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I have fished for 40 years but I still keep discovering I have much more to learn about fishing, especially kayak fishing. Last week while salmon fishing from my Hobie on the Willamette, I noticed that the kayak was acting unstable. Instead of remaining flat in the water, it was wobbling as I moved side to side. I opened the hatch in front of my seat and discovered the Hobie had about four inches of water. I would later discover I had a tear in one of my scupper holes (click here to see a video of the tear on the kayakflyangler Youtube Channel). What I guessed happened was that the cart slipped down while I was unloading the kayak and got bound up in the scupper hole. I did some research and found out that Hobie's current cart has a pin system that keeps the cart in the scupper hole until the cart needs to be removed from the scupper holes. This was not something that was part of my original design. My new design includes this design element. And, with the reinforced scuppe...

This week I left the kayak at home and enjoyed a special treat when I drifted the McKenzie River outside Springfield, Oregon. An added bonus was fishing with my friend Philippe and well-known McKenzie River guide Aaron Helfrich. The trip was one Philippe and I had tried to make for three weeks, but the record rainfall in March postponed the trip twice. When the rain finally subsided in April, we found a weekday that worked for everyone and scheduled the trip. The weather was threatening on the drive down and most of the drift. By early afternoon, the temperature started to rise and so did the fish as the March browns and caddis flies did their own drifting on the river. The entire trip was a learning experience because in addition to fishing the river for the first time, it was the first time I had ever fly fished from a moving boat.  Aaron did a fabulous job keeping the boat in the holes or moving at a perfect speed to create a drag free drift of the fly. Many times I was shocke...

Spring break meant a couple days off and after waiting for the storms to pass, I headed to Tillamook with my son to do some "research."  It's always great to do fishing research and the coast offers many opportunities. Primarily, I wanted to check out some kayak launching areas that I had scoped out on Google Maps, but wanted to see first-hand, especially at low tide. I also hoped to do a little fishing in Cape Meares Lake with the Hobie Outback. I brought along the Redfish 10 hoping to talk Sam into some kayaking. Click here to see the video. Driving down the Wilson River canyon, the river looked like chocolate milk in a blender - brown and frothy. Although the river was wild, the canyon was spectacular with little waterfalls dotting the canyon walls, adding to the existing torrent. Rain splattered the windshield during the hour drive to Tillamook, letting up only when we reached the west side of the bay. There we were met with stiff winds creating white caps on Cape ...