• Bio
    • Media Appearances
  • Kayak Fishing
    • Hank’s Kayak Fishing History
    • Kayak Fishing Posts
    • A Carolina Trail
    • Kayak Fishing for Bowfin
    • Field Reports
  • Bowfin
    • Bowfin Fishing
    • Bowfin Resources
  • Writings
    • Fishing Essays
    • Fishing Book Reviews
    • Product Reviews
    • Welcome to Bowfin Country: The Book
  • Sponsors

Welcome to Bowfin Country

Welcome to Bowfin Country

Tag Archives: Kayak Fishing Posts

Kayak Fishing: Wading, Portaging and Fishing in Fast Water

15 Friday Apr 2022

Posted by Henry Veggian in Bio, Kayak Fishing Posts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bass Fishing, fast water, kayak fishing, Kayak Fishing Posts, kayak safety, Largemouth Bass, Portaging

Introduction

How do you navigate fast, shallow water in a fishing kayak? And how do you fish that water? It isn’t always simple or easy. Prior to a recent tournament on Falls Lake in North Carolina, I consulted the USGS gauges for the rivers on the north end of the lake. There had been some rain, but not too much, and I wondered if some of the resident fish might be active due to food and oxygenated water flowing downstream. So I decided to give it a shot.

I prepared for some expected obstacles and eventualities, and improvised along the way. The result? A 7th place finish in a field of 57 anglers. Afterward, I made a short post about it on social media. The response was extensive and positive so I decided to expand the post in order to share more details about the effort, problem solving and safety tips involved in fishing this particular type of water.

Continue reading →

Jackson Cruise 10: Product Review

17 Tuesday Aug 2021

Posted by Henry Veggian in Bio, product reviews

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Jackson Cruise 10, Jackson Cruise Review, kayak fishing, Kayak Fishing Posts

My review of the Jackson Cruise 10 focuses on the kayak’s simple, multi-purpose design. I also note other features such as comfort, tracking and portability that make the Cruise a great option for both recreational paddling and fishing.

Link to full review: https://jacksonadventures.com/2021/07/the-jackson-cruise-10-a-recreational-kayak-for-all/

Full Disclosure: I am a member of the Jackson Kayak Fishing team, and this review appears on their website. I wrote this article after several months of paddling the Cruise 10. I have fished from many kayak brands and models, and I always do my best to write unbiased, honest reviews.

Back-Tracking, Double-Guessing & Sloth: Notes from a CKA Event on the Cape Fear River

27 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by Henry Veggian in Essays, Kayak Fishing Posts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bass Fishing, Bowfin Country, Cape Fear River, Carolina Kayak Anglers, CKA, Jackson Kayak Fishing Team, kayak fishing, Kayak Fishing Posts

Saturday, July 25th, 2020.

The forecast says baste your hide and prepare to be cooked.

When I arrived at the launch site there was a truck parked there, but it wasn’t Drew Blair’s truck. A man emerged from the woods dragging a kayak from the direction of the river, his headlight beam a cloud of insects.

“This isn’t the start I was expecting.”

My second thought was “Where the hell is Drew?” A short conversation later, and I said goodbye to Mitch, the woodsman, who gave up on the launch site. “That’s a rough launch” he said. I offered to help Mitch because I knew, deep in my heart, that Drew was asleep and I wasn’t going to make it alone. He always sleeps in on tournament day. Sure enough, a phone call confirmed it. Thankfully, he lives nearby. Mitch declined.

I waited in the dark for a bit. There wasn’t any morning breeze. I wondered if there was any air. I hoped to hide from the bugs in the darkness, but they found me. I was standing still but I was sweating. The sun would rise in 30 minutes. Drew, half asleep, rolled up and tried to use his Jedi mind powers to make the Hobie slide off his truck.

I’ve launched from difficult locations. This one ranked near the top of the list. The weeds were waist high, ruts in the abandoned road were knee deep and the drop from the bank to the water was actually two separate drops that added up to a Cubist painting. After launching, I realized that one of my rods left one of my lures somewhere in a tree branch behind us.

This isn’t an essay about how good I am at my favorite sport. It’s about a hot river and a cold bite. It’s about the risks I take, the decisions I make and the company I keep. It’s about admitting nature doesn’t care about your fishing plan – or any plan for that matter.

Continue reading →

The 2010’s: A Kayak Fishing Decade in Review

30 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by Henry Veggian in Essays, Kayak Fishing Posts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Carolina Yakfish, CKA, Fishing, Henry Veggian Kayak Fishing, Kayak Fishing Posts, kbf, Largemouth Bass, Sports

When you are young, the world is your private pond. It’s stocked with fat fish and they bite every lure you throw.  You can sit on the bank and eat chips, sleep and dream of adventures you had and will never have. You can wake up and dive in the pond or chase your friends around the banks until the wind gets winded. Youth is a fork and the world is your mussel.

Before you know it, you are tired, stressed and it’s all gone. If you are lucky, you have a job and your health. If you are really fortunate you still sneak out to fish sometimes and forget your troubles. The mussels aren’t quite as abundant and they cost more, but they still taste really good.

We are closing a historic decade in the artful sport of fishing. It will forever be known as the decade during which kayak tournament fishing went from a local hobby to national and international stature. The sport’s business side has blossomed, the media have portrayed us in a good light and there are more tournament options than one can count. There are kayaks on every lake, many with rods sticking out of them and looking like antennae farms floating on some extra-terrestrial settlement. In only a few short years, it appears a viable model for the sport has emerged: the technology has improved, state wildlife agencies have noticed us, competition formats have settled into some degree of normalcy and people are out there fishing and having fun, whether in tournaments or otherwise. Hell, even the venerated B.A.S.S. organization has adopted us. Who saw that coming?

