Tag Archives: Bending Branches

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Spotlight: Yak4It Tournament of Champions, Heddon Video, Fishing with Kids, Lurenet.com

This recent spotlight features one of the most exclusive kayak bass fishing tournaments in the country, a product feature, tips for fishing with kids and one of my favorite tackle sources:

The Yak4It Tournament of Champions at Lake Fork, Texas, is coming up in November and I’m excited to have qualified again this year to compete. This tournament is by invitation only and qualifiers are selected from tournament circuits or events around the country yak4it-toc-300x257based on how the anglers have performed in those events. This is the second year in a row I will be competing representing Arkansas along with other qualifiers from the state. The tournament is held at famous Lake Fork and Lake Fork Marina and Motel serves as the epicenter of the event. Last year was my first time on the lake, am hoping for a better finish this year.

As the tournament season begins to close, I want to thank brands who have shown the support for me this year on the tournament trail: Bending Branches, Dobyns Rods, YUM, Booyah, Rebel, Norman, Smithwick, Arbogast, Cotton Cordell, Bandit, Bomber, Heddon, Fish Allure and Stormr.

Heddon is an old school fishing brand that I love to throw because I simply catch fish with these lures. Here is a nice video from Heddon showing off some pond fishin’ with a Pop’n Image.

Kayak Fishing Blog is my favorite website for reading about kayak fishing topics and once again they have a great article, this one on 15 Tips for Kayaking with Kids. Taking kids out on the water is a great way to create a legacy and grow the sport. Make it a great trip by using the tips in their handy infographic.

If your local big box store doesn’t carry some of the plastics or lure variations you need, check out Lurenet.com for baits. This site carries only certain product lines (including some big ones like YUM and Booyah) but has the deepest selection from within their offerings. For example, I like to use the YUM 10″ Ribbontail worm in Black/Blue flake, but this is a hard one to find. Lurenet.com has it and a lot more.

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Spotlight: Expert Crankbait Tips, Choosing a Stand-Up Paddle, Jeff Malott Wins KBS on Table Rock, Installing LED Lights, AKA and WAKA Results

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Taking off on Beaver Lake the morning of the AKA NW Arkansas road-runner event.

This week’s spotlight features some great content and some exciting results involving some of my fellow Arkansas Kayak Anglers.

Dwain Batey is maybe the best crankbait kayak angler I know of and he’s put together a great article called Why You Can’t Catch Fish on a Squarebill Crankbait. Despite the title, Dwain does everything he can in this article to help you catch fish on a crankbait. He should know, he’s the owner of Bait Werks Custom Lure Painting and paints all of the lures for Skirmish Baits. If you like to fish crankbaits or want to improve, this is a good place to start.

Fellow Arkansas Kayak Angler Jeff Malott won a cool $3,000 this past weekend at the KBS Open on Table Rock Lake. Jeff is a great angler who works hard at his craft and deserved the win. Jeff caught eight bass and turned in a limit of 82″ inches on a post-front day. He is the tournament director for Arkansas Kayak Angler events, one of the founders of the Razoryak Tournament Trail and serves on many other kayak fishing related boards. It’s no surprise an AKA member won on Table Rock; clear and rocky water like that is home turf. Jeff is currently at the top spot in the AOY points for AKA and has a great season. Check out Jeff’s blog, Yakfish Arkansas.

If you are fortunate enough to have a Stand-Up Paddleboard (SUP), they are a lot of fun. Choosing the right paddle can make all the difference. Bending Branches has this great article about Choosing a Stand-Up Paddle that’s helpful and includes some graphics representing the height of the paddler to the paddle and the right angle at which to make a paddle stroke.

Kayakfishingblog.com has an updated layout and look if you haven’t seen it in a while. They posted a good article on Installing LED Fishing Lights that you might want to check out. My own article on Installing LED Lights On Your Kayak has been a popular one on this blog. Between these two articles you should be well on your way towards an install.

