Ever thought about using your trailer boat as a mothership for kayak fishing? in this guest blog post Jason shares with us some of the reasons why you might want to consider it and how he is using our products in this concept.

Exploring the concept of kayak fishing using a trailer boat as a mothership

Here’s a different take on kayak fishing mother ship trips,  yesterday fishing with my boys for Father’s Day in the 6m Fyran, I loaded the 2.7m Viking Kayaks Ozzie into the boat with the intention of using it to paddle into the shallows and gather a feed of Green Lipped Mussels.

This was a test run to feel out the concept both myself and Stephen Tapp from Viking Kayaks have recently discussed. We both see many advantages in using trailer boats, in this case the 6 m Fyran, as a mini mother ship to access bits of coastline or outer islands that would take the best part of the day to paddle to if at all. Whilst I fully understand and know the rewards of getting yourself to a location like these under your own paddle power I also recognise that for some people this is just not achievable for many reasons be it fitness, experience or just time. So for that reason I am exploring this idea and will hopefully have Stephen on board one day soon to test it out with me. I have rigged the Ozzie with a few basic fittings for now which will likely evolve as we explore this concept further, read on below for my set up explained.  

Now before you say it, I know many of you are thinking “why bother with the kayak if your taking the boat?” Well the answer is detailed but 2 of the key reasons in brief are:

1.  The majority of the time boats scare off the fish in the shallows, bigger shadow, more noise etc…we know there are good fish to be caught in the shallows but these fish are generally more savvy. using the boat to get close to a location we can then drop the kayak in the water and hunt around the shallows to present baits or lures without spooking the fish “stealth”
2. With the kayak it’s easier to target fish in the wash against the rocks and gives greater ability to get a fish out of the foul should it run you to ground. They also make for a great platform when freediving or spearfishing from a boat.

So with that in mind and after my first trial in the Ozzie I am excited at the potential of this concept and will be putting it to the test over the summer.  I can also see this being an effective way to film kayak fishing events using the boat to cover larger areas. Once near someone to film I will anchor the boat well away, launch the kayak with cameras and paddle alongside them so as not to disrupt their stealth fishing with the noise of the boat

The kayak set up

As mentioned for now I have kept things simple as far as outfitting goes the Ozzie comes with a couple of useful hatches, removable storage buckets, flush mount rod holder and saddles for attaching, seat,  leashes or fitting a grab line. The addition of the RAILBLAZA system is essential for this set up allowing me to regularly change the set up to suit.

TracMounted StarPort HD

In the pic above you see 300mm lengths of track are fitted to the sides allowing me the ability to mount StarPort HD to this surface. The recess on the kayak does not allow for surface mounting which works out great because this option with the StarPort HD tool less TracMount kits means I can re-position the mount or even fit extras as required.

CleatPort

The new CleatPort  mounted off the bow offers a 2 in 1 solution,..

1. As in the above pictures a solid tie point for securing the kayak alongside the boat or even towing it between locations
2. This position off the bow is great for a camera angle the will either allow me to capture all the action looking back over the cockpit and is great for pointing a GoPro at a subject to capture them without any of my kayak in the peripheral of the lens as in the below image. I will use both Pro Series camera boom options in the CleatPort.. Camera Boom 600 & Platform boom 150

StarPort HD surface mounted

Mounted to the end of the footwells is another StarPort HD, this will be my go to mount for working accessories, I will likely fit a TracPort 350 which has 3 StarPorts so I can use it a dashboard for adjustable Rod Holder II ,  a sounder (The Lowrance Elite 4 will be ideal for this size kayak) and camera position… great solution for such a compact kayak.

Keep an eye out for updates from me putting this concept into practice over the summer, for now I can tick off the first trial as a success with a nice feed of Green Lipped Mussels which will be enjoyed for lunch.. to see any of the products I have used in this blog post just click on the products mentioned above which are hyperlinks to the web listings…thanks for reading PG