Caney Fork June 18th

Blake from NuCanoe e-mailed about a month ago to let me know that the Frontier Tour would be coming through and he wanted to go fishing. I am always up for meeting up with Blake to fish so I was ready to go. He wanted to try the Caney Fork which is cold water below the Center Hill dam and is a pretty good trout river. We tried to fish it last year but the generation schedule had us messed up. This year things looked better so the trip was planned.

We floated from Happy Hollow to Betty's Island. It ended up being Blake, James from Team NuCanoe and my buddy Jamie floating with me. The day was close to perfect with weather in the high 80s. The water was super clear because of lack of rain. We saw tons of fish and some really big ones. I ended up catching a couple of bream, a brook trout, and a 13" rainbow.

 I hoped for many more fishing but today was not the day. All in all it was a awesome day for fishing and floating. I hope to get back soon to catch one of those big Stripers I saw in one pool.

May 20th Old Hickory Lake

I made it out Sunday morning for a quick trip on Old Hickory Lake. The water temp is already in the mid 70s so summer is here. The top water frog bite was not happening so I tried some other things. I switched over to a chatter bait and picked up a little 13” bass before deciding to try a spot I had always looked at but never paddled to.

After a mile paddle to the spot it looked like the area I bought my Frontier for. It was really shallow and I know no bass boat could make it back to it. We are low on rain for the year so normally this area would have more water but for the time being it was only around 3 foot deep in the deepest parts. I picked up a couple of 12”-14” bass on a wacky worm but more important I found a spot that needs to be looked at again. This area will be awesome if the lake comes up some. I did not catch anything on the frog but this spot is made for it.

I did not get any pictures and I wished I did. The fish were not that impressive but the day was. I bought some stuff to mount my camera but still need one part. I am just about completely rigged up on the NuCanoe Frontier getting ready for my June 18^th trip with NuCanoe down the Caney Fork.

Crappie

Sunday afternoon I set out in the Frontier to find some crappie after hearing everyone talk about the bite being so good. The spot I ended up at was on Percy Priest I fished in college but I had not been back since then. The weather was pretty close to perfect in the 70s with a water temp of around 67-68. The only bad thing was the wind which blew around 10 mph. After wasting a couple of hours catching bream and trying to catch bass without much luck I finally got on some crappie. They were off the exposed brush in about 12 foot of water.  I ended up catching 6 with 3 keepers before time to go. Too bad it took me so long to figure out the pattern or I would have had a mess of them before time to go.

Maiden Voyage

I finally got the NuCanoe Frontier out. The day started out with me getting to the boat ramp around 8:45 and 35°. After 30 minutes of rigging my poles and messing with setting up the Frontier I was off. Fishing started off slow but I hooked a 13” largemouth about 2 hours in so the skunk was gone and the Frontier had its first fish.

I was seeing fish on the depth finder but they didn’t want what I had to offer. After that I was seeing fish on the depth finder but they didn’t want what I had to offer. I didn’t get anything else so I moved spots. It was getting late in the day so I switch over trying to catch some crappie. I landed a couple of bream and a small bass. I figured I’d finish the day off trying get another bass and that I did. I caught a bass just over 20” which is my biggest bass from a kayak this far.

To top it off I caught it on a pole I had just completed wrapping on Friday. The day was good. It could have been great if I would have tried my second spot first and tried for bass only.

Let me know if you have any questions or if I can get a picture of something I missed.

Kevin

NuCanoe Frontier

I got my new kayak on Monday. It is a NuCanoe Frontier. I tested it out when Blake and Deanna with NuCanoe were passing through TN on the NuCanoe Frontier Tour. So far I am keeping things pretty simple as far as rigging but will go with four Mighty Mounts in the spaces provided.

Close up of the Might Mount which I will use either for Rod Holders, light,flag or camera pole.

Besides that I will add an anchor trolley but everything else will be on the track system provided for the seats.

I have to get some pretty pictures outside but for now here are the messy garage pictures.

I am going to Tube rod holders on Ram Ball Mounts that can either go track system or Might Mount.

Mighty Mounts up front.

Mighty Mounts in back.

Fish Finder on Ram mount on 1" ball. Can be used on track system or Might mount.

I hope this weekend to get it mostly rigged up and get some better pictures.

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.