Joshua Kinser
Published: September 28, 2005
“Hunter’s boat” or “man’s boat”. This is what kayak literally means in the language of Inuit, the natives of Greenland and the Canadian Arctic that originally developed the sleek water-craft. More than 4,000 years ago, Inuit were building the first kayaks from driftwood and sealskin to hunt whale and fish. Although Inuit have mostly abandoned the kayak now for the motor boat as a way to hunt and fish, a modern resurgence of kayak fishing is happening.
The Advantage- Kayaks are quieter, cheaper, cleaner, easier to maintain, and are able to access more areas than motor boats, sail boats, and canoes. A kayak enables the fisherman to access extremely shallow and weedy areas without spooking corn-meal’s better half and can be carried to a great fishing spot that is miles from the closest boat ramp. There is no motor to repair or flush, no trailers to deal with, and the loading and unloading of a kayak is quick and painless. Kayaks are also cleaner for our aquatic environment. Motor boats can impact sea grass beds and pollute our water with gas and oil.
The Vessel- With kayaks there are essentially two types of crafts to choose from. There is the traditional sit-in kayak that is closest to resembling the original kayaks of Inuit and the sit-on-top kayak. The sit-on-top is a kayak with an open deck equipped with holes that allow water to drain off of the deck and open cockpit.
A sit-on-top kayak is highly recommended for fishing. It is much easier to maneuver into the surf with a sit-on-top because the water just simply drains out of the bottom of the kayak. With a sit in kayak the fisherman or woman has to wear a spray-skirt (a device that wraps around your waist and attaches to the outside rim of the cockpit) to keep water out of the cockpit when surf is rough. This skirt is not only somewhat uncomfortable, but it also limits range of motion and can be quite hot during the summer. The sit-on-top kayak is also much easier to get off of and into a shallow area or flat to wade and fish or just walk around and stretch.
The real advantage of the sit-in kayak surfaces during the winter when fisherman want to keep the elements out of the kayak and off of them.
Most kayak manufacturers like Wilderness Systems, Hobie, and Ocean Kayak make kayak models specifically for fishing. Most importantly, a good fishing kayak must be stable and have good storage space. A stable kayak could mean the difference between the fish getting dry and the kayaker getting wet. Also, to avoid getting dragged out farther than intended or getting pulled overboard, keep the drag loose on the pole until sure the fish can be handled from the boat.
As far as storage space goes, some kayaks have open areas equipped with bungee to strap down accessories and coolers, and some have protected storage areas below the deck that are accessed through an easily removable hatch cover.
Experiencing the Night- Night kayaking is really something for the spirited adventurer. Yes, there is the small possibility of the kayak getting bumped in the darkness by some unseen sea creature. And the adventurer must know straight up that they are handing over their imagination to the night. The splash of a mullet can sound like the tail of a whale. And that bump against the side of the kayak can feel like a nudge from the last-living, 50-foot, prehistoric shark about to take the kayak under.
This is exactly what keeps so many people coming back into the Gulf of Mexico, night after night, with their headlamps, rods, and kayaks ready. This, and the memories of manta rays sailing along side their boat as they glide quietly through a calm, clear, turquoise ocean and a moon-lit, sparkling, star-scape. It is in these moments that the 4,000 years between today and the instance that the first kayak was slipped into the Arctic waters by primitive, dark hands dissolves and life returns to its simplest state- man woven into the rhythm and experience of nature through the journey of innovation and the overwhelming desire to continue existence in this brilliant and beautiful life.