and dropoffs, mark fish, turn around and see what happens. I saw a lot of sonar arches in the deeper water today, but there was also a lot of boat traffic passing in those areas. I need to hit those areas earlier in the day before the recreation boaters hit the water. 

 

I'm still a rookie with the electronics, so I did spend some time today just cruising by docks, flooded timber, and laydowns with the sidescan on to get familiar with what they look like on the screen so it makes it easier to interpret hidden structure. The odd thing about this part of the lake is that there is no vegetation.

 

Anyway, it was a good introduction to the electronics and I still have a lot to learn. Below are a few pictures of the setup I ran today.

 

 

 

[Bankc]

I don't think there is a good side to put a fish finder.  No matter where it goes, it's always in the way, it seems.  But I do have mine on the left side, as it does seem to be in the way less often there.  

 

One thing I've learned about fish finders is to not worry too much about looking for fish.  If you see a bunch of baitfish by themselves, I'd say still fish it.  Sometimes the bass will be hugging tight to cover or the bottom and won't show up on the sonar.  And sometimes you'll see a bunch of fish on the sonar, and they're either not interested in eating, or the wrong species.  I use mine more for looking for structure and cover.  And, if I notice a bunch of fish all at the same depth, then I'll know to concentrate on structure at that depth.  If you have livescope, you can target individual fish you see on your screen.  But with traditional sonar, it can often be a waste of time.  

[Koz]

10 minutes ago, Bankc said:

I don't think there is a good side to put a fish finder.  No matter where it goes, it's always in the way, it seems.  But I do have mine on the left side, as it does seem to be in the way less often there.  

 

One thing I've learned about fish finders is to not worry too much about looking for fish.  If you see a bunch of baitfish by themselves, I'd say still fish it.  Sometimes the bass will be hugging tight to cover or the bottom and won't show up on the sonar.  And sometimes you'll see a bunch of fish on the sonar, and they're either not interested in eating, or the wrong species.  I use mine more for looking for structure and cover.  And, if I notice a bunch of fish all at the same depth, then I'll know to concentrate on structure at that depth.  If you have livescope, you can target individual fish you see on your screen.  But with traditional sonar, it can often be a waste of time.  

I'm still taking the time to fish the area when I find baitfish, but what I have found throughout the section of Lake Oconee that I fish is there is an abundance of baitfish just about everywhere.

 

For example, there are tons of small bluegill and shad around the docks of my hotel. I mean, there are a ridiculous amount of baitfish. This is why it makes for great fun for the kids on our Fishing with the GM days. But there are rarely any bass around our docks.

 

Normally the mantra is find the baitfish, find the bass. But that hasn't been the case in my neck of the woods. That's why I'm relying on electronics to help me find patterns of where fish are located. The typical areas where I would expect to find LMB have not been paying off.

 

What I am finding is that there is not a lot of structure in my section of the lake other than docks and a little bit of flooded timber and some lay downs. I only targeted a few docks today with no luck. But I hit a lot of laydowns and flooded timber and caught nothing. Side scan also showed nothing in those areas but I fished them anyway.

 

While heading back to base today I had the down scan running and notice some fish holding midway up a few drop offs. I was too hot and tired to fish, but I'll start targeting those next time out.

[TcRoc]

I have the Same unit minus sidescan. First season with one. Still learning it and have watched a zillion YouTube videos.  Still learning what I’m looking at .. junk in water , fish, bottom structure . Gets frustrating as want to understand it more . More time and maybe find a video that really helps .. so many just blow thru what they r talking about. Can’t wait to upgrade to a 7 or 9 inch as well . So everything is bigger and just as confusing ?

[TnRiver46]

On 6/26/2021 at 3:28 PM, Koz said:

I'm still taking the time to fish the area when I find baitfish, but what I have found throughout the section of Lake Oconee that I fish is there is an abundance of baitfish just about everywhere.

 

For example, there are tons of small bluegill and shad around the docks of my hotel. I mean, there are a ridiculous amount of baitfish. This is why it makes for great fun for the kids on our Fishing with the GM days. But there are rarely any bass around our docks.

