Keen-eye from the Kenai

Hi,

Just bought a new Hobie Outback a few weeks ago and I'm busy getting it set up for some winter king salmon fishing.  So I'm looking for ideas.

Happy to be here!

Welcome, Winter kings in Alaska, major cudos! Stay warm and safe.

Safety and warmth are definitely top priorities here - especially this time of the year.  Right now the only thing holding me up is my dry suit.  It's down at Kokatat for some alterations and they're waiting on a shipment of zippers from the factory.  No king fishing until the zippers arrive, they finish the suit, and FedEx gets it back to me.  Hope it doesn't take too long!

hey hey! Another from Alaska!  sweet!  Sitting in Homer today listening to the wind howl and the waves crashing... hope it comes down a bit.

grew up in Kenai, graduated in 84. thus the name kardinal_84.

welcome to the forum. learned just about everything I know from this group!  let's fish!!!!

Welcome Keen-Eye.   

Looking forward to meeting you on the water.    There are a few events you'll want to pin to your calendar -

- The spring king tournament
- The Memorial weekend (or about then) NWKA Whiskey Gulch kayak fishing tourney
- The Barbie rod halibut ournament (that I hope we run again this next summer)

Good luck with your boat mods, and your suit.

kardinal_84,

Thank you for the welcome message.  Throughout this process of purchasing a kayak and getting it set up to fish I have intently studied your web site and watched most of your videos.  All the information you've put in the considerable time and effort to share has been invaluable and VERY much appreciated.

I base most of my fishing trips out of Cooper Landing but we have a place in Anchorage too.  Headed for Cooper Landing tomorrow (Saturday) to mount rod holder, fish finder, sailing rudder, and to get everything dialed in so I'm ready when the dry suit gets back.

Hope the weather improves for you tomorrow there in Homer - and the fishing picks up.  I'm certainly looking forward to meeting you.  Thanks again!

AKRider,

I've been wanting to fish the winter king tourney for a number of years now.  It's been just too much trouble to get the aluminum power boat out of storage and prepped that early.  But now with this kayak I should be all ready to go.  The Whiskey Gulch Classic and the pink rod special sound like great fun too!  I enjoyed kardinal_84's posts and videos of fishing with his Barbie.

Thanks for the greetings and I'm looking forward to seeing you on the water too.

Hello Keen-eye and welcome from another Alaskan. Congrats on the Outback. Hope to see you out there.

According to what I read, a fishfinder is a good addition to your kayak. If you plan to drill and mount a scotty mount make sure to use a backplate for durability.

According to what I read, a fishfinder is a good addition to your kayak. If you plan to drill and mount a scotty mount make sure to use a backplate for durability.

Or you can mount your fish finder on a track.  The advantage of mounting a fish finder and other gear on tracks is that it gives you a lot of flexibility about how you set up your kayak, both during a single day, and from day to day, it allows you to improve the way you have your kayak set up as you gain experience, and it lets you change from one setup to another as you fish for different species.  I mount my fish finder on a Scotty 368 universal sounder mount which is in a Scotty Gearhead track mount.  Here are a couple of pictures which show that setup.  When I'm transporting my kayak, or I'm not fishing, I move the gearhead and sounder mount to a short section of gear track which is inside the front hatch of my kayak.

Genius. I just googled the Scotty gear head track system and looks amazing. Quick release and adjustment of your gear sounds very convenient and makes more sense. Good tip. Thanks.

Genius. I just googled the Scotty gear head track system and looks amazing. Quick release and adjustment of your gear sounds very convenient and makes more sense. Good tip. Thanks.

The Scotty "Gearhead" track mounted bases are fine for mounting gear which isn't subject to stress, such as a fish finder.  I don't find them satisfactory for mounting trolling rod holders, because the Gearheads keep twisting under the tension of the rod.  You can mount gear on gear tracks using YakAttack "Mighty Mounts," or you can make your own bases for mounting gear on tracks.  See http://www.yakfisher.net/smffiles/index.php?topic=9917.0 , which is a spiffed up version of a posting I made earlier on this forum.