Kayak Koz and the Lake Fork Adventure

[Koz]

6 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

And a canoe too. As I have shared many times, my canoe is Kevlar, 32 pounds, and 15' 6". The only way you can make a canoe that long that light is to make it skinny and being skinny, it's very tippy. So, there's no standing and there's no moving forward or aft, for the canoe tapers, making it even tippier away from center.

 

 

I tried to cross their eyes and failed. You might remember me reporting my pathetic landing percentage in early 2024. Other BR anglers reported landing 90% of their bass* and I had a couple mornings where I landed 50% of mine.** Over the course of 2024, I developed a way to land 80% to 90% of the fish, which wasn't crossing their eyes, as I tried that and just didn't have the footing under me to do it well.

 

A canoe is the opposite of a bass boat weighing thousands of pounds, where you're standing on a casting deck. A long, 32-pound canoe is slippery. It slides over the water. Newton's physics are at play. For every reaction, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Crossing their eyes means my canoe is yanked toward the bass, substantially negating my hook set. 

 

So, I de-emphasized hook-setting and focused on playing the bass well, which meant not giving them a milli-second of slack and keeping them underwater and off-balance as much as possible. Keeping my line taut sets the hook in the course of the fight, I'm guessing, for by the time they reach my canoe, it's solidly in them.

 

Maine bass pull hard. One of my favorite YouTubers, Old Lady Angler, fishes both Florida and Maine and all the states in-between and she noted in an early 2024 Maine video how hard Maine bass pull. They'll set the hook if you can stay connected to them.

 

I am not suggesting this for everyone. If you're standing on casting deck or on shore, whale away, but if you're on the aquatic equivalent of a skateboard, a canoe, focus on your mechanics. 

 

*One or two even reported landing 100% of their bass.

 

**To cut myself a little slack, I was fishing reeds, which are as fibrous as an oak tree and as dense as a jungle. When I hooked them, they were surrounded by dozens of reeds and each one could free them.

 

P. S. - I started watching the Ken Smith video embedded above. 

 

At one point, he's struggling to land a 14" bass in weeds.

 

And when he does land it, he says, "Well, that was a fiasco for a 14" fish."

 

He also mentioned missing some bigger fish due to "funky" hook setting angles.

 

I've been there, Ken. Even when it's utterly calm and you've coasted to a complete stop, just retrieving my lure will rotate my canoe, producing funky hook setting angles.

 

P. P. S. - At the end, Ken says, "If you can catch them in a kayak, you can catch them in a bass boat. If you can catch them in a bass boat, maybe you can catch them in a kayak." 

When kayak fishing, the majority of the time I lose the fish is when it breaches the surface.

 

Being so low to the water it’s harder to keep the fish down. Hence I want to bury the hook more. I should also try and horse it in quickly.

[Swamp Girl]

38 minutes ago, Koz said:

I should also try and horse it in quickly.

 

There are times I apply pressure and times I let the bass out pull me. I think an angler can pull hooks out of bass with too much pressure at the wrong time. I try to keep the pressure consistent, whether I'm applying it or the bass is. However, if the bass is deep in weeds, I apply all the pressure I can. 

[Alex from GA]

I used to fish from a 9' 32lb kayak in rivers and found an anchor the best way to land more fish.  I've caught many 3 and 4lb Shoal and Alabama Bass from the kayak.  Also removing the barb gets the hook in faster and easier.