# Need help preparing for kayak fishing season. | Any input welcome.



## Jester86 (Oct 8, 2012)

Hey all sorry if this question has already been asked but I am just now getting into ocean kayak fishing and am wondering what sort of rods I should be buying. I have two surf rigs, a 10' and a 12'. I feel it is fairly safe to say that these will be too long but I was thinking about buying a different spool for at least one of the reels so I could swap the reel to a different rod depending what kind of fishing I'm doing. The reel in question is a Okuma Avenger Bait Feeder 65 which I really love. My thought is to use the Okuma 65 with a fairly heavy action 7'~9' ? rod making it my "big fish" rod for the time being. I may upgrade to a heavier duty conventional rod & reel if I find the fishing dictates it.

I have plenty of fresh water rigs (6'-7' M-MH spinning) that I could use for smaller fish and possibly even for more medium size fish but the reels are starting to get some age on them and I wonder how they'll hold up to hard use. I'm fairly new to NC so I'm not really sure what to expect to be catching where. I've been frequenting freeman park and ft fisher but may venture a ways off land and will likely venture up to Hatteras area this year. I don't really have a preferred style of fishing. I am willing to do whatever will catch the fish, though I am mostly interested in catching larger fish (or at least fish with more fight). Does my approach for a somewhat "big fish" rod seem reasonable, if not please give me some input. Also what should I be looking at for smaller to medium sized fish? I really like my Okuma though I will admit the 65 seems a little large to use as a general purpose reel. Perhaps the 40 or 50 series would be a better fit? What rod length, action, line weight would you all advise? I do like flounder and blues but I'm hoping to go after larger species now that I'll be able to get off the beach in my Hobie Adventure Island.

Any and all input is welcome whether it be about style of fishing for different species, locations to fish, rod/reel setups, etc. Please tell me your thoughts!

Also if any of you are in the NC area and would like to help a greenhorn learn the ropes I would appreciate it. I've done a decent amount of fresh water kayak fishing but as I said, I'm fairly new to NC and have only been surf fishing since moving here.

Thanks!


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## JamesRiverVa (Apr 24, 2012)

There are lots of guys on here more experienced than me, but before answering your question I would ask where you plan to fish and what species you plan to target? Most of my Carolina kayak fishing has been in the sound behind the Outer Banks, or in the inlet areas (Hatteras or Ocracoke inlet off either end of Ocracoke). In those areas I usually use a med or med/hvy 7 foot spinning rod with 20 or 30 pound braid and a mono or flouro leader anywhere from 10 to 20 pound test. That setup allows me to target anything from flounder, specks and puppy drum all the way up to at least slot sized drum. But soundside fishing is a different deal than taking the kayak on the other side of the breakers and fishing the ocean, even if you stay within sight of land. I expect your setup for that would be different.

I have yet to try to venture beyond the breakers and when I do I will probably first go with a guide such as one of the guys who posts on here. For beyond the breakers fishing targeting king macks or cobia or big drum or whatever else is out there, I would be interested to hear their recommendations. I have seen some people using stout 5' or 5.5' boat rods with conventional reels for use trolling or drifting bait beyond the breakers.


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## gilly21 (Feb 15, 2006)

Start with your 6'6"-7' rods. Those are perfect size for a yak. Since you are familier with fishing fresh water and want more pullage, you will see a huge difference just hooking into your first salt fish. a 5lb bass will get drug around all day long by a 5lb puppy drum backwards. Load up one of your MH rods with 15 or 20 lb braid, another one with 10 lb braid and start there. You can use conventional in a yak if you are more comfortable with it, but a spinner is more versitile. Learn how to tie a braid to floro leader via uni to uni or albright. Beiing in RTP, your closest beach area is Wrightsville to Fort Fisher. Those waters hold some great speck, flounder and puppy drum. Fish structure like you do for freshwater fish, ledges, rock piles, oyster beds, flats etc. Unfortunately I just move to the Charlotte area from RTP area, otherwise I would pull you along to some spots. If you float the big water make sure you and your yak are capable. There are big fish out there. For me thats is much more a warm weather sport.


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## jmadre (Jan 3, 2008)

My wife and I have made more than a few trips beyond the breakers around Hatteras. We're using 7' Ugly Stiks, the Intercoastal series with cork grips and blue thread. I can't remember the model number, but I'll see if I can remember to post it as a followup. Keep in mind that you'll need to be able to clear the bow of your boat with the line and a 7' rod is not 7' long when it's bowed up with a big Drum trying to sound under your kayak.

