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.

KATS Bass Tournament by Ray Martinez

First off let me start by saying that I am an extremely proud Nucanoe owner ! I love it; its stable, balanced, roomy and customizable. I love it so much I've opted to use it as my tournament boat of choice this year in the 2014 KATS bass tournaments. KATS is a 10 tournament series here in Texas with a Classic to name the Champion of it all for the year. I currently have fished in two of the ten events already. The first was Lake Decker located near Austin TX and the second was on Lake Conroe just north of Houston, TX. I did a little travling for both as I live in San Antonio TX. That's a whole lot of Texas already.... with more to come! But no complaints by me, as Texas has some of the nations best fisherys.

Lake Decker

This tournament was quite the turnout with 84 kayak anglers total. I personally have never fished this lake before so I was leaning on luck and skill.We all paddled out to our 'go-to' spots as the horn is blown to start the event. This is one of the best parts for me as I get to paddle stride for stride against other kayak brands/models and show that even though the Nucanoe has size, she can still be quick with the right paddler. I have accessorized my Frontier a bit...3 tube rod holders, transducer mount, and Lowrance fish finder mount all made by RAM Mounts which helps make the fishing comfortable. The mounts also allowed me to use all six of my rods without tangles. I used my electronics to read depths and structure but had no luck finding the fish all day. Fished a crank bait along with a jig most of the day and not even a nibble. This wasn't an easy day of fishing due to the hard 15mph wind on the north side of the lake, not to mention all the fishing pressure that day... in the month of January. Personally have not had a skunked day of fishing in months or maybe longer. As an avid angler, I know these days can happen but it hurts when there's the opportunity to win brag rights on the line. I personally want to be the better angler of the day or among them. I will admit, I was pretty sick most of the day but I committed myself to fishing this event in hopes of a good result or simply just to gain angler points. Over all it was an awesome opportunity along with a tests of the Nucanoe's ability to be fished for eight hours on the water.  A day on the water is better than a day at work.... I'll take it.

Hawg troughs up... all 84 !!!

lucked out and got shot of me on the Frontier.

Lake Conroe

Round 2 was a cold one! 24 degrees coming off a hard cold front for Texas. The wind wasn't a big help but not entirely bad as the day progressed. The show of participants this time around was quite less, but was definitely a show of the ELITE  anglers in the series. The forty-three of us meet for check-in and a group photo then set out to our roadrunner boat ramps to unload. My Frontier and I stayed local in the early morning around some submerged wood in the middle of the channel. Fishing was slow. I looked around only to see everyone else was having the same luck. Again, I scanned and scanned .... fished and fished...nothing! Moved off the beaten path and headed out for the big lake, out side of the large cove we launched from. Found some activity on my graphs and a nice set of timber on a gradual drop so I grabbed my jig rod and got to work. I feel a small tap and immediately set the HOOK!  Feeling the small vibrations of a fish shake on my medium heavy jig rod, I slung in this poor little ten inch bass. Relieved and very grateful for the catch as that was my only fish of the day. As you all may know, it takes fourteen inches to count on the board. I paddled quite a bit hunting and beating areas with my lures. I needed to get back, but, not before I hit  my original spot just to find four other kayaks all around it. "Bummer" No one was having much luck at all...only one person caught a limit, while only one other caught more than two, with the majority not catching anything at all. All in all it was anybody's  day that day. Another great Nucanoe experience in the books.

It was so cold... ice was forming on my line. "burr"

ready to freeze and fish

Always nice to win the raffle after a long hard day.

Weapons Training by Ed Wagner

Recently I just returned from weapons training in Michigan which for me was very relaxing and a chance to do some fishing non-pressured lakes on military installations.  As soon as the bullets stops and the arty ends you can head out and find some nice fish.  I found more than fish on this trip but I am getting ahead of myself.

Everyone making sight corrections before throwing more lead down range, notice the guys in the "red" hats, they are the instructors.

Sitting on a top of empty 50 cal shell casings...there is not better stress reliever!

After all this hard training was done it was time to do some fishing!

B.G.Y.M. Beaver Lake Tournament July 27, 2013 by Joe Maione

The July B.G.Y.M. event had a schedule change because of high water on the Licking river. The event got moved to Beaver Lake and Taylor and I decided to camp there for the weekend which would allow us to pre-fish and spend some quality father/daughter time together. We loaded up the yaks and camper on Friday morning and hit the road. By 3:30 we had the camp site set up and had a late lunch. We hit the water to practice from 4-8pm and Taylor couldn't figure them out and I didn't do too much better but brought a half dozen smaller fish in the Frontier. We headed back to camp and grilled out some burgers and relaxed around the campfire roasting marshmallows. It was a really fun night!

