Filed under: How-To, On Location Tagged: fish hook, hook in flesh removal, kayak, kayak fishing

Private Islands of Georgia "Eagle Island Lodge"

Our Cabin on Eagle Island, this place was first class.

We ate like kings, Having some Oysters here. Some raw, some cooked, many washed down but cold beverages.

Did I mention we ate well, how about some crab and shrimp

Maybe a few more Oysters

If it had only stayed this glassy all day.

Our Georgia friend Randy Vining

Yes we did actually fish, and I got to cruise around in the Torque

We even caught a few fish

After several days on Eagle Island we moved to a mother ship to hit some areas that most kayakers could not reach. The Captain Gabby, a converted shrimp boat was our home for the next three days.

Meeting Patrick the captain of The Gabby

Laoding our kayaks on the Gabby

loading made simple

My biggest Red from the trip

Show producer Ken Whiting pulling on a very big RAy

Ken with a small shark

Another Red for me

Another shark for Ken

Videographer extraordinaire Will Richardson, with the rest of us waiting for his direction

Our last morning in Georgia

After we left Georgia we headed to Jacksonville Florida for the JAX kayak fishing tournament. This was a great event with over 400 kayak anglers gathered in the name of charity. IT was another windy day but still an great event. I tied for 9th in the flounder division, not bad but I was beaten by a nine year old girl.

AT my SWANKY hotel in Jacksonville

I guess I have no photos of my fish but this is where I caught it

Hanging at the awards ceremony with our good friend Jeff Herman

Yeah that little girl standing on the table beat me.

I just don’t have many photos from the event but a great time was had, and we have lots of good video from it.

Next Blog will cover out trip to Lake Mateos, El Salto and coastal Mazatlan.

You can also stay up to date on what we are up to on our FaceBook page

Filed under: Fish Stories, On Location Tagged: Jim Sammons, kayak fishing, motorized kayak, Torque

Filed under: Fish Stories, On Location Tagged: extreme, Jim Sammons, kayak fishing, tuna, video

In other exciting news our second movie Game On 2 is ready to hit the stores any day now. We hope you really like this one, most of us feel it is even better than the first one. Take a look at the trailer.

We are also very pleased to announce the winner of our huge kayak fishing package give away. Take a look at our video site Kayak Fishing Tales to see if you are the winner. While you are there make sure you take a few minutes and watch some of our instructional and location videos, particularly our newest video about the Heroes on the water program.

Since my last post we have visited Georgia and Jacksonville Florida to shoot several episodes of our show and our next shoot is in just a few days down in Mazatlan. I will try and get some reports up about these trips very soon.

If you have not done so already, please contact your cable provider and let them know you just have to have WFN.

If you want to stay up do date on what we are doing you can also find us on FaceBook. We do quick reports from the road on our FB page as well as keeping you posted on what we are up to.

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Though Rob Fort, of Coromandel kayak adventures, and Captain Peter MacKenzie, of the Taiho, worked their tails off for us on the first half of our trip in New Zealand, the weather was out of their control. For the most part we were stuck fishing the lee or protected side of islands with little to show for our efforts other than some small Snapper and one Kingfish which was barely a prince. Rob and Peter really knew their stuff and I am sure under different circumstances we would have been successful in our quest of big fish. I would fish with these guys again in a second if given the chance.

The next stop on our trip was the area called Bay of Islands, made famous for its great fishing by Zane Grey . in his book Tales of Anglers Eldorado.
Our hope of course was that the wind would give us a break and the fish would decide to eat, I don’t think that is too much to ask after our long trip and previous week of toil.
On our way to Bay of Islands we met with Shamus, yes he only has one name, at Sportsman’s Choice/Kayak Zone, the kayak and tackle shop where he works.
Shamus, a former street performer, is one of the local kayak fishing gurus and a member of Ocean Kayak New Zealand’s pro staff and would accompany us on our tour of the Bay of Islands for the next five days.

Our home for the next five days

During this meeting we went over the gear we would need for the remainder of the trip and the target species, which once again would be Kingfish, Snapper and if the conditions were right, Marlin. After this brief meet, we jumped in the car for the last leg of our five hour drive, stopping once for the obligatory New Zealand meat pie, a treat you can find all over the country. Tired from the long drive we arrived at Opua harbor and unloaded all of our gear, I think kayak fisherman carry more gear then any other anglers. I wondered how we would get it all on the boat, which we would be on for the rest of the week, and still have room to move about. Shamus had set us up with Don and Marilyn Logan the owners of Cool Change, a 54 foot sailing catamaran that the couple had built themselves over the course of 7 years.

