St. Francis River, Wayne County, Missouri October 14th, 2011: Got a little action before the front moved in

Kayak fishing St. Francis River, Missouri

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I put the kayak in at the Greenville area (run by Corps of Engineers).  This is the point where the St. Francis River starts to turn into Lake Wappapello.  I decided to paddle up stream on the St. Francis River side.  The weather was interesting.  It started at about 80 degrees and sunny.  As I set out to paddle, it started to get real windy.  By the end of the trip, it was cloudy, cool, and I ended up putting on the sweater I had packed earlier.  I am really glad I brought it.  The high cirrus clouds looked like they were moving about 80 mph.  It was a cold front moving in for sure.

I really thought there would be a shot at some smallmouths, but they were quite.  I did catch a fairly nice sized Largemouth Bass on my standard- texas rigged Zoom trick worm.  I only caught one, but the fight was excellent with this guy.

It is interesting the difference in the experience kayaking in regards to comparing a SOT fishing kayak vs. a sea kayak.  I really enjoy fishing off of both, and can see now why both are excellent.  Soon I will probably be moving back to the sea kayak with the temperatures getting cold.  My intent is to kayak all year, including the winter time.  I know that I can navigate the SOT with a pair of waders and a rain jacket, but my hopes are to get a Kokatak wet suit this year.  The cold weather should not stop us from getting up on the water.

Fish ON!

Mike

Lake Atkins, Pope County, Arkansas: Great lake with lots of structure

Kayak Fishing Lake Atkins, Arkansas

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Lake Atkins is located in central Arkansas between Little Rock and Ft. Smith.  I brought my SOT fishing kayak, "The Bossy Flossy" along for the trip.  I was able to get a couple of hours of fishing in before the sun started to go down (I figured the fishing would turn on towards sunset).  I paddled across the lake and drifted along shore.  This lake is chock-full of trees, stumps and structure.  I had read that it was drained in 2002 and restocked with Florida-strain Largemouth bass. 


It is a nice sized lake, and looks like one that does not receive as much pressure due to the stumps and the location.
I was throwing a lot of stuff out trying to get something to hit.  I have not had a lot of success the last couple of trips, so I was really hoping to catch something (It is funny how if you do not catch a bass after about the 3rd trip you start to wonder if you can remember how to fish!!). 

I put out some white spinners, mini spinners with minnow, stand up jig with hula grubs, texas rigged dark worms.  What I had success on was what my go to has been for 2011- watermelon zoom trick worm texas rigged on spinning rod.  And sure enough, caught it in some trees, right about sunset.

Fish ON!

Mike