I recently had the opportunity to book a trip with Juan Veruete, owner of Kayak Fish Pa. I've been throwing around the idea of buying a fishing kayak for a long time now, but my time with Juan made me realize that I NEED to buy one. You won't find a more stealthy way to get close to the fish, but I'll explain more later.

I have never been in a kayak before, so we started the day with some basic information. Juan went over the parts of the kayak, how to effectively set up and use my paddle and some important signals to use while on the water. Thankfully, we didn't have to use any of these signals while on the water, but it's good to get these under your belt in case a situation does occur. 

Juan then put me in the water and let me do my own thing. He wanted to watch and see where I needed more help. I like this kind of instruction because I learn more making mistakes than I do someone simply telling me what to do. I was soon paddling and maneuvering like a pro... ok, maybe not a pro, but better than I was before I started. After I learned how to maneuver we added fishing into the mix.

We started the day throwing 3" stick worms made by Winco's Custom Lures. We targeted an area that had some heavy current with a good amount of slack water running beside it. We would drop the stick worms into the seam and just let them ride in the seam. After about 20 minutes with no hits, we decided to throw some crankbaits. Our first fish came within a few casts on a Strike King Series 3 crank in sexy shad. The fish darted out from under a crack in the ledges below. The first piece of the puzzle was in place...

We then moved downriver to fish the bridge pilings. Along the way, I got my first taste of some swift water. Now to me, this water looked pretty wimpy... until I got the kayak in it. I'm glad Juan was so thorough with his instruction before we hit this water. I probably would have flipped if he hadn't explained some techniques to use in this type of water. The smallest rock can send you into the drink, so don't underestimate the power of even the smallest current. 

After getting skunked on the bridge, we floated a few hundred yards and took a break for lunch. This break was what we needed! Not only did we get to change up baits, but we also gave the water a chance to warm up. This is all we needed to really get the action going. 

We had many lures tied onto our rods, but the real winners for the day were the Winco's Custom Lures Creek Wacky Worm and his Predator Craw. Juan rigged his craw on one of Winco's custom jigs and I used a Strike King Bitzy Bug jig. Winco's Creek Wacky Worms have the 'O' ring already built into the bait. This is a great feature that cuts back on ripped baits and actually increases your hook up ratio. 

We floated through a few more holes without much success. Then Juan took me down to one of his best holes on this stretch of river. It wasn't long until we found some pigs:

I made a vital mistake while fighting this fish - I let myself drift right into the hole where it took the bait. I spooked what looked like 10 to 15 other smallies (most of which were bigger than this one). Juan then taught me how to stay out of an area while fighting a fish :) I won't make that mistake again!

During our float into the next hole, we got another treat. 3 big muskies were laying in the current at the base of our next hole. Behind these muskies were what looked like hundreds of carp, behind the carp were a nice school of bass! Mixed in with these bass were some channel cats and even a few decently sized walleye. I have never seen so many different species together in one hole, nor have I ever saw so many fish in one area. We did manage to catch a few of those bass before we moved to the next hole:

Every deep hole after this one had the same schooling of fish, in what looked like the same order. Muskies first, then the carp, then the bass, cats and walleye. I really wanted to snag one of those muskie, but they knew I was there and they weren't biting. I even managed to tap one on the nose with a lure, but it didn't seem to care. I know where I'll be fishing this winter though!


The last hole we hit managed to give us a few more fish. I was really surprised at the quality of fish we pulled out that day. We only had 2 dinks out of the bunch. Here's one more fish photo for you:

I learned a lot that day. I consider myself a pretty decent angler, but Juan managed to teach me a ton more than I already knew. I know enough about kayaking now that I feel comfortable taking a trip on my own and I feel confident in a kayak. He also taught me ways to read the water, not only for kayaking, but where to find fish. I was reverting back to my largemouth tactics, but he quickly showed me that this wasn't going to work on the river. 

If you think you know a lot about fishing or you are completely new to fishing or kayaking, let Juan take you out on a trip. I have been on the Juniata almost my whole life and I still learned a lot from Juan. I will definitely be going out with Juan again once I get a kayak of my own. I know he still has some tricks up his sleeve, plus it was just plain fun! 

For more information about Juan or to book a trip with Kayak Fish Pa, please visit http://www.KayakFishPa.com. You can also check out his blog at http://www.centralpafishing.com.


If you'd like to check out Winco's Custom Lures, visit their website at http://www.wincoscustomlures.com. I know I will be picking up some lures from Winco's! They really know what works and it shows in their products. 

I finally had the chance to get the boat out on Colyer Lake this weekend. I took my good friend Sean Fluke with me. This is only the second time we have got to fish together, so I figured I make it a little more exciting and we'd take the boat. The lake is down pretty far because of the crack in the dam, but that didn't stop the fish from biting! 

As soon as we arrived, we saw an angler in a canoe - he was yelling for us to come over and take his photo. I was very surprised when he pulled his hand out of the water and had this nice largemouth in his grasp:

Andy caught this fish while pulling a soft swimbait through the grass (I won't give his spot up though!). He also told us that most of the fish he had seen were suspended around 6 to 8 feet, this was an invaluable tip and was spot on advice!

