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• Fishing From a Touring Kayak

Fishing from a touring kayak?

Reposted from the Wilderness Systems blog, multiple authors.

I have a Tsunami 140 with a rudder on it and I'm wondering if anyone else on here uses a touring style kayak for fishing? I really want to outfit mine with a rod holder or two and am pretty excited but I want to see if someone else has done it to potentially gather up some advice...

Ryan Lipski

Comment by J. B. on March 28, 2010 at 6:49pm

I have a Tsunami 145, and I find it is an outstanding fishing platform. I use a "Johnny bar" to attach a camera mount, compass, fish-finder and rod holder to the foredeck of my kayak. The Johnny bar is not permanently attached, so I can move it around (e.g, place it behind the cockpit) or even leave it at home. I just posted a blog on how I have it rigged for fishing. Take a look if you are interested.

Comment by Tommy Samuels on March 11, 2010 at 10:13am

I carry an anchor, a stake out stick, and a drift chute most of the time. The anchor can be as simple as a 5 pound dumbbell tied to a length of 550 cord. I always rig an anchor trolley on my boats whether they're sit in or sit on top. you need 3 caribiners and a length of 550 cord. clip a biner to the bow and stern handles, thread the 550 cord through the biners on each end, then tie the tag ends to the 3rd biner. Bingo, you've got a trolley for about $5.

Comment by Ryan Lipski on March 11, 2010 at 12:40am

Thanks for the help and inspiration. I'll get some pics of it up when it's done.

 I do have one other question. Is an anchor worth it?

Touche on the rolling, my friend. Touche!

Comment by Tommy Samuels on March 8, 2010 at 4:37pm

There's nothing wrong with adding a Scotty up front. When I had the rocket launcher up front I built a PVC triple tree to hold 2 rods and a depth finder. That setup worked really well. Sometimes I'd paddle to / from with the rods in the holders. In open or rough water, they went inside the yak.

BTW, most of us don't plan on rolling ;-) You do need to know what to expect when not if it happens.

Comment by Ryan Lipski on March 8, 2010 at 4:23pm

Thanks for the advice. I hadn't really planned on rolling while I was fishing. I was thinking about putting some flush mount rod holders behind me to store them while I get where I am going. From there my plan was to put a scotty threaded deck mount right in front of the cockpit for a rod holder for while I was fishing. The idea was that I could use that for a gps mount while im not fishing.

Comment by Tommy Samuels on March 8, 2010 at 4:11pm

I've fished quite a few different touring yaks' everything from a Dagger Edisto (pre Confluence days) to a Tsunami, to a Hatteras. I mounted a pair of sealed end flush mounts behind the seat and forward of the aft hatch cover. put a bit of Goop all around the underside of the flush mount base and pop rivet in place.  I added a flush mount in front of the cockpit on one yak; I won't do that again because it interfered with re-entry. Anything that slows down self rescue is a BAD IDEA.  Having rods in the rod holders makes rolling the yak quite a bit harder. Upside down to laying on your side will feel like forever. Once on your side do a harder than normal hip snap to get upright. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE

Keep it simple too. I could put a 6 foot spinning combo inside the hull. add a small tackle box and a boga grip, then go fish.