September Smallies

[TWiles]

Get out early, fish like crazy, blow ups on every hole of water, bite stops around 9:00.  I absolutely love these crisp foggy mornings burning into clear blue skies.

























Don't need any boat ramps....just got to watch out for poison ivy and rattlers















Almost stepped on this guy, I grabbed his tail, but he swung around fast and almost got my hand underwater.  Figured it was time to let him be.




 







Lost an absolute beast of a smallie when he wrapped me up on this rock.  About a 40 yd cast, the fish hit after the bait hit the water.  I watched this lifetime smallie jump like crazy. Once he swam around the rock, I stumbled as fast as I could upstream.  He kept jumping tethered to the rock....once I got to where I could untangle him, he snapped my 15 lb fluoro leader.  Aaaaaggghhh!  Probably 25 inches or better.










Til next time....

[MikeA]

Beautiful water and fish.
So compared to the Jackson how does the bad fish compare?

[TWiles]

Badfisher is about 30 lbs lighter, a lot more agile down Rapids....it bends and rolls around rocks instead of deflecting. Is a bit more plain Jane....doesn't store paddles and loose rods/attachments quite as well as RAM system on Jackson.

I like it better, maybe not $400 better, but it is nice that they roll up into a backpack for flights and road trips.  They're a pain to pump up, but  love them class I and II's.

Hope we can float them together  soon.  Smallie bite will be hot for about 4 more weeks.

[Steve H]

Very nice TR Travis! Some beautiful fish you landed.

[MikeA]

The only thing I see that I would miss is the upright paddle storage but I’d come up with a fix for that. 
So, is it just as stable as the Jackson? How dry is it? My Jackson flexes under my weight and holds water. It’s extremely annoying, and can even cause it to become unstable after going through rapids where lots of water comes over the board and has nowhere to flow off. It’s the only complaint (other than weight) I have on the Jackson,,, but it’s a big one. I’ve had them replace one board already. At this point I think it’s just a design flaw. They need to make somewhere for the water to go. Might not be an issue for people under 200 pounds. 

[TWiles]

I think all paddleboards are going to get washed over and bogged by larger Rapids.  I just get low on knees and grab the sides of board and ride it out til water clears.  If you stay upright or lean to a side, you're going down.










Once my brother in law got the hang of it, he did fine on other Rapids.