 

Normally the mantra is find the baitfish, find the bass. But that hasn't been the case in my neck of the woods. That's why I'm relying on electronics to help me find patterns of where fish are located. The typical areas where I would expect to find LMB have not been paying off.

 

 

Join the club!!! Even when I’m catching my own shad and fishing with them, I take them where theres minimum amounts of bait to fish with . “Find the bait, find the fish” works some places but not many around here. Find the bait is as easy as finding the river most of the time. 
 

what you’ve encountered is bass that don’t listen to human instructions 

[David 7]

On 6/26/2021 at 2:34 PM, Koz said:

Kayak: Seastream Angler 120 Pedal Drive

Electronics: Lowrance Hook2 5 Tripleshot (Sonar, down scan, and side scan)

 

Today was the first time I got to spend more than a few minutes out on the water with my new electronics. I headed out around 7:30 a.m. and made a 2.5 mile run to a location I had not fished before. I managed a steady clip of 3.3 mph in the calm waters. Along the way I experimented with the sonar, down scan, and side scan but didn't stop even when I located fish as I was intent on trying out this new area before weekend boat traffic picked up on the lake.

 

After all that pedaling I got there only to find baitfish and no predators among the flooded timber and the flats. Disappointing. There was another large inlet area devoid of homes that I wanted to try, but once the water depth dropped to 1.5 feet I backed out. It was hot and I wasn't in the mood to lift the pedal drive and paddle in there. There's a creek on that far side, and I'd bet the water deepens a bit there so one day I'll have to give it a try.

 

So after striking out there I pedaled to within half a mile of my hotel, got tired from the distance and cruising all of the boat and jet ski wakes and decided to fish a bit and rest. So of course I caught a couple of small stripers and a 1 pound largemeouth close to my launch point. I should have just fished there in the first place.

 

But today was mainly a day for learning, and the biggest think I learned is that I need to put the Lowrance on the other side. Being right handed I thought that being able to reach it easily would be important. As it turns out, I was wrong. Having it on the right side interfered with setting the hook and fighting fish back to the kayak. Lesson learned.

 

I also learned I need to tighten the transducer arm as it kept twisting back and forth and was not parallel to the hull. I should probably drop it down a few inches as well.

 

I was targeting shoreline today, but next week I'm going to cruise some deeper waters and dropoffs, mark fish, turn around and see what happens. I saw a lot of sonar arches in the deeper water today, but there was also a lot of boat traffic passing in those areas. I need to hit those areas earlier in the day before the recreation boaters hit the water. 

 

I'm still a rookie with the electronics, so I did spend some time today just cruising by docks, flooded timber, and laydowns with the sidescan on to get familiar with what they look like on the screen so it makes it easier to interpret hidden structure. The odd thing about this part of the lake is that there is no vegetation.

 

Anyway, it was a good introduction to the electronics and I still have a lot to learn. Below are a few pictures of the setup I ran today.

 

 

 

I’m not an electronics guy but that camo looks sharp Koz. 

[Bankc]

On 6/26/2021 at 2:28 PM, Koz said:

I'm still taking the time to fish the area when I find baitfish, but what I have found throughout the section of Lake Oconee that I fish is there is an abundance of baitfish just about everywhere.

 

For example, there are tons of small bluegill and shad around the docks of my hotel. I mean, there are a ridiculous amount of baitfish. This is why it makes for great fun for the kids on our Fishing with the GM days. But there are rarely any bass around our docks.

 

Normally the mantra is find the baitfish, find the bass. But that hasn't been the case in my neck of the woods. That's why I'm relying on electronics to help me find patterns of where fish are located. The typical areas where I would expect to find LMB have not been paying off.

 

What I am finding is that there is not a lot of structure in my section of the lake other than docks and a little bit of flooded timber and some lay downs. I only targeted a few docks today with no luck. But I hit a lot of laydowns and flooded timber and caught nothing. Side scan also showed nothing in those areas but I fished them anyway.

