New Kayak for Hunting and Fishing

GUNSnROTORS · Dec 29, 2017

Mrs. GnR and my girls gave me this Old Town Predator PDL kayak for Christmas. It replaces a 23y/o tandem kayak and an even older Coleman canoe I'd been using until this season. The gift was a complete surprise, particularly when I almost ran over it on the edge of the driveway - no kidding - camo boat, unboxed, it's dark, right where I park my truck after work. One of my nephews has a similar model and says he can do ~6 mph. He's 25. I'll be happy just to get some exercise and have the capability to switch back and forth between paddling and pedaling when fatigue sets in.

Was hoping to get the new machine out on the water this weekend, but this early hard freeze will probably keep me on dry land through next weekend. Anyways, just thought I'd share. Below is a photo.

protegeV · Dec 29, 2017

Sweet rig

DoormanTNT · Dec 29, 2017

Nice rig....

Any info on trailer/cart.?....looks like it can come in handy for "public land" launches where ya gotta walk in.

Laddertowr · Dec 29, 2017

very nice sir...

GUNSnROTORS · Dec 30, 2017

Thanks, Mrs. GnR has good taste.

TNT, Looked online for something similar, but only found a few that were very expensive ... and a bunch of the cheap folding carts that were too small (already tried one I had for the old canoe & kayak). Decided to do the design & build myself. Did the metal work on the cart/trailer/thing last weekend with leftover scraps from other projects. Ordered the wheels from Amazon. Padding for the bunks are pool noodles, also from Amazon. It's designed like a boat trailer, just scaled down for use as a fitted hand cart. Pulled the loaded rig around the house a few times and think it'll work out OK for what I'll need from it (about 1/4 mile down to the water). Figure the trip back up the hill should be good for about 100 calories ...

pbharvey · Dec 30, 2017

That's really nice both the kayak and the rig you made.
The best part is people love you enough to surprise you with something like this.

BartExp · Dec 30, 2017

Very nice!

John from MD · Dec 30, 2017

Nice job on boat and trailer. I fish the bay in a Ocean Kayak Trident 13 and it is a great way to have fun and stay in shape. :thumbsup:

outrider58 · Dec 30, 2017

Nice rig. You chose wisely(wife).

GUNSnROTORS · Dec 30, 2017

Thanks guys.

pbharvey said:
That's really nice both the kayak and the rig you made.
The best part is people love you enough to surprise you with something like this.

You hit it on the head. It was actually my daughters who convinced Mrs. GnR to "supersize", in the name of safety/stability. I was a little moved

when I heard the whole acquisition story.

John from MD said:
Nice job on boat and trailer. I fish the bay in a Ocean Kayak Trident 13 and it is a great way to have fun and stay in shape.

Good friend of mine (member here) does the same. Even on calm days, some pretty big wake to contend with. Ever get scary? Think I'll stick to the creeks this year. Maybe the middle Potomac, we'll see.

outrider58 said:
Nice rig. You chose wisely(wife).

OK, OK, she completes me, I admit it ...

Archeryrob · Dec 30, 2017

Very nice, I'd love to have a peddle rig but just too much money paying for the kids and my other hobbies. You should be able to easily troll for stripers with that and not get tired.

I use a camo boat for hunting and fishing and went with making a yellow flag for open water as its highly visible and motor boats see it better than orange.

GUNSnROTORS · Dec 30, 2017

Ref Stipers, I'm hoping. Watched a few YouTube videos last night and they seem to be cruising at decent trolling speed with a pretty casual pedal rate.

:thumbsup:

Ref yellow flag, thanks for the advice. I'll look for one or look into making one.

John from MD · Dec 30, 2017

"Good friend of mine (member here) does the same. Even on calm days, some pretty big wake to contend with. Ever get scary? Think I'll stick to the creeks this year. Maybe the middle Potomac, we'll see."

Kayaks are very stable and ride over wakes easily. With your peddle drive, you shouldn't have any problem doing 2.5 MPH which is ideal for Rockfish.

Archeryrob · Dec 31, 2017

John it's good to stay in small water if you are not familiar with kayak and to stay in until the water gets warmer. Or get protective gear for the cold water.