Loading up Cool Change

About done

While the Taiho, our boat in Coromandel, was utilitarian and served us very well, the Cool Change was pure luxury. Don and Marilyn had spared no expense and overlooked no details in the design of the boat they would make their home and their business. I have to imagine they were a bit shocked when they saw all the gear we would be loading onto their home. I have always said I could never live on a boat but after being on Cool Change I think I have changed my mind, of course only if I was on a boat as nice as this one. It had every amenity and was an incredibly stable platform, under power it moved through the water very well, under sail it just flew.

Plenty of room in the galley

Don and Marilyn welcomed us with open arms and the only clue that all our gear was an issue was when Marilyn took a photo of all of it spread across the deck saying, she never thought she would see her boat with so much stuff on it.
As always loading a boat the first time takes a bit of time to figure out the best layout and ways to secure the gear and kayaks and this time was no different. Once finished though we had a great system that made loading and unloading the kayaks pretty simple, particularly when you have Jai’s muscles to help. By the time we were loaded up it was already late in the afternoon so the plan was made to make our way to a sheltered bay on one of the islands to anchor for the night, close to where we would fish the next day.

Ready to head out

During much of the loading and motoring out period Shamus worked diligently on his phone getting reports from some of the local fishing captains on not only the fishing but the weather conditions. We were all excited to hear that the weather and hopefully the fish should be cooperating with us for the next few days. Another plan was hatched that would prove to be a huge value to us for the rest of the week, and that was to hire a local guide, Captain Bucko, for a day so we could get some good up to date information on where the fish were holding and what techniques to use. I think the information we got from Bucko on that first day really helped to make the trip a success for us.

Captain Bucko with one of our many Kingfish

Fishing day one at BOI we were met early by Bucko and loaded a couple of the kayaks onto his boat along with Will our videographer. The plan was to hit a buoy that Bucko said would be holding some bigger Kingfish and toss some poppers on it. When we pulled into the area Bucko let out a few curses as a former client was now sitting on his spot and pounding the water with lures. We decided to give it a shot anyway as we could see the tails of the large fish swimming around the buoy. We tossed poppers for a while with no luck and reloaded the kayaks, this was the first sign of real fish on our trip to NZ and I was excited. From here we cruised around for a bit looking for live bait to fill the tank, once a school was located we picked up several Jack Mackerel for the tank but strangely enough had a hard time getting past the Kingfish to get the Macs. These Kings were under 20 pounds for the most part, Rats as they called them, but I would have been happy to pull on one from my kayak just to finally get to pull on a real fish. My wish would be granted soon enough.

Loaded up on Buckos boat

We took our freshly caught live bait to a beautiful spot called Piercy Island better known as Hole in the Rock,

Jim in front of Hole in the Rock, large tour boat would run through the hole.

this was a large passage going through a small island. With some wind and a lot of current, sitting in the kayak next to the island was a lot like sitting in a washing machine with the kayak bobbing around in the wash. Jai, Shamus and I all put out live baits on our heavy gear as we were fishing water from 50-200 feet of water with a lot of structure. I was using a new Shimano Tallica 16 II loaded with 80 Hollow Ace powerpro line with a top shot of 100lb Seagar fluorocarbon leader and the other guys were fishing similarly heavy gear. The bait was set up on a dropper loop with enough weight to get you to the bottom.

It didn’t take long for our first hookup and bust off in the rocks, each time bumping the drag tighter to try and stop these fish before they reached the rocks. By the time the day was finished my drag was basically locked, I have never fished drags this tight and still these fish would rock you. I managed to get a couple of smaller fish “rats” but was destroyed by several larger fish, Shamus landed a couple good ones but our strong man Jai was the master landing several better fish over 40lbs. Jai had switched from live bait to a speed jig, basically a very long version of a Butterfly jig, and this seemed to really be the hot ticket. I finished this day very frustrated by all the break offs but was also optimistic because we were at least having the chance to pull on some good fish.

