Tag Archives: Kayak Fishing

Fishing Kayaks Being Flipped

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So, I get asked this question quite often actually, here at Edge Stuff.  Are fishing kayaks easily flipped?  And my answer is always yes, no, and maybe.  I know this still seems confusing to some, but I will go into further detail into each of the answers, and why things are that way.    At different points in time, and your experience in kayaking and fishing, you will discover exactly what I mean.
Yes, kayaks are easily flipped.  That is, when you find their tipping point.  Kayaks generally have excellent forgiveness to leaning from one side to the other.  This is considered primary, or initial stability.  You can usually lean pretty far over in your kayak before it begins to feel tippy.  Wider kayaks provide greater initial stability because of the surface area on the water.

It is once you get to the limits, that the kayak will just dump you.  No warning, just let you have it.  This is called secondary stability.  Fishing kayaks are usually wider, and provide greater secondary stability.  These boats, because of being wider, also allow you to carry more gear.  Wider kayaks provide greater initial and secondary stability.  Length also plays a role in this, but not as great of one as width.

You will be most apt to dump your kayak getting into, and off of the boat.  You should practice these things before you load your yak down with gear, to avoid losing any money to the drink.  When it comes to sit on top kayaks, you will flip your kayak getting into and out of it.  Until you learn the sweet spot, that is.  Sit in fishing kayaks generally have less stability, and really feel like they are going to tip.  This is mainly because of your weight being below the water line, kind of providing a pendulum effect.  With this being said, the sweet spot on a sit inside is very minimal.  Once you find it, it is too late.

Just paddling around, and doing some fishing though, kayaks are not easily flipped.  I can count the number of times I have flipped mine on a “practice” (I didn’t mean to!) session on one hand.  Kayaks aren’t really as unstable as people make them out to be, but with such emphasis being pushed to stability, and reviews pointing to it, people get a false representation that kayaks are unstable.  This just isn’t true.  While you are just yakking around fishing, unless you get into a swift current and a sticky spot, you should not have a problem.

So to sum it up, yes, you will flip your sit inside kayak while getting in or out.  No, you probably won’t flip your sit on top, or your sit inside for that matter, as long as you practice exiting, and re-entering.  And, you may flip it if you end up in a sticky situation.  I hit a section of swifter current, and got pinned against a tree sideways.  This was a very scary feeling, so if swift currents are in your area, make sure you practice maneuvering without any gear on board!  Make sure to stay safe out there while Kayak Fishing, so you can stop back in here and check for new posts!

Pelican Potomac Fishing Kayak 2

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In the last episode, we taught you how to increase the storage space, and accessibility of your Pelican Potomac Fishing Kayak.  This time around, we are going to show you how to increase the comfort.  As you know by now, they didn’t smooth the edges out on the inside hatch of this kayak.  It will rub your legs raw after an hour or two, not very pleasant.

As you can see, I took more of the PVC pipe insulation, and wrapped it around the inside edge of the hatch.  It was a perfect fit, from one edge of the seat, all the way around to the other edge.  This allows your legs something soft to lean against while you are paddling, fighting a fish, or just resting.  Again, as last time, it is secured with a lot of duct tape on the inside.  This keeps it from being visible.

On the top of the hatch, resting my arms on the plastic would hurt my elbows after a while.  I knew that this had to be fixed as well.  I took another piece of the PVC pipe insulation, and cut it in half down the length of it, giving me 2 pieces.  I laid these down on top of the rails, and secured with duct tape again.  These allow me to rest my arms on something soft, as well as set the paddle down quietly.  No more banging against the plastic on the kayak, scaring off every fish in the vicinity.

At the front of the hatch, I took another piece of the insulation, and cut it in half length wise again.  Cut these into pieces about 2″ long.  You need 4 for each side.  Stack 2 pieces together, and tape them in place, creating the front side of the paddle rest.  Now, repeat again, stacking 2 more, and taping them on.  The distance should be about the width of your paddle handle.  What you are trying to do, is create a little dip or recession, for your paddle to rest in, instead of having to find a place to store it.

That sums it up for this post.  You can make a cheap fishing kayak very comfortable, and stay within your budget.  I am going to prove to you that you don’t need a $1000 fishing kayak, all you need is some posts on Pelican Potomac Fishing kayak Rigging by Kayak Fishing Edge.

Pelican Potomac Fishing Kayak

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Just like the rest of you, I am a budget kayak fishermen, who fell in love with the Pelican Potomac Fishing Kayak.  However, after the first trip, I quickly realized that I was going to have to take a hacksaw to it.  Not good at all.  This episode doesn’t have any videos, but future modifications will!  Until then though, check out what happened!

I started out, by not liking the hatch on the back of it.  I knew that I needed to access behind the seat, and also keep a fishing crate on board.  So I started drawing lines with the sharpie.  Once I had all of the lines connected, squared off, and where I wanted them, I started drilling.  I drilled some pilot holes in order to get my hacksaw started.  You can see in the picture below, some of the sharpie marks are still visible.

I tried to follow the lines of the kayak, to make sure everything fit right.  Once I was finished, I had a burred up mess of plastic.  I emptied the shavings from the kayak, and grabbed the air conditioning pipe insulation.  This stuff fit perfect.  Use some duct tape to secure it underneath, and use a lot.  You don’t want this coming off.

On to the front of the boat now.  I had to literally climb half way in through the hatch to get anything that made its way to the end.  This is impossible when you are on the water, obviously.  So, being me, I chopped up the front as well, using the same procedure as I used on the back half of the boat.  These 2 modifications increased my storage space and accessibility by 10 fold.  It looks like it was meant to be there too!

There you have it, volume 1 of Pelican Potomac Fishing Kayak Rigging.  Stay tuned for more posts, as we increase the comfort and fishability of this budget fishing kayak!