ApacheGuns515

It depends on how precise you really want to get. I only have a trolley on one side and it's been fine, sometimes I have to do a 180 in the yak to position myself exactly where i want. If you need 100% pin point positioning then yeah two would be better but I believe that unless you are a tournament kayak fisherman or something then one would suit you just fine. Normal 550 cord should be fine as well. If you are ever in conditions that would snap any type of 550 cord then I would sincerely hope you would have already pulled up anchor and went home by that point. It's what i use and I've never had an anchor line snap. I'm pretty sure the screws in your anchor trolley would rip out out of your kayak hull before 550 cord would break.

Another neat trick I learned later on is to attach a small float to the end of your rope or 550 cord or whatever on your anchor with a carabiner. I just use a small piece of a pond noodle. Rope sinks and sometimes it's hard to find that thing when you are ready to pull it up and move. It also makes it great for when you snag your lure on something and you have to paddle to retrieve it you can just unclip yourself from the anchor and leave it floating there then come back and hook back up.

I think leashes are a bit of a double edged sword for the reasons you mentioned. However I have seen plenty of buddies of mine set their paddle down and bump it off and watch it float down the river. As the old saying goes... Not really too big of a deal on a calm pond or lake. But in a river you really don't want to knock your paddle off and watch it float down river without you. You also don't want to flip over and loose all your gear either. No matter the experience level we all make mistakes and/or fall victim to inattention. I don't tie my stuff down not for safety reasons but because I have a larger kayak that is much more stable than OP's and I would fall out of my kayak long before I ever flipped it over. But in a small less stable craft I would certainly tie things off. That's just my opinion.

Anchor trolley would be the first investment I'd make before doing anything else. After your first outing or two you'll see exactly why. In a kayak is somebody swam by and blew on you you're going to start spinning in circles and spend more time trying to keep yourself pointed in the direction you want instead of fishing. Anchoring without a trolley is slightly better but not really. No matter where you anchor you're going to rotate about that axis point. If you know how to operate a drill and a screwdriver then you can install an anchor trolley in about 20 mins and it will save you from hours of irritation on the water. Get a paddle leash and attach it to yourself or your kayak. Don't want to set your paddle down and get distracted and watch as is floats away and you have to jump in and go get it lol. I'd also spend at least a few minutes with no gear in the yak and go out and see the limits of your kayak. Rock it back and forth to get a rough feel of the tipping point. Practice turning your body around to retrieve things and having to reach into the water over the side. Yaks are stable enough when you are sitting in it properly, but you may find out pretty quickly that reaching just a bit too far to lip that bass you caught will lead you into the drink lol. You may not like this one but I also recommend you actually flip yourself over once or twice and practice getting back into it. You don't want the first time you have to figure out how to get back into a kayak to be during the first time you actually fall out of one. Understand what you have and what you don't. You have a kayak, not a boat. You are akin to motorcycles on roads, you have to assume that the boaters don't see you and many of them actually won't. Be very vigilant when operating in vicinity of other boats because plenty of yaker has been completely run over by boats who just didn't even see them sitting there. Wear your PFD always. As a yaker you'll be able to go where boats can't. Shallow water. In shallow water there is usually a lot of stuff under there than has the potential to hurt you. Being the best swimmer in the world does you no good if you roll over and hit your head on a rock or a stump or something. Other than that like others have said just go out a few times and fish and you'll think of things you wish you had. Kayak fishing is a blast, welcome to the club!

I fish live worms whenever the fish aren't biting on any of my plastics or lures. Fish are moody creatures, sometimes no matter which artificial lure you toss out there they simply won't want it. Worms are a fail safe, I honestly don't think I have ever not caught SOMETHING when using live worms. May not be a bass but it'll be something. I'll usually just catfish rig them and slowly reel it in until something grabs it. If the bottom is terrible them I'll drop shot it. I've accidentally caught more bass while fishing for catfish than when I specifically fish for bass. Usually when I'm reeling in the line to make sure the bait is still on there is when a bass will swim up and ****** it. It's probably the easiest way to fish, just wrap a worm on a hook and attach a weight a few inches above and toss it out there and reel it back in. Something will usually take it eventually.

