4/26/15 Hard Times and a Good Choice

Besides Lake Michigan and it's tributaries, I have had a pretty difficult spring fishing season. Our rivers in town have been inhospitable and have not given up any Walleyes and very few Crappies. The Crappie fishing should be very good by now and it still continues to baffle me. It's like they are not around at all. Out of 3 trips on the river I have only got 1 Crappie. Conditions have not been right under our dams to chase Walleyes from a kayak. Despite the hard times, I invited fellow WCO kayak fishing team member Kyle P. up to fish with me. We started off fishing under a dam for Walleyes with absolutely no luck. We then moved downstream to a stretch of river I know holds lots of nice game fish. After pounding the banks with nothing to show for it, it was clear that we needed to make a change before the whole day got away from us. Over lunch we discussed our options and decided to fish a small stream for Smallmouth Bass and Pike. Upon arrival, it was pretty evident that stream conditions were absolutely ideal. Good flow and a slight tea color to the otherwise clear water made for a welcome sight. We began fishing and within minutes, I had landed my first Smallmouth. We worked our way upstream and I continued to pick up fish. The smallies were extremely aggressive and were demolishing the large double bladed spinnerbait I was throwing in hopes of enticing a nice Pike. I did end up catching two small "hammer handle" Pike but the highlight was definitely the exceptional Smallmouth fishing. On the return trip, the fading light of late afternoon was shining between the trees giving the water a striped appearance. From a standing position in my Predator MX, I could see my spinnerbait each time it moved into a section of water illuminated by the sun. In view, out of view, in view, out of view. The next time I could see it, a bronze fish darted from out of nowhere and snatched the lure and headed back for cover. Once hooked it came to the surface and jumped a few times before coming to hand. Getting to watch the entire thing from strike, to hookset, to landing the fish makes for a great memory. In total I brought 10 Smallmouth, 2 Pike, and 1 Rock Bass to hand. The biggest Smallie was just under 16 inches in length. It was awesome to be out and have success even if it wasn't the plan at the start of the day.

Fishing Kayak and Paddle for SALE!

I'm looking to sell my first fishing kayak. It is a Future Beach Trophy 126 and will come with an "Easy Rider" paddle. I purchased this kayak new in 2008 for $350.00 and used it mainly for fishing. It is 10' 6'' long and is pretty stable. Both the kayak and paddle were extensively used but are in good condition. Some of the features of this boat are: Shallow front dry hatch (for storing small items), a large back hatch (for storing large items), adjustable foot pegs, paddle keeper clips on both sides of the cockpit, and a seat that I installed myself (much more comfortable than the factory seat). The boat itself has holes where I added rod holders and a depth finder. I can either fill these with epoxy or re-install the Scotty rod holders at cost for the holders. The "Easy Rider" paddle is in good shape and was originally $65.00 when new. It includes rubber splash guards. I would like to get $300.00 for the kayak and paddle as is, or $350.00 with the Scotty rod holders installed. I will consider other offers. Email me at kphammond86@gmail.com or message me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kyle.hammond.102 if you are interested or would like to set up a time to come over and take a look.

Future Beach 126 Kayak and "Easy Rider" Paddle for sale.

This photo shows the back half of the boat including two flush mount rod holders and the large storage compartment.

This "Easy Rider" paddle will come with the kayak. It was $65 originally.

This photo shows the shallow front hatch and two Scotty spinning rod holders that were previously mounted on the kayak.