Continue reading →

Bowfin Country Field Report: Louisiana

25 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by Henry Veggian in Bio, Field Reports

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bass Fishing, Bayou, Kayak Fishing Posts, KBF National Championship 2019

Hank’s Essay on Tournament Kayak Fishing in the Fall 2016 KBF Magazine

28 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by Henry Veggian in Essays, Kayak Fishing Posts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bass Fishing, Fishing, Fishing tournaments, Kayak Bass Fishing, Kayak Fishing Posts, KBF Magazine, Largemouth Bass

My essay about tournament kayak fishing, from the Fall 2016 issue of KBF Magazine. Click on the 1st link below for the pdf file of the article only. The 2nd link contains the full magazine (the article begins on page 73).

Thank you for reading!

  1. 4 Types of Kayak Tournament Fishing (article only): HV Kayak Tournaments KBF Mag
  2. Full magazine (free download):  Read it here

Bowfin Country Field Report: Hank on the Water, Fire in the Sky

25 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by Henry Veggian in Field Reports

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bass Fishing, Bowfin Country, Henry Veggian, Kayak Fishing Posts, North carolina

A rare photo of a common sight, as I sound the deeper water in Bowfin Country.

Photo Credit: Larry Anderson

9/24/16

Bowfin Country Fishing Journal: Landing a Bowfin from a Kayak

04 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by Henry Veggian in Bowfin, Kayak Fishing for Bowfin, Kayak Fishing Posts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

amia calva, Bowfin, jordan lake, Kayak Fishing Posts, Kayaks, Landing a big fish, living fossils, rough fish

Battling an angry, powerful fish from a kayak can be a nerve-rattling experience. Anglers must first contend with the thrill of the fight and the steps required to land the fish. Those steps include adjusting the drag setting on the reel, preventing the fish from running into and being wrapped on underwater structure, and any number of other movements (such as holding the rod in one hand while using a landing net with the other). In some cases, a large fish can haul a kayak into dangerous water.

Small, less bruising fishes such as Bluegill, Crappie or White Bass may not prove a great test of strength or kayak management but the motions required to land the fish remain the same. My topic here is how larger sport fishes – Alligator Gar, Muskellunge, Steelhead, giant Largemouth Bass or Bowfin – amplify the mechanics of landing a big, angry fish by requiring added strength as well as attention to detail. And all these movements are  amplified, sometimes to deafening volume, by a tangible risk of physical harm to the angler and the fish.

What will happen when I pull this large fish into the kayak, and its powerful jaws, teeth or tail are in my lap?

Continue reading →

Birth of a Sport: The Rise of Kayak Fishing

17 Friday Jun 2016

Posted by Henry Veggian in Essays, Kayak Fishing Posts, Writings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

birth of a sport, chad hoover, kayak, Kayak Bass Fishing, kayak fishing national championship, Kayak Fishing Posts, Kayaks, kbf, Kentucky Lake, paddle sports, paris tennesssee

My 2016 article on the state of kayak fishing after the 1st KBF National Championship. The article was originally published in the spring 2016 issue of Pacific Standard magazine as part of a series entitled “Economy of Scales.”

A Sport is Born (2)

 

Link

Henry Veggian on early Spring Topwater Fishing

01 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by Henry Veggian in Essays, Kayak Fishing Posts

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bass Fishing, Fishing, Kayak Bass Fishing, Kayak Bass Fishing national Championship, Kayak Fishing Posts, KBF Magazine, Kentucky Lake, Topwater Fishing

Here is the link to my article about topwater fishing on Kentucky Lake, courtesy of Kayak Bass Fishing magazine.

  1. Click here for a pdf file of the article only: HV March KY Lake KBF Mag

2. Click below to download the entire magazine as a pdf file (it’s free!); the article is listed in the contents index.

← Older posts

Follow Hank on Youtube

https://youtu.be/4wrGRk5mnNs

Receive new post notice by email.

Join 1,673 other followers

RSS Welcome to Bowfin Country

  • The Extraordinary Complexity of a Fishing Life: A Review of Janet Messineo’s Casting into the Light (2019)
    How many personalities can inhabit a reader? What about a single life? And can they all be captured in a book? Janet Messineo’s Casting into the Light had me wondering about these questions. Continue reading →
  • Kayak Fishing: Wading, Portaging and Fishing in Fast Water
    Introduction How do you navigate fast, shallow water in a fishing kayak? And how do you fish that water? It …Continue reading →
  • Form and Void: A Review of the Wilderness Systems Kayak Krate
    “Everything dies, baby, that’s a factBut maybe everything that dies some day comes back.” That’s a Bruce Springsteen lyric from …Continue reading →
  • Kayak Fishing in Carolina Country Magazine
    As more anglers take up paddles and fish from a kayak, more companies take notice. Outdoors media now regularly feature …Continue reading →
  • Jackson Cruise 10: Product Review
    My review of the Jackson Cruise 10 focuses on the kayak’s simple, multi-purpose design. I also note other features such …Continue reading →

Twitter Feed

My Tweets

Flickr Photos

outdoor life april 2017HV Shearon harris Channel Catfish 6 (5)U lake 7.25 21.75 July 2020 (6)IMG_0175
More Photos

Relevant Web Sites

  • Hank's youtube Channel

Blog Stats

  • 13,439 hits

Archives

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • Welcome to Bowfin Country
    • Join 1,673 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • Welcome to Bowfin Country
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...