Kayak fishing in open water

Good day,

Cold and at work so I figured I ask the question. How do you fish open waters (in a reservoir) over structure? The slightest breeze will move our plastic fleet! :)

Have a warm and blessed day!

Not to get into all the safety aspects of proper anchor use,you need a good anchor.If you know where the structure is,and you want to fish over or near it,back off a distance from the structure,and drop anchor with the wind at your Back preferably.Slowley release rope and allow the wind to drift you over or near the structure.Once you are in position,snug off to hold your position.
This is basic instruction mind you,u- tube how to use an anchor with a kayak,you will get more info than you can process,hope this helps.

I like a sea anchor I made out of an old rain coat, you still drift but you don't spin.

Since I went trolling motor I don't tie up or anchor much anymore. A simple foot. Switch and orientation to the waves and wind allows you stay in place and have your hands free. The foot powered kayak would do the same thing but they are pricey.

I either pull crankbaits, or I drift with the breeze using jigs from my kayak. In early Spring, I look for the first breakline along the north shore in the main lake basin that is sheltered from the northwest wind. I'll find where a ditch or feeder creek runs up to that breakline and focus on that area. Crappie will use that channel/ditch to slide up in the shallower water to take advantage of the sun warming the water out of the breeze. I pull Rapala Husky Jerks #6 or #8 in Glass Minnow color with good success. A cold front will push them back deeper, but they'll still be in the area. The 1/8 oz. Rattle Traps and Roadrunners are also effective early on.

After the spawn, when the crappie move out towards channels, I mostly pull deeper diving cranks (#5 & #6 Flicker Shads) and pay attention to what the depthfinder is telling me where to fish. The crappie stay near the deeper water from May through October (here in NC) and are easier for me to catch this time of year than any other. If there's a steady, but not strong breeze, I'll find where the fish are, then paddle into the wind, then set curl tail jigs the depth of the fish and drift across key structure. I mostly catch black crappie because we don't have a lot of whites in the lakes I fish. The whites definitely hold deeper than blacks in summer and it takes deeper running cranks to reach them.

I own an anchor and maybe one of these days I'll bring it with me, though I haven't used it so far.

Jim

I made me a anchor trolly with kleets on both sides. I have two spools mounted to the kayak that way i rig up my rear anchor and front anchor. Say im drifting up to my favorite bridge piling or brushpile on a long point i will usually kick out my rear anchor an hold it till im ready to start dropping line. After i have made contact with bottom i usually try to stay still to see which way im gonna be drifting. At that point i throw out my front anchor to keep me from going side to side like my gas gauge needle haha. I have seen people tie anchors to dog leashes and toss them where they wanna sit. Only downside to my rig is my anchor is connected to my kayak. I have rode out the waves of every wakeboarding boat made and fished in 3 foot waves due to the wind. Best advice for when things get hairy cause your secured to the bottom an if you are completely tightlined is a good sharp knife.. It will suck if you have to cut yourself free but ten times better than flipping and seeing your stuff float all over the place haha i have learned the hard way. Also i recommend the round mushroom type anchor over the claw type, i have lost 3 of the claw types due to snags

Some guys use a piece of mono to tie off with so it brakes if things get out of hand. The mono attaches to a float holding the anchor line so you can retie whenever you want. You would need a float to hold the excess anchor line but they don't seem to do that, I assume they just let the excess line be part of the anchor placement calculation. At bridge piers I use a float to get a rope around the pier and then use a swivel snap to attach to that rope.