Fly fishing from a kayak: any tips?

[briansII]

Sound advice from yak users. I personally have not used a kayak, but have friends who do. One thing I saw a buddy do to overcome wind drift, or just fishing a spot. He flipped his legs over the side of his kayak, and had his feet in the water. I watched him fish this way for a good part of the time. I assume it's to help him keep position without deploying his anchor. It looked like he was moving very slowly. Doubtful this would help much in windy conditions, but calmer days it might come in handy.

briansII

[Richard W T]

I normal fish from a single person pontoon out here in Oregon but when I'm visiting my parents in Florida I use their sit on top kayak for all my fresh water fly fishing down there. The one addition I'd have is a small anchor. Trying to fly fishing in the wind is that much harder when you are being blown around.

[BradW]

I've done a lot of fishing from a kayak, just not a lot of Fly Fishing. I have a nice 13 ft Ocean kayak set up with a depth finder. I dream about getting a Hobie with a Mirage Drive system. I just got back from a trip to Crowley and had a blast midging from the yak. I found midging to be very challenging from the yak, because of the length of line under the indicator and how low you sit in the water. I could fish effectively in about 15 to 16 ft of water. Any deeper, I would have issues with casting. As the other guys mentioned, anchoring is critical. I have a pulley system on mine that allows me to position the anchor line towards the bow or stern. One problem is that I never seem to have a big enough anchor. When I hooked a nice trout on Crowley the water was dead calm. By the time I landed the fish there was 2 foot waves and I was blown into the weeds, about a distance of 100 feet. The paddle into the wind back to the car was interesting.

Brad

[BrownBear]

One problem is that I never seem to have a big enough anchor.

We deal with a lot of wind up here too, but more often in our pontoon boats than our canoes. Living on an island, it was better to find a "local" solution than start freighting things in. Being big-time salmon trolling country I finally resorted to lead downrigger balls, available here off-the-shelf in weights up to 15 pounds.

Turns out to be the perfect solution, especially in weedy waters where any kind of teeth or lip gathers weeds like crazy. Best weight for pontoons is 6#, while the canoe is fine most times with 10#, at least until the wind builds to the point you want to be off the water anyway. I'd guess that a 6# model would be fine for a kayak too, but I haven't tried it. Still using the stuff sack and rocks for convenience in stowing.

Only thing about using downrigger balls, you have to get a little "innovative" when setting on a muddy bottom. Those things really plant and "stick," working their way deeper and deeper into the mud the longer you sit. Brute force doesn't cut it, at least if you want to stay upright while freeing the ball from deep in the mud. We've found it best to pull the line up tight, secure it, then rock the boat for a few seconds to work the ball free. Pretty fair demo of the sticking power of downrigger balls, though!

[BradW]

One problem is that I never seem to have a big enough anchor.

Turns out to be the perfect solution, especially in weedy waters where any kind of teeth or lip gathers weeds like crazy. Best weight for pontoons is 6#, while the canoe is fine most times with 10#, at least until the wind builds to the point you want to be off the water anyway. I'd guess that a 6# model would be fine for a kayak too, but I haven't tried it. Still using the stuff sack and rocks for convenience in stowing.

I'm going to have to give that a try. The guys on Crowley like to use 2 anchors for position and that four letter word.
Brad

[tenandtwo]

Just to echo what most everyone has said, yes get an anchor! Although in fresh water you can sometimes tie up to the reeds/cattails when fishing close to shore.

I have fished from Kayaks in the bays a few times and it is a blast... Wife and daughter last summer...


However, a lot of fresh water lakes do not allow the sit on top kind like above as they have no body contact rules. Float tubes are not allowed either. I own a canoe and because it is a "sit inside" it is permitted at Skinner and DVL where I go most often but the sit on top kayaks are not allowed here.

Call ahead first to make sure you can use your kayak wherever you plan to go.
Have fun!