Summer 2018
®
by Eric Allee
THE ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLE
OF BASSIN’
maneuvering through the untouched water
A
s a kayak angler, I’m not going to lie and say
I don’t get envious when I see someone in a
decked-out Ranger drop the hammer and shoot across the reservoir like a rocket. By comparison, my average
speed – about 3 mph – is a less than a snail’s pace compared
to the cheetah of the fishing world – a bass boat.
For every yin, there is a yang and in certain situations,
anglers in bass boats become envious of the spots we
(kayakers) can tuck our fishing kayaks back into.
In the western United States, the vast majority of our reservoirs are used for water storage.This means our water levels are seemingly everchanging; but the past handful of years, many western reservoirs have routinely risen above their banks, breathing new life into flooded areas that can only be fished in their entirety via fishing kayak!
Runoff is rushing down from the Rocky Mountains, swelling up the rivers and streams leading into our reservoirs. Downstream water demands haven’t started yet;
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