Salmon that have this disease can be detected as they have pale gils. They often swim towards the surface and gasp for air. However, any fish show no signs of illness other than sudden death.

Outbreaks were first detected in Norway in 1984 and have since spread to British Columbia, Chile and Scotland.

What is concerning to many anglers is that these diseases are spreading to fish outside of fish farms. As such, be careful of where you are fishing and the location of fish farms. And inspect the fish after catching them. If you catch any fish suspected of having a disease, contact your local fish department or ministry.

Read more here: http://bassfishing-gurus.com

The Mean Mouth Bass is a name given to two hybrid bass: a spawn of the largemouth and smallmouth and the smallmouth and spotted bass. However, the spotted bass and smallmouth bass hybrid is most often identified with the name.

Read more here: http://bassfishing-gurus.com/mean-mouth-bass.php

It was pleasantly surprising when an improvement in the weather was forecast over the forthcoming weekend. Plans were hatched to travel to Wales in the hope of catching a Tope. I’d considered travelling up late on Friday evening, though it would have been a rush job, so the decision was made to leave early on Saturday morning. I’m not sure if I’d been off the water for too long (more than 2 weeks is an eternity) though I seemed to have lost quite some motivation. When the alarm sounded at 4am I hit ‘snooze’ several times as thirty minutes rolled by. I cursed myself and jumped out of bed, gathering together a few items before heading out to a pre-packed car.

It was drizzling, a tad windy, I asked myself what on earth was I doing!. It was a long way to drive (250 miles) for the weather to prevent a launch. I lost heart a little and made a cuppa before checking the weather forecast. Despite the weather outside my front door, the forecast for west Wales was quite good, certainly fishable. Doubts were cast aside, the kayak was loaded and I was soon on the road, albeit, an hour later than planned!

It was around 5am and the roads were clear, progress was brisk!. Despite some heavy rain early on, the low cloud base gradually broke up and glorious sunshine illuminated the landscape, things were looking up!

I really enjoy the last hour of this drive, the scenery is stunning, to think I’d very nearly cancelled the trip twice that morning. The local tackle shop in Tywyn had opened a few minutes early, so stocked with several packets of frozen mackerel I headed off to the launch site. On arrival there were already 2-3 kayaks rigged and up ready to go, for a change I’d have some company whilst afloat.

It was somewhat overcast, a little blustery at times, though it was very fishable. I was last to launch and paddled out to where the group had loosely assembled. It was about a quarter of a mile further out than my preferred mark, but it was all good.

As I neared the group, one of the guys was playing a Tope which was a good sign. I was soon anchored up and fishing, it felt great to be out there, I was buzzing with anticipation. I didn’t have to wait too long to land my first fish of the day. It was a good sized Bullhuss, the first of several taken throughout that session. Ok, they’re not the most pleasant fish, though I certainly prefer catching them to Dogfish. As the ebb tide slackened the fishing pretty much died off. A few of the other kayak anglers headed in for the day. Half an hour later I pulled anchor and paddled landward with a view to finishing for the day also, however, I paddled over my old fishing mark and could resist dropping anchor once more!

The Tope rig was a simple running ledger, an 8/0 bronzed hook attached to a 12” length of 80lb wire. This in turn was attached, via a swivel, to 3’ of 80lb nylon. A swivel at the top finished of the trace. Baits were mackerel, generally frozen, though I later caught some fresh which were quickly dropped down as live bait (below right)

I’d only been there for twenty minutes when I had a steady run, there was no doubting, it was a Tope!. I tightened up, setting the hook, things went tight for a second then the fish screamed off!. I’ve never experienced such a long run from the kayak, probably 80-90 yards, then it went again!. Whilst this was happening I reeled in my feathering rod and stowed it aft.

It was a great fight, the fish approached and departed from the kayak several times, often requiring quite some pressure to bring it up from its continual deep dives. I knew it was a good size, though I was still very surprised when I set eyes on the fish for the first time!. I had slight concerns about what to do with it once alongside, though as it turned out that was to be quite some time away!

