A layer of dust on my kayak told me that it was time to go fishing, and with no work this week, it seemed like a good time to go, except for the weather that is. I�d never fished from a kayak on a really cold day, so I knew it'd be a tough slog, and since misery loves company, I asked TFF regulars Fishybiz (Derek), Knot at work (Adam) and Daveg99 to join me.

Well, the day started out cold, and got colder as the day wore on. The bite was slow, the slowest I�ve ever experienced on the Brazos River. But the company was good and the lessons learned were invaluable. When I go back there in a few weeks with my son, we�ll be much better prepared. Here are some pics from our trip....

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An early morning gas & coffee stop allowed me to take these pictures showing two different ways to transport yaks with a truck. In this picture you see Derek� s 14 foot kayaks looking precariously perched over his truck bed. But looks can be deceiving, and he made it the river and back with no problems. Looks scary though.



Here are Dave's and my 12 foot kayaks loaded onto his truck with a bed extender from harbor freight. This set up makes it pretty easy to get the yaks on and off. I normally load & transport my yak alone atop a Honda Accord using pool noodles, so by comparison this was greatness, and it will probably be the way I go when I buy a truck soon.



Here I am at the put in, but don�t let the picture fool you. It was a very chilly 41 degrees, and although it may not look it, I am pretty well layered up. Plus I had a jacket and an extra set of thermals in my bag in case I needed it. Before the day was out, I would.



These were my fishing companions for the day, all of them TFF regulars. From left to right, Dave (Daveg99), Adam (Knot at work) and Derek (Fishybiz). As you can see, they prefer neoprene waders, and on a day like this, neoprene was better than the breathable waders I used. I had on a pair of jeans under my waders and would have to don an extra pair of thermal underpants by mid day.



The morning started out overcast, and this was the first glimpse of the sun as it broke through the clouds over the bluffs at Flint Bend. This was about 9:00 AM, and each time the sun�s rays poked through the clouds, the air temp rose a few degrees and it felt great. Unfortunately, that would only happen a few times right around the time I snapped this picture, and those short morning bursts of warmth were the high temperature marks for the day as it only got colder from this point on.



I fish out of an Ocean Kayak Scrambler XT, but Dave offered me a test drive in his Heritage Redfish 12, and it was a sweet riding kayak. The XT is a good all around fishing yak, but it�s not a fast kayak. If the XT were a vehicle, it�d be solid, dependable SUV. The Redfish, on the other hand, would be a Mustang�very fast and a solid tracking, yet nimble yak. Add to that a comfortable seat and a flat, spacious deck, and you have a solid fishing yak. The drawback to the test drive was that for the remainder of the trip, my XT seemed slow and lumbering.



Dave lands a keeper striper early in the day, and we�re given hope that the bite might turn on.


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Here is Derek (Fishybiz) in his nicely appointed OK Scupper Pro kayak. An avid angler, and probably the most experienced kayaker in our group, Derek�s done a good job rigging this kayak, which Dave and Adam refer to as The Battleship. Although not seen in this picture, the yak has plenty of rod holders, a custom mounted fish finder, an anchor system, and a very cool live bait tank that I will be copying.


There were still some patches of snow out there, including these. Notice the snowball I�m about to launch at one of my fishing partners.


As said earlier, this was the slowest bite I�ve ever experienced on the Brazos. Here is my only catch of the day. I guess you could say the river humbled me a little.


Adam didn�t fare any better than me in the fish catching department. Here�s a picture of one LMB he caught. Another thing I learned on this trip was an alternate name for the LMB, which Derek calls �green skippies.�


As I said, it was cold--about 41 degrees when we put in and 37 degrees when we got out. It was so cold that the small "Magic Heat" burner that Dave brought along to warm up some pre-cooked pork carnitas wouldn�t generate enough heat to warm the food. So we built a fire to warm up the carnitas, and in the end, the fire ended up being used to warm us up.


Lunch time on the Brazos�pork carnitas, flour tortillas and grated cheddar cheese�all compliments of Dave. This really hit the spot and helped warm us up.


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And a few more pics�

Dave and a solid LMB.


Dave and Adam trolling �The Cove.�


Yes, it rained on us a little, but the wind was a bigger factor and made a cold day even colder.

Peekaboo


Derek and the battleship.


What a difference this fire made--it provided food and warmth. It doesn't get much better than this, IMHO.

still cool...thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the report Sarge!

I admire you guys for getting out in that weather.

Cool pics!

Man that looked pretty cold. Dave told me he didn't feel fat enough. ha! Wish I wouldn't have had to work that day. Thanks for the pics. Love the battleship.

Great Pics!

awesome trip. proves you dont have to have a big bite to have a good time on the water.

Looks like a great trip, but a little cold.

This is a great time of year to be on the river if your eqquiped properly.

Glad you got to paddle the Heritage. Too bad they don't stack. That is why I sold mine a few months ago.

Thanks for the report and pics!

Glad yall had a great and safe trip. Maybe next time I can get a day off to go. Great report and pics thanks for sharing. By the way how was the water level compared to summer?

Ive seen the water lower. Ive also seen it higher. Out of the 4 times Ive been there it was pretty much in the middle. We had to get out and walk only at one spot on the way down. On the way back up we had to get out 3 times.

good times.

almost look's like wood shaving's in the skillet? lol

Sure did taste better than wood shavings:)