WAVEWALK KAYAKS

Craig Masterman is a fly fisherman from Massachusetts who likes to fish in saltwater, usually in Cape Cod and Florida.

Craig has already contributed a review of his W300 fly fishing kayak, and innovative rigging solutions.
Here are his latest innovative creations:

I’ve been working on this enhanced set-up for fly fishing from my W300. I used two short sections of the floatation noodle: one section for the front of the cockpit rim with a groove to hold the rod centered and a slit a couple inches aside of the groove to hold the leader tight, and the other section with a short bungee cord through it strung between the forward rigging loops on the hulls for the forward fly rod support rest. The darker layer on the forward rod support rest is an additional layer of foam pipe insulation secured with electrical zip ties. The idea was to have a place for the rod to rest securely with some line already stripped off the reel and ready to cast while I stand and paddle scouting for fish. A second rod can be carried in the side mounted rubber clips as seen in the pictures, all rigged and ready, as I described in my original rigging set up a couple of years ago.

Craig

You will also notice that I have installed a set of six snaps (kit available at any hardware store) along the outside edge of the forward part of the cockpit rim. I used an old towel and cut it to size and shape to snap to the rim to hold it draped over the front third of the cockpit. This is my rendition of a stripping “basket” which keeps the line away from the bottom of the hulls (and my feet) as I strip the fly line in on the retrieve. Although a crude installation, this “line management device” and rod rest design works very well as a fly fishing accessory.

Most people think that paddling a kayak in flat water isn’t very interesting. They are right, when sit-in and SOT kayaks are considered, but flat wrong when W kayaks are:

This movie is one of my favorites. It shows the W300 performing like no other paddle craft before, and highlights some of the W important advantages for paddling, touring and kayak fishing.

The reason I chose to post it again on this blog is because I recently discovered how to add annotations to YouTube videos

Yoav

Norm Craig, a from Rhode Island, had serious back surgery only months ago, and realized he couldn’t go fishing in a canoe or a regular kayak. He became the first fisherman to use our new W500 for kayak fishing. He wrote this fishing kayak ‘mini review’ immediately after taking it on water for the first time, and today he sent us his second impression:

-”Beautiful morning with the big W:

Jeff sent us this new movie from sunny Florida. He and Jeff Maron are scouting for fish in low tide.

Jeff paddles his W fishing kayak standing up, and as he explains, by doing so he’s able to see far enough to find a way through the maze of channels and oyster bars:

This is a new kayak fishing report, and a movie that Jeff shot from the cockpit of his W fishing kayak while he was scouting for fish in low tide near the I-95 206 bridge, in Florida.

Jeff is paddling his fishing kayak carefully between the partially exposed oyster beds, so as not to risk scratching it:

And this is Jeff’s report:
-”Yesterday was finally a day where I actually caught fish to eat. It was all flounder and I ended up catching 14 of them with three of legal size to keep. That many fish made for a great meal here at the house last night. The final dish was a Mediterranean flounder baked in the oven, served with asparagus spears and mashed red potatoes on the side. There were no left overs, the meal was outstanding. Eating like that I think I’ll start considering bringing home fish more often. Flounder are so easy to clean it’s like they were designed as food.
So far as the fishing day it started off almost with a disaster. I had taken the W kayak down the stairs at Shady Oyster and then noticed the huge tug heading toward the 206 bridge. Thank goodness it was not full high tide or the resulting waves would have washed me right back up the stairs. I’ve attached pictures of that tug and the resulting waves heading toward the launch.

It was a beautiful day just a little chilly in the morning but it warmed nicely. The water was very clear and you could see the flounder fighting a good five feet under the W kayak as they came up. Although I changed out lures a bit before I found what they wanted once discovered it was a blast. They ended up wanting a 1/8oz Cotee jig tipped with a Gulp shrimp or a Redfish Magic with a paddle tail in clear green sparkle. As I caught ones that were legal they were just unhooked and tossed into the hull behind me. With a wet rag on top of them they stayed nice and fresh till cleaned then prepared. So goes another successful trip in the W kayak.

– Jeff”