Kayak Angling Introduction
The explosion in popularity for using kayaks as fishing craft is a testimonial to their efficiency and versatility. No other watercraft can match the kayak for the type of water they can find themselves at home in. Kayaks can be at home in the big sea water of the Great Lakes, coastal waterways in the east or west, marshes, small lakes and rivers.
Blue Heron Angling Kayaks were developed from long hours on the water. Many design iterations were tested with the goal to be the ultimate paddle craft for stealth, comfort, utility and grace in the most challenging fishing water. The evolution of these angling kayaks started many years ago as a quest to design a small stealthy boat that could traverse rivers, lakes and marshes with efficiency and grace.
Blue Heron Angling Kayaks have the performance of a kayak with its optimal sitting position, low center of gravity and use of a double blade kayak paddle. But they also have the openness of a canoe. This feature lends itself to easy “in and out” of the boat. These kayaks don’t replace decked over sea kayaks for true big water fishing. However, on rivers and in smaller lakes these angling kayaks excel without parallel. The boats are shorter and wider than a sea kayak, and they have a relatively flat bottom with enough rocker in the hull to make them very maneuverable on rivers and the open hull design is great for gear and kids. The kayaks also have a comfortable high back seat that can adjust its sitting angle for any mode (anywhere from aggressive fishing to afternoon napping). Foot rests are also incorporated to be used in conjunction with the seat back to “lock yourself to the hull” for performance paddling up the feisty flow of a good river. The anchor system that was designed for this boat has a folding “boom” (folds back when not on use) in which the anchor is cantilevered away from the hull, and places the anchor on perfect center with the long axis of the kayak so as to hold the boat properly in the flow of a river or the wind coming across a lake. The anchor rope threads through the eyelet in the end of the boom and runs back to a pair of speed rope cleats (no rope tie off required) that are mounted within easy reach of the seat. From your station in the seat you can raise and lower both the front or back anchor with ease to effectively hold the boat in the perfect position while fishing. In short, with the features that are designed into this kayak fishing will become an intimate adventure with the outdoors and the water you are fishing.
When using a Blue Heron Angling Kayak there are a number methods that work very well for fishing rivers using the current to your advantage, even while fishing upstream!
When fishing downstream, simply lower the rear anchor to halt the boat to fish down into good cover. If you are floating a river where log jams provide fish holding cover and you want to fish them thoroughly one method is to float the river and quietly lower the front anchor as you pass the logs and this will cause the kayak to swing around and point upstream. From this position, with the kayak quietly tethered in the current, you can take your time and fish the cover of the logs. All of this is done without much fuss! Actually, because the kayak is streamlined and mostly on top of the water the kayak will make less noise in the river current than you do when standing in it with waders on!
Another great way to fish a river is to paddle upstream for a mile or two then leisurely float back to your parked vehicle when the fishing day is done. By using the front anchor you can move upriver and hold the boat in the desired position with a flick of the wrist and letting out a couple of feet of anchor rope. It's amazing how easy it is to paddle upstream in a moderately flowing river. One of the tricks to working your way upriver is to understand that the current of the river is not moving at the same speed or force through it's full width. Because the angling kayak is nimble and streamlined you can “tack” your way from side to side on the river using the kayak paddle until you find the lesser current. It’s just a matter of reading the water like any good fisherman. For example, when traveling upstream, hug the inside of a bend where the current is slack and then cast over into the deeper heavier water on the outside bend of the river to some fish holding cover. All of this done while the kayak is quietly suspended in shallow water tethered from the front anchor. This puts you in the position where you can cast from the low profile of the kayak. The fish will usually never know you are there---- until it’s too late!