A few days after I return home from ICAST, I’ll be leaving to fish the Yamaha Rightwaters Bassmaster Kayak Series at Susquehanna River tournament. Competitive kayak fishing is just as exciting to me — just as much fun and just as challenging as when I fish a Bassmaster Elite Series tournament in my Bass Cat.
As with the Bassmaster Opens Elite Qualifiers and the Elite Series, Bassmaster attracts the best, highest-profile anglers in the kayak fishing world. Bassmaster tournaments also draw the best local anglers who are always hard to beat.
Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to get in a few days to practice and prepare for the tournament. It’s the same mindset whether I’m fishing a kayak tournament or an Elite event.
Evolution of fishing kayaks
When I started kayak fishing 15 years ago, I had a typical low-cost version with a paddle. I now have a larger and more advanced 14-foot kayak specifically designed for fishing. It’s stable enough that I can stand and cast from it.
My kayak is equipped with everything I need to find and catch bass efficiently. That includes Lowrance electronics and a Power-Pro Micro Spike Driver to anchor me in place.
It also has a Newport Electric Kayak motor on the back. This propulsion system has opened up the world of kayak fishing like never before. When I used a paddle for propulsion, I was limited to fishing 5 miles from the ramp, and that’s being generous.
The Newport trolling motor system pushes my kayak along at 6 to 7 mph, which greatly expands my fishing area. Another advantage is that I steer the boat left and right with my feet. That leaves my hands free for casting. I can turn the motor down to crawl speed and cover water with my casts just like I do in my bass boat.
I power the trolling motor with the same battery I use in my Bass Cat, a 36-volt Pro-Guide Lithium. It weighs only 20 pounds and goes strong all day.
Ramp hopping
Coming from the bass boat world, I’m accustomed to turning the key on my 250 Yamaha SHO in the middle of the day and running 10 to 50 miles to fish a different area. I can’t do that with the Newport trolling motor, but Bassmaster Kayak tournament rules give me that kind of range.
Kayak anglers are allowed to put in at the public ramp of their choice. That lets us spread out so we’re not confined to a limited area on a lake or river. We are also allowed to load up and move to different ramps during the tournament day.
Say, I find a morning topwater bite in one area of the Susquehanna River that lasts only a few hours. I could take advantage of that and then move to another ramp that gives me access to bass that are biting during the rest of the day.
My trailer, made by Fish-Tx Kayak Trailers, makes ramp hopping faster, easier and more efficient. I drive my kayak onto the trailer just as I do with my bass boat. I can strap it down and be driving to another ramp in minutes.
The allure
I fell in love with fishing years ago while casting from a canoe and a rowboat. Fishing from a kayak reminds me of why I became enamored with this sport in the first place. When I hook a 3-pound smallmouth, all hell breaks loose right in my face at eye level.
And, you can get into kayak fishing for a fraction of what it costs to compete in big-boat tournaments. At the end of the day, I 1,000% love fishing tournaments from a kayak as much as I do from a bass boat.
You can learn more about how I fish from a kayak and other techniques at www.mikeiaconelli.com or www.youtube.com/c/goingike.
