Cast and Blast Float Trip

I went out Saturday morning hoping to jump shoot some ducks on a creek I have always wanted to check out. I knew for the most part the depth didn’t get deeper than 3 foot so I figure I was pretty safe going alone. I thought about seeing if anyone wanted to go along but feared if I did not see anything it would be a waste of time. Just in case I threw in a casting rod with some tubes in case the fish were biting.

Long story short there was not blasting and the casting was for nothing. I did not see any ducks and the fish didn’t like what I was offering. The creek was very cool looking though. The camera did not make it into my pack so I did not get any pictures. It has a few good looking pools that I will check out again. I did not make it very far downstream after having to deal with a log jam. I wasted about thirty minutes trying to get around it. It had the creek blocked totally and the only way through it was to go around. The bank was steep at the point adding to the problem but I made it around without getting wet. The trip was not a total waste since I found another place to fish this spring.

Fall Fishing

Saturday was the opening of muzzleloader season here in TN. I wanted to go but I had to be home by around 10. I figured if I did get one by the time I took care of it my curfew would have passed so I went fish on Couchville Lake for a couple of hours. It was really foggy and pretty cold. The water temp was around 53. I ended up catching a couple and had a pretty good time. I am starting to get the hang of Couchville which has been my arch nemesis.  It is pretty close to my house but I have not had much luck fishing there. Putting a depth finder on the NuCanoe has really helped.

Well I have not posted in a while. It has not been for lack of things I just got lazy I guess so here is an update on the last couple of months.

Back at the beginning of August I caught the biggest bass I’ve caught from a kayak. I was supposed to meet up with a buddy to go fishing that morning on the Stones. He had a new baby so sleep kept him from making it. The day was pretty slow until I caught this bass.

It made up for the big one that got away in June but I don’t know if this one was a big as the one that got away. I guess I’ll never know.

My buddy Geoff started a webpage for Tennessee Kayak Anglers http://www.tennesseekayakanglers.com/ . It has a blog page along with a forum. There is also quite a bit of info on kayak fishing. Stop by and take a look if you get a chance and feel free to join.

I made it fishing in August, September, and October a couple more times but nothing to brag about happened.

On October 24th Blake and Deanna with NuCanoe stopped b y Nashville on the NuCanoe Frontier tour. I had a blast catching up with then and the Frontier is awesome.

I like my NuCanoe 10 foot but I will be getting a Frontier. I had no trouble standing up. I am 6'5" and weight around 250. Tracking was good, fishing platform was good, and stability was great. At one point Jeremy and I both got in and while we did take on some water from the scuppers I still felt comfortable.

Would I fish two men from the Frontier probably not. Would I take my wife or daughter out yes. The only thing I saw that could be an issue was the rod locker. I fit my 6'8" pole in but it was tight. A 7' rod my have trouble but since I don't have any 7' poles it will not matter to me.
Check out the review from Yakangular.com to read more about it http://www.yakangler.com/articles/reviews/boat-reviews/item/1282-review-nucanoe-frontier-12-pre-production .

 

6-27-2011 Stones River

I got to go fish the Stones River with Blake and Deanna Young from NuCanoe today. We started out trying to fish the Caney Fork but with generation it did not work. Sunday was the original plan but rain messed us up so it ended up being Monday.

 It was a day of highs and lows. The highs are I put around 42 inches of bass in the boat. The lows are I did not put my fishing partners on any fish and I had the biggest bass I’ve ever had hooked get off at the kayak. I forgot my net and tried to horse it in to the kayak by grabbing the line. As soon as a grabbed the line the bass shook the hook. I don’t know how big it was but it would have been a personal best by far. I thought it was a carp at first. That fish will haunt me. I did catch a couple of 15 inch bass and a couple of 12- 13 inch bass.

The weather was great and if I could have spent more time I think I could have hooked a few more. I tried out the new swivel seat and the kayak cart. Both worked great. I can not say enough great things about my NuCanoe.  As most folks will say no kayak is perfect but I really like mine.

6-18-2011 Caney Fork

I got a chance to hit the Caney Fork for some trout fishing with a buddy up the street. I hoped to use the float to pre scout the river for next weekend if I get a chance to float with some folks from NuCanoe. The weather started out fairly nice partly cloudy but ended up in a thunderstorm.

 It was a 5 mile float which was awesome and the NuCanoe was a blast to fish out of.

We launched around 7 in the morning and finished around noon with a 1 hour delay on the side of the river in the pouring down rain and thunder and lighting. I caught a little bream on a trout magnet to start the day. Next a hooked into a 12" brown trout.

Around 8 they started generating with one gate and the river picked up for around an hour. During that time the fishing wasn't too good because of me not really knowing how to float and fish at a fast rate. Once the generation slowed down a switched to a Little Cleo and caught a couple that got off at the boat.