Below are a couple of frames taken from some video footage taken with a GoPro HD cam mounted in YakAttack’s DogBone camera mount.

It seemed to be caught under the kayak at one point and I had a few tense moments before I manoeuvred it alongside the kayak. In the end, once I managed to grab a pelvic fin, it pulled aboard without an issue.

I had another GoPro cam mounted up front on a PanFish Portrait camera mount, again courtesy of YakAttack. The camera was set to take photos every second, though shortly after the Tope came aboard, the camera took a hit from the shark’s tail. I re-positioned the camera, though the following photos were badly over-exposed. I’m not sure why, perhaps I’d inadvertently pointed it directly at the sun. Typically it worked just fine once the Tope was returned!!

The Tope was quickly unhooked and released to fight another day. Was a buzz!!!

Fifteen minutes later another Tope took the bait and started to run, sadly it was only on for a few moments. Another run took place sometime later, though I failed to connect at all. The weather was deteriorating quite quickly and I’d noticed the remaining kayak anglers return ashore sometime earlier. I’d had a great day and there was little to be gained by staying out any longer.

I’d planned to pitch my tent that night, though after a few beverages whilst chatting with the other kayak fisherman I resorted to Plan B. The decision was made to sleep in the car overnight, not as uncomfortable as it might sound. With the rear seats down I can happily lie flat, with a self inflating mattress it actually promised to be quite comfortable. However, it was about 2am when I realised the impact of not bringing my Artic sleeping bag!!!. The outside temperature had plummeted towards freezing, I was rather cold to say the least. Putting on an extra layer of clothing improved things somewhat, though it was still a long way from being pleasant.

The morning provided us with lights winds and glorious sunshine, what more can you ask for!. I was almost last to launch again, it was actually quite comfortable in the car once I’d warmed up a little, I’d not been in a rush to vacate my sleeping bag.

Despite perfect conditions, the second day of fishing was proving to be very slow indeed. I think there were six kayak fisherman out there with only a couple of Tope being taken. Even the Bullhuss were thin on the ground, for me at least. I resorted to deploying some baited feathers and managed to pick up some mackerel, a Dab and a Garfish.

I took the opportunity to try out my new extendible camera mount. It works extremely well, capturing some great angles. GoPro are soon to release a wireless remote control and I’ll certainly be investing in them as it’ll make filming aboard the kayak with multiple cameras so much easier.

I fished until mid-afternoon before calling it a day. I paddled around a large seal for a while, trying to get up close, though he was having absolutely none of it!. There’s a short stretch of river to drag the kayak up prior to recovering back to the launch site. I hear a lot of folk complain about this, sure it’s a little arduous, though it’s all part of the experience!

All in all it was a thoroughly enjoyable trip. The fishing was good, I’d bagged a new personal best Tope, enjoyed some good company with fellow kayak fishermen… all in all, a great weekend!. I’ve just finished compiling a video clip from the weekend. It’s best viewed full screen at 720HD resolution.

Largemouth bass feed at all hours, but most often in the early morning or late in the day. Studies have shown that if there is a lot of noise from human activity during the day, especially from a lot of boat activity and swimmers, there is a greater feeding of the Florida Largemouth Bass at night.

However, this is most common in smaller lakes and rivers where the bass do not have anywhere else to migrate. Largemouth Bass feed in low light conditions as they do not like direct sunlight. They have trouble differentiating between lure colours in low light or night fishing, but colour can play a role during the day in clear waters. Experimental studies suggest that when in an aggressive state, bass prefer green and blue colours but are repelled by gold and yellow.

Like all bass, the Florida Largemouth Bass strike with force and a large lunker will snap a line if the drag is not set properly.

If you like a good challenge, and eight to 12-pound test line is a good choice with a moderate to loose drag.

Read more here: http://bassfishing-gurus.com/florida-largemouth-bass-feeding.php

Kevin was waiting for me when I pulled up to the launch and as I got things ready, he quickly “branded” my kayak.  Holes were drilled, rivets got popped and before I knew it, I had one of his big DVD quality cameras attached to my bow.   I couldn’t help but feel like it was part of a gang initiation I’m totally in!

