Alright guys, I've entered into a kayak fishing tournament for this Saturday which is being held on a local river. Any suggestions on what I could use to win this thing? I''ve been having luck with 4" green tubes. Anything else you might recommend? Basic rules
Finchie.. that would depend on water clearity and depth you plan on fishing. Not to mention weed structure of the lake and size restriction of tournament. While I love tube baits.. I find them difficult to fish in deeper water over 10 feet (limited tail action)... than I opt for the Berkeley Power Grub... in clear water I prefer the Cinnamon/Purple fleck. I like the added movement in deeper depths.. which is why I tend to choose it. Also.. finicky biting fish tend to hit it more because of that movement in any water depth.
These are my three top producing large mouth and smallmouth lures and would be my go to lures to start things off unless the conditions dictated otherwise. "Sweet Beaver" by Reaction Innovations. There are imitations out there by the only one that comes close IMO is the Berkley pit boss. Rig this guy Texas style with a bullet sinker and fish the heavy cover or the outside/inside weed edges. Be sure to split the two big claws for better action. I love this lure. "Twin tail grub" by Chompers. Again, lots of imitations but a new one of these fresh from the package actually leaves a small slick of salt and garlic oil on the surface of the water. Rig it with a weedless with a stand up jig head and fish the outside edges of the weedlines or deep humps. If they are in the right mood and usually early in the morning, I find it tough for other hard baits to compete with the Zara Spook in this color. About the funnest lure to fish too. Throw it out and let it sit for a minimum of 20-30 seconds. IF they dont hit it then its usually the first twitch that gets 'em. A kayak fishing tourney sounds like a ton of fun. Good luck and I hope the winds are calm!
Thanks for the suggestions guys. The section of river I'll be fishing goes from being really shallow to maybe about 10' or so. Not too deep I guess. I don't think there are any largemouth in this river. Mostly smallmouth and the water is fairly clear. MNpurple: The only thing I have remotely close to the Sweet Beaver is the Berkley Chigger Craw. I haven't caught any fish off of it but then again, really haven't tried that hard. Greg, I have you covered.
I'm a bit biased, but I'd likely be rigged with a Stink Eye series jig on one rod topped with your favorite plastic trailer, and a Fat Belly series spinnerbait on the other rod. I'd pick colors based on cloud cover and water clarity. Bluebird skies with clear water, I'd be pitching a green pumpkin color jig with a matching trailer. I'd also probably focus on a white/silver color spinnerbait. For overcast skies or stained water, I'd be fishing a blue/black or junebug color jig again topped with a matching color trailer of your choice, and a darker color spinnerbait, I'm partial to our Midnight color spinnerbait for these conditions. I'd fish the spinnerbait to cover water and locate fish, and once I found them I'd pick the area apart with the jig. Good luck!
A little C4 wrapped around a grenade is awesome. It'll bring up all the critters lurking in the deep. Sort them out and be done with it. Weather, water temp and all that crap don't come into play. Short of that.. I'd do some jerk baits or larger fluke thingys.
I used to be a smallmouth fishing fanatic many years ago. I have been out of the game for awhile but here are some of my go to smallie river baits. I fished the Rappahannock River forever. The Rapp was generally clear unless it stormed. I tried to always use a darker greyish hook (nothing shiny) because the fish would get spooky on real shiny metal lures/hooks/weights. Berkley Tequila Sunrise 4 inchers/OR the 6-7 inches Also Berkley Motor Oil 4 inchers Something like this if you are fishing a little deeper and are hoping for a big bite below some rocks or what not... A secret little bait--charcoal/red fleck salamander! I have never fished a tournament but the same things that are applicable in other sports apply to tournament fishing. Don't try to use some fancy bait/tactic you have never used before to win. If you are good at catching big fish using your tactics/bait then go for broke using your stuff! Good luck Donnie.
That's a great-looking kayak Donnie! I want to get a couple of those later on after we buy my truck/travel trailer combo so if we're on vacation and find a good spot, we can explore it. Is that a camera mount on the right side of the boat? Good luck in your tourney!
Thanks Brett for the suggestions. I will give some of those a try. Thanks! Greg...that is a camera mount that I made from a Scotty rod extender. I basically cut the flange off the top, drilled a hole, and JB welded a screw (head first) in the hole. I then bought a cheapo tripod from Walmart, removed the head and affixed it to the base. It works great and I get so many compliments on it. At work
What does it mean there must be a difference of 1 inch between fish? Why must photos be deleated? I would have a Bomber fat A (crayfish) on one rod and a Fluke on the other.
I have you covered there as well. Camera is waterproof and actually surbmersible up to 10 feet or meters (I forget). I don't think it floats though. Hopefully it would stay attached to my rig. My guess about the one inch deal is so no one cheats and say that caught two fish of the same length when they really only caught one. What sucks though is if someone would really catch two same size fish and could not use both. I think they want you to only have photos of the two biggest fish and nothing else so you have to delete. Kinda weird.
I fish a couple local rivers here and I find the most consistent bait is the native live bait. Here that is live minnows and crawdads. I've outfished a ton of guys who swore by plastic.
Small cranks, rattle traps, rebel craws, rapalas, etc. All great for covering water and searching. If you find one smallie, there is probably more. Once you find them, you can slow down with plastics, but sometimes they can't stay off the cranks. If they have a rattle, even better.
