Non-yak 1/26, Applying compas' techniques successfully!

While compa was giving a selected few a seminar on bass techniques I decided to try some practical application of same.
I arrived at Anderson at 9:30 AM and sat ther watching the breeze (to see if it would moderate at all) and decided "what the heck!" at 10:00, and launched my tube.

Hooked up on my first cast and never looked back.

The bite was slow but I managed to pick up 1 here and 2 there until a few seminar guys showed up. The bite definately slowed after 2:00 PM but the breeze never did stop.

I ended up with 19 bass 10-15 inches and about 8 or 9 swing-and-a-misses.

My best numbers day so far this year!

"Who's afraid of The Big Bad Breeze?"  NOT I!

I hope y'all that went to the seminar, picked up some ideas, and will meet me out there to enjoy our "winter" bite...Only 2 more months until Pre-Spawn!

Nice work Ken  I was bummed I did not bring my yak....I thought the weather was going to be really bad. It turned out to be a decent day.

We did learn some good stuff from Compa at the seminar....I'm looking forward to try this super ssslooooow fishing technique....I don't think I'm ready for this yet  But I'll give it my best shot.

It was nice to meet you all at Aquan Sports. Very impressed at the store. And the salt water aqurium!!! Thaat thig was awesome! Too bad I did not have my camera with me when you were feeding them. 

h00kie, yellowboat and I met with ken and got in the water at about 2:30. And wouldn't you know it the wind picked up a notch as we launched. Got the word of the good bite from Ken but unfortunately for us it slowed down and a new weather front started to move in by lunch time. Slow as ti was I managed a couple of dinks.

Guess where I got bit?
A little running water...

A lot better than a skunk, 

Sorry to miss your seminar compa, but you know that I figured out some of your secrets, just by being out there, with you, so much the past couple of years!

I was there with you, in spirit, and was anxiously awaiting you guys's arrival at the lake.

Mooch...in March!!!!!!

Sorry to miss your seminar compa, but you know that I figured out some of your secrets, just by being out there, with you, so much the past couple of years!

I was there with you, in spirit, and was anxiously awaiting you guys's arrival at the lake.

Mooch...in March!!!!!!

Ken, they were really your secrets! 

Thanks for the report Ken. And everybody else.
I'm bummed about missing the seminar @ Aquan. We'll have to meet up soon so I can pick your brain about them 'turd-sticks.'
PK

Jamie nice R&R gotta luv the LR and the B&G

I enjoyed the seminar. compa has a real in-depth approach to bass fishing the silli valley lakes.

compa is like blue kayak: no sonar unit required. he also fishes a lot and for a really long time
with a small selection of tackle and knows his target water like the back of his hand.  I guess the catching part is not too big of a surprise, there does not seem to be any substitute for lots of careful effort.

What I got the most out from was how he finds the fishy spots by looking at the lake shoreline, and
how that changes over the seasons. the message: slow down and look at the terrain you are fishing.

the one bad thing was that mooch did not cook for us, he just ordered pizza! 

however, he did show us how to flip a senko into moose' pocket using the one-finger-on-spinning-spool
patented trick which I had not seen before, so I forgive mooch this time.

mooch also had some pretty good ideas about how to adapt compas reverse slow dragging methods from tube to the  kayak using a reverse-trooching method and hookie suggested a refinement on bite to get a little slack.

mickfish, those daiwa tournament ss reels are some serious old-school, no instant anti reverse.
the rotor wobbles all over the place, only three ball-bearings. and they cost $90!
my kind of reel, except for the cost part (but I admit, I have one now, with 10lb braid like compa uses)
I guess when the bassmaster classic is won with a reel, it will get respect for decades.

There popular because they last decades and they have sweet drags, pretty light for how tough they are, I have had zero problems, and I have bought them all used. I rate them right up with the older Penn B&Gs cept much better drags and less wobble. My Okuma's have 15 Bearings and that adds a lot of weight and I wouldn't think of using them in the Salt, wonder what it would cost to replace them all $$$.

One thing that I think contributes to the long life (besides less bearings and no instant anti-reverse): They have a ceramic line roller.

I have some old 2 bearing shimanos where the steel line roller got pitted. not good as obviously that is going to cut the line.

So I was thinking you could take a basic no-instant-antireverse shimano with 2 bearings and add a ceramic line roller, grease all the screws etc, replace the drag with the new stradic carbon fiber discs available from www.smoothdrag.com and that would last a lifetime too.

actually went looking for ceramic line rollers from www.mikesreelrepair, and found a few, but didn't know if they would fit or not.

saving that project for another rainy winter I guess.

yes, this is thread hi jack! hands up and nobody will get hurt! 

John

Thanks to Compa and also Mooch for a great seminar---Great to meet some more NCKA ers too!---Doug

Jamie nice R&R gotta luv the LR and the B&G

mickfish,
I can't believe it! You have the exact setup that I have!! A Daiwa Whisker on an old Berkley lightning rod! Wow!!!
Got to love those old reels.