Tournament day... registration at 5am. On the water a daylight in a light rain. Taylor is now fishing most tournaments from her own kayak and she three to the boat with in the first hour.. but unfortunately they all flipped off the hook as she is still learning to get fish in the boat all by herself. One was a really nice 15-16" fish. She soon got the hang of it an had a limit by lunch time all on her white grub. I only had one fish in the boat on a drop shot by about 2:00pm and finished out my limit in the last hour using the same grub Taylor was wearing me out on. It was definitely one of my more frustrating tournaments and the first one this year were I truly struggled to put fish in the Frontier. Taylor caught fish with regularity all day long but just couldn't find the big ones. She did lose another really nice 16+ inch fish on a jump toward the end. Taylor ended up beating me and finished in the top 20 and winning the youth division.

Anthony Thompson finished first with a 3 fish limit going 48.5". Second place went to T.J. Strong with 47.5" and Bob Brown rounded out the top 3 with a 43.25" total. Even with the rainy morning and the change of venue there were still around 30 members showed up to fish this stop. A fun time was had by all and I am looking forward to the next event I will get to fish in August. I have to miss the next event for my anniversary and I wish everyone luck.

Although I had one of my worst tournament performances in a very long time it was a great time! I really enjoyed camping two nights with my daughter and she absolutely loved the whole experience of tournament fishing along with camping. Definitely something we plan to do again!

Elkhorn Creek Fishing Series - July 13 by Joe Maione

The Elkhorn Creek Fishing series hit the creek July 13th for the third tournament in the series. A rainy summer has continued and the creek was up and moving. Even with the high water the fish were hungry and a great time was had by all. Registration began at 5:00am and I was able to hit the water by 6:30. Taylor took another tournament off to go see her new baby cousin and that was probably a good call with the high swift moving water.. more on that later.


Participation was a little down with the higher water but although the creek was high and swift it was pretty clear - slightly stained but definitely not chocolate milk. I was able to catch fish on a stick bait and a tube with my best three fish coming on the tube. My best 3 fish were 36.5" which was good enough for 7th place. My biggest on the day was a 13.25" smallmouth. Top three in the standings were first place - Matt Schaefer, second place - T.J. Strong, and 3rd place - Allen Bullman.

So the more on that later part.... found out today you can actually flip a NuCanoe Frontier although it was totally user error. About 3/4 way through the float is a riffle called the claw which is a little tough but usually easily manageable. I was going through it just fine, but I have an orange strap loop on the front of the boat I use to drag or attach when I get out to wade which had flipped out and was hanging out the front of the kayak. Well as I was passing the really swift part with an under cut bank the strap got caught on a root under the water while I was leaning over to get under a branch. The caught strap instantly stopped the Frontier and spun it slamming it into the bank while I was leaning the other direction - boat flipped and I was in the drink. The good news - the Frontier was easy to flip back over and in a matter of seconds I was back on the Frontier accessing my situation. Most of my gear was floating quickly down stream but I gathered what I could. There was another member right behind me who also flipped his Coosa. We broke down his paddle and each used half a paddle as we continued down stream hoping to find my paddle, crate and other items. We continued down stream and another kayaker had retrieved my paddle and empty crate and also a few of my plano boxes. I did end up losing quite a bit of tackle my crate was un strapped earlier and I had forgot to strap it back up. Remarkably I only lost one rod - and it was the one that was strapped in go figure! The three rods that were laying on the floor with only the butt ends under the seat base remained right in the kayak so I guess it could have been much worse! At the end of the float it was nice to see that the Frontier after the flip had very little water in it do to the water tight design of the hatch.... the Coosa on the other hand was at least 3/4 full of water on the inside

Despite the flip, lost rod, and lost tackle I had a great time on the creek and learned a few things about keeping my gear secure. Even with the higher water there were a lot of fish caught and I am looking forward to rest of the series and chasing those bronze backs the rest of the summer!

Blugrass Yakmasters/Elkhorn Creek Fishing Series - twice the fun!!!!!!!!!

        The third regular season event of the Bluegrass Yakmasters took place on Elkhorn Creek June 8th.  It was run in conjunction of the other series I fish the Elkhorn Creek Kayak fishing series.   Both tournaments were held in conjunction with each other which was pretty cool.  Two entry fees, one registration and weigh in location (photo - CPR format), and twice the opportunities to win.  

        Taylor and I hit the creek in the Frontier 12 and found the fishing to be quite good.  Many fish were caught throughout the day, but the larger fish were hard to come for most of us.  I ended up catching close to 30 smallmouth bass but most were in the 10" -12" range.  Taylor was trying some new hooks the first part of the day and hooked up with several fish that came un- buttoned before she could pull them into the Frontier... including a big large mouth in the 4lb range.  She switched back to her normal hook after lunch and was able to land two smallies to finish first in the youth division in both series events.  I ended up in a tie for 12th with a 3 fish limit 36.5".  

