WAVEWALK KAYAKS

Today I took my first maiden voyage on the Connecticut River up in Enfield in my Wave Walk W500 yak.

Skies were bright and sunny, water temps were 77 to 79 degrees, and of course, the wind was not to bad, in the beginning.

Paddle up river and started scouping things out.

I Heard a bunch of noise crashing threw the woods up by the cement wall, and low and behold, 8 coyotes were in there, one stopped to look me over.
It was creepy, but as I reached for the camera, the yote, perked it’s head up and ran back up under cover!!

Armed with only 2 poles, one rigged with a dinger, the other drop shot. (D/S)

Bait fish were everywhere, and I knew what I was throwing, Drop Shot, with a 2.5″ plastic minnow, which was matching the bait perfectly.
I paddle and found some really nice weeds with breaks in them, but open to deeper water.
I started to work the inside weed line, dropping the D/S down in the holes, which was kind of risking it with 8lb Floro P-line, time would tell.
I spot something orange out of the corner of my eye……….. Koi…………….tooooooooooooooo funny!

I started getting small smallies in the holes, the another, and another, all small nothing over 1 lb, so I put them back as fast as I could.
Untangle the drop shot……………………………….and cast back in.
Which is a real pain when there are smallies everywhere getting out the tangle mess each time.

Cast to the outside edge of the weed line, working it back slowly.

All of a sudden, I could see fish, but they were parting like the red sea, bait fish are zooming under my yak swimming away from something.
I’m figuring its a wolf pack of smallies moving in, and things are going to get real busy.

All while I’m working the D/S back to me, I start watching it in the 4′ of water I’m anchored up in.

As I’m watching the minnow about 4 feet from the yak, all I see is mouth, then ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ out to deeper water, turn baby turn……………………………
Now she charging straight at me…………………..reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel man reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel…………………………….
Up She comes and it’s a BEAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ turn her back and under the yak she goes, out she pops on the other side and I’m c****ing my pants, up she jumps, I got the net in my hand , she charges the yak, crashes into the hull and Boink, In My NET!!!!
I can’t make this chit up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Then I remember to breath, hands are shaking so bad, I pear over the side and there she sits in my Net.
As I lift her up, the hook had fallen out.

This has surpassed my D/S PB Large Mouth Bass, which was 3.8lbs from West Hill.
This Puppy is 21 3/4″ long and 5.11 lbs. Man if she was only fat, I could only imagine what she would have weighed.

I spent the rest of the day, anchored up right in this sweet spot.

Total tally for the day, 22 Small Mouth Bass, all on the Drop Shot.

Almost feels silly to post what the rest of the Smallies looked like.

The paddle back was not as easy as my ride out, remember in the beginning of my post, I said the wind wasn’t to bad till…………………………

I started back, all heck broke loose, winds kicked up, I bet well over 20 miles per hour, swells, and even with the current, I was going backwards at times.

Oh Man, and what is ahead of me, but swells up to 2′!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crossing the rapids, was exciting and a little scary at times, but I had my PFD on so I wasn’t to worried.

The Wave Walk W500 handle it like a Champ, I was high and dry, but very very tired.

Grateful for such a wonderful day, and a New PB Smallie on the Drop Shot.

LIFE IS GOOD!

Tight lines and Paddle Safe All.
Rox

Here are a few shots from yesterday at the Highbridge area down in Flagler country FL about 43 miles from the house. The waters are where last year we caught hundreds of snook but today there were none. The season has been closed this year so far because of the severe cold this past winter killing so many fish.
Jeff

Photography: Nina Green

We just got back from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for Jeanne’s family reunion. We brought all of the W kayaks along. Her family and friends had a blast and were impressed with them. It was fun for us sharing are love for the W kayaks with her family.

John

We were able to slip away for a few hours yesterday and had another enjoyable trip with the W kayaks.
Wonder if anyone can see the doe and her two fawns, hint look for the spots.
Hope all is well.

John and Jeanne

Dick Sherman and I encountered some brisk winds and choppy water yesterday, but our W kayak kept us high and dry. Another slow day, but still no oil in sight.
Gary

We initially headed up to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to hit a few ATV trails. After inspecting the bearings on my trailer I found that it needed new bearings. I prefer to fish the U. P. in June when the water warms up, but the weather looked decent so we loaded up the W’s and left the ATVs at home.

Friday was too windy and cold to head out on the water. Saturday brought the sun and warmer temps and calm winds, a beautiful spring day. We went to a lake close to are camp called Fish lake. I tried deep water for a couple of hours with no luck,water temps in the mid 50′s. I decided to move into a bay where the water temp reached 60.

Finally some action. Small pike were eager to bite on my floating J-11 Rapala near shore and red fish magic spinners out a way from the shoreline. A few tiny smallmouth were waking up along with the pike in the warmer water. Then finally a nicer fish hit my red fish chartreuse colored spinner bait. A huge smallmouth hit the lure hard. I battled it for a while and then he took his path to freedom around a sunken tree. Once again the big one got away!

