I purchased a Wilderness Ride late last year and must admit I enjoyed my ride so much my thoughts were more on Kayaking than fishing. But with the birds singing outside my house and with spring saltwater fishing getting ready to turn on my thoughts have turned to fishing and I sure could use some advise. Those of you that know the RIDE know there is not a lot of room on the backside but I can fit my Milkcrate there kind of lopsided. Who are my questions:
When looking for that shell reef what do I use to probe the bottom? My Paddle? what about something that collapses to fit in the Yak? PVC pipe (how long)? what works best for you guys and where do you store it while fishing?
What about handling of live bait. Can I place in fish (yellow/black one they sell at Academy)bucket and paddle out to fishing spots with the bucket floating in water? Is this doable? I know there are buckets with pumps you can make or buy but like the milkcrate back there to put my lurebag and knife and small lunchbag in and don’t feel like I have room for it.
Where do you store the fish? On stringer tied to yak? collapsible ice chest?
Does that anchor rope get in the way when fighting those monster fish (hoping for monster fish. lol).
Sure would like to hear from you guys out there for advice on above & also any other suggestions you might have for a successful fishing outing.
New Ride for Fishing Well Specstalker, you got several questions there. (1) Milkcrates come in several different sizes. Quite likely, you may be able to use a rasp or hand held grinder to shave the crate to fit. (I did this & it now fits perfectly in my Tarpon 140) (2) As far as towing a bait bucket - I don’t recommend it. It creates quite a drag and will soon discourage you from paddling. (Unless maybe you’re drift fishing across the bay - in such a case, it might even be benificial & work like a drift sock) (3) A stringer is fine in fresh water, except for the drag when moving, but I wouldn’t recommend it where you’re subject to lose the whole string to a hungry shark. I’ve seen the collapsible ice chest/bag strapped onto the front, ahead of the seat. (4) Ahhh - my favorite - the “big fish” anchor rope. Personally, I never “permanently” tie the anchor line to my kayak. My line has the anchor on one end and a styrofoam float on the other end. I will cleat the line off at whatever length I need. If needed, I can just un-cleat the line & drop it in the water, making me free-floating to chase or get towed by Moby Dick. I can later return to retrieve my anchor.
I found the fishing forum here doesn’t get a lot of movement. This site is mostly for paddlers. Some are paddlers who also fish. Brian is right, Texaskayakfisherman is a good site for fishing information specific to Texas. Most of the people there are fisherman who do it from kayaks. Note the distinction. The fishing info here isn’t good, but most are very serious about safety here. On TKF, they give great fishing, but most of the people there are woefully ignorant of basic kayaking skills, they really don’t emphasize safety there. SO in summation, go there for fishing information, come here for paddling information.