Oh trust me I know. I almost never go to high traffic areas in my kayak. The only reason I fished the mouth of Lake O last weekend was because a buddy of mine insisted and he's a family guy who rarely gets time to go out and I agreed to go where he wanted to go. It wasn't a pleasant experience and after about an hour we both decided to paddle back inland and and on the opposite side of the boat launch to much calmer water with no traffic. He had his mind set on pulling a channel cat out with his kayak. That sort of thing is not the norm for me. I stick to calm waters and rivers away from boat traffic. It's no fun having to maneuver my kayak into the waves every minute or so as yacht after yacht cruises by.

So just to clarify my overall meaning I'll discuss the outing that I had today. I went out with a friend of mine and we launched at an actual boat ramp and paddled a good 2 miles or so through a channel to get to where we were going (fishing for channel cats). I rarely ever go to places like this anyway but he insisted we go so I agreed. It's Saturday, boats are everywhere, and they all obviously have to use the channel to get out into the lake. While paddling out we'd both constantly be looking behind us and whenever we'd see boats approaching we'd move towards the shore and out of their way. Everybody was courteous, we're in kayaks, we aren't going to hold up the traffic of real boats, we simply moved out of the way and continued on whenever the passed. They respect that and we respect that. Perfectly friendly atmosphere. We head out to the mouth of the lake and anchor down there, that's where the cats are. We're off to the side out of the way but this is the end of the go slow area for boats (there is no no wake area just a general don't go gunning through the channel). The wake was absolutely terrible with a lot of these huge boats coupled with the wind creating white caps. But I wasn't upset with it. I sat there and maneuvered into the waves whenever the boats would pass by and just continued on fishing. Why? Because I'm in THEIR area at this point. I'm not in some calm back water area that only I can get to nor am I in a paddle only lake or a 10hp limit lake. I'm on a channel in the mouth of Lake Ontario, there is no size limit for boats out there so I'm not going to get upset that a huge 50ft yacht comes cruising by 20 ft from me and dumps water all over my kayak. I'm the one choosing to sit in my little 12ft kayak at the mouth of a Great Lake. That's sort of the point I was making. I'm not upset that I get swamped by boats if I'm in a high traffic area in a little kayak. I get upset when I get swamped by boats on a calm river or lake that has huge amounts of space to maneuver yet folks are so inconsiderate that they will cruise right by me 20 ft in front of me instead of simply turning the wheel and going around me when they have ample opportunity and time and space to do so. Getting swamped while sitting in a channel full of 30ft boats is fine. Getting swamped sitting near the shore trying to fish on a 1000 acre lake with somebody choosing to come screaming by me instead of just going around is not fine.

Yeah there are plenty of kayakers out there who believe that their kayaks count as boats and try to use them as such in areas with real boats. I've seen it myself plenty of times. There are huge catfish in the big commercial channel up here and a lot of kayakers love going out there and pulling in blue cats from their yaks. Problem is that this is a real channel with commercial barges and whatnot coming through hourly. That to me is a bit too dangerous and extreme, I don't do anything like that. I use my kayak as a kayak and understand what it is and is not. I only use car top or hand launch sites, never real boat ramps because I don't want to be in the way of real boats nor do I particularly like sharing the launch area with huge boats for obvious reasons. I'm not a guy sitting near the boat launch complaining about being swamped by boats. I'm a guy sitting on the side of a river inlet 1/2 mile or so from the hand boat launch ramp wondering where the hell this huge speed boat came from because they aren't supposed to be there anyway. Take your jet boat or your jet skis to a real boat ramp and go play out there with the other boats, what are they doing launching speedboats from a site designed to launch jon boats pulled from a truck bed?

See that was my main reason for going on the rant. I don't purposefully paddle in high traffic areas or anything. I stick to the shore lines for the most part. When I'm on the river near my house I just paddle along the shore to get where I want to go because for one the current is usually weaker closer to shore and two to make sure I'm out of the way of other folks in boats. On lakes it's the same, unless I'm crossing the lake to the other side I stick to the shore lines because that's where I'm usually fishing anyway. These folks for some reason are just buzzing around close to the shore and close to me which is why I was starting to believe this was being done on purpose. There is little else I can do to stay out of the way. The disrespect is on the boater, not on me. I stick to the shallows, and out of the way as best I can. It takes a speed boat mere seconds to simply turn and give me a wide berth. I can't exactly paddle fast enough to get out of THEIR way. Folks in boats need to understand that bit of common sense and overall shared respect on the water. If you see a person in a paddle craft then YOU need to avoid THEM because they can't exactly move fast enough to get out of your way. The fastest I can even paddle in my kayak is like 5 or 6kts tops. What exactly am I supposed to do when a boat is coming close to me except hunker down and wait?

