Some newbie questions...

Hi all.  I finally got some basic stuff put together and got out on the water for a trial run, and not surprisingly, it leads to more questions than I started with :-)  First of all, what I have is very, um, minimalist.  The boat's an Elie Gulf 120XL SOT, no rudder, just paddle drive.  I put your basic milk crate in the cargo tub behind the seat, bungeed in, with a safety flag on it.  Rod is an old Eagle Claw 7.5' trout rod with a Daiwa spinning reel and 10 lb mono line.  No FF or GPS, but I'm very much a close-to-home-port type so far.

Well, this first day of fishing was just outside the mouth of Gig Harbor, north end of the Tacoma Narrows, just a couple hundred yards offshore.  Lacking a depth finder, I had to guesstimate the depths from looking at a bathymetry chart.  I spent a while bouncing a bait rig across the bottom, hoping for a hungry flounder.  After a while, I figured I'd change over to something else, and tried some trolling across the same area.  I did manage to catch a nice piece of seaweed that way (with an itty bitty urchin on it, about a half inch in diameter).

So, obviously a rod holder of some sort is almost a necessity, but is there a good way to make one that doesn't involve putting holes in the boat? I could see a piece of PVC mounted in/on the milk crate, but having it behind me seems awkward.
I ended up just kind of tucking it under one knee at an angle that let me paddle.

The other question is more about the judging how your speed and depth of the lure and weighting relate, and how you'd judge whether you're paddling too fast or not fast enough…  I had a small Rooster Tail flasher on, with two 1/4 oz weights just above the leader swivel.  Tried to keep the line at about 15-20 degree angle to the surface but I had a hard time judging how far out and how far down…

Kinda silly questions, I know, but this has been my first time out fishing in more years than I care to admit…  And, even though my only catch was smaller than a dime I still had a mighty fine day out on the Sound!

Jim

I haven't been kayak fishing for that long, but have been fishing for most of my life. After looking at your model kayak there doesn't appear to be too many options without drilling. But you could go with the system similar to YakAttack GearTrac so you can add more things then a rod holder. If you are dead against drilling you can look for a reel with a clicker. Some find them annoying but I like mine on my C4.

As for the depth of your lure, it is best to run it beside the kayak at trolling speed to see the action at the speed at which you troll. If you change to a spoon or something else you may have to change your speed to get the proper action. As for depth, 1/4oz with a small rooster tail would not be running very deep. Combine this with the fact you were estimating a 15 degree angel on your line I would guess you were only 10 feet deep, depending on how much line you let out.   You would probably be better off putting a 1oz wieght on a three way swivel, a system very similar to one I use for flounder anyways. I like the heavier weight to cause more of a disturbance when it is bouncing on the water. The key to flounder is to go slow.

As for location, try to focus on a kelp beds, or drop offs (sorry, I am further north so am not familiar with the area). Best of luck!

Thanks.  I'm not against drilling, although I'd prefer making any holes as small as possible    I have installed a couple of line cleats and eyelets on the hull for the sail I built (which works reasonably well under the right conditions), so the GearTrac option would likely be the way to go.  Just having a rod holder would have made everything else easier to keep track of.

It was kind of difficult to judge how much line I actually had out, which was part of my problem.  Probably less line than I thought, given it's just a small freshwater spinning reel with a pretty small spool on it.  I'll add some weight next time out and give it a look-see alongside the boat as suggested.  Never even occurred to me (D'OH!!!).

Jim

My 2 cents... I ways hated it when people indicated I would have more fun it I had more/different gear. Now I will be that guy. IF you want to be about catching fish... And it may not be about that for you... It is really good to be able to identify the structure under you kayak with sonar.  If you want to know how fast you are going a gps greatly simplifies that too. You can find vary reasonable fish finder/gps units. You will have to get used to drilling your kayak... Just make sure to make it count. As for the rod holder... Some guys swear by them. I hated mine... I preferred tucking it under a leg and trolling that way. There are lots of great post about the things you asked about... With a little searching you may turn up some gold you didn't expect to find. Best of luck.