Yeah, I know.  I’m a dork.  Anyway, we searched all around the Eastern Shore.  The channels, the shoals, the flats, they all came up empty.  5 hours passed quickly and as the wind grew bothersome, the sun also neared the horizon.  The last segment of the well calculated route had us near a drop off so we anchored up on the incoming tide.  I threw out two carolina rigged whole crabs; one on a big conventional reel and the other on a big spinning set up.  Normally I don’t use my spinning rod for chunking bait, but I really wanted to double my chances.  Not too long after, the loop I put in the line-clip of my spinning reel gets pulled out and my 50lb braid is flying off my spool.  I close the bail and hold on tight.

After a few exhilarating runs coupled with the tell-tale headshakes, I released the anchor and quickly found myself on a bull red drawn sleigh ride with a nice sunset backdrop.

The 43″er is a welcome start to the red drum season.  The cherry on top is that it was the first big fish I tagged for the Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program.  

Kevin wasn’t able to hook up but was happy none the less that I got on the board.  I’m sure he’ll be out there as soon as weather and work allow.  Best of luck to him and whoever else decides to venture out in search of that infamous bullride. 

Recently I bought a new kayak paddle and it got me thinking about the differences in paddles and how to decide which is the perfect one for you. If you have not realized it yet, a good paddle makes a world of difference.

The first thing to understand is that there are two types of paddles, high and low angle. Traditionally high angle paddlers are those that paddle in sit inside kayaks, paddling rapids, rivers and other rough waters in very narrow kayaks.
Low angle paddles are mostly used for sit on top kayaks that tend to be a lot wider, working great on pretty much every body of water. Where the low angle paddles excel for kayak fishing is the ability to deliver powerful strokes at a low impact and in exchange the paddler is able to paddle longer and farther throughout the day.

The Werner Kalliste weighs 26.5 oz.

The lighter the paddle the more you will pay, most paddle manufacturers are topping their product prices out at around 450 dollars. That is a lot of money considering that most people are recreational anglers that may want to spend less than that and still be happy with their paddle.

Just like kayaks, paddles are made for different people. Paddle diameter and length are very important. Companies make specific paddles for men, women, and children. For men and women, I suggest starting with a standard diameter shaft and a 230 cm paddle. These are great for even the wider sit on top kayaks. Women with smaller hands may want to switch to a small diameter paddle.

I think one of the best features to have in your paddle is an adjustable ferrule. This will allow the paddle to enter the water evenly on both sides as your shoulders and wrists rotate naturally, minimizing stress and maximizing your strokes.  The second most important feature in a paddle is a bent shaft. A bent shaft is not a necessity, however it is comfortable to use, offering an ergonomic position for your wrists.

You can get pretty decent paddles sometimes for around 100 bucks. There is nothing wrong with buying a good paddle to start out with until you can save up for a more expensive one or make an educated buy on something with a heavy price tag. No one wants to spend their hard earned money on something they are not happy with.

So what constitutes a good paddle? I think what makes a good paddle is different for everyone, the one thing we can all agree on is that we want something that will last some time and be comfortable to use while easy on the eyes. Ahead I will recommend some different paddles in various price ranges for you to start on the right path to finding your perfect paddle, I am not payed or sponsored by any of these companies. Keep in mind there are many different brands of paddles and within them many different models. Explore them and make an educated buy.

The Fishstix weighs 32.5 oz

AT Paddles Exodus Fishstix Paddle

The Angler Pro weighs 30 oz

Bending Branches Angler Pro Paddle

Bending Branches makes this Angler Pro design that has a T-700 carbon shaft and multi-laminate fiberglass blades. The bright green blades offer distant visibility and the shaft has a ruler on it. There is very little give in the blades and rightfully so, this is the top of the line BB paddle made.

