The wind has been screaming out of the ENE for four days now with no end in sight. But, it is flat calm in the creeks.
Yesterday morning, I purchased a stakeout pole and fabricated an adjustable pole holder for my W700 out of a busted electric trolling motor.
The fit is perfect and the removable rig works really well.
The fish were biting light that afternoon but I caught enough to provide a meal for my wife and myself.
Sure beats staring at all the other boats tied up to the docks…
Yesterday, I took my W700 and a couple rigged Ricky Rods to little Snapper Creek that is virtually inaccessible to any other vessels. Only a motorized kayak can easily go the distance to get in there and back. Within a half hour, I had my limit of 5 legal Mangrove Snapper (over 10″) in my fish bag and hit the dock before a storm rolled in.
Wavewalk and Ricky Rod teamed up to put the limit of good eating snapper on my dock. Looks like we have a winning combination –
My first fishing rod that I purchased in the Keys in 1974 was a solid glass Ricky Rod. That rod set me back six bucks and has caught more species of fish than all my other rods together.
When I ran bottom and chumming charter and commercial fishing trips from my 25′ six-pack diesel powered Kencraft in the 1980’s, Ricky Rods with American made Penn spinning reels put fish in the boat on every trip. No skunk in the box with a Ricky Rod in hand.
About 3 years ago, on a Sunday morning, I spotted the Ricky delivery van at the Yellow Bait House in Key Largo. I pulled over to talk to the old timer who was delivering tackle from the Ricky company.
After telling him how great my first rod still is and how much I like Ricky products, the octogenarian looked at me and said, “Well, I am Ricky!”
Amazed at how the owner of a big Miami company would take such a hands on approach, I listened to his story.
Mr. Ricky came from Cuba many years ago to escape the oppressive Castro regime. He built his company with hard work and fine products that are still reasonably priced. And, he invited me for a personal tour of his company. My buddy, Peg Leg Dan, wants to go with me. He has been fishing a Ricky Rod for as long as I have.
Last week, at the Yellow Bait House, I spotted some short 48″ rods that are perfect for kayak fishing in tight quarters. Yes, they are Ricky Rods. Mr. Ricky is still innovating at eighty plus years old.
So, I bought one and came back for two more.
A few years ago, not knowing any better, I submitted a short piece showing how to install an anchor trolley on my Wavewalk 500.
Having had 10 years experience and hundreds of fishing trips in my Wavewalk fishing machines, I’ve come up with a number of ideas to simplify rigging the W for fishing, one of which makes the anchor trolley idea obsolete.
While anchor trolleys are useful additions on mono hull yaks, the twin hull design of the W offers a much easier alternative.
All that is required are 2 holes drilled into the fore and aft cockpit rims (ignore the third middle hole in the photo used for another purpose), through which cords, knotted on each end, are attached.
Simply attach a plastic snap clip onto both the cord and anchor rope and “anchors away”. Deploy the anchor to the front or rear depending on which way the current is flowing. This is about as simple as it gets, with no banging of hardware on the W to spook fish.
This arrangement works with the W700 as well, however, the deck mount will prevent it from working on the front of the new S4.
Hope this helps Wavewalk users looking for a simple anchoring fix.
The S4 mold got coated with Teflon, and our mold makers are done with its final inspection.
It’s on the way to its new home at the production facility where our kayaks and boats are made.
Developing and producing such a large size cast aluminum tooling is a complicated and lengthy process, and it was carried out pretty much on schedule.
We are planning to produce the first S4 units next week.
The top part of the S4 mold. The golden-brown glossy material is the Teflon coat.
The purpose of coating the inside of a mold with Teflon is to prevent the Polyethylene from sticking to the mold after it’s cooled down.
If the Polyethylene sticks to the mold, the production team can have a hard time taking the molded boat out.
The mold’s top part viewed from another angle.
Close up of the bottom part of the Wavewalk S4 mold
The bottom part of the tooling suspended from a crane
Rear view of the bottom part (upside down) – The bottom half of the rear carry handles can be seen
The Wavewalk S4 cast aluminum tooling waiting to be picked up
Calypso crafts beautiful earrings out of fishing lures with the hooks removed. Her displays are becoming most popular in Key Largo locations. She is using the Mangrove Tunnel paddle method where the end of the paddle is used to fend off, the grip is used to pull thru, and, once in a while, you get a chance to slide the paddle thru the water. Often, you have to spin the paddle like a baton to accomplish fending or pulling depending on the side of the tunnel where one technique or the other is needed. That is why she has the paddle held in the center of the handle. Much like a soldier handling a gun at forward arms.
The tide does most of the work. And, we motored back up the tunnel because the ocean was ripping rough. We snaked thru that tunnel without a hitch but I did run out of gas later because of the longer run against the tide. Yes, the spare fuel can was tucked away in a hull tip. NBD.
