Prepping for a big Cascadia fish year

Hello all,

I am new to the forum but have frequently sourced this website for kayak fishing information in the PNW. I moved here several years ago and caught the salmon/steelhead passion pretty fast. I spend most of my time fishing the East and North Forks of the Lewis River, the Columbia (which I can see from bedroom), and also spend a fair amount of time on Oregon rivers like the Sandy and North Santiam.

I am an ecologist by trade and many years back I bought a Wilderness Systems Pamlico 9.5' kayak to paddle around the backwater swamps of the panhandle of Florida. When I received my boat it had a manufacturing defect so Wilderness Systems sent me another for FREE and I got to keep the boat I had which was easily repaired with some fiberglass tape. The second boat got damaged by a forklift in shipping so I was reimbursed half the cost by the shipping company and was repaired quite easily. I ended up with two boats for half the price of one.

After moving up here I rigged the kayaks with a wooden deck and mounted a scotty rodholder to the deck and I was off to the races. My wife and I frequently float the Lewis Rivers using our kayak chasing steelhead. They are especially useful during low water flow events when the steelhead stack up in the deeper cooler water.



Since then I've taken to using the kayaks in some of the more protected estuaries in the region to go after other goodies including Dungeness Crab.



In 2014 I am going to do a Cascadia Big Fish year where I attempt to catch/harvest as many species of fish and invertebrates in the states of OR/WA. I don't own a powerboat so much of my catching will hopefully be accomplished from the kayak. I am hoping to upgrade to a larger, safer, angler designed kayak and currently shopping around. As much as I would love a pedal kayak I will probably buy another paddle kayak due simply to affordability.  I am hoping that the members of the NWKA can help make my big fishing year a successful, safe, and memorable one.

Welcome to the site!