Jase Bouldin

Jase Bouldin is a pioneer of kayak musky fishing who catches more muskie in Tennessee than almost anyone. Born and raised in Rock Island, he fishes the skinny rivers of eastern and central Tennessee from a single-man kayak, reaching quality fish that big boats cannot. A Jackson Kayak pro staffer and welder who builds his own lures, he has dialed in boat control with heavy tackle in current. In his In The Spread video, Bouldin teaches kayak selection, river navigation, and how to break down skinny water for muskie.

Instructor's videos

Jase Bouldin may be the first person on earth to seriously hunt muskie from a kayak. Born and bred in Rock Island, Tennessee, he grew up a whitewater kayaker with world-class musky water running through his backyard, and he did the obvious thing that nobody had really done before: he turned a single-man kayak into a musky fishing platform. Today he catches more muskie in Tennessee than almost anyone, and he did it by pioneering an approach the rest of the sport is still catching up to.

The logic is simple once you see it. The skinny rivers of eastern and central Tennessee hold quality muskie in shallow runs, tight channels, and overhead cover that a big boat cannot reach or cannot enter without blowing every fish out of the stretch. A kayak slips into that water silently, keeps a low profile below the fish's sight line, and puts Bouldin in casting range of muskie that never see pressure. Few anglers know these small streams the way he does.

Doing it well is another matter, and this is where his expertise runs deep. Casting heavy musky tackle and fighting a powerful fish from an unstable platform in current is genuinely hard. Bouldin has worked out the kayak choices, the boat control, and the positioning that make it practical instead of maddening, and he reads moving water to set up on fish without spooking them. It is no surprise he came up through Jackson Kayak, where he works and sits on the pro staff.

He is also a craftsman. A welder by trade, Bouldin builds some of his own musky lures, and they do not just look good, they swim. Seth Horne fishes them himself.

In his In The Spread video, Bouldin breaks down skinny-river musky from a kayak: choosing the right craft, controlling it with heavy tackle, navigating current, and methodically working every piece of a river. The lessons reach well past kayaks, into how to read and fish any small river for muskie. Learn from the man who invented the approach, and you will fish moving water differently.