RIGGING SKILLS:
Video Game Fishing
Fine tuning your fishfinder will help you find more fish. In water less than six feet deep, I turn my sensitivity down. I only want large objects to show up on my screen since I’m looking for structural changes such as drop offs, humps or changes in bottom composition. As I pad- dle deeper, I turn the sensitivity up to mark fish and structure. When I get on a piece of structure or school of fish, I’ll turn the sensitivity all the way up so I can mark my lure as it swims through the fish marks. I set the machine to display fish marks as arches, not fish symbols. Using arches, I can tell a school of bait from a single fish and even the type of fish. I prefer a color fishfinder because I can tell whether the bottom is hard or soft depending on the
ROAD KIT For emergency repairs on the water, carry wa- terproof tape and a tube of Marine Goop. Pull the kayak onto shore, clean and dry the area, then fill the hole with Goop and let it cure. Cover the patch with duct tape and paddle back to the launch. Ben Duchesney
UP A CREEK
Don’t get caught up a creek without a…well, you know. Carry an extra paddle and paddle leash on your kayak. Use the paddle leash when you are at anchor or drifting and there is a chance that the paddle could go overboard and drift away. When paddling long distances, a paddle leash only adds
66 …KAYAK ANGLER SUMMER/FALL 2013
color and thickness of the bottomline on the screen. I often use a split screen, half traditional sonar (white background) and half down-imaging (black background). When I get on a school of fish or find a piece of cover to focus on, I will switch over to traditional sonar and turn off the down imaging. Most of the time I set my sonar beam to use both narrow 50-kilo- hertz and wide 200-kilohertz beams to pick up small details and also give me a big picture of the bottom. I adjust my scroll speed to be faster when I am pad- dling and slower if I am anchored on a fish school or a piece of cover or structure. I’ll use bottomlock to get a better look at an interesting piece of structure that I mark on the bottom. Drew Haerer
weight, remove it when the paddle is in your hands. During a surf launch or in rough water, a paddle leash can be a liability if you should get tangled underwater. Smart kayak anglers always carry an extra paddle strapped to the deck or stored in the hull. Just be sure you can reach the paddle when you need it. To keep the extra paddle that is stored in your hatch within reach, attach a short piece of parachute cord between the paddle and the underside of the hatch cover. When you need the paddle, you can fish it out of the hull with the cord. Jeff Herman
NIGHT LIGHT
A headlamp makes night fishing possible. How- ever, avoid shining the light on the water or in your friend’s eyes by turning it off when it is not in
Zip It!
MacGuyver had duct tape—modern tinkers use zip ties. These plastic straps come in a variety of sizes, colors and shapes, some can even be adjusted and reused. Kayak anglers should use black zip ties because they contain at least two percent carbon black to resist damaging ultraviolet rays. Here are five ways to use zip ties on your kayak.
1. Connect a zip tie around your fishing rod ahead of the reel seat to make a lightweight plastic ring to attach a rod leash.
2. In an emergency, zip ties make for a quick and cheap bow or stern handle. Just thread a zip tie through the broken handle and re-attach to the kayak.
3. Use zip ties to secure a transducer cord to a transducer arm. Use a few more zip ties to coil excess transducer cord.
4. Wrap up anchor rope and secure with zip ties to keep it untangled and securely stored.
5. Never forget your clippers or hemostat again. Permanently attach them to the kayak within easy reach with zip ties linked together like a chain. Brad Wiegmann
use. Try using a red light to maintain night vision. Supposedly, a green light does not spook wild ani- mals. For added safety at night, purchase a bat- tery operated red and a green LED light. Attach the red light to the port side (left, facing the bow) of the kayak and the green one on the starboard. Red and green running lights make your kayak more visible at night and discourages boaters from crowding your spot. Jerry McBride
PHOTO: BRAD WIEGMANN
PHOTO: DREW HAERER
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