23 Jun
Chad Harp & Alex Kobes | Official Catfish Conference ® 2019
Here is a transcript of the video as well for those who may need it. This is an automatically generated transcription which means it may contain errors and inaccurate language and/or sentences.
00:06
with Kentucky we’re about an hour away
00:11
from here we do some rentals we do kayak
00:16
rentals we do rafting guided fishing
00:18
trips so we do a little bit everything
00:20
down there kind of start things off who
00:25
is who’s ever a client before see buddy
00:27
hi awesome
00:30
let me tell you is extremely growing
00:32
sport right now it’s started coming out
00:36
about five years ago they started coming
00:39
out with the one of the fishing tanks
00:42
and started about five years ago
00:45
gentlemen started making some tax and
00:48
they said let’s just pack this into
00:50
fishing so they started making some of
00:52
these boats specifically for fishing
00:54
boats these are almost considered small
00:57
bass boats now they really making these
01:00
boats like small to fast boats they’re
01:03
they’re amazing where you can put them
01:04
in some smaller lakes and rivers and
01:07
streams back about ten years ago I was
01:11
back into the big into the bass fishing
01:13
as far as the big boats and I love the
01:17
tournaments I love
01:18
and yet everybody kept telling me saying
01:23
then you need to try this kayak fishing
01:25
and I said why do I want to do that I’ve
01:27
got this boat that would go 70 plus
01:29
miles and down that down the lake
01:30
why do I want this little kayak so
01:33
finally finally got into it and I
01:36
thought million I was going out on the
01:38
stream and catching 4050 Smalley’s I
01:40
said this is all right so after that I
01:43
pretty much sold my bass boat and this
01:45
is all I do
01:46
so I go out and just chase a smallmouth
01:50
largemouth catfish and just on a kayak
01:53
it’s just a really really fun adventure
01:55
I’ve gotten the whole family involved in
01:57
it so yeah it’s really a fun sport now
02:01
what I’m going to talk about we loved
02:03
getting people talking about it and love
02:05
people get in the water and this is for
02:07
lakes rivers anything the main thing is
02:10
safety we want to make sure that
02:12
everybody has a fun time has a good time
02:14
on these boats but we also kind of
02:16
really try to push safety on these on
02:18
these talks because being that they were
02:20
very very wide and very very stable you
02:23
always got to be prepared for anything
02:25
so the main thing I can talk to you
02:29
about on any boat but specially if I act
02:32
is just right here as PFD always always
02:35
wear this this is always a crucial thing
02:37
the saves laws because you never know
02:40
what’s going to happen I me personally
02:42
up as much as I’ve been out on the kayak
02:44
sometimes I’ll get excited sometimes
02:47
I’ll set that hook a little too hard and
02:48
sometimes I’ll go flying right out of
02:50
that boat so that’s why I always just
02:52
keep that life jacket on
02:54
does anybody know about the with the
02:58
water temperature and the air
02:59
temperature does anybody know where that
03:02
safe level is as far as harpin
03:05
hypothermia and all that it’s a 110 so
03:09
what we do we tell people you take the
03:12
air temperature and take the water
03:13
temperature and plus them together okay
03:16
as long as it is at 110 or above you’re
03:20
safe as long as it’s 110 or below you’re
03:23
gonna have to have it dry
03:24
let’s see properly closed because you
03:26
don’t want to go into shock and all that
03:28
if anybody does accidentally fall out of
03:31
any boat any vessel when it’s cold the
03:34
best thing to do is just try to change
03:36
clothes try to warm up and and that’s
03:39
where this lot jacket comes in handy if
03:41
you learn this you won’t have to worry
03:43
about going into shock and all that okay
03:46
all right now what I’m gonna talk to you
03:49
about is the kind of rigging some of
03:52
these boats up okay
03:55
this particular one this when they came
03:58
out with this boat this is a brand new
03:59
boat this year this company wanted to
04:02
have a petal drop boat you could
04:04
actually put on a creek law the petal
04:07
drive boats out there you can put on the
04:09
creek but you got to physically pull
04:10
that petal drive up from the boat okay
04:13
so this company came out with this
04:15
particular model and what this does I’m
04:18
not sure if anyone all y’all can see my
04:21
petal drive is down here below okay and
04:23
you’re just basically telling it like a
04:26