        33 anglers participated in the BGYM event and all but three brought fish to the photo weigh-in.  The top 3 finishers in the event were:  Tyson Peterson 46.25", Matthew Schaefer 45.75", and Keith Brown 44.75".  Most people decided to sign up and fish in both events with 24 anglers also fishing the Elkhorn Creek Series event. 

 However the winner of the yakmasters event did not sign up for the EKFS thus moving Matthew Schaefer into first, Keith Brown finished second, and moving into the top 3 Cameron Debity with 43.5".

        It was a great day to be on the creek and Taylor and I had a blast.  Looking forward to the next events in both series.  The Blugrass Yakmasters will fish Stoner Creek on June 22 and the Elkhorn Creek Fishing series will hit the creek again on July 13, 2013.  The days event ended with a cookout at Canoe Kentucky with plenty of food and fish stories to go around!

On A Whim

On A Whim

My buddy Kenny, his boy and I decided to hit the lake this evening, with storms passing it seemed like a good enough idea.



Worked some larger crank-baits on the channel ledges with no success. I moved on too worming the back side of a small island off the main channel, the water was 85 ish with lots of shade and seemed like a good spot but still no fish so I switched to a top water buzz bait. First cast I got a small 12", 2nd cast the same, 3rd cast yielded a 14 or 15" bass, this went on for another 10 minutes before they shut off.


Moved on down a bit and started worming some structure in deeper water where I found a few 2 and 3 pound fish, a 4.5 and a few other smaller ones. Kenny did well pitching tubes on the structure as well. At one point he was doing so well he said he may have lost his his biggest fish ever.


Like I said, seemed like a good enough idea.

Chuck 

Kenny

                                       
                                       

                                       

Chuck Conder
Twitter-@chuckconder
www.yakin4bass.com

B.G.Y.M. Stoner Creek Tournament by Joe Maione

The Bluegrass Yakmasters held their 4th points bearing event on Stoner Creek in Paris, KY on June 22, 2013. Registration was held at Fryman's Boat Dock and anglers had two pools of stoner creek to fish from. 30 club members showed up bright and early ready to wear out some fish and have a great time.

I arrived the afternoon before to do a little pre-fishing and get to know the creek. Put in at Fryman's around 5:00pm and fished until dark. I didn't catch a lot of fish, but brought some nice sized largemouth to the boat and left for the hotel confident about the tournament in the morning. Taylor decided to take this tournament off ..... well she had an offer to go tubing with her best friend at Barren River.

Tournament day.... and registration went off without a hitch. Myself and most of the 30 anglers decided to launch at Fryman's and fish this pool while a handful headed off to fish the other pool. Turned out the bigger fish came from the other pool - story of my life! Anyway I launched and within the first 20 minutes I already had my 3 fish limit albeit on the small size. I continued to catch fish with regularity throughout the rest of the morning and then the bite just shut off. I was able to increase my limit to 40" for my 3 fish. I did catch a half dozen more in the afternoon but was unable to make any upgrades.

I had a pretty good day and ended up in the top 10 finishing in 9th place. I probably had the second biggest total of those fishing the Fryman's pool.... ahhh but that handful of guys that headed and launched at Ike's in the other pool got into some nice fish. Matt Schaefer finished first with a total length of 49.25". With 47.25" Keith Brown came in second with Drew Russell bringing in 45.25" to round out the top 3. A total of 976" of fish were caught with a 3 fish average of 32.5". Big Fish went to Keith Brown with a monster over 21".

A great time was had by all. As with all tournaments in the club cash prizes to the top 5 and 6-10 recieve prize packs from sponsors. I got a hat and a bunch of cool baits for my 9th place finish. Off to the next tournament - Licking River on July 27, 2013.

Seat Base Modification by David Bagley

This can be altered/changed anyway you want. I used 1 x 4 Cedar. Rot resistant, light weight, but strong enough. I used a miter saw set at 45 degrees for most of the cuts to give the edges a little nicer look.

Cut two boards 18 ins long, drill two holes 1 3/4 centered using a 1/2 in spade/wood bit.

Cut two boards 13 ins long, center them on the 18 in boards, set two inches in from each end. Glue and screw them down.

Install these on the Freedom track and screw them down loose.

Cut three boards 25 ins long and place them on the boards on the Freedom track, screw one screw in to hold the board in place (no glue yet). Make sure they slide on the track without binding. Make sure they are centered and glue and screw them into place.

Cut two boards 9 ins long and glue and screw them down leaving enough space to mount the swivel seat mount.

Cut two boards 8 1/4 ins long. I did not use a 45 degree angle on these.

Cut two boards 13 1/2 ins long using a 45 degree angle again and place these across the previous boards.

It should come out looking something like this.


And you can stain, paint, or leave it natural to your liking.
This is the 3rd one I've made. Each time I've "tweeked" it a little. Hope this helps. This base will not flex with a swivel seat installed. Make it taller to fit a battery underneath. The one I made is 5 ins from the bottom of the kayak to the bottom of the seat mount.