Bassmaster Kayak Series Guntersville Journal

[Koz]

Pre Fishing  Day One

 

I was at work by 6:30 am on Wednesday, got home at 6pm, packed out my Bronco, and managed a few hours sleep before my son, my dog, and I hit the road by 3 am.

 

Within the first 45 we must have passed 50 deer along the side of the road. Thankfully, none of them bolted into the roadway. It’s always scary driving in rural Georgia after dark.

 

But then the Gremlins started to hit as my Bronco flashed a message that my trailer lights disconnected. I found a place to pull over and checked it out. I had added a tongue extender, longer safety chains, and a wiring harness extension for this trip. I unplugged the harness, plugged it back in, and I was good to go - for now.

 

Later on I-20 near Atlanta it happened again. Did you know there’s a ton of traffic in Atlanta at 4:45 on the morning? Anyway, with a closer inspection - as much as I could on the dark- it looked like the harness extension was pulling at my wire connectors. I knew I should have packed some duct tape. Lacking that, I used some 40 pound braid to try and tie it off to ease the pulling. Later that day I did a better fix for it.

 

We finally made it to one of the ramps at Brown’s Creek. I parked the truck for a minute to survey the ramp and the area and as I looked out in the water I saw none other than Kristine Fisher in her Hobie leaving the ramp. She could really fly with that Torqeedo!

 

If you don’t know who she is, she’s probably the top kayak bass angler in the nation or at least in the top three. The irony is that on the way to Guntersville I heard her on the Kayak Bass Nation podcast talking about her latest Hobie Series victory.

 

I hit the water and did some scouting in the area. The water was dirty near the ramp and crystal clear deeper into the creek channel. I checked out some areas highlighted by my Garmin Smartstrike but saw zero fish.

 

As I pushed deeper the water was a consistent 3 feet deep with two feet of that being weeds and there were a lot of partially submerged mats. I’m really glad  I put on my weedless wedge prop before I came down here. Still, I had to pick weeds off the shaft of the trolling motor once. I also had to pull them off my FFS transducer multiple times, especially when I had it on perspective mode.

 

I saw only two fish out there on my electronics, even fishing some deeper, less weedy areas. I really didn’t fish much as I spent time scouting and scoping.

 

I wasn’t out there more than 90 minutes and I heard some thunder and headed back. I know that Brown’s Creek has given up a lot of big fish in the Elite Series and BPT but I saw nothing out there.

 

Back at the ramp I met an older couple who were Old Town team anglers from New Hampshire. The husband had packed it in early while his wife fished a little longer and they said they were disappointed with what they saw as well. I also met Kristine Fisher while packing up. She was humble and nice - and didn’t tip her hand.

 

I was going to check out Honeycomb Creek, but after gabbing and packing up it was around noon and I was sleepy and hungry, so we went to lunch and checked into the hotel.

 

I just woke up from my nap and now it’s off to the grocery store.

 

The weather has been both rainy and sunny all week and other anglers have said it’s made the fishing more difficult this week.

 

We’re due for more storms during pre fishing tomorrow and again on day one of the tournament. I’ll try and dodge the storms and pre fish at least 3 of the other spots I mapped out. But this is a big, big lake and it can be a 40 minute drive to move from one spot to another.

 

One other thing that stinks is because I am staying at a hotel I am stripping out all of the electronics from my kayak when I park for the night. I also put wheel locks on my trailer and lock my kayak to the trailer with a thick steel cable. I also have a ball tow hitch lock. It’s time consuming to set up and tear down.

 

Anyway, more scouting and a little fishing tomorrow. I was just too tired to spend a full day on the lake today. Tomorrow it starts for real!

[steve carpenter]

Good luck. 

[Susky River Rat]

Sounds like a challenging day. My advice is fish the way YOU fish. Keep it simple. You are there enjoy it even though it’s a tournament. 
 

Kristine I hear is very nice. It’s not just an act she puts on. She also is fishing to put food in her table. She would be foolish to not have a poker face.

 

grind it out. Have fun and good luck!

[FryDog62]

Following…. Good luck Koz👍

[Fishingmickey]

Sounds like your off to a good start, Koz.  I'm rooting for you! May the force be with you!

