Arizona Fishing

Ditto that. I fished Christmas Tree this June and it was unbelievable, we hammered the apache trout.

 

It's a special place

 

Anyone fish the black river yet up in the white mountains? I'm planning on making a trip up there this weekend and would like to try the black river. Haven't been there in years and can't remember the last spot I fished.

 

Is Butcher Jones the best option for shore fishing Saguaro Lake?

 

Anyone fish out of a kayak? Thinking of snagging one in the next few weeks...

 

Let me know if you do. I could use a kayak fishing buddy. Mine's a cheap sit-in but it's all rigged up with fish finder and GPS.

 

Oh I definitely plan on it... told myself it'd be a bday present to myself (next month)

I have my eye on a setup. Nothing fancy, but will get the job done. I'll let you know then once I snag it tho

 

I'm fished out of my inflatable one before but a hard kayak would be much better and probably easier to maneuver but I do like my inflatable ones. It would be cool to hook up a little troll motor to it

 

What inflatable do you use?

 

Yeah planning on a hard kayak. 10ish ft long. Thinking a sit in even tho the sit on top is supposedly better for fishing

 

Sit on tops are much more stable than I realized, especially if you go 12' or bigger. I found the sit-in 10' to work pretty good for me for stability and ease of loading, and the price was right. But, if I had to do it all over again, I'd go with a 12' sit-on.

Here's a crappy pic off the bow of mine, fishing at Pleasant. I used a Ram Mount for the Lowrance fishfinder (towel is in the way in the pic to show how clean the install is) and ran all of the power and cables cleanly through the kayak under the side lip and to the back where I have one of those $20 12v batteries that runs it just fine all day. I put the battery in a Pelican case and installed waterproof pos/neg terminals to the outside of the case for quick disconnect of the power to the unit. I just strap the Pelican case to the hull so if I flip, everything stays attached. The fish finder is already waterproof.

 

looks sweet, minus the shitty drink in the pic

not a bad setup. I go back and forth between sit on top and sit in. Regardless, I want it to hold at least 2 poles. I say 10ish feet, as the one I'm looking at is 10.5'. Obviously the longer the more stable, just trying to think of practicality for transporting.

I dig the Lowrance setup tho! Definitely something I will want to add.


Are you looking to upgrade from a 10' to a 12'?

 

Super shitty drink. I figured you'd catch that. I'm surprised you didn't make any gay jokes about the vape hiding behind it, too.

My kayak has 2 pole holders behind me, and one adjustable one in front (see pic). I really liked the dash config of this older Ascend model because it has 2 drink holders, a dry bin, a tray for putting fishing stuff temporarily, and room to mount the Lowrance on a flat area. Behind me is a recessed storage section with bungies that holds a large fishing bag and also has a great molded spot that fits a 5 gallon bucket. Up front on the bow is just the usual bungie area. For the fish finder, I installed the transducer INSIDE of the hull behind my seat, and also where I store the battery. If you install a transducer in the hull with Marine Goop (and lots of it), it transmits very clearly through the hull and I get excellent imagery on the Lowrance. After about 20 minutes in the water, I get a good accurate surface temp reading, too.

I considered upgrading, but I like the weight and ability to load this one by myself onto the top of my stupid tall rack. Empty, my kayak is 68# and the 10' length is a better match for the truck. I think I'll stick with it for now, or until I start fishing more open water and need the better tracking and stability of a longer yak. I also do have a great plan in mind for a bracket that mounts behind my seat with an arm out to the side to support a small trolling motor. It takes minimal thrust from even the cheapest trolling motor to push a kayak around with plenty of power. That would save battery, too.

 

I'm used to your vaping, I only make fun of @MaverickTRD for it these days...

Really good info there. I was looking at the Ascend and then the West Marine one as well. I figure once I find one, I'll be researching all the ways to organize and add to it. Similar to you, I need it to be able to transport well on the truck (fortunately I have a 6ft bed again) and I'm fabricating my new bed rack tomorrow. You should just buy a Hobie


I'm stoked though to pick one up in a few weeks. I'm sure I'll be bugging you for info on mods and tips for it to improve it. It'll be nice not having to shore fish or tow the boat out every time I wanna drop some lines.

 

If I end up upgrading, it will probably be a Hobie with the foot pedals and/or the drop-in motor system. That thing will be heavy though, even stripped down with all of the accessories just in the bed of the truck. Luckily I have my ugly cab-height Frankenbedrack that allows me to just throw the kayak on top and it clears my cab roof. I'm working on a mounting system that will attach to the side of the rack that will allow me to haul the kayak along with my RTT and awning. Putting the kayak on top of the RTT just makes it stupid tall and it's not very stable even when strapped down all around with ratchet straps. I want some sort of side cradle system that would put the kayak right up next to the RTT but still not block the passenger doors. I'd have to just pull the kayak down and set it aside to deploy the RTT, but I'm ok with that.

 

My only challenge with the Hobie, is for that price, I'd rather snag another boat, an aluminum one with a 9.9HP. especially since if you snag a hobie, might as well do an expo trailer and integrate mounting into that since it's so damn heavy

sounds like a sweet concept though, and very efficient. I'm curious with my bedrack construction tomorrow how it'll come out with functionality for transporting the kayak

that is definitely a plus though too without your rtt on, you can easily throw the yak up top.

 

Well hurry up and get one. My other fishing buddies stand there on the shore while I paddle around. It's lame. I need a yak fishing buddy. I want to get out on Pleasant and chase stripers this summer, plus paddle across some of the coves and do some light camping.

 

I'm down! Yeah, I just got back in the country, so I'm sure I have some trailing CC bills from the trip to pay, then I'll buy. Plus hoping to get some memorial day sales. I want the setup for summer, especially prior to my big lake trip.

 

Oh yeah for sure go with a hard kayak. I'm always eyeing the ones at dick sporting goods when I go.

 

I have 2 sevylor inflatable kayak the camo green ones. I like that they are inflatable cause I can fold them up and store them easier in my truck.