Kayaks - Product Reviews

Zack's been wanting to go kayaking for quite awhile. He kayaked in a lake in Montana with my brother in law's kayak with his cousins and had a ball. I bought him a sit on top kayak for his birthday in April and this weekend the weather finally got nice enough to give it a try. The kayak I decided to buy him was the "Spitfire" manufactured by "Emotion".


Spitfire from Emotion Kayaks

This kayak is 8 feet long and is very maneuverable. You can turn it on a dime and Zack could probably eventually run the Lower Yuba with it with no problem. It is light weight and comes with the backrest. This kayak was a package price including the paddle for $325.

Standard Features Manufactured from specially compounded polyethylene plastic Easy to repair, UV resistant, designed for years of care free use 3-year warranty on hull Dual carrying handles at each end of kayak Specifications Length: 8 ft (243 cm) Width: 30 in. (76 cm) Weight: 38 lbs. (17 kg) *Weight capacity: 225 -240 lbs. (102 -109 kg) *Depending on water conditions

Tarpon by Wilderness Systems

I picked up a "Wilderness" kayak for myself 12 ft "Tarpon" touring kayak. It has a large storage compartment in front and a small compartment right in front of the seat. The seat is very comfortable and has good adjustments. The foot rests are on rails and also very adjustable. I purchased the model that was the touring kayak because the "fishing kayak" is set up with spinning rod holders. The touring kayak is the same setup but without rod holders. I can order a "Fly rod holder" when I want to. I'm mostly going to use the kayak for playing around with the family and not for fishing. But you know how it goes. The Tarpon retails for $1049 without the paddle. I purchased the kayak on sale with the paddle for $875 from Wolf Creek Outdoors in Grass Valley.

Phase 3 SOT seating syste TriggerLock adjustable footbrace system SlideTrax adjustable accessory system 10" oval Orbix bow hatch 8" round Orbix center hatch Large tank well/ bungee storage system Dual paddle holders Scotty spinning rod holder - My model came without the rod holders Two flush mount rod holders 3.5 lb Anchor w/ Bag FREE Scupper plugs included Optional Rudder System

Freedom 12 Angler Kayak fro Wilderness

Now if you are really serious about fly fishing from a kayak you should check out the "Freedom 12 Angler Fishing Kayak" also from "Wilderness". This kayak features removable multi-position outriggers so you can actually stand up and cast. It has a casting brace and stabilizing bar. They had one on the floor at "Fish First" in Chico if you wanted to take a look at one. What will they think of next.

High-density polyethylene plastic Removable multi-position outriggers Watertight storage in each outrigger Casting brace & stabilizing bar High back seat Multi-position molded-in footbraces 2 cup holders Paddle holder 2 flush mount rod holders Self-bailing scupper holes w/ plugs Reinforced floor Stainless steel, aluminum, & plastic hardware

Fishing the Lower Yuba 05/26/10

I had made plans and was really hoping to get out and fish the Lower Yuba River with Blake Larsen on Wednesday. It was raining all Tuesday night but the forecast for Browns Valley was partially cloudy with 20% chance of precipitation. We talked it over and decided what the heck, the worst thing is we could get wet. It's better than working. The Deer Creek flows weren't too far up and the Yuba flows hadn't changed much with the flows charting at about 2300 cfs. I had a feeling that the river would be clear enough to fish. The flows on Deer Creek had only risen about 15 cfs, so it looked good. It's always a bad sign if Deer Creek flows pump up.

We headed down to the river and got our first glimpse of the river and it was running clear. With as much rain as we had in Grass Valley last night it was surprisingly clear. There was sunlight beaming down through big broken clouds and the view to the west forecast a beautiful day for fishing.

As we were getting ready to put the boat in the water at about 10:00 the swallows started swooping down on the river which meant the PMD's were just starting to come off. We've been having good luck recently using nymphs under indicator so we set up for deep nymphing with a thing-a-ma-bobber, seven feet to an SSG shot and various nymphs under that. We made sure that we had good representative PMD nymphs rigged.

I'm usually behind the oars but I got ready rigging my rod with a with a red San Juan Worm which has been working well with the higher flows, a black copper john and a two-tone HBI nymph that I picked up at Kienes in Sacramento. (This is a good looking bug). Blake rigged up with a San Juan Worm at the top and trailed a Dark Lord, and a standard HBI behind. We fished using the deep indicator nymphing method in the deeper runs and switched to tight line nymphing in the tailouts and some of the dropoffs.

Blake got off to a hot start hooking up but had the LDR blues (Long Distance Release). We anchored and I was able to get the skunk off the boat with a strong fighting bow. My day was already complete. It was about 10:30. Funny how that is when you get accustomed to rowing a drift boat. I get as much satisfaction watching other friends catch fish.



The prominent bug of the day was the PMD. We noticed a strong hatch coming off at about 10:30 that lasted for about 1 1/2 hours and we also saw PMD's in scattered numbers throughout the day. Even though there was a good amout of duns on the surface we didn't notice many rising fish during the hatch. The nymph bite on the HBI was strong all day. There was also a period when the BWO's were coming off along with a some hydropscyche and brachycentrus caddis. There was a short time about 2:00 when the caddis were coming off but not in enough numbers to really get the fish up in the riffles. There were enough that we switched to adding caddis nymphs to our riggs. I added an olive Caddis Pupa and the Shop Vac.

