Here in the great state of Tennessee, we have been blessed with lots of great water for kayak fishing. From one end of the state to the other, there are plenty of locations that offer the adventurous kayak angler the opportunity to fish waters off the beaten path. All it takes to open up these great opportunities is the willingness to put the time in to research and discover these hidden gems.
It is generally considered bad practice to openly ask another angler “where were you fishing” when he or she posts a picture of their catch on social media. You should respect the time and effort put into finding these productive locations. A better approach is a mutual exchange, sharing sites that you have found and researched yourself.
On a recent Saturday morning, I found myself with just a few hours for a kayak fishing trip. While time was short, I opted for scouting a new kayak fishing location in my home state of Tennessee over a trip to a known destination. There was a spot I had been wanting to try and this day seemed as good as any other for a little exploration. I loaded up my Jackson Kayak Coosa HD from Caney Fork Outdoors so I could head out before sunrise the next morning.
After fighting off the urge to stay in bed very early on a Saturday morning, I quickly changed clothes, hopped into the car and hit the road. I entered the coordinates for the access site into the GPS app on my smartphone and I was on my way. I arrived at the access site just after sunrise just as I had planned it. So far so good.
Upon arrival, I immediately began to check out the lay of the land to find the easiest path to the river. Turns out there wasn’t really an easy path to the river but I hadn’t driven an hour from home to be deterred by a challenging path to the river. I was able to get my kayak down to the water with less effort than expected since gravity was working with me on the way in. This however clued me in that the trip out would be less enjoyable as I was using a single put-in and take-out.
After paddling down to my destination, I was met with a little surprise. I had checked the flows of the river where I put in but neglected to check the gauge for the tributary I intended to fish. Apparently the watershed area of this stream had received rainfall two days prior and was still draining that water. This left the flow a little too fast to allow for paddling and I only had limited time to wade. Added to that was the muddy water that would likely limit my success anyway.
For the reasons outlined above, I decided to float back to the confluence of the two streams where there was a little more water clarity. A few casts in I was able to connect with a decent sized smallmouth bass. He put up a weak fight at first then kicked things into high gear. One of his runs was aimed squarely at the front of my Coosa HD where he hit head first. The collision sounded as though someone had thrown a rock at my kayak. Of course the smallie and I had to pose for a quick photo before he was returned to the water to fight another day.
