Deck the Hulls

Winter 2009

Winter is a great time to review your rig and add accessories for the coming season. It’s also tempting to over-rig with angling items you really don’t need.

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.

To view a copy of the entire magazine online, click here: WINTER 2009 WAVELENGTH MAGAZINE

by Dan Armitage

Winter is considered the “off” season among geographically challenged anglers, who are forced by Mother Nature to fish vicariously through long winter months by tying flies, repairing tackle, reading books and magazine articles and rigging craft for the coming fishing season.

Paddlers pondering changes to their boats have never had so many after-market angling options available to them, and the sport that many of us gravitated to for its simplicity can easily morph into a web of bungee cords and leashes tethering everything from drift socks to aeration systems to our craft.

I admit to getting caught up by the array of accessories, and justify to both my wife and accountant that trying out every new kayak fishing gizmo is part of my job. I give them all a try, but few accessories remain for long on our family’s fleet of boats, which includes a Hobie Outback, a pair of Pelican DLX 100s, a Wilderness Systems Pamlico 120, a duo Pamlico Lite, an Old Town Otter XT and a Watermark Jon Buoy.

The Hobie is my primary fishing and project rig, although it came standard with what I still consider the one and only accessory you really need to transform any kayak into a fishing craft: rod holders. The Hobie Outback, with the foot-powered Mirage Drive, is an excellent open water fishing machine, leaving both hands free for casting and retrieving and stable enough to allow me to (carefully) stand in still waters to get the most out of my limited fly casting abilities. Options I have added and use on a regular basis include a sailing kit (for trolling – and fun), an aerated bait tank, a turbo kit for the Mirage Drive to get extra power and speed (if less draft), a dodger for inclement weather and an electronic depth/fish-finder. All these are available from Hobie, and the latter has proven the most useful by far. (I’ll be documenting that install process in a future column).

That said, the Hobie is not the best choice for river fishing. With a draft of about 18 inches with the Mirage Drive cassette in place, and less-than-nimble in flowing water, I rely on my standard paddle-powered kayaks for fishing in streams and rivers. (The Mirage Drive cassette is easily removed and replaced with a plug to allow the Outback to be paddled conventionally). After a season of messing about in it to see what I needed and what I did not, based on my style of fishing, last winter I rigged the Pamlico 120 for serious fishing. I suggest anyone do the same when considering customizing his or her craft for fishing, if only for a few “shake-down” fishing trips.

For example, tempting as it was to install a trolley-type anchoring system on the kayak last winter, I realized after a season of experience that I rarely needed to anchor to fish in moving water. When I did, a simple rubber-coated, two-pound barbell attached to parachute cord and lowered hand-over-hand and snubbed to a quick-release jam cleat was the most convenient answer. To merely slow my progress in the current, I rigged the other end of the line with a snap onto which I can attach one or two short lengths of chain to lower over the side and drag on the bottom.

Whether in the Hobie or aboard one of our other kayaks, I realized that while fishing with my family we often needed only slight adjustments to our boat’s position to remain in casting distance of a particular spot. Breaking out the double-bladed paddle was a pain and often overkill for the slight nudges against the water that were needed. Instead, we reached for ping pong paddles that I rigged for each kayak, which were easily accessible and offered just the touch required. At a thrift store I purchased paddles that had rubber pads the same colors as the kayaks they were intended for, and spent a cold winter weekend triple-dipping each wooden paddle in spar varnish to waterproof them. This fishing season, when we needed to move a bit, we just reached down and broke out the hand paddles for a few sweeps to gain the position we needed.

As I write this, I have just returned from the local department store with a colorful armload of “swim noodles,” which were deeply discounted at the end of the swimming season. Again, I selected the soft foam floating pool toys in colors that matched those of the kayaks they are intended for, and plan to stuff them below deck to serve as extra flotation as well as fun swim accessories to break out on hot summer days. I also plan to cut some of the foam into short cylinders to serve as wrap-around leader storage and as handy hook and lure holders, and will experiment with slitting lengths of the tubes lengthwise to snap in place around the cockpit to serve as a padded bolster. By cutting vees in the foam, short sections of gunwale-mounted padding can serve as a handy place to set down a fishing rod while releasing a fish or re-rigging a line.

It is these types of projects that allow anglers worldwide to weather the winter months. With our highly adaptable, easy-to-rig and quick-to-forgive type of watercraft, we are limited only by our ingenuity.

Dan Armitage is a boating, fishing and travel writer based in the Midwest. He is a licensed (USCG Master) captain, hosts a syndicated radio show, and presents kayak fishing and photography seminars at boat shows.