We moved out to the main point on the lake, I threw a hollow soft swimbait and Sean was throwing an olive green X-Rap. These baits didn't produce for us, so I switched to a jig and Sean switched to a ribbon tail worm. I was throwing a peanut butter and jelly colored jig with a Rage Tail Craw as a trailer. When I use these craws as trailers, I like to bite off the last two sections in the body. It tends to lay better on the jig and fall with a little more action. Remember that tip when you run out of jig trailers.

As soon as my jig was down into 8 ft. of water, a fish quickly took hold and I set the hook! The fish fought like a monster, but I was surprised to only pull up a 14" largemouth. This spot produced another fish, then the small school we saw on the sonar seemed to disappear.

I moved us just off the point - back where there was thick grass and heavy timber laying in the water. I switched the Rage Craw to a Texas rig and began fishing. After hitting every single inch of the timber and grass, I switch the craw back onto the jig. First cast landed another 14" bass. It seemed like the bass wanted that larger profile. It was tough getting that big jig through all that slop, but you know what they say "If you aren't getting stuck, you aren't throwing where the fish are". That spot produced a few more bass for us, then we decided to call it a day. 

This was the first time I have been to Colyer since it cracked (It's actually been around 10 years since I've been there). I have to say though, it's a really nice lake for how small it is and as Andy showed us, the pigs are in there! It's small size makes it easy to hit the entire lake in a full day trip, but we only covered half of it in about 4 hours. 

If you're in the area, give Colyer a try! It provides plenty of fishing from shore and plenty of decent fish! If you have anything other than a canoe or kayak, it would be best to launch at the access point beside the dam (off Lingle Rd.). The access area off of Lake Rd. is all but gone because of the level of the lake (we used it and had to carry the boat to the water, thankfully its only a small rowboat with a trolling motor). 

This weekend was a great time to be fishing. The Juniata is at a really good level, the Smallmouth seem to be switching into their summer pattern and I even got to pick up a few Largemouth on some private land!

I started off Sunday morning around 6:30am. My destination was the old train bridge upstream from the Granville Access Area (which they just rebuilt. It looks awesome so check it out next time your in the area - big improvement over the old access). I started off throwing a Rapala X-Rap Shad Shallow (olive green) into the current seams caused by the bridge pilings. After trying various retrieves - I found how they wanted it - Slow with erratic twitches. As soon as that lure crossed the quick water and hit the slack, I would twitch and the Smallmouths would smash it! After about 5 fish (plus 1 rock bass!) the bite slowed. I decided to move to another favorite spot a few hundred yards upstream. 

This next area is a favorite spot for angler's targeting Walleye and also the occasional Carp and Catfish. A small rock flat extends out into fast current and deep water. Behind all of these is a huge deep eddie, this is a great hole for Carp and Cats, but the Smallies and Walleye like to sit in the current just off of the eddie. Again, the slow retrieve with erratic twitching called the Smallies in. This spot produced another 3 fish for me (sorry I don't have pics of these, I was wading and couldn't get my phone out without getting it wet... I need a waterproof camera!). 

After the bite died off, I moved to a private area of the old local canal. This is about the only place in Mifflin County that has Largemouth in it (a few farm ponds hold Largemouth also - PLEASE get permission from landowners before fishing. Don't ruin it for the other anglers). 

The Bluegills were all over the place in this area, so I switched baits and started throwing a Strike King Sexy Shad crankbait. After working the area as best as I could, I switched to a Texas Rigged Luck "E" Strike Ring Worm in black and blue. A few light twitches on the bottom and the worm got sucked up by a Largemouth:

Some of the carp even decided to take my worm. I hooked up with 2 nice 3 ft.+ carp, but they threw the hook (it was a nice fight while it lasted). 

It's good to see that the fish are beginning their summer pattern. The post spawn this year was a horrible time. With the stress of spawning, the high and muddy water and the fast increase in heat really made the fishing the worst I have seen in years. Things are looking up though and I can't wait to get out again!

I hate to say it, because no day fishing is a bad day (OK, it wasn't a bad day, but it wasn't good). When I say it was a bad day, it wasn't because the fishing conditions were horrible. It was what we saw all day long.

Dead Crappie - and they were everywhere. It wasn't just a few, there were hundreds scattered throughout the entire lake. I'm hearing reports of this happening throughout the region and I'm curious to find out why. If I had to guess though, I would say that the stress of spawning, plus the sudden increase in water temperatures just pushed them over the edge. The water temps. have risen VERY quickly throughout the entire state and this is usually the time when crappie finish their spawn. Hopefully the lakes can recover their crappie populations because even if you don't fish for them, this will effect every other species in the water.

As far as the bass go - we saw fish suspended above heavy brush and stumps. They were in about 10 to 15 feet of water. We couldn't get anything to commit though. Hopefully, it was just because we didn't fish for long or because we didn't give them exactly what they wanted. I didn't see anyone else catching fish and the people I talked to said they didn't come up with anything either.

I'll be returning to Walker in a few days to see if the fishing conditions improved at all. I just hope the spike in water temps. and all the dead fish aren't effecting the bass!


UPDATE: I just received an email from the PA Fish and Boat Commission. They said this happens every year and isn't anything to worry about. Although I have never seen it this bad, I still think the increased temperatures played a part in the volume of dead fish.