WAVEWALK FISHING KAYAKS BLOG » report

Kayak Fishing Maiden Voyage In Fast Tidal Currents, By Terry Ehrlich, South Carolina

W kayak — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 02:40:47 +0000

Terry Ehrlich, editor and publisher of Taxidermy Today Magazine, contributed the following account of his very first voyages in his new W500 kayak:

I am 67 years old, and I have never owned a kayak before the W500.
Before receiving the kayak, I was advised to take it in shallow, flat water for my maiden voyage, and get some practice. That is GOOD advice! However, I was unable to get to shallow flat water, and my maiden launch took place on St. Helena Sound off Edisto Beach, South Carolina.

Pine Island

When I launched the water was relatively flat and shallow on the river side of the beach. All went well. It took only a moment or two to get a feel for the degree of stability I could expect. I even found that standing and paddling seemed more comfortable and efficient that riding the saddle and paddling. I felt like I was getting more power in the standing stance, but I did do more paddling and experimenting while riding saddle style.
The W500 tracked very well right from the start, but I found making sharp turns to be challenging.
But then I found myself in fast moving water… The tides on the river side as well as the creeks draining the ACE Basin moved water at an amazing clip while remaining deceptively flat. The sound turns into creeks, and ditches and even smaller drains – - all moving, not just in the channels, but the whole system is inundated with heavily moving water. Even the tiniest of fingers, no wider than a kayak can run 6 MPH and make a total fool of an inexperienced paddler…

Tidal Current In Slatwater Marsh

The water was constantly moving at up to 6 miles/hr. in and out with practically no slack time at dead low or high tide.
Such flow dynamics can be used to good advantage, but if not understood and respected, it can get you into trouble and drain your energy.

I launched from the beach, and at two launching ramps on the Intracoastal waterway and at Edisto Marina. Even there, I was quickly swept into the fast current, and I found myself bouncing off pilings, trying to get out into clear water. It was an experience indeed! I wished for the still water of a lake or pond, but I had to deal with what I had…

Tidal Currents And Wind

I did it all – I got stuck on an oyster bank, and stuck in a mud bank with pluff mud that you would sink up to your thighs in. With a bit of shaking, bumping, rocking and cussing, I worked myself out of each situation. But I was struggling with the heavy, fast current. I had the sensation of moving ahead at a good rate of speed, but when I looked up and to the side as I stroked heavily along and saw the spartina grass on the bank not moving, and I realized I was not actually going forward at all, and it discouraged me.
Most of my motivation was to be able to fish from the W500 in the inshore waters of the creeks and marsh drainage ditches, but I found myself fighting the currents at every step of the way.
Now, I found no fault at all with the W500. It performed as it should, but the element we were riding in had its own way with us on that first voyage. I can now really appreciate the power of moving water!

Beach at St. Helena Sound

Just when I was pretty much satisfied that I had had enough of moving seawater, I was sitting on the deck of the beach house looking out across St. Helena Sound and there arose a dark spot on the water about 50 yards across. I thought at first that it was a shadow from a cloud, but when the middle of it exploded in a sparkling shower of silvery forms and a huge tarpon launched out of the water like a cruise missile, I sat straight up! Fish erupted all through the school of mullet. I grabbed my fishing rod and ran to the beach. Heaving the heaviest lure as far as possible, I could only halve the distance to the feeding frenzy. I stood there trying for fifteen minutes and realized the school was not moving. “Aha!” I just might have time to run back to the house and drag the W500 down to the beach one last time and get in on the action. I grabbed one rod, my life jacket, and one bag of lures… In moments, I was right in the middle of the frenzy: Fish scattering in every direction, fleeing from the huge predators below them. One shower of mullet sent a three-pounder flying right into the W500 and back out just as fast as it entered. The school seemed to find me a convenient hiding spot but the tarpon didn’t mind at all, charging through the masses at will, even bumping the boat as they rocketed by. Birds, dolphins, sharks, tarpon, mullet, glass minnows, jellyfish by the thousands and ME! It was a sight to behold.
I hooked several fish, and lost every one because they were nearly as big as me and my tackle was 10 pound test braid. Who cares, I was in fisherman’s heaven!
So oblivious was I that I hadn’t noticed we all were drifting out of the sound toward the Atlantic… Again, it all seemed flat and smooth, but in 15 minutes we had drifted a full mile from where I started. Concerned, I started stroking rather heavily back toward home base, but I was fighting that strong current again. After another 15 minutes, I realized I was not making enough headway to make it back to my point of origin, so I headed for the first piece of beach I could reach. I figured I would beach the craft and walk back to the house, a mile farther down the beach.
As I approached the beach, the waves tossed me about like a rubber duck in a washing machine. BOY! was I looking out of control . . mostly, because I WAS out of control.
I have gained a new respect for mother nature’s power – Your perspective changes, and you gain a degree of respect for the massive power of moving water, especially when it’s just you, your 28” wide W500, and your paddle.
Did I have a good time? You bet, but I paid for it! The advice I got before it all started was spot on – Start with still waters!
Back at the beach house, I washed the W500 down and it is pretty as ever.

