WAVEWALK KAYAKS

Went to Rainbow Reservoir in Windsor Connecticut, to fish with a friend on his boat.
Mike (known as Daddy Pickle) wanted some small mouth Bass.

I figured I cast a few from shore while waiting.
I must have cast 20 times, and on the last cast with the lure just rising out of the water by shore, a Huge Pike rushed and slashed at the dinger.
I almost $#!^ my pants, totally caught me off guard. With this approaching storm, my hopes weren’t too high.
We had slight winds to friggin pain in the >@$& winds, cloudy, water temps were a steady 50.5 degrees
everywhere.

Today, the back of the boat was a good place to be.

Pickle did start us off with the first smallie, but he said it wasn’t picture worthy, I think that smallies buddies heard him, so they wouldn’t play nice with him after that.

My arm and Hands are Killing Me!!
I couldn’t even tell you how many cast Pickle and I made today.
But if the bait wasn’t moving, you weren’t getting Nothing!

Cranking was the key, no pauses, most fish came out of 14′ to 30′,
deep down bumping bottom FUN!
I haven’t used crank baits in a long time, but Pickle has helped
rekindle my first Love…………….Cranking.
He may be sorry he did!

Another thing, when the winds did pick up, the bite stopped,
then when there was a lull in the winds, one of us would hook up!

LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

Rox

Ty is one of Rox’ four dogs, and she goes with Rox on all her shore fishing trips.
Rox says that if Ty could she’d join her fishing in the W500 kayak.

Hi,
Here’s a trip I did on Oct 19th fishing from Shore at Rainbow Reservoir, in Windsor Ct.
As you know they drained this place to repair the Dam, and since Oct 5th, it’s been refilling.

Walked down to one of my favorite fall spots, can’t wait to get my W500 back in here.
Armed with a hair jig with a small craw attached on my 6’6″ Custom St Croix smallie ultra lite rod with 8lb test vanish. And my 6’6″ St Croix rigged with 10# fireline with 10# vanish leader with a c-rigged worm.

What a beautiful day it turned into.
I got to the waters edge at 10:30am left at 3pm.
Windy, sunny no idea what the water temps were.

Fished deep water to shore, as far as my little arms could cast out to.
As I was crawling the hair/craw jig along the bottom, I got a solid Thump, set the hook, and the battle was on.
Pulling drag at will, the beast headed out to deeper water, got her turned and battle her back to me.
She came up to show me her big old head, and in that moment I was wondering, how the heck I would land her, 8#test and a bunch of rocks, so I figured I was gonna get wet.
This is one big Bass, get her closer to shore, then in an instant, she’s gone. She straightened the Hook!!!! Holy S#*****+!! Guess I should have fought her a little longer. :banghead:

Landed a good 2# smallie bumping bottom with a new hair jig and craw, she gave me a good strong fight, then another as the rig hit the water. And the very next cast…….Bam another smallie. :cha:
Then nothing, must have been a school moving around.

Moved down the bank some more and Grabbed the c-rigged worm and started working it from deep water to shore.
Slowly dragging it, and making long pauses, I worked down the shore line about a football fields length.
I would cast and work it back to me, take 10 sets from the spot I was started, repeating it over and over, then BAM, Big Fish, shaking her head Like crazy, 20′ from shore, Up she Comes with a Big Somersault and dives, My Drag is screaming, gain some ground and Off she ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ again, I get her turned and I all STOPS????????????????? Shes snagged on a stump or something, with my line taught, I can feel her shaking her head!!!!!!!!
I start running to the right with my rod tip Held High, hoping to free the Beast, she still on I feel her pulling then Bink!!! Off she comes on what ever she was hung up on, Lord Have mercy, I got to land her PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now the battle is won, she’s tired, I’m reeling her in with no fight left. Get my thumb in her mouth and She’s Mine!!! :cha: Frigging fish will be the death of me yet, my heart is pounding, my hands are shaking, snap a couple of pictures, get her back in the water holding her tail, I don’t care that I’m wet, I’m making sure she swims away strong, she feels like shes ready, I release her tail, she rolls slightly looking at me with the Big old Bug eye then in an instant she was gone. Caught a bunch more, all put up great fights, digging down deep. Man I love fall Fishing!!!
LIFE IS GOOD!!!!!!!!!

Rox

Oct 17th Congamond Lake Open Bass Tourney.
Start time 7am to 3pm
Water temps were 50 early am, to 56/57 degrees by 1pm.

