Big River 5-8-14 Brown's Ford To Merrill Horse

[moguy1973]

I might need the rod holder since my kayak is the regular sit in type. Might be too much of a pita to try to pull the rod out from the bottom every time I'm ready to fish. Though it certainly would be hard to lose when I got it in there.

As far as the anchor, so what's the basic method to river fishing out of a kayak then? I imagined something like paddling up to a slow backwater portion of the river or something, lowering the anchor and casting around to where you can get to, then pull up the anchor and rinse and repeat someplace else with reasonably calm water. Otherwise I don't see how I'd even have the time to pick up the rod, while paddling just to stay in place.

A lot of it is positioning. Getting the kayak in position before you get to an area, usually facing 45 degrees to the bank headed down stream and then picking up your rod and casting. All depends on the current too. Takes a lot of coordination to hold the rod in one hand and the paddle in the other to get into a new position. If I pass a place too quickly I spin around and head back up stream and fish it over again if the current isn't too strong. Or I'll get out on a sand bar and fish from the bank if I want to cover an area more completely.

[Mitch f]

I might need the rod holder since my kayak is the regular sit in type. Might be too much of a pita to try to pull the rod out from the bottom every time I'm ready to fish. Though it certainly would be hard to lose when I got it in there.

As far as the anchor, so what's the basic method to river fishing out of a kayak then? I imagined something like paddling up to a slow backwater portion of the river or something, lowering the anchor and casting around to where you can get to, then pull up the anchor and rinse and repeat someplace else with reasonably calm water. Otherwise I don't see how I'd even have the time to pick up the rod, while paddling just to stay in place.

Just take a canoe trip with Al Agnew and watch. I think he anticipates what's going to happen and makes a slight adjustment, that way the canoe is always going straight. You will greatly increase the number of casts, and that equals more water covered and more fish caught. I wait too long to adjust and end up only getting one or two casts before I crash into the rootwad I was trying to fish.

[Gavin]

Al gets in 3 casts to my one or two. Just gotta do it and learn.

[Al Agnew]

A lot of it is experience, and using a single blade canoe paddle helps because you can use it with one hand without laying your rod down, and actually make very precise positioning strokes. With a double bladed kayak paddle, you CAN use it one-handed after a fashion, but you can't do but a fraction of the strokes you can do with a single blade.

But there are some tricks. Always plan ahead. Keep an eye out ahead and pick out the spots you REALLY want to fish before you get to them. Then, read the current and position your boat ahead of time so that it will be drifting on the right line and not heading straight for the spot you want to fish. Also learn to pick out eddies and anything else that you can use to slow or stop the craft to allow you to fish. You'll learn to use the current to your advantage. And as Mitch says, pay attention to boat control before the boat gets out of control. You'll feel it just barely start to turn, and that's when you make a corrective stroke. If you wait until it's really beginning to spin, you'll end up having to work yourself to death getting it straight again. I've watched guys who wanted to get in one more cast before they corrected the boat position, and by the time they fished that cast they were turned around backwards and had to paddle like crazy to get turned back around. One slight corrective stroke about two casts before that one, and they could have fished that cast and another one or two before making another slight corrective stroke.

[Haris122]

Good information, thanks. I'm going to try out my first several kayak fishing trips at some local lakes first, and then head out on the river. See what that brings me.

[shawncat]

nice'n!

[joeD]

Great fish moguy1973. But, please explain. You caught your personal best smallmouth, yet you wouldn't do that stretch again? Makes no sense. That fish was there for a reason. As are others like her.

You should reconsider.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Nice fish and report, Jim.

Heading down to the Big tomorrow. Hope the topwater bite is on and this cold doesn't screw it up.

[moguy1973]

Great fish moguy1973. But, please explain. You caught your personal best smallmouth, yet you wouldn't do that stretch again? Makes no sense. That fish was there for a reason. As are others like her.

You should reconsider.

That's true Joe.

Were there other fish like that in that strech? Probably, just weren't biting for me that day. I just happened to get lucky and get stuck on that log which allowed me to fish that area a bit more than if I were blowing through it with only a few casts. It really was a surprise catch with the fish hitting on the retrieve like it did.

Maybe if I hadn't of spent the time to paddle up like I did, had someone else to shuttle that stretch with and only float down I could have concentrated on the "good" sections more. It just seemed like the farther up river I went, the better the water and fish holding spots became, even though I didn't catch that fish until halfway back down river. Maybe someday I'll do that section again, just not the next time I do the Big. I'd like to do all the sections of all the rivers some time in my life, just have to pick and choose when those times will be.

[moguy1973]

Nice fish and report, Jim.

Heading down to the Big tomorrow. Hope the topwater bite is on and this cold doesn't screw it up.

Hopefully there isn't as much crap on the top of the water like there was when I was there. Lots of maple tree seeds on top that fouled my WTD lures.