Kayak fishing 101

   I have owned that book for several years-----lots of good tips. An excellent read.

Well...gotta tell someone....caught my first fish in 50+ years.  Gotta nibble, set the hook  (went through the motions anyway), line immediately wrapped around the rudder.....and....best part.....the fish jumped into the back of the kayak.   Huge  9 incher   

Way to go, Joel T!

lol, nice work!

the Fishing Gods were telling you that you were destined to fish!  Nice job!!

Good motivation to get rid of this belly I suppose so I could more easily reach and twist and turn to reach all this stuff……..but then where would I put my beer at the end of the day.

Congrats on the fish!!  One very important piece of advice.  We all do it, but avoid twisting around to access the stuff in back. Throw your legs over the side and side saddle the kayak to access everything in back. It may seem unnatural but your revo should be perfectly stable while you move into that position. The golden rule is where your head goes, you will go.  Ie as you twist around unless you are rubber man, your head will likely be over the side of the kayak....a little too far and guess where you will be.  Yup, over the side of the kayak.

I do need to get more comfortable with the sidesaddle position. I've tried that next to shore a couple times and the Revo is fairly stable that way but my brain loses touch with that fact when I'm not near shore. 

On a different note.....I'd really like to see my line better.....away from straight back.  Do many put the mirage drive in backwards to troll. I've also heard of using planers or bullet bobbers to get the line further to the side but don't really know the practicality of them except maybe in bank fishing. Downrigger sounds great for deeper water but too much trouble for shallow stuff I'd think.

I do need to get more comfortable with the sidesaddle position. I've tried that next to shore a couple times and the Revo is fairly stable that way but my brain loses touch with that fact when I'm not near shore.

You have the right idea, practice next to shore where it's shallow.  don't just go side saddle.  move all the way forward to get into the front hatch or mock untangle your line from the front handle.  It's harder to get to the back one but give it a shot as well. 

You should be able to reach almost any point of your kayak while on the water. 

While your at it, it doesn't hurt to flip your kayak a few times and practice your re-entry.

I'd really like to see my line better.....away from straight back.  Do many put the mirage drive in backwards to troll. I've also heard of using planers or bullet bobbers to get the line further to the side but don't really know the practicality of them except maybe in bank fishing. Downrigger sounds great for deeper water but too much trouble for shallow stuff I'd think.

Joel:  When trolling, what you primarily need to keep your eye on is the tip of your rod, not your line.  The best way to do that is by mounting your rod in a rod holder which is in front of you, so you can see the tip of your rod without turning your head.  If you mount your rod where you need to turn your head and body to look behind you in order to see the tip of the rod, you'll miss a lot of strikes, and you'll get a stiff neck.

But if you're turning to the left and right while trolling, it's worth looking behind you at the line occasionally, because it can get way off to the side of your kayak, or can cross over the back of your kayak.

I've never heard of anybody putting their Mirage Drive in backwards to troll.  If anybody has tried it, I'd be fascinated to read a report on how it worked.  I suspect that your rudder wouldn't work very well when being shoved backwards through the water, and if you lift the rudder of a Mirage Drive kayak, the kayak spins in random circles.

I do need to get more comfortable with the sidesaddle position. I've tried that next to shore a couple times and the Revo is fairly stable that way but my brain loses touch with that fact when I'm not near shore.

You have the right idea, practice next to shore where it's shallow.  don't just go side saddle.  move all the way forward to get into the front hatch or mock untangle your line from the front handle.  It's harder to get to the back one but give it a shot as well. 

You should be able to reach almost any point of your kayak while on the water. 

While your at it, it doesn't hurt to flip your kayak a few times and practice your re-entry.

Good ideas. I have tried rentry a few times...still unsuccessfully. I figured it was just me but the wife can't either yet and she's light, reasonably strong and agile. I've seen the vids of guys bobbing up and over the kayaks but I don't bob up over anything.    I stay still and the kayak moves. It is easy to roll the Revos back over though. I have stirrups made now and paddlefloats to try rentrys with....just gotta do it.

I'd really like to see my line better.....away from straight back.  Do many put the mirage drive in backwards to troll. I've also heard of using planers or bullet bobbers to get the line further to the side but don't really know the practicality of them except maybe in bank fishing. Downrigger sounds great for deeper water but too much trouble for shallow stuff I'd think.

Joel:  When trolling, what you primarily need to keep your eye on is the tip of your rod, not your line.  The best way to do that is by mounting your rod in a rod holder which is in front of you, so you can see the tip of your rod without turning your head.  If you mount your rod where you need to turn your head and body to look behind you in order to see the tip of the rod, you'll miss a lot of strikes, and you'll get a stiff neck.

But if you're turning to the left and right while trolling, it's worth looking behind you at the line occasionally, because it can get way off to the side of your kayak, or can cross over the back of your kayak.

I've never heard of anybody putting their Mirage Drive in backwards to troll.  If anybody has tried it, I'd be fascinated to read a report on how it worked.  I suspect that your rudder wouldn't work very well when being shoved backwards through the water, and if you lift the rudder of a Mirage Drive kayak, the kayak spins in random circles.

I have 1 1/2" Ram balls mounted both sides immediately in front of the rudder pulls for depthfinder and rodholder. I don't seem to use the rodholder much since I can "feel" things better trolling with the rod in my hand......using a bobber's a different stroy.  I hear you about watching the tip but there's just something about seeing the line better I'm wanting when trolling.

I'm gonna try the mirage drive in backwards sometime just so I know what that's about.

I'm a fan of trolling with rod in hand. I think sometimes you miss those subtle bites if the rod is in a holder. I have had several "nibbles" that I probably wouldn't have noticed unless the rod was in my hand. You can adjust your speed in hopes that it will trigger the fish to strike again. This only works with Hobies though. It's more exciting when you feel a chinook slam your rod!

Do many put the mirage drive in backwards to troll.

It's a deadly technique. 

I think it's the best way to troll flies out of a kayak.  By trolling backward you can keep your rod tip in the water and in line with your line, so your fly will move when you use a twitch twist retrieve.  If you are trolling forward with the fly rod in the standard out to the side orientation, and try to twitch the fly, the limberness of the fly rod will absorb the twitch.  Trolling backwards also puts you in a more efficient position to set the hook if you do get a bite.

I've also found the backwards mirage drive useful for dragging tubes for bass and bobber trolling steelhead.

I will go crazy if I can't see my rod tip.  I mount my rod holder in front of me. Then I cross the rod in front of me.  But in order to do so comfortable, you'll want an extension to raise the rod up higher. I think this video shows my trolling set up. If you don't use an extension, you will need a long rod so you can really increase the angle.

I use folbe rod holders but the others should have extensions as well.

I will go crazy if I can't see my rod tip.  I mount my rod holder in front of me. Then I cross the rod in front of me.  But in order to do so comfortable, you'll want an extension to raise the rod up higher. I think this video shows my trolling set up. If you don't use an extension, you will need a long rod so you can really increase the angle.

I use folbe rod holders but the others should have extensions as well.

Niiice. I noticed you have your holder and FF on one side. That makes swinging legs and feet in and about easier. I might try that. My Waderboots are big clubs banging around in a small space.