Jai with one of his Kings from the first day in BOI

Jai and Shamus with a couple from Day one at BOI

Day two in BOI, Captain Bucko, though not actually guiding us, gave us some calls on the phone and radio to tell us where he thought we should try and even brought us over some more live bait. We started the day off fishing a spot called Bird Rock and my luck from the previous day changed; I trolled live bait around but for the most part switched to a Butterfly Jig I had brought on the trip. I landed several nice fish on this jig before once again getting destroyed in the rocks by a bigger fish.

For the jigging I was using my Shimano Torsa reel matched with a Trevalla rod which was a great combination for fighting these strong fish. Once again the drag was pegged to keep the fish out of the rocks and I had much more success at it this second day than the first. Fishing a drag this tight, you really had to stay on your game or you could find yourself out of your kayak.

Kingfish at Bird rock

After leaving Bird Rock we headed to Cape Brett, this was a beautiful spot with a lot of good structure. I trolled live bait along the cliff and got slammed by what I thought at first was another Kingfish, this tough fighter turned out to be a better sized snapper of 16lbs. If a 16 pounder fights this hard I can’t imagine how hard the 20-30 pounders fight.

My biggest Snapper from the trip

A few more fish were landed in this area then we made the short paddle across a small channel to give Hole in the Rock another shot. We landed a few more fish over here and Jai lost one to a Bronze Whaler shark and had a Mako shark swim under his kayak. Shamus continued to fish live bait but it really seemed the speed jigs were the way to go as Jay and I both landed a good number of fish and lost some more to the rocks.

Another King from Hole in the Rock

Toes out of the water

A little later in the day Jai was fishing along the island and had another fish stolen from him by a shark and brought up only the head. A few minutes later I hooked into what felt like a real good fish and had it close when the tell tale feeling of a shark was on my line. I quickly brought up half a fish. I grabbed the lure and was bringing my prize aboard when suddenly out of the water the shark grabbed what was left of the fish, right out of my hand. Thankfully the camera was rolling and got all the action. I counted all my fingers and laughed very nervously afterwards, I am sure there will be a lot of beeps in that segment. In the process of grabbing the fish the shark splashed water into my eyes which of course got sunscreen in them, so not only did I have a shark under my boat, I was blind. It was crazy and I am sure I will be telling this story for years.

Two more victims of Jaws

That night we were all exhausted from pulling on fish and from a long day on the kayaks. Don anchored Cool Change in a spot called Whangamumu, which was the first whaling station in New Zealand. Shamus kept close tabs on the weather and reports from friends and suggested a ballsy plan. Because we really had some great footage already he suggested we give a shot at fishing the Poor Knights islands, this would mean a long run and if the weather was bad we would have no place to hide. If the weather was good and conditions right it could mean very good fishing and a shot at Billfish. We took a quick vote and decided to make the run, why not we already had great fish footage and footage of a shark trying to remove my hand, anything else is bonus.

Shamus infront of Cool Change

We were up early the next morning and running in the dark to get to the Poor Knights islands. This small island chain is a protected area but has some reefs nearby that are fishable, but if the wind is up it would be a long run for nothing.
Well as luck would have it on this half of the trip the seas were dead calm. We located the reef on the fish finder of Cool Change and we all marked it on our Humminbird Gps fishfinders so we could stay on it on our kayaks. The current was running pretty good, so having the combo of fishfinder and GPS was imperative to not only stay on the reef but also to locate those fish holding just off the reefs edges. Jai and I went straight to using the jigs and it paid off fast as Jai had three fish his first three drops, I quickly caught up with him and what followed was the craziest, wide open Kingfish/Yellowtail bite I have ever had. To the point we all lost count of how many fish we caught and released. Shamus who was fishing chunk bait hoping to change things up with a large Grouper, ended up catching a John Dorey, a very tasty fish, then switched to the jig to add to the Kingfish count.

Shamus and his John Dorey

Shamus’s instincts paid off this day by making the call to run out there, it was amazing fishing. Though we saw no signs of Marlin it was well worth the run. To further show the superior fishablity of the kayaks, there was a small charter boat fishing in the exact same spot as us. As we are hooting and hollering and having the fishing time of our lives, we saw this boat hookup only once. He finally motored away in disgust.
Of the countless number of fish we caught we only kept a few and had wonderful meals of seared yellowtail and fresh as you can get Hamachi.

