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In May, I fished the KBF trail event in Lodi, California. Arrived Thursday afternoon with enough time to explore the area a bit. Prefished Friday and found a camp site, happened to be next to a buddy of mine. I took the Scout365 out for a bit but the area I found out of the wind was taken by two bass boats when I got back, without an anchor I went back to camp to set up. Got the boat set up for the evening with the tent option crashed for the night. Despite the wind I slept like a baby. Letting a little air out of the air floor = immediate comfy air bed.

We both went south Saturday morning for the tournament and met up with Derwin Chang and Kirk Gossett and a few others to fish the area. Launched to even more wind, legs jack-hammered for a an hour before I went back for my shoes. I found one spot that was giving up fish for the whole day, came back a couple of times when everything else didn't work. Caught two early on and then lost a good 17-19" bass when he jumped right next to the kayak. That hurt a bit, but they were there. Caught a third fish but he jumped off the board before I could get a pic, he was only 11" so I don't mind to much..... got a one more a bit after that for my third fish pictured. 1:30 rolled around and the cut off was at 2, set my alarm for 1:50 to submit my pics and headed back to the only spot that was working for me. I was determined to get one more before cut off. My alarm sounded 1:50 before I got there, submitted my pictures and committed to the final push. Hooked up at 1:57, landed the fish at 1:58, phone buzzing with text messages and a jet boat speeding by throwing one foot wakes as I'm trying to take a picture of a fish on a hog trough, couldn't get sketchier after I've already lost one off the trough earlier. With a good picture taken and sent in at 1:59 I had no idea where I placed but it was enough to make me celebrate on the water. Sure enough it was good enough to move me from 14th out of 42 to 11th, had I gotten a picture of the one that flopped off earlier I would've finished in 9th. I had such a great time fishing the delta and will be making future plans to come back for sure! I need to thank Richard Wohlwend-Penny, James Snyder and the whole crew from The Headwaters kayak shop for outing on an awesome event.

Second half of the extended weekend fishing trip, the Eastern Sierras. Left Lodi Saturday evening and drove over the pass, through part of Nevada and down the 395 to Bridgeport. Made it to Robinson Creek campground by 10:30 and had camp set up and a fire lit within an hour. Despite the 30° temperature I was quite snug camping in the Scout365. Started Sunday with a pot of coffee and a small fire. Explored the creek a bit but it was 4x the size I saw last year and no holes to be found close by, talk to the guys in the shop at the lake only to find out they were letting water out to make room for the snowmelt. Set up the Scout365 to troll and got about a half hour in before the winds picked up, made my way back up to a small cove at the upper end and set anchor to try lures for a while to no luck. The wind sucked up a lot of battery juice so I called it quits and headed back to camp. I sat around for an hour at camp and with the creek full I decided to pack up, off to Convict Lake. Got in and found our site from last year empty so that was all set. Had camp up and a fire going in an hour again. Woke up Monday morning to another pot of coffee and fire with what I thought was small bits of ash coming down out of the sky here and there. Yeah, snow! On the Water by 8, yet again a very slow day but an experience I've never had before. Hearing snowfall in the silence of nature is one thing but on a boat while fishing is another. With work pressing at home, I packed up camp and took a quick shower at the lodge and hit the road to home.

Ryan Moriarty is an original Brand Ambassador for Scout Inflatables and lives in Escondido, California. He is an avid fisherman in both saltwater and freshwater environments. Ryan is on the management team donating countless hours for the Southern California Chapter of Heroes on the Water (HOW). A nationwide group with a simple mission statement...To help disabled veterans rehabilitate and reintegrate through the sport of kayak fishing. Ryan is an senior administrator and active member of the San Diego Kayak Fishing SDKF Facebook group as well as an active member of KBF, kayak bass fishing tournaments. Ryan is a pro-staffer at Cinnetic Fishing Reels.