Have you ever had one of those days in your kayak where you have just found a huge school of redfish, that one epic school that just fills a creek full of fish? Now, here you are in the middle of what is going to be some great fishing and you cast and cast and change baits and cast and still nothing. There can be no way I am not getting a hook-up with what is going on…but you’re not getting a bite, and you realize it is a “kitchen sink” moment. You’ve tried verything that was in your tackle bag, it has hit the water and still nothing …you are fishless.
Well, I have had that day more than once and it is frustrating! I am always on the hunt for something to cure this problem and I am sure that I have finally found it. I was hanging out with a good friend of mine (Tim Barefoot of Barefoot Fishing) who recently came out with his Chin Weights for offshore trolling. He pulled one out and I just went bananas for it. It is a circle hook with a weight already molded on to it. So, immediately I did what we all do in situations like that. I asked, “hey, Tim, let me get a few of those to try out in my kayak.” He agreed and I grabbed some of his 5/0 versions of the Chin Weight. Well, after that we did not talk about what I was planning. I guess he figured I would be heading out to troll for Spanish mackerel just outside the inlet.
Well, my plan was to fish them a little differently. I headed out in the marsh with some fresh shrimp, some live finger mullet and a variety of soft plastics. As soon as I started, it was on! I was hooking fish left and right…reds, flounders and even a few trout. I was hooked on the Chin Weights and loving every minute of it! What really got me excited was that I could hook a live finger mullet through the nose and put it where I wanted it with extreme accuracy. It’s not like fishing with a Carolina rig where you try to get it close to where you want to fish it and hope you hit in a good area. With the Chin Weight, if you want to put it just up in the grass and work it out, you can do that. The fresh shrimp, and the Gulp baits, when fished like this, worked the same way. You can work them across the bottom with some great results.
The one main aspect of Chin Weight (other than they catch the heck out of fish) is that they are built on circle hooks so if you fish them right you RARELY miss a hook-up, but most important is that the fish is hooked in the lip or in the corner of the mouth, and not “gut hooked.” This is going to raise the survival rate of those fish caught and released exponentially.
So after that day of fishing I got back together with Tim and told him what I was up to. Well, it opened up his eyes to the versatility of his Chin Weight. So, the next time you are out on the water in your kayak and you are having one of those “kitchen sink” kind of days, give the Chin Weight a try. They are so versatile I think you are going to find a place in your tackle bag to keep a few Chin Weights as the cure for a tough day of fishing.
Chris Tryon
Hook Line and Paddle Canoe and Kayak Outfitters
Wilmington, NC
910-330-6999
hooklineandpaddle@yahoo.com