Western Arkansas Kayak Anglers and Arkansas Kayak Anglers have updated their respective Angler of the Year points rankings after their most recent events. In northwest Arkansas, the AOY standings are taking shape with only two events left. Jeff Malott, Dwain Batey, Jason Kincy (me), Decland McDonald and Tim Hotchkin are sitting in the top five spots, with the top three places separated by eight points. Overall, there are 108 anglers in the points race. For WAKA, Brandon Ward and Cody Skelton are in a tight race for first, with Tommy Mcguire, Christa Hibbs and Joe Feyen rounding out the top five. Having only fished two events this year for WAKA, I’m currently sitting at 21 out of 47 anglers.

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Heddon and Booyah Baits Pay Off

The same baits paid big dividends in two tourneys in two different locations this past weekend. Over two days I competed in two road-runner kayak bass fishing tournaments on the Razoryak Tournament Trail.

Western Kayak Anglers held their tournament on Saturday and I took my kayak to Charleston Lake in Charleston, Arkansas. Hoping for an early topwater bite was the right move on this small, shallow lake. Within 45 minutes I had three keepers on my Heddon Super Spook Jr. (Foxy Shad) with a Fish Allure scented tab. Later in the morning I hooked into a giant who broke me off with a hard dive right at the yak, taking my spook with them. I was able to add a fourth keeper later in the day with a YUM Dinger (Cajun Neon) around buckbrush, but fell short of the five I needed that day. Still finished 11th in this event on this tough post-front bite day.

Sunday was a different day and a better bite when 74 kayak anglers in NW Arkansas hit the road for Arkansas Kayak Anglers. I went to Beaver Lake to try and capitalize on a really good 2016 bite. Early on, the spook was working again, netting me threIMG_2937 (1)e keepers on a Super Spook Jr. (Florida Bass) with a Fish Allure scented tab. I’d been experimenting with the relatively new Booyah Bankroll Jig and it did good work that morning. I pulled a nice keeper off of a log and moments later hooked a big one in some brush – which got away thanks to getting wrapped up on the wood. The Bankroll jig is great because of its versatility; I can swim it, flip it or drag it. Thanks to these baits I was able to cull twice and put together a decent limit. There were 30 limits caught on this day but I was able to finish in the top 10 out of 74 for the event and am in 3rd in the overall points race.

Great equipment is key in fishing kayak tournaments, maybe even more than in boat tournaments because you cover much less water. Every bite is critical! Some people ask about my boat setup, so here it is: Native Propel 10 kayak, Bending Branches Angler Pro Paddle, Humminbird Helix 5, and white Hawg Trough.

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Spotlight: Primary Tackle, Drop Shot Fishing, Canoe and Kayak Storage & Water Wolf

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Focus this week highlights a great source for some key tackle items, a drop shot fishing breakdown and a couple of other items of interest for kayak anglers:

Last spring while attending the FLW event at Beaver Lake I was exposed to Primary Tackle Co out of Bartlett, TN. This Memphis area tackle company has a variety of products available but seems to specialize in terminal tackle items and plastics. For me, it’s been a PrimaryTacklegreat money saver in tungsten weights, getting quality tungsten for a cheaper price than the big stores.

To give you an idea on price savings on these Vike tungsten weights, a pair of 3/4 oz is $7.99 on Tackle Warehouse and only $6.49 at Primary Tackle. A three pack of  1/4 oz worm weights are $5.19 on Tackle Warehouse and $3.99 at Primary Tackle. Tungsten 1/8 drop shot weights are $.50 less per three pack at Primary Tackle than at Tackle Warehouse. These prices illustrate pretty consistently the price savings you might see. Shipping is free with orders over $25!

We’re in February now and it’s always a good time to review some tips on canoe and kayak storage. Bending Branches put out this good article about preparing and storing your boats. Always appreciate the good content Bending Branches puts out to help paddlers get the most they can out of the sport!

Has anyone used a Water Wolf camera for underwater shooting? I’ve been reading about this product and am very intrigued by the idea of an underwater camera paired with kayak fishing. Hope to do more on Water Wolf in the future as I learn more about it.

This is a really good video put up by Jeff from Yakfisharkansas.com about drop shot fishing using Goldens Baits. I know Jeff and Tim and they are both great kayak anglers. Take some time to watch this video for some solid drop shot action: