NCKFA Spots and Specks Tournament

In November each year there is a gathering of kayak anglers at Fort Fisher boat ramp located at the end of Hwy 421 near Wilmington, NC. This was my first year at this event the NCKFA spots and specks tournament. The goal is the longest combined length of a Speckled trout and Red Drum. We paddled out at the start time of 8am. I paddled to my first location and joined several others. I put out some mud minnows on Carolina rigs and started throwing a Zman PaddleZ. It did not take long to connect with a 17 inch trout. I switched to a Mirrolure MR17 and the bit got better but I lost a similar sized trout at the kayak. The trout bite slowed as the tide came in and with no luck on the live bait off I went in search of a drum. I started along the rock wall joining about a dozen other anglers with no success. Once I had another angler drift within feet of my kayak and little concern for me it was time to go. I do not like fishing the crowds. I worked my way around the basin fishing live baits and multiple artificial offerings. I decided to prospect with a jig and a big-bite baits curly tail grub in baby speckled trout color. Paddle, stop, cast, paddle, stop, cast then BAM. Fish On. I knew with the way he was fighting and dragging the kayak around I had a good red on. My thought was how many times has this happened and I lost the winning fish. After some tug of war the red found his way in the EGO net. I put the Hawg Trough ruler on him to make sure he was a slot fish and paddled to the ramp to get a good picture. Final measurement was 25.5 inches long. I knew I had two solid fish for a total of 42.5 inches. After it was all said and done I ended up with big fish for the drum and 2nd overall. Another angler had a 22 inch drum and 21.25 inch trout for a 43.25 total. Lost by 3/4 of an inch. Either way Astral came through with a Romney PFD and Brewer shoes. KC kayaks stepped up with with a great kayak for the winner. If you have not paddled one of their kayaks don't be fooled by their looks. They are fairly quick and very stable. Perfect for stalking reds in the shallows of Fort Fisher and Buzzard Bay.  This was my last tournament in the Jackson Cuda. It has been a great kayak and I may purchase another in the future. I wanted to make a change in the type of kayak I fish. Keep watching as I rig my new kayak over the Winter 2013/2014. As always I am honest in my thoughts and am not endorsed by any manufacturer. I buy or build everything that I use.

Old Drum of NC!

Neuse River Old Drum

Labor Day weekend I took a shot and picked up some fresh mullet. I drove for two hours to locate a launch site that I had only seen on Google maps. Lucky for me it was open. The Jackson Cuda was loaded for action. Two Shimano Trevala rods loaded with Penn Battle 5000's. As I paddled out onto the shoal every boat around was looking at me like, "where did this guy come from?". I got setup on the shoal where there were large groups of shad (aka menhaden) were working the area. With two rods out it did not take long for the pinfish to find my baits. I spent the next two hours baiting back and forth. As the sun started to fall I knew it was not my day to hook into one of these big boys and being out here on a kayak after dark was not a safe bet with so many weekend boaters on the water. We cannot always have a productive trip and some will only tell you about the good trips. I proved one thing to myself, that I could paddle to the shoal and fish for these just like I do when I have my boat. Till next time stay safe. The next report should be from the NCKFA Oak Island Classic. Come and join me there. 

2013 TJM Kayak fishing tournament

The 2013 TJM kayak fishing tournament was excellent as always. Hook, Line and Paddle in Wilmington, NC puts on this great event and is the main sponsor. I was having a difficult time deciding where to fish. Two weeks earlier I had fished Fort Fisher at crossover #4 down the beach with a small flounder and a 17" redfish to show for it. Since we were suppose to have a dead low tide at 5:30am and we could not launch till 6am I made. Last minute decision to launch at the Fort Fisher basin. I was greated by about 40 kayaks when I arrived. We launched at 6 am and I went to catch bait. I knew once the tide came up it would be hard to locate and catch bait. I filled my tank and off I went trolling a Billy Bay Halo shad. This was new water for me so I scouted around and found a nice point that had everything I was looking. It had bait, water flow, oyster rocks, and a grassy point. I setup shop with three lines and started catching redfish. With several reds landed and released up to 21 3/4" I was on the board. I was checking baits and in comes a 12 1/2" flounder that just ate the bait and settled back in. This is typical with flounder to eat the bait and the hook. Now all I needed was a trout for the slam. I boated a 13" trout and as I get the camera he hops over the side. I am hurt but not discouraged. I say a nice little prayer to The Lord. Nice bait goes off and it is a heavy trout. I get him on the board and he is 18 3/4". I know I have a contender since last years winning trout was only 16".  I keep fishing and after a few more smaller trout and reds I head in the the ramp and check in. I see that there is a 19" trout and it ended up holding up and edging me out for 1st. Well 2nd isn't bad out of 75 anglers and 53" total for 3 fish. Looks like my slam would have put me in the 4th or 5th spot since 3rd was 55". It was a great turnout for a great cause. Come join us next year. Till next time.