 

While heading back to base today I had the down scan running and notice some fish holding midway up a few drop offs. I was too hot and tired to fish, but I'll start targeting those next time out.

I'd try them if nothing else is working.  Every body of water is different.  I've never had much luck with bass suspended out in the middle of nowhere, unless they're white bass.   But I also don't fish lakes with tons of baitfish everywhere.  

 

In a really tough lake, the best thing I've discovered is just to try a little bit of everything until you start to pick up some patterns.  A great way to do that in a kayak is to get a drift socks and drift along the shore line and just keep pitching a jig, worm or square bill towards the bank.  That'll allow you to cover a lot of water quickly.  Target anything, everything, and nothing.  Just keep casting and eventually you'll find a few bass and can start to piece together a pattern.  It can take a while.  

 

One lake near me took about six months of getting skunked before I finally started to figure it out.  But now I can almost always catch a one or two on it by just repeating things that have worked in the past.  There are a lot of spots that look good by sight or sonar that are useless.  And there are a few spots that look like a waste of time that almost always hold a bass.  It's a heavily pressured lake, so that may be why.  

[MIbassyaker]

Good-looking rig!

[Koz]

1 hour ago, Bankc said:

 

 

1 hour ago, Bankc said:

 A great way to do that in a kayak is to get a drift socks and drift along the shore line and just keep pitching a jig, worm or square bill towards the bank.   

 

No need for drift socks here. I angle the nose towards the bank and then set the rudder to stay at that angle while I drift. If I need to I can also jog the pedals and pretty much stay in place if needed.

 

It takes some practice and the occasional manual correction, but I have to say that having a pedal kayak is everything I thought it would be and more. even on a big lake. I imagine it would be even better on smaller bodies of water or those that allow trolling motors only.

[schplurg]

As for fish finder mounting, the best place I can think to put one is beside the seat, probably hanging over the water a little. I was going to do it on mine but haven't figured out the best mount to use. Could just attach it to the seat I think.

 

I made a rail mount for mine so I can either slide it forward out of the way, or mount it on the other side of the yak. I prefer to cast to the left so it's mounted on the right. I can also swivel it out of the way if needed, either over the water or inside the yak.

 

I used Starboard and parts from a rail mounted rod holder I don't use. Painted it later.

 

[Koz]

2 hours ago, schplurg said:

 I prefer to cast to the left so it's mounted on the right.

 

I prefer to cast to the left as well, but my unit presents more of an obstacle on the right. Because there is no in hull storage or openings in my kayak,  - and I have the side scan - I can't have the transducer through the hull.

 

So my battery box, transducer arm, and fish finder mount are all mounted together on the YakAttack Cellblok. So that stacks fairly high and interferes with my hooksets.

[schplurg]

I stuck my 'ducer on the back. I think I lowered it since this photo. Homemade aluminum mount.

 

I really want the screen mounted on my chair (or hull if needed) beside me. If I start yakkin I may do that.

 

Don't know if any of this could work for you.

 

Edit: I just noticed your screen is really high, so I see your problem. Mine is very low. 

 

[TnRiver46]

13 hours ago, schplurg said:

I stuck my 'ducer on the back. I think I lowered it since this photo. Homemade aluminum mount.

 

I really want the screen mounted on my chair (or hull if needed) beside me. If I start yakkin I may do that.

 

Don't know if any of this could work for you.

 

Edit: I just noticed your screen is really high, so I see your problem. Mine is very low. 

 

Well that looks slicker than a peeled onion! Nice work, I bet that gets a perfect reading 

[Koz]

17 hours ago, schplurg said:

I stuck my 'ducer on the back. I think I lowered it since this photo. Homemade aluminum mount.

 

I really want the screen mounted on my chair (or hull if needed) beside me. If I start yakkin I may do that.

 

Don't know if any of this could work for you.

 

Edit: I just noticed your screen is really high, so I see your problem. Mine is very low. 

 

I could attach my transducer to my rudder and get a full sweep of the lake around me ?