Kayak Fishing and Paddling - The New Standard in Fishing Kayaks. Fishing Kayak Reviews, and Kayak Fishing Trip Reports, Movies, Pictures and Articles By and For Kayak Anglers.
We tested it for the first time yesterday, on the Charles River. We were surprised that there was no surprise - The boat felt and performed as intended: Faster and stabler than our first series (now branded W300).
The new kayak’s lower spray deflector compensated for its additional width, and made it easy to move the paddle - both in the standing and riding positions.
My two sons aged 13 and 10 took turns in paddling, and had no problem at all.
The new kayak tracks remarkably well, and glides nicely on the surface thanks to its smaller draft. It’s as easy to turn as our first, smaller model.
Tandem (trio, actually):
I took my two boys with me on board. One weighs 110 lb, and the other 100 lb. Last time I weighed myself I was 200 lb. With our shoes, clothes, PFDs and paddles the boat was loaded with some 450 lb.
Still, we felt no instability, and although slower than when paddled solo, the new model wasn’t hard to paddle, and tracked very well. Turning was noticeably harder than when lightly loaded, but that should be corrected through practicing.
The longer cockpit didn’t feel crowded with three passengers, and although I sat in the back I could move my paddle freely.
The hulls slightly spread apart, pressed by our combined weight. This added to the boat’s stability, and felt good.
Here’s a rather unusual report from Bruce Simmons, a kayak fisherman from Houston, Texas:
-”Just got power back on, look at what 10 inches of rain overnight can do.
As you can see, My son Mark had a blast with his new kayak, no school today, I told my wife thank go we bought them cuz now we can do some front yard fishin and have a way to the grocery store
These were taken out front this morning, several houses in the neighborhood took on water and a few friends had their cars ruined, we expect more rain later this evening. Never a dull moment in H Town!
Bruce”
An alligator gar impaled on Bruce’s neighbor fence…
Don Rainey is a seasoned kayak fisherman who decided to switch from traditional fishing kayaks to the Wavewalk kayak because his back and legs wouldn’t let him go on…
Don tells in his fishing kayak review that it took him some time to master his new W kayak, and he found out that not only was his back and legs feeling good, for a change (which he had expected), but he could in fact fish under conditions that would have previously forced him to stay home, including strong winds and chop:
“All fish were caught in extremely windy conditions with a good bit of a swell going on. I probably wouldn’t have ventured out in those conditions with my old kayak.”
Here’s a funny movie that Jeff sent us from Florida:
And this is a great view of a Florida sunrise caught by Jeff’s camera:
“Yesterday was the classic fishing day. The sunrise, as you saw from the picture was simply beautiful. Air temps started out with t-shirt conmfort at around 70 degrees and warmed into a humidity free low 80s by noon. They was just enough of a light breeze to ripple the water just a tiny bit but not so much as to hamper casting in any direction you pleased. I figured with the upcoming Jax Kayak Classic it would be a good day to experiment.
I was very surprised by the lure that out caught everything else by a huge margin today. Most of the newer baits we are seeing in stores have some type of wiggle, sound, or eratic action built into them. That is the current fad and of course every lure firm has examples in their lineup of baits. While I was prepareing my tackle Friday night I cam across three little lures long discontinued by by L&S Bait Company under their Mirrolure brand here in Florida. These folks are known for their tough durable saltwater hard baits and I do have a number of them in my tackle stash. What I came upon were three little Mirrolure 3M3 ultralight topwater plugs. The first one I picked up had rusted hook tips so I dug through my hook supply looking for replacements. I found two that would work. One a standard #6 treble and the other a dressed #6 treble. I swithced them out and tied the lure to my old Ugly Stick pack rod with one of my Daiwa 1300SS reels. The line was 8lb test mono with a 15lb Flurocarbon leader. This little lure has no rattles no particular wiggle or wild action. It just glides along and does pretty much nothing looking to all the world like a tiny glass minnow just moving near the surface.
Sometimes that lack of obvious action is what the fish want. I would toss it out and not all that far since it’s very light at 1/8oz and has the aerodinamic flight of a potato chip. Once it hit the water I would just reel it in ever so slowly. There were times yesterday it was a fish on each cast and the type varied.
I caugfht redfish on it, blue fish, sea trout, and ladyfish they all seemed to key in on the almost total lack of action. My fear was on such light tackle I would loose the fish since the bait is so tiny. But those nasty sharp little hooks held on and the fish came to net or hand. I guess the moral here is just beacuse the lure is old fashioned and out of date don’t think the fish will ignore it. At this point it might become my secret weapon.
