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Showing posts with the label bending branches

Mystery of the Mississippi Part 1

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I am blessed to be a short drive to the mighty Mississippi River.  Pool 4 of the Mississippi is my primary location to take my clients kayak fishing (see my business www.smallcraftoutfitters.com ).  It offers a vast variety of species, it is common to see several bald eagles, and other wildlife is abundant there as well.  The views can also be breathtaking with the bluffs of Wisconsin.  The river changes by the day and brings new challenges and mystery to the adventure.  You never know what kind of fish will end up on the end of your line, what the water/beaver dams/other wildlife will allow you to explore.  Disclaimer:  With this beauty and mystery comes a high level of danger.  Currents, barge traffic on the main channel, and a maze of backwaters.  These can all get you lost, injured, or worse.  If exploring them alone or for the first few times, be sure to be well informed by a guide or local. This time of year it is quite cold in Wisconsin and the duck hunters swarm the backwat

Re-Centering to My Happy Place

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Like a jet ski buzzing my bow, the summer was a ride that went by like a blur.  It was rough at times, but rewarding.  Most importantly, I came out unscathed.  Before the snow was even off the ground my garage was filled with kayaks.  My business, Small Craft Outfitters , was in business for its second year.  We had exponentially more kayaks and guided kayak fishing trips this year.  I feel truly blessed to have had such a good year already!  We still aren't out of the red yet, but we will get there.  Someday. I love bringing my passion of kayak fishing to others through my writing, forums, social media, selling kayaks, and guiding.  Between the business adventures, my family, volunteer EMT work, and day job the summer filled up to the brim.  As the season wound down, my wife reminded me to be cautious.  She doesn't want to see my passion become a job or a grind.  I had only gotten out on the water a couple times all season for pleasure.  Even then, it seemed I was piggy-back

Hypersketchy and Hypothermic

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First of all, I'd like to apologize to my regular readers for the silence.  I was going to school to become an EMT while dealing with some family health issues over the fall/winter.  I am back, and it feels good to be writing again!  My first big outing of 2018 was exactly what I needed to resurrect my writing.  A day kayak fishing with my good friend Chang of www.cxfishing.com! It is March in Wisconsin.  Temperatures range from -10 to 45.  We can see 50+ degree swings in a day.  The robins and geese are returning from the south, bald eagles and ravens enjoying feasts of the roadkill previously frozen under feet of snow.  Wisconsinites are out in t-shirts and shorts, anxiously awaiting warm-weather activities. When this happens you'll find a majority of Wisconsinites doing things the rest of the country would deem "crazy".  We wear shorts, we grill (though we never actually stop doing that all winter), we take convertibles out (top down), motorcycles will be spott

A(nother) Plea - It CAN Happen to You!

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It was a beautiful day for a river float.  Hot, sunny, slight breeze, and the Red Cedar River was finally back to normal/safe levels after a raining June.  Our friend and other Small Craft Outfitters Guide, Chang Lor of www.cxfishing.com , planned a fishing float.  My wife opted to come along, looking to get a relaxing day sans children (they were beachin' with my parents for the weekend). The night before we prepared the coolers, food (Chang and I eat a lot better when the wife comes and makes good food), water, etc.  The fleet of Feelfree Lures for Chang and I (and a Feelfree Moken for the wife) are on the trailer.  Rods are prepared with river tackle, and our Bending Branches paddles are at the ready in the back of the Jeep.  Kayak anglers and gear are impatiently waiting for the next day. Morning arrives, we enthusiastically hook up the trailer, jump in the Jeep, and head towards the meet spot while sucking down some caffeine.  My wife stands back as Chang and I go thr

It Gets Better!?!? - The New Bending Branches Angler Pro!

