Just bought my first yak. Tips?

[lmobass22]

Any tips I can get for a better fishing kayak experience?

Anything helps, thanks

[Choporoz]

LOTS of posts about yak fishing here.  Search a bit.

But maybe the best advice is to get out and do it.  None of the advice here will be nearly as valuable as time on the water.  Once you've read some and start to get comfortable, come by and feel free to ask more specific questions...say, about outfitting your rig, or specific fishing/casting techniques, or hauling it, or.....

 

What did you get and what type of water will you be on?

[lmobass22]

 

1 minute ago, Choporoz said:

LOTS of posts about yak fishing here.  Search a bit.

But maybe the best advice is to get out and do it.  None of the advice here will be nearly as valuable as time on the water.  Once you've read some and start to get comfortable, come by and feel free to ask more specific questions...say, about outfitting your rig, or specific fishing/casting techniques, or hauling it, or.....

 

What did you get and what type of water will you be on?

I got a sundolphin journey 10 and im hoping to get out on a small lake this weekend

[A-Jay]

Wear your Life Jacket ~ all day ~ every day.

A-Jay

[Choporoz]

Crazy thing about a kayak is that you don't realize until after you've bought it that its more like a boat than you ever thought.  You go looking at them and thinking that "$xxx.xx looks like something I can afford, all right"....and before you know it, you've spent twice that before you've even been out a half dozen times.....

Got my wife a new kayak last weekend....nice ride, nice price....but after tax, paddle, pfd, roof racks, cross bars, straps, crate, rod holders, star ports, cart, trolley....well, we're in several hundred beyond tagged price......haven't even gotten to talking about fish finder, anchor, shallow anchor pole, rudder, flag, light.....

[Turtle135]

congrats! for your first trip out pack light, maybe just one rod and a few presentations and don't forget a camera to get that picture of your first kayak bass

[FATYAKKER]

31 minutes ago, Choporoz said:

Crazy thing about a kayak is that you don't realize until after you've bought it that its more like a boat than you ever thought.  You go looking at them and thinking that "$xxx.xx looks like something I can afford, all right"....and before you know it, you've spent twice that before you've even been out a half dozen times.....

Got my wife a new kayak last weekend....nice ride, nice price....but after tax, paddle, pfd, roof racks, cross bars, straps, crate, rod holders, star ports, cart, trolley....well, we're in several hundred beyond tagged price......haven't even gotten to talking about fish finder, anchor, shallow anchor pole, rudder, flag, light.....

 

What he said ^.

[lmobass22]

3 hours ago, Choporoz said:

Crazy thing about a kayak is that you don't realize until after you've bought it that its more like a boat than you ever thought.  You go looking at them and thinking that "$xxx.xx looks like something I can afford, all right"....and before you know it, you've spent twice that before you've even been out a half dozen times.....

Got my wife a new kayak last weekend....nice ride, nice price....but after tax, paddle, pfd, roof racks, cross bars, straps, crate, rod holders, star ports, cart, trolley....well, we're in several hundred beyond tagged price......haven't even gotten to talking about fish finder, anchor, shallow anchor pole, rudder, flag, light.....

Yeah thats why I made shure the kayak came with paddles and and anchor

3 hours ago, Choporoz said:

LOTS of posts about yak fishing here.  Search a bit.

But maybe the best advice is to get out and do it.  None of the advice here will be nearly as valuable as time on the water.  Once you've read some and start to get comfortable, come by and feel free to ask more specific questions...say, about outfitting your rig, or specific fishing/casting techniques, or hauling it, or.....

 

What did you get and what type of water will you be on?

I got a sundolphin journey 10 and im hoping to get out on a small lake this weekend

2 hours ago, Turtle135 said:

congrats! for your first trip out pack light, maybe just one rod and a few presentations and don't forget a camera to get that picture of your first kayak bass

Alright thanks

[flyfisher]

You asked for a better kayak experience so my question is, What made your previous experience less than desirable?  

[Ohio Yakker]

My advice would be to not buy any accessories until you know what you want. Spend some time on the water with it and you'll get a good idea of what you want to add. Everyone has different wants for there kayak, making them all unique. For me, I think the most important thing about kayak fishing, besides safety, is organization. You are limited by the amount of storage you have, compared to a boat, so you'll have to be efficient with it.

