Family, Shoal Bass, and Being a Newbie Again

As a competitive kayak angler, sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the competition on and off the water.  Suddenly, it's all about making a name for yourself in the industry, counting likes and followers, and trying to find that edge that will vault you to the top of the podium at the next derby.  You always enjoy kayak fishing when you get a chance to go, but you've forgot the feeling of being a rookie. Recently, I've been given a valuable opportunity - to revisit that feeling I had when I began kayak fishing.

My Maiden Kayak Fishing Voyage - Allatoona Lake, August 24, 2014

This summer, I've had an opportunity to teach someone new to the sport.  Not new to fishing...but new to fishing from a kayak.  Little did I know that this was going to be as satisfying for me as it has been - but it's been a real source of pride and excitement.

My sister-in-law, Cam, enjoys fishing. She and I had casually talked about kayak fishing before, and I had even mentioned her coming along to do a river tournament or two with me. She was a little intimidated about the tournament environment at first, but I assured her that my friends in Reel Krazy Kayak Fishing and Peach State Kayak Anglers were as much about growing the sport and making some new friends as they were about winning tournaments.

One day in the middle of June, I took her to a park on Lake Lanier. There was a Perception Striker 11.5 kayak on Craigslist, and we gave it a test spin, and decided this would be a good one for her to learn in. It was lightweight, easy on the budget, made by a reputable American company, and stable enough to stand in.  The seller even threw in a crate, anchor and paddle. As we hauled it back to Jasper, we talked rigging and fishing the whole way home.  As soon as we got back, we were ordering essentials like paddle and rod holders, gear track, and a few comfort items like a seat pad.

Sometime that evening, I realized that even though it was someone else's kayak, I was right back where I was in the summer of 2014...staring intently at a blank canvas in the form of a floating piece of rotomolded polyethylene.  I was making sketches and brainstorming ideas, quickly sending them via text, and getting ideas back on the other end.  Although I hadn't previously thought of it in this way, this was the gift of paying it forward and introducing someone new to kayak fishing. Although I felt like I was the one receiving the gift - a chance to go back and experience that feeling all over again.

Launching at the Etowah 6/21/17 - Cam's Maiden Voyage

A few days later, we hit the Etowah after work one day for a training session. It was a 5 mile float and we only had a few hours to do it, so we couldn't really pick apart every riffle or piece of cover.  However, we each caught a handful of spotted bass, and that only fueled her fire more.  We went the next Monday, June 26th, to the Fishers of Men evening event at Rocky Mountain PFA, where she skunked, but was not deterred.  The upcoming tournament was on a river, and we'd be ready.

First bass from the yak

When we arrived at the Upper Chattahoochee River on the morning of July 1, conditions were not favorable. The event was a joint tournament among Reel Krazy and PSKA clubs, and it was decided that the event would go on despite the 1.5" of rain that fell the afternoon before.  The river was up, but still at a safe level to float and beginning to recede.  The big challenge was the stain that made the river look like a stream of chocolate milk.

Bites were hard to come by, but Cam caught the first small shoal bass of the morning from a spot in the middle of there river where neither of us expected.  We used this knowledge the rest of the day to try and scratch out limits.  I managed to get my three-fish limit and Cam caught two.  However, one of her fish was a large shoal bass that she worked a small chute over half an hour to catch.  In the end, I found out I had caught the only limit of the day and won the tournament, and Cam's big shoal helped her to a second place bag!  Although it was a grind, we were both on top of the world having finished 1-2, and headed back to Jasper for a big dinner with the family.

A couple of weeks later, we were afforded a rare opportunity through the Georgia Department of Natural Resources - a chance to fish for shoal bass in the Soque River, a tributary of the Upper Chattahoochee. Almost all accesses to the Soque are on private property, and the DNR secured special permission for a small group to float it and tag fish for a DNA study.  Again, Cam and I took off for the mountains and had a great day on the water without the pressure of a tournament.  It was a nice float and we both got lots of bites and landed a few micropterus cataractae for the biologists to tag.  For more information on the project, visit the Facebook page for the Upper Chattahoochee Shoal Bass Project.  Additionally, check out my friend Jon Hummel's blog post in the Jackson Kayak blog.  Again, the majority of this float is only accessible through private property (according to some antiquated state navigation laws), and should not be attempted without special permission.

Soque River Put-In below the Old Mill

A fun Class II drop that held shoal bass at the bottom

Georgia's Bass - The Shoalie

The shoal bass and the Upper Chattahoochee basin provided the perfect fish and the perfect arena for me to go back to my roots.  Back when I paddled a whitewater boat, I frequented the Upper Hooch because it's a great run for beginners and novice paddlers.  Now, as I have been teaching someone new to the sport, it's helped bring me back to my roots as a kayak angler as well.

Tight lines, y'all.