Fishing from a Kayak

Article by Bill Langford, from the Haig-Brown Fly Fishing Association Newsletter

I had never been in (on?) a kayak in my life, although my son has been whitewater kayaking for years. My usual comment was along the lines of “I have no intention of being upside down in water with a boat on top.” Early this summer I read that kayak fishing has become immensely popular in the US. I picked up an excellent book on the topic (Kayak Fishing – The Ultimate Guide: Heliconia Press, Beachburg, Ontario www.helipress.com) and became intrigued.

Fishing kayaks have evolved rapidly over the past 8 years or so. Nearly all are ‘sit-on-top’ as opposed to ‘sit-inside’, are beamier and much more stable than standard kayaks, yet still track beautifully through the water. The book, and sources such as YouTube, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PNU2fhJFJ8) abound with pictures and videos of fishermen, usually somewhere off an American coast, landing all sorts of fish, including even marlin, from a kayak. Reasons given for using a kayak include:- going where it’s too shallow for boats and too muddy for wading; exploring places that are inaccessible to other craft; easy to transport;
move over the water; silent approach to avoid spooking fish.

Probably none of these would have been enough to persuade me to try kayak fishing, but for a very recent breakthrough in design. Last June, Ocean Kayak introduced a new model, the Torque, which comes with a purpose-designed Minn-Kota electric motor (in a floating, drop-in module!) and infinitely-variable speed control, permitting speeds between extremely slow trolling and a claimed 5 knots max. Both companies
are owned by Johnson Outdoors (www.johnsonoutdoors.com) so the package fits together neatly. I had for some time been thinking about getting some kind of power assistance for moving around larger lakes, so I decided to have a go, and bought a Torque kayak. Ocean River Sports on Store Street is the local agent. I used it for the first time on Prospect Lake late in September. It was quite amusing seeing other fishermen watching surreptitiously as the kayak gently glided across the lake without any apparent effort on my part! I caught two and lost a third in an hour’s fishing, which ended unexpectedly when I got my line wrapped around the propeller….all part of the learning curve!

The books and articles I’ve read all emphasise the importance of rigging your kayak to suit your own type of fishing. I’m doing this slowly. To begin I installed two flush-mount inserts for my Scotty rod-holders just behind the seat, in easy reach. I’m still not sure whether I’ll troll two lines or simply keep a different set-up available in the second holder. Time will tell whether the kayak will replace my pontoon boat: at the moment
both hang from my garage ceiling.