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While most of the country was chasing deals on Black Friday I was chasing fish. For a couple years now, Washington state has closed a handful of lakes the week of Thanksgiving and stocked them with larger trout. The lakes and ponds open on Black Friday providing a chance to skip the shopping crowds and catch some fish. I was looking forward to the day because if offered the chance to catch some nice trout while initiating my $250 fly fishing kayak. My destination was Kress Lake outside Kalama. There were a couple small lakes close to Portland but because I had never fished Kress, I decided it would be a perfect location to spend a couple hours while testing my latest kayak project. I woke up a little later than expected and drank my coffee while watching the rain poor down. Oh well, I thought to myself, it was the Northwest and I had everything to stay dry. Besides, the rain may reduce the number of anglers on the water. I loaded up the kayak and within 90 minutes was on the ...

A nice Williamson River rainbow October found me down in Klamath Falls, Oregon for a few days with the Klamath Country Fly Casters . This long-established fishing group invited me to talk about kayak fly fishing and offered a few incentives to get me to drive 5 hours for a couple days of fishing. The invitation came from the group's president Dale Zemke. Dale is a kayak fly angler who has roots south of the Oregon border and has fished with the great Jim Sammons, a pioneer in kayak fishing. Dale contacted me in February and plans were made for a three-day trip that included a presentation to the group and some fishing on the Williamson River. The Williamson is a storied river and since I had never fished it, I jumped at the offer. I looked forward to the trip for more than a month and found myself researching flies and fine-tuning my presentation. The day finally arrived and I left Portland in the first rainstorm of the season. On the way down, I stopped in at Odell Lake ...

Check out the video here . Okay, the headline is bad, but the fish was big. A recent trip on the Willamette River near West Linn Oregon netted a nice smallmouth bass. The trip was a first for me in the kayak in these waters. I have fished them several times for coho in one of my many previous boats but never the kayak. An added bonus for the day was taking nephew Travis out for his first kayak trip in a Hobie. The weather was great with little wind and warm temperatures. We took out early in order to have time on the kayaks without the powerboats. Since this was expected to be the last weekend of the summer with temps in the 90s, I was certain we would see several boats.  It took us little time to gear up the kayaks and we were underway by 8 a.m. We crossed the river and I started fishing close to the shore while Travis started snapping photos with his iPhone.  It didn't take long to get into a bass and I quickly brought in an 8-inch smallmouth. I showed it o...

This year promises a record run of salmon on the Columbia River. Follow the record sockeye run earlier this summer, more than a million chinook salmon are expected to make the journey inland to spawn and die and hopefully create a new record run. According reports, the majority of fish are headed for the Hanford reach and Idaho tributaries . Although the Columbia may be experiencing good chinook runs, our neighbors in Alaska are not, at least the late run Kenai salmon . In preparation for the run, I picked up a new 10-weight fly rod, floating line and a reel (all for less than $150) that I am hoping to test on a strong chinook. And I want to catch it while standing up on the Hobie PA14. I figure I have about three weeks to accomplish this and I hope to a have successful report soon. Stay tuned for more.

In December 2013, I realized that the most versatile boat was not made of metal, wood or fiberglass. No, the most versatile boat was made of plastic (and fiberglass, but mostly plastic). I started this post because of a recent kayak trip down the Clackamas River in my Hobie Outback. It was the second to last test in determining if I had made the right decision is selling my sled and have my only boats be kayaks. My boat obsession started with a 12-foot Klamath Fishmaster I picked up for $200. A lifelong fly angler, my fishing exploits changed with the arrival of my son. I knew a different approach was needed and with a limited budget I took a chance with the $200. I refurbished the boat, sold it, bought another and continued this upgrading process in order to minimize the impact on the household budget. Neither my son, nor my wife, truly enjoyed being in the boats so I made a selfish goal to work my way up to a jet sled. I reached that goal within four years when I ...

    September is a great time in Oregon. The salmon and steelhead are in the rivers, the trout are becoming more active, there is a crispness in the air and the food festivals are as abundant as the bounty.     The favorite fall getaway for wife and I is the Skamania Lodge Celebration of Beer, an intimate festival featuring local brewers and generous pours at the beautiful Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Washington.    We stay at the lodge so we can enjoy ourselves at the festival and not have to worry about driving the 50 minutes back to Portland.      This is not a huge festival but instead one in which you can actually taste all the standard and seasonal brews offered the festival and then sit and enjoy a gorgeous view while drinking a glass or two of your favorite. You even get to keep the glass.     Afterwards, you can pile on more calories at the lavish dinner buffet, get some relaxing sleep an...

