Demo Day at West Creek Kayak and Canoe Sept.13th, 2014

It was  Demo Day at West Creek Kayak and Canoe here in West Creek, NJ.   My dealer, Glenn Collins, thought it would be a good idea to have a Fishing Kayak Demo Day and have some grilled dogs, chips, and assorted thirst quenchers.  Mother nature had second thoughts about that, but she held off enough for us to get several demo's in.  Glenn figured we would offer demo's on Wilderness commando's. Tarpon 100's, Tarpon 120's, Ride 115's 115X's, Ride 135 's 135X's, and OF COURSE the 10' and 12' World Famous Frontier's. 
Since the weather had predicted rain and wind, the turn out was sparse.  We only had to bring a Tarpon 120 and a 12' Frontier for today's testing.  You guys know me, ack-yak, and or Bob.  The father and son paddling today were Bob and Bob.  Go figure!!  Their friend was just plain old Chuck.  Bob (Dad) took the Frontier while Bob (Son) took the Tarpon.  When Dad sat down he said "Wow!  This seat is really high!!"  I told him he was sitting in the lower height multi-base seat.  He figured it would be tippy!!  NOT!!  As soon as I pushed out a few feet,  he was up and standing and paddling into the wind!!  YES, the Frontier made an instant impression.  The two of them paddled around our little 1/4 mile island  and back to the launch site.  They then switched yaks and went to do the loop again.  The son has a SUP and was up into the wind and around the island standing the entire way.  I asked for their opinions.................We all should know the answer to that one!!   The Tarpon was a nice yak, but they couldn't stop talking about the "Stability" and "Comfort" of the 12' Frontier!!
They were local guys from Long Beach Island, NJ and we chatted for an 1/2 hour about Yaks and Fishing!!
They went back to the shop, had some "Dogs" etc and spent another 1/2 hr looking over accessories and yaks.  The "Freedom Track"  had them figuring out  all the endless possibilities!!
Enjoy the pic's...........I had a Great Time helping out my Dealer doing this Demo Day.  Glen is already figuring Summer Demo's on a Sat with a Sunday  rain date.  (Ya never know how Mother Nature or her cousin "Murphy" will help ya??)
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How to give your Frontier a Facelift by Paul Giese

When you look around the kayak and canoe world you see many makes and models.  You see them in many shapes, but typically in monotone colors.  There is nothing wrong with monotones, unless you want something a bit more personalized.  That was where I was at this past winter.  I wanted something different.  I wanted my Frontier to stand out in the crowd.  But how do I give it a facelift, and do it in a way that looked “cool”?  That was the question.  

The answer came by asking the question of how do they paint the camouflage on many of the larger boats?  Simple, they use professional paint stencils.  But how and where do you get the stencils?  If you do a little searching for camo stencils online, you will find a number of options and retailers.  Purchase the stencil you want and wait for the UPS driver to deliver it.  I chose Mossy Oak Shadowgrass.  There are a lot of options out there.  Check them all out and choose wisely.

When your stencils arrive, read the instructions CAREFULLY.  They will tell you how to prepare your boat for painting, typical paint colors, positioning of the stencils, drying time between coats, and much more valuable information.  This is where you can really screw up a cool project by getting too excited to start.  Follow the preparation instructions precisely, which typically includes the boring step of washing and lightly sanding the surface.  I used a ScotchBrite pad to scuff the ENTIRE surface of my Frontier.  (Yes it was tedious and made my fingers sore, but completely necessary if I wanted the paint to stand up to being walked on and scuffed.)  Then I wiped it down from bow to stern with rubbing alcohol to clean all of the sanding dust off.  Now I was ready for paint.

Paint is not universal in its application.  You need a specialty paint for painting plastics.  Rust-Oleum Direct-to-Plastic spray paint is what I used.  Finding the exact colors the stencil tells you to use can be difficult.  But if you can’t find the exact color, there is probably one that is close.

Other than reading the instructions, the next most important step I can tell you is to remember to take your time.  Think about how you want your boat to look when you are done.  Don’t rush it.  Keep your stencils clean, and give each coat of paint plenty of time to dry.  This is not an exact science.  The stencils come in flat sheets of laser cut plastic and do not wrap around the edges of your boat very well.  Take the time to lay out your pattern and understand that it may take you several passes to get every surface painted.  If you go too fast, you will streak your paint or leave drag marks from the wet paint coming off the stencil.  The faster you go, the less you will like the final result.  You really only get one shot at this…..think, look, think…..then paint!  You can do it, it just takes some patience to create a one-of-a-kind original that you can show off and be proud of!  Then when your buddies see your new look boat…..you can decide if you want to share your new found knowledge with them.  Just don’t let them talk you into painting their boat for them!

