Catfish and Crappie Fishing Talk

Chad Harp & Alex Kobes | Official Catfish Conference ® 2019

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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

What Catfish Conference does for you:

Popular fishing Expos

We are the organizer of the legendary Catfish + Crappie Conference events (formally Catfish Conference). Look up our next events and be a part of the fastest growing fishing community in the Nation.

We promote Great Anglers and Fishing destinations

Our success if born from you - anglers, YouTube & Social Media Platform creators always find ways to better themselves while sharing their passion and knowledge with the public in wonderful fishing spots.

Discover the latest Catfish and Crappie fishing gear from the leading companies

Our events would not be what they are without the support of the public, but most importantly the fearlessness and expertise of the many entrepreneurs willing to lead the growth of the sport through designing, manufacturing and selling fishing gear. From rods, reels, tackle, apparel, sinkers, bait netting, boats, electronics, rod holders and other boat accessories, it takes a lot to support our community.

Corporate Services

We are in the business of creating large audiences. With the strength of our founder's know-how (individually and through their ventures), we cumulate decades of experience in marketing, sales, entrepreneurship, finance, and the entertainment industry. We share this expertise with you to grow your events (any kind) and outdoor-related companies.

Join us at Catfish Conference 2024 in Louisville, KY

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