bicycle that’s all you’re doing
04:27
it’s right here is what steers it this
04:29
is your rudder system now if you coming
04:32
up on a log or if you coming up on the
04:34
bank what this is going to do you can
04:37
see as soon as this hit something pops
04:40
right up automatically so this is one of
04:43
the private most perfect creeks rivers
04:47
string kayaks on the market right now
04:49
just for that reason right there where
04:51
you don’t have to physically pull that
04:53
pedal drive system up they’ve got track
04:57
system all on the side and also for Raw
05:00
holders if everybody
05:01
if you go under RAM mount com
05:05
they’ve got countless accessories you
05:08
can put on these things I’ve told people
05:09
that you can really dress them up but
05:12
what I like to do when I go out there
05:14
fishing I like to try to keep things
05:16
basic simple because I don’t want a
05:18
whole lot of gear on this boat because
05:20
the chance of breaking stuff and
05:22
losing stuff so I just like to usually
05:24
put one rod holder and usually a cup
05:26
holder but you can put fish finders you
05:29
can put death Ponder’s you can put
05:31
anything you want on these things this
05:34
particular one is a 13 foot and I’ve
05:37
literally stood up on this boat on the
05:40
side of this boat and it will not flip
05:42
over it’s extremely start started
05:45
disabled and and they made that for that
05:49
reason they want to make sure that
05:50
everybody was safe but they also want to
05:52
make sure that you can move around the
05:54
boat stand up if you choose to and such
05:58
a high low see this is what sells any
06:01
car act on the market I don’t care what
06:02
boat it is if you don’t have a
06:04
comfortable seat you’re not going to
06:06
want to stay in that boat very long so
06:07
this they really went beyond the limits
06:10
to get this boat with this seat he’s got
06:12
a really a good lumbar support system
06:14
and I’ve stayed out on these boats for
06:16
eight nine hours plus and still at the
06:19
end the day be perfectly fun you can
06:21
adjust it down in the low position which
06:24
means there’s count as like a standard
06:25
kayak and then plus it’d be just up in
06:27
the Hobby session that feels a little
06:29
bit more comfortable on your knees and
06:30
legs it’s got tons of storage especially
06:33
if you’re going out camping overnight
06:36
trips people store all your stuff I’ve
06:38
gone literally I’ve gone two weeks on on
06:42
some rivers camping on the side and just
06:43
store all my gear on these kayaks and
06:45
does perfectly fine so so yeah that’s
06:49
any questions on on this particular boat
06:51
anything good this one’s about right at
06:54
about thirty to ninety nine you can get
06:57
this same exact boat
06:59
without the pedal drive for about
07:01
nineteen ninety nine so if you’re not
07:03
wanting to do the pedal Drive you can
07:06
add that pedal job later if you choose
07:08
to but that’s about 1999 for just the
07:11
boat yeah any other questions on the
07:17
boat or safety and like I said the
07:19
maintain is we want to make sure
07:20
everybody has fun on these things but we
07:22
also want to make sure everybody’s safe
07:23
safe and if you guys ever need anything
07:27
from us we’re like said canoe Kentucky
07:30
and we’ll
07:31
more glad to help you walk me through
07:33
some stuff we do training classes we got
07:35
tons of camps involved with us fishing
07:38
camps and and all that but uh yeah this
07:43
is Alex right here I’m gonna let him
07:47
step in he’s more of the catfish and
07:49
kayaker and he’ll talk to you a little
07:52
bit about some of what he does and his
07:54
business and some of the various tricks
07:57
what he does alright guys thank you all
08:00
hey I appreciate it yeah so my name is
08:04
Alex no my name is Alex Kobus I own and
08:08
operate
08:09
Kobus kayak fishing and rentals based
08:11
out of Chattanooga Tennessee it’s a
08:12
kayak fishing charter and a kayak rental
08:14
company and I live and breathe
08:18
catfishing from my kayak one of the main
08:21
reasons I got in to kayak fishing I’ve
08:23
kept fish since I was a teenager I loved
08:25
it but sooner or later we all reached
08:27
that point where it’s like I got to get
08:28
off the bank you know you can only bake
08:30
fish for so long and I was looking at
08:32
boats you know financing all that it was
08:36
too much they always need repairs kayaks
08:38
were the answer for me so that’s kind of
08:40
how I got into it I was a little
08:42
skeptical at first I was like there’s no
08:43
way I’m gonna be able to land 60 70
08:45
