Just a few days ago I sold my first ever kayak, a 2012 Jackson Kayak Cuda 14. Like the person I sold it to, I bought it off craigslist 2 years ago. Looking back, it was a leap of faith and a hip pocket decision that I did not research enough. Even though I rushed into it, the Cuda performed flawlessly and was extremely forgiving to a beginner. I learned how to do everything on this boat, from basic rigging to surf launching in the Gulf of Mexico. I trusted this boat to get me home and it never once failed me. I will certainly miss the old Cuda, but I know that she has many more fish in her future and will hopefully help turn another fisherman into a Kayak Fisherman! Onto the next plastic vessel, bye bye Cuda, I won't forget the memories we made together.
I did pretty well this Christmas in the Kayak Fishing category! Here is what I got:
Buff UVX Mask: I already own a Buff, but I wanted this one because it is easy to tuck under your shirt to protect your neck better. Plus it has holes near your mouth so your breath doesn't fog up your sunglasses as much.
Adventure Medical Kits Marine 200: Lets face it, kayak fishing can be dangerous and I wanted something in case the worst happens. This thing is loaded and it should last for years.
Anchor Wizard: The wind of central Texas drove me crazy this year. I used the anchor maybe twice and relied more on the Native Propel drive to keep me on position. The Propel drive does a good job, but it is hard to keep your mind on fishing when your pedaling your butt off and working the rudder to maintain your position.
Penn Squall LD40LH: This is intended to be my trolling reel at my home in Florida, both on the kayak and in Dad's boat. I'm going to need to match it to a stout rod and buy a ton of line to finish it off.
Fins Windtamer 15lb: Just stocking up. I always like to have good line on hand and ready to spool up.
Supernova Basic LED Lighting Kit: I wanted to get these for the early summer mornings when I'm on the water before the sun. They serve two purposes; attract baitfish and a good marker for other traffic to see me.
I'm really excited to install all my new goodies, stay tuned as I test them out.
Well, it has been a great fishing year for me, and it is time to reminisce on all of the great times I had out on the water. Even though this year was cut short due to another deployment, the limited amount of time I had was put to good use. My fishing season started off after returning from deployment in April. The entire 9 months I was away, I researched the latest and greatest boats debuting onto the scene and planned to pickup a new boat when I returned. I was torn between paddle vs. pedal and like so many other things, the decision was coming down to money. I really do enjoy paddling, but the benefits of a pedal drive watercraft intrigued me and I wanted to give it a shot. Now, I just had to butter my wife up to allow me to spend the extra dough. She was a big supporter of me getting the boat I wanted and actually pushed me to get the pedal drive. With the decision made, I called my local kayak shop looking for a new Native Slayer Propel 13. Unfortunately, the two closest locations were out of the Slayer Propel completely. I had to call ACK San Antonio to locate one and they only had one left on the showroom floor in Lime Green. Not the color I wanted, but beggars can't be choosers. After paying for the boat, I made arrangements to pick it up. Again, my loving wife, supported my hobby by enduring the additional 2+ hour drive to get the boat I wanted.
With the Slayer Propel in my possession and after completing the long drive home, it was onto rigging. You can see my article on my rigging process (Slayer Propel Rigging) as well as viewing my walk-through and rigging video.
Rigging complete, it was now only a matter of getting on the water. Lake Stillhouse Hollow is only a 15 min drive from my home, so I spent my first several outings there. After gaining some confidence and having some decent success I expanded my waters. Belton Lake was the next logical stop being only 30 mins from the house. A similar lake to Stillhouse, the same tactics I used before worked on Belton as well. As I gained confidence I looked for some new areas. Another Lake that is relatively close to me is Lake Georgetown. I had heard mixed reviews on the fishing on this Lake, but decided to give it a shot anyway. The reviews seemed to be true and I had a tough time only getting one bite. I was all over the bait fish, but nothing wanted to play. A little demoralized, I looked for a lake with a hot bite. Lake Walter E. Long (formerly Lake Decker) sounded like the place to be. I researched the fishing reports for a while and decided to make a trip. About a hour and half cruise on the turnpike got me to the lake. After paying the crazy $10 entrance fee I launched and worked my way up the western side to the power plant. Sure enough I encountered a lot of activity and some good fish.
Thats pretty much my 2014 Fishing season, I can't wait for what 2015 has in store as I plan to fish new waters and get onto the tournament scene. Stay tuned.
When I evaluate a fishing kayak I am looking at four areas; speed, stability, comfort and "fishability."
