I love the spot lock on my Autopilot 120 kayak but sometimes it drives me nuts. I'm pretty good at positioning the kayak with wind and current to pick apart a spot, but on breezy and windy days that spot lock has me constantly spinning around. Yesterday I set up on some submerged timber off shore and it was a pain to fish. The constant movement with the spot lock also made it hard to target fish with Livescope.

 

My thought is that the kayak is so light that it's easy to drift and spin. Because it's the back of the kayak that's spinning, I'm thinking that part of the reason is that my YakAttack crate with the ShortStak on top is so high that it catches the wind like a sail.

 

Or maybe it also has to do with keeping the rudder in the water. Maybe I should pull up the rudder when I spot lock.

 

What are your experiences with spot lock on a kayak? Is it more stable on a heavier boat or do you have the same issues.

my friends bass boat only has one shallow water anchor.  he can spin in currents and winds.

 

it think it is the single pivot point.  cant be helped.   

 

a big deep diving crank bait will turn me and my kayak.  wind?  zero% chance of winning.

It’s just the nature of a single pivot.  Keep your rudder down- Aside from getting through thick weeds, I never found a single occasion in the AP where rudder up was the right answer.  It drafts so little water and is so light that you need all of the sideways stability that the rudder can provide.  A crate isn’t going to help your cause if wind is what is swinging you, but the boat will still do it without one.  Current doesn’t care about the crate of course, but will swing you just the same.

 

And yeah, FFS is tough as you’re seeing.  Target lock would help but that’s $$ and Hbird only.  The boat moves, the fish move, you need to move your transducer to adjust, and then also manage to cast a lure and track it.  Nothing is ever not moving.  

 

Having just moved to a 16’ boat, a boat is better and get’s blown around less, but it still moves and you still have to plan.  Foot control on the electric motor lets you manage the transducer as well as boat position without hands which is much easier than on the autopilot.  But it means spot lock + FFS isn’t going to work for the most part.  If the wind is constant and you are directly downwind then it kinda works, but for the most part it is just easier to not spot lock if you’re chasing fish that way.  

2 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

It’s just the nature of a single pivot.  Keep your rudder down- Aside from getting through thick weeds, I never found a single occasion in the AP where rudder up was the right answer.  It drafts so little water and is so light that you need all of the sideways stability that the rudder can provide.  A crate isn’t going to help your cause if wind is what is swinging you, but the boat will still do it without one.  Current doesn’t care about the crate of course, but will swing you just the same.

 

And yeah, FFS is tough as you’re seeing.  Target lock would help but that’s $$ and Hbird only.  The boat moves, the fish move, you need to move your transducer to adjust, and then also manage to cast a lure and track it.  Nothing is ever not moving.  

 

Having just moved to a 16’ boat, a boat is better and get’s blown around less, but it still moves and you still have to plan.  Foot control on the electric motor lets you manage the transducer as well as boat position without hands which is much easier than on the autopilot.  But it means spot lock + FFS isn’t going to work for the most part.  If the wind is constant and you are directly downwind then it kinda works, but for the most part it is just easier to not spot lock if you’re chasing fish that way.  

I went rudder up a few times on Tobesofkee today and felt that I didn't get blown around as much.  That's anecdotal as it was just one time under breezy but not windy conditions. I'm going to keep experimenting.

I cannot comment for a kayak. I can tell you that if the wind is constantly changing you will always go bow into any wind or current. I fish tons of current so spot lock is essential for me.