No apologies necessary, I understood your point. I too consider myself to be a fairly rational and understand guy which is why I am complaining here to you folks rather than yelling at people on the water or at the boat launch lol. As I said I'm pretty sure most of it is due to ignorance, not a bad word but likely true. A lot of people likely just aren't paying attention or aren't even thinking about the effects of their boat wake on me as they cruise by and wave. I've never owned an actual boat, always tiny plastic boats powered by a trolling motor or a kayak, so I obviously notice these sort of things more than someone who doesn't operate the smaller craft. Being out on the water in general is a blast. I certainly don't fault recreational boaters for not being anglers or anything like that. I've rented my fair share of pontoon boats with friends and just went out for the day to enjoy the experience. I just ask that all those operating on the water keep your head on a swivel and be courteous to one another. I've heard plenty of horror stories of boaters running right over folks in kayaks or canoes having simply not seen them. And more stories that I can count, mine included, of boaters swamping folks in smaller craft. And with the amount of recent experiences I've had I needed to vent to somebody lol.

Wake from that far away is no biggie, I deal with that during almost every outing and I usually just say whatever direction I'm already facing because I know I won't capsize due to something like that. The situations I'm talking about are of wake so bad that I am literally bouncing out on my seat and my bow dips so low that I take on massive amounts of water and I know that if I let the bow drift even a little bit I'm flipping over.

I've tried to do that a few times, problem is that I'm usually too busy fighting to not capsize and/or steer the kayak into the wake to read a number. I guess perhaps I just tend to meet a bunch of random rude people lol. I did manage to catch up with one at the boat launch and I brought it to his attention about how I wasn't waving "to" him I was waving "at" him. His response was "Well the water is public, get a real boat" lol..... I'm sure he was an anomaly, I highly doubt that most boaters are rude like that guy was I'm pretty sure the majority of it is based on just simply not understanding or not realizing what they are doing. I think most of them think I'm just waving to be friendly which is why they wave back and don't realize I'm waving my arms to say slow down please before I flip over.

I understand that wake is inevitable. I've be rocked by wake near the shore by a speedboat about halfway on the other side of the lake. Such things are just a part of life on the water which I certainly understand. I am by no means saying nobody should be out zipping around just in case there's some people fishing or anything like that. But I mean if you are in what could be considered reasonable range of somebody in a paddle craft then it's nice for them if you slow down a bit while you pass by. I figured just based on experiences over the years that it was likely that party boaters just didn't realize what they were doing or didn't think about it. I found it hard to convince myself that every one of them were just rude people who were doing it on purpose. This isn't just some grumpy guy complaining about folks on the lake or anything lol. When I've been swamped it's by folks zipping by like 10-20 feet in front of me. That's the sort of thing that irritates me. Catching wake from a boat on a lake is fine. Catching wake from a boat who zipped by you 10 feet in front of you and waved at you the whole time is not fine...

It's not the fishing that worries me, boat wakes subside after a few minutes, it's the near white cap waves that these folks create when they go screaming by 20 feet in front of me. It's basic common courtesy and well, logic...Boats create waves, huge waves are not good for small boats. I've almost capsized my kayak that is one of the most stable on the market due to situations like this. It's also something that is taught in a basic water/boater safety class, watch out for paddlers and an overall understanding of share the water. As you said, water isn't just for anglers but it's not just for speedboats either. All should be respectful of one another. It would be rude if I were to paddle up to an anchored pontoon boat and just start fishing right next to them. I'm not saying folks shouldn't be out having fun on a boat, but I mean does it really even require a class to tell somebody that gunning by a guy in a kayak at full speed is probably not very safe or respectful?

I agree, PFD should always be born regardless of water temp or swimming ability or "stable" your kayak is. Most folks who kayak aren't folks who can't already swim....People don't drown because they don't know how to swim, most drowning victims are folks with the mentality that since they can swim they don't need a PFD..... Plus being an excellent swimmer will do you no good if you fall over and crack your head open on something in the shallow water that you weren't worried about because you can stand up in it if you fall out.

