kayak fishing

[coyotezh]

Kayak fishing on a lake. nobody but me. kayak capsized at the moment when I want to organize my gear and leave. I tried very hard to return back on this sit on top kayak, but all the effects was a fail. Thank the God the water not cold. I waited about an hour in the water full of algae when a boat came to rescue me. Thank you so much for the one who saved my life. I was so stupid at that time I even forgot to ask his name.... Thank you again, Sir!

[Lund rebel]

What kind of kayak

We sent the weekend in ours working on recovery tipped them over multiple times on purpose and then flip them and get back in

We were in 15 deg water

We had no issue flipping kayak and geting back in over side or rear of boat

[coyotezh]

Originally Posted by Lund rebel

What kind of kayak

We sent the weekend in ours working on recovery tipped them over multiple times on purpose and then flip them and get back in

We were in 15 deg water

We had no issue flipping kayak and geting back in over side or rear of boat

But it is not a easy task to get back in, isn't it? I feel that my cloth was so heavy when it's wet... I cannot get back in. I am done with kayak fishing unless my future work "kayak stabilizer" will be a great success.

[RavYak]

Sorry to hear this coyotezh. I hope you didn't lose any/much gear.

As Lund Rebel said we were practising our recoveries last weekend, it was easy for us but we are both in decent shape, had lighter clothing on(minus Lund's sweat pants) and have good stable kayaks and knowledge of how to get back on our kayaks.

Everyone with a kayak should practice their recoveries at some point to learn how to do it. It is as much technique as anything and with practice you should be able to figure out how to get back on. Also a person should practice in sub par conditions as well, that is partly why I talked Lund into doing it in the cold mountain lake instead of a nice warm one. Doing a practice in waves would be good too and I plan on doing that shortly as I prepare for a big trip later this month.

Hopefully this doesn't scare you away from kayak fishing, if you want we could meet up and I could try to help you figure out how to do a self recovery for future occasions.

Also remember the saying rig to flip and dress to swim. Something good to remember because guys including myself get complacent and don't always do this.

[Lund rebel]

Originally Posted by coyotezh

But it is not a easy task to get back in, isn't it? I feel that my cloth was so heavy when it's wet... I cannot get back in. I am done with kayak fishing unless my future work "kayak stabilizer" will be a great success.

Are you on Facebook ? I can share our videos with you, first was empty then we filled with rocks to represent weight.

[coyotezh]

Originally Posted by Lund rebel

Are you on Facebook ? I can share our videos with you, first was empty then we filled with rocks to represent weight.

I'd like to learn... Yes, I have a Facebook account! You can put a link here as well. Thank you!

[Donkey Slayer]

Just wondering if you had a sit in or sit on

[Lund rebel]

Originally Posted by coyotezh

I'd like to learn... Yes, I have a Facebook account! You can put a link here as well. Thank you!

Pm sent

[RavYak]

Here is one of Lund's recoveries.

https://www.facebook.com/10000553486...2708785590280/

[coyotezh]

Originally Posted by Lund rebel

Pm sent

I watched the video... are you in deep water? looks so simple for you. lol I was in 15 ft of water.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by coyotezh

I watched the video... are you in deep water? looks so simple for you. lol I was in 15 ft of water.

We were deep enough couldn't touch bottom. You need to get your body horizontal up at the top of the water surface then kick and pull/drag your body onto the kayak. You were probably trying to lift yourself up and on which will never work.

[Lund rebel]

Originally Posted by coyotezh

I watched the video... are you in deep water? looks so simple for you. lol I was in 15 ft of water.

I see your in Edmonton more then willing to go to wab with you and play around with this.

You probably also notice we didn't have gear but the kayak was full of rocks

I want to play with my dry suit anyhow

[Lund rebel]

Originally Posted by coyotezh

I watched the video... are you in deep water? looks so simple for you. lol I was in 15 ft of water.

