First of all, apologies to my regular readers for my significant lack of writings lately.  Being a dad, husband, volunteer EMT, kayak fishing guide, kayak sales business owner, and custom open water/ice rod builder has been quite time consuming.  I truly miss my writing and plan to pick it back up more regularly this year.  I figured no better time to start than when I fell back in love with the sport of kayak fishing.  This happened after going back to where I started the sport I love with a plastic boat, a couple rods, a paddle, and a couple tackle trays. Don't get me wrong, I love all of my kayaks.  My Feelfree Dorado is a fishing machine.  Perfect for anything except narrow rivers with fast current.  My Feelfree Lures are perfect for almost anything (a tad slow for really big water but Overdrive pedal system fixes that).  But this season I found myself borrowing my wife's original Feelfree Moken 12.5 kayak and her Bending Branches Angler Pro Plus.  It was something abou

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

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

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

Kayak fishing.  It brings you closer to the water and nature (figuratively and literally).  We love the challenge, the peace, the health benefits, and the thrill of the sleigh ride when we hook a big fish.  Something not considered/realized until you join/reach out to the kayak fishing community is the the brotherhood/sisterhood/family of kayak anglers. When I joined the kayak fishing community, I expected it to be fun.  I never expected to be welcomed with open arms immediately, such an immediate positive response to my writing, being immediately considered a brother to my fellow kayak anglers, or the unparalleled amount of support given. I have seen on countless occasions the kayak angler family come together to help others with questions, help locate a fellow angler's stolen kayak, or help fellow anglers in times of tragedy.  A time of tragedy is again among our family, and we need your help to bring this sense of family and support to a fellow member of the kayak angling fa

After a rough start to the 2017 Wisconsin fishing season in Part 1 of this story , I was out to redeem myself. My good buddy Chang Lor of www.cxfishing.com suggested we start at a big lake then move to a body of water connecting two large lakes in Western Wisconsin.  A bit sore from the previous day, I'm running late and tell them to launch sans me.  I arrive at the launch on the big lake, go through my rigging exercise, and hit the water. Eventually I merge with my fellow yakers and we hit a small area of the water.  Chang manages to haul in some bass.  I'm targeting crappie once I see the size of the slabs spawning in the shallows.  To make a long story short, the big crappie won't bite on anything.  They have other things on their mind.  I do eventually landing a few nice ones.  A bit later, we try the big water, but it is fruitless.  We opt to head to the smaller water.  Chang tells us stories of the amazing vegetation there, making it a frog heaven.   I am clo

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

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

It is inevitable in the Great White North.  The scorching, humid, summer is followed by the blazing colors of fall, followed by the blistering winter.  Said winter makes it difficult to kayak with ice thick enough to drive large vehicles on (though I have seen people attempt it).  Thus, we kayak fisherman take this lemon and make lemon vodka.  We bust out the shanties and ice poles, fill our flasks with vodka, and fill our ice-free coolers with beer (to keep it from freezing since it is so cold), and head out on the "hard water". Hard water is a beast of its own.  Specific rods, reels, lures, bait, electronics, and augers to get you a hole through which you wet your line and (hopefully) retrieve some fish. In this area, others had been out sooner.  Some die-hards will go out on questionable ice, crawling across with plywood, tied to their buddies with a long rope.  Yes, I've kayaked in my fair share of conditions others wouldn't consider.  But, for me, ice is too un