In the early evening at about 6:00 I rigged up to swing caddis in the drop offs and had success using caddis emergers. I used an "Iris Caddis" and the Antron Caddis Pupa. I was able to hook up a number of fish but my success rate to the net wasn't great. We had anchored the boat 20 feet from the takeout and I fished a drop off about 30 feet from the boat. I hooked and landed a nice fish right off the bat. It was a little tough because I had to keep the fish from bolting downstream. I managed to keep it in the soft water near the bank and bring in to the net. I wasn't so lucky after that. I was hooking up but the fish got the better of me.



I believe that we helped our fishing successes by adapting our rigging based upon the water type and the bugs present.
(1) We used deep nymphing techniques in the deeper runs
(2) We used tight line nymphing in the tailouts and the drop-offs
(3) We were conscious about adding and removed split shot depending on the depth and the flows.
(4) We raised and lowered indicators depending upon the depth
(5) We swung emergers at the tailouts and drop-offs in caddis type water.
(6) We didn't rigg up a dry rod as there was little indication that the fish were interested in duns or adult caddis.

If you are observant the river will tell you what to do. You just have to listen!

We wrapped up, loaded up our gear and watched the sunset and remarked what a great day it was to be outdoors fishing. Oh by the way it was snowing in Truckee.

Go west young man!



Here's a short "Flip Video" of our day. Just press the arrow to play.

Toolbox - Repairing a Chine on a Drift Boat

I was cleaning up my Hyde drift boat after fishing the other day and noticed a bad ding on one of the chines. I had purchased the boat used from a private party and it had a couple of areas where the gel coat had been popped off along the chines. The biggest one was about a inch long. What I found was that I had an area that has grown to about 3 inches long with the fiberglass core exposed. I decided that I'd better get it fixed or fix it myself.

I started by doing an Internet search and low and behold I found a You Tube video put out by TAP plastics that showed how to go about repairing a damaged gel coat. This gives you a good insight to the process. This video shows a repair using "Gel Coat" material for repairs which is for primarily cosmetic repairs where the fiberglass is not exposed.

Gel Coat Repairs





Structural Repairs using "Goop-Supermend"

I also sent an email to Hyde Driftboats in Idaho Falls, Idaho and described my problem. They responded by saying that they recommended using a two part epoxy that is made by TAP Plastics called "Goop- Supermend", which is a putty-like epoxy for doing a chine repair. This product and application is slightly different than the process shown on the videos above.


One thing to point out is that the "Goop-Supermend" is a two part epoxy product and is not compatible with a "gel coat finish" You tint the "Goop-Supermend" to the color of the gel coat. You sand it to blend it in and you are done.






There are two TAP Plastics stores in Sacramento and I stopped by to pick up the necessary materials for the repair. A customer service person helped me figure out what I needed and how to go about the repair. This is the list of materials that I purchased for about $40;

• Goop-Supermend Epoxy 16 ounces - $24.00
• Mylar film - $5.60
• Tap Plastics - Super Pigment white color $6.40
• 1- 16 once plastic cup with ounce measurements - free
• 2- 100 ml plastic cups with ml measurements - free
• 4 - wooden sticks (large popsicle sticks 1/2" x 5" long) - free

In addition I'll need to pick up the following items;

• Blue masking tape
• Acetone
• Wet/Dry sandpaper from 150 to 600 in graduations
• Sanding block
• Plastic Putty knife
• Vapor rated dust mask
• Disposable rubber gloves
• Beg, borrow or steal a Dremmel tool.

I'll outline the basic steps as told to me by Tap Plastics. Once again, this is not a gel coat system it is a two-part epoxy repair material.
(1) Prepare the damaged area by grinding off all loose areas and sharp edges of the repair with a Dremmel tool or rough sandpaper or both. You want to remove any lose material to enable a solid bond with the Goop=Supermend epoxy.
(2) Clean the prepared area with acetone rubbing in one direction. Do not use a circular motion.
(3) Take the two 100ml plastic cups and pour one part of the epoxy into one cup and the equal amounts of the second part into the other in equal amounts. The epoxy has a thickness to it so use the wooden sticks to get it to level in the cups and make sure that you have equal amounts.
(4) Slowly add the white Super Pigment into each cup in equal amounts until you have the desired color to match your gel coat.
(5) Mix the two epoxy parts into the larger 16 ounce plastic cup. You now have 15 minutes to make your repair.
(6) Use a plastic putty knife to place the epoxy. Attempt to smooth out the epoxy slighly higher than the desired shape of the repair.
(7) Cut a piece of the mylar film and place it over the repair. Use one of the plastic sticks to do the final smoothing of the repair (Refer to video). You will be running the wooden stick over the mylar not the epoxy. Note: To use the mylar you will have to target smaller areas at a time to have enough working time.
(8) Remove the mylar once the epoxy cures.
(9) Let the epoxy cure for 5 hours and the use a sanding block and sand the repair with successive grits of sandpaper. Remember to use your mask.
(10) Add more "Goop-Supermend" if required and repeat the process.
Let your repair cure for 24 hours before abusing it again.
Hope this was helpful, Clay