When I was looking at the Hobie kayaks earlier this year, one of my primary goals was to use the drive to pedal backwards while fly fishing in the kayak. From the first time I fly fished from my little Otter kayak, I realized kayaks offered the potential to fish water unavailable to the those in float tubes and pontoon boats, the type of personal boats most fly anglers use. The primary advantage of pontoons and float tubes is the ability to  keep tension on the line when a fish grabs the fly (I talk about this in an earlier post). At Henry Hagg lake outside Forest Grove, I had my first opportunity to really test the mirage drive in reverse. I was quickly rewarded with a beautiful wild fish. You can see the video at my YouTube channel by clicking here . When I caught the fish, I was able to feel the take immediately, keep tension on the line and feel in control of the boat the entire time. The drive easily fit the slot in the kayak but I had to reverse the pedal settings so tha...

The first voyage with my new Hobie Outback proved a wonderous kayaking experience. I spent the previous week modifying my new boat in anticipation of this first trip. Once I launched, put in the mirage drive and started pedaling, a new world opened up. I was quickly going 3 and 4 miles per hour both up and downriver. I was able to turn on a dime and basically went anywhere I wanted. My first trip was in the bay off the Milwaukie boat ramp. I pedaled for an hour looking for sturgeon on the finder but saw only salmon. When I did find a group of sturgeon on the bottom of the river, tossed the anchor. My modifications worked flawlessly and I was quickly anchored in the Willamette. I tossed the line in and immediately got hung up on the rocky bottom. I unhooked the anchor release line, retrieved the fishing line and easily went back upstream and retrieved the anchor. I decided to try another location downriver and again easily anchored up and started fishing. What amazed me was the tr...

When I tell people I fish for sturgeon from my kayak, most say I'm crazy, but everyone asks if I get towed around when I catch a fish. My standard reply is "most sturgeon are not big enough to tow me around." A recent trip changed that reply. The day was planned and I was going to shoot some footage for the blog and work on my kayak fly fishing research. I also wanted to test the new anchor system I found on the Northwest Kayak Anglers web site. I picked up some shrimp, and loaded the equipment onto my Ford Escape and headed to the river. I had my fly rod, as well as the bait rod, the scent and other items I needed to do some tests. I paddled to a location I had caught fish before and tossed the anchor and, with the new anchor system, the rope bag and a float. I would soon be thankful I had this system. I tried bait first in 60 feet of water under the boat. Nothing. Then the anchor slipped and I found myself 30 feet downstream before I could get it set again. I tossed th...

A pre-Thanksgiving trip to Swift Reservoir in Washington was met with cold temps and low water so instead of the kayak I turned to the sled. Don't be disappointed.  The Redfish 10 SOT was along for the ride and there was every intention of putting that in the water. However, a propane heater in the boat seemed a better choice with snow on the ground and ice in the guides. Fly fishing was still the technique of choice and fish were caught. Although, it was the first time I have fly fished for trout by trolling steelhead jigs in a lake. 

  With the weather getting worse and the temps and fishing in decline in the Northwest, I took advantage of a kayak fishing opportunity in Maui.  Mark was my guide and we were heading to the deep water outside the reefs for the bigger fish. Our boats were ones I was excited to try - the Hobie Pro Angler with the famed Mirage Drive. Mark had two on the beach and he pointed to the yellow one saying, "that's yours for the day."   While Mark gathered his bait, I looked over the boat and cleared what I could from the deck so the fly line had fewer things to catch. I then loaded my gear. Mark came back and together we launched. I immediately discovered why people love the pedal drive. It was fast and simple. I let out some fly line and started the troll.  As we neared the edge of the reef, the rod bowed and I pulled it from the rod holder and quickly realized I was snagged on the reef. I unhooked and was off again. Soon we were in the deep water past the reef. For the next...

