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With the W500, these arguments are no longer valid, especially since it’s so also easy to mount an electric motor, or an outboard gas motor on it, and since the performance and convenience offered by such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



Read Gary’s full review of his rigged W500 fishing kayak >>

Gary writes:

“I took the W500 out for her maiden voyage this afternoon on our 14 acre lake.  The W500 was easy to launch and my feet stayed completely dry.  The launching area we have is totally unimproved and is rather steep.  Neither the steepness, nor the unimproved nature caused any problem with launching.  Landing was another story – I learned how to sit in the very back of the kayak to lift the front pontoons up out of the water.  On the 5th attempt I was able to drive the W500 far enough up onto the bank for me to get out of it – again with totally dry feet.  The 5 attempts were not caused by the Kayak not performing rather my timidity on getting far enough back on the W500 to adequately lift the front end sufficiently.

I had initially thought I might want to add an electric motor for powered use – NOT ANYMORE!!  Paddling the W500 is so easy and even going into a 10mph breeze it was almost effortless.  For those who say the W500 won’t glide and won’t track straight I say you are FULL OF HOOEY!!  Paddling couldn’t have been easier – in fact too easy – I’d like a paddle with a blade twice the size of the one I purchased.  It almost felt like I was overpowering the paddle blade and not being efficient.  I got the 9 foot paddle and I wish I had gotten the longer one.

Getting used to being in the W500 took about 1 lap around the lake (approximately a mile).  I learned quickly that when you first are starting and the kayak seems “Tippy”, grabbing onto the sides of the kayak is NO HELP.  Raising my hands and bringing the paddle up to my chest stabilized the W500 quickly.  I also found that as I became accustomed to being in the W500 (its like learning to ride a bike again) that if I would concentrate looking where I wanted to go or even looking to see if I could see fish ahead of me made all the initial “Tippiness” go away quickly. Looking at the kayak is of no help whatsoever.   I can say I spent over a hour in the W500 and I never got wet – I also haven’t tried standing up, but I have gotten comfortable changing where I was sitting, sliding up and down the seat, etc.  Don’t worry – sliding up towards the bow or all the way back to the stern will not cause any problem whatsoever and the kayak will not flip.  Trust me, I am a BIG guy (6’2 1/2″ and about 280 lbs), and if it won’t flip for me, it won’t for you either. Someone as big as 325-350 lbs should be safe in the W500, and no you won’t sit so far down in the waterline as to take on water.  Its not going to happen.  The Specs say the max load is 360 lbs – I say hooey – it will handle much more than that.

Now comes the rigging of the W500 for fishing.  I purchased 2 flush mount pole holders on eBay – no not the slanted ones like come on the W500 if you desire, but 90 degree ones.  I plan on using one very far back on one of the “stern” pontoons as the holder for my fluorescent flag and 360 degree light mast (all in one).  I am getting one of TekTite’s lights and installing it inside a piece of 1 1/4″ PVC (actually 3 pieces about 18 inches long each that will connect together using 1 1/4″ PVC fittings.  The flag will mount on a piece of galvanized rod that goes through holes bored through the PVC.  My fishing pole holders will be above deck mounts that are removable so if I am  fly fishing I can remove the ones which would tangle my fly line.  I am still trying to figure out how and where to mount my hand held GPS and where to mount my Fishin Buddy II depth and fish finder.

My wife bought me one of the huge frozen food bags from Costco to use as my fish bag.  Last I have to figure out what I am going to do for anchoring and which kind of boxes to use for storing lures, etc.  Rods will store easily.  The W500 has a large amount of storage space, it just will be a search to find the boxes, etc that are the correct size to fit the storage.

Pictures will be coming soon and please wish me good luck on trying to stand up the first time.

I have also figured out that I am going to have to get one of those automatic inflatable life jackets.  My regular one is TOO WARM for the amount of exercise you can get paddling a kayak.  My shirt was wet when I was done.  Wet means COLD in the winter, and I plan to use the W500 all winter.