We were faced with 15 boats, and had to pick numbers to line up for the start of the tourney.
My partner Mike, told me to pick the number, and I picked #11.
I was bummed to be near the end of the start up pack, but was very happy to Learn that the Numbers started at 10, so that put us in the number 2 spot of the starting line up. 

It was a cold 43 degrees when we launched at 7am.
Thankfully, there were no winds Yet, but that all changed by 9am.
With winds from 9mph to 20mph at times, made boat control a chore, but my partner Mike did a great job battling the winds.

We had a game plan, depending on the water temps, so when we passed through the flats and they were at 50 degrees, we made the decision to head to a point with some wood that went from 2 feet of water that sloped down to 20 feet of water.

Mike was fishing horizontal baits, and I was fishing vertical.
Hoping to establish a pattern quickly.

My choice of lure, Black Texas rigged worms, fishing them weightless.
Which is always a challenge when you add in the Wind Factor.
Keeping contact with the line and bait as best I could, letting it slowly stink in the middle of the downed tree in 14 feet of water, when I get a mushy feel, not a tap or strong bite, just felt a little mushy.
I reeled up the slack, felt weight and set the hook hard.
My partner got the net, and the first Large Mouth Bass was in the boat.

Then it happened, in the FLW rules, you are supposed to not fish within 50 feet of a boater.
After getting the first bass in the live well, I turned back to fish my tree, and a boat had moved in On Top of it and was jigging.
Next thing we see, they land a Bass, then another and another, they pulled 5 Bass off of where I was fishing, Unbelievable.

So we started working our way down the bank towards another downed tree that also went from 1 foot to 14 feet of water.
As we got closer, I heard the boat we left at our first spot start their motor and race over the the next tree we were going to fish.
They just cut us off, and Left us with our Jaws hanging wide open.

I had this strong urge to whip a 40lb braided line with a huge treble hooked bait on it at them…………but that would be un-sportsmen like!
But it felt good to think it.

These are some of the reasons I don’t fish Bass Tournaments, as far as I’m concerned, these two Bass fishermen are cheaters, but I do believe in Karma.

We fished hard the rest of the morning and afternoon, with nothing to show for it.
My partner lost 3 bass and I wasn’t getting anything.
We switched up on lures, cranks, spinnerbaits, jigs, swim baits, drop shot, whacky rigs, nada zip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then with 30 minutes left, we headed back to the point and the tree everyone had beaten the snot out of today.
Back to our original plan, Mike fish a horizontal bait and I fished vertical.

Dropped my Texas rigged Black worm back into the tree, and Bam, fish on.
Now we had 2 bass in the live well.
I cast back up into the tree, and Mike yells fish on, I drop my rod, grab the Net, now we Have three Bass in the well.

Pick up my rod and cast back into the tree and counted it down to the bottom, a little twitch after a 20 count,
Which seems like forever when your on the clock, and I got the mushy feeling again, set the Hook and Bass number 4 came to the net.
5 Minutes to go before we had to be back for the weigh in, we worked the bank back to the opposite tree, but time ran out.

So we headed back to the ramp 2 Bass shy of a limit, and Thankful for the Bass we did get.

The winning Bag went 22.19 pounds, but there were many boats with no Bass at all, I think we came in around 12th.

And the Two Bass Fishermen who cut us off, didn’t end with the winning bag, though their bag went for 17.8 lbs, Karma took them out of the running.

Tight Lines All
Rox

I Went fishing at Congamond Lake, on the Connecticut – Massachusetts border.
Oct 12th, I was pre-fishing, for my up coming Open Bass tourney Sat 17th.
My partner was sick, can you believe that!!! He called out sick for work and Fishing!!
So I went out in my W500.

Got on the water I think it was 10:30 or close to 11am.
Water temps were 56 to 60 degrees.
Water was cloudy, (turn over time has come) with tons of bait fish every where.
Cloudy/partly sunny, with a chill in the air.
Fished 2 feet to 26 feet.

Fished slow and on the bottom.
Weightless Texas rigged plastic worms were the ticket.

Casting it up into the pads, and let it sink slowly, waiting for the line to move, or to feel that tap.
Gave it a twitch after a count to 10, and Bam fish on.
After a short battle I got her in the net.

All of a sudden I hear “Way to Go Rox”
Two fellows I know from my Fishing site had been watching me fish, and I didn’t even know they were coming up behind me in their boat.

