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

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




Hi All,

Here’s a recap of Septembers W500 adventures.

I can’t believe September is come and almost gone.

Fall is approaching way to fast this year, maybe it’s because June and July, we were faced with rain, heavy rains.
I feel a little cheated this season, August was good to me, September was Outstanding.
Some of my best Small Mouth Bass fishing ever.
The Large Mouths were Pretty Great too. 
And a Bonus Pike.

I fished Rainbow Reservoir, and Weathersfield Cove, which is a Cove Off the Ct River.
Sad part is, Rainbow Reservoir has been Drained for Dam Repair, Last pictures I got were very bleak.

On September 11th:

While fishing in the Rain, prior to the draining of the lake.
I was thinking what 9/11 has done to our country, waiting for that next ball to drop!
But we got threw the day, no mishaps, and even a few bass came to hand.
I was only out for 3 hours.

On September 12th:

Today water levels low, no movement of water, wind was blowing one way,
I’d anchor up, but Mother Nature changed her mind, and would swing me in the other direction.
Thats okay, I can take what ever she had to dish out.

Sooooooo, She opened up the skies for me!!!
But today I was ready, and good thing, because I couldn’t hide under any trees, unless you beached and walked in ten feet to the trees.
My handy dandy tarp worked out great, kept me high and dry!!

Outside view of my weatherproof yak

Inside view of my weatherproof yak

A tree I found with the sonar in 20′ of water, was Lit up with a big School of smallies, but I could not hold position to fish them, the wind was whipping, and my Anchor wouldn’t hold me!!!
Time to upgrade the anchor!!!
So I paddled out to a fellow with his 2 sons, and told them to hit the tree that was sticking out, I told him to tie on some grubs and hang on.
Within 5 minutes, the boys where Screaming like Girls!!!!!!

I met them at the launch when I was leaving and loading my yak.
He came in Thanking me for making his sons day.
His boys and himself caught 18 smallies off that tree, and his youngest boy got the biggest Smallies. (his older brother was pissed)
His first and best ever was a solid 3lb smallie, then he landed a 5lb Smallie, his Dad was so Proud.
He shook my hand and thanked me saying, “I’ve never had anyone give me help on what to fish, let alone a spot like that to fish from, Ever”

It made my day to see how happy those boys were.

I got there at 10am and left at 6pm.

Life Is good!

Then the rest of my September, was outstanding, Last day I fished was the 21st.

My hard work had paid off, and the Bite was on with each trip.
The last trips I made were with the yak cart, they had closed the Parking lot at Rainbow, do to the draining, so it was an easy
walk down to the waters edge, but the walk back was All Up Hill!!!!
(in my best Roseanne Roseannadanna voice) “I Thought I was Gonna Die!!”

I’ve never landed so many Quality Small Mouth Bass, some over 3 pounds, and the Biggest went 4.3lbs, caught on my last trip, September 21st of the season.
She turned my W500 in a complete circle while I battled her, once she was in the net and I lifted her from the waters, I knew she was a big girl.
I include the release photos of this 4.3 pound Smallie.

All of this Brought to you by……………..The W500 and W300, best fishing Kayaks in the World.

I also included a Video of Rainbow Reservoirs Draining, I am heartbroken.

Hopefully they will have the repair done before the Ice comes.

Tight lines all, and Paddle Safe.
Rox

I finally took my new W500 to test up in the Michigan’s upper peninsula. Perfect weather awaited me as temps hit mid seventies and sunshine abounded for the three day trip. I logged plenty of fishing and paddling hours on the W500. I thought my original W300 was comfortable and stable, but for a guy my size the W500 is the perfect fit.

As always no yak-back was noticed. Tracking was great and paddling seemed even easier then the W300.
With the longer length it took a little more effort to turn in the river current but was well worth it do to the large amount of space to stretch out in and the added storage. I have not had the W500 out in rough water yet but if it handles similar to the 300 it should do great.
I am convinced that this is another winner. Great job Wavewalk, you have done it again.
I would suggest the W500 for anyone who is larger framed than the average.
The trip was great, however the rock bass moved in to the areas where I was catching walleye in June. I was never able to locate the walleye, however the small bass provided entertainment.

Friday I took a trip to a local lake. I decided to go through a channel that connects two lakes. I have been down the channel before with a regular boat but it would have been difficult to fish with the type of craft I was in. However I did see plenty of fish and I took notes of where the fish were holding in case I ever returned.
The W500 allowed me to sneak up and anchor just upstream from my first target with out being noticed. The first target was a boat dock on a bend in the channel which had a five to seven foot deep hole under it.
I started by fan casting one of my favorite lures a floating minnow. Three fan casts produced nothing. Then I decided to drift a leech into the hole. Bam, a nice largemouth broke the water and put up a tremendous fight in the current. Two more casts, two more fish. I got complacent, after all how many fish could this little hole hold?. My bad, I cast my forth cast and turned to adjust my anchor when a huge bucket mouth jumped and shed my hook into the air. I know what your thinking, yea the biggest fish of the day always gets away! Well it did.