Thanks, Rev   Agreed, there are a lot of related posts - but many times they assume a baseline that total newbs like me don't have, as far as terminology and acronyms and really basic info and such...  Sometimes it's easier to just cut thru all that and ask again.  And hey, I have no problems admitting I'm clueless (when it's true)!

I'm not aiming for the top when it comes to fishing, just out to have some fun in the Sound and maybe bring home something.  I'm willing to put some time and $$ into making modifications but I'm not the hard-core type looking to build an ultimate fishing machine .  A GearTrac or two and a rod-holder, with a sonar unit possibly, would likely meet my needs for the immediate future.   None of it looks *too* challenging to mount, although I admit it sure was hard to put that first hole in the boat  when I put the sailing parts on... 

Jim

My experience in your neck of the woods has been that the tidal currents are usually so strong, that you may be better off just drifting, and mooching or jigging. You want to keep your lure near the bottom, which means one to six ounces of lead or jig.  Stick a chunk of herring on your hook, bounce it off the bottom for sole; or cut-plug the herring and mooch (drift along, line at about a 30 degree angle, reel up an down in the lower water column keeping touch with the bottom each cycle.) for blackmouth.  You're rooster tail may work closer to shore for some sea run cutthroat (C&R only).

I'll throw in an opinion here. I'm a fellow minimalist (so far... I'm starting to cave) and have resisted the call of the sonar so far. What I have started using, though, is a small handheld waterproof GPS. In my case mine pulls double duty for my other two hobbies: backpacking and photography.

I can punch in some waypoints from the bathy charts ahead of time, or just stuff I notice on Google Earth (check out this rock outcropping, this part looks deep, etc.) that may not be obvious in-situ. After my trip I grab the data off using freeware apps and look at my course on Google Earth, which is very enlightening. But perhaps the greatest advantage I've realized with it is that I know how fast I'm going against wind/current/etc. It was surprising to me that on big water I was making much better time than I expected, which calmed me down, slowed the cadence of my paddling, and increased my endurance and comfort. Obviously you would also be able to adjust trolling speed to the desired land-speed and adjust for current as needed.

So that's worked will for me and requires no holes in the kayak, and no extra gear/expertise except the unit itself and a place to put it (clip it to your vest, lay it between your legs, put it in a side pocket, etc.).

I'll also add that at a recent NWKA clinic ("Winter Maintenance") Rawkfish showed us how to patch holes in kayaks. Seeing that really encouraged me to not fear experimenting as much as I used to. That said, as others have said, be pretty sure about where you're drilling so you don't have to adjust it any more than necessary. I'm a big fan of the gear tracks idea but probably won't adopt unless/until I get a fish finder.

I've got a mount for my GPS now in my single (in the Hobie I just put it in the gear pocket), and I'm ready to put in my first rod holder mount this weekend.

This is what I use.just put a flush mount in a spot not to far away
Then throw this Scotty gear head with extention.I have 2.one for the fish finder and 1 for the rod holder.comes with all 3 parts for 25.00 online (minus the flush mount,only $6-8 at a tackle shop or boat place).

Thanks - the Elie does have a flat spot ahead of the center hatch that might work for a flush mount like that. I'll take a look at fittings next time I get a chance.   GPS is something I've been pondering for a while too.  Not that I have really needed it for my recreational paddling so far, but it would be useful for placing at a chosen spot or tracking the speeds as mentioned…  Hard to judge out there with no nearby references. 

Jim

I've been using regular banana- shaped trolling weights. This chart is kind of helpful in estimating the depth even though the weights are not quite the same.

http://rednekoutfitters.com/inline_trolling_weight_chart.html

I've been using regular banana- shaped trolling weights. This chart is kind of helpful in estimating the depth even though the weights are not quite the same.

http://rednekoutfitters.com/inline_trolling_weight_chart.html

Cool site, thanks