Mythic Gear Dry Suits and Safe Kayak Fishing

I am getting older and smarter and realized that I was pushing my luck kayak fishing in the spring, fall, and winter amidst the frigid waters. I now have the Mythic Gear ENKI Model Dry Suit. Named after a god in Sumerian mythology. He was the deity of crafts, mischief, water, seawater,lakewater, intelligence, and creation.

These are truly dry suits for the masses. Never has there been dry suits the average guy can afford on a tight budget. These are made like tanks, solid material, and awesome craftsmanship. The zippers are the toughest I have ever seen. When I put it on, the dry suit will puff up with air, that is how sealed my body is. I open the zipper to get the extra air out.  I was stepping over a guard rail with my yak to get to my put in and fell hard. The kind of hard you don't see coming over the rail and on my knees on a gravel covered bike path! The suit didn't have a scratch all though my ego was damaged.

The temperature has swung from 15 - 60 over the last few weeks and I have been Yarpin - Kayak Carpin. I have had 3 based layers underneath the suit and it has done the job nicely.  Actually with out the suit I would of had more bulky layers on and would of been uncomfortable and I do not think I would of toughed it out on these windy cold days with out Mythic Gear.

helpful articles:

Cold Water Danger Not Limited to Hypothermia

Wetsuits Versus Drysuits

Fall Trout Opener 2012 - 2 Days of Fun.

1am, crap, 2am sh-t,  3am come on, 4:30 woohoo lets go!!! I had not fished in-land trout for at least 4 years, tired increasingly of un-sportman wanna be anglers that break rules and seem to have no character as they cast over your line. I had not thought about it in some time but since I now have a kayak in my possession, why not? I will now have some space to breath. After our DuPage Angler Podcast on trout, my plans were made to return. Since I had a yak I got there a half hour before open instead of an hour and was met with at least 30 guys that had the same idea. 

This line of tail lights instantly made my stomach turn as I remembered why I had stopped doing this. I got on the water and it was still dark and somewhat quiet considering the amount of people that were somewhere around me in the darkness. I rigged up two slip float rigs and cast my minnow out into the night. My locator was covered with fish from top to bottom so I set it at seven feet and said a prayer. Where in the hell is my float? GONE? HOLY....... I had my first trout in sometime, yes I rock! LOL! I was actually shocked to score in 5 minutes. My first three fish came in a hurry with me missing fish as well, my minnows coming back covered in teeth marks and ripped.

Once the sun came up the ballgame changed completely. I moved my yak up wind, and then would drift back over a lot of water to cover as much ground as possible looking for active fish. I hooked a few more, and lost a few more including the biggest of the day. I played them longer than I needed to. I was excited to be catching a species I had not battled in forever. I could of cranked them in and been on my way home in the first 2 hours. The higher the sun got the slower the trout bite became. I had four and needed to land one more to tuck away a limit. Now I was thinking that I should not of goofed around with those other fish! I got a couple crappie and bass before I managed to catch the last one.

I now looked up and saw just how many people had arrived. WOW! It was worse than I thought! I was happy to be surrounded by a few boaters, all of which I must say were nice guys and kept space between us.

Look at that dock!! I know right?? I would not fish there as a ghost. I got my limit earlier then I thought, so a packed up and went to a soccer game. Day one was fantastic.

I woke up on day two with plans to hit the fox but with no wind I had to go back and hit it again. I got there later by a half hour and was shocked at the lower turn out. The water was perfect.

The trout had very different plans today. The only active fish were over by that dock and the hordes  I really did not want to go over there. I fished trout hard for the first quarter of my morning. I used the same drifting technique and only hooked and lost two. However I noticed when ever I started a drift In the shallower water I would catch a crappie off the weed line in 15-20 feet of water. At this point I said the hell with the trout, parked on the edge, and I was handsomely rewarded!! The crappies came in fast and I caught over a dozen with some bonus bass!! A few trout would of been great, but I had a great day. I only saw two guys with a limit and many guys went empty handed or only had a couple. Since I have the kayak and had such a good time, I will continue going back for the inland trout angling adventures.

Walleyes a Swing and a Miss!

Always looking for new water on the Fox, a friend pointed me to an area that was near Yorkville. I have been looking for more walleye water as my consistent spots are an hour north for me. This spot was just past water I already explored, but knowing there was a deeper hole were walleyes bite on a regular basis I had to make the journey. I asked Ted Yates aka Sooner Bass (on DuPageAngler.com) to go with. We brought our yaks to fish deeper water and mine is armed with a locator so finding the hole would be a breeze. Finding the hole was a breeze, a nice 6 foot deep stretch surrounded by 2 foot of water. The spot is perfect. Problem is the fish didn't know that, well at least on this day. I fished it thoroughly with drift rigs and lindy rigs that only fish interested was a baby Flathead. 

Was it just a bad day? Is this a night bite only spot? I don't know the answer but I like it enough to go back again next season and find out. After fishing the hole inside and out ted suggested that we explore and paddle up river for a short stretch (note to self: Ted is in better shape then you next time tell him to bite it.) After paddling forever and ever, we could not find anything deeper than 2.5 feet. Funny thing was all the fish we were to catch for the day came from the shallow flats. Ted caught 3 smallies, 1 large mouth, 1 crappie and a catfish, I managed to scrape up 5 small channels myself. Teds came mostly on minnows and leeches. my fish came dragging a crawler behind the yak as I drifted. We caught enough fish to salvage the day but as for the walleyes it was a swing and a miss. So far this fall it's Eyes 2 - Pondboy 0.

Friday Night Bites

Since I have now access to a kayak. I cannot help but want to fish in it every chance I get. Ted aka Soonerbass Took me to one of his regular lakes, Lake Patterson in Aurora. With the gusts of wind earlier in the day , I was not expecting the glass top on the water we got when we arrived. It was beautiful evening and you could see weed patches popping out all over the lake. Ted had warned me about the excessive foliage so I was prepared with several weedless offerings. As he sky turned pink and some of the last smells of summer drifted my way I figured out that they wanted something small and slow. I grabbed the rod with same finesse rig I have used in the past. #4 circle hook one shot 12-18 inches up small plastic of your choice. Crabby Bass Helgies, Case Helgies, and Berkley 4 inch power worms are my favorite baits to throw on this rig. I rigged on the jet black power worm made a cast right into a pocket, it slowly dropped since the hook is small and there is only one small shot size b helping it descend into the depths. Zizzzzzz went the drag and I had my first of eight bass for the night. Ted had some hits as well. I missed a good 6 fish. This is a bad side effect of the small hook, but it is the slow drop that makes the magic happen. It was a very pretty sunset and a fun place to yak some large mouth. I had to question myself why i had never fished this lake after living ten minutes away for the last 8 years. That's one of the benefits of a site like DuPage Angler you meet great guys and experience new things like Lake Patterson and the Friday night bites.