We use less-expensive reels due to the increased possibility of damage or loss. I've landed a 44" Drum using these rods and a Cabelas 30-size Salt Striker Metal reel. My wife has landed a 4' blacktip using the Ugly Stik and a POS Quantum Optix 40. Avoid this reel, as it broke and she had to spin the bail by hand. She's now using Daiwa 40-size Crossfire reels, and so far they're working well.

All of our spinning reels are loaded with 14# Fireline Smoke and we use either 20-25# fluorocarbon leaders tied to the braid with double-Uni knots. We're typically throwing 1.5 oz. Glass Minnow lures, and caught the previously mentioned Drum and blacktip, plus loads of bluefish and Spanish, including my wife's 6.5# Spanish Mackerel on these lures. I also have a 7' Penn boat rod for when I'm specifically looking for big fish.

Make sure your rods are secured to your boat with rod leashes when not in use and I'd suggest building a sturdy crate and securing it to your kayak with heavy bungee cords, not the small ones that come on most tankwells. Don't rely on small wire ties to hold PVC pipe to a milk crate for rodholders. We started out like that and one tumble in the surf made the crate look like a bomb had exploded inside it.

The Kayaking Forum sponsor for this site is Outer Banks Kayak Fishing and he runs the board at fishmilitia.com. You'll need to register to see it, but Rob has posted instructions and photos on building a crate that will survive. You can find it under the 'rigging and deployment' forum listed as 'The "Super" milk crate'. We use the same construction, with the exception of heavy wire ties in place of the stainless hinges. Here's a picture of my crate.










I use stainless quicklinks to accept the bungee hooks easier. Here's picture of how the quick links are attached to the kayak. Simply insert the bungee hook through the quicklink.










For safety's sake, avoid the inlets and shoals unless you're with someone that is experienced in that area and that you trust with your life. We've been in some dicey situations around Diamond Shoals and have had to literally paddle for our lives for up to 45 minutes straight to escape the current trying to pull us into the shoals. You need to be aware of how wind and tide affect those currents or you can get into serious trouble.

I'd suggest hiring Rob @ OBKF for your first trip beyond the breakers. We did when we were starting out and we learned how to safely launch and land, how to rig our kayaks for efficiency and safety, and what things we hadn't thought of that might eat our lunch.


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## fish militia (Nov 1, 2004)

Yeh..what Jeff said.

I use 7ft Uglies in the ocean. They are rated for 2oz and I've caught everything on them--drum, cobia, spanish, blues, albies and so on. You can't hurt them.

Cheap spinners and 12lb test mono. The line can take a lot of heat if you are in an enviroment that doesn't knick your line.

I caught 13 citation drum in one day on 12lb and it never broke once. The only time the line broke was when a drum hit my snag rig as I was reeling in a fresh bunker  I had no shock line on that set-up and the rig gave at the knot.

I'll be in the Topsail area for a camping/kayaking trip with family and friends May2nd-5th. If you can shoot out of RTP you are more then welcome to come and hang with us and do some fishing.


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## jmadre (Jan 3, 2008)

The Ugly Stik model we're using is ICSP11701MH, which is the Intercoastal spinning, 7' in Medium Heavy. I like these because they have cork grips instead of EVA.

Rob has a bunch of the 'classic' Ugly Stiks with yellow/red thread wraps and EVA grips. I can't argue with his choice because those rods have bailed a lot of fish for him and his clients.

You can probably find a comparable rod off the shelf at your local tackle shop. If not, look for one of these at Walmart. I think the last one we bought was about $38.


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## wannabeangler (Feb 7, 2009)

A rod that is long enough to reach out front of your yak seems to be best length. i use 7' and 7' 6" rods. When you are fighting a fish, you want to be able to reach out past front of yak to bring to either side. JMO


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## Jester86 (Oct 8, 2012)

Hey guys.. sorry to take so long to reply. Thanks for all of the input and if you have anymore keep it coming. I've decided on my initial rig setup, mainly b/c I got a couple good deals. I have an Ugly Stick Big Water 7' heavy that I am putting my Okuma ABF-65 on and an Ugly Stick Custom 7' MH that I'm outfitting with a new Okuma ABF-50. I'll probably buy an Ugly Stick BW 8' M/MH and put an ABF-30/40 on that. I'm also piecing together my Hobie AI. I've got the FF mounted, 2 flush mount scotty receivers mounted up by the rudder raise/lower controls which was a PITA but looks great now that its finished. I'm working on finishing a quarter deck and plan to post some pictures when its finished. I am still very apprehensive about beach launching but considering how much we camp at the north end, I'm just going to have to learn. I think I'll probably try putting in on the north tip then come out through the inlet. Good idea? Bad idea? Thanks again for the input and like I said, keep it coming. As a side note, do any of your crab pot or lobster loop from your yaks? I feel like the Adventure Island would make a great platform for it... and bought my rec gear license for this year.


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