Hello from Victoria, BC

Hello everyone,

New to the Kayak world.  We rented a few singles and a tandem about a month ago.  After 20 minutes in the seat I told my wife this was a need NOT a want.  She replied with "you need to sell your Clipper canoe then".  Ughh, I loved that canoe but it didn't lend itself to paddling in the ocean...  2 weeks later, I found a tandem on Craigslist that was a few hundred km's away...  I drove up and bought it, came home and promptly sold the canoe.

About a week ago, the little guy and myself launched it from the beach up the road from us.  We went fishing the shoreline and many things became very apparent, very quickly.  Things like a 9'6" & 10' rod are really not going to work...  my life vest is annoying as heck in this seat...  a fish finder would be a really good item to have on board...  the two built in rod holders are annoying...  while a 10 year old boy doesn't have tremendous leg power, it's certainly noticeable if he doesn't help out...  and water pools in the seat area!  Things I'm sure most, if not all of you have already overcome.  Looking forward to many hours with the family on the water and learning the art of kayak fishing on the ocean.

My extent of ocean fishing has been a buzz bomb from the shoreline and dropping crab trap into the water.  So this is all very new to me and I'm going to have a few questions!  "Many thanks in advance".

Shout out to our daughter for the kayak name.  It's a standing joke in the family and was only recently chosen for the kayak.  Our originally planned name was Petit Poisson (little fish) but we were again laughing at Le Phoque (seal) and that seemed to be the one everyone could agree on.  Plus, it allows the kids to swear without getting into trouble.  For any French speaking people on the forum... I don't speak French (my daughter is in French Immersion at school).  A second shout out to my brother-in-law (owner of Barnyard Grafix) on Salt Spring Island for the decals. 

Cheers,
Little Fish

It's not the French I don't understand, it's the metric system!

Welcome to NWKA!  This is the place for asking questions and getting answers, so don't hold back.

Haha, I understand both Metric and Imperial.  Well, I'm not that comfortable with your Temp. the rest is a walk in the park though.

Been looking at Fish Finders.  Dear lord that's a lot to try and digest.  I'm leaning pretty heavily towards the Raymarine Dragonfly 4 at the moment.

Well, centigrade temperatures just suck.  There's a lot more of a difference between holding an ice cube and pouring boiling water over your hand than just 100 degrees.  Sheesh!

I've only owned Lowrance finders.  They're darned good units - despite what some online reviews say - but their menu system is almost the length of an encyclopedia.  Raymarine uses a more straightforward menu.  Humminbird has a loyal following, and Garmin is coming on strong these days.  Any of them would be a good choice.

I'm not very helpful, am I?

Try keeping the fish finder a bit on the simpler side for your first time. As you're  finding out, fishing from a kayak is a bit different than from you canoe.

Yes you'll probably have to change out your PFD for something more adapted to a kayak seat.

Have fun, there's lots of great information here just waiting for you to use the search button. And don't be afraid to just ask, too. Someone will unusually have been there done that so they can share personal insight.

And welcome to NWKA.

I'm leaning a bit more towards the Dragonfly.  Partly for the built in wifi.  I will have my children (one at a time) on board with me a lot of the time.  I can see huge benefits to my time out on the water with this feature as they can pull up what I see on their iPods.

I'm leaning a bit more towards the Dragonfly.  Partly for the built in wifi.  I will have my children (one at a time) on board with me a lot of the time.  I can see huge benefits to my time out on the water with this feature as they can pull up what I see on their iPods.

The wifi sounds nice.  Be sure to put the kids' iPod in a waterproof pouch.    Wifi will use battery faster -- ask anyone using the wifi feature on their GoPro how fast that kills the battery.   But with kids your trips might not be all day affairs.    The Dragonfly's rather simple to use.  If you're near a West Marine, Cabelas or similar store, go there and check out the different brands to see how they work.

Yeah, it'll be a few hours at most until they are a little older.  At that time, the novelty of the fishfinder will have worn off and it shouldn't be a big deal.

I try to shop local whenever possible...  Considering that I live on an Island, one would think there would be a better selection of shops to work with.  Selection here is relatively limited.  West Marine closed a few years back.

I'm heading over to the mainland for work in the morning and there's a BassPro pretty much as soon as you get off the Ferry.  Think I'm going to catch an earlier Ferry so I can drop in and check it out.  I just dropped my saddlebags beside the door in case I end up buying stuff when I'm there.  Part of the reason I'm taking the motorbike is so I don't get carried away in there 

Trust us, you're not the only person here with Gear Fever