Wavewalk Kayaks

Jeff McGovern to conduct kid’s inshore fishing clinic at Genung’s Fish Camp, Crescent Beach, January 23

Palatka, FL 1/4/10—Come spend an exciting, fun day with Jeff McGovern at Genung’s Fish Camp from 9 AM to Noon on January 23, 2010. Learn how to choose lures, bait, line and rigging to catch more fish in fresh and saltwater.
Emmrods will be featured and there will be a drawing for an Emmrod Packer Combo donated by Jeff’s Tackle Box at the end of the program. This free event is open to youth and youth groups of all ages and their parents and chaperones.
Coffee and donuts will be provided.

Registration is strongly recommended to avoid disappointment.

Genung’s Fish Camp is located at 291 Cubbedge Road (just below the 206 bridge at US 1), Crescent Beach, FL. For more information or to register, please contact Johnny at (904) 471-4144.

For more information about Jeff McGovern or Emmrod, go to www.jeffstacklebox.com

Happy Thanksgiving!
Thought I’d share some fishing news:
I took my visiting 5 year old grandson on his first ‘fishing trip’. We have a small pond in this wooded area behind our house and since his parents had left us alone while out shopping, we decided to go fishing. We had a lot of trouble trying to dig up worms, but we finally found 3 tiny little guys.

Anyway, after some lessons on how the bobber on the line works, he wound up catching 5 sunfish to my one! I tried to explain that he caught more than me because I was the one constantly rebaiting the hooks and that he was holding the rods 90 percent of the time.
Later I heard him tell his Grandma that he was a good fisherman today and that Grandpa was a bad fisherman.
Some things never change I guess!
John Z

Read John’s Review of His Motorized W500 Fishing Kayak

So, you want to have some quality time kayak fishing with your children (or grandchildren)? Well, it better be fun for them, or else they won’t like to go fishing with you again, and they would find all kinds of excuses to stay home and play a video game…

The L kayaking position isn’t that hard on a child’s back as it is on an adult’s back, but children need to move more than us, adults, and being locked in a kayak in that position, whether it’s for paddling or fishing, can get to be frustrating for them. This is why it’s important they have a kayak that offers them a chance to switch between a variety of fishing and paddling positions. Besides, kids love to stand up in boats (don’t we all?…) and both paddling and fishing standing in the W kayak comes naturally to them - Try to stop them from standing up and you’ll find they don’t hear you that well…

This two year old movie shows children paddling their W fishing kayaks on flat water and at the beach - in the surf:

Click to play movie

There are other, safety related considerations to why you may prefer to have children fish from a W fishing kayak rather than from a sit-in or SOT fishing kayak. It has to do with the fact that as a child lands a fish in a sit-in or on top of a SOT kayak, the fish is fighting to get free right in the kid’s lap - hook and all included. This is a situation that’s not always easy for an adult kayak fisherman to deal with, but for a novice kayak angler who happens to be very young it’s both stressful and potentially hazardous.
This is not a problem in the W fishing kayak, where the fish lands at the bottom of one of the kayak’s deep hulls, where it can struggle as much as it wants - until it gets too tired to be a problem for anyone.

Here’s another video clip from the beach:

This time it’s two brothers, aged 9 and 12, who perform whatever is possible considering the waves at the beach weren’t that great

Tom and Jenny on another day - enjoying surf paddling.

Tom Buddington recently wrote us from Florida:

-”Just thought I’d post a follow-up review after having several more experiences with this truly unique boat. Recently my daughter and I were caught out in what I estimate were 25 knot winds (higher gusts I would bet for certain) and the river became dark and menacing (Gosh it was so calm and peaceful moments before!). The waves were like a white water washing machine. It just happens with those out of nowhere summer storms; I try to be careful, especially with my daughter with me, but you might not ever go out if you worried about the possibility of a storm that wasn’t even predicted. THAT’s the moment of truth. 30 minutes of dark weather paddling at first into and against 20-25 knot winds and 2-3 foot storm slop and then having it on your tail (which is worse in my opinion). We just strapped on our PFD’s NICE and TIGHT and worked it with the Wyak. And she kept us out of the water and got us home. I was impressed the whole time with the stability of the W kayak in serious conditions. We used her best attributes (those twin hulls) and the geography of the Indian River Lagoon and ducked into a safe little cove and waited for things to get calm (we were in the middle and had a long way to go to get to that cove mind you). I can’t stress enough that the ability to alternate between significantly different positions (i.e., standing to riding and a few others) in the W kayak and use different muscles made this one a story with a happy ending. Would have been wiped-out exhausted in any other boat that day.

I speak from the perspective of a guy who loves the water and lives on the water and has been a waterman for, oh, say 30 years. I have 7 other boats of differing designs, 2 of which I have committed to sell to make way for my next Wyak . The W is an incredible craft and I like it.”

And here’s another picture of Tom and Jenny surf paddling at the beach:

It’s always fun to watch kids paddling a W kayak, regardless of their age and where they paddle it.

