I have been paddling my Pugo for the past year. Now I need to rig it out for fishing. Any ideas on what and where to put rod holders, anchor lines ect. Figured I can learn for others who have gone this route. Brand and models of accessories would be appreciated.
Shopuld have read Pungo
Scotty rod holders are the best for the
money, RAM the best, though the difference in cost is not offset by quality, its more that RAM holders are a bit more versatile. Make sure you install them where they can be reached easily and do not interfere with paddling.
I don’t care much for the tube style rod holders. Unless your use extenders…usually a piece of PVC…reels can stay wet, washing out lube. My Scotties use the flush mounts, sticking into the mount. I remove them to tote my Loon on my truck.
I prefer my rodholders mounted forward, maybe its age, at 59, I don’t care for turning around to fetch the rod. But, if you troll, a rear mount may work for you. I just troll backwards.
One of the best purchases you can make is cheap…a brush anchor. It allows you to hook on to branches, stickups in the water, logs, even weeds rather than deploying an anchor.
If you fish fresh water, a three to five pound rubber coated dumbell works great as an anchor and is cheap at Wally World. If you drift fish, a drift sock works great…also good for trolling and casting as you drift. Keep it on a fairly short lead and attach a float as if it gets loose, it will disappear below the surface quickly.
Some suggestions
Scotty rod holders.
I don’t like anchors on kayaks, but if you do put an anchor on your kayak, I recommend using a cam cleat as the rope holding device at the cockpit and a climbing rated carabiner on your front grab loop to run the line through. If you put on both front and rear, then a carabiner and cam cleat for each. Keep a knife with a blunt tip on your PFD. Don’t be afraid to cut the line. Use a 2# or 3# dumbell as your anchor. If 3# won’t hold your kayak, you’re in too much current to use an anchor.
I have some of my rod holders mounted fore and some aft of the cockpits of my various yaks. I prefer having them fore. It is useful to have one aft anyway to put a spare rod in. I usually carry a spare rod that’s a four piece travel rod in the hatch and only use one rod for fishing. I need a new one, because on the last trip my 6’8" medium light moderate/fast action rod became a 6’ medium extra fast action rod. The other 8" decorate my office cube.
Which reminds me. Unless you’ve got money to burn, don’t use top-of-the-line equipment in your kayak. I have what I call my “kayak rods”, which are rods that are good enough - but that I can afford to lose.
For tackle, I use flat Plano boxes and put them under the deck rigging, OR I use small binders and have them clipped to some clips I have attached to a line I ran through the foam support between my legs. Depends on the kayak. On my SOT, I just stuff a year’s worth of tackle into a ruck sack and strap it down to the deck. I look like I’m camping for a week when I go fishing for a day on that 'yak.
If you go with the Plano flat box under the deck rigging, forget about the water-proof boxes. They are excellent at keeping water in, but not so good at keeping water out. Drill drain holes in standard ones. An idea I haven’t tested yet is to put a foam pad or one of those sticky pads to keep your cell phone from sliding all over your dash on the bottom of the box to try and keep it from getting washed out from under the rigging when your deck is awash in a rapid.
Riggging my Pungo
is going to take some thought. I would live to see any picks of hoow you have things mounted. I would hav ebeen a lot easier to get a SOT and I may go that route later. I just like to paddle so I bought this Yak. Now that I have it I want to be able to fish out of it. I am thinking of a couple flush mounts aft to store the rods while i am paddling out. Want something out front for when I fish. I do like trolling and to date have just went backwards with the rod between the legs. Works but not the most effective. Notsure I like the idea of trolling with the rods in back. Would rather have a setup in forward with one rod angliing out port and starboard. I do want to set up soome dort of anchor. I have a few small lakes I like to fish for crappie and cats that I need to stay put on. Doubt I would rig the SIK for a FF. If I decide to get serious I’ll pickup a second SOT. After owning a 22’ CC boat kayak fishing seems cheap.
Scotty rod holders have decent
adjustment. If you have them forward, you can place them in a fairly horizontal position. If fishing primarily lakes and ponds without overhangs, just leave them in the fishing position. You can extend the Scotty outward from the kayak, essentially in an outrigger sort of position for trolling. I drift fish, bouncing bait off the bottom for catfish. the reason I drift backwards is I want to keep a close eye on both the line and the rod tips in case of hangups.