pound catfish from a kayak and you know
08:48
you get on YouTube I find out their land
08:50
in Tarpon Marlin all these absolutely
08:53
insane fish so I saw that it was like
08:54
okay sold but some of the rigging I do
08:57
for it it is it’s a little different how
09:01
you have to go about it there are a
09:02
couple things and these these apply to
09:04
all kayaks not just this specific model
09:06
here but you’ll kind of see these a lot
09:08
of our rigging here set up on these gear
09:10
tracks basically you have a little I
09:13
guess a little mechanism that slides in
09:15
between them locks down and sets it in
09:16
place they sell ton of accessories but a
09:18
lot of them are these rod holders
09:21
a lot of people think just cuz I’m on
09:23
the kayak you can’t fish as many rods
09:24
typically when I go out by myself I’m
09:27
fishing for rods you know so guys on
09:30
boats they usually fish six for
09:32
something that’s only 12 and a half 13
09:33
feet not that much of a difference just
09:35
to drop two rods but the gear attracts
09:37
your key and you can move and adjust
09:39
them you can you know set it kicking out
09:41
that way if you want to do suspend
09:43
drifting kick them right off to the side
09:44
if you’re anchored up and casting
09:45
downstream you can get it to where
09:47
they’re angled to help your line just
09:50
stay managed a little bit better another
09:52
thing I use it’s known as eight is a
09:55
trolley ankle or trolling anchor trolley
09:57
anchor either way it is basically a big
10:01
rope system on two pulleys you get a
10:03
pulley up in the front a pulley up in
10:05
the back and then there’s a little you
10:06
know either a carabiner or just a circle
10:08
or a loop whatever and you drop your
10:10
anchor you run your anchor line up
10:13
through that and you attach it’s either
10:14
wherever you may set your anchor point
10:15
on your boat but with that trolley
10:17
anchor what it allows you to do is
10:19
adjust the pivot of how you’re anchored
10:21
throughout the day and if you’re stuck
10:22
in wind or just you know the place where
10:24
the current kind of fluctuates
10:25
throughout the day it really helps just
10:27
kind of keep your line solid and keep
10:29
them in a nice straight line another
10:33
question I get asked a lot you know
10:35
they’re like dude you’re landing these
10:36
big fish must be a crazy sleigh ride you
10:38
get put on it’s not as bad as you think
10:40
it really isn’t I don’t know how to
10:42
explain it but no I mean honestly the
10:44
probably the largest one up call it was
10:46
right around 65 pounds and it didn’t
10:50
even pop my anchor you know I use a 10
10:52
pound dumbbell as an anchor very
10:54
cost-efficient seems to work just great
10:57
it’ll sit down in the mud and not get
10:58
too caught up in it but when I am
11:03
bringing in these big fish it is
11:05
different than a boat I work my drag
11:08
constantly and the closer they get the
11:10
looser I have the drag you don’t want
11:12
that big fish coming up on you and
11:14
trying to run right under your boat with
11:15
your drag maxed out you know will flip
11:17
the kayak don’t think so we’ll flip you
11:19
out of the kayak possibly so yeah you
11:25
really have to work the drag and stuff
11:29
like that
11:30
turn to think what else suspended drift
11:33
fishing works great from kayaks I think
11:35
that is a great way you can get it set
11:37
up with a really big a drift sock
11:40
they make kayak specific ones they’re
11:42
great I like the companies that make
11:43
them but me personally I get the same
11:46
drift socks you guys get I think I used
11:47
it’s either 32 maybe a 36-inch diameter
11:50
drift sock and with your trolley anchor
11:53
you can either you know run it to the
11:54
back so you run in front or whatever you
11:56
know you can change where your drift
11:57
sucks gonna go but but that seems to
12:00
work really well as far as that goes
12:03
dragging and stuff I’m starting to get
12:04
into a little bit more but as far as
12:08
affordability goes and you know if
12:10
you’re at that point where you’re sick
12:11
of fishing from the bank all the time
12:13
you see all this boats I’m telling you
12:14
guys kayak fishing is an absolutely
12:17
great way to get into it yeah I I was
12:21
absolutely blown away it was something
12:22
when I first came into this like maybe I
12:25
am crazy I don’t know but doing it for
12:28
about three years now and I love it I
12:31
wouldn’t do it any other way there is no
12:34
greater rush than seeing an absolute
12:36
monsters catfish and you’re only
12:38
separated from them but just a couple