Jesse & Son In A Guerrilla Kayaking Trip, North Carolina

W kayak — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:26:17 +0000

I have posted a 7 minute clip of my son and I taking a short tour of one of the back creeks located here on Camp Lejeune, NC. The scenery was beautiful and we had to negotiate a few obstacles. I would like to use the term that Chris used on his post we were “Guerrilla Kayaking”.
Again the “W” showed its ability to carry two people well over 150 lbs. in shallow water, its light enough to traverse through the marsh with little effort and rugged enough to “Guerrilla Kayak” over logs when we had to, and we were able to thread the needle in the smallest of openings.
Two nights before this, during the full moon we were scared out of this same creek by a very evil and low growl, come to find out it wan an American alligator bellowing – either a male warning us to get out of its territory or female letting us know we were to close to her nest. On this night the “W’ proved how versatile it was by making complete 180 in a narrow creek and picking up speed with every deep stroke. What a night.

Jesse

Chris’ Kayak River Trip Report, Massachusetts

W kayak — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:22:20 +0000

I have spent about 35 hours these past two weeks in the W300. I am very comfortable with all aspects of this kayak. Of course, my experience remains with flat water, but as my emails indicate – I am in no hurry to get to any particular level and just enjoy each outing. My personal record paddling while standing is slightly over a mile.

We had a person from Japan embedded in our group at work. He wanted to go kayaking so I borrowed a common kayak for him and we went with another person and his kayak to the Quinebog River in Brimfield, off of Route 20. We did about 12 miles. Unfortunately I had to do about six of those miles in the common kayak I borrowed for our visitor. What a pain it is to adjust the back support and the foot rests to get a comfortable paddling position. Also the kayak zig-zagged with each stroke because it did not have a keel or natural tracking action (nor did I initially have the paddling expertise to correct this). Since I came to the W300 with only canoe experience, I did not realize what I was (fortunately) missing. I was never so happy to get back into my W300. Meanwhile, my friend with the other kayak took the W300 while our visitor took his. He was very happy with the W300 and understood immediately how this was absolutely superior for fishing. He was standing and looking around bends and over marsh grass in no time and he loved the space inside the kayak and the ability to have fishing gear on the flat saddle while changing up lures. I had to politely ask him not to lead the group because I could not keep up with him in the W300 while I was in the borrowed kayak.

I went out by myself for some 6, 7 and 8 hours at a time on the water days. I now have the tell tale W kayaker tan/burn on my upper knee.

Anyway, thought I would drop you a line – so to speak.

Chris

More kayak trip reports from Chris Ott >>

John King & Son Running Rapids In Fishing Kayaks On A River In Ohio – Movie & Trip Report

W kayak — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 20:18:01 +0000

Just a short video of a river trip my son and I took. A small rapids run that the w500 seem to handle very well. A set of rapids that we ran later was larger and had some 3ft swells, that was interesting!
The w500 is not a whitewater kayak but it does pretty well when you pay attention to how the water is moving. What’s funny is at the end of the video my son hung up on a rock that I slid right over…
We ran 4.5 miles of the river in about 4hrs that day, floating and fishing. Another great day on the the water in my W500.
Been to busy the past couple of weeks and have not been able to get out on the water. Have made some Fall kayak fishing trip plans on a couple of larger lakes and rivers.
Hope to have a lot of pictures and reports to send. Till then, hope everyone is well.

John King

John and Jeanne Exploring Fox River By Kayak, And Catching Fish Too – Wisconsin

W kayak — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:36:20 +0000

Jeanne asked if I wanted to get some exercise and explore some stretches of river that we haven’t paddled before. Yes was my answer and we put the W’s in the truck and headed off for more exploration. This was just intended to be a touring trip but I always seem to take one fishing rod along, I can’t help it.
It was a stretch of the Fox river that I figured would be scenic but not hold many game fish.
The water was very stained as I predicted and I spotted many carp moving about. We approached a bridge and I couldn’t resist putting the paddle down and fishing the current break with my jointed Rapala. As I retrieved my lure near the boat I was startled by a set of jaws almost jumping into my W and grabbing my lure! I could not see what grabbed it because of the splash and because I almost jumped up in the air seeing jaws appearing last second out of the stained water! Much to my surprise it was a frisky Catfish. It was a first for me, catfish on a floating minnow bait and first cat in the W. I still had hope for maybe a bass or pike in this dark water. Then we spotted some back water that seemed to be blocked by brush and tree branches. I figured it is time to take advantage of the W’s ability to climb over obstacles. Bingo, it paid off again, getting into tough spots with the W. I found an area holding Largemouth bass and had fun catching them on the surface. What a blast!
John

For more kayak paddling and fishing stories from Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois, visit John’s website >>