Digs : Fishing Forum Posts

Another route you might look into is kayak bass fishing. While it might not be the big hit of a bass boat with the speed, storage and capability on demand, but hear me out here. You can get a very good kayak, outfit it and be on the water in the fraction of the cost of a bass boat, possibly even a used bass boat. As in all thing like this, there are advantages and disadvantages but all of those should be taken with a grain of salt as well.

With the boat, there are many advantages.
1. Speed-The bass boat gives the angler much more ground to cover in minutes over a kayak with minimal effort. The speed of a boat makes time management much easier in a tournament situation.
2. Storage-This goes with out saying, you can pack a ton more stuff on a bass boat over a kayak. You can do a lot more on a boat over a kayak as well like have a co-angler if the tournament you are fishing allows them.
3. Room to move-A boat has tons of room to move over a kayak as well. go out on your favorite lake on the weekend and see how many bass boats have upwards of 4 people fishing in them. I have seen them with a person on the front deck, one on the rear deck, and one in each seat. They still has room to get up and move around because of the size of the deck and stability of the boat.

There are some disadvantages to a bass boat as well.
1. Cost-A new bass boat alone can go for upwards of 80 grand. And that's just the boat it self. Now figure in the cost to outfit the boat proper (electronics, power poles if it doesn't have them already, and anything else that you might want to add to it). The cost in the first sentence is all the up front costs. Look a the fuel cost right now as well. I live in SW Pennsylvania, and fuel right now is around 5.15-5.25 a gallon, and that's jus for 87 octane. I don't know what bass boat uses fuel wise, but I would think that they could run high test, so basically, add a dollar a gallon. And don't forget about the maintenance of the boat and trailer.
2. Storage-You can put a ton of gear on a boat. Look at a pros set up. The rods, lures, terminal tackle and everything else that fits in the deck lockers, holders on the deck and anywhere else there is a place to stick something. With having all of that stuff, it could lead to analysis paralysis. This is why you hear of some of the pros parsing down what they carry.
3. Storage of the boat itself- This could lead to another cost if you live up north or in a colder climate of the country like I do. If you have a garage or your own building to put it in, then you can ignore this, but if you don't, then you have to find and rent a place to store it as well when it isn't in use, which is another cost on top of everything else.

Now there are some advantages to a kayak.
1. Cost-You can get a top of the line kayak at a small fraction of the price of a bass boat. I might be picking on Mike here a little bit, but you can get a MIRAGE PRO ANGLER 14 360 MIKE IACONELLI EDITION for 5,800 bucks. This is before tax and title on it as well, different states have different prices on that. Now that's less than 10% the cost of a bass boat, more specifically a fiber glass bass boat. You can add electronics, trolling motors, and other things to it, but with the money it frees up, isn't unattainable.
2. Accessibility- if you can get the kayak to a body of water, you can get it in the water with less issue than a boat. You don't need a launch for it, for one. This also frees up some bodies of water, more than likely smaller bodies, that you might not be allowed an engine or motor of any sort, including trolling motors, (I have a couple around me). These are bodies of water to look into since many of them will have way less fishing pressure on them. plus, you don't need a trailer to tote one around. Depending on how much stuff you put on it, they can be hauled in the back of a pick up or on top of your car you already have.
3. Storage-Might seem odd that I put this as an advantage, but with the limited storage you find you will only take what you need and fish your strengths. I'm not saying not to try new stuff either, but you have to kind of be picky and choosey on what you take with you and what you leave at home. This will also minimize analysis paralysis.
4. Storage of the Kayak-i know not everyone has a basement or garage, but if you do, they can be literally hung off the wall. If it fits in the door, you can probably find a place to put it.

There are disadvantages too.
1. Speed-They are much slower than a bass boat, so time management is much more crucial in a tournament situation. Unlike a boat that can go tens of miles in a short amount of time depending on conditions. A kayak, on the other hand, is only going to cover a mile or 2 in the same amount of time. You also have to factor in current, wind, waves and other factors that you wouldn't have to with a boat.
2. Storage-Just like a boat, it's a blessing and a curse. Lets face it. There are going to be points and times you wish you have more storage on a kayak. This isn't really a pro or con, just an it is what it s situation.
3. Power-YOU power a kayak, unless you have a trolling motor on it. That's also another reason why the range is limited over a certain amount of time. Human power can only go so fast on it's own.

As I said before, take all these pros and cons with a grain of salt and realize, if you can't make one thing happen, there are other things out there to get you out on the water.

I been away from bass fishing for over 25 years and getting back into it. Long story for another day why I walked away from it, but happy to be back. Now, I might be wrong in this, but I am taking the approach to this that I am starting from the bottom all over again. so far the one talk that I really took to heart so far is the Adversity is Dope by Brian Latimer. for anyone, especially anyone just starting, it is well worth a good listen because everything he talks about not only can be applied to bass fishing, but to life it's self.

But I have to credit Ike, Pete, Dave, and the rest of the Ike crew for rekindling my love for the sport.

