I had to run out of town for a work trip this week and knew there was a river nearby that I could hit if time allowed. The only hurdle in the way was getting my gear to the work location. When I picked up my rental car I was grinning from ear to ear; it had a roof rack!

I looked it over good when I got back home and figured the Jackson Kilroy would be a perfect fit. I knew it would be awesome on the river I was headed to and could not wait to give it a shot. I found enough foam pads to protect the rental and the strapped the Kilroy to the rack. I loaded my Kokatat PFD, Bending Branches Angler Pro and my Manley Gold Series rod and my um work stuff, yeah…. can’t forget that! I drove up to the work site that morning but I could not wait to get done crawling through the boiler and punch the clock. I think I left a vapor trail heading to the water that afternoon.

Soon as I hit the parking lot I saw that it was full from a bass tournament and figured that might make for an interesting trip. I fished hard for a couple of hours with nothing much to show for it, the heavily stained river was making it tough. I noticed some movement in a patch of grass and changed over to a swim jig. That was just the change I needed and I started picking up fish around the grassy patches.

I was headed back toward the landing to call it quits for the evening and lost a very nice fish while trying to lip it. I was pretty bummed about it but decided to fish the rest of the way back in. Two bass boats came around me headed into the dock and I almost turned in with them but noticed a patch of grass just past them. I cast toward the patch and my Manley rod bowed over. ( If you want an AWESOME kayak fishing rod, look up Terry Manley from Manley Rods!) When the fish jumped I knew it was a solid one and the Kilroy turned with the powerful surge of the bass. She was 22” long when I landed her and one of the bass boaters was kind enough to photo her for me. Seems like it was worth the effort to haul all the gear on the work trip!