Even a stable kayak the trick is to use your shoulders. throwing your shoulders changes your center of gravity vertically. Kayak leans to the right you lean your shoulders to the left. My buddy has a predator and flipped it in the bay. His mistake was not using his shoulders and the kayak leaned to the right he grabbed the right handle to stabilize himself. What he did was put more weight on the right chine and push it farther in the water finishing the lean to the right into a 180 roll.

You have to get out an learn the feel for kayaks. You are completely not safe without the feel as I explained above. Once you have the feel you can take on more than some boats can handle. I can paddle through 18" rollers and white capps, but I can't fish in stuff 6" to 9" rolling because it turns the kayak sideways and beats you without paddling. His PDL will free his hands to handle rougher stuff and still fish.

GUNSnROTORS · Dec 31, 2017

Thanks guys. I'll be careful and take my time getting to know the new boat.

Biggest hazard on my local small water will be bass boats doing 50 in a winding creek. Plenty of time to react ... until the marsh grass grows above eye-level.

Kinda hard to envision any of this when all the water I see is frozen.

John from MD · Dec 31, 2017

Kinda hard to envision any of this when all the water I see is frozen.[/QUOTE]

This too shall pass. :innocent6:

Archeryrob · Dec 31, 2017

I go out and fish the Susquehanna flats right next to the shipping channel. Bass boat wakes are not that bad unless they are right next to you. Barges not bad and many shipping boats aren't too bad. The bad wakes are from big yachts, the big 35' - 40' heavy fiberglass personal boats. They have a deep water V and push water hard. Many of the bastages don't even know it. They will drive by you at 20 yards at 15 knots and just wave to you while doing it.

Many bass boat guys will slow down excessively for kayaks, almost much more than they have too, except in the shipping channel where they don't have too.

Just remember to turn the bow 45° into on coming wakes until you get the hang of it. Wait until your first sneaky wake, usually started by a personal yacht 1/2 mile away. You don't see the boat and its one or two rollers only and it just smacks you from the side with out you noticing while you are jigging. It give you that light feeling everywhere, as "I'm going in" :lol2:

After several of those you'll be a pro a learning the balance in the kayak.

To be honest, with that PDL as long as you are under power and steering and keeping an eye on 120 degree in front you don't have too much to worry about as long you you just turn the rudder into wakes you won't even slow down. Another trick is to spread you legs wider when you stop peddling fighting fish when you are the most vulnerable. It gives you a better base. Here is the total key. You rolling is almost ALWAYS your fault. You reacted wrong, you leaned the wrong way, you didn't have to seat square, you allowed your self to get rocked out of your seat.

Also, learn self rescue, just in case. you would not believe how many people only figure out they don't know how to flip the kayak back over after they flipped it and cannot rescue themselves. In cold water, that can be a death sentence.

John from MD · Dec 31, 2017

Also, join www.snaggedline.com. it is the Maryland kayak fishing community. There is a lot of good help and experience on that forum. :thumbsup:

GUNSnROTORS · Jan 1, 2018

Archeryrob said:
Very nice, I'd love to have a peddle rig but just too much money paying for the kids and my other hobbies. You should be able to easily troll for stripers with that and not get tired.

I use a camo boat for hunting and fishing and went with making a yellow flag for open water as its highly visible and motor boats see it better than orange.

Just ordered this:
https://www.amazon.com/Premium-Qual...&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=yellow+boat+flag&psc=1

Not sure how universal the "quarantine" designation is. Don't think I'll fly it below Old Glory due to concerns that it could be interpreted as a "these colors run" statement. On its own, a quarantine designation might be appropriate when I pedal/paddle out the morning after "chili night"!

Archeryrob · Jan 2, 2018

That will do great. You just need a pole for it. I did a Homemade PVC one with light and added a float made from pool noodle to not have it sink. What I noticed was the thick float made the flag not wave in low winds and had to remove the noodle. One of those fiberglass curb markers for snow plows as Home Depot would support it will and drill a hole in the crate to mount it. Assuming you have a milk crate for your fishing stuff.

You've got lots of time to get rigging getting ready for April stripers. Look at Alan and his rigs for trolling https://www.facebook.com/chesapeake.kayak.trolling/

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