I should also add you as you can see we are very comfortable in our boats but we also spend more time in the boats vs on land once a weekend comes. I have a few hundred hours of kayak time last couple months already

[RavYak]

To practice you can do what we did and just go out with an empty kayak close to shore and play around. We also loaded a bunch of rocks inside of the kayak to imitate gear and this makes it harder to flip back over but easier to climb on(in our kayaks case they get more stable with heavier load, some might become less stable).

Also note we weren't wearing life jackets because we often don't wear them while fishing(simulating what would actually happen). This isn't recommended especially if you are a questionable swimmer and really a person should always wear a life jacket, we are just bad examples...

[coyotezh]

Originally Posted by Lund rebel

I should also add you as you can see we are very comfortable in our boats but we also spend more time in the boats vs on land once a weekend comes. I have a few hundred hours of kayak time last couple months already

I guess after watching your video it was my cloth dragged me from water. I felt myself so heavy when I tried to get back on. Thanks for the video. But,still I think it wouldn't be a good idea if the water were cold to use kayak. Only in the summer for me. Use a boat when it's still cold.

btw, I didn't see you guys ware life jacket, maybe this is another reason I felt so difficult...lol

[Mikezilk]

Originally Posted by coyotezh

I guess after watching your video it was my cloth dragged me from water. I felt myself so heavy when I tried to get back on. Thanks for the video. But,still I think it wouldn't be a good idea if the water were cold to use kayak. Only in the summer for me. Use a boat when it's still cold.

btw, I didn't see you guys ware life jacket, maybe this is another reason I felt so difficult...lol

Please always wear your pfd... even practicing recovery without it is not recommended... too many people lose their lives every year because they are not wearing a pfd.

The best thing to do is to make yourself a strap that attaches to the kayak handle. Put a carabiner on one end and a large loop on the other. You then clip it to the handle and step into the loop. you can then stand up as you pull yourself into the kayak.

[EZM]

Originally Posted by Lund rebel

I see your in Edmonton more then willing to go to wab with you and play around with this.

You probably also notice we didn't have gear but the kayak was full of rocks

I want to play with my dry suit anyhow

I can come out with my boat and dump you guys over with my boat ...... I've run RavYak down on that lake before with my boat while he was in his kayak.

I can film it this time !!!

[James Henry]

Cabelas have the add on pontoons for your kayak for $200 I believe. I just bought a Hobie Outfitter and am debating about them for added stability and safety.
JH

[Demonical]

I will join the discussion as I just had an excellent learning experience with a capsized kayak.

First off, my boat is a Pelican Maxim 100 Sit-in kayak, 10' long. I don't have any skirting/apron on the boat. It's a quick little 'Fishing' kayak, but not what you would call stable.

I've pretty much figured out that flipping this kayak and getting back in is impossible for me. The boat fills with water, cuz it's a Sit-in..
If it were the Maxim 100 Sit-on kayak, that would be totally different, as it doesn't have the hull to fill.

Also, I am fishing on the McLeod River, in the Whitecourt area, which has a very deceptively powerful current.

Btw, I have capsized my kayak previously, on the McLeod, but was not anchored. That situation was easy. Just stay with the boat, drift to shore. Drain it and continue. Anchoring changes everything (in current anyway).


Here's what happened to me last Friday.


I went onto the river about 12 kms south of Whitecourt; up above Groat Creek.

There's an area of the river that I have always been intrigued by, as I think there's a pretty deep 'hole' there. Figured there had to be Walleye there.

Because the river is high right now, from recent heavy rains, and because I was going out solo (which I do a lot), I wore a life jacket. More on that later...

I have an anchor trolley rigged up on my kayak, and rigged my anchor line with a quick detach clip. Which as it turns out, I engineered failure into my setup.

When I reached the spot, where I wanted to try fishing, I dropped my anchor. But I was careless in how I had my boat positioned. The anchor was dropped on the wrong side, and it turned out the water depth, where I dropped my anchor, was something like 9' deep.

As soon as the anchor dug in, the pull due to the steep anchor line angle, pulled my boat violently to the right. The next reaction was for the boat to rock back the other way, and before I could think, I was swimming.

