Why I Love the Mayfly

The new 2017 Jackson Mayfly is a great all around fishing kayak in my opinion. The main feature of this kayak is that the Mayfly was designed for Fly Fishing. The deck is clean with no obstructions that create issues with fly line management. This includes the newly designed concept of the foot rest. Yes the Mayfly does not have the normal foot pegs that can catch the fly line and limit your casting distance or maybe even spook the fish.

The concept of the Mayfly being a great all around kayak allows me to fly fish when that is what I wish to do. Since I’m not an expert at fly fishing especially on very windy days, I can opt to go fishing with standard fishing equipment like bait casting and spinning equipment. On the days that I decide to use convectional fishing gear; I enjoy using my Raymarine Dragonfly for looking for structure like oyster mounds, points, deep holes, etc. The only reason that I don’t use the Dragonfly while fly fishing is that the unit creates issues for managing fly line.

This is my favorite feature of the Mayfly. The footrest is hallow and located just over the transducer scupper hole. Using a length of a bungee cord and a circular plastic disc you can secure the transducer on the Mayfly. Neatly fold up the excess transducer/power wire harness then tie the wire bundle using a couple of zip ties. My Nocqua battery is stored under the footrest as well.

When I decide to take to the water using standard fishing gear and can install my Dragonfly by mounting the fish finder on top of the gear tracks located on top of the foot rest. If I elect to go fly fishing the foot rest stores my wire harness hidden from being a fly line management issue. If you are an angler that enjoys using spinning/casting gear or occasionally the fly rod check out the Jackson Mayfly as in my opinion this is the most versatile kayak on the market.