Spring Trout and Stripers

I know It has been quiet around here but its hard to stop fishing and start typing. Spring is here in Eastern NC and with that the speckled trout start leaving the backs of the creeks to make their way to open water. This is the time to catch your citation trout. You will find them from the mouth of the creeks to the backs. I suggest starting at the mouth with a probing bait like Berkley Gulp or a DOA shrimp on a rattling cork. Once you locate some trout you can keep after them with shrimp but the big trout put on calories with mullet and mud minnows. I move over to Mirrolure CMR-17 in white or Purple. These colors just came out this past Fall and have been on fire all winter. I have started moving all my reels over to Fin's Fishing Windtamer Braid. After fighting wind knots with all the other braids and some mono lines, Fin's Windtamer is the real deal. There is not a better braid on the market that I have used. Just so you know I am a Amatur Staffer for all these lines and baits. That means I walk in the store and lay down my hard earned money just like you. I have never received an endorsement or sponsorship from any of these manufactures. I use what I believe in not what is free!

Speaking of Spring the Striped Bass AKA Rock have been biting good as of March 30th, 2013. We got out on the Tar River in Greenville after a Easter Egg hunt in pursuit. It did not take long to start connecting on some Rapala X-Raps. Most ranged between 16 and 19 inches and all were released to fight another day. They did not seem real picky on the color as long as I was holding the rod. There is never a bad day on the river unless you are broke down or without a paddle.

Speckled Trout Bite is on fire!

Well as you can imagine its my time of year when the trout are stacked up and as I stated earlier in the year this is the best season in years. I have not fished a creek, sound or ocean that I have not found trout. The hot bit has been Mirrolures for me since that is mostly what I throw. I have been having luck with the new CMR17 in a Purple color along with the traditional MR 17's in every color I have thrown. The MR27 is producing some but the MR17's are producing more fish. I did catch a nice 20" fish weighing 2 lb 8 oz in early November on an MR19 in the 808 color.

Everyone seems to be picking up drum mixed with the trout bite on the same baits.

Lately the hot bite has been the easiest to get to in Atlantic Beach, NC at the public access near the Oceana pier. I stopped by Saturday at dusk and there must have been 50 people surf fishing for the Specks. There was a 7 lb trout reported caught from there on 11/23/12 according to the Chasing Tails Bait shop website. Live shrimp, live minnows and Mirrolures are all catching trout. If you toss jigs you will add some drum to your bag. If you fish the creeks stay in the backs since that is where the trout seem to be concentrated. I am catching a few in the river but they are larger back in the creeks. Good luck. This is my 5 year old with his first Mirrolure trout. He caught several this summer on jibs but I am most proud of this one!

NCKFA Oak Island Classic

Not a lot I can really say except this is a great event put on by some great people for a great cause. I got to Oak Island on Friday around noon and launched in an attempt to pre-fish and learn the local water. I went to a local creek and with a falling tide saw lots of exposed oyster beds. Caught 2 small redfish but nothing that would win a prize. So on Saturday the morning of the event arrives. I am the first kayak fisherman and the launch and then the official arrives. After I get setup and the official blows the whistle off we go. The wind is blowing 15-20 NNE. I hit a marsh bank with top water with about 3 cast. I get to a nice little point that everyone passed by and on the first cast a 16.5" Speck is locked on. I get back to the point, set anchor and take my photos. I continue throwing and catch 5 more speckle trout, which seemed odd since everyone stated there were none around they could locate. I figure I need to try for a slam and start jigging Gulp. Sure enough two small redfish around 14 inches. I wrap it up around 12 and head for some structure to try for the flounder. No luck. Once at checkout the trout sounds promising and I get the call to view my photos. Its confirmed and a nice trophy and some prizes for a 3rd place trout out of 168 anglers. Looking back I guess I should have packed up after that first fish. Not really I loved catching those specks that were stacked up. Thanks to the other anglers that passed them by!

Installing a Garmin Depth Finder on a Jackson Cuda Kayak

I wanted to have the ability to find depth contours when fishing deeper water for Old drum and if I ever do so freshwater lakes. So I bought a Garmin Echo 100 from West Marine for $69.95 after the did a price match from my phone. After I got it home I studied how to install it with the different arms and the Lowrance scupper mount and decided to just build my own. I grabbed a piece of 1" aluminum flat bar from Lowe's and with a few quick measurements started to bend and shape it. Once I got the right lengths I smoothed the edges with a file, drilled the hole for the bolt and another for the transducer bolt. Then I attached the transducer.

Next with a little bending I was able to get it through the front scupper hole on the right side of my Jackson Cuda to keep it out of my way and still have use of the scupper.

I routed the wire into the center hatch using a West Marine wire cap item 8717886. It was time to mount the unit. I wanted to be able to remove the unit when it was not needed so a 4" Yakattack Geartrac was added to the first slot on the hatch cover. A Yakattack screwball was added and a Ram Mount arm and mount were used.

Another West Marine wire cap was used to run the power and transducer cables from the hatch to the unit.

Next was the power. I orders a 12 volt 8 amp gel battery and installed it into a Ozark waterproof container from Walmart. A grommet was used an a disconnect to be able to remove the box so the battery can be charged.I tied a bungee cord between the scupper holes to hold it out of the way. Make sure to fuse it. I switched to a mini AVP type fuse.

I hope this has helped you see how I installed a depth finder onto my Jackson Cuda kayak.