12:40
inches your kayak you know oh one other
12:43
big thing I do I never bring out a net I
12:46
do not bring a net it for some reason it
12:48
just doesn’t work when you’re by
12:50
yourself when you’re kayak fishing it
12:53
you got to hold the rod like this and
12:55
then you got to push it and then these
12:57
these kayaks are very buoyant they do
12:59
move easily as you start to try to net
13:01
them the resistance on the water from
13:03
that net will actually start to push
13:05
your kayak over you know it’ll change
13:06
the direction of it so you’re actually
13:08
starting to push yourself away so it so
13:13
typically what I do you know I’ll just
13:15
kind of grab my rod here do one of these
13:17
I do grab the line a lot of people
13:19
disagree with it seems to work just fine
13:22
you know I usually pinch my swivel I’ll
13:24
pinch my swivel and then you just grab
13:26
them in the mouth bring them up and over
13:29
it’s great yeah so no net I think that’s
13:33
a real big difference a lot of people
13:35
seem really surprised about that I get
13:36
people constantly they’re like you know
13:38
you should always bring a net or like
13:40
don’t don’t you lose them at the side of
13:41
your boat I’m like well yeah but don’t
13:43
we
13:44
all you know like who hasn’t lost a fish
13:46
at the side of the boat with or without
13:47
the net so and just like just like Alex
13:51
was saying that there is no bigger rush
13:53
when you get a when you get a big fish
13:55
on I mean I was I was down to two weeks
13:58
y’all’s down with Louisiana red fishing
13:59
and you get a big fish on a kayak just
14:03
that brush of them pulling that kayak
14:05
around moving around and chasing it I
14:07
fought I fought this one red redfish for
14:10
20-25 minutes and he was literally
14:12
trying all over the place and just that
14:14
just that rush of that big fish from a
14:16
kayak and you get him up he right there
14:18
close to him it’s it’s amazing it’s
14:20
amazing feeling yeah and it kind of just
14:23
to keep going back to the rush I this is
14:26
one thing I do not like about kayak
14:28
fishing this isn’t like a serious deter
14:30
at all but you are sitting you’re
14:33
confined on a boat when you get that big
14:35
fish when you get that first big bite of
14:36
the day you can kind of pace it off you
14:38
can be excited the hardest part about
14:40
the kayak fishing is you’re just sitting
14:42
there it’s it’s it’s hard to contain the
14:45
excitement so I do catch myself doing a
14:48
lot more of the yahoos and you know but
14:52
yeah like I said that I just you know 15
14:56
years ago I don’t think anybody would
14:58
ever seen kayaks or catfishing really
15:00
kind of transitioning towards that I
15:02
would I I’m sold yeah that’s the way so
15:07
absolutely so there’s a lot of options
15:09
you can do they make roof racks okay so
15:13
when I first started I drove I was
15:17
driving a 2002 Saturn Ion I don’t know
15:21
how many people know what that is but
15:22
it’s like a three cylinder car you know
15:25
it it just it could not be any smaller
15:26
my kayak was literally longer than my
15:28
car when it was on top but I was driving
15:30
around I just had some roof racks and
15:33
you know I was committed now I’ve
15:35
changed things a little bit I’ve added a
15:37
lot more equipment to my kayak I have a
15:39
different car at this point I have a
15:41
little flatbed trailer and I treat my
15:42
kayak just like a boat but that’s
15:44
because it’s I’ve kind of gotten lazy as
15:47
I’ve gotten into
15:48
or you know but for the first year
15:49
year-and-a-half I was in that little
15:51
Saturn Ion you can get these little
15:53
parts right here these things are
15:54
absolutely awesome this is how you
15:55
transport them a lot and you’re bringing
15:57
it down off your car you set it down
15:59
underneath there and you just find a
16:01
natural pivot point for it and it’s not
16:03
that bad if you’re plugged by a place
16:06
that doesn’t have a boat dock you can
16:08
easily just drag this through some brush
16:09
you know through the woods a little bit
16:11
till you get to that sweet spot where
16:13
you can launch yeah and then so see what
16:19
else
16:21
so actually yeah then she had kind of
16:26
touched on this and I’ve joked about
16:27
this a lot as well years ago these I
16:31
just knew these as ocean kayaks and the
16:34
reason they were called ocean kayaks is
16:35
because you’re paddling out in the ocean
16:36
and you would almost get water that
16:39
would spill over in so all these kayaks
16:41
you see like this that are they’re
16:42