Triple Hookup, all released

Over the years I have caught hundreds of Yellowtail/Kingfish, in San Diego and Mexico and I have to say these were the strongest, hardest fighting of them all. I don’t know if it was due to the high competition for food or the fact that these fish were constantly on the move to avoid becoming dinner for the many sharks. There were many times I would have my drags pegged and my thumb on the spool and I still could not stop them from taking line. I didn’t manage to get that Marlin or huge King I was hoping for but did get my personal best and largest of the trip at 45 pounds. I am not sure what I would have to do to stop one of over 100 pounds; this of course makes me want to return to give it another try.

My big King for the trip 45 pounds

This trip, like most of our trips was made special not only by the fishing but by the people we were able to fish with and the friendships we formed. This trip would not have been possible without the help of all these great people and we owe them many thanks.

Tony Free of Ocean Kayak New Zealand was our host, logistics manager, personal chauffer, galley worker, and all around great guy to hang out with. He also hooked us up with fully rigged Ocean Kayak Ultra 4.7 kayaks for the trip which were just fantastic to fish from, I hope we will see some of their innovations come to the US market.

Rob Fort of Coromandel Kayak Adventures and Peter MacKenzie worked so hard in the worst of conditions to make the tough part of our trip a great experience.

Shamus of Kayak Zone NZ helped put together the Bay of Islands and was always in touch with his network of fisherman to make sure we found the fish.

Captain Bucko helped us get the area dialed in but also kept in touch with us on a second day to make sure we were successful. He was a mountain of information about the area and I wish we could of spent more time together on the water.

Don and Marilyn Logan of Cool Change Charters were the consummate hosts even as we filled their home with more gear than they had ever seen. Their boat is truly a work of love which can be seen in every detail.

Jai Sanders, thanks for just being a great guy to hang and fish with and for always stepping up when anything needed to be done.

Of course Will Richardson the man behind the camera who has to work so hard to make us look good.

AWARD WINNING videographer Will Richardson

New Zealand was a wonderful country to visit and the fishing was as good as it gets, I am sure we will get a couple of great episodes for the second season of The Kayak Fishing Show out of the trip. We are already planning a return trip.

Next stop for us is the East Coast of the US, fishing in southern Georgia and Jacksonville Florida in May. We will keep you posted on how we do.

Have you contacted your cable provider yet to tell them you NEED WFN?

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Auckland New Zealand the City of Sails

When I arrived in Auckland I was met at the airport by Tony Free the General Manager of OK NZ and whisked away to the Johnson Outdoors facility where I was asked to speak in front of the Hibiscus kayak fishing club. I must admit after the long flight it was not my best seminar performance, but the guys there were great and it was fun to exchange ideas with people from another country that share my passion for kayak fishing.
My videographer, Will, showed up a bit after me and filmed the seminar which I am sure I will not want to watch.

First morning in New Zealand

Our first full day in NZ was spent at the OK facility where we spent time shooting around the plant, going over the kayak production process and rigging up our kayaks for the upcoming fishing adventure. We also were introduced to our fishing partner for the trip, Jai Sanders. When I was told we would be spending the week fishing with a cheerleader, Jai was not what I had pictured. Of course the jokes of him being a cheerleader didn’t last long as he made the comment “how would you like to go home and tell everyone you got your butt kicked by a cheerleader”. I am pretty sure he could do it too, after watching video of him tossing his wife, another cheerleader, from one hand to the other over his head.

Loading up at Johnson Outdoors NZ

As so often has happened for us on our travels we had to deal with weather issues, this time it was high winds, which as any kayaker knows is the hardest element to deal with. We had planned on heading to Coromandel but the weather reports for the area were not good so Tony got on the phone and made alternative plans for us. It was decided that rather than head offshore we would go to Taupo Lake and meet up with a local angler, Brian Dalton who specializes in trout fishing from his Ocean Kayak Torque. Though I was disappointed about the weather I was excited to once again try a new style of fishing.
We drove three hours from the OK plant to Taupo Lake and were put up in a nice little motel. I guess a little jet lagged and confused Will woke up at 2:00 am, showered and made coffee and tried to wake us, thinking it was 6:00. Jai proceeded to threaten his life, if he didn’t leave us to sleep, which is when Will realized his error in time. Of course we didn’t let Will forget about this the rest of the trip.

