Kayaks have gotten lots of press as fishing craft over the past few years, and plenty of these wonderful little boats have been sold. No longer are they a novelty among inshore fishing boats. They no longer turn heads. On the other hand, plenty of used ones are available because their owners purchased them without realizing how best to use them. Mastering any learning curve offers ample opportunities for frustration. My experience guiding fly fishers from kayaks has made this point extremely obvious.
Where the bottom is especially soft, anglers with good "kayak legs" can cast while standing, or opt to sit while casting.
Kayaks are small, silent, hand-powered boats, originally developed by the Inuits for hunting seals. They excel at stalking shallow-water fish of all kinds. I own two canoes and a “no wave slap hull” flats skiff. None of those vessels comes close in terms of stealth.
There are two basic classifications of kayaks—the sit-insides and the sit-on-tops. While the choice of hull type is largely a personal choice, I much prefer the sit-on-top type for fishing and maneuvering. If you choose to fish from a kayak, you’ll probably wade quite a bit. In fact, some anglers only use the kayak to get to shallow water, and then bail out exclusively. Getting on and off of a sit-on-top is much easier (and quieter) than getting in and out of the cockpit of a sit-inside.
Choosing a kayak is somewhat like choosing a fishing rod—any given model is better for some applications and not so good for others. On the boat rack in my yard are two different kayak models. One is long and thin and paddles easily. It’s wonderful for those times when I need to cover long distances. The other is shorter and wider. While it doesn’t paddle nearly as well I prefer it as a fishing boat because I can easily stand up in it, something that’s impossible in the other one. Ideally, also like fishing rods, you would have several kayaks to cover different situations. If owning two or more kayaks isn’t practical, go with a model that is suited for what you do most of the time. And never, ever buy one without water testing it first. Most dealers have water nearby where you can give a boat a spin.
To make fishing more pleasurable, there are all kinds of accessories for kayaks. Rod holders that handle spin or plug rods, paddle holders and livewells are a few examples. Fly fishers, however, (and dealers won’t like my saying this) want none of this stuff. Line management is a primary concern of the fly caster and the more gadgets you have the more hangups there are for your fly line. Keep it clean and simple and you will be much happier.
I use my kayaks for fly fishing almost exclusively. In addition to my paddle, rod and a single fly box, I carry a loop of Bungee cord for securing the paddle to the boat when the paddle is not being used, a rope from the stern to my waist for towing the boat while wading, and a section of PVC pipe or wood dowel used for a pushpole or stakeout pole.
Silent stalking has its rewards.
Most kayak fishing that I do is around Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, Mosquito Lagoon and the Indian River and Banana River lagoons. I see many kayakers out there, and most are making a fundamental mistake—they are using their boats in the same places that I’m using my skiff. Sure, you can fish from a kayak in water of any depth, but if you do not venture into places too shallow for the typical skiff that draws eight inches to a foot or more, you’re not taking full advantage of your kayak.
In spite of the claims of my skiff’s manufacturer, I need 10 or 12 inches of water to float without scraping bottom. Usually I’m in water a little deeper. There are a few skiffs that float shallower than does mine, but I think it’s safe to assume that any standard skiff is going to draw more water than any given kayak.
To make the best use of a kayak you need to go where skiffs can’t. It’s that simple. Do this and the chances of finding happy, hungry, unpressured fish increase dramatically. No-motor zones are one obvious application, but large tracts of very shallow water (especially if there are lots of islands to break the wind) are another ideal place to sight fish from kayaks. If you fish where the pressure is light you have a distinct advantage. Sweat equity is an investment that pays huge dividends.