The sense of confidence they get from the boat sooner or later translates into visible progress, tricks and stunts.
In this case this nine year old boy had to break his own record in jumping in the kayak. We have reasons to believe he may have been hoping to capsize the boat…
He kept jumping and managed to produce a lot of spray - relatively to his weight. Then he gave a pretty impressive performance of standup paddling, which is not surprising since kids seem to find position more ‘natural’ than paddling in the lower positions.Eventually that kid and his 12 year old brother kept fooling with their boat in new and creative ways, and ended the session by declaring -”This is fun!”



I recently visited a popular online kayak fishing forum serving kayak fishermen in a Southern state. One of the discussions in it was about the negative side of kayak fishing as the participants see them.
Most of the participants fish from SOTs and some from sit-in kayaks, but none of them fishes from a W Kayak.

These are the problematic points that the participants seemed to agree upon:

1. You really can’t do it [kayak fishing] right without getting wet and muddy. Either water will slosh into your cockpit or your scuppers will fill up. You’ll need to get about knee deep to launch comfortably, so you’ll probably encounter mud, grass, sand, or all of them (ergonomic problem)

2. You’ll have to get used to loading and unloading your boat and equipment. You’ll take 15 minutes to unload and you’ll take 15 minutes to load everything back into/onto your vehicle/trailer (storage problem).

3. You can’t take your kid fishing with you.

4. Paddling into the wind is difficult (’windage’ problems).

5. It’s very hard to relief oneself (ergonomic problem).

6. No place to keep your catch when you paddle back in. You need to tie your stringer to the side and drag it, which can be difficult and attract predators, or use the fish-in-the-lap approach (storage problems).

7. Fishing in high winds makes it difficult to cast.

8. You can’t really fish standing. If you’re accustomed to casting in a standing position (power boat, shore or pier) you feel awkward casting from a low, seated position (ergonomic and biomechanical problems).

9. Since there’s little room on deck everything is close to you and you may unintentionally “snag” nearby items with your hook (ergonomic problem).

10. Not being able to stand up and stretch after being seated for a long time - discomfort in your legs (ergonomic problem)

11. Lower back and posterior pains (ergonomic problem).

12. It can get very cold onboard (ergonomic problem)

Compare this to the W Fishing Kayak, that:

1. Offers dry launching and beaching even in difficult spots, and its cockpit protects you against spray.

2. Is a ‘Toss and Go’ boat - you can leave your gear and tackle inside when transporting it.

3. Offers enough room onboard for a second passenger

4. Enables you to paddle in strong wind

5. Offers to stand up anytime and for any purpose…

6. Offers sufficient dry and protected storage space onboard for every possible need.

7. Offers powerful casting positions such as riding and standing

8. Enables fishing standing in confidence even in the presence of wind and eddies.

9. Features a full size, spacious and deep cockpit.

10. Offers to switch between various positions and stand up for fishing anytime.

11. Enables your legs to support your torso and back in a natural posture.

12. Puts you higher on the water and protects you from wind and spray.



Children normally find it harder to paddle and navigate than most adults do since they have less power and less developed motoric and spatial skills than adults have.
Kayak Touring is usually associated with the use of long and narrow traditional sit-in kayaks called Touring Kayaks or Sea Kayaks.
Paddling those kayaks requires either exceptional paddling skills or the use of a rudder (or both) for tracking, and it also requires the ability to roll the kayak in case it needs to be outfitted with a spray skirt.
These factors largely prevent children from using traditional touring kayaks and limits them to using wide, open cockpit sit-in or SOT kayaks known as ‘recreational’ kayaks that track poorly unless paddled with a rudder, which in its turn both impedes them as well as complicates things for them.
Therefore, it is quite rare to see children taking part in kayak trips in their own kayaks. The more common solution is using tandem kayaks, or canoes, but most kids love their independence and since they ride their bikes alone from an early age in most cases they expect to paddle their own kayak too, or at least prefer to do so.

The W Kayak tracks better than monohull kayaks, and therefore you never need a rudder to help it track. It’s also more ergonomic for kids than monohull kayaks are since the higher W paddling position adds power to both their paddling and control efforts.

Similarly, children can be taught to participate in kayak fishing trips in their own W kayaks from an early age. The problem in such cases is to make sure that they can operate their fishing tackle safely and independently.

This is a particularly enjoyable activity.
Kids feel both confident and excited in the W kayak, and the boat’s cockpit offers enough space for you and a child to paddle in and fish from comfortably.

The best is to ride the saddle in the back and let the kid ride or stand up in the front. This way he or she can feel independent while turning back to you to talk or in case they need your assistance, which they often do - at least in the beginning.

Obviously, you need to be careful, especially when the children cast their lines since you might accidentally get injured by a fishing hook flying near your head.
For this reason it’s important to keep a watchful eye on the young, enthusiastic fishermen at any time.

Older kids who are experienced enough with handling fishing tackle can go W kayak fishing in their own boat, providing there’s an adult nearby who can supervise them.

Yoav