They were kind enough to snap a picture for me.
I wish I had gotten the weight, but in all the excitement I forgot, DOH!!!!!!!!!

She was well over 3lbs, maybe even close to 3.5lbs, and her Belly was Full!!!
Great way to start my trip.

Caught a number of 12″, 2-14″ then a solid 2.10lb and a 2.14lb large mouth bass.
Which I weighed, and was even more sure that first Bass had to be way over 3lbs.
Landed tooooooooo many snakes (pickerel) today, had to keep re-tying due to line nicks.

Wind had picked up a little more then the weatherman had said, so in 19′ of water I had to drop anchor to fish some wood down deep.

Hooked a real Nice Bass that wrapped itself up around a branch, near the surface.
Soooooooooooooo I started to paddle to retrieve the Bass keeping my line tight when my yak stopped………………I forgot to pull up my anchor………….resulting in a lost Bass……….. Oh Well!

I did get a limit, so I was happy with that, was off the water at 5pm.
Did not snap any pictures of the smaller Bass, only picture worthy Bass today over 2lbs were taken.
I should have taken a picture of my last snake, it was big long and fat.

Tight Lines and Safe Paddling All.
Rox

Sept 8th Rainbow Res.
Hit the bow at 12pm, off at 5:30pm.
Water levels are up, temps were 70 to 74.3 degrees.
Cranks, chatter, ball jig, dingers-

Cranks got nothing, chatter baits zip, dingers, of course, put the Bass in the boat.

Fishing the flats produced a 3#er and a 2 1/2#er.
Caught on the dinger fished like a jerk bait.

Then while fishing an over hanging tree in 10′ of water with the ball jig and That Bait Pickle, on 8lb test on my custom smallie rod from RayZ!!!
Pitched it up and under the tree and started reeling it in slowly, when all of a sudden, it all comes to a stop……..dang I snagged a
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Holy Cheese On Rice, BIG FISH!!!!!!!!! I can’t turn the fish!!
Drag set as tight as I dare, back down past me she flies!!
I turn her and up she comes besides the yak……………………. It’s a Huge PIKE!!!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Off she goes again, I’m stuck between two trees, and shes dragging
my yak towards one of them, I yell to James, in his boat anchored
down below me for a Big Net, it has to be at least 38″ long and thicker then my arm, he’s watching me now, I turn her again, and
shes towing my yak, turned me back towards the opposite tree.
Then Up She Comes for a Complete somersault, I watch as she wraps herself up in the line, and snap she was gone.

Lord have mercy, 5 minutes of pure heaven and 5 minutes of pure hell,
all mixed into the same pot!
I knew there where Pike in here, now I have proof, and a witness.

Spent the next few minutes clamming myself, hands shaking some bad,
I couldn’t retie a new ball jig on.

Sept 10th Weathersfield Cove, Weathersfield CT:

Hit the Cove today, got there at 12:30 PM.
WINDY WINDY WINDY, white caps sometimes, and did I tell you,
it was WINDY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Water temps were 69+degrees, sunny, partly cloudy.
Fish came to hand in 1′ to 14′ of water.

Bad news, I broke my first rod of the season, my Med Heavy Premier St Croix rod!!!!!!!!!!!! I was drifting and was blown into a tree
that I had just pulled a bass out of, didn’t see it till it was to late.

Had a Huge blow up and was cut off by Mr Pike over by the Police dock.

Best part of the day was near the end of my trip.
I was getting plenty of smaller bass, perch, and a few crappie.
But had no real solid bass in the yak yet.
Till I found the magic tree.

Life is Good.

Rox




This is Rox’ answer to a question on bass lures from Petru, a kayak fisherman from Ontario:

Petru,

Here is a couple of pictures of the lures and hooks I use, and have had great success with.

The Yum Dinger, shown in both pictures, range from 6″ to 3″, and the 1/4 oz Jigs are in the top row of the picture.
As you see, I am also a Big Fan of the Chatter Bait.

Petru, Maybe you’re fishing your jigs too fast.

You have to make sure they reach bottom, remember the 1/4oz jig takes a little longer getting to the bottom. Your lure has not reached bottom till you see your line go slack.

Then make short hops, and long pauses, with a twitch here and there.
And always keep contact with bottom, your line and jig.

You can pop it hard, just follow it back to the bottom with your tip, and be ready to set that hook!

