Henry Rifle Forums

As a disabled veteran of the Marine Corps, there are things I just cant do any more. I don't look back at those, I look forward to the things I can. Fly fishing from our kayaks is something the wife and really enjoy, and we started with cheap bigbox store kayaks and have moved up thru the various styles as our interests grew. I have fished offshore salt water in Hobies that allow you to pedal along at a steady speed. Fished that Hobie in the current under a bridge, holding position to catch striper and big blues.

These days we stick to fishing the rivers for smallmouth and the lakes and large farm ponds for bass, crappie, and sunfish. Topwater strikes on the flyrod, especially on flies we've tied ourselves, are like crack. Nothing beats the water exploding and the rod going tight.
Best thing about kayak fishing for me... if the bite is off... it's still a great day kayaking, and you can spend the day with you camera. The kayak is so quiet, the shoreline is populated.

We currently fish from a pair of Wilderness Systems Ride 115s for floating the rivers, and a pair of Commander 120s for ponds and lakes.
My Commander is a 120cx, a limited edition carbon fiber lay up. It was a gift from the wife, and half the weight of the standard Commander.

Sounds like a lot of fun doing something that you really enjoy and can still do with your disability. I hope you have many more great fishing adventures with your kayaks. Thanks for the report!

Great stuff. I used to fish from a yak. But sold it a few years ago for a solo canoe.

I've done a lot of flyfishing, too, from a float tube, kick boat, kayak and a canoe. Yes, I agree, it is a great way to fish. Always amazes me how close you can get to fish without spooking them that way. We now live on a small lake that is too shallow and weedy for most powerboats and the shorelines are almost all bog and marsh, so no way to fish from them, but a solo canoe for me or a kayak for my husband and we're set for a great day of fishing.

BrokenolMarine wrote:We currently fish from a pair of Wilderness Systems Ride 115s for floating the rivers, and a pair of Commander 120s for ponds and lakes. My Commander is a 120cx, a limited edition carbon fiber lay up. It was a gift from the wife, and half the weight of the standard Commander.

first, I admire your spirit and dedication to our country .... secondly, your ability and willingness to adapt so as to be able to continue to enjoy fishing .... I enjoy fishing but haven't evolved to where I do so from a boat without a motor .. .. in another thread I remember you mentioning your Henry rifles .... please consider going to the following link and adding them to our community total

http://henryrifleforums.com/viewtopic.p ... 627#p35627

North Country Gal wrote: Always amazes me how close you can get to fish without spooking them that way.

I believe they have no idea what it is and do not see it as a threat.
A good example:
My wife and I were kayak fishing a flat one morning and saw a huge school of slot sized reds come onto the flat from deeper water and approach our yaks. Casting at the school we had multiple hits but no solid hookups as they were approaching us at a rapid pace. Then we were literally surrounded by a school of reds swimming around and by us and just looking at us. They showed absolutely zero concern for our presence. As they swam by us they approached a flats boat that was docked behind us. As soon as they noticed the boat the entire school fled that flat. It looked like a tidal wave running off of that flat. They had no idea what we were but they sure knew what that boat represented. One of the things I employ while fishing is studying animal behavior such as this example. Kayak fishing does have several advantages and one of them is stealth. They do limit your range somewhat, but with some individuals that may be a good thing as it forces them to fish an area more thoroughly and learn while they do it.

BrokenolMarine wrote:As a disabled veteran of the Marine Corps, there are things I just cant do any more. I don't look back at those, I look forward to the things I can.

That is a wonderful way to look at things.

Great attitude!

Love fly fishing also. Mostly use the flies or poppers that I make. Usually fish from the bank or my old 16 ft. jon boat. You are right - nothing like a top water hit from a bass or big bluegill. Bluegill = great eating!

Fishing from the kayaks doesn't have to be limiting to size. Before the long drives became too much, we used to make the run to the VA shore and fish for striper, redfish, blues, flounder, and all the rest. Once a year, during a three or four week window when the water temps were just right, we would don our dry suits against the cold and head to Kiptopeake, and fish with spinning gear and live eels for the infamous "Kiptopeake Kows" that passed slowly thru the concrete ships in the November / December timeframe. Imagine sitting in a twelve to sixteen foot kayak and hooking a fifty two inch striper! You are going for a sleigh ride. Most everyone in our group was a strong believer in photo and release. A friend of ours who lives and breathes kayak fishing the area... has made videos about the yearly event.

http://kayakkevin.com/catchreportsfall16/winter11.html

The wife is a skilled fly tyer, though I consider myself a hack. Lol. She tied a silk dragonfly realistic that took her more than a week, and it turned out so well, the local Orvis asked her to put it on display for a couple weeks in the Fly Fishing area. It stayed there in the glass terrarium for more than two years. We finally had to go get it when an Orvis customer kept insisting Miss Tina sell him the display for his wife for Christmas. She love dragon flies and had to have the one of a kind, hand tied flies. (Sigh) Orvis was selling lots of tying materials by having the display in the store, but we were afraid it might disappear.