At this point I was feeling pretty good about the decision to wear the life jacket, but ****ty about my stupidity, as I had caused all my own problems.

And I was also astonished at the power of the current.

I swam to shore and was carried about 30 yards downstream. Had to muck my way back along the bank of the river, fighting with submerged rocks, logs and muck.

I tried about 3 times to right the boat, and release the anchor line, but in the powerful current, every time I got to the boat, my weight, plus the power of the current made the boat just dive, like a submarine.

And the kayak was rolling and turning so that it was impossible to even get to it and take a breather. I was fighting constantly and expending energy, just holding trying to hold on. The powerful current of the river was amazing, and very tough to hold against.

Only one time did I even manage to fight my way back to the end of the boat, where the anchor line extended from. My life jacket, while necessary, was really a detriment, in terms of trying to move toward that anchor line.

Eventually I realized the only option I had, was to abandon the boat, where it was, salvage the important items; my dry-box with keys & wallet, my paddle and fishing rod.

Being in a fast flowing river, with a capsized anchored kayak, completely changes the discussion.

You have to try it to experience just what that current was like!

What I learned though was invaluable.

Number 1, my anchor setup was totally wrong. My so-called 'quick release' was some 7' from the boat. Impossible to get to, when fighting that wicked current!
I modified the way I attach my anchor line. Now I attach the quick release directly to the ring on my anchor trolley.

Number 2, there's a reason all the fishing kayaks you see are Sit-on! I am going to get a better, more stable kayak. And it will be a Sit-on. (Looking at the Pelican Catch 120.)


That's what my kayak looked like, anchored in the current and 95% submerged. Try to 'right' that kayak!

[idaman]

Originally Posted by Demonical

I will join the discussion as I just had an excellent learning experience with a capsized kayak.

First off, my boat is a Pelican Maxim 100 Sit-in kayak, 10' long. I don't have any skirting/apron on the boat. It's a quick little 'Fishing' kayak, but not what you would call stable.

I've pretty much figured out that flipping this kayak and getting back in is impossible for me. The boat fills with water, cuz it's a Sit-in..
If it were the Maxim 100 Sit-on kayak, that would be totally different, as it doesn't have the hull to fill.

Also, I am fishing on the McLeod River, in the Whitecourt area, which has a very deceptively powerful current.

Btw, I have capsized my kayak previously, on the McLeod, but was not anchored. That situation was easy. Just stay with the boat, drift to shore. Drain it and continue. Anchoring changes everything (in current anyway).


Here's what happened to me last Friday.


I went onto the river about 12 kms south of Whitecourt; up above Groat Creek.

There's an area of the river that I have always been intrigued by, as I think there's a pretty deep 'hole' there. Figured there had to be Walleye there.

Because the river is high right now, from recent heavy rains, and because I was going out solo (which I do a lot), I wore a life jacket. More on that later...

I have an anchor trolley rigged up on my kayak, and rigged my anchor line with a quick detach clip. Which as it turns out, I engineered failure into my setup.

When I reached the spot, where I wanted to try fishing, I dropped my anchor. But I was careless in how I had my boat positioned. The anchor was dropped on the wrong side, and it turned out the water depth, where I dropped my anchor, was something like 9' deep.

As soon as the anchor dug in, the pull due to the steep anchor line angle, pulled my boat violently to the right. The next reaction was for the boat to rock back the other way, and before I could think, I was swimming.

At this point I was feeling pretty good about the decision to wear the life jacket, but ****ty about my stupidity, as I had caused all my own problems.

And I was also astonished at the power of the current.

I swam to shore and was carried about 30 yards downstream. Had to muck my way back along the bank of the river, fighting with submerged rocks, logs and muck.

I tried about 3 times to right the boat, and release the anchor line, but in the powerful current, every time I got to the boat, my weight, plus the power of the current made the boat just dive, like a submarine.

And the kayak was rolling and turning so that it was impossible to even get to it and take a breather. I was fighting constantly and expending energy, just holding trying to hold on. The powerful current of the river was amazing, and very tough to hold against.