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It is no secret, I love my Bending Branches Angler Pro.  So much I got a second Pro Plus for paddling my narrower kayaks.  I even became a Bending Branches dealer through my new business, Small Craft Outfitters! I have my Feelfree Lures and Bending Branches Angler Pros to thank for allowing me to paddle longer and safer.  They have saved my life once, and recently were critical in rescuing a family of 5 (another article coming soon on that adventure). A beautiful Wisconsin paddle with a beautiful Wisconsin bass I am lucky to live close to Bending Branches HQ in Wisconsin and made a trip to visit and pick up a customer paddle (yes, it is true they make all of the paddles by hand and to-order).  I was welcomed by an extremely talented, passionate, and kind group of people.  They were enthusiastic about the new paddles, talk to me about my new business, and went as far as asking if there is anything they could help me be successful.  I was completely taken back.  This is a giant

Not Your Grandpa's Inline Spinner

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When I was a kid, I remember my Great Grandpa telling me stories of fishing for Catfish and Musky on the Fox River in Illinois.  Some of the bait would be frowned upon today and would cause an uprising from PETA.  But in those times, it was as normal as a night crawler.  He used to tell me about some of the old lures they used.  Spoons and spinners.  Simple, flashy, effective.  To this day, though having more advanced engineering, materials, and manufacturing, just as effective.  My best fish have been caught on spinners. I've always loved inline spinners.  The ones my Great Grandpa told me about, and we have all seen in magazines and on the interweb, are amazing.  Horse hair, a treble hook, a wire, and a hammered-out buffed piece of metal as a spoon.  Sure, lure manufacturers made some.  But in my Great Grandpa's youth, they didn't have the funds or supply chain to get things instantly.  Some made them in their machine sheds on the farm.  But they caught fish.  Without

Wisconsin Opener 2017 Part 1

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It has been a long Wisconsin spring.  We had a wide range of weather and temperatures.  Anything from 20 degrees to 80, sunshine to snowfall.  This has made the bite difficult to lock down.  Early in the season the pike bite was hot on spinners during their spawn.  The temps rose and I was able to boat over 40 bass and a nice 4.5lb bass in one day on PowerTeam Lures Grubs and the James Gang Fishing Lovertail2 both covered in JBs Fishsauce .  The two weeks following were slow when the water temperatures dropped back into the 40s with the cold temps.  I was able to coax a few bites, but not the hot pre-spawn bite while temps were on the rise.  The first weekend in May, Wisconsin Fishing Opener, a sacred day to some (myself included), was no different. I'm still in winter sleep mode, my mind still sleeping late to avoid the bitter cold mornings from the Wisconsin winter.  To avoid side affects (severe irritability) I ease into my summer up-and-at-em-for-fishing sleep schedule by w

The Itch

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For those of us in the north it is inevitable.  Winter hits, water turns to ice, and our kayaks are put away to hibernate for the winter along with our souls.  This winter, I would open up the shed to sneak a peek and say hello to my Feelfree Lure and Bending Branches Angler Pro whilst they slumbered.  A tear would drip from my eye and instantly freeze.  Head hanging low, I shut and locked the shed before retreating to the warmth of the house. A couple ice fishing trips slightly abated the urge to hit the water.  It at least gave me an opportunity to wet a line and land some fish.  But the odd weather this winter ranged from dangerously cold to dangerously warm.  This made for tough and/or unsafe ice conditions.  I was unable to get as much time on the "hard water" as I would have liked.  Still, I had to scratch the itch to fish. I was able to accomplish this by stocking up for the upcoming season and the first season for Small Craft Outfitters , my new kayak sales/guide

Last Hoorah

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Paddling goodbye to my last kayak sunset of 2016 After the terrible bite during our last trip, a group of us kayaking buddies decided to plan one last hoorah for the season.  This time at a lake where we never get skunked (though sometimes that means landing only dink bass and pike).  But we want to end the season on a good note and with slime on our kayaks.  My Home Boss (wife) authorized this last full-day hoorah with the agreement I would put the kayaks away for the season the next day (in her defense I was tournament fishing HARD the last few months).  I offered the barter as my body was battered and tired from the countless hours on the water pushing myself in the KBF tournaments.  The frigid temperatures only made my aches and pains worse, I needed time to recover before ice fishing season. The evening temperatures in Northern Wisconsin has been dropping into the teens and 20s.  With the time change, we opt to meet at 8 AM to mitigate numb fingers from working our bait cast