Carlene, my wife is the camera lady.
Amy, Rebecca, and Calypso are the phenomenally photogenic crew.
The S4x3 performs very well, underway and at anchor.
We swam with the regular contingent of Caribbean fish but a nurse shark and an albino manatee cruised through the snorkeling quartet of mermaids too.
And, we motored with a family of dolphins who had to check out the new gray and white critter on the surface.
It is so wonderful to be surrounded by beautiful happy women.
Today I was able to do my first test drive of the Wavewalk S4 with a mud motor!
As a duck hunter the potential for the S4 is incredible. Couple that with a mud motor and you can access places that others cannot go. I hunt tidal mud flats where traditional boat motors are difficult to use due to the changing tides (water depth) as well as the sand bars that constantly shift. The mud motor allows operation in very shallow water and lets me get over those sand bars. Other duck hunters hunt in flooded timber where the logs eat propellers for lunch and occasionally eat whole lower units. The mud motor is the only way to travel safely in those kind of swamps. That is why putting a mud motor on the S4 is like combining peanut butter and chocolate.
This was my very first run, so I have a lot to learn about operating this kind of motor.
There are a lot of different styles of mud motors out there and the cost can be very prohibitive. But I found a kit which is created by Mud-skipper called the Twister. Rather than a straight shaft it has a curved shaft. At first I was concerned that due to this the turning radius of the boat would be dramatically effected. As it turns out that fear was unwarranted. The two hulls actually keep you from turning too sharp which could cause you to overturn considering the nature of how the motor turns. The 6.5 hp was plenty of horse power and I cavitated way before I ran out of power.
Lots of experimenting to do to get it all dialed in but it was a great first test run.
One of my least favorite fishing techniques is trolling.
Putting a rod and reel in a rod holder and waiting for what seems like hours for a bite can be borderline boring. Then, dragging a fish against the movement of a slow moving boat as we do fishing for stripers or bluefish in the Chesapeake Bay diminishes the tug and pull of the fish. Imagine cranking in a 5 gallon bucket of water. Welcome to the successful outcome of a trolling expedition.
However, trolling from a Wavewalk S4 is a completely different experience. After good success with my kayak spinning rigs trolling custom fabricated lures in mangrove creeks and channels, I set off to find the perfect rig for trolling in the clear inshore waters of South Florida.
I finally settled on a Shimano TR200-G graphite reel loaded with 20 lb. test mono line on a 4′ kayak Ricky Rod made in Miami.
With this rig in hand and the outboard tiller in the other, a kayak trolling fisherman (or woman) can smoothly ease out line and control the action of the lure or rigged bait while steering the S4. Unlike leaving the rig in the holder, with the rod in hand, bites are easily felt and the hook set. Now, we are fishing and catching and really enjoying the battle.
In less than an hour, I caught 4 barracuda no more than a 1/2 mile from my house using this technique. All were released. But, I had to gently tow the last one back to the dock to safely release from the dive platform of my big boat. It was just too big and toothy to bring aboard.
My next project is to build a long distance de-hooker.
I’ve had many fishing boats, including a center console catamaran, a 17 ft [pedal drive fishing kayak], and even a W300. I still use my center console boat, but I fish mainly out of my S4 now. The 17 ft [pedal kayak] was stable but just too big and heavy, and I could hardly move it on land and in the water, even with my father helping me. The W300 was too small and it didn’t work for me.
I wanted to see the S4 before buying, but once I saw it I knew that was it.
I love my S4! This boat is so stable that I stood in one of its hulls as soon as I put in in the water for the first time, like you [Yoav] did in that video. This is not a kayak, it’s a boat.
I used it once with a 2 HP motor together with a fishing buddy, but it was under powered, so I bought a 6 HP Suzuki long shaft, and it’s perfect. It goes fast!
I took two of my friends in the boat, with the new motor, and we went fishing in a pond. Each one of us weighs about two hundred pounds. Two of us stood in the boat and fished, and the third guy stood on the front deck. I told him to get down from there, because I was afraid he’d capsize the boat, but he said that he feels okay, and he stayed there. We ended up standing, all three if us, and fishing. I couldn’t believe it. This boat is unbelievable.
I’m planning to take it to North Carolina, and fish the shallow water next to the intercoastal. It will work better there than my big boat.
I’m working on a cart for it.
