I
nitially, tournament angler, Keith Combs, never
imagined he could learn so much from kayak f ishing
that would help him with his tournament bass angling.
The enlightenment came quickly. Today, the Old Town
pro relies on kayak f ishing not only for fun, but also as a
critical part of his practice regimen.
1. Stealth Matters
“I’ve bass f ished my whole life, so I know the importance
of being stealthy,” says Combs. “But when you are
f ishing 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 f ish, so you always need to
be as quiet as possible.”
2. 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 f ish what’s in front of you,” says Combs. The
effect is to trade a degree of mobility for increased
eff iciency. “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.”
3. Practice Makes Perfect
Today’s f ishing 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 only be packing enough gear to f ish
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.”
PHOTO CREDIT: JASON ARNOLD . COURTESY OF OF OLD TOWN CANOE
For more tricks and tips from Keith about fishing tactics
from a kayak at oldtowncanoe.com.