Have fun and send me some pictures of your new-look Frontiers!

Tandem Fishing in the Frontier for 3rd Place Finish

Tournament Report from Team NuCanoe member Kenny Ratliff

Recently, I had the pleasure of fishing a local fundraiser tournament with one of my sons.  This was the second year for me and third for him.  Due to business travel the first year it was held, I wasn’t able to participate but his mother contributed her limited fishing knowledge in my absence.  In spite of that, he took 1^st Place that year which you’ll see is a significant part of the story. 

Last year we both fished from the Frontier.  It was one of our first outings and we had a few things to learn about watching your back cast, optimum storage of gear, and most important – what gear not to bring!  We missed first place by a few ounces but determined we would return.

This year we knew the lake better and how to be more efficient for the 5 hours on the water.  I have to tell you, I can’t imagine another kayak that would be any more comfortable and stable for that length of time.  He stood often, while I remained seated.  But the stability of the Frontier allowed me to swing my legs over the side without throwing him off-balance.  In that fashion we were able to fish water to the front and back just like you would on a big bass boat.  The coolest action of the day occurred when we both placed unplanned casts within a foot of each other, then both of us immediately set the hooks.  Our first exact double in all the time we’ve fished together!  Mine kept and his didn’t, but we were both pumped!

Once back at the weigh-in, the winning boat only brought three fish to the stand.  However, one of them was a little over 3 pounds.  We weighed four fish that were good enough for 3^rd Place, as the 2^nd Place finishers weighed the maximum five fish.  The heartbreaker was knowing we both lost a keeper apiece that might have given them a run for that spot! 

At the end of the day, it was great to be on the water.  We fought the wind nearly the entire time, but again the design and stability of the Frontier allowed us to maneuver without any problem.  So, if you haven’t figured it out yet – Dad doesn’t seem to be taking the finishes the right direction.  Mom made sure to comment that maybe Ethan should consider going back to his first partner – her of course!

Another Great Day

My daughter and I fished a local lake together this past weekend from our NuCanoe. She skunked me as usual. She is a natural and just about ready for her own Frontier.

Her bait of choice is a blue and black Culprit worm rigged with a split shot about 10 inches above the worm on a Skeet Reese rod & reel combo.

Chuck

River Sports Demo At The Cave

I’m looking forward to helping out at the River Sports Boat Demo At The Cove tomorrow. If you have interest in trying out a Nucanoe or just want to chat be sure to stop by and ask for Chuck.

Looks like a great place to fish also, we plan on hitting the water for a few hours afterwards. The demo ends at 3pm, anyone interested in fishing let me know.

Chuck Conder

502 615 3731

Register here….. http://www.riversportsoutfitters.com/events/

KATS Bass Tournament #5 Operation Angler : by Ray Martinez

 Round 5.... This event was another road runner back on the BIRD and Lake Austin. My personal favorite local fishery. Guess you could say this was a shot at redemption from the last tournament on these lakes. Things didn't go to well last time, if you didn’t read the last blog. We did the traditional captains meeting. With a small announcement for the charity event “operation angler " and we were OFF!

 I set out on the busiest ramp, but the best dynamic place to fish. Spending most of my morning beating the traditional fishing holes resulted in a fish-less surprise. Luckily I fished this same lake the week before when the fish were on a full spawn. Knowing this, I immediately switched things up and started doing what I do best..... shallow water sight fishing. I say this because my early bass career began in clear water creeks and small streams; thank goodness for polarized glasses! Just 5 feet off the bank, I was able to find and couple of decent bucks on beds guarding fry. Unfortunately, didn't spot any momma fish but of course caught the males off the beds within several casts each. 

Once I arrived at my favorite spawning flat, I noticed a big dark shadow off in the deeper side of the flats just passed a visible bed in 5 ft of water. Quickly backing off, I dropped anchor and began to cast past the area with a soft plastic TX rig. Fourth cast in I felt the bump I was looking for; so I give it the ole reel down and set...after that, it was ON! My rod loaded up and she started pulling drag. It appeared I had caught the larger object I had thought I seen. She gave a couple of great jumps for the crowd even with my rod tip practically in the water. Once she was at the NuCanoe I quickly netted her for the safe retrieve. She measured up to 23.25 inches and weighed 7.14 oz; this was the kicker I needed to get me in the running. She was also my 5^th fish, which put me at my limit and a few more small guys. Unfortunately, towards the last hour I lost a good one that would’ve helped a couple of inches

