05 Thursday Mar 2020
Posted in Bio, product reviews, Writings
Tags
Fishing, kayak fishing, kbf, RedLine Lures, Sports, Tailspin Lures
My review of this clever reinvention of a classic lure design is now up on the KBF Blog.
Disclaimer: I am not on the RedLine Pro Staff. This is an article I wrote because of my interest in new interpretations of older lure designs.
Click here for more: https://www.kayakbassfishing.com/blog-reinventing-the-tailspin/
Thanks for reading!
H
17 Friday Jan 2020
Posted in Bio, Kayak Fishing Posts
Tags
Bass Fishing, Fishing, Kayaks, Ketch Product Co., science, Sports
The history of modern sports is a history of athletic feats and great stories, but it is also a history of product innovation. From Thomas Alva Edison and Samuel Colt to Stephanie Kwolek and Steve Jobs, American engineers and scientists have mustered tremendous creativity to lead American business in the modern world. Their products are artful and useful. Tournament anglers use them and depend on them in order to succeed; for example, Stephanie Kwolek’s innovations in polymers for the DuPont Corporation were fundamental to the plastics we use in fishing lines and kayak design. Over time, we trust the materials and designs. And I trust my Ketch measuring board like no other product I own.
I’ve been tournament fishing from a kayak for 8 years. During that time, I have watched many friends obtain some lucrative sponsor deals, pro staff arrangements and other agreements. In exchange, they often give their time by promoting products on-line, working trade shows and spreading the gospel of kayak fishing at paddling demos, seminars, etc. It’s easy to make fun of kayak anglers and their sponsor deals. What isn’t easy is to put in the work: build a resume’ in competition, write articles, produce videos, work the industry shows, etc. Fishing is an art and also a business; it can kill your love of the sport but it can also help you achieve your dreams. In the best-case scenario it can grow your love for kayak fishing and expand the positive economic impact of our sport. Joining the Ketch Pro Team is a best-case scenario.
My sponsor deals and pro-staff arrangements changed this year – I had built a strong competition record in 2019 and my face, voice and name got around plenty. Why the change? One of the benefits of getting old is that you slow down. You think through your decisions. You consult, calculate, or trust your gut. I decided that when opportunity came I would work with the best companies, with people I care about, and endorse products that work well and inspire me.
Enter Ketch Products Co. When Duke Weskamp and I spoke about the Ketch Pro Team, I knew it was the right fit. But I didn’t rush in, nor did he. I have been using the Ketch measuring boards for years. They are durable, American made and also pleasing to the eye. I’ve talked to Duke at events, sent him customers and fished with him at tournaments. We share passions for music and fishing and we share a mutual friend in Denny Romero, who is a veteran CKA angler and a product innovator in his own right.
As I noted above, the history of modern sports is a history of athletic feats and great stories, but it is also a history of product innovation. When I hold a Ketch measuring board in my hands, or place a fish on it during competition, I can feel that history in its weight. I admire its design and durability, and the product pleases my eye and my mind. I trust it, I know it and I use it.
And so it is with great humility that I join the Ketch Pro Fishing Team and its roster of tournament champions and kayak fishing innovators. To Duke Weskamp – thank you for this opportunity – and to David Brooke, thank you for the hard work you do for the team.
Please check out the Ketch product line at https://ketchproducts.com/ and patronize this great American brand.
Sincerely,
Hank
© Henry Veggian 2020
30 Monday Dec 2019
Posted in Kayak Fishing Posts
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?
18 Monday Feb 2019
Posted in Writings
Tags
Bass Fishing, Fishing, kayak fishing, mike zlotnocki, nature, North carolina, photographer thomas harvey, photography, Sports, wildlife in NC
One day last summer, at the height of the best topwater and deepwater bites of the year, I received the call asking me to attend a photo shoot and to be a representative kayak angler for an article in Wildlife in North Carolina magazine. My first thought was “I’m gonna stick a state record at the shoot.” It was a selfish impulse, but an honest one. Who wouldn’t have it? I could lie and tell you I smashed ’em, or that I lost a big one, or that as soon as it was over I went to another spot and landed a biggun. All anglers are liars, anyway, but there are witnesses in this case. Here’s what really happened at the big photo shoot: I caught a skunk. Zero bites. Not even a wayward Bluegill.
Maybe I’ve been fishing for too long and the sun’s worn through my skull, but I just don’t care if I don’t catch fish. I’m just grateful to be alive and that’s usually enough to make my day. But the article attached to the cover shot in this post represents our sport so well that it made me grateful for something far more important, something much bigger than the little thrill of seeing my grizzled mug on a magazine cover or the disappointment one might assume when looking at a cover that is, in some way, a reminder of a bad day of fishing. I’ll come back to that point…
03 Saturday Oct 2015
Posted in Writings
Perceptive anglers know that a successful day on the water requires a nimble mind. “Successful” in this case refers to the art of figuring things out; a raised fish, a hooked fish, a lost fish, or a landed fish are all better than the alternative. Nimble anglers are the ones who adapt tactics to conditions. Yes, the bite’s been good, and this lure has worked. But now the weather changes, or you lose the lure, or the fish have moved on. What do you do then? Bad anglers continue forcing the same pattern into the water. Good anglers adapt, with mixed results. Great anglers are struck by a figural bolt of lightning, and do something brilliant, eccentric, or simply crazy.
I put myself in the middle tier. Take for example a good late summer bass bite I fished on the Haw River not long ago. Early September is when the shadows hurry to grow long, and the water, clear from a dry summer, moved in a cool, unhurried flow. Topwater action had been hot all summer long so I reverted to habit: poppers and plugs. But this was a section of river notorious for its deep, narrow channels and fish that hesitated to rise. After an hour of failing to persuade the fish, I switched my bait from a noisy topwater plug to a jointed sub-surface lure. The tactical change obtained the desired result, and fish that were in no mood to strike at the surface chase down a lure that swam a foot below the air. Stubborn adherence to established pattern – out. Largemouth Bass on every other cast – in. Granted, this was not the grind of a tournament event, where pressure and exhaustion come into play.
Monte Burke’s engaging and well-written Sowbelly offers the literary analog to the versatility I have in mind. Mind you, I refer to the book. Most of the anglers depicted in it are another matter. Continue reading
