Kayak Fishing: Skills And Essentials
Kayak fishing has been the fastest growing aspect of fishing for several years, growing more than 31% from 2014 to 2017 according to the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation. While that growth has slowed slightly in the past couple of years, it continues to dominate the fishing industry in many ways. New kayak anglers are like sponges, soaking up every bit of information they can get from websites, social media groups, seminars, and other events. They form communities, plan trips together, hire guides, and more, all in the hopes of learning more and becoming better kayak anglers. Well, here are a few essentials and tips that might help novice kayak anglers get started.
KAYAK FISHING SAFETY
Safety gear should be the first thing you pack and the one thing you never skimp on. Unlike fishing gear that get’s a lot of use, and sometimes abuse, safety gear hopefully only gets used once. The life jacket is the most important piece of equipment on your kayak, but it only works if you wear it. This shouldn’t need to be said, but unfortunately it does. Countless kayakers who fancied themselves as experienced die each year because they had a life jacket with them but didn’t think they needed to wear it.
If you will be fishing at night it’s a good idea to have a light post to make you more visible in the dark. In fact, if you are kayaking on federally controlled waters, such as tidal waters or federal lakes, you are required to display an all-around white light from dusk to dawn.
Other safety gear might include a leash for your paddle so that if it falls in the water while you’re fighting a fish, you don’t lose it. A beadless whistle will help you call for help if you ever fall out and can’t get back in. Another piece of equipment is a portable floating VHF radio. The radio not only allows you to communicate with friends without worrying about dropping your cell phone in the water, but it also lets you call for help and talk to other vessels should you need it.
KAYAK FISHING GEAR AND RIGGING
There is a lot of gear that kayak anglers prefer, but there are often important details left out when purchasing new gear such as rod and reel combos. Rods 7-feet or less are generally preferred. Anything longer than 7-feet makes landing fish more difficult. A longer rod keeps fish farther away from your kayak when you get them to the surface, sometimes causing anglers to choke up on the rod to reach their catch. They become so focused on landing their fish they don’t realize that their reel has been submerged under water. I call this “stirring the soup.” Dunking most reels drastically reduces the life of them. Using rods 7-feet long or shorter makes landing fish easier, while still allowing you to fish most any lure you might want.
Losing gear is never fun. Tethers are often seen as miniscule and time consuming, especially on items that you frequently use. It’s easy to get complacent and not do it, but almost every kayak angler tips their kayak at some point. If you tip over deep water, or in current, the chances of recovering your gear are slim. Tethers keep everything attached to your boat.
If you fish in saltwater, you have undoubtedly got a whiff of salt air at some point. FYI, if you can smell that salt air, it is also getting into everything. Moist salt air will penetrate every crevice of you rods, reels, and kayak. If you want your gear to last as long as possible, it’s a good idea to wash down your rods and reels with soapy water and give them a good rinse. At the very least, give everything a good rinse with a hose, including your kayak, as soon after your trip as you can. Pay particular attention to the guides and guide frames on your rods, as this is where salt will find its way in and sit there rusting your gear. If you run a PDL Drive, rinse it with a hose, then turn it over and rinse it again to make sure you rinse saltwater from any hiding places.
PEDAL FISHING KAYAK TIPS
Pedal drives, like Old Town's PDL Drive, are low maintenance. That means the drive pin needs a little attention if you use your kayak in saltwater. Although made of stainless steel, the pins will slowly corrode over time with saltwater use. Remove the prop from the drive, exposing the drive pin. Make sure the pin and drive stud are clean and dry. Remove the pin and coat all metal parts with an anti-corrosive spray. Reassemble and take comfort in the fact that you have just added an extra measure to ensure you don’t have to end a trip early.
A couple other helpful tips are to place extra drive pins in a small zip-loc bag and spray a small amount of anti-corrosion spray in the bag. Keep the bag in your console storage and know that if for some strange reason you break a pin, you have a new pin oiled and ready to go. Also, the PDL Drive Lock Knob on Predator, Topwater, and Malibu PDL kayaks is sacrificial. It is designed to break if you hit something under the water, preventing costly damage to the drive itself. It’s much cheaper to replace the knob than the entire drive. You can order an extra PDL Drive Lock Knob here and keep it in your console storage with the Allen wrench that was included with your kayak.
OTHER HELPFUL KAYAK FISHING TIPS
Sitting close to the water makes it easy to reel a fish to within a couple of feet of your rod tip. It’s almost intuitive to do so. This keeps the fish a rod length away from you though, making it difficult to land. The result is often a dunked reel, which has been the death of many a reel, especially in saltwater. One tip I give my clients is; when reeling in a fish, stop reeling when the fish is a rod length of line away from the tip. This allows you to point the rod tip toward the sky and bring the fish closer to you. Once you land your fish, open the bail (if you have a spinning reel) and put the rod in the nearest rod holder. Opening the bail lets you take line as you need it. You may need to reach around for tools, get your camera ready, or put the fish back into the water while you get your measuring device or camera ready.
A couple other tips that work with most sit-on-top (SOT) fishing kayaks is preventing gear from getting dunked if you flip and how to re-enter if you fall out. Nobody ever plans on flipping their kayak, but it happens to the best of us. Most kayaks have a primary and a secondary tipping point. The primary tipping point refers to how stable your kayak is on flat water. The secondary tipping point is that point at which your kayak will tip over in rough water. Many sit-on-top kayaks have only a primary tipping point, and once you find it, it’s usually too late to do anything about it. If you feel like you’re about to tip over, jump or push yourself off your kayak if you can. You may be able to push the kayak back down, leaving you the only thing to get dunked that day. It’s better to get wet and not lose any gear than to get wet and have your gear end up in the water. If you do fall off, an easy way to get back on is to fright the boat if it flipped completely. Then swim to the bow and push it down to the water line so you can slide yourself on top of the kayak. You can also carry a kayak rescue step, which is like a stirrup that you can step into and push yourself back into the kayak, but it’s also one more thing to take with you.
Efficiency is a commonly used term in the recreational fishing industry. Being efficient makes fishing easier, and if it’s easy, you’ll do it. Being efficient while fishing is a sum of parts and small parts add up to large sums. Use these tips, if you don’t already, to make kayak angling easier and more fun and hopefully you’ll catch more fish.
Tim Moore is a full-time professional fishing guide in New Hampshire and a member of the Old Town Pro Staff team. He owns and operates Tim Moore Outdoors, LLC. He is a member of the New England Outdoors Writers Association and the producer of Tim Moore Outdoors TV. Visit www.TimMooreOutdoors.com for more information.