Her realistic cricket design kills on bass and crappie as well.

http://www.flytyingforum.com/pattern5403.html

I fish this on a four weight for bream in the shallows, and a six for bass and crappy.
Often I side cast it hard into grasses with a smack! When it bounces off and hits the water the fish blow out of the water in their attack. Great fun.

Bugs, for sure, that stealth thing is also evident with animals other than fish. Have gotten very close to otters, mink, muskrats and other wildlife, too. Have found otters to be especially curious.

North Country Gal wrote:Bugs, for sure, that stealth thing is also evident with animals other than fish. Have gotten very close to otters, mink, muskrats and other wildlife, too. Have found otters to be especially curious.

Too close is a phrase we are familiar with.
Fishing far back in a large rural reservoir, Miss Tina had a huge Beaver try and climb IN her Commander. She finally had to whack it with the paddle to keep it out.

It was hairy there for a few minutes. It went away, but it went away mad. We left that cove, just in case.
She didn't injure it.... I could have done that easily with my SIG 45, but that's not who we are. She just got the Beaver's attention. The beaver probably had kits nearby. Or maybe we interrupted lunch.

Close was a pleasure with the Hobies in FL. While fishing around the bridge in Destin, two pods of Dolphins stopped in to play with us for over an hour. I shot about 200 pics with the digital slr and got some great shots. I captured tail walks, and Flipper style flips. They seemed to be fascinated by the Hobie mirage drive (pedal) system. They would swim under the kayaks and roll over and look up at the drives. They led us around in large loops in the area, charged at us at high speed and dove under at the last minute, and jumped over Tina and laughed at her. The folks on shored cheered at their antics. If we lost them, one of the dolphins would come back, pop up, as if to say, "Ah... over here?" Then the fun would start again. After about an hour... the largest of them... popped up and called. ALL TURNED and the headed out to deep water, then hit overdrive and were gone...

Now that with the Dolphins is WAY cool. Hope I never have a Moose that tries that, though.

Your fishing talk has me hoping to get out in my canoe soon. I'm looking forward to getting some fishing time in.

Me, too, but we've yet to have ice out. In fact, some friends report excellent ice fishing.

I was going to try ice fishing this winter, but the weather was too warm locally and our time at camp was too limited.

Be careful with Dolphins. I used to free dive with them when I was a scuba instructor in Guam. For the most part they are highly entertaining but they can and do bite. Here in FL they can be a pest. We have had them hang around/under the flats boat waiting for us to release caught fish. Which they then kill and devour. Gets to be a real problem when you are trying to release an undersized snook for example. I have witnessed several tourists attempt to feed dolphins and then get bit. When I am fishing an area and the blow sharks show up I leave; they either scare off or kill any available fish anyway.

Bugs wrote:Be careful with Dolphins. I used to free dive with them when I was a scuba instructor in Guam. For the most part they are highly entertaining but they can and do bite. Here in FL they can be a pest. We have had them hang around/under the flats boat waiting for us to release caught fish. Which they then kill and devour. Gets to be a real problem when you are trying to release an undersized snook for example. I have witnessed several tourists attempt to feed dolphins and then get bit. When I am fishing an area and the blow sharks show up I leave; they either scare off or kill any available fish anyway.

Thanks for the advice. Diving... I remember it fondly. I had a three year tour with a SAR squadron in Hawaii. Diving in Hawaii was amazing. When I got orders back to NC I sold all my gear to a newbie just starting with the club.

I have been adding some pictures of late, thought I would throw this one up, folks often share stories, and fish stories are the worst... folks always thinking... "Yeah Right".... Here is the pic...



Here is the FLIPPER jump... the dang thing jumped right out of the water and looked right into the camera and grinned. The folks on the beach were clapping.



Here is one of the Tailwalk. He just danced along beside my kayak, laughing the whole time. The pod seemed to be having as much fun as we were.



As we'd paddle along, all the sudden a group from the pod would pop up beside the kayaks, pace along beside the Hobies for a few minutes and then put on a burst of speed and fly away, duck under the surface and disappear. "Showing off" their speed I assumed. They played for over an hour, as I said before... and seemed to really have a great time. We never felt threatened.

It was a great end to the day, A good time was had by all.

That is awesome! We always enjoy watching them off the coast in Maryland, but never as close as you could observe them.