Taupo Lake

Brian really knows this fishery and gave us the instructions we would need to be successful at our endeavors. Because of the high winds we would have to find an area of the lake that was sheltered but hopefully also holding fish. Brian told us the fish were holding in deeper water and we would be using a jigging technique in which we had a heavy lure on the bottom of our line with two flies spaced evenly just above it. After a short paddle to the spot it didn’t take long for Brian to get on the first fish. It was actually pretty funny because his hookup happened while we were interviewing him about kayak fishing. The words “because kayaks catch fish” literally just came out of his mouth and he hooked up, we all started laughing our butts off, you could not of scripted it better. It took Jai and I a while to get used to the technique of this subtle jigging, as we are both offshore anglers primarily, and I had to figure out the new Humminbird side scan fish finder we had installed in my kayak, but once we had things worked out it was game on. I think we landed close to 30 nice rainbow trout, in the 2-4 pound range over the next three hours of fishing. We timed up our exit from the lake with perfection as just when we got off the water the lake turned into a churning cauldron from the high winds. We released most of the fish but kept 3 which Brian cleaned up and cooked for us for lunch. I had never actually eaten trout and I have to say it was delicious, particularly when paired with some good bread and a few cold New Zealand beers.

Brian and Jim on the Lake

My first fish in New Zealand

Jai’s first trout

Just before getting off the lake we received a call from Tony that the weather reports for Coromandel were looking better and that we should pack up our gear and he would come get us and take us on the 4 hour drive to our next destination. Unfortunately most of this drive was done in the dark, so we didn’t get to see all the beautiful scenery that Tony was telling us about. The first stop was to meet up with Rob Fort, the owner of Coromandel Kayak Adventures who would be our guide for the next four days. We transferred our trailer from Tony’s car to Robs and made the half hour drive on the winding, steep, dirt road to meet our boat captain Peter MacKenzie. Peter and his girlfriend were waiting for us when we arrived with a steak dinner and some cold beers. We sat up late discussing the following morning’s plans, which would involve towing the kayaks out to our mothership and transferring all our gear from land to boat to mothership. We all worked hard to make the job fast and efficient and I must say Jai’s strong arms and back really came in handy, now I know why he was invited.

Our home for the next few days

Once all the gear was loaded aboard the Taiho the plan was to tow the kayaks to our first destination. A veteran of many kayak trips involving towing of the kayaks I was not real thrilled with this idea particularly with the seas we would have to deal with. Towing a kayak in following seas at any speed can be a trial in futility and this proved true on this trip, two kayaks were flipped and one fishfinder destroyed before we could talk Peter into letting us load the kayaks onto the boat. Once we figured out the system of loading and unloading the kayaks from the Taiho we could move at a faster rate and be in and out of the kayaks in a hurry.

Peter and Rob, getting the kayaks aboard

We soon came upon a large school of bait and proceeded to put a few Kahawai in the bait tank. These were a huge bait fish that were actually pretty fun to catch, they pulled hard and put on a nice aerial display. The target species on the trip were KingFish aka Yellowtail which can grow to over 100 pounds, Marlin, which these large baits would be perfect for, and Snapper a tough fish living near the rocks.
For the next few days we moved from island to island trying to find sheltered areas to fish out of the 25-30 mph winds. Up tight to the islands we mainly targeted Snapper with softbaits, which the local Triggerfish, call leather jackets, seemed to love, as they ate them so fast you would think you were dunking the lure in a tank of Piranha. We still managed to land a good number of these scrappy fish, and as a bonus while fishing with my light bass rod I landed a 10 pound Kingfish, somehow keeping from the rocks.

Rob Fort, note the drift chute

Note the white caps, and this was in the lee of the island

One of the many Snapper landed during the trip

Thankfully Jai lost this hat soon after this shot

Jai and the Birds

The scenery on the Coromandel portion of the trip was amazing and Rob Fort of Coromandel Kayak Adventures and Peter worked their tails off trying to get us on fish. We saw plenty of signs of good fish but always in very exposed areas that we just couldn’t fish due to the high winds. We ended up pulling the plug on this segment of the trip a half day early, just so we could get a start to the second half of the trip at Bay of Islands.

Yes, I am a little tired of the wind

Raising our Flag in surrender to the wind

Hoping the winds would give us a break and the fish would cooperate we took the four hour drive to our new location and new home for the next five days, Cool Change, a 54 foot sailing Catamaran. I think a better name for this boat would have been Pure Luxury.

The Cool Change, loaded and ready to go

Visit our blog in a few days for the full report of the second half our adventure in New Zealand, a little hint, the wind died down and the fish began to chew.

