Newbie

Hey Guys,

I am newbie around here and just picked up my first kayak.  I have a fiancee who loves to fish so we ended up getting a Hobie Oasis so we can head out together.  Out of curiosity anybody ever attached a net and towed it behind their boat?  I am a grad student down in Coos Bay and will be using the boat for some research on Dungeness larvae.  If there are any super geeky science folks have you tried mounting a current profiler on your boat?  Look forward to learning more and using this awesome resource,

Cheers Leif

Welcome Zoea,

As the resident geeky marine science person on the site I'll attempt to answer your questions.  I did attempt a plankton tow once in Bodega Harbor from a sit-on-top kayak and it wasn't very productive.  The resistance from the net as I paddled caused me to go very very slow and I'm guessing that might have accounted for my not catching much.  That said, a two-person peddle driven kayak will have a lot more pulling power.  If you use a smaller plankton net with as large a mesh size as possible you'll have less to pull around.

As for mounting a current profiler, no I haven't done that.  I went to grad school in the mid-90's and ADCPs where pretty big.  I'm guessing they must have gotten smaller by now.  You might consider towing one behind you on a small raft rather than mounting it to your kayak.  Having it inline while being towed will be easier than having it hang off the side and having to compensate for the drag differential (I suppose with a Hobie that's just a rudder adjustment though).

Brian

Welcome to NWKA!!!!

I'm super stoked for you and can't wait to hear about the plankton dragging results. 

Your boat is all wrapped up and tucked in for the trip south.

You also might want to ask around about adding turbo fins to the two drives. I personally think they are worth it.

Have fun!!
Derek

Thanks for the info Brian.  I just put it together but I was at Bodega when you were down there I was working in the Morgan lab we went out fishing on my dad's boat with Jim and Noakie.  Ah the world is small. 

Derek thanks and I too am really excited to get the boat.

L

Congratulations on your new kayak.  As a super geeky engineer I towed a Son Tek Rivercat around a protected bay once.  I had it connected semi-ridgedly  to the back of my kayak.  I also made a side mount for just the mini-APD and used that once too.  Both methods worked and there was not much added drag.  Depending on what ADP you have you may be able to stick it in one of the drivewells.
I haven't tried to tow a plankton net but with 2 people kicking it is worth a try.  Be careful trying it in current though, the net could act like a drift anchor and pull you into an unsafe place.  For hook and line sampling it would work great. 

Ah Leif, good to hear from you.  Congratulations on the engagement to someone who also loves fishing.

Yes it is a small world (at least a small marine science world), just yesterday I got forwarded an email from a researcher in South Korea looking for some advice regarding species occurrence models.  Turns out we were on a research cruise together for a month 15 years ago.

Brian

Welcome aboard Zoea!  We love fish nerds around here!

-Spot-

You also might want to ask around about adding turbo fins to the two drives. I personally think they are worth it.

Yes, welcome, and YOU WANT turbo fins, and a sailing rudder.

Welcome Zoea! I too own an Oasis, although for fishing, I am going it solo. It is sweet to pedal it tandem - two of you can really cruise. Interested to hear how it fishes for two. I know a guy posts at Aquahunters in Hawaii fished tandem for awhile (his partner moved away). I think two rods may be interesting at times.

Welcome to the madness Zoea. Lots of great guy on the NWKA site and loads of information. There was another post were the guys were talking about heading down to Coos Bay for a stay over trip and do some fishing I am sure we will meet you then. That is unless you head up this way. Enjoy that new Kayak.

Thanks for all the responses I look forward to hitting the with some of you.

I think the first kayak fishing video I ever came upon was a married couple in a tandem fishing kelp beds somewhere on the Pacific Coast.   They would take turns, one paddling to hold position while the other fished, targeting small gaps between the kelp forests.   Made me want to get married if I could only find a woman who loved to paddle and hated to fish 

Hey Zoea, welcome to NWKA.

We will have to get together and do some fishing sometime.

I also highly recommend the turbofins/sailing rudder upgrade. It is a must do in my opinion.

  A Newbie. That never happens here(only every day). Welcome to "the cure, the
madness,the wallet dumper and and all around great site to give you all the info you need to get going. glad to have you. Get rigged(+1 turbo fins/sailing rudder)and hit the water.
Rich