Fishingmickey

[MN Fisher]

We got your back, man...win or lose, b-b-b-big bag or skunk, we're your fan-club.

 

Go show them the BR way of fishing.

[Functional]

6 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

Kristine I hear is very nice. It’s not just an act she puts on. She also is fishing to put food in her table. She would be foolish to not have a poker face.

 

I've followed her for a long time on YT. It's pretty clear she had to learn the hard way to keep a tight lip going back a few years. Unfortunate experience with her friendly nature but its part of the game.

 

Good Luck Koz, following along for the ride!

[Koz]

Practice Day 2

 

Hit another location about 7:30 this morning and not another kayaker i sight. Is that good or bad.

 

I don’t want to give too much away but I moved to something different than 3 feet of water and wall to wall weeds. Caught 3 but they were all only 15 inches. Lost a bigger one (4-5 pounds) that jumped and spit the bait.

 

Packed up and stopped at a few ramps but didn’t put in. No one seemed happy with what they were seeing. Then the rains came.

 

I traveled about an hour to the next spot and there was only one kayaker on the water in that location.

 

I fished one section, scoped a lot of fish and baitfish, but no bites. Moved in a bit further, saw bigger fish, but no bites. This area has a bunch of different cover and structure. This place is near where I am staying.

 

Now I’m torn - drive an hour to where I caught fish or stick close by where I saw a lot more fish but got no bites?

 

It’s going to be a tough call in the morning. Weather for tomorrow is more rain. I still need to dry out from today.

[Koz]

Tournament Day 1

 

I decided to fish where I saw fish at yesterday’s practice but didn’t catch anything. I had been fishing south and mid lake and this was NW as I launched at North Sauty Creek which is above Goose Pond.

 

I made a run for a bluff area and waited for lines in at 5:15 am. I saw fish but nothing bit so I pressed further up. Then I caught two on back to back casts, but they were only 16” and 14.25”.  But I wasn’t going to be shut out.

 

I stayed in that area, got another strike, but blew it. This one was 17” - 18” and instead of grabbing my net I tried to flip it in. I thought I had tired it out, but as soon as I lifted it, it shook off the hook. A little later I landed a 12”. Small, but it counts. It was only 9 am and I had three in my virtual live well. I had another good strike but must have missed the hook set on my jig head minnow. It wasn’t a giant, but it wasn’t a dink. Call it a missed 16” bass. I gotta start crossing eyes when I fish a minnow.

 

I headed south towards Goose Creek and towards the shore the weeds were thick, almost all the way to the surface. I moved off between the heavy weeds and the lily pads and found some baitfish. Another strike, but it was maybe 10-12” and it shook off.

 

I then headed into the lily pads and fished a frog for a while but had no luck. But now my life got interesting.

 

It’s weird, but when I travel I’m not “regular”, if you know what I mean. But suddenly I needed a good BM and there was no place to go. Since the fishy had slowed down I went back to the ramp, packed up, and did my business at the convenience store, then headed off to an area that I had not tried out yet.

 

This new area was choked with grass and weeds and most of it was 1-3 feet deep. FFS is just about useless, so I set off for some points, humps, and dips.

 

I tried fishing the grass with top waters and even a big t-rigged worm but found no takers. I moved to deeper water (6-10 feet) and back to my style of fishing. 

 

I got another good hookup and I forgot to grab my net and I lost another 16-inch fish. I got it close, went to lip it, but when I stretched my pole went upright, lifter the fish, it jumped and shook the hook. I should mention all my catches - and the shake offs - were on jig head minnows.

 

I caught a few more dinks that didn’t score, then the wind picked up, it started to rain, and my lightning alert kept going off and the thunder rolled in.

 

I pulled out my lines with an hour left on the clock and “raced” a mile and a half back to the ramp. Before the event I changed out my standard prop for a Weedless Wedge. It’s been great in the weeds, but it’s at least 1/2 mph slower.

 

I laid my rods down on the deck, headed back to the ramp, and packed it in for the day.

 

Ovetall it was a mixed day. I scored 3 but should have had my limit if I had been smart and used my net. It cost me 32-35 inches. Last I checked I was 167 out of 217 entries, but if I hadn’t been a bonehead I’d be about 120. 

 

Live and learn. I learned my lesson today and will use my head tomorrow.