Small rant.... Today was about the 10th time this season that I've been swamped by inconsiderate boaters.... I fish from a kayak, and perhaps this is simply a bias I on my part as an avid fisherman but there is a huge difference between folks fishing on boat and folks conducting "outdoor recreation" on boats. I go out all the time, the main place I go isn't super busy but there are usually a handful of boats who will pass by me during any given outing. All of the fishing boats tend to be respectful, as soon as they see me they slow down to a troll or cut the engine completely and just drift on by until they are a decent distance away and then continue on. All tend to wave just to be friendly and to acknowledge that they see me which I certainly appreciate and return. Boaters who are not fishing on the other hand.....Terrible. They just buzz by, not even looking half the time and even if they see me they act like it doesn't matter and just keep on going full speed. The other day I saw a boat coming up pretty fast so I began waving my hands in the air to ensure he saw me, he did, and just kept on buzzing my at full speed and even waved at me on his way past. The wake was so bad that even turning my kayak into the waves I was taking on massive amount of water. The jet ski folks are the same way and it happens often. I can understand simply not seeing me, a kayak is much smaller than a boat obviously, but when you see me and still just buzz on by and swamp me I consider that pretty distasteful. Today I headed out to a new lake that I found and the same thing happened. A couple gentlemen in a bass tracker came by and right when they saw me they cut the engine, waved, asked if I had any luck, and moved on. A few mins later a blue speed boat comes screaming by without even caring. Then about a half hour later a speed boat full of young folks pulling a tube came by. Not only did they see me and acknowledge me, they proceeded to do their tubing thing right near me...The lake is huge, yet they chose that particular spot to just do circles for like 30 mins even after I threw my hands up in the "what?" gesture. It's just irritating. I understand fishermen likely see me all the time because they are constantly looking around the banks and whatnot where I usually anchor. Plus they respect the sport and understand that gunning your 200hp Mercury near a kayak probably isn't good for the kayak guy trying to fish also. But the sport boaters just don't seem to care at all. I don't know if it's just plain ignorance or just a lack of respect for others on the water but it happens so often with these party boat folks that I can no longer view it as simple coincidence. Rant off...

My work schedule is hectic and nowhere near the standard 9 to 5 but luckily for me I live on a river and there's a boat launch about 2 mins away from my house. I also have a kayak so I can be sitting on my couch then get up and load the kayak in my truck bed and be out on the water in about 10 mins. So I have the time to go fishing virtually whenever I want but I usually go 3 or 4 times per week. The double edged sword with that is the fact that it's so easy for me to go that I tend to become quite impatient very fast. In years past before I had such easy access to fishing I would make a day of it. Get up early, pack a lunch, stay out all day, etc. Now I toss the kayak in the truck and head out and if the fish aren't biting as often as I like then I just say screw it and go home lol. Before even if the fish weren't biting I'd stay out there because I did all the work to get up and pack the food and make the long drive, etc. Now it's no longer a "fishing trip" but rather me just going basically across the street so my brain sort of takes advantage of that and if I'm not catching anything in a timely manner my brain quickly says "Just go home and have a beer or two, it's not like you can't come back tomorrow, you live right there...."

What's in my milk crate? Way too much stuff..... I am one of those "better to have and not need" people and even if I go out to fish for a specific species I always bring everything just in case I'm not catching anything and want to switch it up. That basically results in me having about 2 tackle bags worth of stuff and 4 rods. Oh and a beverage cooler that sits on top of all of that stuff that I have to move out of the way whenever I need to access my tackle. I keep telling myself that I bought a kayak years ago for the simplicity of it. But my over active brain just "knows" that the one day I don't bring my stuff will be the day I wish I had it. Even though today when digging through my stuff I found like 10 lure sets that I forgot I even had in there which sort of proves I don't need most of this stuff...

Thank you all for the welcome! Looking forward to the great discussions in the future! John

I know the feeling. I'm in Upstate NY and I remember a couple weeks ago when it was 65 degrees here for a day. I ran out of work early to go fishing only to find it dropped from 65 to about 20 degrees by nightfall. The local "climate" was met with a few expletives that day for teasing me like that lol. I can't wait for it to warm up and actually stay that way....I can't stand this place I don't know how folks choose to live here on purpose LOL

I don't know if the quality issues were from the older models or not. I have a 2016 model I believe and I can tell you that I put that bad boy through the ringer when I first got it. Multiple drops from the back of my truck bed, dragging on rocks and gravel, getting stuck on stumps and rocks in the river, etc. Trials and tribulations of a new kayak owner who had no idea what I was doing lol. No holes or leaks so far. These Lures feel like they are built like tanks, either that or I have been extremely lucky to not punch a hole or 2 in mine after all of the abuse I caused it early on.

