You mentioned the Mayfly.  I was pretty interested in them before they were released. After that, I could see they're covered with blingy-stuff that would snag a line, a leader, or a fly.  They don't appear to be a realistic fly-fishing platform.

I went through several kayaks before settling-in on my Trident 13, as much for it's simple, uncluttered deck as for any other of its other attributes.

Like ScottV, to whom I'll always yield the floor, I fly fish 100% of the time but 99.99% of the time it's from the T13.  I don't own a float tube (and now I feel deprived), but that brought up a good point someone once made about why one doesn't need to stand up to fly fish from a kayak: casting a fly from a seated position is much like fly-fishing from a float tube - and float tube fishing remains an extremely popular way to fish flat and skinny waters.

I just look at that seat on the T13 and think, "Gosh, that looks awful and so confining." I'm not claustrophobic, but you really seem married to your kayak in it, with very little room to move about on it once you're in the water. I have absolutely zero experience or weight behind this thought. I've never even been in one, and I've only kayaked a handful of times.

Quote from: Tinker on September 20, 2021, 01:05:21 AM

You mentioned the Mayfly.  I was pretty interested in them before they were released. After that, I could see they're covered with blingy-stuff that would snag a line, a leader, or a fly.  They don't appear to be a realistic fly-fishing platform.

I went through several kayaks before settling-in on my Trident 13, as much for it's simple, uncluttered deck as for any other of its other attributes.

Like ScottV, to whom I'll always yield the floor, I fly fish 100% of the time but 99.99% of the time it's from the T13.  I don't own a float tube (and now I feel deprived), but that brought up a good point someone once made about why one doesn't need to stand up to fly fish from a kayak: casting a fly from a seated position is much like fly-fishing from a float tube - and float tube fishing remains an extremely popular way to fish flat and skinny waters.

I think the issue for many is they have a hard time casting sitting down and would prefer to stand up to cast.  It does take a different skill to cast sitting down, but once you master it, you can cast for nay position.  I was going to get a kayak so I could stand up, but then the weight of one to keep me from falling in made it not worth it.

Any time you want to try a float tube, let me know, I have a couple.  Headed to Heenan this Saturday now that the area is open and the roads there are open too!!

I have this image that I would like to stand up from time to time while on my kayak. I envision being at the tail end of some deep pool that isn't shallow enough to wade, and to comfortably get my cast to the 'perfect spot', standing up and precise placement would be ideal. So anchoring up, standing and making some precise casts would fit the bill in that imaginary scenario.

In almost all other cases, I can't see why sitting down wouldn't work - most of the time I'd be fishing I'm probably going to either be doing some form of indicator fishing, or just dead-drifting a streamer. And like many of you folks have said, kayaks seem so silent and unassuming, fish probably don't really care when you glide over them.

And I'd have loved to go with you to Heenan, especially with the kingly offer of a float tube! Unfortunately I work weekends . I used to do the parking lot count for F&G there, years ago. Hooking into those big cutties is a thrill, and I only ever fished from shore with conventional tackle. It was hard to fly fish from shore because the fishy areas I went to had a lot of in-shore weeds.

I've never seen a reason to stand up in a kayak to fish.  We aren't fishing the gulf coast flats after all, and here, you can glide right up to the fish without spooking them.  It's always a hoot when I'm casting over that-a-way then look down and see the fish right below me.

I have no trouble casting while seated, although it took a bit of practice before it felt natural.  Sixty feet is no problem and I haven't yet needed to cast further than that.

I have no problems with currents and a paddle.  My experience in my Hobie was needing to keep one hand on the rudder lever to keep it facing where I wanted it - drifting or pedaling.  The advantage just wasn't there for me, but as always, everyone's mileage will vary.

I think that's my inexperience speaking - I haven't done kayak fishing, so the thought of driving a boat right up to a fish and not spooking them is just a bizarre concept for me. Wild! A 60 foot cast from a seated position is incredible, I might have to get a lawn chair and go to a park and see if it's really that easy.

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what is your local water you find yourself kayak fly fishing in the most, and/or which do you find the most enjoyable kayak fly fishing from?