 

I have no idea where I will start tomorrow. The weather is going to be mostly sunny so I will probably fish some main lake flats early on then move to ledges and docks.

 

We launch at 4:45 am so I probably need to be at the launch by 3:15 in the morning. I’ll try not to make any boneheaded moves tomorrow.

[steve carpenter]

Good luck🐟

[FryDog62]

Sounds like you’re fighting the good fight, it isn’t an easy process. I mentioned earlier I had contemplated this particular tournament, so am living vicariously through you. Will be a good education for the rest of us in terms of what you learn. Hardest part IMO is picking the right spot to start since 4 mph isn’t going to get you very far very fast.  Decisions… decisions.. 👍

[Koz]

Just now, FryDog62 said:

Sounds like you’re fighting the good fight, it isn’t an easy process. I mentioned earlier I had contemplated this particular tournament, so am living vicariously through you. Will be a good education for the rest of us in terms of what you learn. Hardest part IMO is picking the right spot to start since 4 mph isn’t going to get you very far very fast.  Decisions… decisions.. 👍

My goal was a top 100 with the 200+ anglers out there and that was feasible if zi had just used the dang net.

 

But I also made the wrong choice of where to fish. I should have fished Town Creek where I was catching them in practice. That would have also given me a 3 mile run to another area that I wanted to practice but didn’t get to because of weather.

 

Hindsight is 20-20, but I should have come to town at least one day earlier. It was a 4.5 hour drive to get there and we got to the ramp at 7 am and I hit the water. With little sleep the night before I was tired at noon.

 

Guntersville is 79 miles long and that’s a ton of fishing options. Where I fished today had been a hot spot many times for the Bassmaster elite series.

 

While I lost time because of the storm, I also lost an hour loading up, driving, my potty break, and unloading again. That’s a rookie mistake.

 

In the future I need to find a place where there are multiple good options within a 5-7 mile radius. I’m doing that tomorrow. But it’s 45 minutes from my hotel to the ramp and we launch at 4:45. I need to be at the ramp at 3:45.

 

Today my first launch was from a tiny ramp and there was nowhere to put my kayak in the water even though I was at the ramp 45 minutes before launch, so I had to wait in line to get on the water. Again, rookie mistakes.

 

My kayak is also slower by 1/2 mph because I have the Weedless Wedge prop. The good news is that with that prop I have not had to pick weeds out of the prop.

 

While I’m a bit disappointed in myself with my mistakes, woulda shoulda coulda but I should have had a limit today. I did find fish, but now I need to find bigger fish. I’m actually cautiously optimistic heading into tomorrow. Sleep is my biggest concern.

[Fishingmickey]

Just got out and have fun tomorrow Koz! Fish your strengths. Rooting for ya buddy!

FM

[Susky River Rat]

The one thing I am  noticing is you do not feel confident in anything you are doing. Second guessing yourself means you aren’t 100% focusing on catching fish. You have to fish LOOSE. I would also be willing to bet you are making a lot off target casts or bird nesting. 
 

remember fish small. You can’t and won’t be able to cover water. You’re in a kayak. Go fish a deeper transition spot near where the spawn could be happening or did already happen. Use FFS to pick off those fish. Work your way to spawn and away from spawning areas but, so not try to cover huge amounts of water. 

Or do it the old fashion way of being hung over out on the water l. Kidding I do not recommend this. 

[TnRiver46]

I tried to tell you bring toilet paper……. Was it the Chinese buffet in Scottsboro? 😂 

[FryDog62]

8 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

I tried to tell you bring toilet paper……. Was it the Chinese buffet in Scottsboro? 😂 

Psyllium fiber every day, drink lots of water… then drink coffee when you get up the next morning and make your deposit before the day even starts.  Works like a charm! 💩

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, FryDog62 said:

Psyllium fiber every day, drink lots of water… then drink coffee when you get up the next morning and make your deposit before the day even starts.  Works like a charm! 💩

When I ate there, that wasn’t the issue. My deposit nearly started before I got out of my tent 

[FryDog62]

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

When I ate there, that wasn’t the issue. My deposit nearly started before I got out of my tent 

I hope you had a good exhaust fan on that tent 🌬️

[gim]

Tell you what, I have a new found admiration and respect for these dedicated tournament anglers. Days on end of getting up at 3 or 4am and a full day of fishing in the elements really drains energy. I just fished 2 days from a boat for 5.5 hours each day and I was wiped.