I guess your website is even seen by seakayakers. I was fishing next to a small island when a group of 10 sea kayakers went through bird watching. As they glided past me I could hear the comments. Words like “hey there is that boat I told you about”,” that is so cool”, and “I’ll bet it’s easier to get around than these things”. I just waved and wished them well.– Jeff”
So far as yesterday and fishing - Again large numbers of ladyfish, but I did manage a 1/2 dozen trout and one sculpin. Tackle wise I took one of the Emmrod spinning rods out to play and that was a riot.
The fish lately have been preferring smaller baits so the 1/8oz Cotee jigs with 2 inch Gulp shrimp did the trick. I was glad to get the trout since they represent a resurgence of gamefish. The so called trash fish, blues, ladyfish and jacks are fun but not so great as table fare and won’t win in any prizes in a tournament. When staked out in an area the W is really a fishing platform as much as a craft. Since it allows the angler to move around so much comfort is not an issue and you can really spend more time working out catching fish and not dealing with cramps. –Jeff
-”Today was an excellent day to be kayak fishing, especially from the W. I started with a topwater plug called a Super Spook Jr it caught a number of bluefish before being ripped off the line when it was swarmed by a two or three of them at once. The topwater action was fantastic with hits on every cast. It was so good I stayed staked out in one spot for nearly four hours catching and releasing ladyfish, bluefish, and jacks.
Even managed three undersized flounder. I’m sure if I had been in any kayak but a W that long in the boat in one place would have been nearly impossible. All of the topwater fish were caught using my little Rugged Flex Emmrod equipped with a Curado 200B casting reel spooled with 16 mono line. I did add a short 20lb fluorocarbon leader since all of this action was with very fast toothy fish. Once that Super Spook met it’s fate and was bitten off I tied on a Chug Bug and continued catching fish on the top.
Once the topwater water bite cooled off I changed over to another of my vintage outfits. The rod was a first generation Ugly Stick four piece fly/spin pack rod. I had it changed over to a spinning rod years ago and rewrapped with SIC guides. Combined with one of my Daiwa 1300SS reels spooled with 8lb mono it’s just plain fun to fish with. I used a short fluorocarbon leader just like the other outfit and for a lure used a small Cotee jig head and a 2 inch Gulp shrimp. Once again fish after fish fell to that combination.
The day was an absolute blast. The kind of day I wish I had someone along who had really never caught to many fish since today they would have had a ball. You can never predict having days like this only keep fishing and hope they will happen. I did not get any so called game fish, many would call today’s catches trash fish. As far as I’m concerned the day could not have been much better. It was loaded with action and by the time I headed in just after 2PM my arms hurt from all the fish fighting. –Jeff”
Todd Lenkowski from Massachusetts bought his son Jeff a Wavewalk F2 fishing kayak. Jeff is an experienced bass fisherman, and here is his first impression of his new kayak:
-”I’ve taken the boat out twice and it has been amazing. Like you said, it took a few minutes to get used to but I quickly got the hang of paddling and balance.
The first time out at a pond near my house I saw so many huge fish that I never knew existed. I caught a bunch of bass, but the only picture I have is of a trout I caught while I was bass fishing (the weirdest thing ever, very uncommon) I will send more pictures as I get them.
Thanks again for the great boat! Jeff”
John Fabina recently got his new W fishing kayak, and this is his first report from a fishing expedition, with the kayak rigged for fishing:
-”I ventured out today to try to find crappies or blue gills. I tried two lakes, water temps were in the low 40’s. I found fish but I couldn’t coax them to bite. It may be a little early yet. More importantly it was my first time out on the W with fishing gear. Out for six hours on two lakes and no back fatigue!
My fish finder mount is a portable unit that came with a plastic base and battery holder. It also came with a nylon soft case which I removed and will use for ice fishing.
Sometimes the best set up is the easiest. I simply used the W’s bungee to secure plastic base and added a safety cable. It is very secure. I mounted the transducer sideways on the bracket and attached it with the suction cup on the side of the W. It worked great. Now we just need the water to warm up.
