Yak Fishing

I'm just now getting a chance to post after moving from Virginia to Georgia and only recently getting access to the internet again. Last Saturday, dad and I thought it would be a lot of fun to take a guide out on the South Fork Shenandoah River who could teach us a little bit about fishing from a kayak. My dad has never fished from a kayak before and I have only paddled on lakes so both of us were looking forward to trying out some moving water and maybe catching a few smallmouth while we were at it. My dad made all the arrangements so I just met dad Friday night and we drove together down to our meeting point bright and early Saturday morning. It was comfortable (at 7:30 in the morning) which didn't bode well for the rest of the day.

Our guide, Jeff, was a very knowledgeable kayaker and showed us the ropes. We set out and began the day. I did a combination of fly and spin fishing, catching the first couple fish on a crayfish fly before switching over more to spin fishing. We did pretty well fishing and certainly learned a lot about kayak fishing. However, it was HOT! Dad and I both went through 4 bottles of water and I was still dehydrated the next day (felt like I was hung over but hadn't had a drop of alcohol). Those of you that know me know that I take sun protection seriously. I was all decked out and still managed to get a few small burns in the gaps between articles of clothing and on my neck from reflected light. There were some people though that were out in bathing suits or shorts for full day floats and were varying degrees of pink to angry red. I felt bad for them.

At the end of our 10 mile float we paddled our way to the pull out tired and sore but having caught some fish and learned a lot. I'll definitely be making my way out on the water again to fish from a kayak.