called sit on tops now I think that’s
16:44
what they refer to mainly as they have
16:46
what’s known as a scuffle plugs and
16:48
there’s usually six to eight holes
16:50
somewhere throughout it you can put a
16:52
little plug in it or you can leave it
16:53
out but they self bail so they’re
16:55
boiling enough on their own even if
16:57
those plugs are out if water does cat
16:59
you know you come rushing in it drains
17:01
back out so but even then I mean I’ve I
17:07
do a lot of lake fishing so you know a
17:11
lot of open water if it gets windy out
17:13
there
17:13
it gets choppy quick and there
17:15
definitely been days work you know I’ve
17:17
been I’ve just been in chop and the
17:18
pleasure boaters are out there it gets
17:20
rough but you get a little bit of water
17:21
in your boat ten minutes later strain
17:23
down dry you know you know what it is
17:29
it’s all it’s all hollow all the way
17:32
through the whole boat
17:33
Lauren seed pretty much the only it this
17:37
one particular one has got a 600 weight
17:40
capacity on it so 600 with with their
17:43
self and gear the but yeah it did you
17:48
can’t it be hard to say
17:56
they’ve got what they’ve actually got
17:59
they’ve got foam blocks on each side of
18:01
it
18:02
yeah they got cold so if it does
18:03
something happens if it does feel of it
18:06
water it it’s not gonna it’s not gonna
18:08
say no sir no and I I kind of made a
18:12
mistake last summer fishing a little bit
18:14
after dark and I think we’ve all been
18:16
there like uh just that one more cast
18:18
it’s been a good spot and I kind of got
18:20
stuck in a kind of a nasty thunderstorm
18:23
out on the middle of the lake not
18:24
enjoyable experience at all I was
18:26
definitely absolutely terrified
18:27
but kind of the point of that is I had
18:30
tons of water coming over the top and
18:32
when I finally did make it back to the
18:34
dock the inside of my kayak because it
18:37
does happen and this is nothing against
18:38
the product of infection or anything the
18:40
inside of my kayak was probably a
18:41
quarter of the way full with water and
18:44
but it was still boiling enough I didn’t
18:47
realize it at the time when I was out on
18:49
the water and it got me back just fine
18:52
right into the second I was like oh my
18:54
goodness yeah so and I mean the rigging
18:57
on these things is unlimited I treat my
18:59
kayak exactly like a boat I have a fish
19:02
finder I’ve got my transducer mounted up
19:03
underneath it so it’s directly under my
19:05
seat right now the the biggest – this is
19:08
a pedal kayak I have a paddle kayak but
19:13
with a lot of the paddle pie extra
19:16
seeing now some of the manufacturers are
19:18
actually just getting it set up to where
19:20
the kayak is already preformed where you
19:22
just put an outboard or a trolling motor
19:23
on it and then even if you bought a
19:26
kayak that doesn’t have that preformed
19:28
in it companies left and right are
19:30
making little brackets so a lot of
19:32
people are kind of moving toward
19:33
Motors on them putting out boards on
19:35
them and I think even with one more 35
19:39
to 40 pounds roller I know this thing
19:41
will just skipping you know you could
19:42
probably get one of these up to five or
19:44
six miles mellough no problem yeah and
19:46
it’s just yeah it’s uh it’s it’s
19:50
definitely say it’s fun it’s a growing
19:51
sport it’s a good sport for the family
19:54
gets a get the kids involved in it but
19:57
yeah it’s just it’s just a lot of fun
20:00
any other questions what you got
20:03
[Music]
20:08
yeah this I guarantee you this
20:12
particular boat we can get you in this
20:15
boat and you would be late you would be
20:18
truly amazed I put when they first came
20:20
out with this one I put myself and two
20:23
other guys in this boat just to see what
20:25
to do and it didn’t we I had one guy
20:28
standing here I was in the middle and
20:30
another guy was in the back and it was
20:32
still really saintly you would be you
20:34
will be amazed on how stable this now
20:36
[Music]
20:38
the other question
20:43
all right everybody once again my name
20:45
is Alex Kobus that is Kobus kayak
20:47
fishing and rentals downtown muga
20:49
tennessee looking up Instagram Facebook
20:51
YouTube you guys are ever in the area
20:53
please give me a shout come on out let
20:55
me change your minds about getting some
20:57
kayaks and change the world I’m telling
20:58
you it is the greatest way to catch
21:00
catfish yet so absolutely appreciate
21:02
everybody coming out yep
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