When Your Stuck to the Bank

       About the middle of October, our lives changed drastically when I was hit head on by a small compact car and it totaled out my Nissan Xterra which we had used for carrying our Kayaks to fish for the past four years.  As most of you know, it's not  only a lifestyle for us, it's in our blood now; we are addicted.  So without a truck, what is a fella to do?  Hit up some smaller rivers and travel the banks, rocks, and even wade the shallow waters for some surprisingly large bass in such small waters.

      We fish a small unnamed river that flows into a lake, that at places, is barely as wide as a two lane road.  It's about waist deep on average and there are a few holes and pockets inside the shoals we wade that are a little deeper.  But we find most of the year, the big spots, shoal bass, and occasional largemouth are in the shallowest, fastest water we can find inside those shoals.  

    The gear I recommend for small flows like this would be one versatile rod, that had a medium action with some give to the tip and at least a length of 6.5-7ft.  That sounds long for wade fishing, but when a 4lb spotted bass grabs your swim bait on the end of a 50 yard cast, you need a long rod to drive the hook home.  I use a Dobyns 765 CB GLASS for this type of fishing.  It lets me throw anything from jerk baits, which are my all time favorite shallow water lure, small swim baits, spinnerbaits, top waters and more.  

      Now as for lures, the one's mentioned above are my main aressenal and I almost never slow down to plastics because in small flows, there are just less baitfish for the bass and usually less pressure so that makes for some extra aggressive, big spotted bass and shoal bass.  I caught a shoal bass from the one lane wide, creek/river you see above that weighed 4lbs 1oz and was only 18.5" long.  She was fat and pregnant, and wanted my Suspending Rogue like it was crack for an addict.  

4lb 1oz Shoal Bass

    I usually use those oh so stylish, "fanny packs" that have double water bottles on them.  You can get them at Walmart for really cheap and it comes with the two 24oz water bottles that fit on your sides like two six shooters.  This works great for a drink in one and an extra spool of line in the other.  Then you can fit your assortment of jerk baits, spinnerbaits and occasional soft plastics (just in case ;) etc.  I find the suspending jerk bait to be the deadliest of all the tactics I have tried for these small water bass but have caught some pigs using my 5" Bullshad also.  Sometimes they just swipe at it though, because it's a little large to represent the forage in this river but at least that shows me where they are and I can come back and get them to eat that jerk bait when it suspends in their face.   

     So try some small water wading when you find yourself stuck without a vehicle, you might just be surprised at the size of bass that can live in 2-3ft of water annually.  These fish are trapped in this area and live here year round.  So they are accustomed to the fast water and feeding even in cooler temperatures.  Don't be afraid to give that small flow a shot that's down the road from your house.  You may just catch a few of these weirdo's, like this spot and shoal bass hybrid.

By the Grace of God, My Seat Belt, and Air Bags, I am Alive!

I was on my way home Wednesday evening around 5:00, heading south on Hwy 42 towards Jackson when a lady decided to pull out in front of my truck right as I was passing.  As you guys know, the laws of physics don't allow for two objects to occupy the same space at the same time, well to say the least we collided with such force that all I remember is seeing her black car, then the air bag exploded and I slammed on brakes.  I ended up going straight off to the left side of the highway and I guess she spun around and ended up in the middle of the road.  It happened so fast I never even had a chance to hit my brakes before hitting her so I was full on going 55-60mph when I hit her.  The speed limit is 55 on that stretch.  I couldn't get the driver door opened, so I rolled out the passenger side and got away from the truck in case of fire or anything like that.  All I knew was my face hurt, I was dizzy as heck, and the cabin of my truck was full of the smoke from the air bag going off.  I thank God, I came out of the wreck with only sore muscles and a sore neck. One little tiny nick on my right knee and a little split on my nose, That was it.  I swear all my vehicles will be a Nissan from this day forward!

Well, the lady admitted to the cops that it was all her fault. She was okay also, except she had a banged up wrist.  Red nose like me but she was more worried I was going to sue her than anything I think. But it was her fault, So hopefully there won't be any problems from here on out getting a new vehicle.  I am just glad I can see another sun rise and that both parties involved were okay. We both walked away from what could have easily killed both of us.  Thank GOD.  That's for sure!

My First True Kayak Sleigh Ride

My buddy Johnithan, my wife Rachael and I all went down to a spot on a river where there are several sets of shoals on your way upriver to a spillway.  I was in my new Jackson Cuda and Rachael was in her Coosa.  Well, we hadn't checked with the dam operater of the lake above where we were and just so happened that right when we get to the spillway, about a mile padle up, there are no exposed rocks below it.  This confused me only for a split second because it was supposed to have exposed rocks with pools to fish for our beloved shoal bass but there was only one limb sticking out of the water below this spillway.  I said to Johnithan and Rachael, "Guys, I think they just released on us!!!!"  Not knowing it at the time, but found out afterwards they rose the river 8ft while we were out there. 

