It's All About to Change

As I write this post, it's Tuesday night and I'm sitting in a motel room in New Johnsonville, TN, near the shores of Kentucky Lake.  I drove up here earlier today for KBF National Championship weekend.  This is what all the obsessive studying, video watching, reading and fishing over the last year has led up to.  Now I get a couple of days to practice for the Big Show.  I finished  91st out of 230 anglers last year, and I'm ready to try and make a big improvement this year.

I have chosen to enter the HOW Big Bass Brawl and the KBF Open as well as the Championship.  The Big Bass Brawl runs from practice, starting tomorrow and going all the way through Saturday.  The Open and the Championship run concurrently Friday and Saturday.

If I were to win these events, I'd probably be cashing checks totaling somewhere near $50,000.  In most peoples' books, including mine, that's a life-changing weekend.

But whether I cash a check or not, my life will definitely be changed in an even bigger way in the upcoming weeks.

This is not so much a post about fishing, but about perspective and priority.  Winning here would be a huge deal, and something I've thought about every day since I left Kentucky Lake last year.  But bringing a child into the world is even bigger.  And although it might surprise some people, it has dominated my thoughts lately.  I'm not sure how to put into words the gamut of emotions that hit me daily.  Love, excitement, fear, anxiety, happiness...it's hard to focus on anything without thinking about that precious little life that is getting closer and closer to making his appearance.

After last year, I feel like I'm prepared for just about anything that Kentucky Lake decides to throw at me. And for these four days, I'll be laser-focused on these little green fish.  But I have no idea what this kid is going to throw at me, and that's scary as hell.  But I'm excited to find out, and can't stop thinking about it.

Lastly, I have some thanks that are due.  I use social media mostly for fishing and promoting ANGLR, and I need to give a heartfelt, long-overdue public "thank you" to my wife, Solitair.  Thank you for proving every day that even though the baby isn't here yet, you're going to be a great mom.  Thank you for understanding how important fishing is to me, whether I'm cashing checks or just unwinding on the river.  Thanks for your patience and understanding when I'm in the office until 4am studying maps, archiving fishing reports, and graphing weather trends.  Thank you for trusting that I will be a good dad when it seems like it's the last thing on my mind.  I promise, it's not.

Specializing Your Rod, Reel and Line for Kayak Fishing

Everyone knows kayak fishing can put you in many situations that are different from fishing from a larger boat. Therefore, kayak anglers don't always need to adhere to some of the rules of thumb that have been shared in various instructional articles and videos you see from tour pros and other experts.  While the baits and techniques usually apply across the board, the gear used to employ them sometimes does not.

The main reason for this discrepancy is because a kayak becomes an integral part of the drag system when catching a fish, from the bite, through the hookset, all the way to the moment when you (hopefully) land that lunker on the other end of the line. The shallow draft and smaller coefficient of friction cause a different effect in each part of the catch than a heavy and deeper-hulled bass boat.

Does this mean that a person switching from a bass boat to a kayak has to sell off all their gear and start all over?  Absolutely not - there are minor adjustments that can be made to fit the situation.  We can break it down into the three components of a conventional fishing outfit - the rod, the reel, and the line.

There are some common problems kayak anglers face when they are not using the optimal equipment for fishing from a small plastic boat.  Keep reading to explore five of these problems, and see how to get your rods, reels, and line working in harmony to catch more fish from your kayak.