WAVEWALK KAYAKS

I took my W500 out to Rainbow Reservoir in Windsor Connecticut on June 30th.

June has really kicked my butt, as far as fishing goes. I’ve caught plenty of fish, but nothing over 2 lbs.

But today, the Air temps were perfect, water was 77 degrees, from 82 degrees yesterday.
Windy, and it was a pain…
Started off with the Carolina rigged worm, with a 3/8 oz weight, fan casting all around me, but the only thing I was pulling in the boat was weeds.
Went to the deeper edge with a steep drop off from 9′ to 22′, started working the C-rig there…….NADA
Went back to my confidence bait, the yum dinger, Texas rigged weedless, and started working the wood.
Remember when I said wood is good.
Well it is, I started pulling in crappies, perch, smallmouth bass, and largemouth bass, but nothing with size.
Headed to a fresh tree that came down last week, and skipping my yum dinger, up and under the tree’s outside edge in 8′ of water – Let it sink, while counting to 10, as I reached 8, I felt a tick – Swung back and set the hook hard, Crap it’s Big and heavy, pulling my yak right into the tree.
I’m trying to paddle with one hand to back out, then the wind kicks up, like Gail Force.

I Worked myself and the fish out in front of the tree and ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ………… Back in she goes, towing my yak back into the tree once again.
Now I’m almost certain I must have snagged a crap, because this baby was yanking me all over.
I dig in as best I could with the Paddle, and backed the yak off a good 10′ with my bail open…………reel in the slack line, and she’s still there, I stand up and really put the screws to her -
This was the moment of truth, either she’d come out of the tree with my lure still in her mouth…………or she’d be gone. I felt the weight of the fish as she popped out of the limbs, and she gives me a big howdy doooooooooo with a tail walk.
I’m c—-ing my pants, grab the net and pull her towards it, and scoop her up.

BIG Large Mouth Bass – I Get her weight, 5.4 lbs, just a hair over 22″ long.
Man if she was fat she would have weighed a lot more. Long and skinny, and recouping from the spawn.

I thanked Rainbow Reservoir for finally giving up one of her Pigs.

Life Is Good.
Paddle Safe All.
Rox

Last year, Steve sent us a review of his W500 without accompanying pictures.
Now he sent the pictures, which we added to his initial kayak review:

http://wavewalk.com/blog/2009/08/08/review-of-my-w500-fishing-kayak-by-stephen-cano-texas/

Enjoy!

Brian, from California, has an extraordinary talent for coming up with original outfitting ideas, and turning them into real life solutions.

Being a photographer, Brian needs to be able to troll at a steady pace, as well as stand up in full confidence.

Note the two small-size batteries that fit perfectly at the bottom of the hulls.
The motor’s steering bar features a useful articulated extension, especially if you’re standing up.

Brian’s camera case

Battery box at the bottom of Brian’s fishing kayak’s hull

Motor mount socket for the electric motor. The motor is located at the stern.

Read more about Brian’s folding outriggers for his motorized kayak >>

Finally, after many slow days, I came home with a sore arm. Three over-slot redfish (shots of two attached), plus a bunch of bluefish and jack crevalle which had large schools of baitfish busting water all around me. Lots of misses too.

I’ll be heading out lots before the oil arrives. At least if I bring a fish home to fry up, I won’t have to add oil to the pan. BTW, Yoav, how does the W perform in an oil slick? Seriously, this whole thing just makes me sick.

Brian just got his W500 fishing kayak, and after he went wave walking with it he’s already implementing some creative outfitting ideas for it:

The title for this picture should probably be ‘Motorized Fishing Sea Horse’, or ‘Western Yak Saddle’.

Here is a picture sent by Darrell Beam from North Carolina -

Darrell is sitting in his W500 fishing kayak, outfitted with a unique plexiglas dash designed and crafted by Darrell himself.

Here’s another result from Craig’s visit here:

Craig is a saltwater kayak fly fisherman who’s usually fly fishing standing in his W300 kayak in Cape Cod and Florida. He got that fishing kayak back in 2008, and has contributed a kayak review about it, as well as interesting rigging ideas.
Now he’s come to test the W500, and guess what – he became an instant fan of it.

Craig is getting a yellow W500, and we can hardly wait to see how he’s going to rig it.

The movie shows Craig fly fishing standing in his kayak, paddling standing, and doing a bunch of other things that are amazing and amusing, including entertaining a guest on board, and testing a lawn chair as a seat add-on (just stick the chair in the cockpit…).
BTW, Craig said he prefers the kayak without any added seat, which proves the W saddle is a classic

Kayak fishing hype is everywhere, but the truth has a value of its own, since it can be demonstrated and proven in real life:

Kayak stability without comfort and safety is a misnomer, and so is kayak fishing standing and stand up paddling without comfort and safety.
It is not reasonable to expect a paddler or angler to rise up from the L position to a standing position, and it is reckless to expect that they’ll sit down from a standing position in case they lose balance, which always happens when you stand up in or on top a kayak.
This is where the 14 inches high W kayak saddle shines…

Marketing hype is everywhere, but reality is there too, and you can see it with your own eyes:

This is the first movie in a new series proving the absolute technical superiority of the W500 in all aspects of kayak paddling and fishing, starting from dry and easy launching.
BTW, can people who use other kayaks even imagine what we’re talking about?…

You don’t have to run towards the kayak and hop into it as this movie shows – You can simply walk in, and settle inside comfortably, taking your time.
In any case, your feet will stay dry, and you’ll enjoy a 100% hassle free launching.

The movie shows some pretty energetic stand up kayak paddling, but you can do the same in a perfectly relaxed manner, paddling on both sides of your kayak, or on one side with a canoe style J stroke.

As for beaching, you just slide to the back of the kayak’s cockpit and by that raise its bow, so you can easily slide it up and land on firm ground, step out with no problem, and keep your feet dry, as usual with W kayak paddlers and anglers.




I mean it.

Craig Masterman came to visit yesterday. Craig is a saltwater kayak fly fisherman who’s been fly fishing out of his W300 for the past couple of years, mainly in Cape Cod and Florida.
He enjoyed paddling the W500, and fishing from it, and soon he’ll get his own, yellow W500.

Craig and I paddled the W500 kayak in tandem, and we both were surprised to see how easy it was, and how well the boat performed considering it was visibly overloaded, as our combined weight exceeded the maximum recommended load by 20% : Craig weighs 215 lbs, I weigh 200 lbs, and with our paddles shoes and clothes the total load was about 440 lbs, while the max recommended load for the W500 is 360 lbs.

The kayak moved at a reasonable speed, presented no significant balance issues, and was even pretty easy to maneuver considering the unusual circumstances.

The last time I did something like was when Jeff McGovern to visit me back in October of 2008. Before that I had paddled the W300 in tandem during demos, with (sometimes frightened…) clients, one of which was Craig, back in the summer of 2008

And one last thing: The W500 is such a pleasure to paddle because it’s only 28.5 inches wide, unlike common fishing kayaks that are much wider, and therefore are slow, clumsy, and difficult to paddle with or without a rudder.

Yoav