Speed: Now this is a relative term considering we are in paddle/pedal craft that have no motor and how fast you go is mostly dependent on the person in the seat. When I say speed in regards to a kayak, I am looking for it's acceleration from a dead stop, how easy it gets up to hull speed and around 4 mph on a GPS (4 mph is a nominal speed for a kayak IMO). Acceleration and 4 mph on a GPS is easy to understand, the other term, hull speed needs some more explanation. Hull speed is the speed at which if you were to paddle any harder you would get minimal gains. It is a speed that you can feel when you are paddling/pedaling in a kayak and the drag on the boat and the energy you are exerting seem to be slowing you down even though you are trying to go faster. Determining hull speed is best done on flat water and zero wind.
Stability: The wider the boat, the more stable it will be. At a certain width, the kayak is going to become a barge and extremely difficult to paddle. Lately kayak designers have been unveiling some crazy wide boats pushing 36 inches and more. I prefer to stay around 33-34 inches as I personally think once you go past that, you are entering barge territory and regardless of the design, the kayak will be difficult to paddle and that extra width will make the boat too heavy. Stability doesn't solely have to do with just width. How high the boat sits in the water as well as seat position/height also play major factors.
Comfort: Many factors to consider here, but for the most part, the seat is the first place to look. The lawn chair style mesh seat is all the rage these days and for good reason. If you are out on the water for 4-6 hours, a normal fishing day for me, then you will surely understand why a lawn chair seat is important. I am not trying to say the on the deck seating can't be comfortable, but you will definitely need a cushy seat, probably one you will have to buy aftermarket, to be all day comfortable. Some other things to consider are leg room, cockpit space and foot pegs.
"Fishability": Obviously a made up term. When I say it, I am using it to describe the features that a manufacturer has added to help the kayak angler. The term covers everything from hatches, rails, rod holders, GoPro mounts, paddle holders, transducer scuppers, battery bags, mounting plates, storage pouches, tackle pods, etc.
This is by no means an all inclusive list of every area you should look at when you are considering a new kayak, but it is at least a start. There are so many cool features these days and it is easy to sucked into thinking that Kayak "X" has everything you need. Consider these 4 categories on your next kayak purchase and try your best to get to a demo day to see what you like best first hand.
Check out my YouTube Channel for some recent fishing kayak reviews that I did at the Austin Canoe and Kayak (ACK.com) Demo Day in Austin, TX this September.
At my current home in central Texas, there are two lakes that I frequent due to their close proximity. Stillhouse Hollow and Belton. These are both Corps of Engineer controlled lakes and have little to no shore development. Extremely popular during the spring and summer months, both have heavy boat traffic; fishing and recreational. As a kayak angler, you have to pay attention at all times, make sure you are in bright clothing, have your flag up and carry an air horn.
As for the fishing, there is a ton of freshwater variety. Stillhouse is predominately a Largemouth Bass reservoir, with a Smallmouth Bass population in low numbers on the eastern end. I'm not a big White Bass guy, but I hear about the spring run in the western end of the lake up the Lampasas River. Something I may explorer this coming spring. Belton has just about everything a Texas freshwater fisherman could ask for. Largemouth and Smallmouth populations are healthy, white bass seem to be everywhere (at least from my experience) and I have heard good reports about Hybrid Striped Bass. I definitely plan on targeting some Stripers this upcoming spring/summer, just need to figure out what kind of trolling setup I am going to use; mini-downrigger, planers or something else. I typically don't target catfish, but I have several powerboat friends that catch them often on both lakes. Another species that is abundant is Gar. I see them everywhere on Stillhouse and rarely on Belton. Usually they are sunning themselves in the shallow water and I tend to move to another area when I see them. I think they scare away the Bass that I am after, I have never had any luck in an area where I have seen a Gar. I may decide to target them, there are some monster out there!
Both Lakes offer Kayak Anglers excellent opportunities to catch a trophy. I had my personal best Largemouth this summer on Stillhouse, a 28 incher and roughly 7 lbs (Check out the Article on Yakangler.com). If you are ever around the Killeen/Temple/Belton Texas area and are looking for a good place to fish, check out one of these Lakes, you won't be disappointed.
This was my latest trip while I was on vacation in Destin, Fl for Thanksgiving 2014. It was a chilly 60 something degrees (relax northern folks, I grew up in Ohio and know that's not cold) in the afternoon and the water temps were about the same. I had made plans to meet up with a fellow Yakangler.com member, yak_n_mike, to fish the famous Destin Coast Guard Jetty. This particular piece of water always holds fish and many days you will see boats stacked up anchored all over the place. This day, Mike and I had the place all to ourselves, but unfortunately the fish were not present in massive numbers as usual. We managed to get out around 9 am. Mike in his beautiful brand new yellow 2015 outback drifted the shoreline while I anchored up in 10 feet of water and began casting. I had no success throwing a paddle tail, so I switched up to one of my go to baits, a popping cork with Gulp shrimp in new penny. I began casting that setup and allowing it to drift over by the jetty. Soon, I felt a small tug on the line and I figured I had hit a patch of grass. Again I felt a tug and sensed something was on the end of my line. I had heard of Flounder's light bites, but this was the first time I had experienced it. I set the hook and had a short battle. I was amazed at how strong this little fish was, but I guess when you are shaped like a doormat, it is very hard to pull that kind of body through water. Check out the video.
