Combining Kayaking and Fly Fishing...

[BrokenolMarine]

Until my degenerating health put the brakes on our volunteer work, we often taught fly tying and fly casting. We spent most of the time teaching vets, but we would throw in a civilian if they asked. Our lessons were more informal than most, teaching the mechanics of the sport, without hammering the classic formats such as "Ten and Two, Ten and Two."

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Our students learned to cast a fly in a day, and were fishing that afternoon. We always told them that they could take formal lessons and learn the "Art" of fly fishing later... but fly fishing was a love they could acquire now. Since we were teaching them to fly fish and fish from the kayak at the same time, they didn't have to have long beautiful casts to start out, just accurate basic casts. We taught them that, and great practice techniques.

Don't get me wrong, even with a bad shoulder, and a technique I developed just for her, with her bad side tucked in, Miss Tina has a long beautiful cast, if and when she needs it.

We have often had folks ask her at the boat ramp if she would be interested in teaching them to cast... she grins and points to me.

When telling the folks to practice for kayak fishing, I suggest sitting on a five gallon or one gallon bucket to simulate sitting in the kayak. Then I suggest casting to the various structure around your yard. Hedges, bushes, or trees, and try and get as close as possible. You can also lay the top to the five gallon bucket, place a gallon bucket or two around the yard, and maybe even a frisbee as your skills improve. Put a target or two under the edge of the bushes and side cast into that. You don't need to be more than thirty yards or so away, as the kayak lets you drift or glide close to your area of choice without spooking the fish, plus you can enter those shallow coves the power boats dream of fishing.

You can also drift the river and catch the big smallmouth, letting the current do most of the work, drifting over the shallow rocks normal watercraft would get hung up on. The payoff is worth it!

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Sometimes we just take the newbies fishing with spinning gear to get them started, but the payoff for your time is evident when you see the look on the face of your friends as they hook the first smallmouth or bass on the river float. Priceless.

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[BrokenolMarine]

The picture of Tina's cast is somehow compressed and distorted. It looked correct in the preview when I checked it, but then when I submitted the post, it got bent out of shape. Sorry, I tried to delete the pic, but can't figure out how.
My bad.

[BrokenolMarine]

For those that showed an interest, we were always happy to teach the more advanced techniques in both fly fishing and kayaking. In fly fishing, we'd teach the double haul, the technique where the off hand added speed to the cast by accelerating the line as you cast. We'd teach additional casting techniques, including one especially useful in kayak fishing called the "Steeple Cast" named after a church steeple. The rod tip was kept high on the back cast, which kept the line from dropping low and touching the water on the back cast and ruining the forward cast.

For kayaking, we'd teach various paddle techniques, which would include various sculling methods for one handed paddling, handy when controlling the kayak or a fish on.... bow and stern strokes to turn the kayak on it's own axis, reentry techniques in case you turtle and hold a yard sale. (But that's a different thread!)

We loved spending time with these guys, they always had something to share, and we made lifelong friends.
Not one of them ever failed to say, "Thanks" for us taking the time to share.