Editor's Angle:
It was over 11 years ago when I walked into a kayak shop for the first time and asked about getting a kayak for fishing, a group of 3 "Zen of paddling" men basically looked at me like I was from another world. After listening to them talk about their 4 hour paddle that morning, I remember thinking, 4 hours on the water without fishing - not for me! I bought my first kayak that day and fishing was forever different for me. I owned a couple powerboats before that and raced from fishing hole to fishing hole never really feeling the water. Kayak fishing has taught me things about fish and their environment that I am not sure you can grasp with the pitch of an outboard in your head or going 40 mph.
Last week I took a new kayak angler out for some topwater action, he had never caught a fish on a topwater plug and let me just say that I think he is hooked because he called in sick the next day from work just so he could do it all again. He told me later that he went out with only one popper and lost it on the 3 rd cast, what did you do I after that? I asked. He said, "I just paddled around - I hadn't noticed how beautiful it is there".
I think back to those 3 paddlers who talked with such passion about" just a paddle" and I think I see it, I try to take in as much as possible while on the water. I have had great kayak fishing days that did not yield a single strike from a fish but created other memories that I am sure can't be measured with a ruler or scale. I would never be out in my kayak without a rod, but sometimes I do put it down for a bit. I encourage everybody to do the same.
Joe Cambria,
joe@kayakfishingmagazine.net
|
