On Monday afternoon, the eagerly-awaited fishing report call finally came in: the pike fishing was slow, but the smallmouth bass action was nonstop. That was enough to green light our two-day shoot out of Old Town, Maine, a plan that had come together over several conversations with Luke LaBree, marketing manager for Johnson Outdoors Watercraft, the producers of Old Town canoes and kayaks. Luke wanted to show off Old Town’s all-new Predator kayak, and we were excited to film some fast smallmouth bass and northern pike fishing among the spectacular scenery of the Maine woods.

I began preparing the fishing gear. The recommended lures were assorted crankbaits, minnow lures and topwaters by Rapala and Yo-Zuri, in a range of sizes for pike and smallmouth bass. I thought the pike might be leader-shy, so I packed some 30-pound-test H.D. Carbon Yo-Zuri leader material to try in place of the traditional wire pike leaders. At 5 am Tuesday morning, On The Water TV host Chris Megan, producer Matt Rissell, cameraman Adam Eldridge and I left the office on Cape Cod and headed north.

Day One

We were on the water by noon, paddling upriver for pike with Luke LeBree and David Hadden of Old Town Kayak. Within the hour, we had 6 nice-sized pike landed and released before we ran into an intense thunderstorm. Luckily we had enough time to store the gear before the heavy rain soaked us completely. We were all anxious to start our voyage down river and see how the storm would affect the pike bite. The optimistic side of me was thinking that the change in weather could be just what we needed to light up the pike bite, and that’s exactly what happened. Over the next three hours, we caught no fewer than 40 pike between the 4, with many of the fish coming on topwater lures like the Rapala Skitter Pop and minnow plugs like the Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow. The pike were not monsters, but they were very healthy 3- to 8-pounders and amazing on light tackle from the kayaks. We ended the day at the Black Bear Tavern in Orono, Maine to organize the fishing gear and get a little rest for day two.

Day Two

Day two was on the Penobscot River, a larger river with more current. This time, we left a truck downriver so we could drift, paddle and fish a 6-mile stretch of river. I am not exaggerating when I say that there were over 100 smallmouth bass caught between five anglers. The smallmouth were beautiful 1- to 3-pound river smallies that battled hard on light tackle. Every hook-up almost guaranteed an aerial display, and several times I thought for sure that one of the bass was going to jump right into the kayak. We finished up about 500 yards from the Old Town Canoe manufacturing plant and ended the day with a tour of the facility where Old Town Canoes, the all new Predator Kayak and Ocean Kayaks are made.

When I fall asleep tonight, I am going to dream of fighting pike while standing up in the Predator kayak. After spending two days fishing from the Predator, I have to agree that the designers really thought of everything when it comes to constructing a fishing kayak, from the comfortable, adjustable chair to the stable platform that let me (someone who has done very little kayak fishing) easily stand up and fish.

I could go on and on about this trip, but I don’t have to, because we have it all captured in HD. Stay tuned to see more in Season 11 of On The Water TV.