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Filed under: Uncategorized

Some kayak fishing videos to get you excited about our sport or just to kill some time. Some of these are bits of our show, some are old videos of mine, some from our friends and some I just found on Youtube. Some are instructional, some of them exciting and some just funny, we have a few here from locations around the world. I know there are a lot more out there, many of which you can find linked off of these. So if you are stuck in doors with lousy winter weather, this should help you pass the time until you can get out on the water.

The Kayak Fishing Show Trailer

Game On 1 Trailer

Howard’s Blue Marlin from Game On

Matt’s Marlin from Game On

Kayak Kevin’s DVD trailer Kayak Fishing Chesapeake Bay

Kayak fishing Surf Wipe out instructional video

Exploding the waders of death myth

Kayak Fishing Record Dorado

Matt’s first Kayak Marlin

Nootka Sound Annual Kayak Fishing Derby higher resolution

Kayak Fishing at Rancho Leonero

Goose Attacks Pro Kayak Angler Drew Gregory

Kayak Fishing for Salmon Sharks, Alaska ‘07

Insane surf launch in New Zealand

Kayak Fishing for Sturgeon

Whale under the kayak

Worst ever kayak surf launch attempt

Kayak fishing for skate

TARPON JUMPING * KAYAK FISHING FLORIDA

Bonefish Kayak Fly fishing

Kayak Fishing on San Diego Bay

Halibut from a kayak – Pacific City, Oregon

Kayak Sailfish in FL

kayak fishing in Baja

Kayak Fly Fishing in Montana Video

If you have some video you think we should see please post them in the comments section. I hope these helped you pass the time and you enjoyed them.

Jim Sammons
Host of
The Kayak Fishing Show presented by Ocean Kayak

Filed under: Fish Stories, On Location Tagged: Jim Sammons, kayak fishing, kayak fishing videos, motorized kayak

Jim and Client in La Jolla

While working as a kayak fishing guide over the past sixteen years, I’ve seen people make just about every mistake possible. And so this week, I’m going to give you some tips that will help you avoid those embarrassing moments when you’re learning to kayak fish.

One of the biggest problems with kayak anglers is that 99% of them are fisherman first, and kayakers a very distant second. Now, if you’re going to be bass fishing close to shore in a small, sheltered bay or pond, that’s fine. But you’ll still be amazed at how learning proper kayaking technique can help your fishing. You’ll be able to cover a bigger area because you’ll be paddling way more efficiently. You’ll also be able to get to the fish more quickly and more quietly, and you’ll be able to fight and land fish more effectively. Of course, you’ll also develop the confidence and skills you need to safely fish in more exposed conditions.

The bottom line, is that once you’ve decided you want to pursue kayak fishing (which you will want to do once you’ve tried it!), it’s a great idea to take a kayaking class; learn the strokes and learn how to self rescue in case you fall off your kayak. If you will be ventureing beyond the the surf zone it is also a very good idea to take a surf class, as the surf zone takes very specific skills and the cost of not knowing them can be high in lost gear and injury.

Punching out through the surf

Bracing in the surf

Now with that said, here are three tips that will help you avoid embarrassing moments when you’re starting out kayak fishing.

First off, Dress to swim and rig to flip, Dress to swim simply means that you should dress with the expectation of swimming. Of course, this means wearing your PFD, but it also means wearing clothes that still do their job when they’re wet.
In the San Diego area, this means wearing quick dry clothing like ExOfficio’s, rather than a cotton t-shirt and shorts, which will stay wet and uncomfortable. In other areas it could mean wearing waders or even a dry suit to keep you good and warm.

Dressed for the cold in Chesapeake Bay. PFD, Kokatat Waders, dry top and lots of layers underneath

Rigging to flip just means making sure everything you bring is either secured to the kayak, that it will float, and that anything that can’t get wet is secured in a drybag

The next rule is, where your head goes your body will follow: In other words, to stay upright, keep your head centered over your kayak. If do you this, your kayak can rock and roll under you while you stay comfortable and balanced on top.

I’ve seen more people fall in the water while reaching for a rod behind them because they simply lean off the side of the kayak to look around. The best way to get at gear behind you is to turn side saddle in your kayak.”

