Product Review: The Jackson Kayak Underseat Utility Bag

10 Tuesday Oct 2023

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I discovered this product at the Redcrest Expo in March of 2023. As usual, I took my time reviewing it in order to properly evaluate its durability and functions. I ultimately found it indispensable, and it became my favorite new accessory for my fishing kayak (a Jackson Bite FD). For the full review, click on the link. Thanks for reading!

https://hub.jacksonkayak.com/2023/10/introducing-the-jackson-kayak-underseat-utility-bag/

Learning the Water: Kayak Tournament Fishing at Jordan Lake

10 Thursday Aug 2023

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The Question

In previous articles in this series, I described El Dorado (Shearon Harris), The North Pole (Falls Lake) and the Mississippi (Mackintosh).  Local anglers have greeted each article with either praise or with sneers. It seems that they worry that I am going to ruin a lake or that I will give away their best spots. As a result of the complaints, I started reaching out to anglers to give them assurances and obtain clearances. This only seems to have made folks even more paranoid.

Fear and paranoia create the appropriate mood for the fourth and final lake in this series. Jordan Lake is a fishery that inspires terror. There is no other way to put it.

A few examples:

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Learning the Water: Kayak Tournament Fishing at Lake Mackintosh

16 Sunday Jul 2023

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Learning the Water: Kayak Tournament Fishing at Lake Mackintosh

I. The Question

Some lakes are like old schoolmates or a friendly teacher who lives nearby; we just don’t see them all too often. When we do see them, we feel good. We leave after the visit and ask “Why don’t I visit more frequently?” Perhaps it’s because if we did, the magic might wear off. We would have too many good times and the rest of life would pale by comparison. In short, we’d become spoiled.

Or it might be that no matter how many times we go back, we always have a good time. The friendship gets stronger and every day is a new adventure. Even the quiet days are memorable. That’s being spoiled, too, in a good way.

Mackintosh, I confess, has spoiled me in the latter way. As we will see, some important kayak tournament fishing moments in North Carolina happened on the lake – and not only for me. The lake has shaped me and us like a good teacher does – it forms us, challenges us and makes learning a pleasure.

Continue reading →

Learning the Water: Kayak Tournament Fishing on Shearon Harris Reservoir

13 Tuesday Jun 2023

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The Question

How do we learn to fish? And more specifically, how do we learn to fish a specific body of water? The two questions address two interdependent types of education. The former is a general skill set, such as one obtains with a liberal arts degree. The latter is specialized, like a Master of Business Administration or Master of Fine Arts degree. In short, we take the general skill set and apply it to a specific body of water. We refine and fine tune, match the universal with the local, and ultimately pair the species with the phylum. By adapting our general skills to the specific lake or pond or river, the adaptation may also change our general skill set. Ideally, by way of the back and forth, we may become versatile.

The give and take between general skills and a river or lake can resemble a positive teacher-student relationship. At other times, it makes you want to send the whole class to detention.

Read more: Learning the Water: Kayak Tournament Fishing on Shearon Harris Reservoir Continue reading →

Fish Psych 101: Reflections on a Hot Streak (part II)

05 Friday May 2023

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Overview

During the darkest hour of the recent pandemic, I started reading articles about sports psychology. It began with an article on the BBC news website about a phenomenon known as “Quiet Eye” that can be identified in certain elite athletes (I’ll have more to say about that in another post). It continued from there through sports journalism, scientific studies and science writing in various media. In short, I started to wonder how current research and concepts might apply to tournament fishing.

For example, I started asking questions about what’s happening in my body when I am fishing. How is physical exhaustion related to mental fatigue? What are my eyeballs doing in relation to what my hands are doing? Can I identify patterns of movement and thought – decisions I make – from my body language and movements in the countless hours of video I record? What is my brain doing? I began noticing things, and I started writing them up.

This second installment in my “Fish Psych 101” series is actually a sequel to the first article I wrote on the topic, which I posted last season.  In that article, I began asking questions about how types of brain activity might correlate with results in tournament fishing.

Here, I dive into the recent tournaments since that streak in late 2022, waters I fished, and my general mindset. I may be starting to elaborate a theory about “confidence” that goes against the grain of what I hear in most conversations about tournament fishing. What I know for certain is that something dramatic has changed in how I approach the water, mentally speaking.

As before, I am elaborating basic concepts and attempting to summon questions more than I am deciphering answers. At times, I feel like the sorcerer’s apprentice in Goethe’s poem, and I can’t quite figure out how to control the spell. Nonetheless, I make the cast.