[Susky River Rat]

Update?!? 

[Koz]

Day 2 - The Final Day

 

This turned out to be an exhausting 24 hours for a lot of reasons. First off, I woke up at 2 am to shower, eat, and set up my kayak. Because I'm staying at a hotel and I don't trust anyone, after each day I break down all of my electronics. That means the two head units, the FFS transducer and arm, and the black box are removed for the night. I also pull the two 100Ah Lifepo batteries and my 18Ah battery to be charged, then put it all back together before I leave.

 

I had decided to fish Town Creek the last day and that was a 50 minute drive from my hotel. I was the first one at the ramp and while unloading two more tournament anglers arrived - and that was it. We joked that we're wither three geniuses or we're in trouble. My little voice was telling me to pack up and go to North Sauty instead. But in practice I caught some fish at Town Creek and all of the pre-tournament info I gathered said it was a favorite spot for the Elites and BPT.

 

We had lines in at 5:15 and I motored a short distance to a switchback close to shore. This deeper channel is surrounded by shallower water and weeds with lots of baitfish in the channel. The bass would come out of the weeds and hit the baitfish.

 

I found no takers there and very little baitfish, so I moved behind a dock and tossed a buzzbait. I wasn't really paying attention to FFS and was just relying on the early morning bite. The back of the dock paid off with a 16 incher. Not great, but I was on the board early. And yes, I used my net this time. I had learned my lesson.

 

Out in front of the dock and all around there were bigger fish crashing the surface. The area was thick with millfoil so it was hard to see anything far out with FFS. I cast around with a buzzbait and since the water was still calm worked a popper and a Spro popping frog but landed nothing.

 

I went back to the switchback and saw a bigger bass on FFS and wasted 40 minutes chasing it and trying to get it to bite. I debated wasting time on one fish, but since there was no way I was going to finish in the money I was hoping for the big bass prize.

 

I gave up, hunted around the next set of docks and found nothing. So now I had a few decisions. I could motor 3.2 miles to Siebold Creek, head back to the ramp, load up and portage to another area, or continue on up into Town Creek.

 

With my Weedless Wedge prop and my load out, my max speed was only about 2.6 - 2.8 mph, so that was over an hour across open water to get to Siebold. I could portage, but I'd lose 30-40 minutes loading and unloading plus drive time. That's when I remembered something.

 

While I use my Garmin for FFS and sonar, I have a Helix 7 that I use for my maps and navigation. I remembered I had my Smartstrike card loaded, and sure enough it had Guntersville on it. I popped in the criteria and it lit up with best spots to fish about a 45 minute push into Town Creek, so I set off for there.

 

To gain more speed I pulled up my FFS arm and headed off at full speed. At one point I saw a ton of baitfish blowing up, slowed down, and dropped the FFS. I saw bass darting through the millfoil, but there was a boat that had already setup around there just outside of their casting distance and I didn't want to be "that guy". I knew they saw the baitfish blowing up, so I moved on.

 

Along the way I slowed down to fish a bluff and that area was just filled with eel grass. The eel grass was not only a pain for fishing, but it would also build up around my motor mount and that would cause the motor to vibrate heavily so I'd have to stop and clear it out. There'd be so much eel grass that the motor would not release all the way so I'd have to wedge my hand in there, rip some out, and clear it enough to raise the motor and remove the rest.

 

Anyway, I got a hit on a chatterbait near the kayak and it looked to be a smallmouth. But it only grabbed the skirt and not the hook and it took off.

 

For the next few hours I hit a ton of the spots from Smartstrike and all I saw was sporadic baitfish. I fished more bluffs without any luck. There were a few prime looking spots recommended by Smartstrike, but other anglers were already camped out there. That's one thing about Guntersville - I saw a lot of anglers just camped out on spots and not trolling the area.

 

So I made the run back towards where I had been fishing and again had no luck, so I headed further south to a small, very shallow cove. I turned off FFS and fished laydowns, rocks, and fan casted. The sky turned gray and the wind really started picking up.