So I see a couple of tunnel hull boats pull up that somehow made it up those initial shoals with a ton of water coming over them.  Then something clicked in my head........STRIPED BASS go nuts when water is released and these guys were there just for this particular event.  So I paddle up to the fastest, biggest shute on the spillway that had maybe 4-7ft swells at the bass of the first major shoal after the spillway.  I had a prototype 8" bullshad that I am testing and it is a faster sinking bait than the normal slow sink, don't ask to buy them from Bull Shad.com though, he isn't offering lures in heavy sink right now.  Well, to shorten this story some I will get back to it.  I heaved the 8" bait up into the fastest water out there and all I could do was reel just barely fast enough to keep up with the lure, I wasn't actually swimming it back.  First cast and WHAM!!!!  My rod almost is ripped out of my hands and then what looked to be a 30lb striper came to the top and instantly came off. Meanwhile the fellas in the boats hadn't hooked anything yet, and who says you can't catch big striper on artificial baits?

So next cast to the exact same spot and this time when I set the hook I know it's into something special.  The fish immediately tore off down river turning my yak and peeling line.  Funny side not, my wife actually asked did I need the net and it's one of those smallest you can get bass nets...so I just crack up and say, "You won't fit any part of this fish in that net, try and hook you one!!"  Then I had to get serious because I was fighting a fish so big that it just easily peeled 25lb Trik Fish Camo mono off a Shimano Corsair even when I tightened down on the drag.  At one point, maybe five minutes into the fight, the fish was at least 125yrds away from my kayak.  At this point I still haven't even seen the fish and I have floated down out of the crazy super fast water down to just crazy fast water.  There was one major tree laying out in the middle of the river that even with the high water you could still see one limb.  The bass made a run for that and this is when I finally just pinned the spool with my thumb and began to turn the fish.  It worked as I had made the fish come to the surface and turn directions, so it began running back the other way across the river.  I felt a little better at this point because I could fight the fish in an open deeper area. 

After, what I would say was a solid 5-10 minutes, the fish begins to tire and makes two more short 20-30 yard runs.  I then get it right beside my kayak and notice that only one prong of the back treble hook is barely still stuck in the outside of the gill plate.  One small head shake, one more run, or maybe a slight breeze and this fish would have been gone.  Big dilemma at point since my Bogo Grips where still back home on my Coosa and I had to somehow lip this fish without pulling that last prong  out.  I couldn't get it's head close enough with my left hand using the pole while I reached out with my right hand so I finally grabbed the line, pulled the fish a little closer and shoved my thumb into this River Monster's mouth.  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  YEEEEEAAAHHH BBBBOOOYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" ----came out of my mouth as I stood up trying to figure out what to do with this beast since I still had no fish grips or even a stringer at this point.  Luckily though Rachael was able to pull up just in time for me to hook the fish to her grips so we could get it to land and take a few pics and try to get a length....lol  30" board didn't help with this fish, needed a bigger one.  The fish would have easily gone 15-17" past the end of the 30" board.  The adrenaline rush from that sleigh ride was the hardest I think my adrenaline has ever flowed and was a high like no other.

This is when I first lipped the beast and was trying to figure out what I was going to do.

I never got a true weight on the fish but my guess was between 35-40lbs as I could barely hold it with one hand, heck I could barely hold it with two.  Was quite and experience and the ride back down those initial shoals was pretty whicked....fun that is!

Post Spawn Top Water Tactics for Big Spots

There is a time after the bass lay their eggs in early May when the fishing can be very funny and confusing. Fish won't be active enough to hit a swim bait yet but will crush a properly worked top water bait. So the question is what type of top water to use. I believe the fish aren't quite ready for pop r type baits or buzz baits, but something like lucky craft Sammy or a Zara spook can be deadly. I got onto this pattern when I was fishing and I saw a bass after a small 2 ft snake. The bass must have tried six times before it finally engulfed the snake and took it under. Well a spook or Sammy looks just like a snake when walked across the water. So I tied on a lucky craft Sammy And began working it, even though the sun was bright. There was a slight chop on the water and I believe this always makes a top water bite better. It was the first week of May, the fish are all off their beds but just not into that summer feeding pattern yet. I began walking that sammy out around wood in some slacker water when it was crushed by a huge spotted bass. The fish was fat, right at four pounds even and the tail was tore up. She had layed her eggs, but just recently.

I have found the best retrieve is to walk the lure back and forth a few times after it lands then pause it. The strike usually comes on the pause. This is how I will work the bait back until it's almost to the kayak and I have had strikes within feet of the boat. Sometimes it takes giving the bait more action to work the fish into hitting the bait. The cloud cover you have can always help a top water. This pattern also works on bright blue bird days as long as there is a slight breeze or chop on the water. Current also helps the bite but isn't neccesary. So next time your out on a funny post spawn bite and you can't get the fish to feed, try tossing a top water bait at them and you might be surprised.