Merry Christmas! New guy here!

Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope everyone is being safe during the holiday season!

Hello,

My name is Josh and I have been an avid fisherman for over 26 years! I grew up in a small town in Iowa and moved to Oregon a few years ago! (2009) This year I married an amazing woman! She is a Captain in the Oregon National Guard, has deployed to Iraq in 2010 and is the state Rep for the MacArthur Award this year! It doesn't stop there She got me a fishing Kayak for Christmas!!!! In the short time we have been together and married she has made 2 of my life dreams come true, she got me started in hunting and got me a "boat" for all intended purposes! It is nothing super fancy like a Hobbie Craft it is called an Emotion Renegade! I would like to put a bow hatch in it and a fish finder and also a rod holder and couple other items like an anchor kit! I am not very handy when it comes to stuff like this and would like to meet some fellow kayakers in the Salem area who might be able to help me out getting my kayak ready for fishing and possibly a travel device to some islands or sloughs for hunting! Also perhaps someone to show me around and teach me a thing or two about kayak safety! My goal is to be fishing green petter for some Kokes this spring-fall!

If anyone has the tools and know how and is willing to lend a hand please let me know! I will be going shopping tomorrow evening at fisherman's marine most likely and I have included pictures of the area for the rod holder. I was looking at a Scotty Flush mount but I read somewhere "Scotty" needs to be facing Inboard to make a good seal (square in picture).  is this true if so it will be hard to find a good spot for a rod holder. Then the question of a fishfinder placement would come in. It looks like they molded a place for a hatch on the Bow but just didn't cut it. Anyone have any ideas?

Merry Christmas to all!,
Josh

Welcome Josh, this is the place to get all the help and ideas you could want for kayak fishing in the PNW.  I'm in Independence and have installed some hatches and rod holders in several kayaks over the years, I can pass along some hints on the process of drilling holes in plastic.  Even have an extra anchor trolley that might work for you. 

Dan

Thanks for the welcome Dan! I was looking at a map of the river there near Independence and was wondering if I could duck hunt there across from the Social Security Hole I think its called would you know anything about that? It looks like a small slough or something. I want to start small like at Walter Wirth next week and slowly work my way to slow current and then be able to fish the willy and some of the salmon coastal rivers and maybe a bay or two. I never fished the ocean and that will be next year's dream come true! Well hopefully a few dreams catch my first salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and get my first big game animal and some birds! I love all kinds of fishing! On a side note do you think I could mount a scotty flush mount in that square in the picture and it be sealed tight?

There is public access off River Road S. at the mouth of that slough.  There are numerous homes along the east bank so I don't know about hunting with a shotgun there, you would need to float it to see if the residences are too numerous for safety.  Then again it would be ideal for bow & arrow hunting from a kayak I would think.

I go to Walter Wirth occasionally when I want to try new equipment or self-recovery practice.  It is stocked with trout frequently during the spring and fall, the locals mostly bank fish for the pellet heads but brooders are stocked too.

That flat spot on your kayak is intended for a rod holder, I use Marine Goop to seal any holes I put in a hull, it won't leak then.  You should be able to reach through the hatch and put nuts on stainless bolts for a stronger hold on the mount instead of using rivets.

Hey, Josh, welcome. Let me know if you are coming over Independence way and you can look at how I have some kayaks set up. I can even give you some flush mounts that came with one of my used kayaks I am not going to use if you haven't bought any yet.

Good idea to join this forum, too. There's a lot to consider about safety. Lot of know how here.

Chris

Wow thanks everyone! I can tell this is going to be a great experience in my life not just the kayaking but by joining this forum! I have joined a couple forums since moving to Oregon and I have to say I never got such a great welcome like this before! I have so many questions to ask! and answers to find!, but alas a Dr. Appointment then Father-n-law's birthday to attend today. I am thinking my first big purchase might be a Lowrance elite 4 pro I think its called. Fisherman's have one for 80 dollars till the 5th.  Then I might have to take my life jacket back it might be too small. While I am wearing my coat the jacket is really tight around my ribs and I can barely breath but it still slides up a little when I do the touch down and I can pull the meshing up over my ears. Any advice? it says its an XL but I doubt it my chest is 46" without a coat on. I might make it Independence this weekend just to look at the river and maybe head down to the Luckiamute and check that out also! What all do people generally wear to keep warm and dry? I have some neoprene waders that are very buoyant ? Anyways I hope everyone has a great day!

Josh

hey Josh-

welcome to NWKA,       there can be issues with wearing waders on a kayak, if you search back on this forum you should be able to find some good threads with info on what is safe and what is not so safe...

I am a big fan of the Lowrance units, don't have any direct experience with the Elite-4pro but that price sounds great.  I went with the Elite-7hdi with a wide screen so I can display 83khz and 200khz images side-by-side...cheers, roger

Welcome Josh!

There are several models of flushmount Scotty mounts.  I don't see any limitations in mounting any of them in that layout.  My preference is the full size round deck mount.

 You'll just need a hole saw and some simple tools.  Your hardware can be SS nuts and bolts, wellnuts or large leaf rivets. Don't forget to add a touch of marine goop to seal each hole during install.  Use the Search function.  There are lots of DIY threads on installing RAM and Scotty mounts. 

If you go Scotty, get a gearhead mount so that you can position your rodholder in different positions for different applications.  Slipdisks are a nice addition as well in that they allow you to fine tune your gear.

The elite 4 is a good entry level fish finder at a great price.  Scotty and Ram also make removable fish finder mounts.  Search for "Foam Puck" transducer mounting on the site.

As for the waders, They're generally safe when worn with a wading belt and proper PFD.  If you fall in, they may take on some water and make it harder for you to re-board.  Practice re-entry!  There's no amount of reading that will help you more than a little experience.

-Spot-

Hey thanks Spot! I was up in your neck of the woods today for my father-n-law's bday! Crazy traffic let me tell ya too crazy for this ol midwestern boy! I ended up buying the wrong rod holder at fishermans tonight was just too frantic so I will have to (shiver) travel back up that way once my sis n law mails me my gift card and exchange it for one that can hold spinning rods if they make one for that. Thank you for the warm invite and wow congrats on all those wins!