3/25/17 More Spring Pike

After Kelly and I's successful trip last weekend, I took my dad out to continue the chase for more spring Pike. My dad got the day started off on the right foot by catching 3 fish in about half an hour. After that the weather changed, the wind picked up, and the bite slowed down dramatically. We each only had a few more chances and I only managed to land one tiny fish. It was still a fun day and I'm glad that I got to spend all day with my dad and he got to land a few nice fish!

3/19/17 The Return of Esox Lucius

Sunday was the first day since my birthday that Kelly and I got the chance to spend the whole day together. She let me decided what were going to do for the day. What did I decide to do? Go fishing of course! So with the decent weather I decided to load up the canoe and head north in search of Northern Pike. The plan was to fish jerk baits and try to move them a little slower due to the cold water. Being the first Pike trip of the year, I wasn't sure how it was going to go for us. Within the first 15 minutes of fishing we had our answer. Kelly suddenly hooked into a very nice fish. I missed getting the first half of the fight on video but did manage to catch the second half. I put a short video together that you can find below. It was a very nice fish and certainly the highlight of the day. The rest of the day went very well with 10 Pike total making it to the boat. We didn't catch any more the size of the first fish but we did end up with several more fish between 20 and 30 inches. Kelly also just missed hooking another very nice fish. We had a lot of fun and was a great first Pike trip of the year!

3/18/17 Pedaling My Way to Holdover Trout

This past Saturday, Reid and I got up to fish one of the Northern Indiana Trout lakes. This was my third time out in the Predator PDL and I must say that I am extremely impressed with this kayak! It is a little bit of a pain getting it to the water as it is significantly heavier than my Predator MX. In addition it has a lot more pieces and parts than my MX adding to the complexity of taking it fishing. While I don't enjoy that part of it, once it is on the water it is an absolute blast! Being able to peddle and set my lines for trolling at the same time is a significant benefit. When you hook up you can also use the peddles to keep moving and add pressure to keep fish on the hook. I have some big things in mind for this kayak and getting onto some holdover trout only makes me that much more excited to try for bigger Trout and Salmon. The boat is very fast as I was able to clock it at over 6 miles an hour with my Humminbird Helix 5. It was extremely windy and wavy and this boat handled it exceedingly well! Even with the high seat position, I never once felt uncomfortable. Having to cross the lake in a paddle kayak would have taken a ton of effort but was amazingly easy in the PDL. Honestly, I am blown away. I never thought I would be fishing from a kayak with a peddle drive but now that I have one, I can't imagine going back to the paddle for this type of fishing. There really is just no comparison. As for the fishing, I got 8 very nice trout into the boat over the course of the day. If you haven't got out yet, now is the time. I hear that the DNR will be stocking the trout lakes soon so I will be done for the year as I don't have any interest in catching the tiny trout that have just been thrown in! If you are looking for fast action though there will be tons of trout to chase before long.

3/12/17 Helix 5 Installation

I took an opportunity with some of the less than desirable weather we have had in the beginning of March to get my new Humminbird Helix 5 installed on my Predator PDL. The install went very cleanly and quickly with the help of the Predator Transducer Kit. While this kit may not work for every kayak, this idea is really worth exploring for any kayak with scuppers. Doing the installation this way, I was able to avoid drilling any holes into my kayak. The kit comes with a boot for the transducer, a stem with threads, and a padded piece that screws down to securely attach the rest to the kayak. I had my PDL out this past weekend and the Humminbird was nice to have and the installation caused me absolutely no problems. I'm very happy with how this turned out.

3/5/17 The Future Is Now

I've now been kayak fishing for around 10 years. I've had a few different kayaks over that period of time. I never thought that I would have a kayak that you do not have to paddle. Kayaks that are powered by peddles have recently become a big trend in the industry. Hobie and Native have had peddle driven models for quite some time, but now at least several additional companies have come out with or are currently working on their own spin on these boats. One of the recent additions is the introduction of the Old Town Predator PDL. This kayak debuted at ICAST 2016 and won best boat at the show. The kayak has a very familiar look and a lot of similar features to previous Predator kayaks. With that being said, this kayak is very much it's own design and has a lot of updates and new features as well. Obviously, the biggest change to this kayak is the addition of the PDL drive. This drive has a 10:1 gear ratio so the prop turns 10 times for every 1 revolution of the peddles. This makes the boat accelerate quickly and also gives it a very respectable top speed. The PDL drive also features a small, water resistant storage compartment. The kayak features pre-rigged rudder steering. A simple lever on the right side of the kayak raises and lowers the rudder and a knob on the left side of the kayak is used to do the actual steering. The kayak turns quickly and is much more maneuverable than I would have initially thought. The seat has been redesigned to slide forward and backward along a track to accommodate people with different leg lengths. In addition, the seat has more padding over previous Predator seats. It also features a small pouch under the seat that can be used to store tackle or other small items. The familiar mounting plates are still present but with a few updates. The front two plates have been combined into one larger plate and two smaller mounting plates are now located on the front of the kayak. These two smaller plates can be used to mount camera mounts, depth finder displays, etc. They come molded in such a way that wires for electronics can be hidden and routed to the front hatch and to the transducer scupper. I'm hoping to get some time in the near future to get my electronics mounted. I've had this kayak out a few times now. Overall, this is a very cool kayak and I can't wait to get it out more and see what kind of new and interesting things (and hopefully fish) I can do with it. Look for more updates about this boat in the near future!

Fast Cast Episodes #4