New yak and some exotic catches!!

After much debate and deliberation I decided to purchase a top of the line kayak in May. I chose the Jackson Kilroy with its amazing stability, awesome seat and removable front console. This kayak also has multiple bungees for storage and a dry storage hatch as well as a ram track system to carry multiple mounts setups. I added a crate to the rear with a wall rod holder mount to round out my rigging.

With this yak I am able to stand up and fish which helps on those long trips. Also with the front console removed I am able to have my son in the yak with me comfortably. This is the perfect kayak fishing yak out there in my opinion.

 Last week we were able to vacation in south Florida and yes the yak made the trip and I am so glad it did. I chose to fish Lake Ida near Boynton Beach Florida it offered a medium size lake with many entries to canals. 

This location was stacked with Largemouth bass and my largest fish was 20in and about 6lbs. Most all week I fished top water frog and buzz bait. 

This guy below is a Mayan Cichlid a non native fish from South America this thing has some teeth in a small mouth and fights hard.

And finally my trophy catch the Peacock Bass! This guy was sitting just off some submerged grass on a point I tossed a buzz bait near the edge and it got crushed these guys fight like crazy. As you can see in the video I was so pumped to land this beautiful fish. It was 17in and weighed about 3lbs.

Sadly I was only able to find one of these guys out there but I was able to catch 2 Mayans and about 50 Largemouth bass over the week. The fishing was only good early am and late afternoon about 6 hrs a day. I am already giddy for my next trip!

My first kayak camp trip.

On 4/12 I began my first kayak camp trip on the Little Red. I put in at Ramsey and floated 16 miles to Red River shores camping over night half way. This stretch of the river is the most beautiful with high cliffs, water falls and many rapids. 

I have had trouble catching fish on the last 7 miles or so of this trip but on the first leg I landed a few nice Rainbows. I have also recently created a Little Red River mileage chart I placed below it has come in real handy in planning my trips.

    As you can see in the picture above I was able to fit quite a bit of gear in my kayak it is so roomy. My boy loves the kayaks soon he will be able to go out with me. 

   

Fish and trips

I have always been a goal oriented person and naturally when it came to kayak fishing I developed a few goals I wanted to complete. When I decided to start Kayak fishing I wanted to catch as many different species of fish as I could and even now I never go out hunting for any specific type of fish. I have caught over 10 different species of fish since last June most on the Little Red River including Gar, Pickerel, Trout rainbow and brown, Drum, Small and Largemouth bass among others. There are many different species of fish in Arkansas and I hope to catch some new fish this year like a Walleye. Recently I have set a goal to float/fish the entire Little Red in sections from Greers Ferry Dam to the White River. There are 81 miles of river to cover in 8 sections I floated 3 of them last year and I hope to finish this summer. Someday I hope to do the same on the Buffalo River in northwest Arkansas.

Early spring weather leads to good Fishing.

I took advantage of some early spring weather Monday and fished the Little Red River from Red River shores to Riverside park about 5miles.




I caught a few good size Largemouth's and one at 5lbs and 19 inches long my biggest yet. 

I caught fish on spinner bait shallow crankbaits and a buzz bait.

Here are two release videos the  2nd is of the 5lb bass. I have attached a small waterproof camera to my Kayak to capture some of the things I see while out there. 

This video is of the Low Water Dam between Red River shores and Riverside Park it was fun trying to cross this dam. 

Winter fishing

I have been able to get out many times so far this winter to fish the weather has been pretty mild and the fish have been biting. I have hit the Little Red river near Red River shores and at River side park near Searcy. Here are a few images from my trips.
The picture of the map is a 5mile float I completed from Red River shores to Riverside park, I included a pic of the low water dam I had to cross as well.

Greers Ferry Lake and Little Red Fishing.

                                                                            Greers Ferry Lake

I took the Kayak out to Greers Ferry Lake in Heber Springs Tuesday September 4th. I put in at the Highway 25 Recreation area early am. The water was nice calm and clear. I wasn't able to find the big fish
but caught about 5 sunfish.

The Lake was so clear you could see the big fish deep. I thought this handsome guy deserved a pic.

Little Red Float

On Thursday September 6th I took my cousin on a day float/fish trip down the Little Red River. We put in about 7am on an access just outside Searcy and floated down 10 miles to Westpoint Ar.

This is the trip map charted on an iPhone App it measured 10.10 miles total.

We started out trying to fish top water baits but didn't catch anything we floated about 4 miles and spent about 4hrs trying different lures we finally started hitting fish on shallow crank baits.

I caught this Gar on a small crank bait it was about 2ft long and just under 2lbs. I couldnt believe it we saw Gar chasing shad all day long.

My cousin caught this nice Blue Catfish on a small crank it weighed about 2lbs.

This was another Blue Cat I caught he put up a pretty good fight.

In all we spent about 8 hours on the river Thursday and caught about 15 fish. We had a blast and plan to go again.

Lake Bald Knob 8/25/12

This Saturday, August 25 I visited Lake Bald Knob in Bald Knob, Ar. I got there early and made about a 1 mile long paddle back into the creek that flows into the lake. This map is from an app I use called Distance measure. In this area of the lake I found some productive lilly pads.

I caught a few fish the biggest being just over a pound and about 14inches long.

This was the first time I have ever caught a fish of a top water bait I was using the Rage Tail frog rigged weedless. It was awesome watching the bass hit the bait. It would have been a much better day but the rain moved in and I was unable to get the bite back after it passed. But I will be back there very soon!!