Jeff McGovern and Jeff Maron ready to launch their fishing kayaks in Moses Creek, Florida, before the kayak fishing trip they had been planning for some time: -”I met up with Jeff Maron and his buddy Kenny at Shady Oyster this morning right around 6AM. We headed out before the sun and fished topwater lures to start with. Jeff was the only one to hook up and landed a very nice jack the size of the one in my short video. After the sun came up we paddled over to Moses Creek and just enjoyed the scenery. Both Jeff and Kenny had to head home mid morning and I stayed out till around 1PM. My fishless morning turned fruitful right around 11AM. The only rod I used today was the little Emmrod Rugged Flex I wrote about last year. After using topwaters and a Redfish Magic spinnerbait without success I turned to a 1/4oz Mission jig head with a 3inch Gulp shrimp in the new penny color. That did it. The first taken was a just under legal trout followed by two more of the same. Then a flounder, three of the chunky jacks like in the video and then two more flounder. I had decided early on I was not going to take fish home today. All those flounder were legal but no sense changing plans. The lady fish were also present but really little. But there were swarms of them and if you moved the bait too fast they would try and nail right away. Funny thing was all of the fish I caught were in an area that was a cut between two of the small islands just south of Shady Oyster. It was low tide so the actual width was only maybe 30 feet and the fishable area no more than 45 feet long. But the water was really pushing through that cut so the fish were on a buffet of bait fish and shrimp. It was fun and on that little Emmrod every fish felt so much bigger. With the tides running the way they were the only time I had to get my feet wet was when I headed in and the boat hot bottom 5 feet from the waters edge. –Jeff”
John is one of those W kayak fishermen who live in northern states (Wisconsin, in his case), and for whom every opportunity to get out and hit the water in spring (or autumn, for this matter) is a cause for celebration:
-”It was only in the forties today and cloudy but I had the day off am really getting the itch to get out and practice in the “W”.
I decided to go to a spot on a river close by which offers a safe paddling route.
The cold temperatures made me take all the safety precautions very seriously. I have been a professional firefighter for 16 years and served 11 years on the dive rescue team for the city of Milwaukee, and have seen the results of cold water tragedies.
The current was somewhat strong but the wind was calm. After spending three hours today on the river I am feeling very comfortable maneuvering around in the “W”.
It is comforting to know that I can now paddle during cold weather periods and feel safe.
Looks like it is going to be cool all week.
Hope it will warm up soon so I can take more Photos. I am also looking into waterproof video cameras.
Another observation from Jeff, following yesterday’s fishing trip:
-”I saw two other fellows out in kayaks toward the end of the my time on the water. By then is was blowing pretty hard out of the south. Both of them were in sit on tops. We headed in about the same time, right into the wind no way to avoid it. Slow going for sure but I never paused and just paddled back with that walking pace stroke. The other guys started out with me but fell way behind as they struggled with the waves and spray. The W just churned on in. I got wet mainly from paddle drip but that was minimal. The two guys were soaked and their reels would need a major cleaning thanks to being drenched from the salt spray. They did not say too much right away because they were too winded when they got in. I was already packed up in the Ranger and ready to go. The younger man looked at the W and then at his off brand sit on top and just asked. OK, where the heck did you buy that thing? I passed along the website info. The young man had only been kayaking maybe six months, his buddy maybe two years. After seeing the W and then we talked about set up expenses I think both of them might be considering a W down the line. Both men should be far better candidates for the boat than I was. I don’t think either fellow topped 160 lbs and they were just a hair shorter than me. Had the wind not been blowing so hard I could have given them a quick trial ride.
Our kayak sales in March jumped 114% compared to March 2008. This exceeded our best estimates.
We’ll never know what the numbers would have been without the ongoing recession, but they are encouraging even with it, especially considering the slump in the kayak market.
This closes a wonderful first 2009 quarter. As usual for this time of year, Florida and Texas are leading in the number of orders we got, since the paddling and fishing season begins earlier in these two big southern states.
As far as the website, we had 14,000 individuals visit it in March, which is a little over 60% more than we had in March of last year.
We make this information public for the sake of the W-kayak fans who keep track of what’s going on with their favorite boat.
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The only rod I used today was the little Emmrod Rugged Flex I wrote about last year. After using topwaters and a Redfish Magic spinnerbait without success I turned to a 1/4oz Mission jig head with a 3inch Gulp shrimp in the new penny color. That did it. The first taken was a just under legal trout followed by two more of the same. Then a flounder, three of the chunky jacks like in the video and then two more flounder. I had decided early on I was not going to take fish home today. 
All those flounder were legal but no sense changing plans. The lady fish were also present but really little. But there were swarms of them and if you moved the bait too fast they would try and nail right away. Funny thing was all of the fish I caught were in an area that was a cut between two of the small islands just south of Shady Oyster. It was low tide so the actual width was only maybe 30 feet and the fishable area no more than 45 feet long. But the water was really pushing through that cut so the fish were on a buffet of bait fish and shrimp. It was fun and on that little Emmrod every fish felt so much bigger. With the tides running the way they were the only time I had to get my feet wet was when I headed in and the boat hot bottom 5 feet from the waters edge. –Jeff”