Gary Johnson”

Read Gary’s full review of his rigged W500 fishing kayak >>

I bought a Wavewalk kayak  in anticipation of using it for fishing the flooded grass because of the ease of standing in it and also because my lower back had been bothering me after long trips in my [15 ft long SOT fishing kayak]. Since then I’ve actually herniated a lumbar disk and was out of commission for 6 weeks, but although I’m functional now using the [15 ft long SOT fishing kayak] is out of the question in the near future.

I finally got to try out the W for what I bought it for.  We had flood tides over the weekend and I was anxious to pole the boat around the flooded spartina grass in search of tailing red fish.
I was not disappointed, it performed flawlessly.

It poles very easily in the grass, the view is great standing, and there is nearly no balancing effort for standing in it. I actually put a board across the top of the seat and poled standing on top of that. The view there is about 12″ above the water and the perspective that gives you hunting for tails is incredible.
I’ve also used the boat for some short trips fishing, and find that it’s a great little boat to fish out of because it allows you to be in so many positions while fishing and you never feel the need to get out and stretch or get the numbness out of your butt.

Standing is a great advantage since you have a much better vantage point to look for fish. I’ve always stood in my SOT kayak for this type of fishing but had to pay quite a bit of attention to balance while doing so.  With this boat, I can concentrate more on looking for fish rather than balance.

I pole the boat around using a long aluminum pool pole with a small paddle attached that I made  from a 2X4.  The handle on the end works very well since a lot of pressure must be applied at times to get through heavy grass, while also having a paddle function for the deeper creeks you cross. I store it under the seat suspended by bungees. I did most of the standing from the seat level by placing a board across the seat to give a larger more stable platform than the seat.  This proved to be much more stable than balancing on the seat alone, but does add to the skill level a bit.    The extra height provides a great distance to look for fish.  I was rewarded with sighting a number of reds and did manage to trick one with a fly.  The others seemed more interested in fiddler crabs and clams than my fly but provided a lot of excitement casting to them.

The Wavewalk is a keeper in my kayak herd now and for the near future will probably be the only boat I’ll be able to go out in. It’s nice and compact, stores a lot of stuff easily and keeps it dry, plus allows those of us with non cooperating bodies to fish more comfortably.

I’m also looking forward to staying nice and dry and warm fishing out of it this winter. This is a great boat to own even if my back wasn’t part of the reason I bought it.

Kevin

Wavewalk was represented by Gary (green W500 fishing kayak) and Dick (yellow W500 fishing kayak).

Says Gary:
Our new kayak fishing club had its first outing today at Ozello, Florida. Fishing was slow with only a few small redfish and spotted sea trout boated, but what an awesome day on the water.

Hey, all you northerners – this is why people come to Florida!
Two Wave walkers showed up, and our W kayaks drew lots of looks from the wet seat club…

In preparation for comparison to the new W500 I have been spending time “relearning the joys” of sit inside and sit on top kayaks.

Besides the obvious back issue already known there is the concern of shoulder pain. I have had some discomfort, but in talking to a few other fellow kayak fishermen they mentioned the pain associated with casting from the awkward L position. I noticed soreness the next day trying to power out long casts from the L position. It was far easier to just get out and wade since in the standing position the casts were braced.

I think in many cases the so called fishing kayaks are really just fishing transport devices, since actually fishing from them is a constant compromise. Many times getting out on a suitable bank or sand bar is far more comfortable. Besides, in many sit on tops the wet butt syndrome leads to other comfort problems down the road…

If we compare a standard cast from the W kayak to a cast from a sit on top we see two different things entirely: The sit on top cast is a controlled flail with the hope for distance and accuracy. It is many times followed by a winch from the angler as they deal with the pain. A cast from the W kayak is a powerful controlled launch that accurately places the lure right where it needs to be. It’s quite a difference, and one that can only be experienced – it is difficult to describe.

I’ve mentioned the Emmrod fishing rods before both in articles on the your site, and in articles for Emmrod itself. Out of the W kayak the Emmrod casting rods are deck guns in power and distance. The W riding position allows the angler to use the Emmrod to it’s fullest. From the L position that same rod on a cast will not get the same results.