Hot Water.... Literally

It's the second hottest summer on record and the lake I recently fished is showing it. I went out last week to let my kids swim and when I got in I thought the water was usually warm. Some guys were treading water next to their kayaks enjoying the warm evening with some cold beers. I asked if they knew how hot the water was and was blown a way with the answer of 91 DEGREES! I didn't believe them and figured it was probably more in the high 80's. A storm was rolling in and with thunder in the distance I decided to get off the water. As I was loading up a guy with a really nice kayak setup came in. He had a fish finder that looked like it had to be in the thousands. If anyone knew the true temp of the water this guy would know. His answer was the same 91 degrees. It blew my mind how can anything live in that? I'm guessing that temp is only so many feet down but still that is hot. I've been in Jacuzzi's that weren't much warmer. I'm worried about what the temps will do to the fishing. 

Catfishing seems to be going fine. A guy in my fly fishing club posted a bunch of pics from his recent outing.

He's caught a few this size and it makes me sick. If you want to check him out his username is Andy.724 on Instagram.

With the warm water temps I'm reluctant to let my kids swim in the lake. I'm sure it's paranoia but I figure why risk them getting some weird bacteria or crud. If we get some cool rains or at least some days in the 80's I'll try my luck again. 

First Fish in the New Kayak

I took the kayak out a couple times to see how it would handle fishing. I'm still not confident fly fishing out of it but spin fishing is really easy. The rod holders work great and the material the kayak is made out of seems sturdy enough to with stand hooks. As long as you don't set the hook into the boat like you would a fish I think you'll be fine. I went out over the 4th of July weekend and hooked a nice channel catfish and white perch. 

I'm still trying to figure out the right seat configuration with the foot rests to be comfortable. After about an hour I keep wanting to lay down in the kayak. I actually slid down and laid my head on the seat to see how comfortable it would be. I could have took a nap easily. Really I could have removed the seat all together and just used the boat like a air mattress. Not sure I'm confident enough to do that just yet but I could see someone really enjoying that. I'm having fun with the boat and that's all that matters currently. It's been really hot lately and with no shade on the water the sun and heat have been brutal. I'm hoping to get out more and have some more reports soon.