Intex Explorer K2 Kayak Bass Fishing Trip

I jump back into largemouth bass fishing each spring. Typically, I get my float tube out and use it to explore one of my favorite lakes in Southern California. However, this year, I purchased the Intex Explorer K2 Kayak. It's a two-person, inflatable kayak, with many good reviews of it online. I picked it up on sale for a little less than $80, a real deal! 

The Intex K2 comes with two sets of oars, a pump, and a skeg. The whole kayak worked great. It's a little bulky to haul any length of distance, but it easily fits into a little cart that a kind friend let me use. That cart looks a little like this. It took about 10 minutes to get the K2 fully inflated, and I didn't need to reinflate it during the 5-6 hour trip at all. The rubber walls feel tough and durable. Despite a few bumps on rocks and sticks, the ways remained undamaged. We didn't have any leaks either. 

Seats a quite comfortable and partly adjustable. Additionally, there is some (not a lot) of room to store the small backpacks and fishing gear we brought with us.

Fishing was, despite my prediction in the included video, fairly slow. I lost several fish, including one larger one that felt like a catfish (never got it out of the water), and finally caught a small largemouth. The rest of the group managed 4-5 largemouth total, with several more missed bites. Each year, fishing at this lake seems to get harder, sadly.

All in all, the Intex K2 kayak performed very well. Even with some wind, I was able to paddle it back a considerable distance. I don't know if I would take it out in a larger lake, but I was quite comfortable using it in this medium sized SoCal body of water. Using it without an anchor means you will constantly need to reposition yourself with the oars to keep fishing. Having two anglers often means one will paddle while the other will hold your position. It's workable, but takes some practice.

I'll definitely be taking the Intex 2-person inflatable kayak out again! I'm hooked! Interestingly, Intex has a small 2 person kayak, the Challenger, a much "speedier" inflatable kayak (at least from appearances). I haven't tried that one, but I'm interested in how it compares to the Explorer.
Intex Explorer K2 Kayak: http://amzn.to/2oO3WZr

More uRbAn CrEeK Fishing Fun: Bass and Green Sunfish + Underwater Video

[Video report, report with new photos!]

Will I ever get tired of urban creek fishing? Tired of fish eager to bite, the thrill of finding a new spot smack dab in the middle of suburbia with no other anglers in sight? Tired of bass and sunfish fishing that doesn't cost me a ridiculous $12-$15 (cough Diamond Valley Lake cough) just to fish?

Received a friendly tip on this new urban creek from a great fellow angler. Tales of eager bass were readily received and I quickly hit the road. The creek had recently overflowed its banks, spilling the trash of modern wasteful life across the banks and leaving gross suds in the water. Still, the fish were incredibly eager to bite. I had a hit on my first cast, with a black  Mangler 4'' swimbait (not my favorite lure but it got the job done), then landed another on the swimbait on my second cast. Nothing amazing, just typical urban creek bass (10'' or so).

I continued fishing the rest of the afternoon, catching green sunfish and largemouth bass with wild abandon. The greenies were everywhere, tearing up the bugs on the surface, chasing minnows and other forage in the shallows, competing with the bass for food. I didn't manage to land any massive fish, although I witnessed a fellow angler land a nice 20'' common carp (he promptly kept it for eating which was pretty disgusting considering the water quality) and I had two large bass chase my Mangler swimbait near the shore. I also used the Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow (best lure for urban creek fishing, period!) extensively, landing the majority of my bass and sunfish on this versatile micro crankbait, 2lb mono fishing line and ultralite rod/reel. Here's a video I've put together, with underwater footage of one of the fish, of the trip to this urban fishing creek.

Graffiti and the other trash that people who don't respect the environment left were all over the place. One of my goals with these urban creek videos is to help raise awareness of the plight of many of these tiny watersheds; often turned into a dump heap or concrete gutter by individuals and authorities. With proper care and resources, these could be sparkling streams, free of litter and accessible for fishing and hiking to a public that knows how to properly dispose of their garbage. Sadly, that is not the case, at least not yet. Maybe, one day...

Spring SoCal Bass Fishing Session

Just returned from an absolutely outstanding bass fishing trip. It was truly one of the best angling adventures I have had as of late. My friend and I hiked in to a secret lake, hauling our heavy float tubes, rods, tackle, lunches, and more. When we finally arrived, we quickly setup our gear, then kicked out into the warm lake waters, casting a variety of soft plastic lures at fishy spots. 

 We were instantly rewarded with multiple hookups, lasting throughout the day. Even when I landed on shore to dry out for a bit, I continued to catch fish. All were solid, chunky largemouth bass, in the mood for fight, and they did not disappoint. After a thrilling tug-of-war, each fish was released. Take a look at the video; I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Fall Bass Fishing in Riverside

Sometimes, your photo captures the perfect moment. This is one of them.

