Kayak Fishing is Easy, Right?! | Paddle Tales Adventure in Tennessee

Ken Whiting with Paddle TV and in this episode of Paddle Tales I'm exploring the Tennessee River line and no trip to the Tennessee River would be complete without discovering some of the world-class fishing they have down here. And so I'm on Wattspire Lake looking for some big old bass. Paddle Tales is brought to you by Sea Eagle Inflatables, NRS, AquaBound, WileyX, and Outdoor Play. Well a trip to the Tennessee River would not feel right without doing some fishing because there is world-class fishing all along the Tennessee River and so today I'm at Arrowhead Resort on Wattspire Lake. This is one of many world-class lakes and I'm hooking up with Michael Darby, a local kayak angler, and we're going to hopefully catch some big old bass out here. But the other thing I'm doing is I'm testing out the Sea Eagle 385 Fast Track Angler inflatable kayak. It's the first time I've ever gone kayak fishing in an inflatable kayak before. Fishing and inflatables, do they go together? Well I'm going to find that out today. So let's get this thing pumped up and hit the water. When you come down to the Tennessee River if you don't allocate some time to go on a fishing adventure there's something wrong with you because this is world-class fishing down here and there's so many options to choose from. Coming down to Wattspire to do some kayak fishing it really only made sense to hook up with Michael Darby who started Wattspire Kayak Fishermen, a group that he created to promote kayak fishing in the area. I'm Michael Darby from Kingston, Tennessee. I'm also the director of Wattspire Kayak Fishermen. We've come down to part of Watts Creek, the reactor branch section of Watts Creek. It's just so diverse. I mean you can catch fish on this lake year-round. We fish every month of the year basically. I've been, I don't know, gosh I've been here for, I've fished on this lake at least 20 years at least. So to see the changes and the things that's happened here and the growth and development has been pretty cool especially in the kayak industry. I created this group really to to give people a chance to come together and meet people, right? It's not, kayak fishing is growing and it's grown a lot. Four years ago it wasn't the same sport that it is today even, you know, it's exploded. Well actually like any sport it's not easy to get into any activity unless you kind of connect with like-minded people and that can show you the way a little. That's right, yeah. I wanted people to make friends, you know, lifetime fishing buddies, partners, you know, that kind of thing. And I've met a lot of great people, a lot of great people doing this. This is my first time on Watts Bar but I've fished on a number of the other lakes, Guntersville, Chickamauga, and the coolest thing about them is that there's so many spots on each lake. They're not just big round lakes by any means. The dams that have flooded the land and this very rolling hill style land has created all these little arms and then these little coves and bays and there's so many different places to go on each lake. You could fish Watts Bar, this one lake, almost a lifetime and keep fishing different places. It's so versatile, there's so much water in this area. Within an hour, two hour drive you can fish anywhere really, whatever you want to do. Grass lakes, clear lakes, you can fish for about any fish, any kind of fish for the most part, from trout to bass to catfish, there's all kinds of stuff. Anytime you go fishing to a new body of water, the most important thing to do is hook up with a local angler who knows the different techniques, what's working, where to go, but more importantly, that gives you a wonderful excuse when you're not catching fish. Fishing is 90% excuses and 10% skill. All in all, 80% excuses, 10% luck, and 10% skill. Nice! That's a good start. Two fish. All right, we'll do fish, one spot. When you get a little head start, probably about 15 inches or so. Oh, I've just been shaking loose all the small ones, I'm waiting for the big one. Michael thinks I didn't notice that after catching two fish on that side, he decided, hey, I'm going to show Ken, he went and caught a fish behind me where I just fished and didn't catch a thing. You think I didn't notice that technique, eh? Whoops. On to the next cove. Sounds good. Might have to fish our way out. Gotta be a fish there, gotta be. I got the secret weapon now. Oh, I got that stick fish. Either that or it's a rock. Just let slack in it and pop it, it should come loose. Oh yeah. A perfect example of how fishing is so much about the excuses that you have. Michael handed me his rod to try out a crankbait along the shoreline and it just so happened I snagged after my second cast and I might have had to give him the rod to get his bait unsnagged, but it's okay because I have an excuse and the excuse is his reel was a right retrieve reel and I'm used to a left retrieve reel and I mean you can't expect someone to just nail it first time. That point right there, that's got a fish with my name on it. Well, I don't think like a fish, apparently. So what do you think about the inflatable so far? It's good. It's actually a comfy platform. You know, I forgot I was an inflatable. Really? I think that's probably the best thing that could happen, really. It seems pretty stable. Oh, it's super stable. Well, as they say, that's why they call it fishing and not catching, except for Michael. Michael caught a couple good fish and that was good to see. I actually caught something very impressive. I caught this. I'm not sure what it is, but it's a keeper. I'm taking that sucker home. The great thing about a day like today, beautiful day on the water. Didn't really matter if I caught fish or not. Just being out was awesome. Watts Bar is a beautiful lake, as I knew it would be, and whether you catch fish or not, you can always finish the day with a good meal and a drink. And so that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to head over to the Arrowhead Resort and wind down before heading off on another adventure tomorrow. It was fun to test out my first ever inflatable fishing kayak, the Sea Eagle Fast Track 385 Angler Edition. I'm going to be doing a full review on this thing, as I always do, so keep your eyes open for that one. I'll leave a link in the description box down below for it. Otherwise, hope you guys enjoyed this video. Give it a thumbs up if you did. Subscribe to Paddle TV if you haven't already, and stay tuned for lots more paddling tips, gear reviews, and adventures, even if they aren't fish-filled adventures.