NEED YOUR HELP: Peer review of a new kayak angling website for the region

Early in 2015 I plan on rolling out a kayak angling website for the Lower Columbia region. This website will feature a variety of things including: a tutorial on the basics of kayak fishing, a tutorial on kayak safety, a spatially interactive map linked to "how to" articles for key locales and their respective fisheries in their region, and a drop down menu of target fisheries by species.

I am looking for a handful of kayak anglers to help Beta test the new website and, if you want, to help develop substance for the website. While most anglers will be more interested in the fishery related information I am more deeply concerned about getting the "Basics" and "Safety" component dialed in as much as possible as this information will help guide new to the sport fisherman in making purchases and potentially affect decision's people make about their safety on the water. I am looking for folks willing to periodically review the material for accuracy, grammar, and detect any error in hyperlinks or problems with the website.

Here is a link to the home page:http://www.lckayakangling.com/

The home page features a map of the region with clickable "hot spots" in the region that will lead to individual pages for each locale providing information on kayak fishing that particular location (only Lake Merwin is currently enabled). The menu bar will link to a tutorial on "Kayak Fishing Basics", "Kayak Fishing Safety", and eventually a drop down menu where anglers can select target species and be taken to a webpage laying out the best locales for each species with hyperlinks to webpages for each location.

The material on this website will 100% be catered to kayak anglers. There is a lot of information on fishing, kayaking, and kayak angling on the web but most of it is scattered in forums and not condensed in any succinct form. Additionally, kayak anglers face a whole suite of challenges unique to the sport and while fishing and kayaking forums and websites are excellent sources of information I often find myself trying to shove a square peg in a round hole. An obvious example would be "float plan" templates. There are many float plan templates for kayakers and boaters available online but most are inadequate IMHO for kayak anglers. I've developed a modernized float plan specifically for kayak anglers here (http://www.lckayakangling.com/downloads/files/KayakAnglingFloatPlan.pdf) and I welcome your comments and criticisms.

The meat and potatoes of the website will consist of 19 webpages (with room for expansion) dedicated to 19 water bodies in the region. Each webpage will consist of a simplified map of the target water body with key kayak fishing areas highlighted, a list of key fisheries found in that particular water, a succinct summary of the areas fisheries, a Difficulty rating chart (Easy = Green, Moderate = Yellow, Challenging = Red) that takes into account presence of: wind, tide, swell, current, and cold-water including a list of recommended safety equipment, this is followed by a list of launches featured on the map with information on fees, hours, and a hyperlink to a Google map of the launch, this will be followed by detailed tutorial on each available major fishery including information tailored to kayak anglers on seasonality, locations, and techniques and tackle. Here is an example for Lake Merwin.

http://www.lckayakangling.com/page4/index.html

The goal of this website is to provide enough information to the new or visiting kayak angler so they can safely, efficiently, and effectively catch fish without being so specific that it offends local kayak anglers that have earned this knowledge thru many hours on the water. Please feel free to reply publicly or pm me with your thoughts, concerns, or if you'd like to help contribute.

  Hey Tyler,

 I like the new web-site and if I can contribute in any way I would be more than happy to do that.
 Living here in SW Washington I have learned a few things about my local water that I can share with others.
 I'll keep an eye on it (the website) and will add when and where I can if you'd like .

 Did you hit 100 members on FB yet ? That was my prediction..... be surprised if that didn't happen.

I'd love to read it over. I enjoyed seeing you in the paper today!

Wow, awesome job on Merwin tips. Happy to assist you in any way.

I think this is great.  The main challenge, as you've already stated, will be to strike the right balance between too much and too little information.  Those that have "earned" the special knowledge of a particular fishing location should continue to be rewarded for their hard work, while you help some get started and pointed in the right direction.  Thanks for putting in the time on this. 

Tyler, happy to review and/or contribute. Let me know what you need. I checked out the site the other day and it's looking good. I like the concept.

I agree, begrudgingly, with the above comment that there needs to be a balance between helping people get started and giving up too many hints. I have really benefited from advice from people, but I also respect that sometimes they're not going to give it all up, as much as I feel like I deserve it. 

Anyway, let me know how I can help.

Thanks guys. I'll be in touch as things develop.

I understand the concern about giving away specifics. For me the specificity or lack of for each site will be different depending on the fishery and locale. For instance I have no qualms with telling people very specifically how to catch salmon on the Columbia or kokanee at Lake Merwin as the fish are either ridiculously abundant or migratory. Its hard to make the argument that the fishing was poor because it was hit by too many anglers. However, with resident species fisheries like bass, tributary steelhead, sturgeon, catfish, and so on we all have our special holes or slots we'd like to keep to ourselves. In this instance the descriptions will be broad enough to protect those earned "honey holes" but not so much that I'm sending folks out in the wrong direction. I hope that makes sense.

Like I said above I think the really important stuff is making sure that people using the information are aware of the safety challenges associated with each fishery. I don't want to see stuff like what happened with the young Navy fisherman who died this year chasing halibut on the Sound. Maybe if they had a website which gave them a little more info they would of been more prepared for the conditions out on the water....or maybe not I don't know.

Good thoughts/ideas. Sounds awesome.

looks like a great start.  I am happy to help out in any way I can.  eve though I just started fishing from a kayak, I have fished this region for 30+ years.  I would be happy to share info I glean along the way.