Learning

[Kwellsted]

So I fished my first Tournament Saturday... Learned a lot.... Realized I needed to learn a lot more. I so far have 3 confidence baits, Shakey head, Texas Rigged worm, and a Jig. I am Semi-Confident on a Drop Shot setup. I have fished it a couple of times and was successful those times.

A little back story.. The tournament was held at Rocky Mountain Public Fishing Access near Rome, GA. It was hosted by TVKA (Tennessee Valley Kayak Anglers). I had a great time. Appeared I was accepted by everyone I talked to, even though I did more listening than talking. There was a big Shad die off and no one out of 29 Kayakers landed a fish. There were some reported bites but no pictures of fish on a bump board..

This got me thinking. If I am going to fish, I need to get better, I need to be able to read the water better, and I need to learn some new techniques.

Learning the water will just take time out on the water and cannot be teached all that well.

My Question is if you know how to fish a Shakey Head, Texas Rigged worm and a Jig. What would be your next technique to learn? Why?

Thanks
Kevin.

 

[Mikie9]

Where the fish are

 

[gobigorange]

Spinnerbait or crankbait

 

[Kwellsted]

I'd like to learn Crankbait Techniques. Why would you learn that?

 

[stuckinthetrees]

Your fishing all your baits on bottom. Topwater, crank baits, jerk baits should be you next steps. Fish more than one water column. There is a top middle and bottom. Your only fishing the bottom. Get you some square bill 1.5 crank baits a few Kvd jerks some zoom superflukes and some frogs. The jig can also be swam through the middle and burned below the surface and is a very deadly bait. My best advice to give you is learning seasonal patterns and what fish do throughout the year. That will also help you with bait selection more than anything.

 

[rusty50576]

If 29 other people also struck out, it must have been a tough day

 

[FishingwithRusty]

seasonal patterns/baits=winter:arig, jerkbaits, flat cb and a lipless

 

[JEEPnFISH]

I'm going to buy a portable depth finder for my kayak this year. I hope that helps me.

 

[VolsFan24]

I would focus on spinnerbait/chatterbait.

JEEPnFISH: i added a fish finder to my sit on top kayak without any drilling. I would get a 5” model if you can. Thats what I got and really liked it.

 

[JEEPnFISH]

It will have to be portable. I have to transport upside down on my jeep.

 

[Kwellsted]

I’m leaning toward crankbait, jerkbait and chatterbait.

Jeep: I put a hook4 on mine. The fish finder comes off the base and I mount my kayak upside down on a ladder rack on my work van. It’s a transit connect

 

[31airborne]

+1 on spinnerbait and crankbait. Recommend adding a jerkbait. All of these can be worked easily from a 'yak.

As for learning the water, spend some time looking at contour maps. Tons of stuff on line. If they make a fishing map for your lakes buy them. A basic understanding of structure and depth can go a long way to changing the outcome. Also recommend spending some time on line looking at old reports and game&fish dept studies to get a feel for fish - predator and bait - populations. Understanding these will help make better choices for baits.

 

[Kwellsted]

Thanks everyone I have picked my next setups to learn and will put them to use soon

 

[churly]

you need to understand the fundamental difference between warm and cold water fishing. Cold water bass move slower and feed less. The cold water forage also moves slower. Fish tend to use vibration in cool water and ambush prey, where as in warm water they rely on sight and are more willing to pursue the baits.