Only one time did I even manage to fight my way back to the end of the boat, where the anchor line extended from. My life jacket, while necessary, was really a detriment, in terms of trying to move toward that anchor line.

Eventually I realized the only option I had, was to abandon the boat, where it was, salvage the important items; my dry-box with keys & wallet, my paddle and fishing rod.

Being in a fast flowing river, with a capsized anchored kayak, completely changes the discussion.

You have to try it to experience just what that current was like!

What I learned though was invaluable.

Number 1, my anchor setup was totally wrong. My so-called 'quick release' was some 7' from the boat. Impossible to get to, when fighting that wicked current!
I modified the way I attach my anchor line. Now I attach the quick release directly to the ring on my anchor trolley.

Number 2, there's a reason all the fishing kayaks you see are Sit-on! I am going to get a better, more stable kayak. And it will be a Sit-on. (Looking at the Pelican Catch 120.)


That's what my kayak looked like, anchored in the current and 95% submerged. Try to 'right' that kayak!

If you had a knife with you things would have turned out differently... I thought all fishermen carry a knife, I know most kayak anglers always have knives on them just for that sort of situation. Always prep for the worst and hope for the best, so dress right, no cotton , WEAR a PFD, carry a knife, signalling device leave a float plan with someone. Good thing you had your PFD on.Sounds like you were almost prepared, glad the almost didn't cost you your life.

[RavYak]

Demonical if you consistently fish the river as it sounds you do then the proper way to anchor is to have a few feet of chain on your anchor and make sure the chain is connected to the bottom of the anchor and then zip tied to the top attachment spot so if you snag your anchor(more common in river) can pull to break the zip tie then will be able to retrieve your anchor.

Then you run the line up to a big buoy so that if you have to disconnect from anchor the buoy will stay floating. In a faster river this will have to be one of those like 12-15 inch buoys. When tying the buoy on leave around 10 feet of rope on the tag end because this tag end you feed through your anchor trolley ring to either a snap ring or tie off to a solid point using a quick release knot.

When anchoring always face your kayak in the proper direction first, I personally like to anchor off the nose so facing upstream as I was hit by a tree once and that was no fun thankfully it was a small one. Then have the trolley in correct spot and throw the anchor out while holding onto it and don't tie it off until you are successfully anchored in place.

This is a good video showing what I just tried to explain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuPqqvZZXx8

As for your boat, sit inside kayaks if flipped are hard to recover and would be impossible on a river. On a lake you would have a hard time too as you need to hold them up and drain as much water then flip it over then get back in without submerging kayak again, not easy. That is why sit inside kayakers wear skirts and learn to roll so that if they flip over can flip back up without filling full of water(trying to roll while in current attached to an anchor is definitely difficult and probably dangerous though).

I would definitely upgrade to a sit on top kayak and I also recommend buying the best quality one you can afford. As you realized safety can be an issue and I will never trust a cheap pelican type kayak to have the proper stability etc that a quality boat has. If you fish rivers a lot then a Jackson Coosa is one of the best kayaks you can buy.

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by RavYak

We were deep enough couldn't touch bottom. You need to get your body horizontal up at the top of the water surface then kick and pull/drag your body onto the kayak. You were probably trying to lift yourself up and on which will never work.

Same thing applies if you go through the ice, get horizontal and get out. Sorry for the derail, but it might stick in someone's mind.

[Demonical]

Idaman, took a knife, forgot it in the truck. Doh!

RavYak, I rigged up an anchor trolley system (which I'm sure you are familiar with), but I screwed up in where I put my quick release.
I've changed how I attach my anchor line; I now connect it directly to the sliding ring, on my anchor trolley. So I will be able to release it in an emergency.

Also I have floats on my anchor line, so I can recover it later.

Where I really screwed up was in not having my boat positioned correctly, when the anchor dug in. The worst being that I was aware of it, but just complacent; thought the boat would swing around okay.