I fish the ocean more than anything even though I am in the Placerville area and Crystal Basin is pretty much in my backyard.
Sly Park for smallies is a great fly fish lake.
Arden Ponds is a good place to practice.
Fuller Lake off of I-80 used to be a great fly fish lake even though it has been years since I fished it.
Kelp for olives and blues and blacks on the fly never disappoints. White is the go-to color.
Be mindful of the wind as a hefty fwd cast with a gust of wind will smack you in the back of the head with the fly. Not fun when hucking a big weighted fly. BTDT

Yeah, I was thinking of using Arden Ponds or Lake Natomas as my practice grounds. The thought of ocean fishing is an alluring one, but I really want to test my mettle in some rough conditions on a lake, or the delta, or maybe even the bay, before I do anything open water. Baby steps!

I picked up a spey rod from a guy yesterday who just told me a story of a buddy of his breaking his boat's windshield with a 5/0 clouser in the delta during heavy winds. Yikes!

I use my Trident 13 on the American river, the delta and on the ocean.

Any still water I use my float tube.  I spend the majority of time in my float tube.  The only time I use my kayak on still water is when I am fishing one for the tournaments that won't let me use my float tube.

I fly fish 100% of the time and spend 98% of the time in my float tube.

That is awesome! Thank you for sharing that! How far up on the American have you gone? I'm not asking for your specific honey holes, I'm just curious if there are sections that are "off limits" because of it being too skinny, or for any other reason. Are you able to do everything - pitch streamers, indicator fish? And - wow! Sounds like the kayak gets a lot of dust if you're in a tube that often - any reason you don't like having the mobility of the kayak over the ease of the float tube? Is that a fair comparison?

What was the name of your Jackson-sponsored DFW colleague…Adam? Haha
I would suggest a paddle yak (at least to start…you can always upgrade yaks later after you get a better feel for the type of fishing you want to do…the used yak market is hot, so it would probably sell fast for the same price you paid). I say that based mainly on your plan to flyfish moving water. Pedal drives can be problematic in shallow rivers and it’s 1 more thing to tangle your running line on (even if your using a stripping basket).

It might have been! I actually just hit up my old supervisor at DFG to see if he could get me in contact with him, so I can book a day with him to give the whole experience a try.

And that has been a very real consideration for me, in picking a pedal drive kayak. It's that reason for which I am goingto demo both a pedal drive, and paddle kayak. Hopefully I can knock out a few birds with one stone, if I can book a guide service with a kayak guy.

Great, thanks! I'm glad there's a search function for acronyms and slang, I guess I get to learn a new language on these forums!

Hi!

I'm brand spanking new to the forum, and to kayak angling. I'm hoping to start my venture off by asking those of you who live in the same area as me (North Sacramento/Roseville-Rocklin/Marysville-Yuba City) fish on skinny water, rivers and small lakes:

Kayak fly fishing - worth it?

It seems like, as far as local water sources go, that can support kayak fishing, we've got it made. We have the American, Sacramento, Feather, Yuba, as well as some lakes, the delta and it's sloughs, as well as coastal and alpine fisheries within reasonable driving distance.

What sort of "routine" kayak angling do you find yourselves doing, and where are you doing it at?

As far as kayak fly fishing goes, I have no idea which of those above bodies of water are conducive for fly fishing from a kayak. I fly fish the American river (a seasonal striped bass, shad, steelhead and salmon fishery) the most since it's so close. I usually fish in the sections that are higher up on the river than where the boat let-ins are. Where I fish, I really only ever see drift boats pass me by, which leads me to believe the only easily "kayak-able" stretches of water are lower down the river.

As far as kayaks themselves, what are the popular brands/models around here? Years ago I worked at Fish and Game and a guy was a pro-guide with Jackson, and he swore by the Cuda, but I feel like the technology has come so far since then. I've been eyeing Hobies (possibly the Outcast or the PA), but are they just way more than what our local fisheries really need? And with pedal-powered kayaks, do you find them to be too cumbersome to manage a fly line - specifically on our local fisheries?

And is there anything else I really should consider before looking more seriously into this hobby? I'd really like to have something to get me in the water so I can cover more territory, but is there something more practical than a kayak for my use-case?

9/13/2021 Edit - I've changed the thread title, and edited the post slightly to be more encompassing to the type of fishing that interests me with Kayak fly fishing. I hope that this encourages more people to provide insight, and lessons learned!

9/17/2021 Update - My shift has focused to more paddle kayaking at the suggestion of some of you, and thinking more critically on the issue. I've been pretty seriously looking at the Jackson Mayfly. The only issue is - no one has it stocked, locally, to demo! I might have to travel out of the area to look at one!