 

So now it was 11 am (lines out at 1:15) and I decide to head to a large point between Town Creek and Siebold and maybe make a late run at Siebold. The wind and waves are coming from the north and I'm heading west. Waves are crashing over the kayak and have me rolling back and forth. The occasional boat wakes make it worse.

 

If I was younger I would have been fearless and pushed on. But it was a lot of open water to cover and I just wasn't competent, so I headed back in the direction of the ramp and docks. I shut off my FFS again and just fished. I tried deeper water, humps, dips, over grass, grass lines, and didn't even get a strike. With less than 30 minutes on the clock I packed it in so I could check out of the hotel without paying for an extra day and get home at a decent hour.

 

Where did I finish? A lousy 187 out of 217. Only one fish on day 2 was a killer. So was not boating the ones I missed on day 1.

 

Unfortunately, on the way home there was a terrible accident on i-75 that killed four people. It took us four hours to go only 1.2 miles where they had 4 lanes of traffic exit the highway. We hit another wreck and construction on the way. We got an emergency alert on our phones about the accident, and while tiring, knowing 4 people lost their lives kept me from being frustrated. 

 

We should have been home at 8:30 pm but didn't get home until 1:30 am (Eastern time). Remember, I arose at 2 am (central time) they day before. But I managed to get up by 7:15 and drag myself to work. 

 

Here's the scary part about that wreck. We hot the stopped traffic at 6:32 pm. The accident happened about 6:10 pm. But just before we hot that traffic I had made a 20 minute stop at Auto Zone to pick up a new wiring harness extension for my trailer thinking that might be the problem with my lights occasionally faulting. If I hadn't stopped, we may have been in that vicinity when it happened.

 

Random thoughts on what I learned:

 

1. Speed on the water is a big factor. You're not in a boat that can just zip around at will. Efficiency of time is a huge factor. Let's put it this way - if you're in a boat and going 25 miles an hour and need to move 8 miles it will take you about 19 minutes. In a kayak moving 3 mph it will take you closer to three hours.

 

Those light kayaks with the Torqeedo motors can really move. I wouldn't trade my Old Town Autopilot for the world, but it's a tugboat out there. When I fish at home I usually load just 3 or 4 rods, one small bag of soft plastics, and 4 trays that sit next to my seat. But I had 7 rods and my crate full of gear as well when I launched, plus extra drinks and food in a cooler. The weedless prop also slowed me down. Next time, keep the standard prop on and ditch the crate. Keep the extra gear in the truck.

 

2. Especially on a lake you've never fished before, practice means more scouting and less fishing. On a place the size of Guntersville, a day and a half of practice isn't enough. I had done a ton of research and found 6 top areas to fish. I studied maps of those areas as well. But in a day and a half I got to only three of them. Mind you, some of these places were an hour apart by car.

 

What I should have done is taken advantage of FFS and scoped more of the areas rather than spend so much practice time fishing. But heck, I was excited to be on Guntersville. I marked spots, but I could have marked more. I now see why all of the top anglers spend the five open days of practice there before the tournaments starts. 

 

3. Make some friends when you get there or beforehand to share knowledge. There were a bunch of 3-6 man teams there. You can bet they shared intel. All the knowledge I had before getting there was based upon known key spots that produced in other tournaments. But that doesn't take into account things like weather conditions, lake levels, time of year, pre or post spawn, moon phases, etc. This is why scouting is key, especially on a lake you haven't fished before.

 

4. Fish your strengths. All the fish I caught in practice and in the tournament were fishing the baits and locations that I like to fish. But I covered a ton of water that was 3-5 feet deep that had heavy millfoil up to the last foot. I tossed topwaters, spinnerbaits, swim jigs, wacky rigged Senkos and swam T-rigged Senkos really not knowing how to fish that stuff. But at least in the areas I fished, it was hard to get away from those weeds. On Day 1 I also fished lily pads briefly, but I should have spent more time there. Which leads to:

 

5. Paralysis of Analysis. On Day 1 in that first location I boated three and if not for bonehead mistakes I should have had my limit plus one or two. I knew where the fish were there early in the morning and I should have went back there on Day 2 having confidence that I knew where the fish were. Then I should have attacked the lily pads and pushed a bit further where I didn't fish.