I had a good rainbow hooked but he shook free at the boat. That will teach me to use a net. I landed one more brown trout about 14" and then the clouds got dark and I started paddling like I heard banjo music.

We pulled over on the bank for about an hour and let the thunder and lighting pass.

After the lighting passed we hit the water for the last quarter mile stretch.

We ended up not fishing the last part of the river trying to bet the storm and get off the water once the lighting passed. I landed 2 browns and 2 bream. I had another brown and a rainbow shake the Little Cleo at the boat. I think I figured it out right before the rain so next time I hope to do a little bit better. We saw beavers, minks, and all kinds of birds. All in all it was a blast.





Alli's First NuCanoe Trip

This morning I finally got Alli out on the NuCanoe. Going out with her was one of the main factors in me buying a NuCanoe. We only had about 45 minutes to fish after searching for a place to buy crickets .I decided to fish at one of the boat launch ramps on Percy Priest.

 Her first cast she hooked up with a fish. I had to adjust the drag on the Princess reel but she finally mad some headway on the fish. She ended up catching a 10" small mouth. This was here first offical fish caught and her first on the Nucanoe. Mather of fact it was the first smallmouth ever landed in the NuCanoe.

She ended up catching 3 bream and the small mouth.

 Within 5 minutes she was asking for a snack. I had the covered so we were good. She enjoyed getting crickets out of the tube but by the end of the trip I had about 20 running around the NuCanoe. All in all today was a good day.

White Bass

I made it out for a couple of hours after work on Tuesday. The Stones was way up because of all the rain. The day was great weather besides the 20 + mile another winds. I removed the skunk that has been following me for the last couple of short trips but it was white bass that removed it. First cast I caught a white bass and then one more shortly after that. After two I tried to move on to catch some bass but they did not like my offerings. All in all the trip was fun but I did take a dip in the water trying to get a crank bait that broke off. I thought it was shallow and when I reached for the bottom my legs kept going up to my waist. I did manage to stand up in the NuCanoe which was pretty neat. I wanted to get some video but the battery died. Here is a short one.

Birmingham Blown Out

Well my post of the Birmingham River/bassin Tournamnet will have to wait. After the NuCanoe and I drove down in the rain and the rain won. All of area was blown out and unfishable. The tournament was postponed and will have to be rescheduled. It was cool meeting some of the RiverBassin Forum members but it was not cool not getting to fish.

RiverBassin Tournament

Well last minute I got a chance to fish the Birmingham RiverBassin Tournament. I have been lucky enough to hook up with a guy from Nashville who seems to be way ahead of me as far as fishing and scouting out spots. Weather looks rough tomorrow but Staurday should be nice. I'll post a long entry about the event. Stay tuned.

2/27/2011 Skunk

I made it out this morning but did not catch any. We had a pretty good rain Thursday night so all of the rivers around middle TN were high. I decided to fish on Percy Priest lake. I was only out for two hours but didn't have much luck. I was racing to get home to help out the wife when I realized while loading my boat up I forgot my milk crate with my lures. It wasn't all of my lures but it was around $75-$100 dollars of stuff I did not want to replace. I walked in the door realized I forgot it and took back off for the 20 minute ride to see if someone decided to pick up my crate. After the 20 minute ride trying to come up with excuses on why I need to go spend money replacing stuff that I was dumb enough to leave behind I saw my stuff sitting on the boat ramp. I had big plans on showing off my new camera mount and video mount with monster fish but it didn't work that way. Instead here are pictures of the set up. I got my idea for the mounts from a video from on of the guys on RiverBassin. Thanks Paw Paw.

2-21-2010 Stones River

I made it out today and tested out the NuCanoe. It went great. I was comfortable for the 4 hour trip and the fish decided they liked the YUM grub.

Temp: 60s

Weather: Overcast

Wind: 15-20 mph

Water: Did not get a reading but I could stand in it.

I ended up catching a 16" largemouth about 5 minutes into the trip. The next fish was only about 12". After that the day was sight seeing bacuse the fish did not want what I had.

The river was down because the lake is at winter pool. There is a lot of brush that looked good. Next time I'll take an ultralight to check for crappie.

Here is my NuCanoe setup.

 I'm adding a camera and a video mount. I'll post pictures later.

Until next trip.

Well winter seems to have let up a bit and I’m looking to hit the water. I recently bought a 10’ NuCanoe and plan on hitting the river soon. I spent last weekend setting up the NuCanoe, cleaning up the reels, organizing the tackle, and wishing I was on the water. This year I plan on fishing the Stones River, Whites Creek, Mill Creek, Caney Fork, Mansker Creek, and the Harpeth River. I also have trips planned to the Buffalo River for some early spring small mouth fishing. I plan on using this blog to keep up with my fishing reports and post pictures and videos. If time allows I will also fish as many of the RiverBassin Tournaments as possible.  Here is a link to 2011 RiverBassin Tournament Trail http://www.riverbassintrail.com/ .