In life and fishing, sometimes the things you plan might not go exactly the way you envision them, but if you improvise, adapt and overcome, you can go from scratching your head.... to watching your rod bend with a fish on the other end. Keith and I paddled out to a string of docks that I found lighted on a scouting mission earlier in the week. The plan was to concentrate on the docks that were sticking out into the incoming tide and hopefully locate a few snook.

It was to be the day of my first fishing excursion from a kayak. I went with my boyfriend, Mark “YakSushi”, and some friends of ours, Jami and Geno.   I had not kayaked since I was an adolescent and my foot was broken. It may as well have been my first time.  We began the day at Canoe Kentucky. They allow you to demo any of their canoes and kayaks. Mark thought it would be a good idea for me to demo one just to see variations in kayaks.

I recently helped out at a local fish fry and found myself taking home a ton of left over catfish.  I searched all over for a recipe that didn’t involve breading and frying fish.  I stumbled across this strange combination of hot Italian sausage, fish, and tomatoes and thought I’d give it a try.  It was absolutely delicious and very easy even for the novice cook.  The best part about this entire meal is made in one pot!

I first met Jonathon Herndon a few weeks back at the Lake Harding leg of the Georgia Kayak Fishing Tournament Trail.  The weather tournament day was less than ideal for kayak fishing.  Overcast, rainy, temperatures in the 50’s and water that looked like Nestles chocolate milk!  With the majority of the 50 other participants including myself striking out after a long cold day of fishing; Jonathon aka The Sultan Of Slime rolls up to the weigh in with over 12 fish caught!  It was then that I realized I had to sit down and talk to The Sultan Of Slime....

Let me start the scene from my point of view:

 For those who do not know, I live in the PacNW.  I haven't traveled a whole lot.  I've never been to the places I've found myself this weekend (Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Georgia, or Alabama, in that order).  I had never met Mark, Adam or anyone else on this forum or in the tournament.  I was very much the stranger in a seemingly lost world.

The State of Oregon is trying something new for 2010 that I nearly forgot about:
Permitting the use of two fishing rods.

In a lot of states this is old hat, but for several others, this is new stuff.  Oregon will allow appropriately licensed individuals and children 13 and under, the privilege of fishing with two rods. The two rod permit is an additional $17 fee on top of your normal fishing license fees.

Ricky Eiselt likes to fish for big catfish and he's good at it. But the Louisville man had his hands full Sunday afternoon Oct. 25 while fishing the Ohio River.