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 1^st 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.