October marks the end of the Columbia salmon season at the fish move east of The Dalles and out of my kayak range. On the first weekend of October, I enjoyed a great kayak on a windless cloudy day, but the people catching fish had bait on the end of their lines.  The day did give me the opportunity to check out my new outfit - an 8-foot 12 weight with 300 yards of 30-pound Amnesia running line and 30-feet of Rio T17 as my shooting head. Of course, this is all loaded on one of my 1498 USA-made Pflueger reel. My goal - sturgeon on a fly rod.  My first run with the outfit was rewarded with a fish - a Northern Pike minow. But it was a fish. I also got my fly caught on the bottom of the river at 30-plus feet. That's good news since my goal is to fish the deeper holes. Check out the video. And notice the fishing glove by Waterworks/Lamson . The glove is critical when working with running line.

The primary reason I fish is because the possibilities are endless. Kayak fly fishing is exciting but family time means I need to expand the opportunities beyond fly fishing. So on a Sunday in late summer when the salmon run was slowing down, we packed up the kayaks, gear, crab traps and headed for the coast. A review of the weather revealed some rain and wind but hey, it's Oregon and you never really know what will happen. Well, the weather folks got this one right and we enjoyed a fantastic ride to the coast and never took the kayaks off the Escape. However, I did find out that I can put two 10-foot fishing kayaks, a 17-foot sea kayak, two crab traps and two crab rings and a lot of gear, all on top of the Escape and still get close to 25 miles per gallon.

I have fishing the Columbia recently from the kayak in hopes of landing a king. The numbers are up and down but recently the king numbers are climbing while the steelhead are declining. Looks like this is going to be a good year for the steelhead, especially above Bonneville and The Dalles dams.

When I started fly fishing from my kayak, one of the first fish I hooked was a steelhead. Anchored in the Columbia River in my little Old Town Otter, the excitement was short lived as I set the hook, felt the rod bend and quickly lost the fish. I hooked two more that day and lost both. Another challenge to overcome.  What I realized that day is that the fish don't react the same way as they do when fishing from land or even from a boat. It may be because the leverage you have on the fish is different in a kayak than in other situations. On land, your feet are firmly planted on the ground (unless you slip and fall and, if you are lucky, you'll have a River Runs Through It experience). In a boat, there is some movement, but not much unless you hook a big fish and  happen to be in a little boat. In a kayak, there is usually a lot of movement and keeping the line tight is tricky especially when fishing with barbless hooks. Compounding the situation is that, rarely does a fish ru...

Here are photos of my kayaks starting from the little blue Otter, which was modified significantly, to the Future Beach Trophy and the Heritage Redfish 10. All were modified in some manner from their original state, primarily the addition of the anchor trolly and rod holder. The most difficult thing for me is drilling a hole in a kayak.  However, after the first one, I tell myself "it doesn't matter anymore," and I drill some more.   My kayaks

Fishing from a kayak is different from almost any other type of watercraft. I have fished from boats, canoes, float tubes and pontoon boats. The one thing they have in common with most boats is that when you get a strike when trolling, you have momentum that helps set the hook and helps maintain a tight line through the fight and to the netting. The kayak is similar because as you paddle you have the same momentum as the other boats. However, when you get a strike, you stop paddling, lose the momentum and then, as you strip the line in, the boat is typically light enough to start turning towards the fish, thus increasing the chance for slack line. Adding more fun, are the piles of line that are being stripped in the boat increasing the chance that the line will catch on something if the fish takes a big run.  Needless to say, there is a lot going on when you kayak fly fish. In later posts, I will offer more tips on how keep those lines tight.

Fishing is my single greatest passion outside my family. I fish nearly every weekend and if I am not fishing, I am thinking about fishing. I primarily fly fish but, as I explain in my other blog, Frugalflyfishing , I like all types of fishing. My interest in kayak fishing started when I bought my wife a kayak. I have a fishing boat but the family doesn't like getting up at dawn to sit in a boat and hope for a fish. So, I bought a canoe which sat on the side of the house with little use. When I pointed this out to my wife, she said should would rather have a kayak. So I sold the canoe and bought a 17-foot sea kayak for Christmas. During one of those cold, wet winter days, I was looking at the kayak thinking how useless a single kayak would be for family outings. So I cruised Craigslist and found two small Old Town Otter kayaks my son and I could use when we all went kayaking. Spring came and went and we took the kayaks out once. Summer was about half over when I realized family...