One hour later and over twenty fish later I realized what a honey hole I had discovered, and thanks to the W500 I was able to stay stealthy and present the bait precisely where it had to go. It was obvious that these fish haven’t had a lot of pressure on them, they had no hook marks on their lips.

I proceeded down the channel which only averaged a foot deep, but I anchored before every bend and had success all day. I ran out of my three dozen leeches and called it a day after three exciting hours.
Who would of thought this little channel could hold all those fish and even some quality fish.
Light gear and current made the action fun. These are fish I would have not been able to catch with out the W500. Large mouth, small mouth bass, and pike were all caught and released. I want to be able to repeat this day again next year.

One photo shows some add-ons. Drink holder, rod holder, and paddle holder to hold net in front and easy to grab, this seemed to work out really well.
Thanks again for a great boat,
John


Read previous blog posts by John Fabina:

John’s Tiger-Camo W500

John’s review of his W300 fishing kayak

It’s time for another look at this style of bait and the rigging that works best.  I just got back from another of the McGovern family trips to Canada fishing Lake of the Woods.  As with the last three years, the Redfish Magic type lures caught the vast majority of the fish for everyone.  Even folks not in our group, who we had told about the lures years back, were using them with equal success.  It did not even matter what species of fish — northern pike, muskie, walleye, and smallmouth bass all succumbed to these baits.  If you have not tried this type of lure (especially if you live in the northern areas), don’t do it unless you are prepared to catch fish after fish.

I’ve gotten to the point where I build them as required from available rigging.  But if you chose to tear open a Redfish Magic and use it straight from the package, that’s fine too.  They are considered saltwater bait.  The original design is called a jig spinner.  The first of its type was the Beetle Spin, which you can read about in another article here on this site.  Redfish Magic was intended to be a heavy weight version to catch redfish in US coastal inshore waters.   It works very well as intended, but when you transition to freshwater, it works even better.  The lure is two sections: a jig spinner harness with a blade swivel combo, a safety pin type clasp, and then a jig head which attaches to the clasp.  The jig head can be adorned with a variety of trailers from plastic to bucktail.  You can vary the weight of the presentation by simply going to a lighter or heavier jig head.

Rigging properly gets the most out of this style lure.  I avoid the use of as much hardware as possible for this bait.  My preferred method of use is to tie a leader to my main line first.   Last week in Canada, it was 15 lb fluorocarbon for 8lb mono line and 20lb fluorocarbon for heavier lines.  The leader is attached to the main line using a four turn surgeon’s knot.  The lure is tied to the leader using a canoeman’s loop knot.  Both those knots can be found and explained here in this site, as well.  Most important, before tying on the lure, is to put a small section of 1/8 inch ID clear plastic tubing over the “R” bend of the shaft.  This creates a closed attachment loop and prevents the leader loop from sliding onto the shaft of the harness.  It also adds a movement or articulation point so the bait has more action in the water.  With zero hardware (metal leaders, snaps, and swivels), you will catch more fish.  The fluorocarbon leader is tough enough for even toothy fish like pike and muskie.

Our success with this type of lure and rigging is unbelievable.  When we introduce it to other anglers, they are a bit skeptical.  However, after they make the first attempt, they are solidly hooked.  What’s funny is how this usually happens.  We talk about the bait and even show pictures.  They smile and say “Hey, that’s great!” and give the lure to their kids to try first.  You know– too simple, only one hook, great for kids– all that sort of thing.  Then, on the first day with it on the water, they are right back casting their expensive baits with loads of gang trebles on them.  Of course, the kids are just catching fish right and left with Redfish Magics, while the adults pull in empty lures.  By about 10AM, and who knows how much bribery, everyone is fishing them.  When the group heads in for the day, the live well is full and there are some great shots in the camera.
For those of you reading this with a little skepticism, I understand.  The lure is cheaper than most and does not have flashy lights or a super realistic finish.  Put that aside and buy some–you won’t be disappointed. Follow the rigging instructions and make sure you have strong arms for all the pulling you will be doing.  The best places to find them in the south are places that sell saltwater tackle.  In the north, you can find them online in the saltwater lure sections of fishing gear stores and catalogs.

Jeff McGovern (c) 2009

More kayak fishing articles by Jeff

Jeff McGovern is in Canada with his family, on their annual fishing trip.

-”Here is a picture of my brother and I with the largest pike I have ever caught.  I would love to have battled this beast out of a W kayak.  The Emmrod I used is the one my brother is holding.”