Tips For 1st Time Kayak Fishing Trip

As of tomorrow evening I should have my first kayak, an Old Town Vapor 10 Angler. I hope to take it out on Sunday afternoon as the weather looks nice.

I plan to take a couple of rods and fishing gear, but the main idea in my mind at least is to focus on getting familiar with the kayak, paddling, etc.

What are some tips, tricks, etc that you experienced Kayak guys can share? Ya know, other than don’t flip it and always wear a life preserver lol.

I would especially appreciate any tips for places that would be easy to access, low traffic, and calm water for the first outing. I’m in Hartselle, as a reference point.


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Congrats man!!Im sure you’ll love it. My first trip I went to beaver dam creek. I knew it was shallow and would be no traffic. Main thing to me would be somewhere you know isn’t deep. Holler at me sometime and we can meet up.


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I’ll do that, thanks for the invite


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Stay away from Gators and Cottonmouths....................nonono

I’m more worried about cotton mouth than gators. They are all over limestone.


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Don't go to Eufaula. I saw some gators down there this week that could eat that kayak

I like to take first time paddlers out over at Mooresville. There is a place on the old Hwy 20 going towards Decatur you cross the first bridge and on the left is a parking area and put in. The water here is pretty shallow in most of the area, if the water is down you might drag. You can paddle this out to Limestone Bay and fish on the way out. Where ever you go I hope you have a good time. If the wind is up tomorrow after Church I might end up over there myself. You can copy and paste this into Googlemaps and see where I am talking about. 34.627459, -86.884842

Good Luck

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Originally Posted by flintcreek

I like to take first time paddlers out over at Mooresville. There is a place on the old Hwy 20 going towards Decatur you cross the first bridge and on the left is a parking area and put in. The water here is pretty shallow in most of the area, if the water is down you might drag. You can paddle this out to Limestone Bay and fish on the way out. Where ever you go I hope you have a good time. If the wind is up tomorrow after Church I might end up over there myself. You can copy and paste this into Googlemaps and see where I am talking about. 34.627459, -86.884842

Good Luck

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Thanks man!


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Oh. I forgot. I’d for sure watch some YouTube videos on getting in and out. That’s the only time I’ve ever had any problem. Still do every now and then.


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Not far from you is Flint Creek boat launch off of 31, across from Big A's. Not deep, pretty calm, haven't seen any gators yet but gets a bit snakey as the weather warms. If you're ever in Huntsville, Ditto Landing on South Parkway at the Tennessee river is a great place to cut your teeth. Stay in the marina and not on the river. Easy launching there, super calm water and mostly shallow (less than 10 feet).

I would recommend not to take any fishing gear for the first couple of outings and get a feel for your yak. If you have to fish, just bring one pole to start with and minimal tackle AND tether everything and have a dry bag for your phone, keys, wallet etc.

I have an Old Town Predator and a 10' Old Town Vapor Angler as well. I usually use the Vapor on moving water and the Predator on big still water. I find that my Vapor can be a bit unstable at times so be weary of that (the hull is a little rounded). It’s rated at 325lbs so that's pretty decent. I'm not as fond of fishing out of sit in kayaks as I am of sit on kayaks. Sit ons tend to be a tad more stable (depending on hull design) and if you flip them, they float like a cork as opposed to sinking or filling with water. Getting in and out of a sit in can be tricky sometimes. If your legs are long enough (in warmer water) you can straddle above the cockpit and just sit straight down while in a few inches of water. From a dock, tie a rope from the cleat behind your seat (I believe yours is on the right hand side of your kayak so have the right side closest to the dock) to a cleat on the dock. Tie the rope off to the deck cleat taunt enough that it’ll hold your boat level when you put your weight in it and then be sure to keep your weight to the side closest to dock while holding on to the dock. Then undo the rope from the dock cleat. To begin with though, to keep it easy, if you are going with someone else, just put three quarters of your boat in the water, climb in and have your friend give you a shove off.

When the water warms, take it out to shallow calm water and purposely flip it. While sitting in it, lean it to the left slowly (while keeping yourself somewhat vertical) until just before the point of no return. Get a feel for that and then go past that point. Do the same on the other side too. It'll serve you well to know these points on your kayak. Do it several times. You don't want the first time that you flip it to be by accident. Be prepared and know what to expect.


Happy yakking & fishing!

PS Get an extra pad for you butt if you plan on spending much time on the water.

So did you try it?


