Fly fish from river kayak?

[jrbecca]

Does anyone fly fish from a kayak? We recently inherited a river kayak, and while I've kayaked before, I've never fished from a kayak. I can see the potential for reaching deeper water with this, but I am a devoted Clackamas angler. Will that work there? Or will the inevitable movement down river be a bugger?

 

[bass]

How long is the kayak? If it is one of the short whitewater kayaks then it probably does not track very well so that it can be nimble. I would guess this would make it a bit tougher to fish out of. I only take my kayak out on big water like the Willamette. I know some folks who do use their kayaks to float and fish rivers like the Clack and the Sandy. The nice thing about a kayak is that they have so little drag that if you take a couple of strokes upstream your momentum will keep you going for a bit so you could probably get a cast or two in and then repeat. Also, you may want to consider using the kayak to float to a lot of places that you can't get to by foot and then get out and fish those spots from shore. It would certainly open up a lot of opportunities.

The last piece of advice is to make sure that you lash everything down that you don't want to lose. Best of luck.

 

[Raincatcher]

I have absolutely no experience with kayaks. That being said, please take the common sense approach. Make sure you are experienced enough to go on the rivers; never go alone; take a more experienced yakker with you; a pfd is a must; get a waterproof pouch for your phone and hang it around your neck for easy access; take tons of pics and let us know how you do.

 

[OnTheDrop]

I would go up to Estacada Lake above Mciver or up to North Fork Reservoir to get the feel for it. Drifting down the clack might not be the best idea at first.

 

[TimberTodd]

I flyfish from my 12' Nucanoe, but only on the lakes.