Myself, I have a very strong prescription on my eyeglasses, so regular polarized sunglasses don't work for me. I went the clip on route. I have those in about 5 different colors so I can cover most conditions. Not trying to dissuade those that can use regular sunglasses, but for some of us, those aren't an option.

I recently got a 3/8 oz Yozuri knuckle bait in a Elite Mystery Tackle Box. Anyone here use one?

Heya Jason. This looks like a spinnerbaitish deal, but instead of a blade, it has a ball. Now I do have an older Mann's spinnerbait like deal that has a 3 part joints blade on it that doesn't spin but undulates. I use that one just like a spinnerbait, but I use it on fisheries that I know get a ton of spinnerbait pressure as an alternative. Seems to work and it has produced on lakes where a spinner quit producing.

I'll try to find the name of that Manns bait, the one I was talking about is made by Yozuri.

I love Gmans stuff. I watched them all multiple times. You are 100% correct in that, I am I have applied a tom of his PMA talks into my every day live with work, fishing and everything else.

Hey Jason. My email is digsoutdoors@gmail.com. Shoot me an email and I will send you pics of the Mann's bait and the knuckle bait.

You got that right. I will re-watch the PMA seminars when needed, sometimes for a refresher, sometimes for a laugh. For work, I'm a delivery driver on a dedicated route where i go to the same places every day. To go with that, I'm heading into the same issues with that in certain parts every day. Gotta love a 5 year long construction project LOL. So for that it's not so much that it won't happen again for a while, it' helps me to let it roll off my back easier. I guess in short, things like that are only as bad as your mind makes them out to be. That's where I struggle the most with it, dealing with construction, other drivers and other things out of my control.

Now out on the water, it's a totally different deal for me. I'm away from all of that so what ever happens is all good whether I catch them or not. I'll be totally honest here, I only caught 4 fish this year, and one of them was a catfish. Not feeling bad about that at all because that was 4 more fish then I had over the last 25 years when I walked away from it (very long story). So with all that being said, next year I will be hopefully heading into my first season of local kayak tournaments.

I went through the same thing with my photography. I had a business doing that for about 8 years. I would do tractor pulls, barrel races, some drag races and car and tractor shows. Well, the hours started to get to me for one, I was working 60 hours a week at the day job and putting almost that much time in on the side with the photography side hustle. Then add in the fact that most wanted something for nothing and well, you can't run a business like that. So I stopped that when the burnout set in big time. I'm slowly getting back into that, but on my own terms, not going to try to make a business out of it anymore.

back to the fishing side of things, I been on 4 different bodies of water this year, mostly fun fishing and dialing in techniques. Only one of those day did I actually take it some what serious, which is the day I caught the 3 other bass. That was a tournament simulation, not even a practice. On the water at 6:45 AM and done at 2:45 PM. I did that just to see if I could hack it. I learned a ton that day. Best part of that was, I don't have any electronics for the kayak, yet. That coming over the winter LOL. But I did use sight and sound to dial in where they were and started catching them. They were about 150 yards off shore on a grass flat busting bait fish on the surface in the troughs of the grass. This is that point and time I proved to my self, I can catch them. so I'm calling that a very productive day.

Thank you Jason, this helps immensely.

I set 3. The first is learn, constantly learn. I know as bass fisherman, that what we do, but I'm trying to glean as much as possible at every opportunity. Second is do at least one thing fishing related every day. I already got the new and bigger crate for my kayak stocked and organized as well as a couple other minor things. Last one is I want to learn how to make my own lures. Last one might seem a bit lofty, but I see it as a way to better understand how they work and to fish them more effectively.

Heya Jason. I hear ya there, watched and learned a ton so far. Been away from bass fishing for a long time (long story), but came back into it this past May. Many things from my time in it before stayed the same, yet many other have changed, morphed or are totally new. I put myself back into a position of a total newbie whose learning curve is literally a wall. Not impossible, but extremely steep none the less.

Now with the bait making, well let just say I'm doing a few hard baits, like jerkbaits and cranks that are normal, and some others that are totally experimental. Not saying any of it is going to be revolutionary, but might offer another option to the angler. That in it's self will be a whole litany of trial and error, but well worth the time and effort if it does work.

I'm going to be doing the same thing this year. I'll take day to day notes and when I get home, put them all in a spreadsheet on the computer. I also like the idea of what didn't work. Whether it was the wrong pattern, wrong time of year, or just the wrong lure. It would be a learning tool as well.

I watched that having not had a real system for my gear, and let me tell you, I have a whole new outlook on it now. What really struck me is how modular it is. I actually adopted that system to my kayak. I'm using 3600 series Plano boxes right now (Going to switch to the same sized Flambeau boxes over this year). The pack I am looking at for bank fishing uses that size as well. I can pull the boxes I want to use from my kayak crate and use them in the pack, then put them back in when I am done. I'm sure many of the top anglers use a system close to that on their own boats too. If you haven't watched it, Ike gives a ton of good advice on just the gear organization and how to set it up well before hitting the water. The fishing action is great too. I think many of us totally for get about bank fishing and creek wading once we have a way to get out on the water (guilty as charged here). Give it a watch, it gives great advice and plenty for thought.

I'll be keeping an eye on this.