Traveling Light When Loading Your Lures for a Day of Kayak Fishing

I’m a smallmouth bass enthusiast having caught and released over 23,000 since catching my first in 1994.  One thing I’ve tried to do with my smallie fishing is to narrow my selection of lures down to the few that simply catch smallies for me.  I think I’ve done this with literally a few outstanding presentations, a couple of which I’ve talked about on the Jackson Kayak Fishing Blog in the past.  I’ll likely talk about them some more in the future.  What this has allowed me to do is keep what I take out for a kayak fishing outing to a minimum.

From 2007 to late 2016 the vast majority of my smallies came on the Kalin’s Lunker Grubs in a couple colors.  I began using the Ned Rig and Z-Man Finesse TRD and TubeZ in August of 2016 and since then, this has been a tremendous presentation for me.  So, since 2007 almost all of my smallies on nothing but the two presentations mentioned.  This makes packing for a day of chasing bass in the kayak very easy.  The attached photo shows you what I pack in the center storage area of one of my Jackson Kraken 13.5 kayaks.  A few packs of both the Z-Man and Kalin’s soft plastics, small container with jigs, Gerber Tool, BogaGrip, Berkley fluoro-carbon for leaders, sunscreen and water.

The other picture is of one of my Krakens ready to push off for a few hours of smallie fishing on the big waters of Green Bay in Door County, Wisconsin, some of the best smallie waters in the country.  Additional items in my kayak are three or four St. Croix spinning rods rigged for the Ned Rig and swimming the Kalin’s Grubs.  Depending on the day, a small soft pack for sandwiches, maybe rain gear and if I want to be less adventuresome, occasionally a net.  Although, nothing like trying to lip a big smallie right next to the kayak.  I also have a camera mounted to take a picture of bigger fish and to make sure the smallie is not out of the water very long while getting the camera ready, a Lip Gripper tethered to the kayak.

For me it’s truly KISS method.  Keep It Simple Schultz!  So, if you find a few presentations and lures that work for you, leave the rest home and uncomplicate your fishing.