Continue reading →

Learning the Water: Kayak Tournament Fishing in Falls Lake

20 Monday Mar 2023

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I. The Question

Fishing is an acquired skill. Like just about anything else worth doing, it requires practice. Some people are quick to learn the art of casting and tying knots, others require time to learn the basics. Some simply give up. I was tempted on several occasions, before I even began fishing from a kayak, let alone tournament fishing. It’s much easier to just watch people catch fish on television.

In order to fish competitively, you also have to learn about gear, techniques for specific types of fishing and also how to fish certain waters. Add in kayaks, with their specialization and physical effort, and you can understand why some folks buy a bass boat. If you are going to leave on an expedition to the North pole, you want to be prepared, or else (see the Franklin Expedition). Kayak fishing is not easy.

I know. As I said, I learned it all the hard way. I competed in kayak tournaments for nine years without a 1st place finish. Over the past three seasons, I have had five of them on four different lakes (Jordan, Shearon Harris, Mackintosh and Falls). Each one of those lakes is a different animal, and I have been fishing them all for the past fifteen years (and in the case of Jordan, even longer). It’s time to reflect.

Having failed in many trips to the North Pole, explorers eventually found it. Falls Lake has been that sort of lake for me. The effort has been worth the risk.

For the purposes of this article, I will focus only on Falls Lake. While some of what I write here applies to the others, it is limited as to how much it translates. “How to learn the water?” has no predictable answer – it’s a question you have to ask every day you fish.

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Jackson Kayak Blog Posts 2022

22 Wednesday Feb 2023

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As a regular contributor to the Jackson Kayak Fishing Channel, I publish fishing reports, product reviews and kayak fishing advice. This is a compilation of my posts from 2022.

1. Scupper Plugs: Do I need Them?” is my fourth post to the Jackson site. In it I focus on an often overlooked kayak accessory – the scupper plug – and explain its importance and uses.

Click here to read my article.

    2. I fish rivers, and in this article, I explained how the new Mark IV Flex Drive affects river fishing from the Bite FD.

    Click here to read my post.

    Jackson Kayak Blog Posts 2021

    21 Tuesday Feb 2023

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    As a regular contributor to the Jackson Kayak Fishing Channel, I publish fishing reports, product reviews and kayak fishing advice. This is a compilation of my posts from 2021.

    1. This was my second post to the site, in 2021. Entitled “Late Winter Tournament bass Fishing in the Bite FD,” I wrote it after my improbable victory in a CKA Tournament on a very cold February day. This post gave me the idea to compose my Carolina Trail diary, which covered my entire 2021 tournament season with CKA.

    Click here to read the original post.

    2. This was my third blog post to the Jackson site. In it, I reviewed the Jackson Cruise 10.5, which is my favorite light paddling/fishing kayak from the old Jackson Fleet. No long produced, the Cruise is now considered a “Legacy Boat.”

    Click here to read the review.

    Jackson Kayak Blog Posts 2020

    20 Monday Feb 2023

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    1. As a regular contributor to the Jackson Kayak Fishing Channel, I publish fishing reports, product reviews and kayak fishing advice.

    This was my first post to the site, in 2020.

    Click here for my complete review.

    Note: since 2022, the newer Jackson Bite FD has a completely new drive system, a new seat configuration and more.

    Fish Psych 101: Reflections on a Hot Streak (I)

    11 Sunday Sep 2022

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    Overview

    During the darkest hour of the recent pandemic, I started reading articles about sports psychology. It began with an article on the BBC news website about a phenomenon known as “Quiet Eye” that can be identified in certain elite athletes, but also in mediocre athletes who suddenly go on a “streak” (I’ll have more to say about that in another post). My interest in that article led me to more sources: sports journalism, scientific studies and science writing in various media. In short, I started to wonder how contemporary writings about sports psychology might apply to tournament kayak fishing.

    I started asking questions about what’s happening in my body when I am fishing. How is physical exhaustion relation to mental fatigue? What are my eyeballs doing in relation to what my hands are doing? Can I identify patterns of movement and thought – decisions I make – from the countless hours of video I record? What is my brain doing? I began noticing things, and I started writing them up.

    This first installment uses a recent run of good results as a starting point to explore some of those questions.  Maybe I’m jinxing myself by reflecting on it during the hot streak, but I’m not superstitious (unless it’s my football team). I’m also trying to figure out how it happened after a major surgery that seems to have cleared my mind as my body healed. It seemed counter-intuitive: wouldn’t my recovery impede strong performances. Or did the extended period of trauma and recovery do something that helped me succeed on the water?

    I’ll introduce some terminology and basic concepts, then proceed to results and speculation. I have no preconceived notions; like stars in the night sky, curiosity and experience guide me.

    Continue reading →