Mrs. Twenty-three

Right as I started to figure things out I was out of time and had to paddle in.  I felt very confident about my day but, did not expect to place considering the lakes. Finally the time came to announce the placing anglers, I was standing in attendance and hear 4th place which was less in inches than I turned in. I was in full attention now if I wasn't already. They announce third place "Ray Martinez" ..... I instantly felt like a little kid. I happily walked up and claimed my trophy along with my box of winnings; which was accessories/ giftcards from Yak Attack, Yak Gear, Cabelas, and Hook1.  Talk about happy..... I know it was just a third place win but it was more about redemption for me along with gaining some major angler points. This was a great day on the water along with a sweet reward. The Nucanoe and I strike again…haha. Until next time!!!

picture credit goes to photographer friend Dustin Doskocil

KATS Bass Tournament #4 by Ray Martinez

Well, Alright alright alright... It seems I'm not as bad as I thought at this tournament thing. Tournament number FIVE...well actually number four, (I had to miss one due to a wedding I was in.) was held  at Lake Bastrop just 30 mins east of Austin. I have fished this lake once before with decent luck. This lake is known to have a lot of bass and fishes well year round. The water temp stays rather warm due to the fact that this is a power plant lake. That being said, many other anglers came out as well to try there luck on such a fishy lake... No pun intended... lol. There were 74 registered to be exact.

this fish was the heaviest 4lbs. she was THICK

We did the normal check-In and rules review as always, and set out. I had a particular spot in mind. Hoping no one else would trek out that way it being rather close to the boat ramp. Although this "AREA" is kind of a known spot, there was no one headed out with me or even there when I arrived. YESS!!!  Once I positioned myself, I began to fish a square bill crank bait to search for fish; third cast in I get a slap at my bait right at the Frontier. Immediately cast back out to the same location , and bang! FISH ON!. Measured her on the ol' hawg trough at 16 inches, snapped a pic and started fishing again. Several casts in I hook up with 2 more fish both in the 17-18 inch range. Things are loooooooking GOOD. The bite turned off for a bit, but I stayed confident in this spot.

Personally I didn't want to move as it was on a small creek channel protected from the hard winds on the main lake. Took a glance behind me just to find....you know it....three bass boats headed my way. It appeared there was another tournament  going on but with motor boats. Each of the boats kindly positions themselves around the same area. It was quite the site. All of us almost fishing in a circle. Each boat was able to catch a fish every now and then, but none over 14 inches. I was slinging in quite a few fish of size on my personal favorite and go-to texas- rig brush hog. It was a great feeling to know that I wasn't just doing well but doing better then other fishermen around me. The only unfortunate thing was when I switched back to a square bill crank bait I lost three very nice fish well over the 18+inches range. I was more than crushed to see the three good fish go away and not in my boat. Time was running low and needed to head back. I fished around for a bit on the way as it wasn't to far from the launch location. Quite satisfied with my bag but was sure if it was enough. I really could have used the three shallow hooked missing fish... lol. All and all this was a much better venture than the events before.

After turning in my top 5 of the 13 fish I caught. We all gather around to hear the winning total. When they announced 94 inches to fifth place I kicked myself ,but was glad to see that I had done well over all. My five fish totaled right at 90 inches. The winner of the event totaled 98 inches. Cool thing was it was a friend and fishing buddy of mine. Over all I finished 8th of 74. Not a bad day in the books. The NuCanoe strikes again on another exciting day on the water.

  Until the next time out..... keep fishing and tight lines.

2014 Kayak Bass Fishing Open by Kevin McCullough

The 2014 KBF Open was close to a repeat of the 2013 KBF Open. I didn't make it past the first day. Fishing was tough with a post cold front bite. Some folks caught fish but it wasn't me. Based off the people I talked to it sounds like you needed to find some gators to find fish. Everyone who saw an alligator caught fish it seemed. I fished some areas that looked like a gator should pop out but none did. The same for the bass.

I started practice on Thursday on Lake Moultrie. The area I saw on a map looked like it was a cove with a creek coming into the back of it. The wind was blowing hard but based off the wind prediction it seemed the cove would be out of the way. Well either I can't tell direction or the wind direction was different from the prediction because I think the wind was in my face the whole time. The NuCanoe Frontier handled the wind good but it would have been a lot nicer paddle without the wind. I packed up and headed to the diversion channel area. Once I got there I knew this was where I was going to fish. It looked awesome.

Friday morning started the tournament with a temperature of around 30 degrees. It was cold but warmed up pretty good. I fished some cut throughs on the diversion channel for a while with senkos, shakey heads, and crank baits. No bites being found I moved to the other side of the diversion channel and fished a back water area with some swim baits and chatterbaits. Again it looked awesome but the bass boats thought so also. The Rayavac Series was going on at the same time so bass boats were coming and going a lot. I fished my way back to the ramp hitting any Cyprus tree and brush I could find with a senko or shakey head. I packed up to see how everyone else did. Long story short a lot of guys had a hard time. I think out of 112 fisherman only 37 turned in a fish. A couple of big bass were caught and some guys did get on some fish.

I got up Saturday with only a hope of a big bass for the daily big bass prize. I fished some back water pond and boat docks with chatterbaits, senkos, shakey heads, crank baits, and swim baits. The day was very pretty but I still couldn't find the fish. I retired a defeated man. The guy who won had a 2 day 5 fish total of 100 inches. It sounds like he fished the same 100 yards with a lipless crank bait and caught some great fish. As usual it sounds like I tried to cover too much water and didn't fish one area good enough. The bass may have been there but I didn't give them a chance to bite who knows.

This was the first tournament of the year for me. Overall I had a blast and met some really cool folks. Hopefully I'll keep in touch with some and my luck will get better as things warm up for my next tournaments. I hope to fish some local stuff and some River Bassin Trail stops. I'll let you know how it goes.

Kevin

KATS Bass Tournament #3 by Ray Martinez

Round III ... Lets just say I was more than excited to fish this one. The tournament was another roadrunner but with a twist; we had the option to fish two different sister lakes, both along the Colorado river to form Lake Austin and Lady Bird Lake, in of course Austin TX. Each lake is known to put up BIG large mouth bass....I should know I recently caught my first DD on Lake Austin 10.5lbs  !!!! along with many fish over 5lbs....... but enough with the bragging ;) back to the fishing.

The keeper ..hahaha.

 Personally, I wanted to fish lake Austin due to the larger bass being caught there recently, but I knew of another bass boat tournament being held there that morning. I felt equally confident with both lakes so it was no big deal. I arrived to the check-in to see a ton of vehicles there early. I already knew what that meant, and I was right ......the largest KATS tournament EVER!  There were kayaks and anglers everywhere. Just a little over 100 anglers is what they mentioned at sign-in, that certainly changes the fishing a bit.

My Baby!

The horn is blown and we all set out. Sadly for me, we meet at my launch spot and things took a while to launch and others were able to capitalize on a head start to the go-to spots. I'll admit it, I was a bit worried about that. The first two hours were dead and filled with paddling along with slow fishing. I finally got to a somewhat decent spot and pulled out my senko and went to work. Sure enough on the second cast I get the tap I was looking for. I set the hook and started reeling... I could tell it was small but hoped it would meet the line. After boating the fish I pulled out my measure board from under my oh so nice/ NEW and convenient  Rigid360 seat base...... No surprise, the fish was only 13inches, and too bad he was kind of a football, fat belly fish... lol. Proceeding to fish I continued to pitch my senko and picked up two more small non keepers. Time now was running out and I had yet to catch a fourteen inch fish. After not getting any more bites for a while I moved off that spot to find another location. I headed towards a laydown in 5-8 feet of water. Thankfully I pulled 1 fish after 10 mins on this one spot. Moving quickly I measured her up and got a few more cast in before I had to paddle back to the launch spot.

 The ride back was a windy one and took a while. Fortunately I made it back in time to submit my card, and attend the raffle. It was quite a day but very fun. The largest fish caught that day was 26 inches long and over 10 pounds. In case anyone was curious about these lakes producing big fish. Another great NuCanoe adventure in the books.

Tight Lines !

down town Austin from Lady Bird Lake

Gear Review: Yak Attack CellBlock and Sidewinder‏ by Kevin McCollough

I have had the opportunity to try the CellBlok out a few time and still feel the same as when I first used it. I really like it. Before a received the CellBlok I had two Mighty Mounts in the front of my kayak that I used for my Lowrance Elite 5DSI on the right and my transducer on a RAM Transducer Arm Mount on the right. The battery sat in my hatch up front. This worked out fine but in order to change anything on the depth finder I had to stretch a bit. Now I have everything all together in arms reach. The set up is out of my way and I can rotate the screen easily to see it while standing. I've attached a couple of pictures with both before and after set ups.

While I have not used the SideWinder as much I carry it with me every time I am out. I was using a dog bumper with line wrapped around it as my anchor line. With the side winder I clipped the dog bumper to the hole in the Sidewinder and it works a lot better as far as not getting line tangled. I use the Sidewinder both with a float for quick disconnect and on the sidetrack if I am not worried about quick disconnect. I also use the 8' stake out pole a lot in shallow water instead on anchoring. On the stake out pole I have a RAM ball mounted so I can put a GoPro camera on it. The Sidewinder allows me to control a distance to stake out from the camera to record video from a different angle. Since my GoPro can be controlled by remote I can turn it on and off from a distance. A couple of the pictures attached have the Sidewinder shown in them.

I hope to put both YakAttack products to good use in the middle of March at the KBF Open in Santee Cooper SC. Stay tuned for results and hopefully some good pictures and video.