Success. Huddleston Shad lure was the ticket. 

Turn Your iPhone into a Action Camera with Qmountz Case: Product Review

Intro
The Qmountz case is a convenient way to turn your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy III into a versatile action camera. I recently received one for the iPhone 4/4S and tried it out while fishing. So, how did it perform? Read on to find out!

Features
Take your iPhone, pop it into the secure Qmountz case, and start filming. Boom, that is all there is to it! If you have the latest iPhone, you can shoot in 1080p, which is right around what most major action cameras (GoPro, Contour, etc) shoot in. Choose from several different accessories to best mount it, be it on yourself or on a bike, pole, etc. Screw in a QCamz wide angle lenses (not included in this review) and you'll get the awesome wide-angle175 degree view found in many major action cameras. There is even an app from Qcamz for superimposing data onto the video, including GPS and display speed. The Qcamz developer have reported that the Qmountz sports military-quality, tough housing, waterproof to 30 feet!
(Click below to continue reading)

Spring California Bass Fishing

 Hooked up with a couple of chunky largemouth bass. One of my best spring SoCal fishing outings yet. The bite has turned on and I'll be on the water!

Urban Creek Bass Blast Video!

Earlier this year, during my urban creek rush, I re-visited a small Inland Empire creek. I had initially avoided even dropping a line in it as it didn't appeal to me.

However, I'm glad I returned. Despite the brief torrential downpour and suspicious fish, I managed to land several bass and a few green sunfish, all within a couple of hours. 

While the creek wasn't very impressive in length, it made up for it in width with several spots allowing full-range of overhead casting. 

Check out the photos and video, notice the two fish I scored towards the end on the dropshot + purple worm!

Bombshell Turtle Fishing Lure Review

 Perhaps you have seen the ads and banners online for Castaila Outdoor's newest creation, a soft-plastic turtle lure? Or maybe you have watched the impressive YouTube advertisement for the Bombshell Turtle, complete with a turtle in a glass, tempting hungry bass? I was skeptical but interested in this new lure and recently received a few, in two different colors.

It's recommended to fish the Bombshell Texas-Rigged and I did so as you can see in the abovevideo. You'll notice the lure doesn't have a whole lot of action, except perhaps on a quick retrieve or on a fast jerk. This is also an observation noted by Field and Stream, in their ICAST Pool video test. The lure looks great, feels very solid and durable to the touch, but seems to lack significant action in the water. Bombshell Turtle does have a nice hook slot in the bottom, allowing for easy rigging and hopefully easy hookups. I think the best application of this lure is in the spawning time, when anglers infuriate bass by dropping various predator-style lures on their beds. Artificial crayfish, frogs, bluegill, and now even turtle lures can be utilized thanks to Bombshell. I have no doubts that it should catch fish in this environment, but I tried it out over the summer, well past the spawn, without much luck for largemouth. Still, there are quite a few videos on YouTube showing anglers nailing the bass on the Bombshell Turtle, so I wouldn't rule it out too fast. 

This lure comes in a great selection of different colors, several in varied hues or mixed blends for better variation. There are 8 colors total, from Black/Silver to Softshell and Snapper. Each pack comes with 6 turtles, in a very nicely-designed bag (see above). The marketing behind this little lure is quite intense and I feel their website is worth a look, even if you aren't going to buy any lures. Castaila also makes an interesting saltwater crab lure, called the Bombshell Crab.

The Bombshell Turtle is not a terrible lure. In fact, I actually like it-I love seeing a new, unique and interesting lure design. It's quite durable, comes in nice array of colors, and has received some decent marketing online. However, I can't say I entirely recommend this lure to my readers. This is chiefly due to the limited action it has in the water. On a quick retrieve, the back fins get moving, but on a slow falls it really seems lifeless. It might work better had the paddles been more thin or angled differently. Overall, The Bombshell Turtle by Castaila Outdoors is a unique lure that may need a little more refining before I would feel very confident using it on a regular basis. Check it out today at Castaila Outdoors website!

Diamond Valley Lake Microbass

Wow, these pics are almost a year old! I forgot to post them on the blog, after a fun trip to Diamond Valley Lake. The fish were all dinks, largest was maybe 14'', but they were really fun to catch.  DVL is a tough lake to fish from the shore but at times it can be very rewarding!

Micro Crankbait Fun

Loads of fishing photos on my desktop and not enough posts on Hunting the River King? Let's fix that. Here are three fish from a previous trip in the last few months in California, two bluegills and one small largemouth bass. All caught on 2lb mono with a Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow in my favorite Firetiger color. More to come!