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With the W500, these arguments are no longer valid, especially since it’s so also easy to mount an electric motor, or an outboard gas motor on it, and since the performance and convenience offered by such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



We’ve already wrote an article about a variety of dangers that kayak paddlers and anglers are exposed to in different water conditions, and here is some more about this important kayak safety issue:

Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have confirmed that a deadly amoeba, which is commonly found in lakes and rivers is the cause of the recent death of a Florida swimmer -
Health officials in Brevard County, FL, said they believe water infected with the parasite Naegleria fowleri went up the swimmer’s nose while she was swimming in the St. Johns River, east of Orlando.
Once the amoeba enters the brain, it usually causes a fatal infection called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). Initial signs of PAM include headache, fever, nausea, vomiting, loss of smell or taste and stiff neck.
The disease spreads rapidly, and usually results in death within a few days.
This disease is not contagious.
A similar case has also been reported in Virginia.
Florida state officials issued a health advisory saying the amoeba proliferates in stagnant freshwater lakes, ponds, streams and rivers, when temperatures climb into the 80s. They said people should take safety precautions when swimming, and avoid swallowing pool, lake or river water.
Officials say 32 such infections were reported in the US between 2001 and 2010.

Does anyone need more reasons to look at traditional kayaking’s cherished Eskimo Roll technique as inadequate and hazardous?
Does anyone need more reasons to look at fishing standing on top of a SOT kayak as taking unnecessary risks?
Does anyone need more reasons to understand why SUP boards are not well suited for stand up paddling on flat water?

This was also an opportunity to show the 9ft long, extra rigid and durable W paddle used for push poling in very shallow water.

Most people know what the term Barge means when kayaks are referred to: It’s a big, wide, long, heavy kayak that’s hard to car top, hard to carry, hard to launch, hard to paddle, and hard to beach.
A Barge is a kayak that’s slow, and doesn’t track well, hence the expression “A barge to paddle”.

Manufacturers and vendors who offer barge kayaks often claim their products are so stable that you can stand up and fish from them. Some vendors would even get some dude to perform stability tricks in front of a camera, while standing up on their barge kayak, but few people fall for this kind of advertisement, and those who do soon learn not to trust improbable advertising, and they learn it the wet way, after they fall overboard …

So far, I don’t think I’ve provided any information that’s new to the reader, but I had to lay the foundation for this article on a common and solid basis, so bear with me.

Here is the main point of this article:

Barge Kayaks are Hazardous to Paddle and Fish From

Seriously, they can be, and that’s because fishing kayaks are used by real, everyday people like yourself, in real, everyday conditions. Life is neither a commercial video, nor a glossy ad.

Everyday people are not Olympic paddling champs, and they’re often both overweight to some extent, and not very fit. The average kayak angler is middle aged, and many kayak anglers are elderly folks. Unfortunately, these are the same people who would normally purchase a barge yak, because they are concerned about the instability of narrow sit-in and SOT kayaks, and may not want to pay for a W kayak.

So why is a slow and hard to paddle fishing kayak potentially hazardous for such people?

Simply because in the natural world, which is where real people paddle and fish, you’re bound to get into unfavorable circumstances – sooner or later, unless you paddle and fish in a tiny pond, preferably close to home. Such circumstances usually involve changes in the weather, and since everyone has experienced such things, there’s no point to elaborate on that.

When bad weather happens while you’re seated in your kayak, you’d rather not overturn it, of course, and it is assumed that barge kayaks can normally handle this challenge – not always, and not as well as W kayaks, though… unlike other kayaks that are too unstable for that. However, if you happen to be away from shore in bad weather, being in a barge kayak could turn out to be a bad experience for you, and it may even lead to an accident, because you could find yourself unable to get back to your launching spot, or worse – go back to shore in any part of it. If back to shore means getting back to a beach, and the place you’re paddling and fishing in is the ocean, or a big lake, you’re in trouble. Big time.

This is because big bodies of water (E.G. ocean, lake, big river) also have currents in them, and the combination of wind and current is just too powerful for you to deal with when you’re paddling a barge kayak. Waves would likely swamp you. You won’t be able to direct the kayak to safety, and you’d be drifting somewhere you don’t want to go to. When this happens, you may find yourself in an even worse situation as night comes.

So try to imagine yourself wet, cold and exhausted from useless paddling efforts, your back is killing you, and you’re drifting somewhere in the darkness, in your barge yak.  Scary, eh?

Again, the heavier, older, and less fit you are, the higher the chances you’d let some kayak dealer sell you a barge yak, and at the same time the heavier, older and less fit you are, the more likely you are to get in trouble because you’re paddling such a vessel…

Well, life is unfair, sometimes, especially to those who don’t take it seriously, and don’t imagine worse case scenarios that unfortunately are part of many outdoor recreational sports, including kayaking and kayak fishing.

It doesn’t make much difference whether you propel your barge yak with a paddle or a pedal drive – You’s better not venture too far from shore with it, especially in unfavorable weather circumstances, or when there’s a good chance that the weather could change for the worse, because such change may very well be unfavorable, and even dangerous to you.