Hey everyone, Long time lurker deciding to finally sign up and contribute to the forums! I've been browsing here for years and you folks give some of the best info on the net. Southern guy from Louisiana currently living in the freezing North for work watching the beautiful river flowing behind my house that I can't use right now because the ground is covered in snow and I don't take too kindly to that stuff LOL Oh how I miss the days of fishing in the "winter" months. Oh well, hopefully it will warm up here soon enough... Happy to be here, looking forward to the great discussions ahead! John

Spent the first half of my Army career as a 19K Tanker, now I'm an Apache helo pilot still currently serving. Thanks everyone for their service to our country!

I've had my Lure 11.5 for about a year now and I think you'll be happy with that choice. The good thing about the Lure is that if you have never owned a true fishing kayak before then you won't really notice the "shortcomings" that the Lure's have seeing how you have nothing to compare it to. Best to understand what you are getting. First off these things are tanks, they are heavy and they are slow so be aware of that if you are going to be traveling large bodies of water or long distances or strong currents. If your ever go kayak fishing with your buddies then there's a good chance that whatever they have will be faster than you. My buddy in his ocean kayak was literally paddling backwards faster than I was going forward and paddled the entire mile or so to our fishing spot mocking me while staring directly at me LOL. But revenge came later on while I was standing up pulling in a Lady Fish and I heard a loud splash and saw my buddy in the drink cussing up a storm because he reached backwards to grab a beer and tipped over LOL. The trade off with the Lures is that you can stand up. The Lures are stable, you will fall out of it before you tip it over. I had never owned a kayak before and within about 10 mins of my first time out I felt comfortable enough to stand up and by the end of the first day I was able to turn completely around and grab things from the back of the kayak while standing. Nowadays I spend half of my time standing up and paddling around like a paddle board. I'm the same height as you are but a bit heavier so I'm sure you will have no issues at all with your size. The seat is very comfortable and I've spent 12 hours at a time sitting on it with no back issues and if you ever want to stretch out just stand on up. I'd recommend practicing with the seat height adjustment mechanism a few times while on land first to get the hang of it, it can be tricky the first few times. The cupholders on the sides are worthless so don't put your beer in there unless you want a crushed can. Best to just sit your drinks in front of you on the standing platform, there's plenty of room. The front storage compartment extend all the way to the back of the kayak so you can fit your fishing rods in there. Be careful with that though because the compartment is tight and I've managed to snap a rod tip trying to get my 6'6 out of there one time. My smaller panfish rods fit perfectly though. The rudder kit will put you over budget I'm sure but I'd recommend one in the future. After your first few outings you will see what I mean. The Lure is a 100% fishing kayak and it doesn't track very well. The wind is also your worst enemy and you will get turned around fairly easily due to the high profile of the boat. If you fish rivers with any sort of current then you'll spend most of your time with paddle in hand trying to keep the thing pointed in the right direction instead of fishing. Put on calm days or ponds it's no big issue. I wouldn't rely on the wheel in the keel to transport it very far. It's a single wheel and trying to roll it on that wheel will cause the kayak to tip to one side more often than not. If you have decent upper body strength you can stabilize it and roll it but a kayak cart makes it much easier. You "can" take your gear out and overhead carry it if you're strong enough but it's a heavy beast so be aware of that. The accessory rails are neat and I'm sure during your research you've seen folks with all sorts of attachments on there. The adapters are expensive though like 30 bucks a pop but there are plenty of folks who make their own with good results. Thats all I can think of right now. I'm very happy with mine and I'm never in any sort of hurry while fishing so the slower speed is easily made up for by the fact that I can literally jump up and down in the thing without it tipping over on me. Plenty of storage space and plenty of ways to customize it. Let me know if you would like any more info before you pull the trigger. John

Say screw it, take a hunk of whatever you brought for lunch, put in on the hook, cast it out and catch a catfish. Rinse and repeat until the bass start biting. Thats what I always do.