Old Town, ME (April 6, 2018) – Initially, tournament angler, Keith Combs, never imagined he could learn so much from kayak fishing that would help him with his tournament bass angling. The enlightenment came quickly. Today, the Old Town pro relies on kayak fishing not only for fun, but also as a critical part of his practice regimen.
Kicking off the second season of Bass Fishing Friday with Keith Combs, Combs shares three critical lessons that kayak fishing can teach anyone who wants to become a more effective angler.
Stealth Matters
“I’ve bass fished my whole life, so I know the importance of being stealthy,” says Combs. “But when you are fishing in a kayak, it reinforces it so much.” Consider the amount of water displaced by a one-ton bass boat, and one can begin to imagine what big-boat anglers need to overcome. “Sometimes you’ll get a bite three or four feet from the kayak, and that never happens when you’re in a (big) boat,” says Combs. “The lesson is that real stealth makes a difference in catching fish, so you always need to be as quiet as possible.”
Fish Where You Can
Fishing from a kayak often means working water longer than you would from a conventional boat. That’s not a bad thing. “In a bass boat, you can pick up and move 20 or 30 miles. In a kayak, you’re mobile, but you really have to fish what’s in front of you,” says Combs. The effect is to trade a degree of mobility for increased efficiency. “That’s always a good trade, because in a tournament situation, maybe somebody’s on your spot… you’ve really got to make do with what’s available.”
Practice Makes Perfect
Today’s fishing kayaks are amazing, high-tech craft, but space is limited. Therefore, kayak anglers are often required to perform with some gear limitations. “In a bass boat, I may have hundreds of different baits at my disposal and it can make things overly complicated,” says Combs, who may be only be packing enough gear to fish three or four techniques in his kayak. “If you want to learn to throw a topwater bait… get better at frogging or something like that… pack that gear, go out kayaking, and I promise you by the end of the day you’re going to be a specialist in that technique.”
Keep an eye out all season for more tricks and tips from Keith about fishing tactics from a kayak at oldtowncanoe.com.