I have been anchoring with my anchor to the stern, but I am re-thinking that, and I may begin anchoring off the bow.

What else?

Oh yeah, I am definitely going to upgrade to a Sit-On. The kayak I'm looking at is the Pelican Catch 120. CTC carries them.

Working the next 3 weeks straight, so likely won't be on the water for a while.

Thanks for all the feedback!

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by Demonical

RavYak, I rigged up an anchor trolley system (which I'm sure you are familiar with), but I screwed up in where I put my quick release.
I've changed how I attach my anchor line; I now connect it directly to the sliding ring, on my anchor trolley. So I will be able to release it in an emergency.

That ring is not within hands reach in an emergency. That is why you should run a line through it up to where your hands are. Emergencies happen in an instance and don't give you enough time to pull the anchor trolley forward to where you can release it(which requires you pulling the whole kayak forward or back a few feet). What happens say if you are hit by and tangle up in a tree?

Much easier when the line is right by your hand and all you have to do is give it a tug, let go and you are free of anchor.

[Demonical]

So you have your anchor line connected onto the boat, close enough to unclip it, but from there it runs out through the ring, on the anchor trolley?

Sorry, I don't have any good pics of my trollet setup.

[Demonical]

RavYak, besides the Pelican Catch 120 that I'm looking at, what are some quality kayaks to consider.

I looked at the Jackson Coosa, but where are those available?

Kayaks I've looked at briefly are the Feelfree Lure, from MEC and the Old Town kayaks that Cabela's sell.

[RavYak]

Originally Posted by Demonical

So you have your anchor line connected onto the boat, close enough to unclip it, but from there it runs out through the ring, on the anchor trolley?

Sorry, I don't have any good pics of my trollet setup.

This is the idea.



You don't put a clip on end of rope because it needs to be able to pass through anchor trolley loop freely.

Clipping to the anchor trolley does work but need to be careful because I don't consider that to be quickly releasable(although I also haven't tried it so maybe easier then I imagine).

As for kayaks I believe totem outfitters is a jackson dealer but no idea what they stock whether or not they would have a coosa(thinking maybe not as I have never seen someone with one up here).

Glenmore sailboats carries wilderness system kayaks which have some nice ones like the the ride and atak although again not sure what they have in stock.

Ocean Kayak tridents are decent and I believe Cabelas and fishinhole sell them but not sure on current stock and if you wait till spring they will be coming out with a new seat which would be worth waiting for.

The catch 120 and feelfree lure are probably decent enough but won't paddle as nice as some of these other kayaks and won't have some of the options. The old town predators are decent but heavy and not the best paddling either.

[Unclerj]

Undercurrents in Calgary carry the Jackson line of kayaks. They show a Coosa in stock right now. I bought my Kilroy from them a couple of years ago and have been very happy with it so far.

[dutchman]

Originally Posted by RavYak

Everyone with a kayak should practice their recoveries at some point to learn how to do it. It is as much technique as anything and with practice you should be able to figure out how to get back on.
.

I started kayak fishing this year and never even thought about practicing the old flip aroony. I'm a pretty strong swimmer so just assumed it would be no big deal if I did get wet one day. So just because I read this thread, you guys put out some good comments and I figured I should try it.
I went out today and did exactly that. I have an Ascend FS12T and first started by standing up, and paddling. It felt a lot more stable than a paddle board. Sitting down it took a lot of effort to flip it over. Actually had to hold onto the high side, lean over touching the water and basically pulling it over. Hah, but once it past that point, it flip instantly.
I laid right over the capsized bottom, grabbed the far side and used my weight to flip it back up. Worked pretty good. Then simply kicked a few times and sitting back in the chair. It self drained and done. I did this several times and it got easier every time.
I'm sure I got a few looks from the beach, people wondering what the heck that guy is doing.
So thanks for suggesting the practice, else I probably would never had done it on purpose.

[Demonical]

Just watched a Youtube video that demonstrates the anchoring technique RavYak was recommending.
After seeing the vid, I understand the idea, and am definitely going to use that method.