We have stumbled upon two great new websites, Sensible Kayak Fishing and USA Kayak Fishing Magazine. Both of these websites offer a huge selection of content based on Kayak Fishing, and are very informative. Go and bookmark these websites for great fishing kayak info.
Rigging your own fishing kayak is both a technical challenge and a personal experience. A well rigged fishing kayak should be practical, and fit your personal fishing style, including where you fish, what fish species you’re after, how long your fishing trips are, and what fishing techniques you use.
It’s a common mistake among beginning kayak fishermen to try and accomplish everything before they make their first fishing trip in their new kayak. Our advice would be to take your kayak and fish from it a number of times before you begin planning how to rig it for fishing.
You should undertake one rigging project at a time, and go about it slowly and carefully – There’s no point in wasting time and money on solutions to nonexistent problems, and it’s always better to have a clear idea of the problem that needs solving before thinking of ways to solve it.
If a certain solution works for your fishing buddy, or your neighbor, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best for him, and it certainly doesn’t mean it’s the best one for you.
You can always add gear to your fishing kayak, but once you’ve outfitted it with flush mounted rod holders, outriggers, or a trolling motor, it’s sometimes impossible to restore it to its initial state. This is true especially if the system you’re outfitting your fishing kayak with requires cutting holes in the hull, or drilling in it.
Another way to practice this motto is to ask yourself simple questions, like -”Do I really need this thing on board my fishing kayak?” For example, kayak fishermen tend tom assume they need to outfit their kayaks with a milk crate. It’s become almost an automatic reflex to do so whenever they acquire a new fishing kayak. However, a milk crate may have been a necessary add-on to old style fishing kayaks of the sit-in and SOT types, but it’s redundant in the new generation W fishing kayaks, especially the W500 series that offers so much internal storage space and deck surface that it’s almost impossible to think of ways to use all of it.
Another example is outfitting your fishing kayak with too many rod holders: It’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to handle more than two fishing rods at a time from your kayak, and therefore having more than two or three rod holders might not serve you. Many design concepts are discussed in this Fishing Kayak website.
There is no doubt that certain kayaks are more suitable for fishing than others. It is widely accepted that the more stable the kayak, the more ‘fishable’ it is. Since kayak fishing trips can take long hours, and sometimes days, properly designed fishing kayaks should offer their users the means to keep fishing and paddling without having to stop because of problems such as leg pain, leg numbness, butt pain and back pain, a.k.a ‘yak-back’.
Those who have tested W kayaks, especially the new generation of W500 models, would find it easy to understand why old-style fihsing kayaks commonly known as sit-in and sit-on-top kayaks (SOT) are poorly designed, and do not fit the needs of the modern kayak fishing community.
Although certain kayak manufacturers have been pushing forward the notion that some of their wider fishing models are fit for stand up kayak fishing, there doesn’t seem to be a considerable number of kayak fishermen who would agree. Stand up kayak fishing is a misnomer when SOT and sit-in kayaks are considered.
The main reason why kayak fishing is not as popular as it could have been, is the problem of discomfort and poor erogonomics. In other words, fishing kayaks are a pain to fish from, literally. This is especially true as the anglers get older.
Here is a link to an article about fishing kayaks and old kayak anglers, courtesy of the Painless kayak Fishing blog. The article has links to fishing kayak reviews written by elderly kayak anglers.
This movie shows the new W500 fishing kayak. It is the second generation of W Fishing Kayaks, and offers a glimpse at the future of kayak fishing: Better ergonomics, better hydrodynamics, and better stability, enabling a good experience in both paddling and fishing – unlike the sit-in and SOT kayaks commonly used today.
The World’s Only True Stand Up Fishing Kayak, and the Only One Fit for Fly Fishing:
More About Stand Up Fishing Kayaks >>
by Jeff McGovern
“While on a fishing trip I saw two other fellows out in kayaks toward the end of the my time on the water. By then is was blowing pretty hard out of the south. Both of them were in sit on tops. We headed in about the same time, right into the wind no way to avoid it. Slow going for sure but I never paused and just paddled back with that walking pace stroke. The other guys started out with me but fell way behind as they struggled with the waves and spray. The W fishing kayak just churned on in. I got wet mainly from paddle drip but that was minimal. The two guys were soaked and their reels would need a major cleaning thanks to being drenched from the salt spray. They did not say too much right away because they were too winded when they got in. I was already packed up in the Ranger and ready to go. The younger man looked at the W and then at his off brand sit on top and just asked. OK, where the heck did you buy that thing? I passed along the website info. The young man had only been kayaking maybe six months, his buddy maybe two years. After seeing the W and then we talked about set up expenses I think both of them might be considering a W down the line. Both men should be far better candidates for the boat than I was. I don’t think either fellow topped 160 lbs and they were just a hair shorter than me. Had the wind not been blowing so hard I could have given them a quick trial ride.”
Paddling in strong wind is one of the design challenges described on this fishing kayak website.
It seems most kayak fishermen have gotten used to rigging their fishing kayaks with a milk crate attached behind the cockpit.
If you happen you own a SOT fishing kayak, rigging it with a milk crate would make sense, since SOT kayaks are basically hyped paddle boards that offer too little storage space and no real cockpit. Sit-in fishing kayaks offer a little more in this aspect, but not enough to drop the idea of adding a milk crate.
However, if you own a W fishing kayak, you may want to reconsider the pros and cons of adding a milk crate -
The only obvious pro that we can think of is that rigging your yak is fun, and attaching a milk crate to the top of a W kayak is an easy project that delivers immediate visual results…
And here are the arguments against rigging your W fishing kayak with a milk crate:
1. When launching, a milk crate would block your natural way into the cockpit from the back side of the boat. This means you might have to get in from the side, and possibly step in water. Keeping your feet dry is one of those little pleasures you can afford with a W kayak, so why give it up if you don’t have to?
2. A milk crate catches wind, which can become a problem if there’s lots of it blowing around and you happen to be tired, and have a long way to paddle – A milk crate on top of a kayak demands more efforts from the paddler. Windage is essentially a tracking problem, and since W kayaks track better than SOT and sit-in kayaks they are less prone to windage issues, but nevertheless – it’s something to keep in mind.
3. Why store anything behind you, on top of the W kayak hulls, when there’s so much space available inside the W kayak cockpit and in its hull tips – within arm’s reach? It’s like attaching your luggage to your car’s rear bumper instead of just putting it in the trunk, or in the passengers compartment. The W500 offers 14 cubic ft or internal storage space, which is more than any kayak ever would, and probably more than you could ever use … -so why not use it?
4. SOT and sit-in kayaks have a very low deck – close to the water. Kayak fishermen who fish in salt water prefer to keep their reels as high as possible, away from the salt water, and they attach tube rod holders to their yak’s milk crate. This adds almost a foot of distance, and saves them some problems. However, the W kayak hull tips are normally higher, and you can protect your fishing rods by storing them inside the cockpit when launching, so there isn’t that much of a necessity for you to use a milk crate. Besides, you can rig the W kayak stern with deck mounted rod holders that pivot to any direction you want, and will position your fishing rods higher above water surface.
5. The milk crate adds weight to your fishing kayak. It’s not really important for paddling, but it could be for carrying it. It’s not that much, unless you’re tired and have to carry the kayak a long distance. The same is true when you have to cartop your kayak.