Kayak fishing is a blast. Good luck!

[Darren.]

I'm going to wholeheartedly agree with @A-Jay
to wear your PFD 100% of the time you are on
the water. There's more reasons to do so than
to not.

[lmobass22]

9 hours ago, flyfisher said:

You asked for a better kayak experience so my question is, What made your previous experience less than desirable?  

I have fished on kayaks twice in the past year and both experiences where great! I am just wondering if there is any tips/tricks to use that would help me into the kayak fishing experience.   

[Dye99]

My only advice would be to put it in the water, and wear a life jacket. 

[Subaqua Adinterim]

Great advice here, regarding PFD and to just get out there and do it.

Also, you don't need to take a 100 lures and a dozen poles. There are those here that do, which is good for them.  Any more than 2 poles is a recipe for disaster for me.  Take your six or so "go to lures", and you will spend less time sorting out your stuff to go fishing, and more time actually fishing.

I generally rig one pole with a shakeyhead rig and the other with a weightless T rigged senko or similar type plastic.  Besides a few bags of plastics to use on what I start out with, I have just a few other lures in case I strike out with the plastics.

Best of luck and have fun.

[flyfisher]

9 hours ago, lmobass22 said:

I have fished on kayaks twice in the past year and both experiences where great! I am just wondering if there is any tips/tricks to use that would help me into the kayak fishing experience.   

Gotcha.  The beauty of kayak fishing is that you can pretty much do whatever you want.  You will kayaks that look like battleships with all the gear, flags, motors, 12" screen electronics etc....and you will see those with one rod.  Do whatever you want and whatever works for your fishing style.  Don't give into all the hype  I take anywhere from 6-7 rods when fishing with conventional gear, my crate which holds a bunch of tackle, a bump board, pliers, scissors and a scale.  when I am fly fishing I take 2-3 rods, a few fly boxes and that is about it.

Don't get an "angler" package kayak and don't drill any holes till you go out a bunch of times and figure out what you want and where you want it.  I have been fishing out of a kayak for a long time and my last kayak which I bought last yea, I went out probably 6-8 times before i decided what i wanted and where i wanted it.

[Preytorien]

As said before NEVER go out without a PFD on. Every so often one of us fellow yakkers will post a somber story about someone who drowned from a kayak, and wouldn't you know it....no PFD. Just make it a habit. Invest in a nice one so it's comfortable. I wear a self inflating Mustang since it's so low profile. 

One thing I'd recommend is researching how to make some of your own kayak modifications. I know when I got mine I started getting the itch to make modifications. A lot can be made for much less than buying. For example - I made my own stakeout pole for about $15, which commonly run north of $75

Lastly, do some practice kayaking before you start fishing from it. For me I did 4 long trips to learn maneuvering, paddling efficiently, safety, etc. I know 4 trips is a drop in the bucket, but it's worth it when you can do better motions while fishing.

 

[South FLA]

http://www.sheboyganyachtclub.com/assets/docs/SAS_Cold_Water_Immersion_Chart.pdf

Something to consider when fishing solo in cold water! Swamp lizards don't seem to be such a big deal anymore!

 

[FATYAKKER]

Good advice here. Most importantly welcome to kayaking and I hope you have a lot of fun. Now for the serious. Mine would be don't get over confident and try to go out on a large pieces of water. You don't want to get run over by a boat and when the wind starts blowing on big water it can turn very dangerous very quickly in small boats. I've personally never flipped mine but my significant other has and jumping in 40 degree water to help her was not the least bit of fun. Like has been said always wear your life jacket an take a reasonable amount of gear.

[buzzed bait]

just echo to wear that PFD, not just when it's convenient for you, but at all times

and don't go crazy rigging stuff up on it until you've fished out of it plenty of times, enough to know where and how you want things laid out.

[lmobass22]

@buzzed bait@FATYAKKER@South FLA@Preytorien@flyfisher@Darren.@cutbait@Dye99@Ohio Yakker@Turtle135@Choporoz@A-Jay

Thanks for all the tips!

My first kayak outing was a huge success!

Went out with a friend and brought home 7, 8 1/2+ sunnies and crappies.

Thanks again for the tips!

[Caliyak]

My only tips; have fun and be thankful that you're not walking the banks.