Budget Kayak?

[Socal Bassman]

I hear ya, man. I had an old caddis back in the day. I think it's the same tube you've got. It too developed a leak and that was the end of my tubing days for years. Then I got the Fish Cat and was surprised at the difference between that tube and my old Caddis. But as much as I love fishing in it, I wanted a craft that would allow me to cover more water and less strain on my right knee. That's what brought me to looking at kayaks.

[tacklejunkie]

Well for a simple test run, you could call today a pretty big success.
I took the kayak, my phone, wallet, pelican case, 4lb ultralight drop shot combo, 3 color worms and my hook/weight box.

Met some of the crew out there on the water too.

The kayak was easy to mount from a trick I learned from a review of the kayak by a reviewer on a website. I got seated without any trouble. Wore my waders and life jacket for first time to see what happened. First thing I notice is you can get quite a bit of spray form the paddles so I was happy I had my waders on.

I bought a sponge for bailing water since it was small and I'm going to be on minimal chop. I did almost fall off today while retrieving a hook for Bryan that he stuck in a tree but I stayed on. lol. took on a tiny bit of water and bailed it out with the sponge in a minute or so.

The tracking wasn't the best I would imagine since it's a short yak. Nor was it the easiest thing to turn. I would say 6'6" is the max height I would recommend now on this boat. I like the small size of it to be honest. I got myself into some really tight places today. I think one mod I might consider however is a cable operated rudder at some point to help with tracking and steering.

I didn't bring rod holders or even a paddle clip (even though I had them at home yet to be mounted). Just wanted to bring a rod and the paddle and test the kayak!


Sure was crazy when I hooked and lost my first fish. Was about 3-4lbs and took me all over while paddling around to free it from the structure. It eventually shook me.

The next fish, which would be the first fish on my kayak. I kissed and released it to get big. I lost the fish before this and caught this fish exactly where I knew they'd be.
Just like last season. A spot overlooked by four boats 30 feet away.


Then I went and messed around with the crew on the bluegills. Once I got bored of that and realized they were gonna stay messing with bluegils all day, I traveled approximately 50 feet away and hooked an 18" bass that bent the hell out of my 4lb ultralight D/S/R. They watched from the weeds while I fought it in. I noticed a cloud of bait and a small boil in the area and knew of a drop off from previous seasons so I knew this fish would be where it was. Brute! I'll call them green trolling motors now.


Here's another shot of the same fish. to make the next fish look better. lol


Then the crew finally stopped terrorizing the bluegills and decided to return the rental. Me being in the yak got to stay for one more fish. I elected to try some more hidden underwater structure fishing that I knew of in the area.
3 fan casts with the same rig/worm as the last and I get nailed good and feel weight when I set the hook. This one took me all over. Under the boat, into the weeds, around my paddle, made me drop the rod, picked the rod back up and never really lost slack and pulled the fish back out the weeds five more times on 4lb line.
Lipped the beauty and decided to leave the fish biting, yet again.
A fish 2" bigger than the previous.. hit 20". Must have been a good 3-4lbs. (closer to 4)
I photo'd it from a few angles, kissed it, let it go and paddled home.








With an empty spool of 4lb line. Hahaha. gotta f'n love it.

[tacklejunkie]

Now I can go bolt on the accessories.
Anchors and fasteners and holders and such. Pliers, cleats non slip tape, sponge, paddle clip, etc.


Pelican case for phone/wallet

[fishinone]

Thanks for the fish report. Nice catch! Where did you fish?

I'll have to remember to get some kind of dry container for my valuables.

[tacklejunkie]

Local bassin' hole. PM me.

Got some more work done on my yak and took it out for a test again. Love it!

Started by routing some holes with my dremel and the router attachment.


About this point I'm starting to think it may not have been such a good idea to drill huge holes in the kayak lol


Then my fears are turned to joy at my new rod holder mount job.


Then I installed the folding paddle clips.
Now I can stash my paddle with one hand in the clips while fighting a fish with the other. Here's a shot of the paddle mounted.


Close-up of the clips


Used some rubber non slip stick on flooring and added some new aluminum/tungsten cutters with a leash for roll protection.




added some rubber no slip under the rod holders to prevent scratching.


This is hard to see,
but I added a really neat adjustable tie point anchor system. It lets me anchor from the side or the rear of the kayak and anywhere in between, even though I cannot reach these areas of the kayak. It works by a pulley strung between two eyes you mount on the yak and then you can slide the pulley like a clothesline. The anchor line goes through the pulley. I added a rope cleat in the old "Ram-X" label depression for good looks.
Here is the anchor sliding system and pulley but bad far picture


Here's a rear view of the new additions and the new 1.5lb anchor which worked pretty good by the way and the adjustable system was awesome!


Closer crappy shot of anchor and sliding system


Here she is on the water today just after landing after I broke my Shimano Saros handle on a 4lb bass.

[Socal Bassman]

Cool mods, bro!

[fishmounter]

Casey- How do you transport it? A rack or pick up truck bed?

[tacklejunkie]

Throw it in the back of the truck and slap a motorcycle tie down around it.
I try not to tie it down too hard just in case and go slow on the freeway.
I need to get those angled foam transport wedges when possible but already shelled out quite a bit. Bass pro had all their kayak parts miss-labeled too and I thought my anchor kit was going to cost more than it really did. IMO the kayak transporter foam wedges there were overpriced at something like $40-50!

It's only fifty pounds with everything on board. (bag of cement?). I can huff it to the water no problems.

Sent from my iPhone

[fishinone]

Tacklejunkie.

Your mods are looking good.

I like the idea of the variable position anchor system. I'll have to do something like that on my refurb.

[paintnfish]

Your going to want to put some sort of caps on the
bottom of your rod holders, one little boat wake over
the side and your now taking on water. looks like fun !