Matt Moyer sitting side sadle in the kayak

The third tip is this: Always give yourself a rods length of line:
I see more people fighting themselves and fighting their equipment because they wind in too much line. You’re then stuck doing the star fish because you have to reach all the way out in one direction with the reel, and all the way in the other direction to get at the fish, or weed that’s on your line. If you just leave yourself a rods length of line you can grab your fish or lure, and work with slack line.

A rods length of line when landing a fish

So there you have it… a few quick tips to ease your learning curve while just getting into the sport of kayak fishing.

Filed under: How-To Tagged: Jim Sammons, kayak fishing, learn to kayak fish, motorized kayak ]]> http://kayakfishingtv.oncourss.com/2010/02/01/some-kayak-fishing-tips-for-those-just-getting-started-in-the-sport/feed/ http://kayakfishingtv.oncourss.com/2010/01/19/my-adventure-on-the-ottawa-river-or-if-you-are-going-to-try-and-kill-yourself-do-it-in-spectacular-fashion-and-get-it-on-video/ http://kayakfishingtv.oncourss.com/2010/01/19/my-adventure-on-the-ottawa-river-or-if-you-are-going-to-try-and-kill-yourself-do-it-in-spectacular-fashion-and-get-it-on-video/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:23:55 +0000 http://kayakfishingtv.oncourss.com/2010/01/19/my-adventure-on-the-ottawa-river-or-if-you-are-going-to-try-and-kill-yourself-do-it-in-spectacular-fashion-and-get-it-on-video/

With the Ottawa river kayak fishing episode of our show airing this week, I thought I would republish the article I wrote about the trip.

My Adventure on the Ottawa River.
Or
If you are going to try and kill yourself do it in spectacular fashion and at least get it on video

Well I am just back from the filming of the next segment of Game On, our kayak fishing adventure video . This segment was filmed on the Ottawa River in Canada and to my surprise would prove to be the most extreme segment so far. I would be spending time on the river with two former world champion white water boaters, Ken Whiting and Brendon Mark, so I felt was in good hands.

After a long flight from San Diego to the small airport in Ottawa I was dragged into immigration for a closer look. I was given the second degree and we had to go through the process of them deciding if I needed a work permit to be in Canada. From the entire airplane I was the only person they pulled into this secondary process. After a long debate and convincing them I was not getting paid they let me pass. It was after midnight when I was finally released and I was met by our videographer Will for the ride to his place to crash for the night. He told me we would be getting up early to meet the guys to fish the next morning.

This was an adventure I was really looking forward to and got no sleep just itching to get on the water. This would be the first of three days of running whitewater and fishing the eddy lines and pools that most anglers had no access to.

Other than floating down some small rapids in streams on inner tubes when I was a kid I had zero experience on rapids, but I have a ton of time in the surf on my kayak so I was feeling fairly confidant that I would handle it OK. The start off point on the river was as flat and calm as could be and I got slammed on my first cast of the lure in this spot.

I wish the rest of the river were this calm.

I figured they were going to take it easy on me for the first day even though Ken, Brendan and Will had joked about humbling me on this trip. I was feeling pretty good, that is until I saw this.

Yes I was scared

We watched three rafts in a row dump their passengers on the very first section, sending the people floating down the river. All except this one girl who took the raft for a rodeo ride.

Rodeo Ride

We watched and laughed, mine was a very nervous laughter.

Ken gave me a run down on running the river and made a plan, which was I would follow him closely down the rapids and the raft, which they were filming from would follow me down. I asked Ken “what happens if I get dumped” he said “just climb back on the kayak if you can, if not you should just float down river and the raft will pick you up.

Ken heading down first

I took a couple of deep breaths and said “well lets go, it’s only water right”. This was the start of what is, to this point in my life, the scariest thing I have ever been through. I quickly learned that running rapids is nothing like surfing, and unlike surfing there is no break between waves, the water just keeps flowing and pounding and comes at you from multiple directions at once.