The full control grip weighs 37.5 oz while the straight shaft weighs 38 oz

Adventure Technology Odyssey Glass Paddle

The Skagit is 34 oz

Werner Skagit Straight Shaft Paddle

The Skagit is a great paddle for the price, not to mention it is definitely the lightest paddle for the price, this is in part due to its fiberglass nylon blades. The nylon is pretty strong and durable but gives a little more than I would like to see. Werner also offers a standard adjustable ferrule system up to 75 degrees each way, while the bright yellow blades are useful for visibility on the water. This paddle is a personal favorite for starting out and a great way to spend your money while deciding on what you may want to upgrade to.

Tight Lines,

Joshua “Kayak” Christensen

Get’n Fishy

A lot of last summer consisted of keeping an eye on weather forecasting websites, looking for breaks in the wind, hoping to get out but invariably becoming disappointed when it became apparent that another week would roll by with the kayak sitting dry in the garden. Despite this, there is some good trout fishing near to the house here so whenever I couldn’t get the kayak out, I was off up to the trout lake. I did manage to get a lot of fly fishing for trout done last year so I suppose, in all honesty, things could have been a lot worse. Still, after spending a lot of the previous summer and most of last spring practising different drills on the kayak, rigging different accessories that would make life easier on the water and finding my limits with what the craft can do, I was a little disappointed with not being able to get out as often as I would have liked to. But I suppose I should have learned at this stage, having grown up in Ireland, that we can never plan anything around the weather in this country. We just have to take whatever it throws at us.

So when we hit the third week in September and a previously forecast calm period of twenty four hours I knew I had to strike. Tope fishing is usually very good along parts of the shoreline close to home, the east coast of Ireland, generally between the start of August and the end of September. With the forecast for the following week giving more strong winds, I knew this would probably be my final chance of the year to get a tope on the kayak. In the limited kayak fishing time I had last summer I had managed to get plenty of them from the bigger fishing boats and a couple of them from the kayak but each time I had left the shore without a camera and I desperately wanted to get a couple of shots of this fairly unique way of tope fishing. Besides, seeing is believing, especially in the modern age of cheap digital cameras and camera phones. I’ve been guilty of it myself, asking people for pictures of their catches and when they say that the camera had been left behind but they maintained that the catch was as big as they claimed I thought, “Sure it was…..” One thing is for sure – there seems to be a few less monsters being caught now that cameras in one form or another are readily available!!

I arrived at the shoreline of a local beach and took a moment to take in the scene. The morning sun was still relatively low in the sky, there was not a breath of wind and the surface of the sea looked like a sheet of glass – it could not really have been any more perfect for the kayak. I set the gear up, loaded the kayak, did my safety checks and waded out, knee-deep, into the sea. A quick jump and twist had me in the seat and I paddled straight out to sea. I stopped here and there, using a light 12lb class rod to jig a set of hokkais, hoping to hit a couple of fresh mackerel – prime tope bait. That was the pattern for roughly a mile – paddle a short distance, stop, jig hokkais, paddle again for another short distance, stop, jig hookais again. When I finally reached a mark that I had been successful on every time I fished it last summer this summer I dropped anchor. My systematic search for mackerel had failed but I had a few from the freezer at home in a box behind me, just in case.

Away went the small rod and out came the tope rod. I was using twelve ounces of lead attached to a boom. Above the boom the mainline I was using was 50lb braid and below the boom I had about seven feet of 100lb line and attached to this was a homemade wire trace completed with an 8/0 hook. All that was needed was bait and I took one of the now thawed mackerel and attached it whole to the rig, pushing the hook through the head of the mackerel and then twisting the point just through the dorsal root and pulling the shank through so that plenty of the hook was showing. The tail was removed for two reasons; firstly to stop the bait spinning in the tide and secondly to allow a scent trail escape from the bait and run down the tide. A lot of people will use mackerel flappers as bait for tope but after a bit of trial and error, I much prefer to use the whole fish because it drastically cuts down the amount of interest you will receive from nuisance species such as the Lesser Spotted Dogfish. Some people may think that a whole mackerel is too large a bait to use and while it is quite big, so is a tope’s mouth. I can assure you they have no problem engulfing them when they come across them.

