THE
Kayak
revolution BY FRED GARTH
I’ve often bored people with the story of when I was publicly ridiculed by my good-ol’boy fishing buddies back in 1995 as I loaded my fishing gear into a funky, yellow kayak. My buds all guffawed and spit Skoal juice at me as their two-stroke engines bellowed gray smoke into the ozone layer. I’m not saying I was the first person on the planet to use a kayak to fish—those were Eskimos—but I was an early American adopter. Fatefully, on my very first trip, I landed a humongous, 28-in. speckled trout in skinny water that they couldn’t reach in their 17-ft. Aquasport. Within a year, most of them had bought yaks, too. Today, I have four kayaks and one of those skeptical Skoal spitters has five.
Transport is easy if you have an automobile with a solid roof or a friend with a
Apparently, we are not alone. The Outdoor Foundation’s Annual Topline Report
truck. You don’t have to live on an expensive piece of waterfront property. And,
estimates that in 2016 a total of 2,370,000 kayak fishermen prowled American
most importantly, there’s no need to get permission from your wife if—and
waters. That’s more than double the barely one million participants in 2010.
this part is vital—you buy her something of equal or greater value, and if you
Before that year, kayak fishing didn’t even register on their spreadsheet.
continue to clean the toilets because of that “incident” involving the neighbor’s
But that’s just kayakers who specifically fish. The same report claims more than nine million “recreational kayakers.” I’m pretty sure some of those yakkers tote a rod and reel around from time to time. Then you can throw in three
mailbox, some Blackjack firecrackers, a grease gun and too much tequila. But, we don’t have to revisit that fateful night. Oh yeah, you can catch a lot of fish on a kayak, too. Access into eco-
million “sea touring kayakers” and 2.5 million “whitewater kayakers.” Now
sensitive no-motor zones where fish frequently lurk, and into shallows where
we’re up to almost 18 million Americans paddling and pedaling around on
only expensive flats boats can reach, gives us hardcore fishing freaks a sense of
ponds, rivers, mud puddles, oceans and cities that are haplessly engulfed in
superiority that we wholeheartedly deserve because we were smart enough to
floodwaters.
buy a kayak in the first place.
Kayaking has blossomed for obvious reasons. The entry price is low, relative to any suitable power boat that won’t sink immediately and kill you.
76 | www.GuyHarveyMagazine.com
And thusly and therefore, are the foundational elements of a full-bore revolution.