YakAttack VISIPole II Review

 This is a gear review for Outdoor blogger network and anyone else that is curious!

Ever since I started kayak fishing, I always had a makeshift light. Although they worked fair most of the time, it seemed like there was always something going wrong with them. At first I got a light that looked like a small lantern. It worked fine for a while, aside from the blinding light reflection off of my paddle. After 2-3 months, it wasn't even good enough for a paperweight. That "waterproof" light rusted in no time.

^^ Pretty Much Worthless lights^^

My second light was some kind of "sea light" (like the light below without the suction cup). I attached it to a CPVC pipe, but after twisting the light on and off for a few months, it slowly messed up the connection. After the connection started to get sketchy, I noticed it would work on and off while i was on the water. I put up with it for a year or more until it just died altogether...another light worthless again.

^^ Not quite worthless but won't last very long^^

I did a lot of research on lights and most of what i found was do-it-yourself kind of things. For the average fisherman that might be OK but you typically get what you pay for. I finally decided to purchase a YakAttack VISIPole II. It's nice and lightweight with a sturdy black fiberglass shaft. I got the base model with No flag or attachments because all I do is slide it into a notch in my 3 rod holder and I don't want the extra drag the flag might create. I noticed that even though it is a very bright 360° light, it doesn't blind me like some I have seen. So far I am very pleased with it and everyone I know says it cant be beat. I'm glad I invested the $40 in it! I would definitely recommend this to anyone that doesn't want to go through the same hassle I have in the past 4 years of kayak fishing.  There are also a few different variations of the same product that make it very versatile. Check them out at http://yakattack.us/index.html

Weak weeks

The last couple of weeks have been full of work, work, and not much fishing. I managed to make it out to the HRBT 2-3 times but it was WINDY! Only one night was really productive with about 20 striper up to 25". One day at the HRBT was an early search for tautog with Rob Choi and Kayak Kevin . It was a slower than slow and no tog were caught but it was a heck of a learning experience for me. Rob and Kevin are insane fishermen so I can only pray that they keep letting me fish with them. I also got the chance to fish with Ric Burnley 2 times at the HRBT. Ric is a cool dude and knows everything about fishing it seems. It was good times fishing with him and I hope I get the chance to fish with him some more.

Last Sunday I met up with Rob at the 1st island of the CBBT. I called him before I got there and he had caught a few tog already so I was PUMPED! I paddled as fast as I could to him and made it just in time for the bite to shut off...Figures. Rob caught 2-3 tog right after i showed up and aside from 1 on a boat they were the only tog I saw caught for the rest of the day. After getting the tog skunk I hope to shake it off at the HRBT with some light line striper action. Ric was the only one to catch a striper in the snotty wind and murky water all night. I would say that the day was a total bust but fishing with people like Rob and Ric is always a great learning experience. Oh well. It can only get better from that! Check out Robs >Tog report<

Fishing with the wife and puppy!

This past Friday I decided to hit up Beaverdam reservoir to try for some crappie with my wife and Molly (puppy). We started pretty late but it ended up being very productive. We found a spot that was about 8' deep and cast our bobbers with minnows about 5'-6' down (kinda made me feel like a kid). Alice caught the first 5 crappie most of which were small but one was a nice 12 3/4" slab. Molly was distracted by the water the entire time until she finally had enough. She jumped right in the 45 deg water and was immediately snatched up by Alice. Needless to say that cut the fishing trip a little short after Alice was completely soaked from Molly. We ended up with somewhere between 15-20 crappie with only about 5 keepers but we left the fish biting. Not a bad trip for less than 2 hours of fishing.

On Sunday I tried for bass at Beaverdam in the rain. It was a pretty slow day but i did get two small bass on a spinnerbait in about 4'-5' of water. Better than not fishing!

Quite possibly the best weekend ever! Another all nighter included!

Wow! Where to start...I guess the beginning...nah. Let's go backwards.

Last night I got a black lab puppy! I've always wanted one but was never in the position to have one. She is an awesome little girl and I can't wait to take her (Molly) fishing with me! The Mayer family just got a little bigger!

Saturday before the puppy I fished with Ashley Bishop at Beaverdam reservoir. It was nothing special because it was very slow fishing. I ended up with three 12" bass and lost one pickerel at the boat. Ash got one 14" bass and one 20"pickerel (10 Kayak Wars points)

I spent all Friday afternoon with my awesome wife Alice. We went to the Williamsburg antique mall and I got her a letter opener shaped like a sword. Just so everyone knows my wife is the best wife in the world. So that pretty much makes me the luckiest dude in the world. I am truly blessed.