4/18/15 Elkhart Expedition

I made a trip to Elkhart over the weekend. I met up with two kayak anglers, Keith and Eric, from the Elkhart area. We planned to fished the St. Joe River for Walleyes. Upon arrival at the put-in, it was evident that there was still a lot of water coming through the dam. There were relatively big waves and a strong current in the area. I got in and paddled upstream to the dam to get into a big eddy that was protected from the waves by some bridge pilings. While in this eddy, I caught a small Smallmouth Bass and Keith managed a decent Pike. Action was slow at the dam so we tried moving downstream to see if we could find some fish. While moving over shallow rocky areas, it was evident that the Sucker run was in full swing. I saw literally HUNDREDS of suckers on spawning gravel. There were so many, that at times you couldn't fish some spots because your lure would be constantly hitting them. Eric accidentally snagged one at one point and it gave him a decent fight on light tackle. I got a quick picture for him before he released the fish. We decided to make a short run up the Elkhart River to a dam just upstream of the confluence between the Elkhart and St. Joe Rivers. There was one section of this river that was pretty shallow and fast moving. It was relatively difficult to paddle up it. I had to paddle up an eddy, then ferry over onto, and paddle up a tongue to get up the river. It took some good effort to fight against the current. When I had made it above the fast water, I heard clapping from the bank. I looked over and a guy had watched me paddle up the fast water and had apparently been impressed that I was able to make it. On the way to the dam, I spotted a dead fish floating down the river. I was curious to see what it was so I paddled over to check it out. Much to my surprise, it was a Brown Trout. It was maybe 12 inches long. It must have come from a tributary of the Elkhart that is stocked with Browns, but that stream is a long way from where I found this fish. It was a pretty interesting find. Once we were near the dam, I started fishing a deep pool out of the main current and before long I hooked into a very nice Smallmouth (pictured below). It gave me a great fight and was a beautiful fish. I had a nice fish on at the dam but it came off after a brief fight and I never got to see what it was. Fishing on the way back downstream, I picked up a few more smallish Smallmouth Bass. Once back to the St. Joe, I had to eddy hop my way back upstream to get back to our launch point. All in all, fishing was pretty tough but it was still a fun day. I got to see another new river system, meet some new friends, and catch a few fish.

4/13/15 The Hunt for Spring Walleyes

After work, Mike and I headed to a northern Indiana lake in search of some early spring Walleyes. We got on the water at about 5:30 and fished till about 10. It was an extremely windy day which made fishing difficult and at times the waves bouncing off of concrete breakwalls was making it downright uncomfortable on the water. Before long we found a relatively sheltered area and began to catch fish. Most of these fish were caught up shallow on crankbaits. The fish were tucked tight to the shoreline. I ended up catching 2 short Walleyes both of which were just over 13'' in length. I also caught 6 bass the nicest of which is pictured below. Mike did well on the Walleyes with 4 to the boat, 3 of which were decent sized fish. It was a fun trip and I can't wait to catch more Walleyes in the near future.

4/12/15 Small Stream Steelhead

What a beautiful day to fish for Steelhead. My dad and I took a trip to the Indiana tributaries of Lake Michigan. We fished Trail Creek, Little Calumet River, and Salt Creek all over the course of the day. Upon arriving at our first creek, it was still just beginning to get light. We couldn't see any fish and we were blind casting into deeper pools with no success. After a half hour or so, it got light enough that you could see fish in the creek. One laydown in particular was holding a lot of fish and these fish seemed very active. I quietly snuck in front of the laydown and threw my spinner across the creek and brought it back right in front of the wood. On my second cast, I had barely begun to move my spinner when I Steelie shot out from under the log and absolutely smashed my lure! I hooked it and the fish immediately turned downstream and stripped line to get back under the wood. I managed to put the screws to the fish and get it back upstream where it continued the fight with several jumps. I ended up tailing the beautiful female and getting a few shots before releasing her. Not long afterwards, I was fishing another laydown. On my first cast a big male came from under the wood and absolutely enveloped my spinner. I had him in a small space and had to work very hard to keep him from getting tangled around anything. As my dad attempted to net him, the spinner hooks got tangled in the net and with a little thrashing, the fish managed to leverage itself off and swim away. After that, the action slow considerably. Most runs we fished were absolutely full of smolts, so we kept moving to try to find some more adult fish. We saw quite a few but most were in full spawning mode and not at all interested in playing our game.
On our way back to the truck, I spotted two fish sitting side-by-side in a shallow run and decided to cast to them with a single egg under a float. After a few casts, one of the fish took the egg but I completely missed the hookset. After a few more casts, it was pretty obvious that they were uninterested. I was about to move on when a small buck moved up to within a few feet of the paired fish. I cast the egg out and let it drift past the two fish. As soon as the third fish saw the egg coming he went out of his way to gulp it down. I made a good hookset and the smaller, but incredibly lively male was dancing around the creek. After a few minutes I brought him to the net. He was an incredibly bright, beautiful fish of about 24 inches. He had nice red cheeks, a nice red stripe the whole length of his body, and besides my hook in his mouth not another mark on him. I pulled him from the net and lifted him for my dad to get a picture. As soon as I had him up, he must have sensed his opportunity and quickly wriggled free and escaped without getting his picture taken. It's a great picture in my mind but one that I unfortunately can't share with you.
Not long after that fish was gone, a pair of guys just upstream of me had a fish on. While watching, it was obvious that the fish was snagged in the back. After a short battle, they netted the fish, cut it's gills, put it on a stringer, and threw it back into the creek to bleed out. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against keeping what you catch and I often take fish home for the dinner table, but I personally feel like what these guys were doing was just wrong. I don't see why people resort to snagging when these fish are relatively aggressive and willing to take lures. I know nothing I could have said or done would changed anything but I wish people would fish ethically and take care of our natural resources.
After that somewhat sour note, we decided to change it up and head to another creek to find some different fish. Upon arriving, I set my dad up with the spinner rod and let him fish the best two runs first to see if any active fish were in the mood to play. He cast both runs for 15 or 20 minutes apiece and then turned to me and said "alright, show me how it's done." He handed me the spinner rod and within the first several casts I had a nice male absolutely destroy my lure. This fish put on quite the show with several runs and a few cartwheeling jumps. I also managed to get a little video of the tail end of the fight. After releasing that fish, we cast for another hour or so with no other opportunities.
We decided to eat lunch and head to the third creek to see if any fish were in it still. We hiked back into the woods and got in the creek to head upstream and back towards the truck. As we were standing in the water, we were approached by a man. He asked us if we were having any luck and if we had seen any Steelhead. He said something to the effect of "I was out looking the other day and I didn't see any fish." As if on cue, a Steelhead from somewhere downstream spooked and rushed past us heading upstream. I looked at him and said "You mean like that one?" It was pretty funny and the guy put his foot in his mouth after that. We continued upstream and before long I spotted a pair of fish holding underneath a bush on the edge of the creek. I cast my spinner into the water ahead of them and brought it almost straight downstream past the fish. When it went past them, the male Steelie rushed out and then darted right back into the cover. I repeated this cast with a slightly more aggressive response from the fish about 10 more times. Each time you could tell the fish was more and more agitated and before long on one of the casts he actually hit the spinner but didn't get hooked. After that, he refused to come back out of the cover again. The rest of the day was just a nice walk up a small creek occasionally spotting a fish but not doing much fishing.
All in all, it was a great day. The weather was beautiful, the fish were pretty willing, and I got to spend some quality time with my dad.

