Jeff grew up in Indiana, and he’d been fishing there out of canoes and small boats for many years, and since then he’s never missed his family’s annual fishing trip to Canada.

So why are fishing kayaks generally less popular among northern anglers compared to their higher popularity with southern anglers? It has to do with the climate up here, which is less clement than the southern climates.
This means both the water and weather are colder, and naturally, people don’t like the idea of getting wet and being exposed to the wind, which had been bundled with the kayak fishing concept since its inception, until the W kayak showed up on the scene, and changed things -
Canoes and dinghies offer their passengers better protection from the elements than sit-in, SOT and hybrid kayaks do, but the W kayak offers as much protection as canoes and dinghies offer, although it’s as lightweight as any fishing kayak (well, it’s lighter, in most cases), and it offers more advantages in terms of mobility, stability, ergonomics, storage, transportation, etc.

So far, anglers in colder regions had many important reasons why they should stick to their canoes, dinghies and motorboats, and not switch to fishing from kayaks, and the wetness and cold came on top of this list of arguments. This is not just a matter of convenience and health, but a matter of safety too: Hypothermia is a serious threat up here, and no one in their right mind would want to risk being in such a condition.

With the W500, these arguments are no longer valid, especially since it’s so also easy to mount an electric motor, or an outboard gas motor on it, and since the performance and convenience offered by such motorized fishing kayak are both considerable and evident.

Indeed, Jeff’s instincts proved to be right this time, as in other cases, and there has been basically no difference in the rate of adoption of the W kayak among northern kayak anglers, compared to that of southern kayak anglers.

We recently launched a new blog called Northern Kayak Fishing, which focuses on fishing from kayaks in colder regions. So far, Rox, Sungjin, John F, Gary T, and Jeff registered as contributing authors to this new blog, and we hope more will follow (and contribute too…)

Yoav



MinnYaks – Minnesota Fishing Kayaks

I would cast upstream, and bump bottom all the way back to me.
Lost many to snags…….
But when I would make contact, and pop that jig off of it, Thump!
Every time.
I moved around quite a bit, but the faster water produced the Bigger Smallies, the slower side perch and smaller smallies.
I ended the day with 8 perch, some were ready to pop they were so fat, and 12 Smallies.

Life Is Good!
Tight lines and MoPaddle safe all.
Rox

Late fall is muskie time in Minnesota. They seem to be fattening before for the long winter. (I usually fatten up DURING the winter.) You can catch them right up until the ice forms, or the season ends, whichever comes first. Many fisherman don’t even fish for muskies until now. This nice 40 inch, 18 plus pounder was taken from a small lake in the heart of Minneapolis, a short distance from the downtown area. The lake only allows paddling or electric motors……perfect for my Wavewalk 500!

This fish was only out of the water for a quick measurement and photo.

The canoe paddle is marked to allow for a quick measurement.

The ‘boga grip’ style gripper is much easier than a net from a kayak.

Glide baits, such as this Phantom, seem to work well this time of year.

The Wavewalk is a perfect craft for landing bigger fish. You are close to the water, and can easily steer the fish where you would like it to go. Because of the great tracking ability of the W, the fish won’t pull you around side to side as much as you would think. The fight was short and sweet, with the muskie quickly released without a scratch!
It’s going to be a long winter!

Gary
Minn Yaks