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I did, I got out for just a while this afternoon. Mainly just focused on paddling around a bit and getting acclimated to everything. I put in at the boat launch off Hwy 67 where I knew it was shallow and not much traffic on the water. Getting in was easy since it’s a very shallow area. It took a minute to figure out how much movement I can get away with, but it’s a pretty stable kayak for as small as it is and tracks really well. Next step will be figuring out how to effectively fish from it. I didn’t fish very much today at all, but when I did I felt like I was spending more time fighting the wind for the right position. Hopefully my next outing will be in a little less windy conditions. All in all, it was very peaceful just being on the water and I enjoyed myself. I’ve got to get a system down for fishing out of it now that will work for me.


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Originally Posted by BankBound

I did, I got out for just a while this afternoon. Mainly just focused on paddling around a bit and getting acclimated to everything. I put in at the boat launch off Hwy 67 where I knew it was shallow and not much traffic on the water. Getting in was easy since it’s a very shallow area. It took a minute to figure out how much movement I can get away with, but it’s a pretty stable kayak for as small as it is and tracks really well. Next step will be figuring out how to effectively fish from it. I didn’t fish very much today at all, but when I did I felt like I was spending more time fighting the wind for the right position. Hopefully my next outing will be in a little less windy conditions. All in all, it was very peaceful just being on the water and I enjoyed myself. I’ve got to get a system down for fishing out of it now that will work for me.


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That’s great. It will take a few trips to get it figured out. One problem I still have is pull up to say a laydown,get stopped and in position and cast. Next thing I know I’m up in the tree. But I’ve gotten a lot better at it. It all just takes some getting used to. Different ball game than bank fishing.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by BankBound

I did, I got out for just a while this afternoon. Mainly just focused on paddling around a bit and getting acclimated to everything. I put in at the boat launch off Hwy 67 where I knew it was shallow and not much traffic on the water. Getting in was easy since it’s a very shallow area. It took a minute to figure out how much movement I can get away with, but it’s a pretty stable kayak for as small as it is and tracks really well. Next step will be figuring out how to effectively fish from it. I didn’t fish very much today at all, but when I did I felt like I was spending more time fighting the wind for the right position. Hopefully my next outing will be in a little less windy conditions. All in all, it was very peaceful just being on the water and I enjoyed myself. I’ve got to get a system down for fishing out of it now that will work for me.


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One of the best things that you can do to keep your sanity while fishing visible structure like lay downs, grass, boulders etc. is to anchor AND use an anchor trolley. One, it will keep you from drifting into the cover you're fishing and two, the anchor trolley will allow you to position your yak in whatever position you need to allow you to cast where you need to. If you install an anchor trolley, make sure that it goes from bow to stern. Unfortunately the one that came on the Vapor 10 Angler is mostly useless. I took it off of mine and installed a YakAttack from bow to stern and what a difference! Another unfortunate thing is YakAttack quit supplying their anchor trolley with Harken pulleys and instead replaced them with their own Stealth pulleys.

If you want to use searcher baits and work a shoreline or similar and you have either wind or current moving you, then a rudder will serve you well to keep you moving and pointing in the direction that you want to go while keeping your hands free to fish.

Below is a review that I did on the YakAttack LeverLoc HD anchor trolley.

"When YakAttack used Harken pulleys, this was the best anchor trolley out there (actually, it still is, they just cheapened it). Great pad eyes with the open side to catch the bottom paracord, quality pulleys, strong assembly and an awesome line lock (which also stores the anchor ring) instead of messing with a cleat. They even offer an option to install it with backing plates so you know the pieces will never pull or get knocked loose. Everything about it was excellent but then they replaced the Harken pulleys with their inferior Stealth pulleys.

I have and used both. The Harken's are worlds better than the Stealth's.
The Harken's have dual ball bearings (bearings on both sides of the pulley). The Stealth's have no bearings, just a plastic roller riding on a plastic collar (look at the attached photos for a comparison). The Harken's have far less drag (friction) than the Stealth's and therefore work better for their intended purpose, typically used with anchor trolleys and lift lines (to retract rudders) where less friction is desired. Less friction also means less wear so the Harken's work better and will last longer.

The Stealth's are sleeker and have a piece that extends out over the pulley (which is nice, might help prevent line from getting caught in it). The Harken's are beefier, the pulley is sandwiched between two plates whereas on the Stealth's, the side toward the kayak is open, a plastic insert (that the pulley rides on) prevents the pulley from rubbing on the kayak. On the Harken’s, both sides of the pulley rides on bearings (this is the biggest difference between them)."

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