Putting it into perspective

My partner Maxine and I are real amateurs when it comes to fishing from our kayaks. We both have sea kayaks, mine is a bit skinny and quite long.

When it comes to landing a fish I'm all fingers and thumbs, where do I put my rod and get the fish off the hook and not tip over etc etc???

Maxine [ my partner] loves to keep it simple. She has a shorter and slightly wider sea kayak . Her preferred tackle is a hand line and a piece of bacon for bait!

Don't laugh - she catches fish. Especially from her favourite spot [Grandpa's rock], about 5 minutes paddle from her 'bach' in Tauranga Bay near the most beautiful Whangaroa harbour.

Until we get a proper fishing kayak [ if we do], we often take the bach 'ute' a QK Escapade instead of my skinny tippy thing and raft up to Maxine's Tui and deploy our long line.

The Escapade paddles well and is a superbly stable platform.

You can see Maxine's hand line attached to the deck bungy, plus the prebaited traces for the long line.
In the Escapade are anchor [ in the bucket in the tank well], buoy and the actual long line on reel.
We also have a running anchor rig for the Escapade.

How we do the long line thing?

I anchor the Escapade, Maxine rafts up in her Tui facing me. As I deploy the long line,  Maxine attaches the traces as the line is fed out. After the first trace is attached, the anchor for the line is hooked on, the remaining traces are attached and lastly the buoy.

We detach and paddle around. Or, more accurately I paddle around and Maxine then employs her faithful handline + bacon bait.

We only wait about 30 minutes maximum before we raft up and recover the line [ reverse the process].

Our best catch is 4 fish from 5 traces - the biggest a 420mm long snapper which fed us over two meals.

It is a system that works well for us.

We have a very stable platform with the two kayaks rafted up [ especially as one is a wider sit on top].

We are facing each other and so communication is maximised.

We have life jackets on, and other suitable clothing depending on the weather.

We have fun.

We know we can go fishing the next day and catch more - one or two fish will feed us adequately.

Proving Popular

One kayak worthy of consideration is the Cobra Marauder. It is not a new design. But it has stood the test of time, and now that kayak fishing is becoming the 'new golf; what does the Marauder have to offer?
Like all Cobra designs, there is considerable what I call 'freeboard'. This is the height say from the waterline to the gunwale. What this means is that it is relatively easy to convert what was a 'plain' sit on top into a customised fishing machine. The pictures show a very large hatch in the cockpit area. This gives access to a cavernous interior. With the addition of a rudder, a high back seat and two rod holders you are ready to go fishing at a very competitive price.  A smaller flat rectangular hatch plus a round hatch with internal bucket could be substituted for the large rectangular hatch shown.

There's plenty of room for fish finders and deck mounted Scotty rod holders as well. Not to mention the large tank well or storage area behind the seat for securing that all important catch.
Another hatch can be fitted on the foredeck.
How you benefit from all this cutomisation.
You can buy a basic package with say a rudder, two flush rod holders and one hatch and go fishing.
Later you can add more hatches, more rod holders, paddle clips [ to secure your paddle whilst fishing], tank well covers, and other accessories as your budget and knowledge grows.
The Marauder is 4.3 metres long, 780mm wide and weighs only 24kg! It has a capacity of 216kg so pretty much everyone will fit this kayak!

It tracks well and is quite a bit wider for its length than  of some of the other brands and certainly lighter in overall weight.
In theory you get very good performance and greater stability with much less weight to push around and get on and off your roof rack!
Remember the more gear you add to your kayak, the more weight you have to paddle and carry!
The leader of our local fishing club loves the Marauder. You can contact him here and find out why!
We will feature more on kayak fishing soon.
Remember your kayak is only one part of the equation.
Learning how to paddle correctly and understanding basic safety needs are equally if not more important than owning a cool fishing machine!