Fly Fishing from Kayak
 

Good morning! Just bought a Hobie Outback with Mirage Drive, not the 180, and was looking for some information. I have been fishing the local harbors from my Outcast Pontoon which works great, but am hoping to use the Kayak to cover more and bigger water. Took the kayak out last week in Alamitos Bay to fish from it and had a bit of a harder time than I expected. Looking for advice on:

1) how to maintain position in an area I want to fish. The fins while fishing from my pontoon did much more than I thought they did!

2) what rod holders do you recommend for fly rod?

3) what do you guys do with fly line as you are stripping in?

Any other advice or info would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

David

Scotty makes a special fly rod holder that fits their base.

A stripping basket may work.

Least amount of stuff in your front is best.

May try standing up, though it will take some practice. Some make removable outrigger for standing.

A drift chute will slow your drift down in windy days.

Tight lines.

You can always throw an anchor or drift chute, but for me drifting is always better. Think of it like making a bunch of really long casts and covering more water . After you feel you’re out of the zone just run uphill of it a good ways and drift back down.


Scottt fly rod holders


I don’t use a basket I just strip straight into my Hobie. Like mahi mentioned, keep the deck as clear as possible. I thought I’d tangle with my drive more than I actually do.

When you start fishing, pop your drive out and put it in backwards. Then you can peddle around in reverse. It also helps to get a little mirror that clips on your sunglasses so you can see behind you. Get that at a bike shop.

Staying in place is tough, especially if it's windy. You're better off doing a slow troll and casting to spots as you pass by. It's best to drift down current anyway. The current will get swift enough that you'd have a hard time getting your fly to the bottom if you didn't drift with it.

Hobie makes a nice drift chute. But it's tough to use in a harbor, because your kayak only points down wind, and only moves down current. You have no ability to maneuver or avoid other boats, buoys, etc.

A Scotty fly rod holder works well. For a right handed person, mount it on the left side of the boat, so the reel flops outboard with the handle up. Stay away from the Ram holder. It drops your rod if not clipped shut.

You can also cut a slot in a piece of PVC pipe, and drop that into one of the rod holder tubes on your boat, and slide the rod into the tube, with the reel going in the slot.

You just let the fly line coil up between your legs. It will stay in place reasonably well after a little practice.

In the new outback, I don't have a fly rod holder, I just use the h-track bungees and lay it horizontal. The reel goes in the back pocket with a bungee over top and another bungee into the rail in the cockpit locking the middle of the rod down. Works great. Keep your mirage bungee hooked to the padeye under your seat and keep the line between your legs and always strip down tight to the front of the seat and you should be good to go. If you want to stand and it's calm, walk up in front of the drive and lay your line on the bow hatch or turn around and use the seat as a stripping basket. There's many ways to do it!