I fished for striper from 11pm Thursday night to 7 Friday morning. It was an amazing night of striper catching! It started off about as slow as it could get. I fished for 2 hours without a single bite. In that time Forrest caught 8-10 striper up to 28". I was getting frustrated but had to stay at it. By the time Forrest quit he had caught a dozen or more and I was only up to 3 small striper. I was getting extremely sleepy at this point and was tempted to just leave with him but I had a feeling that it was about to get good. It was after 2am, I was fishing by myself, and dozing off periodically when it finally started getting good. From 3am til 5:15 I caught a striper every 2-3 casts with the occasional 10-15 cast slow periods. They were fat and most of them were around 24". My biggest 2 were 38" and 42"

I finally used my new Release reel that Wes Seigler gave to me. I have to say, it is a powerful reel. It is not designed for casting small baits but I couldn't wait to use it so I tied on a mirrolure. It has such an amazing free-spool! I was expecting the reel to be impossible to cast with 50 lb power pro but I was pleasantly surprised to see that I could cast a mirrolure nearly as far as I could with my spinning rod! I am kind of spoiled with all the fancy new brake controls for my baitcasters but after a few casts I got thumbing the spool down to a science. It landed a fat 24" striper like it was a minnow! I can't wait to get some tautog with it! Thanks Wes!

At 7am I finished the trip with at least 25 striper (300 kayak wars points). I was just a little sleepy so the paddle back was tough against the 25 + mph winds. I was so tired I actually fell asleep while paddling and almost tipped the yak! I don't know why but I love pushing myself like that!

Before the striper fishing I went to the Piscataway creek to try my luck with some yellow perch and crappie. It was a little slow but I ended up with 3 crappie, 2 perch, and 2 shad. Nothing huge but still fun.

All and all it was a pretty epic weekend. Just a few simple things happened but that's what makes life worth it to me.

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HAD to pull an all nighter :)

This past weekend was very tough for me to get out and fish. Saturday would have been fine if it wasn't for the 900MPH winds... Oh well. I was so determined to catch fish that I decided I was going to have to pull an all nighter. I talked to Ric Burnly and Rob Choi about fishing the HRBT and I made up my mind to meet them there. At about 11pm I was en route to the HRBT. I decided to call Forrest to see if he was having any luck. Forrest had caught a few small striper already and it was about 30 mins closer to home so I decided to skip out on the HRBT and I sure am glad i did! I started fishing by 11:30 or so and within 10 casts I broke off my (Rob's) beloved Mirrolure on a NICE striper. Over the next couple hours I caught 2 striper that were 38" and 40"! So much fun! In kayak wars 37" is the trophy size so i ended the night at about 4am with two 40 point fish. Not too shabby! I got home around 5am and made myself some eggs and toast then headed out the door for work at 6. Needless to say it was a rough day at work til 1am Tuesday morning. I am well recovered now so I have to say it was worth it! Less Sleep = More fish! Proof again!

Kayak Wars

At the beginning of this month myself and 4 other kayakers (Rob Choi, Ashley Bishop, Forrest Short, and Tim Morris)  formed a team for the kayak wars tournament. Kayak Wars is a year long CPR (catch, photo, release) tournament for different regions of the US. We are competing in the northeast division and the freshwater division. Right around the same time i started working out of town was when the tourney started so needless to say i haven't had much time to fish. Last Friday i finally got the chance to go fishing and possibly put some points on the board.

Ashley and I joined Forrest at a lake in Smithfield  in search of Bass and pickerel. It was a very productive day for Ash and Forrest but for me it was just ok. We fished the frigid water with 6'-8' diving crankbaits in the middle of the lake. Forrest got a couple nice bass (up to 21") and a couple nice pickerel up to 25". I got 1 bass and 2 pickerel. Ash got 7 bass and 2 pickerel the biggest bass going 20"+. It was pretty productive for a February day. At the end i got my first 20 points for kayak wars. Not the biggest start but not too shabby i guess. 

Struggling to fish

The last couple weeks have been very intense at work. I've been working out of town in Fayetteville, NC. laying ceramic tile 14-18hrs a day. The money is good so i cant complain, but I really miss the freedom to fish whenever i want. This past weekend i got the opportunity to fish so i took advantage of it. Saturday i fished with Rob Choi at the Elizabeth river hot ditch. It was a fairly warm day but the comfort of the warmth counteracted with the steady rain with occasional downpours. I sure am glad that i have the gear to keep me dry! I was very hopeful because rainy days are usually very productive for me...not the case this time. I mean don't get me wrong, it was nice to be fishing, but at the end of the day all i ended up with after 6+ hours of fishing was 10-12 small speckled trout. Not my worst day down there but just barely worth it after all the effort.  Sorry i didn't take any pictures... I didn't really have any fish that were worthwhile anyways

Later that night i went to my striper spot and immediately hooked up on some striper that were in mid 20" range. Pretty typical night of fishing except one of the fish had a 8" long lamprey attached to it. Its always nice to have something out of the ordinary happen while fishing. I think its the real reason I love fishing so much...its always something new. I only fished for a couple hours and i ended up with 4 striper.

 

On Sunday my wife and i fished for yellow perch. We got a late start and could not find any perch but in the 2-3 hours we fished i caught 2 bass. The first one was 13" or so then i hooked a nice one on my tiny 1/16th oz crappie jig. It was by far the biggest bass i've caught in that area. About 3-1/2 to 4 lbs 20.25" long. That bass was well worth the 45min drive out there.