Since starting kayak fishing a couple years ago, I have been in search for a quality cooler that was light, compact and efficient enough to withstand the heat in my southern homes of Texas and Florida. Fellow Yakangler.com Pro-Staffer Chris Payne wrote some fantastic reviews on a few top name brand coolers that are well suited for kayak fishing (http://www.yakangler.com/blogs/on-the-line/item/3221-the-search-for-the-best-kayak-fishing-cooler-brute-vs-yeti). My only issue with the coolers he reviewed was the price. At around $200, I just couldn’t justify the price within my budget. So, I continued to search for a cheaper alternative and I settled on the Engel Coolers UC 30 RH (http://www.engel-usa.com/products/cooler-dry-box/uc30t-rh).
What I like about this Cooler:
- 4x Rod Holders: completely obvious, but a great alternative to installing more Rod holders and spending more money.
- Lightweight: at an advertised weight of only 8 lbs, it is approximately half the weight of a Yeti Roadie.
- Stainless Steel Hardware: built with the salt water angler in mind, a simple upgrade that should enable years of use.
- Dry Shelf: Another simple upgrade that allows you to store small items above the waterline; great place for wallet and keys.
- Price: can’t argue with $80. Yeti, Brute or Pelican will cost you around $200 for a similar size.
What I don’t like about this Cooler:
- No Drain Plug: not a deal breaker, but it would make things easier at the end of the day.
- Foam Gasket: I would like to see a rubber gasket, I am not sold that theinstalled foam material will hold up as well.
- Plastic Latches on the back of the lid: Again, I would like to see something of better quality, not so sure on how well these will hold up from abuse.
- No rubber installed on Coolers feet: Only hard plastic there. It would be a simple thing for Engel to do and would ensure that the cooler wouldn’t slide around on a slick surface.
Overall, this is a solid cooler at a great price. I have used it for the past four months to include the sweltering Texas summer where temps were up to 105 F. While it won’t keep ice as well as the higher priced models, this little beast has given me a solid 4-5 hours of cool drinks and food at the temps discussed above. The Engel UC 30 RH is a fantastic kayak fishing cooler.
After a few months of using a swing arm mount on my Lowrance Elite 5 HDI, I wanted to try something different. Ocean Kayak provides a pretty deep scupper hole designed for a transducer on the Prowler Big Game II. The question is how does one go about mounting the transducer to that hole? The answer lies with Lowrance’s kit specifically designed for mounting one of their transducer into a Kayak’s scupper. The kit is simple, but ingenious. There are very few components and just a few steps.
The first thing that you need to do is to mount the bracket and threaded rod on your transducer. There are several options to do this, but for my application on the Elite 5 transducer, the best option is to leave the cap off the top of the transducer and line up the slots on the provided bracket to the grooves on the transducer.
Once the bracket is connected to the transducer, you can slide the threaded plastic rod, which is now connected to the transducer, from the bottom of the kayak up to the top. Hold onto the rod so that the transducer doesn’t fall, slide the mounting cap over the rod and begin threading the provided wing nut onto the rod. The rod is extremely long at this point and it will take a while to thread the nut down to the top bracket.
After snugging down the wing nut and positioning everything correctly, you can cut the rod down. This completes the majority of the install. All that is left is to place the Lowrance branded cap over the top bracket and run your wiring to your liking.
I haven't used any other kits to mount a transducer through a scupper, so I don't have anything to compare this to yet. For now, I am impressed with the simplicity of Lowrance's design and the ease of installation. For you DIY guys, you could easily replicate this kit for cheap. If you don't want to spend the time doing that it will set you back around $35.
Please see my YouTube video for a step-by-step install of this kit on an Ocean Kayak Prowler Big Game II with Lowrance Elite 5 HDI or visit Yakangler.com where the video is posted as well.
After a year or so of participating in this great sport of kayak fishing, I have decided to take the next step and start sharing my experiences. I have learned so much from other great people in the community and it is my turn to start paying it forward and displaying the gratuity that I received when I first started out. Stay tuned for more kayak fishing adventures. In the meantime, checkout some places that got me started in the sport:
