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With the W500, these arguments are no longer valid, especially since it’s so also easy to mount an electric motor, or an outboard gas motor on it, and since the performance and convenience offered by such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



Got to Rainbow a little after 11am and was off at 2pm.
It wasn’t as chilly as I thought it would be, but then again I was wearing 3 layers on top and long jons and wool socks.

Armed with three poles, 2 with 8lb test rigged with a  cicada (silver buddy) and a rapala ice fishing jig in perch. The other was a 1/2oz jig&pig. (which I never ended up using) DOH!

I was the only one on the water, one bass boat showed up, but they couldn’t start their motor, and they had no trolling motor.

Water temps were 41 to 42.8 degrees, wind wasn’t as bad as they said it was going to be, but of course, every time I had some action….IT WOULD PICK UP!!!!!!!

I headed down towards the pillars but the temps dropped to 38 degrees so I turned back and I stayed in the north end which was 41 to 42.8 degrees.
All my fish came out of 25′ to 36′ of water.

The Ice jig was the ticket.

I’d let it glide down to the bottom, reeled up 3 cranks, then I would just lift the rod tip, and let it fall back down.

I’d do it a couple of times, then I’d reel up 3 more cranks and repeat, till I’d get a bite.

I was really working the silver buddy when it went mushy on me.
I set the hook, and the battle was on.
What ever it was felt like it was circling around down in 28′ of water, then it went boink, and came up a lot easier?????
There are trees everywhere, and the rig must have been in the junk down there and the limb let free and the rig and twig came to hand!!  I can’t make this stuff up!

Went back to jigging the rapala ice jig in 36′ of water after marking a school on my sonar.
Lost the first 3 fish with out getting to see them. They came unbuttoned on the way up.

I finally landed 2 of the school, then they were gone.

Wind started pissing me off, now I was getting cold feet, because I wore my sneakers instead of my boots, I was grateful the wool socks that helped keep my feet warm for as long as they did.
Not sure if I’ll get back out in the yak again this year, the ice may end my yak fishing. But I know one thing for sure, next season I’ll be in my W500/W300 a lot more.
I spent a lot of my season fishing with my buddy on his Bass boat. Though I did have a good season, I catch a lot more Bass when I fish from my Wavewalk yaks.
Remember, be safe out there always wear you PFD. A fall in the waters now could be a death sentence, no matter how in shape you are or how well you swim, you fall in without one, your body will shut down………………………..so Please be safe.

Happy Holidays, Tight Lines and Paddle safe all.
Rox

Sometimes you can find open water on a frozen river or lake, and since it’s possible to launch your W kayak from ice as well as to beach it on ice the question is ‘why not go paddling or fishing?’

The simple answer is ‘because it’s very dangerous’.
In other words, the combination of ice and cold can turn out to be deadly.

Some of the factors that contribute to making such activities more dangerous are:

Air temperature: When it’s below freezing your paddle can get covered with a layer of ice and become heavy. The water dripping from it on your kayak can freeze and form a heavy layer that might destabilize it. If the water freezes inside the cockpit you might slip on it, lose your balance and fall overboard.

Alcohol: Absolutely not. Drinking while you’re paddling or fishing in cold water or weather is taking the first active step towards an accident. There is a strong correlation between drinking and paddle fishing accidents. If you need to boost your energy while you’re kayaking or kayak fishing do it with hot coffee from a thermos bottle, chocolate or energy bars.

Cellphones are an absolute necessity in order to call 911. BTW, a wet cellphone is useless…

Children. Too dangerous: being smaller children have a bigger surface area by relatively to their volume, which means that if they fall in the water their body temperature will drop faster than that of an adult in the same condition. Children also have a tendency to be careless (at least those that I know…) and panic easily – two potential hazards that you don’t want to have to face.

Clothing: Boots, heavy shoes, waders and heavy clothing are an absolute no. A good wetsuit or dry suit and booties are a must.

Distance from shore: Don’t paddle or fish where people on shore can’t see you. Preferably, they should also be able to hear you. Carry a whistle with you.

Number of people with you: Paddling or fishing in cold water all by yourself is really careless. If you feel you must do it you should go with a group, preferably with people who know what they’re doing and could advise you on what to do and not to do, as well as help you in case something happens. It’s also a good idea to have a bigger boat, preferably a motorboat as part of your expedition – stuff happens.

Saltwater. Ocean water with typical salinity freezes at about 28.9°F (-1.8°C), which is a colder than the freezing temperature for fresh water. This means that sea water that’s partly covered with ice is likely to be colder than fresh water in a similar condition. This means it would be even more dangerous if you fell overboard.

Time of day: Winter days are shorter, which means that you might find yourself trying to paddle your way back in the dark, which is dangerous both because it increases the risk of an accident as well as reduces the chances of you succeeding in rescuing yourself or getting rescued by others.

Type of boat: Reducing your degree of exposure to the elements is a good idea when kayaking or fishing in cold water and weather.
The worst are sit-on-top (SOT) kayaks that put you close to the water without any protection. Sit-in kayaks (SIK) can be a little better since they offer you the opportunity to protect yourself with a spray skirt, but using such an accessory is hazardous if you don’t have a fool proof Eskimo Roll (very few people do), and it’s highly inconvenient for fishing. Canoes offer good protection from spray but paddling them can become too difficult because of windage problems. Finally, W kayaks offer you the best protection from both spray and wind, and they also perform better than the other boats under wind.

Water depth: Getting out of deep water is far more difficult than it is from shallow water. Falling in deep water can cause hypothermia faster than it would take you to rescue yourself, which means that your chances of survival might be slim.

Wind: The combination of wind and sub freezing temperatures can lead to the formation of surface ice where you had open water before. This means that on your way back to shore you might find yourself tired and shivering in your boat without being able to paddle through the newly formed ice.

Your physical condition: Some people are in great shape and can resist cold, but are you one of them? Remember – water is about 700 times denser than air, which means that it can cool your body instantly and lead to heart failure even before hypothermia settles in.

So, if you still feel you must get out on a cold winter day it’s better if you kept your kayak at home and found something as rewarding as paddling or fishing to do, yet not as dangerous.

Yoav