Any kind of line movement, could be a strike, when in doubt, set that hook.

Most strikes will happen on the Fall, so always keep a close eye on your line as it sinks to the bottom.

A Bass can grab and spit that bad boy out before you even realize you missed a strike!

The Yum Dinger, can be fished many ways, as a jerk bait, finess, whacky rigged, placed on a ball jig, chatter bait (killer pike bait), or Dead sticking it.

Same as the jig, you must reach bottom, always watching that line for any signs of a strike on the fall, most will happen then.

But when the fish are in a negative mode, let it hit bottom, with long pauses between a pop, pop, pop, reel your slack line, and repeat all the way back to shore or
boat.

You can also add a small finish nail, or small screw to the butt of the dingers.
This will increase the fall rate, but not hurt the action.

Toss the dinger in 3′ of water and count it down till you reach bottom, then in deeper water you’ll have a better idea when it will reach the depth you want to fish.

Hope this helps Petru.
Good Luck and Tight Lines.

Rox



Took my green monster out on Monday 31st, to Rainbow Res. in Windsor Connecticut.On the water at 9:30am off 5:30pm.

Water temps were 64 to 67 degrees, strong winds, but I had my anchor to hold me in place. 

Here’s an update on my latest trip in my W500:
Hot humid (92 degrees) with slight winds.
I went to Rainbow Reservoir, it’s a dammed area of the Farmington river in Ct.
I headed down to some submerged trees in 26 Feet of water, pulled out the drop shot and started working it through the center of the tree, letting it drop fast to the bottom, and a little shake, pause, then I reeled up a few cranks, pause, shake.
As I moved the bait closer to the surface, I mean inches from the surface, the drop shot got slammed!!
A Tail walking Smallie, came up did 2 flips, but was put quickly in the net.

As I moved to the outside edge of the tree I dropped it down to 26′, paused, gave a little shake, wait, reel again 3 more cranks, pause, shake………………..BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Holy Cheese on Rice, one quick push with my paddle, and a well timed gust of wind, all my rod tip is doing is pumping down towards the water, my reels drag tighted as much as I dare, and they it all STOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR can’t reel, snagged or wrapped up on something, dropped my tip, pushed back with my paddle one handed, let the line slack just a little, then I felt movement………………………………free…………………up she comes with a Big Friggin Splash, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz my drag is screaming!!
Up again and does a flop on her side……………….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…., holding my rod tip high, finally gaining ground I get her near the surface then she digs in, straight for the Bottom, I just hold on, bow my rod into the water, and start reeling her in again, she is tired.
I get her close, scoup that net and She’s Mine!! YeeeeeeeeeeHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
20 1/2″ Long!!!!! 4.15 on my scale. Man if this fish was fat, she would have tipped 5lbs easy.
She was pretty beat up, not sure why, I quickly shot a couple of pictures, and held her lip to revive her, a quick flip and of
her tail, a splash right in my face, she swam away strong.
Wiping my face with a towel, and a big shiteating grin, I didn’t care if I caught another fish after that.
My hands were shaking so bad, I just had to stop and sit, and Smile!
Caught too many bass to count, hit the water at 11:00am and was off at 6:30pm.

No Back pain or Leg pain, 7 1/2 hours of pure fishing and paddling Heaven in my W500.

Tight Lines All
Rox




-”I had few great days of fishing in between storms, here in Connecticut.
1:30pm I started my trip on the Farmington River coves in Simsbury.
Water levels are way up, I only had to walk down half of the path to the water, launched the W500 right on the hill, just slid down in and off I went.
I started off with a small white chuckit frog, landed 3 bass right off the bat.”

“Headed down towards the Main arm of the Farmington River, stopped at some trees, picked off a couple more with the small chuckit frog.”

“Then I heard an osprey, and it sounded like it was fighting, I look up, and out of the trees comes a Bald Eagle attacking the Osprey.”

“This Eagle meant business, and was looking to kill this Osprey.
I got a video of it:”

-”I figured after watching this, I didn’t care if another bass came to hand, but the bite turned on.
I started pitching into the holes in the weeds, yum dinger t-rigged weightless, letting my bait sink and shaking it, while waiting for that tap.
I pulled 3 Bass up and out this way, nice chunky bass.”

-”While paddling I came upon some Monster Grass carp.
Here is a video of the encounter:”

-”I had to leave for an appointment, so I was off the water at 5pm.

Life is Good!

Tight Lines all
Rox”