 

I forgot about the saying "Don't leave fish to find fish." Even if it was still only 16" fish, it would have been better than nothing. But again, my thinking in part was that since I was out of the money after day 1 I was looking for the one big bass rather than going for a limit. Dumb move. Get your limit and then hunt.

 

For me the biggest factor was I got in my own head. I thought I had made a bad decision where to fish that first morning, but in hindsight it was fine. That spot allowed me to fish my strengths, and even though I didn't find a 10 pounder that doesn't mean they weren't there. Instead, I hit the panic button.

 

6. Don't stay in a hotel (said the guy that runs hotels for a living). Stay in a quiet fishing cabin or AirBnB. There was way too much noise at the hotel during the odd sleeping hours I needed for the week. I also spent some nervous energy wondering if someone would try to steal my kayak or my gear. There were some iffy looking people in the hotel!

 

7. Store some toilet paper in your crate or one of the hatches in your kayak!

 

So, would I do it again? In a heartbeat! Next year I'll finish any of them within 4 or 5 hours of where I live. Hopefully I won't have that nervous excitement and over analyze everything.

 

And maybe, just maybe, we can get a handful of BR guys to join me. We can rent a house to save some money and share some intel. Maybe Glenn will sell us some BR hats real cheap and we can represent!

 

One last note - on the night before the tournament I spent some time once again talking to Kristine Fischer. She's a great ambassador for the sport and she was tremendous interacting with people and especially the young kids that were there. She mentioned that she wants to fish Lake Oconee, so I gave her my business card and told her to give me a call. I mentioned my kids fishing program and let her know I'll put her up in the hotel and maybe if she's there on a kids fishing weekend she can stop by and say hello.

[Susky River Rat]

Great detailed read! It sounded like you had a rough go with it but, stayed positive. Thank god you were not in that accident. 
 

It all comes down to fishing it small and fishing your strengths. A lot of tournament fishing is camping out on areas. You should know the fish are there and try to beat them into submission. Even the elites don’t make 10 30-60 minute runs in a day. They usually will make one big one and have secondary options near by.  The only time they usually make multiple big rubs is if they get in their own head or have a spot they think will turn on later in the day. 
 

you are correct ALWAYS get a limit first then worry about upgrading.

 

Good luck on your next one! It seems like you learned a lot. 

[Koz]

3 hours ago, Susky River Rat said:

Great detailed read! It sounded like you had a rough go with it but, stayed positive. Thank god you were not in that accident. 
 

It all comes down to fishing it small and fishing your strengths. A lot of tournament fishing is camping out on areas. You should know the fish are there and try to beat them into submission. Even the elites don’t make 10 30-60 minute runs in a day. They usually will make one big one and have secondary options near by.  The only time they usually make multiple big rubs is if they get in their own head or have a spot they think will turn on later in the day. 
 

you are correct ALWAYS get a limit first then worry about upgrading.

 

Good luck on your next one! It seems like you learned a lot. 

Definitely need to focus on fishing my strengths, but I can’t express enough that with going to a lake for the first time for a big tournament that getting there days early and scouting is more important than anything you can read up on about an area.

 

I have a Bass Nation kayak event in mid June and since the lake is only 2 hours away I’m going out there at least 3 times before the tournament.

[Tennessee Boy]

Great write up.   I’ve enjoyed reading about your adventure.  I fished Guntersville a lot in the 90s when I lived in the area.  I’ve thought a lot about where I would fish in a kayak.   It’s a different game for sure.  In my opinion a big part of tournament fishing is knowing when to stop looking for fish and start fishing for the fish you’ve found.   

[casts_by_fly]

Great writeup.  All of the things you've concluded are right.  

 

One tip for the boat specifically, carry both props on the water.  I carry three actually.  You never know when you're going to break or chip one that makes it rough to use.  Also, you can change out props on the water.  This time of year I have to do that.  I always guess wrong which prop I need.  I'll default to the weedless now and if I'm wrong then I'm just a little slower.  If I'm on a bigger lake then I'll swap out.  If I start with the standard prop and find out that the weeds are higher than I thought I will DEFINITELY swap out because it makes such a difference.  I also carry the airplane prop for those bigger wide open lakes.  Also if you haven't put one on, get the ninja blade on there.  It won't help with buildup on the nosecone like you describe, but it will keep everything off the prop, even with the regular prop.