Jeff, I am going to order some more redfish magic spinner baits. I guess the trip was “big” on scenery and “small” on fish. But as always it was great to get out on the water with the W’s.
It was Jeanne’s first time in the W500 model and she loved it. She was able to lay down comfortably and soak up some sun while I fished. You can’t do that in just any kayak.
Talk to you soon,
John and Jeanne

John owns four of the world’s best looking fishing kayaks, thanks to his original camo designs. But how do you attach four W fishing kayaks to a pickup truck bed when you’re going for a long paddling and fishing trip with your family ?

Says John:

-”It should be easy to transport four W s in the back of my pickup. I used the noodles on top of the 300 s that fit side by side between the wheel wells just as they did before. The slightly wider 500 s are placed on top of the noodles and the 300 s. Five straps do the trick. Two in the back keeping any sliding out action from occurring. Two pulling back to prevent the top W s from going through my rear window, and one strap going through the handles to prevent the wind from lifting the W s up. Hope to take the fleet out Friday if the weather cooperates.
John”

Read more about John and Jeanne’s kayak fishing trips in Wisconsin and Michigan >>

Jeff McGovern, reporting from somewhere in NE Florida…:
The catching was steady all morning but it was all jacks and bluefish so my lures took a pounding.
I had one very good spot that normally produces good trout catches get blown out by three dolphins who crashed my party. One pass from those three in close quarters and the fish won’t be around till the next tide change.
Once I got back to the fish camp I was surrounded by happy kayakers with questions about the W500. It’s finally warm and people are getting back on the water.

Dave Baumbaugh drove all the way from Pennsylvania to Sharon, Massachusetts, where Wavewalk is located. He wanted to make sure that he won’t be buying the wrong fishing kayak… Upon his arrival Dave took one look at the W500 on display, and said: -”The picture you have on your website isn’t doing justice to this boat!”  Then, Dave declined our offer to take the kayak for a test ride, saying: -”I can see it’s what need just by looking at it.” When we attached the 11.4 foot long W500 on his big pickup truck, the boat looked so small it nearly disappeared, and Dave drove back home with it.

Says Dave:
I am still in awe at how easy this kayak is to handle and how stable it is.
First time in the kayak on the water and I spent about two hours just getting the feel of it. I tried paddling and even stood up and paddled, I think that if I am going to do much of that I’ll need a longer paddle.
I had no problems getting in or out of the kayak and even tried it from a dock and didn’t get wet. All of this was on a lake. My next venture will be to a very large river to see how well it does there. I am anxious to see and feel how the twin hulls react where there is significant current and rocks/boulders.

What really got me going was that I mounted a set of oar locks and now the electric motor guys better look out. It is simply amazing how fast you can go with out a lot of effort.

The one pic is from Easter when we had the family over and as you can see the kids had fun in the kayak. The other pics are so you can see how I attached the oar locks and the stabilizer bar between them.

From Wayne Taylors’ picture on the web site I could see that you placed your locks at the third rib and I used that as a pattern. Since I have the W500 I don’t have the vertical height at the top of the compartment that Wayne’s old W300 had. To compensate for the angles I used a 2X4 and measured in an 3/4 inch from the edge and the used a skill saw set at 45 degree to cut my stock. I also used 1/8 X 2 in aluminum stock as backing material on the outside of the cut 2X4 and inside where the nuts go. All of my material is 12 in long and I ended up with the sides flexing to much. I solved that by using a piece of 1/8 X 2 X 28 1/2 inch aluminum stock and I drilled a 1/2 in hole in each end for the oar locks. That little trick took out all of the hull flex and now I can apply as much pressure as I need when rowing.

I also made a rod holder using a plant stand that straddles the saddle perfectly and slides under the edge of the cockpit.

I have had it out three more times. Once fishing and the others just getting the feel of it, even caught and released some fish (no camera with me). I even tried it in the river and soon learned that the river trips will definitely be warm weather trips. Although, I have yet to take on any water the river was just to swift to row or paddle against it. We’ll see what happens when it comes down a few feet and warms up a little.

Dave Baumbaugh

New: Watch movies of Dave’s fishing kayak rigged with rowing oars >>

For those who follow our blog, the name Ed Wheeler isn’t new -

Ed is a 70 year old, retired businessman from Florida, who wanted to fish from a kayak.

He tried various types of fishing kayaks – both paddle and pedal propelled, only to find that fishing from them was practically impossible for him, because they were too uncomfortable.

So naturally, Ed became interested in our W kayaks, but since he got burned before, he wanted to test one before ordering.

Our friend Jeff McGovern let Ed test his W500 fishing kayak, and Ed ordered one, only to find that he loved kayak fishing, and was having a great time, even after spending many hours in long kayak fishing trips.

When Ed heard about the FCKA kayak fishing tournament in Western Florida, he invited Jeff to join him, and they both participated in it.

Photo:Jeff McGovern

Ed showing this beautiful, 27 inch redfish he caught during a long day, when he competed in the FCKA kayak fishing tournament. Behind Ed, his yellow W500 fishing kayak, rigged in a somehow traditional way, that is with a milk crate in the back. Ed likes to take a lot of gear with him on his fishing trips.

Jeff caught this nice, 22 inch redfish:

Next to the fish, a prototype of a new casting rod that Jeff has been testing for Emmrod.
More on Jeff’s kayak fishing blog >>