So with the bait mounted I lowered the whole lot down to Davy Jones, clicked the ratchet on and put the rod into the rod holder while still in free spool. All I had to do now was wait for a run. And that is exactly what happened – I waited and waited and waited!! Just over an hour had passed with not the slightest bit of interest in what I had to offer. I always prefer fresh bait and the fact I had been using frozen was niggling away at the back of my mind, so I decided to get the light jigging rod out again and see if there were any mackerel passing below me. First drop resulted in three mackerel and as soon as I had them landed I reached out for the tope rod and started to retrieve the frozen bait. A fresh bait was offered up to the hook and was lowered down to into the depths, a new wave of confidence washing over me.

Whether or not it was a coincidence I will never know but the fresh mackerel was not sitting on the bottom for any longer than three minutes when the ratchet began to scream. I let the line peel off and the ratchet howl for about five seconds before slamming the reel into gear and experiencing the satisfying feeling of the rod buckling over under the strain of a good fish. Now under a set drag, the tope was still ripping yards of line off the reel every second so I let it have about one hundred yards and the tightened up the drag and leaned into the fish, trying to turn it. But then disaster stuck and the line went slack. I had obviously pulled the hook out of the fish. Cursing and swearing at myself, I started to reel the bait towards me and had recovered about twenty yards of line when the rod arched over again, nearly being wrenched from my hands. Whether a second tope had seen the bait and had a go or the original fish was just particularly hungry and/or aggressive, I do not know. What I did know was that “round two” had just begun!

This was a powerful fish that had decided that it wanted to stay down tide so I let it, just keeping steady pressure on the line. Three times each it skirted off to the left and then to the right but all the while it maintained its position down tide. After perhaps seven or eight minutes of a spirited battle I could feel through the line that the fish was starting to weaken and it was allowing me to gain line on it and pull it uptide towards me. I knew by this stage that the tope, whilst a spirited fighter, was not a huge one, so unclipping the anchor rope and drifting after it would not be necessary, I would be able to bring it towards me, even against the tide. Having said that, it was a stubborn fish, refusing to budge from the bottom until I was practically right above it on the kayak. Once I got some vertical leverage over it though I was able to start pumping it to the surface. I managed to rattle off a few shots with the camera before grabbing the mighty fish by the tail to drag it on board for the hook removal.

However this particular fish did not take kindly to being grabbed by the tail and found a new lease of life. With a few thrusts of that powerful tail the tope propelled itself back down to the sea bed. Another couple of minutes of grunting, bullying and pumping line ensued and once again the tope was by my side, ready to come aboard. This time there was no retaliation from the fish, now exhausted it was lifted from the sea and placed across my lap for the obligatory photos to be taken. With that done I set about removing the hook with my long-nosed pliers. Set well inside the mouth but not too far back, I was glad I had the pliers to keep my fingers clear of the razor sharp teeth. Grabbing the hook with the pliers, all it took was a quick turn and the hook was out, the tope ready to go back to where it had come from. Holding the tail and the dorsal fin, I lowered the tope over the side of the kayak with the head pointing into the tidal flow. After a couple of minutes I could feel its muscles starting to flex and shortly after that powerful tail started to swish from side to side, soaking me, possibly its final act of revenge. With the tope seemingly back to full strength I let it go and the fish slowly moved away from the kayak for about twenty yards before slowly diving back down out of sight into the depths where it belongs.

After letting out a “Whoop” of delight I decided to head for shore. I would have loved to stay out for a little longer and capture a few more pictures but the wind was starting to pick up again and I figured that the best option for me was to quit while I was ahead. Job done! I had a smile on my face all the way back to shore and as I thought more about the encounter it dawned on me that catching the few tope on a kayak this year has possibly been the most fun I have ever had whilst holding a fishing rod. Once again I can safely say that I would wholeheartedly recommend kayak fishing to anybody. The freedom and enjoyment it can give is fantastic and it is a lot cheaper than buying and maintaining a boat. Having said that, nobody should be venturing out to sea in on a kayak, fishing or otherwise, without learning all the safety drills and carrying all the required safety equipment. No fishing experience or trip is worth trading a life for. Now, here’s hoping for a wind free summer this year……….but who knows what the Irish weather will throw at us this summer!