Rough Ride

I did as instructed and followed Ken closely down that first section, passing one of the large rafts still stuck in the hole, and was quickly ejected from my kayak. As they told me I was right next to my kayak and quickly was back in the seat and setting up for the next section. So far so good all things considered. The next section was a different story, though to me it did not look as challenging there was a hidden obstacle that my inexperienced eye did not see and that was a hole that reached out and grabbed my kayak. I went from gliding down the river, to my kayak coming to a complete stop and me shooting right off the deck into the water and into the hole. I was later told this was Joe’s hole and I was not the first person to fall victim to its grip. Upon hitting the water I was quickly dragged back upstream and into the churning water which, even with a PFD, forced me under water. I popped up a few feet away and was quickly sucked back into the churning water to repeat the process over and over again within seconds. I could not catch my breath and even when above water could not get a good breath of air because my PFD had been too loose and was covering my face. I knew in my mind that I had help but I was scared to death that they would not be able to get to me, how could they in these conditions? Thankfully they did get to me in what felt like my final breath. First in was Ken, when you see the video you will understand why he was a champion kayaker. He side-surfed his kayak in the hole leaning over so far it is hard to believe he stayed in as I was doing my best to pull him over. He lost me once but quickly got back to me and finally pulled me out of danger zone. Brendan was next in with the raft and dragged me out of the water, adding one final insult to injury, baring my backside, as he pulled me from the water, to the crowd watching on the shore. Will did his part by keeping the camera rolling so we have some cool and exciting footage for the video. Which would have been shown at my funeral had I not survived, I have shown the footage to a few friends and the general response is “Holy Shit”. The rest of you will have to wait for the show to come out to see it.

This was a pretty scary introduction to kayaking the river and something I will not ever forget. Thankfully I had these experts there to come to my rescue, I will be forever in their dept, then again they put me in that spot I may have to try and get them back on our next trip.

Brendo and Ken

Though I was pretty shaken this was only the first day on the river and we had a lot of rapids and days of shooting to go, so after about a half hour of regrouping I was back in the kayak, this time in some flat water and doing what I love most and that is fishing. Catching my first pike and several small mouth bass.

My first pike

I still had to face the music and that meant running the next set of rapids. Though pretty intimidated I was assured this set was much easier and I should have no problems. The guys were right and I ran that set without incident and actually really enjoyed it. We ran several more sets of rapids over the course of the day with me only hitting the water a couple more times but always getting right back on board my kayak. I was so happy to have sacked up and run the river the rest of the day, it would have been easy to sit in that raft all day but I know I would of never forgiven myself. I opted not to tell my wife about the scare until I returned home.

Here are a few more shots from the first day.

My first Waleye

Doing a bit better in the whitewater

With a little bit of poetic justice I managed to catch the biggest Pike of the day right after the guys had taken their kayak out of the water at the end of the day.

Biggest pike of the day

Day two on the river was to be the same plan on the same section of river as the day before. Though I was glad I got back on my kayak the day before, I was not ready to run that top rapid again so I took a side chute of the river and fished my way to the bottom of the big section, while the boys ran it again. This time Lisa had raft duty and she flipped it in the top section. I was fishing and missed all that action.

Pike, look at those teeth, the entire roof of their mouths are teeth a true predator.

I am happy to say I ran the rest of the rapids that day and managed to stay on my kayak for the rest of the trip.

Ken running a fun section

Brendan in action

Fishing the eddy line

The next day was supposed to be the start of a two day camping trip on the river but heavy rain was predicted for that night so we opted to investigate a nearby lake the guys had never fished. The water was super clear and the lake was a very cool spot to fish, we all caught bass and Pike.

As predicted the rains came that night and we were all happy to be sleeping in beds not a wet tent. The forecast for the next day was rain until about 3:00 pm then clearing and cool.
Once again the predictions were correct so we loaded for our camping trip and headed out fishing in the rain. The fishing this day was pretty steady on small mouth bass, pike and Will got one four pound large mouth. Even better the sun came out and turned into a beautiful day.

Brendo with the big pike of the trip

We only had to run one section of rapids this day and I managed to get through unscathed. After that we were in some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen, It was almost too beautiful to be real, of course my camera battery died and I only got a few photos from this, our last day on the water.

Ken taking the lead

Dinner for our camp out.

Dinner

The last morning we had to jump in the kayaks and make an hour and a half paddle in the fog back to the car so I could make my plane. I did manage one last cast on the paddle in and landed one last Pike.

I have landed a lot of what could be considered extreme fish in a kayak but at my skill level this was the most extreme kayak fishing I have ever done. I can’t wait to do it again, this time with my PFD nice and tight and my rescuers near by.

I hope you enjoy the episode of the show that documents this adventure.

Jim Sammons
 <a href=”mailto:Jim@Kayak4Fish.com

” title=”mailto:Jim@Kayak4Fish.com

“>Jim at Kayak4Fish.com

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