4/6/15 Trout Time!

Got out for a few hours yesterday afternoon to fish my favorite trout lake. Action was pretty slow. I went to 2/4 on Rainbows with flies. The second I caught gave me a very long and spirited fight, jumping and pulling drag several times. It was a beautiful trout! The water is pretty cold still and the fish are right near the surface. Kelly went with me and went 1/2 on crankbaits. Get out and get some holdovers before the State stocks the little ones! Check out the Trout section of the website for more information on how I am catching these fish.

4/4/15 Surf Launch and Cohos

Saturday was an entertaining day. Looking at the wave and wind forecasts for Lake Michigan, I knew it wasn't going to be ideal conditions. Relatively big waves were predicted to be coming straight into the beach for most of the day but were also predicted to subside as the day went on. It was also forecasted to be windy with 15-25 mph winds from the South, SouthWest all day. Nick and I decided to get a later start to give the waves time to die down a bit. We arrived at the beach to discover that there were still 2-3 footers coming into the beach. The lake itself looked relatively calm so we decided to surf launch and have a go at trolling for Cohos. As you'll see in the video, I had a few of the bigger waves crash over the front. Enough so, that I had to pull the front two scuppers to drain the water. Other than that, I was very pleased to discover that the Predator MX handled good sized waves extremely well. Once on the lake, it was extremely tough conditions. The rollers were not so bad but the waves being generated by the almost entirely West wind were pretty challenging. At times, I was paddling as hard as I could straight into the wind and waves and was actually traveling backwards. Despite this, I still had a two chances at fish that hit my trolled crankbaits. Before long it was evident that the waves from the wind were beginning to build and it would probably be a good idea to get off the water. We turned around and quickly drifted with the wind back to the beach. On the return trip in I got a few brief surfs on the waves. It was really pretty fun and the MX handled it beautifully. As you'll see in the video, Nick had a bit of a challenge coming into the beach and flipped his Hobie PA14 in the surf. The good news is that he was totally fine and he really didn't break or lose much gear. After we got out, we decided to go to another beach and have a look to see if the conditions were any better. The next beach did look pretty decent so we decided to get out and give it a try for a few hours. It was still windy but pretty protected from the waves. I ended up catching two Cohos. The one in the video was a really nice fish at just under 19 inches. I ended the day going 2/4 on Cohos. All in all a fun but challenging day on the water.