Here’s a short youtube video of the entire fish, seeing as my old canon couldn’t fit the whole fish into frame;

If anybody has any comments or queries then please do not hesitate to contact me at gar.robinson@gmail.com

It’s almost time for YakAttak’s annual fishing tournament that benefits Heroes On the Water. This is a freshwater tournament held each year in Farmville Virginia. It starts on Friday night where dinner is served and everyone enjoys sitting around the fire swapping fishing stories. The captains meeting is also held on Friday night. If you can’t make it to the meeting show up to Sandy River Reservoir at 6:00 am on Saturday and Tina Shank will give you a ruler and identifier. There will be camping available on Friday Night. If you would like to camp please contact Luther luther@yakattack.us and let him know so he can have an idea of how many to expect.

Once the weigh-in has ended the raffle begins. There will be tons of great prizes in the raffle including some cool memorabilia from Jeff Dunham. This is always a HUGE hit so bring plenty of cash!

The 50 mile fishing radius contains three trophy fisheries – James River, Sandy River Reservoir, and Briery Creek. You have a legimate chance of catching a fish of a lifetime from any of these three fisheries. Sandy River and Briery Creek produce 12lb + largemouth each year and the James is full of citation smallmouth.

Below is a picture of Doug Gibson with a MONSTER caught at Sandy River Reservoir last year.

Luther can be found at the smoker slowly cooking a pig for Saturday’s dinner. The meat literally falls off the bone. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!

Schedule/Rules

• Friday May 18th @ 7 PM Captains Meeting-Mandatory ( If you cant make the Captains meeting then we will meet 6:00 AM Saturday 19th at Sandy River Reservoir for your identifiers, and ruler)
• Tournament – Saturday, May 19th
• Lines in first safe light. Area is approximately a 50 mile radius of tournament HQ
• 2 PM-Photo weigh-in begins
• 4 PM-weigh-in deadline (must be in line by 4 PM)
• 4 PM-until-drinks, Pig Pickin dinner (5 PM), awards ceremony
• 2012 5th ANNUAL YAKATTACK KAYAK FISH FOR CHARITY OFFICIAL RULES This Tournament will be at this location for the captians meeting and the weigh in.
• The complete set of rules can be found at here

One of the reasons for its rarity is its limited distribution. The Guadalupe Bass has a very limited distribution, being limited to the Edwards Plateau in Colorado and Texas.

More specifically, they can be found in the San Antonio, Guadalupe, Colorado, Lampasas, Leon and Brazos rivers. It prefers gravel beds, runs and flowing pools and creeks. The Guadalupe Bass can also be found in small and mid-sized rivers and they can tolerate a large temperature fluctuations in these rivers from a low of 39 degrees in the winter to 95 degrees in the summer.

Read more here: http://bassfishing-gurus.com/guadalupe-bass-distribution.php

The line between vibrating lures and other jigs can be difficult. However, their vibrations are enough to consider hem for a separate sub category. They are made with plastic and are often slab shaped. They are designed for trolling, casting or even used to deep diving by allowing them to sink.

They don’t have much swimming action. The only way to make them move is through the angler’s twitching on their rod tip. Tight movements will emit high-frequency sonic waves similar to those in stunned baitfish, which easily captures the fish’s attention.

Popping Plugs

Poppers are excellent lures, but take some experience to get the result that seasoned anglers get. This is one of those lures that does what it’s name implies: it makes a popping sound. For night bass fishing, we recommend the black popper.

At rest, the popper will float. Make sure to float the popper between pops. Once the water ripples have died away, pop and then wait again, repeat until you have a strike.

Read more here: http://bassfishing-gurus.com